Wisconsin banks continued their steady improvement in the second quarter, with almost 92% profitable again – the highest level in more than four years, according to the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
The WBA said only 22 of 271 state institutions failed to post a profit in the quarter ended June 30, based on numbers released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
“The data shows what we’ve been saying for a long time now, which is that our banks in this state are improving,” Rose Oswald Poels, president and chief executive of the WBA, said in a press release.
It was the 12th consecutive quarter that earnings had a year-over-year increase nationally. The key factors were that banks were able to set aside less to cover loan losses, and they recorded higher gains on sales of loans.
Oswald Poels also said delinquent loans declined in the quarter compared with the same time last year, a sign that the health of bank customers has been getting better. “Anecdotally, banks are past the point of finding big surprises in their loan portfolios,” she said.
However, she added that loan demand remains slow, especially for commercial loans.
