SunTrust’s yields have improved as it has increased its credit-card and student lending and made more online personal loans through its LightStream subsidiary.
Net income for the Oregon regional bank was $61.3 million, a slight decline from the same quarter last year. It earned 28 cents per share and fell short of analysts’ expectations,
Total loans fell 1.6% at the North Carolina-based regional bank, which has been scaling back in key segments such as residential mortgages and auto. Wider margins offset that reduction, but earnings were flat and revenue growth small.
Net interest margin widened 12 basis points, too. Those lending results offset a decline in fee income at the Minneapolis company, which saw earnings rise 4%.
Wells Fargo took a surprise $1 billion charge in the quarter for previously disclosed pre-crisis, mortgage-related regulatory investigations. It contributed to a 19% fall in profits.
The Tennessee bank said it has bought Professional Mortgage in Greenville, S.C., which services about $1.1 billion of commercial mortgage loans for 23 correspondent life company lenders.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in part to ensure that nonbanks are subject to federal oversight, but the fact is that 99% of banks are exempt from CFPB supervision.
