Banks Poised For Record Profits

The nation’s banks are poised to earn a record $50 billion in 1996, a federal regulator said Friday, even though credit card lending is becoming less profitable and delinquencies continue to rise.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the banking system remains strong and vigorous by many measures, with capital levels the highest since 1941.

For the three months ending Sept. 30, banks earned $13.2 billion down, 4.3 percent from second quarter profits of $13.8 billion and down from the all-time record earnings of $13.83 billion in the third quarter of 1995.

FDIC Chairman Ricki Helfer said “bank earnings remain on track to surpass $50 billion in annual earnings for the first time at year end.” The previous annual earning record was $48.8 billion in 1995. Banks earned $38.6 billion for the first nine months of 1996.

This quarter’s earnings dip was due to a one-time, $650 million special assessment to revive the thrift deposit insurance fund.