The TRANSOHIO FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK was originally formed as the Transohio Savings Assn. 1 May 1980 by merging the Union, United, and Akron savings associations. The oldest of the 3 constituent parts was Akron Savings, founded in 1888. Of the 2 Cleveland companies involved, Union Savings was incorporated as the Union Building & Loan Co. 22 June 1891 and changed its name to Union Savings in 1896. United Savings, the other Cleveland component of the Transohio merger, began in 1916 as the Warsaw Savings & Loan Assn. and changed its name to United Savings in 1952 to emphasize its service to the larger community.
The newly organized Transohio Savings Assn. was the largest subsidiary of its parent holding company, the Transohio Financial Corp., and by 1 July 1983, it had 69 branch offices, $1.98 billion in assets, and was federal chartered as the Transohio Savings Bank. After doubling its profits in 1985, the savings bank launched a program of acquisitions under its new Miami-based owners, who had renamed the parent holding company TransCapital Financial Corp. In 1986 Transohio took over 2 insolvent thrifts, Citizen Federal Savings & Loan of Cleveland and Dollar Bank of Columbus, from the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp. However, by 1989 Transohio's capital was greatly
diminished as a result of troubled acquisitions, money-losing loan decisions, and a change in savings and loan regulations. Although the bank had $4.5 billion in assets in 1991, $271 million in problem loans wiped out its capital. As a result, Federal regulators took control of Transohio Savings Bank and its 60 branches on 10 July 1992 and reorganized it as Transohio Federal Savings Bank.
On 16 Sept. 1994 the government's Resolution Trust Corp. sold 47 branches of Transohio and $1.12 billion of its deposits to Star Bank of Cincinnati.