Veteran Executive Takes Over at CommerceBancorp

NEWPORT BEACH —  Dale E. Walter, a veteran banking executive, has been appointed president and chief executive of CommerceBancorp and its bruised subsidiary, CommerceBank, the company said Monday.

Walter, 58, of Long Beach succeeds Raymond E. Dellerba, 45, who resigned. Dellerba said he will take a job at another bank in the area.

Walter’s hiring is expected to help CommerceBank comply with terms of a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. order that requires, among other things, that it employ experienced top managers.

“The FDIC wanted a seasoned officer,” Dellerba said. “I was passed over because this was the first time I headed a bank.”

Dellerba was being groomed for the top spot when several of the bank’s construction loans turned sour in late 1991. Then, when some business loans backed by real estate went bad, the bank ended up with numerous properties it took back in foreclosure.

After the problems began at what had been one of Orange County’s more successful banks, directors ousted Clyde H. Gossert as chief executive and eventually kicked out real estate developer Timothy L. Strader as chairman. Last summer, the FDIC issued a cease-and-desist order restricting certain activities and mandating changes in others.

Dellerba tackled the problems and managed to sell all but five parcels before turning the reins over to Walter at the start of the year.

Walter said that his first task is to complete the cleanup and to work toward having the FDIC order lifted. The bank, which has dropped from $330 million in assets to $260 million in a downsizing effort, would then try to expand by broadening its base of business customers, Walter said.

Walter had been president of the Bank of Industry for 10 years before it was sold two years ago to Comerica Bank in Detroit. Previously, he was president of Redwood Bank in San Francisco.