BANKING / FINANCE

Far West Savings & Loan is also concentrating on image as it prepares to celebrate its centennial next year.

The Newport Beach savings institution is changing its colors, launching a new advertising campaign Sept. 29 and adjusting its name to FarWest Savings & Loan.

“We want to place more focus on our name rather than on our symbol,” said Cheryl Rastetter, the S&L;’s vice president of marketing.

Studies over the last six months showed that consumers didn’t understand the S&L;’s setting sun logo and that the S&L; would do better by using a name people could identify with, she said.

The advertising campaign, the first major marketing effort in a number of years, she said, is aimed at generating recognition of the S&L; and instilling public confidence in a savings institution with $4.1 billion in assets.

The colors, now various shades of brown and orange, will be changed to blue and gold at its 29 branches, Rastetter said.

But the FarWest name is the key to the new image.

Removing the space in its name follows a trend nationwide to replace corporate symbols--like an eagle or company initials--with bolder name designs, Rastetter said.

FarWest’s parent company also has eliminated the space to become FarWest Financial Corp. The corporate stock symbol, however, will remain the same--FWF.