Bank of the West announced Thursday that Don J. McGrath, 59, its chief executive officer since 1996, will retire from the post at yearend.
Mr. McGrath is to remain CEO of the bank's holding company, BancWest Corp., which is also the parent of First Hawaiian Bank. He will also be chairman of the boards of both BancWest Corp. and Bank of the West.
Michael Shepherd, 52, is to become the CEO of Bank of the West on Jan. 1. Mr. Shepherd will remain president of the bank and vice chairman of BancWest Corp., which is a unit of Paris-based BNP Paribas Co.
Bank of the West spokesman John Stafford said the changes are "part of a long-planned orderly succession" leading to Mr. McGrath's eventual full retirement. For now, however, he "will remain very much involved."
BNP Paribas, which bought the $71.7 billion-asset BancWest in 2001, has expressed caution about the unit's exposure to the weakening U.S. real estate market. Last month, BNP Paribas said it had recorded a $67 million provision for loan losses in the third quarter, in part to buffer against expected losses in that sector. "No one has great visibility on the extent" of the real estate problems, Mr. Shepherd said at the time. "From where we are, it looks like it could last several quarters. … The good news is that we certainly aren't seeing the contagion in delinquency numbers yet."
