Laura Alix

The Tulsa, Okla., company also benefited from higher interest and fee revenue while keeping expenses under control.

The Cincinnati company’s 1Q profits were hurt as it scaled back in key consumer and commercial credits, paid higher severance and saw fee income fall.

Zions beat expectations on several bits of good news, but it reported about $30 million of chargeoffs tied to a single commercial borrower.

Strong gains in low-cost health savings account balances helped fuel loan growth at the Waterbury, Conn., company.

Executives at BB&T, KeyCorp and Citizens are milking commercial lending niches and balancing cost control with new investments while waiting for more rate hikes to fatten margins.

Despite merger-related charges, the Cleveland bank's first-quarter profit climbed 63% as the addition of a million new customers led to strong gains in both interest and fee income.

The New York bank has rapidly expanded its commercial real estate lending over the last several years, but now it is ready to slow down a bit and add more commercial and industrial loans to the mix.

Double-digit growth in earning assets more than offset higher expenses and a decline in the net interest margin.

Loan growth and increased fee income helped offset slightly higher expenses in the first quarter.

The hand-wringing over business lending has overshadowed the fact that consumer lending — particularly for regional banks — has become a strong and steady engine of growth.