Thrift Industry Shows Healthy SecondQuarter

WASHINGTON - (08/20/04) The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)announced today that the nation's thrift industry turned in anotherquarter of healthy earnings, profitability and asset quality aswell as solid loan growth. Industry earnings reached $3.38 billionin the second quarter of 2004, up from $3.34 billion in the priorquarter. This marked the seventh quarter that income topped the $3billion mark. Profitability, as measured by return on averageassets (ROA), reached 1.16 percent in the second quarter, modestlydown from 1.19 percent in the first quarter. In the second quarter,total mortgage originations for the thrift industry were $203billion, up sharply from $149 billion in the first quarter of 2004but down slightly from $215 billion in second quarter2003.