STATE : B of A Posts 33.7% Profit Gain

SAN FRANCISCO — BankAmerica Corp., the nation’s third-largest bank, said today that its third-quarter profits jumped 33.7% due in part to strong growth in consumer and residential mortgage loans and more effective control of expenses.

As many analysts expected, the San Francisco-based bank did not make a large addition to its reserve to cover loan losses to Third World countries, which a number of other large banks have done in the third quarter, leading to large losses.

BankAmerica said profits in the third quarter were $254 million, contrasted with $190 million in the corresponding year-earlier period. Per-share profits rose 19.6% to $1.16 a share from 97 cents in the 1988 third quarter, the bank said.