In the decade that followed, Ahmanson acquired 18 additional institutions, merged them under the name Home Savings and Loan, and turned the group into a financial giant.
In 1965, the Ahmanson Company shifted its mortgage emphasis from tract housing to apartment buildings and was able to avoid most of the problems that other savings institutions faced.
Fortune Magazine estimated Ahmanson's financial worth at the time at between $200 and $300 million, most of it controlled by trust funds and foundations.
[6] After Howard Ahmanson's death, the company's reputation for conservative and shrewd management continued, as did its ability to weather downswings in the economy.
The Tax Reform Act of 1969, which called for a reduction of concentrated holdings by foundations, resulted in several stock offerings by H.F. Ahmanson, but the company's financial base was so solid that the sales had minimal effect.
In the 1960s, there was intense competition among savings and loan associations centered around very high interest rates and offers of expensive premium items for customers who opened new accounts.
In 1966, legislation ended the so-called "rates wars," leaving institutions to rely on advertising to attract new customers.
Not surprisingly, the larger institutions with more advertising dollars to spend prospered and the giants, including Home Savings, gained the power to set loan interest rates.
By the latter part of the 1970s, investors were beginning to put their money in California institutions again, but in general at this time people were spending more and saving less than past generations.
When Savings of America announced plans to open an office in Berwyn, Illinois, a community known for its proliferation of financial institutions, critics in the industry questioned Ahmanson's motives.
In any event, as one official said, protests rarely affect regulatory approvals, and the Savings of America branches continue to attract savers by offering interest rates as much as 2% higher than local competitors.
Further penetration outside California continued when, in January 1988, Ahmanson acquired the Bowery Savings Bank, an institution established in 1934 in New York City.
Under Deihl's leadership, Ahmanson company avoided the high returns from junk bonds during the mid-1980s, preferring to rely on the safer 1% to 1.5% earnings garnered from a home loan.
From 1988 to 1990, when hundreds of savings and loans throughout the United States were failing because of their involvement with junk bonds, Ahmanson's deposits grew by 75% and its assets increased by more than 65%.
The average borrower at Home Savings carried a personal debt of 33% of his total income, almost 3% below the standard set by the Government National Mortgage Association.
In 1992, earnings fell to $156 million, partially due to falling property values in the state which led to a substantial increase in non-performing assets.
In 1998, Seattle-based thrift Washington Mutual (WaMu) purchased HF Ahmanson and its Home Savings unit for $10 billion.
As a result of this takeover and those of American Savings and Great Western Financial, Washington Mutual became California’s second largest bank.
[9] The acquisition also gave Washington Mutual control over a part of the Ahmanson Ranch, a hotly disputed undeveloped area northwest of Los Angeles.
In January 1991, Home Savings announced the pending acquisition of 19 San Diego-area branch offices of the Los Angeles–based Coast Federal Bank for $20 million in cash.
In March 1992, Home Savings announced the acquisition of 10 branch offices of the failed Santa Barbara–based County Bank from the Resolution Trust Corporation for an undisclosed amount.
[15] In August 1992, Home Savings announced the pending acquisition of 8 Central Valley-area branch offices of the Coast Federal Bank for an undisclosed amount.
[18][19] In December 1993, Home Savings announced the acquisition of 8 Inland Empire-area branch offices of the failed San Diego–based HomeFed Bank from the Resolution Trust Corporation for an undisclosed amount.
[47] A Home Savings customer discovered that the bank lost his safety deposit box, which contained irreplaceable family heirlooms, during the branch office consolidations.
[49] In February 1997, H. F. Ahmanson announced the pending sale of 12 branch offices in Florida to the Birmingham, Alabama–based SouthTrust for an undisclosed amount.
In December 1997, H. F. Ahmanson announced the pending sale of the remaining 27 branch offices in Florida to SouthTrust for $300 million in cash.
[53][54] The acquisition was completed in February 1988 and initially did not merger Bowery into its existing Savings of America's New York operations and kept it as a separate business entity.
[63][64][65] At the time of the sale, Home Savings had branch offices in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County just prior to leaving the state.