Liberty today is one of the five largest black-owned financial institutions in the country, offering an array of services from personal accounts, mortgages and small-business loans to credit cards and insurance.

Indecorp Inc. said it had acquired the Drexel Holding Company, creating the nation's largest black-owned financial institution.

Carver Federal Savings Bank in Harlem, the largest black-owned financial institution in the country with $321 million in assets, is the sole savings and loan.

Many have turned inward in the last year, transferring money to black-owned institutions from white-owned banks, seeking out black businesses to repair their automobiles or buy wall-to-wall carpeting.

The three black-owned financial institutions in Los Angeles posted gains in deposits despite the recession, which slowed growth at some other banks.

He declined, however, to identify them or say whether they included black-owned institutions.

Dr. Weston's deep commitment to the community was visible through his leadership of one of Harlem's most prominent churches, founding the nation's largest black-owned financial institution and building housing for thousands.

The acquisition, which will create the country's largest black-owned financial institution, represents the first purchase of a thriving white-owned banking institution by a black-owned one.

Mr. Savage is chairman of the Equitable Capital Management Corporation and former head of Freedom National Bank, a black-owned institution that was closed by regulators in 1990.

CARVER Federal Savings Bank, the largest black-owned financial institution in the country, is coming to Westchester.