New York Community Beats Estimates, Stays Under SIFI Cutoff

New York Community Bancorp in Westbury reported a modest increase in quarterly profit that included asset sales.

The company also managed to remain just below the $50 billion-asset threshold for being designated as systemically important.

New York Community reported Wednesday that its second-quarter profit rose 4% from a year earlier, to $123.7 million. Earnings per share of 28 cents topped the average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg by 2 cents.

The company's assets totaled $48.6 billion at June 30. Chief Executive Joe Ficalora has said he intends to stay below $50 billion until he can cross it with a significant acquisition. The company has been selling loans since the third quarter of last year to keep its assets in check.

Ficalora noted during a conference call to discuss quarterly results that, in order to be deemed systemically important, New York Community would have to top $50 billion in assets for four straight quarters. He added that it is unlikely to top $50 billion in assets until mid-2016.

In the second quarter, net interest income increased by less than 1%, to $285.1 million, as slightly higher loan volume made up for a net interest margin that contracted by 2 basis points, to 2.63%. New York Community recovered $1.9 million of previously written off loans, compared to no recovery or loan-loss provision a year earlier.

Noninterest income increased by 18%, to $61.9 million, including a $7.8 billion gain on the sale of a previously foreclosed multifamily building. New York Community also had a 4% increase in mortgage-banking income, to $16 million.

Noninterest expense rose by 3%, to $152 million on higher compensation and occupancy costs.

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