A change in accounting rules and lower...

A change in accounting rules and lower gains on the sales of loans led Mercury Savings & Loan in Huntington Beach to post net income of $1.1 million for the first quarter, down more than two-thirds from $3.6 million earned in last year’s first quarter. Total quarterly income fell 2% to $57 million this year from $58.3 million last year. The S&L;’s assets rose 9% to $2.4 billion at the end of March from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Total deposits increased 11% to $2 billion at the end of the quarter from $1.8 billion a year earlier, while total loans grew 19% to $1.9 billion this year from $1.6 billion last year. The change in accounting requires financial institutions to amortize loan fees over the life of the loans rather than as a lump sum income.