by Calculated Risk on 2/20/2008 11:45:00 AM

From Bloomberg: U.S. Thrifts Post Record $5.24 Billion Quarterly Loss

U.S. savings and loans posted a record $5.24 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2007 as housing-market distress continued to take a toll, the industry's regulator said.

The loss stemmed from $4.07 billion in ``goodwill'' writedowns and $5.12 billion set aside for anticipated loan losses, the Treasury Department's Office of Thrift Supervision said in releasing industry earnings figures today in Washington.

``Looking forward, I think 2008 is going to be a very difficult year for the industry,'' OTS Director John Reich said.
...
The fourth-quarter loss followed a $656.7 million gain in the preceding three-month period and $3.14 billion of net income in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to the OTS report. Thrifts' net income for 2007 was $2.87 billion, down from $15.85
billion a year earlier, the agency said.

The $5.12 billion in loan-loss provisions surpassed the previous record of $4.2 billion the industry set aside in the second quarter of 1988, the agency said.