Iberiabank Corp. of Lafayette, La., said Tuesday that its nonperforming loans surged in the fourth quarter, largely because of weakness in the housing markets served by its Arkansas bank.
The $4.8 billion-asset company said nonperformers jumped 72% from the previous quarter, to $48.2 million. As a result, Iberiabank said, it expects to take a loan-loss provision of $3.6 million for the fourth quarter; it reduced its provision by $1.7 million in the third quarter.
Iberiabank intends to release its fourth-quarter and full-year results Jan. 22
Of the $48.2 million of nonperformers, 85% were made by the $1.5 billion-asset Pulaski Bank and Trust Co. of Little Rock.
Iberiabank entered Arkansas last year, when it bought Pulaski and Pocahontas Bancorp Inc. of Jonesboro in the span of four months and then merged them. The company attributed the surge in nonperformers to "deteriorating conditions" in northwestern Arkansas, Memphis, and the Memphis suburbs of northern Mississippi.
Its primary subsidiary, the $2.5 billion-asset Iberiabank in Lafayette, accounted for almost $7 million of the nonperformers, the company said.
Its shares fell nearly 2.5% in heavy trading Tuesday, to close at $45.04.
