Word: thrifts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Even in an era of perilously go-go thrifts, the two California savings and loan associations seemed to be looking for trouble. One of them loaned money for energy schemes ranging from windmill farms to cow-manure incineration, while the other served as a whimsical and allegedly fraudulent investment machine for its owner, a former dentist. Last week federal regulators said they would liquidate the two ailing S and Ls, a drastic step for institutions so large. The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp., which guarantees thrift deposits, will spend a record $1.35 billion in cash to pay off insured...
...protect itself from the vicissitudes of a fickle business, Ford has been moving to diversify. Since 1985, it has bought an 80% stake in Hertz (for $1.3 billion); California's First Nationwide Bank ($493 million), the fourth largest U.S. thrift institution; and BDM International ($425 million), a military research firm that will supplement Ford's longtime aerospace expertise. Ford is rumored to be interested in using its $10 billion cash hoard to go after a much larger acquisition, perhaps a company the size of Boeing, Lockheed or Singer...
Still, M. Danny Wall, chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which oversees FSLIC, believes that the thrift spiral is finally ending. His list of the worst-off thrifts has stabilized at 204. Moreover, S and Ls in general are starting to soak up much needed deposits again. During the first two months of this year, thrifts absorbed $10.6 billion in new deposits, compared with an outflow of $3.2 billion during that period last year...
FSLIC is steadily whittling away at the problem cases. Since last August it has closed 13 thrifts and merged 28 others into healthy institutions. Last week regulators began negotiating the sale of one of their most unwieldy cases, California's American Savings & Loan Association, the nation's second largest thrift (assets: $33 billion...
Many savings and loan executives and analysts believe the thrift industry needs an even more aggressive cleanup. But Wall contends that the problems are contained mostly in one region. Says he: "Aside from Texas and the other oil- patch states, there is no question that we are well past the trough." In fact, more than 100 of the 280 or so thrifts in Texas are technically insolvent but still lurching along in business. FSLIC will have to clean up that gulch of insolvency as soon as possible if it hopes to maintain confidence in the thrift industry as a whole...