Pacoima’s Only Bank to Stay, Expand Services

PACOIMA — Glendale Federal Bank on Thursday announced new banking services, including an ATM machine, at its recently acquired Pacoima branch, the only bank in this community of 81,000 people.

“We said at the time [of the acquisition] that we were going to keep the branch open,” said Ken Preston, spokesman for Glendale Federal. “Not only are we remaining open, we are expanding services.”

The branch had been the subject of controversy earlier this year after Glendale Federal announced the site would be acquired as part of its merger with TransWorld Bank.

Although Glendale Federal has said all along that it has no plans to close the branch, activists with the San Francisco-based Greenlining Institute and the California Reinvestment Committee were concerned that the bank would change its decision.

Poorer areas have tended to lose in the wave of recent banking-industry consolidations and the groups wanted more definite assurances that Glendale Federal would be as good as its word.

But on Thursday, Remi Mullins-Murphy of the Greenlining Institute called Glendale Federal’s announcement “fabulous.”

“We are encouraged by this action,” she said. “Building communities is about making investment in communities, and they’ve obviously made such an investment.”

“I think it’s great,” said Alan Fisher, executive director of the Reinvestment Committee, a statewide coalition of community groups. “This is something Pacoima has needed for a long time.”

However, Fisher questioned why Glendale Federal declined to sign a written agreement stating its commitment to Pacoima, as advocates had requested.

“I still don’t understand why they couldn’t just write that down,” he said.

In addition to an outside automated teller machine, the revamped Pacoima branch will offer home loans and a full range of consumer banking services, Preston said .

Glendale Federal received approval for its acquisition of the 12-branch TransWorld Bank from the federal Office of Thrift Supervision in April, and is gradually converting TransWorld branches into Glendale Federal branches.

In the process, Glendale Federal has closed three TransWorld branches--in Granada Hills, Valencia and Thousand Oaks--because existing Glendale Federal branches were located nearby, Preston said.

Thursday’s announcement was applauded by City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who had earlier requested that Glendale Federal add an ATM to the branch.

“Pacoima doesn’t have a lot of ATMs, just one or two I think,” he said. “This is certainly a needed service.”