BB&T Net Rises 6.1%, Helped by Community Banking Segment

   By Josee Rose 
 

BB&T Corp.'s (BBT) fourth-quarter profit rose 6.1%, helped by better results in its community-banking segment and a gain on a sale, as the bank reported lower revenue.

Regional banks like BB&T rely heavily on lending income and have been pressured recently by low interest rates. Any shift in rates can affect how much it costs banks to borrow money and how much they can charge to lend that money to customers. U.S. banks also are grappling with a slow U.S. recovery and a range of new regulations.

BB&T's net interest margin, its profit margin from lending and investing, was 3.56% compared with 3.84% a year earlier and 3.68% in the prior quarter.

Overall, BB&T posted a profit of $537 million, or 75 cents a share, compared with $506 million, or 71 cents a share, a year earlier. Results include a gain of $19 million from the sale of a consumer-lending unit.

Revenue declined 6% to $2.38 billion as net interest income fell 7.7% to $1.4 billion and noninterest income dropped 3.4% to $985 million

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected earnings of 71 cents a share on revenue of $2.37 billion.

The decrease in noninterest income came in large part because of a $131 million decline in mortgage-banking income.

Profit in the company's community-banking segment, by far its largest, increased to $275 million from $212 million in the year-earlier quarter.

"Credit quality improved dramatically in 2013 and fourth-quarter credit metrics continue to be very strong," said Chairman and Chief Executive Kelly King in a prepared statement.

Average loans and leases held for investment totaled $114.8 billion, up 1.1% from a year earlier and down slightly sequentially.

Last month, BB&T reached a deal to buy 21 bank branches in Texas from Citigroup Inc. (C), building on the southeast regional lender's expansion in the Lone Star state.

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