Commercial lending rises 16% at Wintrust

Loan growth, especially on the commercial side, as well as interest rate trends and noninterest-income gains led to a double-digit increase in profits at Wintrust Financial in Rosemont, Ill.

Net income increased 40% from a year earlier to $82 million at the $28.5 billion-asset bank. Earnings per share totaled $1.40, beating the mean estimate of analysts tracked by FactSet Research Systems by 12 basis points.

Ed Wehmer, CEO of Wintrust Financial.

Total loans increased 11% to $22 billion. Wintrust CEO Edward Wehmer highlighted "strong growth" in commercial lending, which rose 16% to $7.1 billion.

Net interest income increased 17% to $225 million, and the net interest margin expanded 18 basis points to 3.54%.

"We remain well positioned for expected rising rates in the future," Wehmer said in a news release Monday. "Our loan pipelines remain consistently strong."

Meanwhile, noninterest income increased 25% to $85.7 million. That included a 41% increase in mortgage banking revenue thanks to a positive fair value adjustment and the acquisition of Veterans First Mortgage in Salt Lake City.

Noninterest expenses increased 15.5% to $194.3 million and included increased costs in marketing and advertising expenses, professional fees and negative valuation adjustments and losses on other real estate owned properties.

Total deposits increased 7% to $23.3 billion.

Nonperforming loans totaled $89.7 million, compared with $79 million a year earlier, and represented about 0.41% of total loans. Net charge-offs increased to $6.7 million, from $1.6 million in the comparable period last year.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Commercial lending Consumer banking Earnings Net interest margin
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER