EARNINGS : Bank’s Profit Helped by Improved State Economy : Finance: First Interstate Bancorp sees 15% rise in first quarter. Other big banks mixed.

Surging loans and an improved California economy helped First Interstate Bancorp post a profit of $212 million, or $2.66 a share, in the first quarter of 1995, up 15% from $184.1 million, or $2.21 a share, a year ago.

Among other big banks reporting earnings Monday, Chase Manhattan Corp. logged a lower profit than last year but still beat Wall Street’s expectations, while profits for NationsBank Corp., First Chicago Corp. and Bank of New York Co. were stronger for the quarter.

Meanwhile, among savings and loans, Oakland-based Golden West Financial Corp. reported lower profit because of rising interest rates.

“First Interstate’s strong growth in earnings per share and return on equity reflect continued progress toward our overriding goal of increasing shareholder value,” William E.B. Siart, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based banking company, said in a statement.

First Interstate’s real estate mortgage loans jumped $4.8 billion, or 77%, in the first quarter, to an average of $11.1 billion. Total loans and leases averaged $34.6 billion over the quarter, up $8.8 billion, or 34%, from the corresponding period of 1994.

First Interstate’s first-quarter return on equity was a strong 25.8%, compared to 21.9% a year ago.

Credit-quality indicators were strong at First Interstate, where non-performing assets as of March 31 had shrunk 21%, to $262 million, from a year earlier. The company’s reserve for credit losses stood at $921 million, or 2.62% of total loans, at the end of the quarter, compared with $1.01 billion, or 3.73% to total loans, on March 31, 1994.

Golden West Financial, parent of World Savings, announced first-quarter earnings of $50.9 million, or 87 cents a share, compared with $65.3 million, or $1.02 a share, in 1994.

Although the company made $1.8 billion in new loans during the quarter, compared with $1.2 billion a year earlier, earnings shrank because rising interest rates cut into profit margins, Herbert M. Sandler, Golden West chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Chase Manhattan Corp.’s first-quarter profit slid 28% due to losses in Latin American markets, but the results were better than analysts expected. The bank earned $260 million, or $1.29 a share, compared to $364 million, or $1.80 a share, in the 1994 first quarter.

Chase said it sold some of its Third World debt at a loss of $92 million. The securities plunged in value with the Mexican financial crisis that erupted in December.

NationsBank, the country’s fourth-largest bank, earned $443 million, or $1.60 per share, compared to $417 million, or $1.52 per share, last year.

Times wire services contributed to this report.