New leader, new status.

Tamio 'Tom' Takakura has just become CEO of Sanwa Bank California, which in turn has just become the biggest Southland-based bank

Even though he was born and raised in Japan, Tamio "Tom" Takakura seems much more American than Japanese.

He has worked for Sanwa Bank Ltd., Japan's second largest bank, for 27 years but has spent only five of those years in Japan.

He speaks perfect, unaccented English, exudes a low-key confidence and the friendliness of a laid-back Californian.

In January, Takakura succeeded Hiro Nobuhara as president and chief executive officer of downtown L.A.-based Sanwa Bank California. Nobuhara was promoted to head Osaka, Japan-based Sanwa Bank Ltd.'s Tokyo division, which consists of more than 1,200 branches.

Takakura noted Nobuhara "got a big promotion." The total assets of just the Tokyo division "are bigger than Bank of America," he said.

Sanwa Bank California became the largest bank headquartered in L.A. County as of April 1. That's when San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. completed its acquisition of $55 billion-in-assets First Interstate Bancorp., formerly L.A. County's largest bank.

With $7.7 billion in assets, Sanwa Bank California is far smaller than First Interstate, but much bigger than Beverly Hills-based City National Bank, with $4.2 billion in assets.

Even so, Russell Goldsmith, new CEO of City National Bank, claims his outfit is the "largest independent bank" in L.A. County. In an interview with the Business Journal earlier this year, he supported that view by noting decisions at Sanwa are made in Japan.

Takakura shrugs when asked about Goldsmith's comments. "It really doesn't bother me," he says. "They have their own agenda."

But he takes issue with the statement that decisions at Sanwa Bank California are made in Japan.

"I don't think so," Takakura says. "We have a very big local management. We have our own board of directors. Yes, we do report to our shareholder (Sanwa Bank Ltd.), like any other company."

But only very big decisions, such as whether to acquire another bank, require approval from the parent company, Takakura says.

In addition. "about 99 percent" of the customers of Sanwa Bank California are "non-Japanese," he notes.

Takakura views the takeover of First Interstate as an opportunity for Sanwa Bank California to build its business.

"You keep hearing about non-banks eroding the market and taking away bank customers. And that's true because banks didn't offer the type of products that people need. But once banks start offering the right products and begin delivering those products well, I'm sure we'll (banks) win because we have the customers," he says.

Takakura was born on Halloween in 1945 in Osaka, Japan. "I didn't realize how interesting that (being born on Halloween) was until 1 came to this country."

Takakura went to Kobe University, where he majored in marketing. In those days in Japan, a young man with a college degree really had three industries to choose from when planning his career: banking, manufacturing and trading.

Of the three, Takakura thought banking would be the least boring, he says.

In Japan, your first choice of a job is very important, he says. "In Japan, they have what they call life employment. If you quit the company and start working somewhere else, people may feel. 'He did something wrong.'"

In 1968, right out of college, Takakura had two job offers, one with a Japanese bank he declines to name and another with Sanwa.

Shortly after he started his career at Sanwa, Takakura beat out 50 of his coworkers and won a contest the bank sponsored to send an employee to business school at the University of Illinois. "I wanted to go outside of Japan," he says.

After getting his M.B.A., Takakura went to work for Sanwa Bank California's predecessor in San Francisco, known then as Sanwa Bank of California.

Over 20 years, Takakura has held a number of different jobs in different departments, including mergers and acquisitions, customer service and corporate banking.

Prior to being appointed CEO, he served as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, working closely with his predecessor Nobuhara.

Takakura says that if he couldn't be CEO and had to work in the bank, he would work in the corporate banking department. He would pick that job, he says, because it is the most challenging and requires the most people skills.

"It's tough getting someone else's customers to your bank," Takakura says. "You call 10 people, and get maybe one appointment."

Takakura currently works an 11- or 12-hour day and brings home work on the weekend. He is trying to find time. he says, to play golf once a week. He won't reveal his exact handicap, but says "it's a single digit."

Takakura says that when he was in high school, he was a pitcher on the baseball team. His best pitch was the forkball, he says, noting "that's also (Dodger star pitcher Hideo) Nomo's favorite."

Takakura also gets a lot pleasure out of reading. "Typically, I read Japanese mystery novels," he says, "those are my favorites."

RELATED ARTICLE: Snapshot

Tamio 'Tom Takakura

Age: 50

Native of: Osaka, Japan

Resident of: Pacific Palisades 

Education: B.A., business, from Kobe University; M.B.A., University of Illinois

Spouse: Keiko