First Niagara Profit Rises as Bank Readies for HSBC Branches

First Niagara Financial Group's (FNFG) first-quarter profit rose, as the bank boosted its commercial lending and picked up more checking account customers.

The Buffalo, N.Y., bank said Thursday that net income available to common shareholders rose 22% to $54.8 million, or 16 cents per share. That compared to year-ago profit of $44.9 million, or 22 cents per share.

First Niagara's operating earnings per share were 19 cents, excluding the impact of carrying costs to fund its merger activity. The bank agreed last summer to buy 195 branches from HSBC (HBC) for $1 billion. (It later agreed to sell 64 branches to three other banks.)

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the HSBC deal earlier this month, and First Niagara said in its earnings statement on Thursday that the acquisition "is on-track for a successful completion and conversion the weekend of May 18."

Chief Executive John R. Koelmel said in the statement that the bank is preparing "to put First Niagara's successful model to work on an even greater scale when we complete and convert the HSBC branch transaction."

Net revenue grew about 39% to $312.3 million in the first quarter from a year earlier. The bank saw a 36% year-over-year increase in the number of new checking accounts its customers opened during the first quarter. Commercial loan growth also helped; First Niagara ended the quarter with $10.5 billion in total commercial loans, up almost 45% from a year earlier.