BANKING

Bank Insurance Fund Deficit Improving: The fund insuring deposits in the nation’s 11,800 banks nearly climbed out of the red last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. At year-end, the FDIC’s Bank Insurance Fund had a deficit of $101 million, compared to a $7.03-billion deficit at the end of 1991. The agency attributed the improvement to favorable interest rate conditions for banks and healthier economic growth generally. Helped by the wide gap between interest rates on deposits and loans, commercial banks earned a record $32.2 billion last year. There were 122 banks with $44.2 billion in assets that failed last year, down from 127 banks with $63.2 billion in assets in 1991.