Community bank net income increases in Q3  

Community banks reported a 9.9% third-quarter increase in net income from the previous quarter and a 21.7% increase from the previous year, according to the FDIC’s latest Quarterly Banking Profile.  

Key Drivers: Higher net interest income (up 4.1%) and higher noninterest income (up 7.1%) more than offset higher noninterest expense (up 1.7%). 

Additional Data: For the third quarter, community banks reported:     

• The pretax return on assets ratio increased 13 basis points from the previous quarter and 25 basis points from one year earlier to 1.46%.  

• The net interest margin increased 10 basis points from the previous quarter and 37 basis points year-over-year to 3.73%.  

• Net operating revenue increased 4.7% quarter-over-quarter due to increases in net interest income and noninterest income.  

• Noninterest expense increased 1.7% from the previous quarter and 7.9% from a year ago.  

• Quarterly provision expense was down 0.5% from the second quarter but up 33.1% from a year earlier.  

• Unrealized losses on securities decreased 18.8% from the previous quarter and 11.1% from the previous year.  

• Total assets increased 1.6% quarter-over-quarter and 4.1% year-over-year. 

• Loan and lease balances grew 1.3% from the previous quarter and 5.2% from the prior year, and the quarterly loan growth was broad-based across all major portfolios except auto loans and credit card loans. 

• Deposits increased 1.6% from the previous quarter and 5.1% from a year ago.  

Overall Industry: The overall banking industry reported a 13.5% increase in net income from the previous quarter, driven by lower provision expense (down 30.7%) and higher net interest income (up 4.2%), which were offset by higher income taxes (up 30.1%) and higher noninterest expense (up 1.9%).  

Deposit Insurance Fund: The Deposit Insurance Fund balance increased $4.8 billion to $150.1 billion, while the reserve ratio increased four basis points during the quarter to 1.40%.  

Mergers and Closings: In the quarter, the total number of FDIC-insured institutions declined by 42 to 4,379. Four banks were sold to non-FDIC-insured institutions, and 38 institutions merged or consolidated.