Old Doral Assets Producing for Popular

A decline in expenses and a modest rise in lending income boosted first-quarter profit at Popular in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Net income rose 14% from a year earlier to $84 million, the $36 billion-asset company said in a news release Monday.

Popular in February 2015 acquired $4 billion in deposits and $3.25 billion in assets from the failed Doral Bank in Puerto Rico. Popular took over eight of Doral’s 26 branches, and the rest were acquired by other banks.

Net interest income after the provision for loan losses rose 1% to $308 million. The provision rose 61% to $48 million. The net interest margin narrowed 14 basis points to 4.43%.

Loans not covered by loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. rose 7% to $22.5 billion.

Noninterest income fell 3% to $112 million. Popular’s line item for its FDIC loss-share agreement swung to a $3.1 million expense compared with $4.1 million in income year ago. Lower mortgage banking revenue also contributed to the noninterest income decline.

Noninterest expense fell 3% to $302 million. Popular benefited from a favorable comparison, as it had recorded $11 million in restructuring expense in the year-earlier quarter and no restructuring costs this year. Also, Popular's foreclosure expenses fell to $9 million from $23 million.

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