Oct. 25--Earnings reports last week from a handful of small and midsize Western Pennsylvania bank provide a glimpse into the impact two industrywide phenomena are having on their bottom lines: the troubled credit market and efforts to bulk up the federally sponsored deposit insurance program.

Johnstown-based AmeriServ Financial [Ticker: ASRV] posted a third-quarter loss of $2.8 million, or 15 cents per share, reflecting a $3.5 million reserve established for a $10 million restaurant loan that was restructured. AmeriServ said it has reduced payments on the loan for six months to give the borrower time to improve its cash flow. The bank's provision for loan losses totaled $11.4 million for the first nine months of the year vs. $2.3 million for the year-ago period.

"The continued recessionary economy is now clearly impacting our commercial borrowers based in Western Pennsylvania," President and CEO Allan R. Dennison said.

First Commonwealth Financial [FCF] said its nonperforming loans increased $51.9 million during the quarter to $133.8 million, or 2.9 percent of total loans. The Indiana bank reported a third-quarter loss of $3 million, or 4 cents per share.

New additions to First Commonwealth's roster of nonperforming loans include a $38.8 million loan for a Florida condominium development, a $10.8 loan for a landfill in Western Pennsylvania and a $4.9 million loan to a Texas semiconductor manufacturer.

Florida's woes also affected S&T Bancorp [STBA], which nevertheless managed to post a third-quarter profit of $7.7 million, or 28 cents per share. Nonperforming loans totaled $86.5 million, or 2.5 percent of the loans on the books of the Indiana, Pa.-based bank. The list of bad loans includes $16.9 million for three commercial real estate projects in New York and Connecticut and $11.5 million for a mixed-use redevelopment project in Western Pennsylvania.

Third-quarter profits fell 80 percent at FNB Corp. [FNB]. The Hermitage bank's net income of $4.8 million, or 4 cents per share, reflected a $16.5 million charge for loan losses, more than double year-ago levels.

Provisions for loan losses over the first nine months of the year declined 18 percent at ESB Financial [ESBF], which reported third-quarter profits of $3.5 million, or 29 cents per share. The Ellwood City banker reported a 17 percent increase in net income for the first nine months of the year and said results would have been even rosier were it not for the $891,000 special assessment levied by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.