BANKING / FINANCE

Bank President Hired: Robert A. Regan has been hired as president and chief executive of Dana Niguel Bank to help guide the small Dana Point institution through a transition period. He also will join its eight-member board of directors.

Regan, 44, who had been an executive vice president and chief loan officer at Monarch Bank in Laguna Niguel for the last 3 1/2 years, fills a vacancy created last fall by the retirement of Thomas Herndon, 63.

Previously, Regan was vice chairman and chief executive of an El Paso, Tex., thrift that was eventually sold and, before that, the president of Interwest Bank of Arizona in Tucson. He also had worked at Community Bank and at Security Pacific National Bank, both in Los Angeles.

Dana Niguel Bank, with offices in Dana Point and Laguna Hills, had been a tiny, profitable bank when it decided to increase its assets substantially. In 18 months, it doubled its size to nearly $85 million, but the growth outstripped its capital last fall and the bank had to retrench. It now has nearly $71 million in assets.

Regan, acknowledging that the bank has not decided its future, said he and the directors will “discuss various alternatives� over the next few months.