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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993                   TAG: 9309170077
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

S&L PROFITS SLIP; CALIFORNIA'S ECONOMIC TROUBLES BLAMED

Deteriorating real estate markets in California pushed net profits of privately owned U.S. thrifts down to $1.28 billion in the second quarter after they rose to a revised $1.81 billion in the first, the Office of Thrift Supervision said Thursday.

Second-quarter profits were slightly higher than the $1.25 billion in the 1992 quarter, OTS said.

Private-sector thrifts operating in Virginia earned $31.9 million in the quarter, up 38 percent over $23.1 million a year earlier, the office reported.

Acting Director Jonathan Fiechter said spreads between interest thrifts earn on their asset portfolios and what they pay depositors continued to widen slightly in the second quarter, and this contributed to profitability.

Despite the troubles in California, Fiechter said, the thrift industry overall "is improving. The trends are all very positive."

For the first six months of 1993, the industry earned $3.09 billion, compared with $2.80 billion in the first half of 1992, the office said.

"Things are slow, but getting better," Fiechter said. He foresees continued improving health in the industry "so long as we don't have a dramatic run-up in [short-term] interest rates, and I haven't seen any suggestion" of that.

Despite improving conditions - 95 percent of the industry was profitable in the April-June quarter - 153 institutions remain troubled, Fiechter said.

by CNB