U.S. Bank Loans Rose 1.2% in 2d Quarter

The Federal Reserve Board said Wednesday that foreign borrowers owed U.S. banks $487.5 billion in the second quarter, nearly $10 billion more than in the first quarter.

U.S. banks, however, reduced their exposure to Russian borrowers to $6.1 billion, a $700 million decrease from the first quarter, the Fed said in its country exposure lending survey.

The data covers the period before Russia devalued its currency.

Credit to countries in Asia also was curtailed. U.S. banks were owed $40.5 billion in the second quarter from borrowers in the region, down $4 billion from the first quarter. Most of the reduction occurred in lending to Korean and Indonesia borrowers.

Lending to the G-10 countries-which includes much of Western Europe, Japan, and Canada-rose to $268 billion, an $11 billion increase from the first quarter.

U.S. banks also increased lending in the non-G-10 developed countries, which includes Australia, Greece, Ireland, and South Africa. Borrowers in these countries owed $64 billion in the second quarter, up $3 billion from the first quarter.

The six money-center banks-BankAmerica Corp., Bankers Trust Corp., Chase Manhattan Corp., Citicorp, First Chicago NBD Corp., and J.P. Morgan & Co.- were owed $371.6 billion at June 30. They had $5.6 billion in exposure to Russia, $3.2 billion to Indonesia, and $3 billion to Thailand. These figures do not account for mergers that occurred after the second quarter. The Fed does not release data for individual banks.

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