USB US Bancorp

By Allison Prang 

Profit at U.S. Bancorp, one of the country's largest regional lenders, rose in the second quarter helped by higher revenue.

U.S. Bancorp, based in Minneapolis, reported a profit of $1.82 billion, up 4.1% from a year earlier. Earnings were $1.09 a share, up from $1.02 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $1.07 a share.

Net revenue rose 3.2% to $5.82 billion. Analysts were expecting $5.73 billion in revenue.

Net interest income, or the difference between what a bank makes from loans or investments and the interest paid to depositors, climbed partly because of the company's loan growth and loan mix, U.S. Bancorp said.

The bank said those gains were in part hurt by higher deposit rates and a flatter yield curve. The yield curve is the difference between short-term and long-term yields.

Net interest margin, a profitability metric for banks, was 3.13%, unchanged from the comparable quarter a year earlier. It was down three basis points from the first quarter of this year.

U.S. Bancorp's results come after Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported results this week. Consumer-focused businesses helped push profits at many of those banks higher.

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates, which would put pressure on bank earnings. Higher rates let banks charge more in interest, which helps them bring in more money.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2019 07:44 ET (11:44 GMT)

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