Record first quarter profits logged

Northwestern Financial Review, Jul 1-Jul 14, 2002

Wider net interest margins at large banks, combined with slow growth in non-interest expenses, helped propel commercial bank profits to a record $21.7 billion in the first quarter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., reported. Banks achieved the record result despite the drag on earnings from rising expenses for loan losses and lower gains on sales of securities.

This is the first time that the industry's quarterly earnings have surpassed $20 billion, and easily eclipses the previous record of $19.8 billion set in the first quarter of 2001. The quarter's ROA of 1.33 percent is the third-largest quarterly ROA ever reported by the industry.