P.M. BRIEFING : Bank Earnings Up in 1st Quarter
Earnings at the nation’s 12,588 commercial banks bounced back in the first three months of 1990 after two soft quarters, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said today.
Despite heavy losses on real estate loans in the Northeast, banks overall earned $6.2 billion in the January-March period. That was a substantial improvement over profits of $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 1989 and a loss of $700 million in the third quarter.
But first-quarter earnings were still down 15% from the record $7.3 billion during the same period a year ago.
L. William Seidman, chairman of the FDIC, which insures bank deposits, said the relatively good performance should continue this year.
“We don’t see any precipitous change up or down,” he said.
While overall results are good, Seidman noted that banks in a growing number of states are experiencing problems with real estate loans.
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