ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996                TAG: 9610040034
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-9  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF 

CRESTAR HIT WITH $12 MILLION CHARGE DURING THIRD QUARTER

Crestar Financial Corp., Richmond parent of Crestar Bank, said Thursday its third-quarter earnings will be affected by a $12 million charge related to two changes in federal banking law. The quarterly earnings will be reported Oct.10.

The bank holding company said it will take the one-time charge of about $22 million because of a single assessment on thrift deposits insured by the Savings Association Insurance Fund. Because of Crestar's prior acquisitions of several thrifts, about 45 percent of its deposits are insured by that fund.

For the future, Crestar said, recapitalization of the fund will have a favorable effect on earnings for 1997 and beyond.

The charge will be partially offset by a one-time gain of $11 million as a result of legislation that required merging thrifts to recapture into income some decade-old loan loss reserves.

Crestar said the net effect of the two unusual items will be a charge in the range of $12 million or between 25 and 30 cents a share.

First Union Corp. of Charlotte, which also has merged with many thrifts, faces the same charge for the assessment on deposits. A spokesman for the bank, however, said the company's core earnings will not be affected significantly. No figures had been calculated Thursday.

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