GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, asked the General Accounting Office, the federal government’s investigatory agency, to determine whether insider loans to favored customers contributed to the collapse of the Bank of New England. The Michigan Democrat said he would delay confirmation hearings of the Bush Administration’s top banking regulator until the GAO probe is completed. Testimony already received by the Senate panel indicated that before its collapse in January, the Boston-based bank gave preferential loans to insiders, including executives with businesses that were major bank customers. Riegle said the full extent of any lending favoritism must be brought to light along with reasons why federal regulators were so slow in detecting trouble.