Southwest Bancorp of Stillwater, Okla., said Monday that its fourth-quarter net income fell 8% from a year earlier, to $4.6 million.
The $2.1 billion-asset company said loans rose 6%, to $1.33 billion, and deposits rose 11%, to $1.66 billion. But income tax and noninterest expenses also rose; operating expenses for the three months were up 10% year over year, to $13.2 million.
For the year Southwest reported record net income of $21 million, up 13%.
Nonperforming assets were $23.6 million on Dec. 31, or 1.36% of loans over all, compared with $23.2 million and 1.43% a year earlier.
Rick Green, Southwest’s president and chief executive, said in a press release: “Much of our business is commercial lending. As a result, weakness in one or a few large credits can have a significant impact on our nonperforming loan totals. Through the years, however, we have demonstrated the ability to resolve problem commercial loans.”
Southwest had said in December that it would post fourth-quarter net income of $4.4 million to $4.8 million.
