Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. savings and loans reported the first profit in six quarters as lenders set aside less money for bad loans and collected additional fees from customers, the industry’s regulator said.

Profit of $4 million in the second quarter compares with a $1.62 billion loss in January through March, the first gain since the third quarter of 2007, the Office of Thrift Supervision said today in a quarterly report.

“The industry essentially broke even,” OTS Acting Director John Bowman said in Washington. “Despite some encouraging signs, the industry’s performance remained uneven. The bottom line is that the industry is not out of the woods yet.”

U.S. savings and loans posted cumulative losses of $18.1 billion in the six quarters ended March 31, reflecting declines in the value of real estate tied to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. Eight thrifts have been forced to close, accounting for about 10 percent of 81 bank seizures this year.

The agency said 40 thrifts are considered to have problems, a 29 percent rise from 31 at the end of the first quarter and the highest total since the 1995’s fourth quarter. The companies aren’t identified. Regulators require a lender deemed to have problems to raise capital and improve earnings and liquidity.

Higher net interest margins helped boost profit, the agency said. Loan-loss provisions represented 1.71 percent of average assets in the quarter, down from 1.91 percent in the first quarter and 3.70 percent a year earlier.

Reserves of $4.7 billion, down from $14.1 billion a year earlier, are the sixth-highest and likely to remain elevated until home prices stabilize, employment improves and the inventory of unsold homes declines, the agency said.

Fees Rise

Mortgage loan servicing fees and other charges climbed to $3.53 billion from $3.23 billion in the previous quarter, the agency said.

A fee the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. charged lenders to replenish the fund that insures consumer deposits cut after- tax net income by $325 million, the OTS said.

President Barack Obama in his overhaul of financial regulations has proposed eliminating the OTS and the thrift charter, as the distinction between savings and loans and commercial banks has been erased by market developments. Lawmakers have called the agency a lax regulator.

The OTS, an arm of the Treasury, supervised 794 thrifts with a combined $1.1 trillion in assets at the end of the quarter, down from 801 institutions with assets of $1.22 trillion at the end of the first. Thrifts represent about 10 percent of the U.S. banking industry.

The FDIC, which insures deposits at 8,246 banks, will release its second-quarter report for the U.S. industry tomorrow.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 26, 2009 12:51 EDT