March 27, 1984

In a move that signals a go-ahead for regional banking pacts across the United States, the Federal Reserve Board yesterday approved interstate mergers involving two sets of banks in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The proposed mergers are based on laws recently enacted by the two states allowing their banks to merge with others in New England but not with banks elsewhere. Major banks in New York have bitterly opposed regional banking agreements between states, which have the effect of excluding entry by big-city banks. Citicorp has even filed a lawsuit charging that such agreements are unconstitutional on the ground that they discriminate against banks merely because they are based in a particular state.

Bank regulators, in the face of opposition by the Treasury, the Justice Department and large segments of the financial community, acted today to restrict Federal insurance coverage of deposits placed by brokers in the nation's 18,000 federally insured banking institutions. But the regulators, responding to industry complaints, modified their original mid-January proposal to soften the impact. The Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which regulates savings and loan associations, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which regulates commercial and savings banks, approved identical regulations today on brokered deposits. Plan Begins Oct. 1 These changes, effective Oct. 1, will end Federal insurance for all but the first $100,000 deposited by a broker in a single thrift institution or bank. A broker will often break up very large deposits in one bank into individual accounts of $100,000 or less in order to have them covered by Federal insurance.

The Calendar column of the Washington Talk page yesterday incorrectly listed the announcement date for the formation of a Coalition for the Peaceful Uses of Space. The meeting will be held Wednesday at 9:30 A.M. in Room 2325 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

The moderate Christian Democrats and the rightist Nationalist Republican Alliance were leading today in returns from El Salvador's presidential election, according to Salvadoran and United States officials. However, the officials said a runoff election in April or May would probably be necessary because neither the Christian Democratic candidate, Jose Napoleon Duarte, nor Roberto d'Aubuisson, the Nationalist Republican Alliance candidate, appeared likely to win more than 50 percent of the votes. No party seemed ready to challenge the election, despite a voter turnout that officials said had been reduced by some guerrilla disruptions and major confusion about how the new voting system worked. Duarte Said to Be Leading Official returns were not available late today. The United States Ambassador, Thomas R. Pickering, said reports he had received from the different parties indicated that Mr. Duarte had won more than 40 percent of the vote, Mr. d'Aubuisson nearly 30 percent, and Francisco Jose Guerrero, the National Conciliation Party candidate, nearly 20 percent.

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is expected to announce its long-awaited entry into the computer business at a news conference scheduled for today. A.T.& T. is expected to introduce several versions of its 3B line of computers, some of which are already being sold to the Bell operating companies, which were part of A.T.& T. until the Jan. 1 divestiture. Analysts said A.T.& T. would not plunge immediately into the highly competitive personal computer market, but would start with more expensive multi-user microcomputers and minicomputers selling for $10,000 to several hundred thousand dollars. The stock prices of minicomputer companies plummeted yesterday in response to the announcement of the news conference. Hardest hit was Digital Equipment, which fell $2.875, to $87.50, in active trading. Trading in Digital was halted late yesterday.