
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993                   TAG: 9312160261
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: BUSINESS   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

S&L PROFITS DOWN

Profits earned by the nation's thrift industry declined by 40 percent from July through September because of a $500 million, one-time write-off by two Northeast institutions, the government said Monday.

But Acting Director Jonathan Fiechter of the Office of Thrift Supervision said the thrift industry remains healthy. He declined to name the institutions, but said both remain in good shape. Goodwill is the difference between the price paid for a franchise and its book value.

``Basically, it is largely an accounting change,'' said Joseph Blalock, an economist with the Savings & Community Bankers of America.

Fiechter said profits totaled $762.5 million in the third quarter, down from $1.26 billion in the second and $1.25 billion a year earlier.

Virginia's privately owned thrifts earned $23.7 million in the third quarter, down 7.8 percent from $25.7 million a year earlier, the report said.

For the first nine months, total industry earnings were $3.8 billion, compared to $4.1 billion for the 1992 period. Industry assets increased to $785.4 billion, from $785.1 billion in the April-June period, despite a drop in the number of institutions to 1,719.

For the nine months, OTS-supervised thrifts declined by 152: 84 by conversion to state bank charter; 66 by merger, acquisition or liquidation; and seven by transfer to the Resolution Trust Corp., the agency handling the S&L bailout. Five new institutions were created.

The OTS described 119 thrifts as ``troubled,'' including 40 that Fiechter said are listed as probable candidates for failure. That was a decline of 34 institutions from the previous quarter.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB