Brown Deer-based Bank Mutual Corp. on Wednesday reported first quarter net income of $3.6 million, or 8 cents per share, up 25 percent from net income of $2.8 million, or 6 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2014.
The company attributed the increase to a recovery of loan losses in the quarter, higher brokerage and insurance commissions compared to the first quarter of 2014, higher mortgage banking revenue and lower income tax expense. Bank Mutual did, however, report higher compensation-related costs, higher occupancy, equipment and data processing costs, and a loss on investment real estate.
Bank Mutual reported $2.4 billion in total assets in the first quarter, up from $2.3 billion in total assets in the same period a year ago.
Net interest income was $17.2 million in the quarter, up slightly from $17.1 million in the first quarter of 2014. Non-interest income totaled $5.5 million, up from $4.9 million in the same period a year ago, driven by higher brokerage and insurance commissions.
“As we expected, continued improvement in the credit quality of our loan portfolio resulted in a recovery of loan loss allowance in the first quarter of 2015,” said David Baumgarten, president and chief executive officer of Bank Mutual. “Also in line with our expectations was lower year-over-year growth in our net interest income, due to an anticipated contraction in our net interest margin. The impact of this development was offset by year-over-year growth in our loan portfolio, which we believe will continue in the near future and which should enable us to show improvement in our net interest income in future quarters regardless of a possible contraction in margin.”
