Business Notes SAVINGS INSTITUTIONS

It takes less than usual to spark testiness in Texas these days, especially on the subject of the state's beleaguered savings and loan industry. Last week Governor Bill Clements got into a shooting match when he described the Government's system for regulating thrift institutions as an "absolute fraud." Concerned that U.S. funds are insufficient to protect deposits at Texas' 49 insolvent thrifts, Clements contended that the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation might be able to reimburse depositors in failed institutions to the tune of only 30 cents on the dollar, along with a Government IOU for the rest. The Governor's remark drew a sharp rebuke from Washington, where thrift regulators rushed to reassure depositors that their money would always be insured for the full $100,000 guaranteed by the FSLIC. "I can't state it emphatically enough, that the FSLIC does not, has not, nor will it ever pay anything less," said M. Danny Wall, who heads the thrift regulatory system.

At the same time, federal banking officials are readying a rescue mission for an ailing Texas bank, Houston-based First City Bancorporation (assets: $12.2 billion), which has lost more than $500 million in the past year and a half. The Government is expected to commit as much as $1 billion to guarantee the bank's loans as part of a plan in which a group of outside investors would take over the troubled institution.