Cumming Joins Bank Unit of BSD Bancorp

Just two weeks after resigning as head of Crocker Bank’s downtown office, Louis F. Cumming on Wednesday was named executive vice president and chief lending officer at BSD Bancorp’s Bank of San Diego unit.

Cumming will take over in the midst of a realignment of the bank’s lending operation, begun last year when BSD suffered a $964,824 loss, largely because of write-offs and provisions for bad loans. In all, BSD had about $4 million in problem loans at year-end, nearly all of which were at the Bank of San Diego subsidiary.

E. Lynn Caswell, who was named president of Bank of San Diego last November, said Cumming will “add some additional strength” to the troubled lending operation. “Sometimes management doesn’t keep up with growth,” Caswell said.

BSD grew to have $343 million in assets and five subsidiary banks in just six years.

Caswell said a handful of lending personnel have left the bank since the realignment began last fall. Others have been added, and Caswell intends to hire more lending officers and managers. “This isn’t the end of the realignment,” he said.

Cumming, who declined Wednesday to comment on his new post, was senior vice president and chief of all San Diego County operations for Crocker Bank for several years.

In 1982, he was elected president of the San Diego Symphony soon after arranging an emergency $250,000 loan through Crocker. As part of a 1983 reorganization, the 17 San Diego County Crocker offices were merged into a larger district, and Cumming was named head of the bank’s local private capital banking unit, which catered to wealthy clients. When that division was abolished last August, Cumming was named manager of the downtown branch.