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| Headcount, assets and the number of approved thrifts decreased during the latest quarter. But earnings and loans serviced for investors increased.The Office of Thrift Supervision regulated 801 institutions as of March 31, lower than 811 on Dec. 31 and 832 a year earlier, data released today indicated.
Thrifts serviced $776.2 billion in loans for others, higher than $627.4 billion at the end of last year but tumbling from $1,266.9 billion as of March 31, 2008 — before the failure of Washington Mutual Bank. Residential mortgages on the books of OTS-regulated institutions were $577.7 billion at the end of the first quarter, falling from $587.0 billion three months earlier and $835.5 billion 12 months earlier. Included in the March 31 total were $430.1 billion in permanent first mortgages and $32.7 billion in permanent junior liens. Home-equity line-of-credit holdings were $65.7 billion. Thrifts held $153.1 billion in mortgage-backed securities, down from $170.1 billion at the end of the fourth quarter and $203.2 billion on March 31, 2008. Aggregate first-quarter earnings for the sector were $3.2 billion, improving from a $2.3 billion fourth-quarter loss and a $2.8 billion first-quarter 2008 profit. Thrifts employed 153,475 people at the end of March, fewer than 153,651 the prior quarter and well below 223,922 the previous year. |
