The First Federal Bank of California was a community bank founded in 1929, and encompassed most of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. As of 2009, it operated approximately thirty-nine branches. First Federal Bank, which offered both personal and business financial services, was a wholly owned subsidiary of First Fed Financial Corp. The banks financial goals were to retain superior quality, staying at the forefront of technology and focusing on organic growth and profitability. On Friday, December 18, 2009, First Federal Bank of California, a Federal Savings Bank (First Federal Bank of California), Santa Monica, CA was closed by the

Office of Thrift Supervision The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) was a List of federal agencies in the United States, United States federal agency under the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury that chartered, supervised, and regulated al ...

. Subsequently, the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...

(FDIC) was named Receiver. All deposit accounts were transferred to

OneWest Bank OneWest Bank is a former US regional bank that operated from March 2009 to July 2022, when it became a division of First Citizens BancShares. With over 60 retail branches in Southern California. OneWest Bank specialized in consumer deposit an ...

, FSB, Pasadena, CA. All 39 of its branches reopened as branches of OneWest.

History

First Federal Bank of California was founded in 1929 by William S. Mortensen, and later became an institution called First Federal Savings and Loan Association of

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. In 1983, they diversified to offer full-service personal and business banking, including but notwithstanding

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-hi ...

and trust services. In 1987, they listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

as (symbol: FED). Subsequently, in 1989, they changed their name from ''First Federal Savings Bank'' to ''First Federal Bank of California'' to reflect the California marketplace. On December 18, 2009, First Federal Bank of California was closed by the

. The assets and deposits of Federal Bank of California in Santa Monica were bought by closely held

. As of December 2010, the FDIC estimates the failure of First Federal Bank of California will cost the deposit insurance fund $10.0 million.

External links

* https://www.firstfedca.com * http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?symbol=US:FED&feed=BW&date=20081117&id=9385483 * http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/12/chairman-steps-down-at-lossbattered-first-federal-bank-of-california.html * http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/firstfederal-ca.html * https://www.owb.com Banks based in California Banks disestablished in 2009 Banks established in 1929 1929 establishments in California Defunct banks of the United States {{Bank-stub