INDIANAPOLIS First Internet Bank of Indiana announced that it had two straight profitable quarters, as loan volume grew and overhead expenses shrank.
In spite of the fact that several Internet banks have been sold or absorbed into a parent companys operations, First IB demonstrates that Internet-only banking remains a solid business proposition, said David B. Becker, the chairman and chief executive, in a prepared statement last week. Competitors such as CompuBank of Houston, which was bought this year by NetBank Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga., and WingspanBank.com, which in June was folded into the bankone.com brand operated by its parent, Bank One Corp. of Chicago, have disappeared as independent players.
The privately owned Indianapolis bank reported a profit of $151,260 for the second quarter and of $299,901 for the first half. The state-chartered First Internet Bank said it lost $2.3 million in the first six months of 2000 but gave no quarterly comparison.
For the latest six months, $253,482 of the profit came from gains on the sale of investments, the income statement showed. Of this, $10,780 came in the second quarter.
Noninterest expense declined to $2.3 million in the first half of 2001, from almost $4 million a year earlier. The loan portfolio, net of reserves, almost doubled, to $100 million at June 30, from $56 million a year earlier, and total assets grew 25%, to $235.5 million.
