BANKING & FINANCE - Nov. 3, 1992

N.J. Bank Boosts Prime Rate: First Fidelity Bancorp. of Lawrenceville, N.J., increased its prime lending rate by one-half percentage point to 6%, less than a month after lowering it. First Fidelity, a large regional interstate bank with 584 branches in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, had cut the rate to 5.5% on Oct. 2, apparently in anticipation that the Federal Reserve would lower its key rates. That never happened, and no other major bank followed suit. Richard Hoey, chief economist at the investment company Dreyfus Corp., said First Fidelity took a gamble and lost.