BANKING & FINANCE - April 27, 1994

Keating Barred From Public Companies: Former Lincoln Savings & Loan operator Charles H. Keating Jr. agreed to be banned permanently from acting as an officer or a director of a publicly held company. Without admitting or denying liability, he settled a civil case in which the Securities and Exchange Commission accused him of insider trading, filing false financial statements and issuing a false press release while he was chairman of the Irvine thrift’s holding company, American Continental Corp. in Phoenix. Lincoln and American Continental collapsed five years ago, the nation’s costliest thrift failure. The settlement has little practical effect because Keating, convicted on state and federal fraud charges and imprisoned, is 71 and won’t be eligible for parole until he is 79.