The summer 2005 version of the FDIC's quarterly Nevada State Profile indicated that, compared with commercial real estate, residential real estate is a relatively small percentage of the loan portfolios of banks doing business in the state.

Concerns have been raised that many homeowners nationwide are more frequently turning to adjustable-rate and interest-only mortgage products in order to get into homes as prices appreciate rapidly. Recently, Nevada mortgage commissioner Scott Bice said problems could arise when these loans begin to adjust to higher interest rates.

That is particularly disconcerting since Nevada's income levels have not kept pace with housing costs.

Since the fourth quarter of 2003, FDIC statistics showed double-digit, year-over-year housing appreciation rates in Nevada, with the biggest gain coming with a 37 percent year-over-year jump in the third quarter of 2004. During that time, however, the greatest gain in per capita personal income came with a jump of 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004.

But Steven Fritts, the FDIC's associate director of supervision and consumer protection, said that the continued gain in jobs would prevent a housing downturn.

"As long as we have good job growth and population stability, we don't tend to see significant dips in values," he said. "As long as the fundamental economics are there we should be fine, and they are."

In other good news for banks, the FDIC report also pointed to declining year-over-year vacancy rates in the Las Vegas office, industrial and multifamily real estate markets. The report also indicated corresponding rent increases in most property types.

At the end of the year's first quarter, the FDIC said that the state's 38 banks reported $56 billion in assets. That's up from 36 banks with $50.6 billion in assets for the same year-ago period.

In the same period, past-due loans and loans in nonaccrual status fell to 0.55 percent among the state's institutions. That's down from 0.80 percent a year ago and from 1.63 percent in the same 2003 quarter.

Florida-based Bauer Financial Inc. also reported that none of the state's banks received a rating below 3.5 stars, or good.

Bauer also said that just one Nevada bank, the start-up Toyota Financial Savings Bank in Henderson, was unprofitable in the first quarter. Toyota Financial, Bauer said, lost about $425,000 in the quarter.

More on fraud

Phishing is still good in the United States, a new study reports.

Despite the many headlines on Internet-based financial fraud, Americans are still falling for the e-mail ruse that uses fake bank logos to ask recipients for account information to "verify" recent transactions and check for possible fraud.

Banks have repeatedly warned customers that they will never ask for verification unless the customer initiates the contact.

Still, a recent study by Javelin Strategy & Research indicates that 10 percent of consumers still click on embedded links in suspicious e-mails.

In 2004, phishing losses totalled roughly $367 million.

The report also outlined a problematic byproduct of phishing in that 29 percent of survey respondents would call their bank to verify the e-mail and another 28 percent would report the phishing attempt either through the call center or online.

"With nearly one-third of customers indicating they would call, contact or otherwise report the receipt of what they believe to be a phishing e-mail, this provides for spikes in call center volume that banks cannot accurately anticipate," the report said.

The report suggested to banks that they inform customers of less-costly online reporting of such events to prevent expensive backups at call centers.

Kevin Rademacher covers utilities and finance for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4069 or by e-mail at kevinr@lasvegassun.com.