Nation IN BRIEF : MASSACHUSETTS : Harvard Looking at Purchase of Banks

Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., is considering using part of its $5-billion endowment to buy some or all of five failing New Hampshire banks, the Boston Globe reported. It would be the second time the Harvard endowment has been used to buy a failed bank. Two years ago, the endowment supported the purchase of Texas American Bankshares--now a $5.5-billion company. The New Hampshire banks have a total of about $5 billion in assets, but all are insolvent, except BankEast Corp., in bankruptcy proceedings. The others are Amoskeag Bank Shares, Dartmouth Bancorp, New Hampshire Savings Bank and Numerica Financial Corp. The newspaper cited unidentified sources as saying federal regulators hope to merge the five banks into two institutions.