U.S. Bancorp Logs Wider 2Q Profit as Economy Improves

By Matt Grossman

U.S. Bancorp on Thursday logged a larger profit in the latest quarter as it reclaimed funds it had set aside for credit losses amid the coronavirus pandemic's economic uncertainty.

The Minneapolis-based bank company, the parent of U.S. Bank, logged earnings per share of $1.28, compared with 41 cents in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting earnings of $1.14 a share. Net income attributable to shareholders was $1.91 billion, up from $614 million 12 months earlier.

Net interest income was lower at $3.16 billion, compared with $3.22 billion a year ago. Fee-based noninterest income rose to $2.62 billion, from $2.61 billion in 2020's second quarter.

Analysts had forecast net interest income of $3.12 billion, and noninterest income of $2.5 billion

U.S. Bancorp reclaimed $170 million in provisions for credit losses. In last year's second quarter, it had provisioned $1.74 billion for credit losses amid the worsening economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Amid a stretch of low interest rates, the bank's net interest margin fell to 2.53%. A year ago, it was 2.62%.

Deposits rose 6.4%, to $429.21 billion. Total loans declined 7.5%, to $294.28 billion.

Credit- and debit-card revenue and merchant-processing revenue both rose by about 40% year over year as the pandemic eased.

Write to Matt Grossman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 15, 2021 07:26 ET (11:26 GMT)

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