BANKING

Easing of S&L; Capital Rules Urged: Senior members of the House Banking Committee advocated relaxing one of the key reforms of the 1989 savings and loan bailout law. Reps. John LaFalce (D-N.Y.), Doug Barnard (D-Ga.), Bill McCollum (R-Fla.) and Floyd Flake (D-N.Y.) said they favored giving thrifts holding roughly half of the industry’s assets more time to meet capital standards enacted two years ago. The relaxation is needed, they argued, to prevent some otherwise viable institutions from failing and to encourage S&Ls; to make more loans, easing the credit crunch holding back the economic recovery.