BANKS

Estimate of S&L; Cleanup Costs Cut Back: The Congressional Budget Office reduced its estimate of the cost of cleaning up failed savings institutions and banks but warned lawmakers and the Bush Administration against complacency in resolving their stalemate over S&L; funding. Budget Office Director Robert D. Reischauer, in a written statement to the House Banking Committee, said handling losses in failed S&Ls; will cost $135 billion from 1989 through 1998, in addition to the $60 billion spent before 1989. That’s about $20 billion less than the office’s previous estimate. Reischauer attributed the decline to the government’s earlier success in shutting down failed S&Ls; and to the wide gap between deposit and loan rates, which has bolstered S&L; profits.