U.S. Bancorp yesterday reported credit and debit card revenue of $258 million for the first quarter ended March 31, up 0.8% from $256 million during the same period last year.
The Minneapolis-based issuer’s net credit card charge-off rate was 7.73%, up 141 basis points from 6.32% a year ago.
Revenue from corporate payment products was up 9.1%, to $168 million from $154 million. Merchant-processing services revenue totaled $292 million, up 13.2% from $258 million, while revenue from ATM-processing services totaled $105 million, up 2.9% from $102 million.
“The particular area of strength was our payments group,” Andrew Cecere, U.S. Bancorp vice chairman and chief financial officer said today during a conference with analysts. The group includes credit and debit cards, corporate payment products and ATM-processing services.
As a company, U.S. Bancorp reported $669 million in net income for the quarter, up 26.5% from $529 million a year earlier. Net revenue totaled $4.3 billion, up 10.3% from $3.9 billion.
The bank’s first quarter earnings of 34 cents per diluted common share were approximately 42% higher than a year ago, Richard Davis, the bank’s chairman, president and CEO, noted in a news release. Overall, first quarter earnings “were driven by solid year-over-year growth in total net revenue, moderating credit costs and ongoing operational efficiency,” he said.
