BANKING & FINANCE - Dec. 15, 1992

Third-Quarter Bank Earnings Spurt: Earnings at nationally chartered banks were up sharply in the third quarter and appeared certain to set a record for the year, the comptroller of the currency said. The 3,647 companies regulated by the comptroller, which include the nation’s biggest banking institutions, earned $4.66 billion in the third quarter, almost $3 billion more than the year-ago period, the agency said. In the first three quarters, national banks have earned $13.03 billion, nearly matching the record set for the whole of 1988 of $13.61 billion. The annualized rate of return on equity for the first nine months of 1992 was 13.25%, up from 7.62% for the same 1991 period.