KEATING BLAMES REGULATORS FOR WOES OF THRIFTS.(Business)

Byline: Gregory A. Robb New York Times

Charles H. Keating Jr. testified Monday that the savings and loan crisis and the collapse of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which he had headed, resulted from a regulatory system that failed to anticipate the effects of deregulation in the early 1980s.

Lincoln was taken over by the government almost a year ago and the cost to the government may evenutally be more than $2 billion, making it the costliest of the 600 failed institutions.

Keating, Lincoln and its parent, American Continental Corp., have sued the government to reverse the takeover.

In the first day of what is expected to be four …