Gold Coast Bank income jumps in second quarter

Higher net interest income and the absence of severance costs allowed private Gold Coast Bank to report soaring second quarter net income Thursday.

The Islandia-based, five-branch bank said it earned $206,000 or 7 cents a share in the three months ended June 30, up from $5,000 and 0 cents per share a year earlier. The year-earlier quarter included $278,000 in severance expense but also included a gain of $39,000 on the sale of securities.

Net interest income, the difference between the revenue generated from a bank's assets and the expenses associated with liabilities, rose by 21 percent in the quarter from a year earlier to $2.1 million on an increase in average interest-bearing assets. That gain was partly offset by a decrease in net interest margin, a measure of the difference between the interest a bank earns on its assets such as loans and the interest it pays out to depositors.

Gold Coast said deposits at June 30 totaled $295 million, up 43 percent from a year earlier.

Total assets were $325 million at the end of the second quarter, up 25 percent from a year earlier.

Outstanding loans totaled $234 million, up 21 percent from a year earlier.