Banks Earn $5 Billion in 3 Months

WASHINGTON — U.S. banks earned $5 billion in 1988’s first three months and would have had record profitability were it not for a $1.5-billion loss reported by a single Texas firm, First RepublicBank Corp., regulators said today.

“In general, banking did well in the first quarter, returning to normal levels of earnings,” William Seidman, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told reporters. Southwest banks showed some improvement, but that region, hard hit by the troubled energy and farm sectors, will continue to suffer financially, Seidman said, predicting that this year will be the worst for Texas banks in FDIC history.