WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. bank profits rose 5.2 percent in the third quarter of 2017 from a year earlier, due to relatively strong growth in net interest income, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said on Tuesday.
The net income of commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the FDIC amounted to 47.9 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter of the year, up 2.4 billion dollars from the same period last year, the FDIC said, noting the increase in earnings was mainly attributable to a rise of 8.8-billion-dollar net interest income.
Of the 5,737 insured institutions reporting third quarter financial results, 67.3 percent reported year-over-year growth in quarterly earnings. The proportion of banks that were unprofitable in the third quarter fell to 3.9 percent from 4.6 percent a year earlier, according to the FDIC.
Meanwhile, The FDIC's Problem Bank List fell from 105 to 104 during the third quarter, the smallest number of problem banks since the first quarter of 2008.
"While the quarterly results were largely favorable, the industry continued to see a gradual slowdown in the annual rate of loan growth," said FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg, adding "it appears to be more a function of the demand for credit rather than the supply."
Gruenberg also noted that the operating environment for banks remains challenging.
"An extended period of low interest rates and an increasingly competitive lending environment have led some institutions to reach for yield. This has led to heightened exposure to interest-rate risk, liquidity risk, and credit risk," he said, warning these risks must be managed prudently for the industry to continue to grow on a long-run and sustainable path.
