Regulators Shut Arkansas S&L; Biggest Closing Ever

Federal regulators closed Arkansas’ second-largest savings and loan Thursday night in what was described as the biggest such action ever handled by U.S. thrift regulators, a Federal Home Loan Bank Board spokesman said Friday.

The bank board declared FirstSouth Savings & Loan Assn. insolvent and authorized the transfer of its insured accounts to a newly chartered institution, Riverside Federal Savings & Loan Assn. The bank board said Riverside will be reopen for business on Monday morning.

“Both in terms of the dollar amount and the number of accounts,” it’s “the largest insurance transaction that we’ve had in the history of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp.” said Doug Green, public affairs director for the bank board, which regulates S&Ls; throughout the nation.

FSLIC became the receiver of FirstSouth’s assets, which totaled $1.8 billion at the end of 1985, Green said. FSLIC is an arm of the bank board.

Green said FirstSouth had 100,000 accounts totaling $1.4 billion in deposits in 36 offices around the state. “We are counting the cash and taking an inventory of the assets of the association, and basically taking possession of the association, and preparing the accounts for reopening on Monday morning,” Green said.