Strong gains in fee income and healthy net interest margins led Greater Bay Bancorp of Palo Alto, Calif., to another banner quarter.
The $3.7 billion-asset company said Wednesday that net income was $8.3 million, or 45 cents per share, 27% more than a year earlier.
Excluding costs for mergers and other extraordinary items, net income was $14.6 million, or 79 cents per share, up from $9 million, or 52 cents.
Noninterest income from international banking, trust services, and other sources rose 52%, to $4.7 million.
Higher interest rates also helped. The company's net interest margin - 5.61%, up from 5.06% a year earlier - was well above the national average for banks of its size.
Greater Bay is asset sensitive, said Campbell Chaney, an analyst at Sutro & Co. in San Francisco, "so when interest rates go up, they typically will do better on a margin basis." Four-year-old Greater Bay is the holding company for eight community banks in Northern California.
The company completed its seventh acquisition during the second quarter and has two deals pending.
