Buoyed by strong loan growth, BofI Holding (BOFI) of San Diego reported record earnings of $7.3 million for its fiscal-year third quarter, up 41% from a year earlier.
The $2.3 billion-asset parent of BofI Federal Bank said Thursday that its net income for the first nine months of its fiscal year climbed 35%, to $20 million. The bank's earnings per share for the quarter that ended March 31 totaled 58 cents, beating estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters by six cents.
BofI Federal is primarily an online bank that does business under such brand names as Bank of the Internet USA, UFB Direct and Apartmentbank.
BofI's net interest income rose almost 33%, to $20.3 million, year over year as its average loans grew as its loan portfolio grew by 43% $1.6 billion. This was partially offset by a decrease in the bank's average balance of investment securities
Increased mortgage banking volume led to a 100% rise in noninterest income, to $3.9 million, from the same period a year earlier.
BofI anticipates continued strong growth in its loan portfolio, especially with the planned launch of its mortgage warehouse business during this quarter, Greg Garrabrants, BofI's president and chief executive, said in a news release.
The bank's net interest margin was up one basis point from a year earlier and 12 basis points from the previous quarter, to 3.72%, because of lower funding costs due to increased balances in checking, savings and money market accounts.
These gains were partially offset by a 74% jump in its loan-loss provision, to $2 million, resulting from an increase in chargeoffs of single-family mortgages.
