Sun State Savings of Arizona Seeks to Open an Orange County Operation : BANKING/FINANCE

One of Arizona’s larger savings and loans is looking for Orange County office space and a manager to run a new thrift and loan it hopes to open by the end of the year.

Sun State Savings in Phoenix, seventh largest S&L; of 14 in the state, said Tuesday that it has asked the California Department of Corporations for a charter to start the as yet unnamed thrift.

The S&L; hopes to take advantage of the broader lending authority that the state’s 55 thrifts have received in recent years, said Michael Million, a Sun State spokesman. The S&L; also expects that the required insurance through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will help reduce the cost of its funds, primarily the interest it pays depositors.

“Entry into Southern California--the nation’s best real estate market--is a natural and timely expansion of our successful operations,” said Gregory E. Janos, president of the 8-year-old Sun State, which expects to reach $1 billion in assets next month.

Sun State’s real estate operations already have brought it into contact with a number of Southern California builders and developers, and several of its officers and directors have experience in banking and FDIC matters, Million said.

A likely spot for the S&L; would be the Newport Beach area because the Sun State’s chairman, Edward J. Janos, father of the S&L;’s president, grew up in Corona del Mar and still has a home there, Million said.

California thrifts, regulated by the state and the FDIC, are something of a hybrid between banks and finance companies, which do not accept deposits and are not regulated.