UPDATE 1-Fortress cancels third-quarter dividend

NEW YORK, June 24 (Reuters) - Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG.N), the private equity and hedge fund firm hard hit by the credit crunch, said on Wednesday it would not pay a quarterly dividend for at least the third time in a year.

"The board elected to retain capital for potential future investment opportunities and for working capital purposes," the New York-based firm said in a statement.

The two-sentence news release echoed its decisions to suspend payouts for the third and fourth quarters of last year. Last fall, Fortress said it was focused on potential investments in banks, insurers and asset managers.

Fortress, which went public in 2007 when markets were still frothy, by last August warned it might stop paying a dividend to conserve capital. In March, Fortress reported a quarterly loss that widened fourfold, driven by writedowns and customer redemptions. (Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone; editing by Andre Grenon)