Umpqua Holdings Corp. in Portland, Ore., said Thursday that its fourth-quarter net income fell 61% from a year earlier, to $9.5 million, mainly because of a $17.8 million loan-loss provision related primarily to the slowdown in residential housing construction in its markets.
The $8.3 billion-asset Umpqua said that its provision decreased 13% from the third quarter. However a year earlier the provision was just $125,000.
Nonperforming assets rose more than tenfold from a year earlier, to $98 million, or 1.18% of total assets. Net chargeoffs climbed to $21.2 million, or 1.38% of average loans and leases, compared with $510,000, or 0.04% of average loans and leases, in the fourth quarter of 2006.
Umpqua also said that its fourth-quarter earnings were reduced by 5 cents a share, after taxes, as a result of $5.1 million of pretax expenses related to two Visa Inc. lawsuits against American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services.
