FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           CONTACTS:
- ---------------------                              Media: Mary Trigg
                                                          (626) 814-7922
                                                Investor: Steve Swartz
                                                          (626) 814-7986


                AHMANSON'S ACQUISITION OF COAST SAVINGS COMPLETED


      IRWINDALE, CA, February 13, 1998 -- H. F. Ahmanson & Company (NYSE:AHM),
parent company of Home Savings of America, announced that its acquisition of
Coast Savings Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CSA), parent company of Coast Federal Bank,
was completed today.  The combined company is California's third largest
financial institution serving more than two million households in California,
Texas and Florida.

      "We welcome our new customers from Coast who will benefit from a wider
array of consumer banking products as well as the availability of a broad menu
of business banking products and services," said Ahmanson and Home Savings
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles R. Rinehart.

      "The combination of our two companies enhances Home Savings' already
strong competitive position in the California market," he added.  "It also fits
directly into our strategy of being a full-service consumer and small business
bank and reflects our desire to build shareholder value."

      The Office of Thrift Supervision and Coast Savings shareholders approved
the transaction yesterday.

      The company said it expects to convert the Coast branches into Home
Savings branches in early March and has begun mailing packages to Coast
customers with information on Home Savings' products and services.

      H. F. Ahmanson & Company is the parent company of Home Savings of America,
one of the nation's largest full-service consumer and small business banks with
407 branches in California, Texas and Florida.

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