S&L; ’89 Red Ink Hits Record $19.2 Billion : Thift industry: Most losses occurred in institutions already taken over or targeted for government takeover.

The nation’s savings and loans lost $19.2 billion in 1989, the worst performance ever and the third consecutive record, the government said today.

With a $6.5-billion loss in the final three months of the year, red ink for all of 1989 easily topped the previous record of $13.4 billion in 1988. That had topped what was then a record of $7.8 billion in 1987.

But James Freund, acting chief economist of the Office of Thrift Supervision, offered a glimmer of hope for this year, pointing out that the bulk of the losses occurred at institutions either taken over by the government or targeted for takeover.

“I would presume by this time next year . . . the industry would be smaller and the losses would be smaller,” he said.

In the fourth quarter, for instance, the 485 institutions either under government control or targeted for government control compiled all the industry’s losses while the rest of the industry, 2,393 S&Ls;, actually posted a slight profit of $28 million.

The government’s numbers also revealed the cost of the government’s slow start in shutting down failed institutions. Losses on operations for the 485 totaled $2.6 billion in the October-December period--an average loss of $29 million a day.

Once these institutions are shut down or sold, the industry will no longer have to absorb that continuing expense. Since August, the government has disposed of 52 S&Ls; and announced plans recently to close or sell another 140 by the end of June.

Thrift industry deposits totaled $946 billion at the end of 1989, down $26 billion from a year earlier. Most of the shrinkage occurred as institutions sold off assets in order to meet tough new financial standards enacted last August.

The number of institutions open--both failed and solvent--totaled 2,878, down from 2,949 a year ago and from a peak of 3,246 in 1985.

“1989 was clearly a year of substantial change and retrenchment for the thrift industry,” Freund said.