Whitney Holding Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings rose 13% from a year earlier, to $27 million.
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Full-year earnings fell 1%, to $97.1 million, the $8.1 billion-asset New Orleans company said Wednesday.
Whitney said the fourth-quarter earnings increase was caused primarily by a 15% jump in interest income, to $98 million.
A healthy net interest margin aided this growth, Whitney said; the fourth-quarter margin rose 20 basis points up from a year earlier and 17 basis points from the third quarter, to 4.63%.
Also, the August acquisition of Madison Bank in Tampa increased Whitney's loan book by $190 million. Noninterest income fell 5% from a year earlier, to $20 million.
