Texas bankers predicted continued hard times.

Bank executives at a business lunch forum in Houston said major Texas banks, which have struggled through two years of soaring oil and real estate loan writeoffs, are unlikely to return to profitability any time soon, despite mergers to cut operating costs. “The outlook for profitability of Texas banks in the near term is pretty dim,” said C. Richard Vermillion, chairman of MBank of Houston, one of the largest member banks owned by Dallas-based MCorp. James Sexton, a banking consultant since he left the position of Texas banking commissioner last year, predicted that about 66 Texas banks would fail in 1987, up from 26 in 1986.