Jun 25, 2013 3 min read

The Slovenian Savings and Loan Association of Canonsburg in undergoing change. Minimal, and nearly imperceptible, change.

Slovenian, in the Strabane section of North Strabane Township, was one of only four chartered savings and loans in the state until Monday, when Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law Senate Bill 371, repealing the Savings Association Code of 1967.

That essentially ended the chartered S&L designation statewide and gave the four surviving institutions three options: become a savings bank, a federal savings association or merge into another regulated banking institution.

Slovenian chose to be a chartered savings bank. Officially.

“Basically, this is not going to have any effect on us,” said Bruce Kurtz, chief executive officer at Slovenian. “We’re not going to have to change our name. We won’t change the services we offer. We’re going to continue to operate the same way.”

Various deposit accounts, commercial and real estate loans, mortgages and Individual Retirement Accounts are among services Slovenian offers.

Kurtz said that “charter” is the operative word here.

He said the S&L legislation was drafted because the state Department of Banking has been “trying to eliminate old rules and regulations and update and modernize their process. They’re hiring new bank examiners and didn’t want to go through” training them on matters related to the 1967 S&L charter, especially if it affected only four entities.

These machinations were not unexpected at 130 Boone Ave.

“This is not a surprise to (Slovenian). We talked to them about it last year,” Ed Novak, spokesman for the state Department of Banking and Securities, said in an email.

Kurtz said the Department of Banking did contact him then about the probability of eventual legislative passage, and mentioned that to state Sen. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, when he called this spring to ask whether Kurtz was aware of the bill.

Kurtz’s S&L is among many nationwide that have assumed the savings bank designation or closed over the past quarter-century or so.

“There used to be thousands of savings and loans,” Novak said.

“When the savings-and-loan crisis came about in the 1980s,” Kurtz said, “(S&Ls) opted to go with savings bank because of the stigma of ‘savings and loan.'”

There is no stigma with his business, though.

Slovenian was established 88 years ago, on Jan. 1, 1925. Kurtz said the institution has $305 million in total assets, $265 million in total deposits and $39 million in total equity capital.