New York Community Bancorp, Inc. Reports 4th Quarter 2007 Diluted Cash Earnings Per Share of $0.25 and Diluted GAAP and Operating Earnings Per Share of $0.21

Business Wire, Jan 29, 2008

The average balance of non-interest bearing deposits was $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, reflecting a $31.9 million increase from the trailing-quarter level and a year-over-year increase of $131.5 million.

Notwithstanding the linked-quarter and year-over-year reductions in prepayment penalty income, the Company's net interest margin equaled 2.36% in the current fourth quarter, as compared to 2.41% and 2.27%, respectively, in the trailing and year-earlier three months. Excluding the impact of prepayment penalties totaling $4.5 million, $17.1 million, and $8.7 million on the respective measures, the Company's fourth quarter 2007 net interest margin would have risen to 2.29% from 2.15% in the three months ended September 30, 2007 and from 2.13% in the three months ended December 31, 2006. Because prepayment penalty income may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter, depending on the perceived direction of market interest rates and the volume of multi-family and commercial real estate loans approaching their contractual repricing dates, among other factors, management believes that it is useful to calculate the Company's net interest margin excluding the impact of prepayment penalties.

Non-interest Income

The Company recorded non-interest income of $26.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, as compared to $22.7 million in the year-earlier quarter and $84.4 million in the trailing three-month period. In the third quarter of 2007, the Company's non-interest income was substantially boosted by a $64.9 million gain on the sale of the Company's Atlantic Bank headquarters, which more than offset a $7.3 million loss on the sale of securities during that time. In the fourth quarter of 2006, the Company's non-interest income was reduced by a $1.9 million loss in connection with the early redemption of certain trust preferred securities.

Fee income accounted for $11.0 million of the Company's fourth quarter 2007 non-interest income and was up $422,000 and $915,000, respectively, from the levels recorded in the trailing and year-earlier three months. The increase was attributable to the expansion of the branch network, which resulted in an increase in deposit accounts.

Bank-owned life insurance contributed $6.8 million to non-interest income in the current fourth quarter, as compared to $7.0 million and $6.3 million, respectively, in the third quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2006. Other income accounted for the remaining $8.7 million of fourth quarter 2007 non-interest income, signifying a linked-quarter decrease of $573,000 and a $431,000 increase year-over-year. While revenues from third-party investment product sales rose during the quarter and year-over-year, the impact of the linked-quarter increase was offset by reductions in various other income sources, including revenues generated by the Company's subsidiary investment advisory firm and income from the sale of one-to-four family loans to a third-party conduit.

Non-interest Expense