Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC) in Green Bay, Wis., announced second-quarter earnings of $47 million, up 12% from a year earlier thanks to higher net interest income and mortgage banking revenue.
The $24 billion-asset company's profit equaled 28 cents per share, beating analysts' consensus by 2 cents.
Associated's net interest income for the quarter was $160 million, up 3.9% from a year earlier, the company said in its report Thursday. The increase was tempered by a $4 million provision for loan losses, compared with no provision in the second quarter of 2012.
Loan balances expanded 2% from the first quarter, to $15.7 billion, while its net interest margin decreased one basis point to 3.16%.
Noninterest income was $84.3 million, up 10.5% from a year earlier. The fee income included mortgage banking revenues of $19.3 million, up 15% from a year earlier. Insurance commissions fell 25% to $9.6 million. The company said the decline was related to a $3 million reserve related to third-party insurance products sold in prior years.
Expenses totaled nearly $170 million, up 2.4% from a year earlier, including increases in personnel expense (6.4%), equipment costs (13%) and spending on data processing (11.9%). Those increases were largely offset by a 47% reduction in foreclosure expenses.
