Intermountain Community Bancorp of Sandpoint, Idaho, said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 20.9% from a year earlier, to $2.8 million, because of strong growth in fee income and loans.
The company also said Monday that its assets had swollen 14%, topping the $1 billion mark for the first time as of yearend.
Noninterest income rose 10.3%, to $3.4 million, as Intermountain increased some service charges, attracted more customers, and expanded cross-selling. Net interest income rose 6.8%, to $42.6 million, partly because net loans jumped 13.9%, to $756 million.
The net interest margin fell 54 basis points, to 4.97%. The average fourth-quarter margin for commercial banks with $1 billion and $10 billion of assets was 3.90%, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Intermountain's nonperforming loans rose nearly fivefold, to $6.4 million, or 0.84% of net loans. Its provision for loan losses rose 17%, to $668,000.
"Our communities have not experienced the deep challenges faced by other parts of the nation, but our customers and employees have still been impacted," Curt Hecker, Intermountain's chief executive officer, said in a press release.
Full-year net income rose 2.6%, to $9.4 million.
