Connecticut residents and businesses owed $52.4 billion in loans at the end of 2008, but were doing better than most of their peers elsewhere in keeping current on payments, according to the state’s banking commissioner.
Howard Pitkin, whose office regulates state-chartered financial institutions and related businesses, told lawmakers last week that only 1.23 percent of loans issued to Connecticut borrowers were not current at the end of 2008.
He said only seven states — including the other five in New England — fared better, a good indicator both for the state and national banks that hold the loans and for the borrowers repaying them.
The 2009 first-quarter figures and names of the other two states whose residents had stronger repayment records were not immediately available.
However, the figures were less rosy for the state’s pension fund, which State Treasurer Denise Nappier says has lost about 23 percent of its market value since July. The pension fund’s current total value is about $19.4 billion.
The $5.6 billion dip comes as the economic upheaval has damaged investments nationwide. However, Nappier said the pension fund’s unusually high returns in recent years are helping cushion the loss, including a 17.5 percent gain in the 2007 budget year.
“The integrity and the soundness of the pension fund remains intact,’’ she said Monday. “Obviously we have not been immune to the wrath of the financial markets, and so the value of our assets have declined, as have all assets that are invested in the market.’’
The pension fund provides benefits to more than 160,000 state and municipal workers and retirees, including teachers. Nappier said it has no problems meeting its pension payout obligations despite the downturn, and is outperforming long-term expectations.
Nappier and Pitkin appeared last week before the Legislature’s Banks Committee, which requested updates on the pension fund, strength of Connecticut-chartered banks and related financial indicators.
The state, whose credit is considered to be on par with AAA-rated securities, hasn’t had the difficulty that some officials expected in issuing bonds to borrow money for long-term capital projects.
Nor have any Connecticut-chartered banks closed in 2009, a timeframe in which Pitkin says 23 banks failed in other states.
