First Interstate Posts $64.5-Million Profit

First Interstate Bancorp reported a second-quarter profit of $64.5 million, saying it was getting a handle on bad loans and runaway expenses that caused an $80.3-million loss in the same period of 1991.

The Los Angeles banking concern, with 995 offices in 13 Western states, said bad loans and other non-performing assets fell by $270 million, or 18%, from first-quarter levels. Operating expenses were down $74 million from a year earlier, the results of a drastic streamlining.

The earnings at Los Angeles-based First Interstate were the equivalent of 75 cents a share, contrasted with a loss of $1.43 a share during the April-June quarter of 1991.

With its loan portfolio improving, First Interstate set aside less money to cover losses. Its provision for such losses was $88 million in the second quarter, compared to whopping $295 million in the same period a year earlier.