US bank earnings rise 15.8 per cent in Q1 to record $40.3B; lending, interest income fall

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FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, file photo, lights are on at Goldman Sachs\'s headquarters, in New York. The FDIC issues the U.S. banking industry’s financial results for the January-March quarter, on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

WASHINGTON – U.S. banks earned more from January through March than during any quarter on record, buoyed by greater income from fees and fewer losses from bad loans.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says the banking industry earned $40.3 billion in the first quarter, up 15.8 per cent from the $34.8 billion earned in the first quarter of 2012.

Despite record earnings, the report sketched a mixed picture for an industry that is still finding its way five years after the peak of the 2008 financial crisis.

Only about half of U.S. banks reported improved earnings from a year earlier, the lowest proportion since 2009. Bank lending declined after several quarters of increases. And bank profits from interest charged fell to the lowest level in nearly seven years.

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