Three LI bank companies report increased earnings

Three locally based banking companies, New York Community Bancorp, First of Long Island and Suffolk Bancorp, Wednesday reported their fourth quarter net incomes rose from a year earlier.

Westbury-based New York Community, the largest bank headquartered on Long Island, said it earned $122.8 million, or 28 cents a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier. The company cited the nationwide origination of one-to-four family home loans for sale.

New York Community had assets of $44.1 billion at the end of last year, up 5 percent from a year earlier.

New York Community Bancorp has two bank subsidiaries: New York Community Bank, a thrift with 240 branches in metropolitan New York and in New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona; and New York Commercial Bank, with 34 branches in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island, and Westchester County.

The Glen Head-based parent of the 35-branch First National Bank of Long Island said earnings in the fourth quarter rose by 6.8 percent to $5.1 million or 56 cents a share.
It cited a decrease in the provision for loan losses and an increase in noninterest income. First of Long Island said total assets at year end were $2.1 billion, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier.

Suffolk Bancorp, the Riverhead-based parent of Suffolk County National Bank, said its net income was $2 million, or 18 cents a share, up 67 percent from a year earlier. It cited an increase in noninterest income from the sale of loans and a reduction in the provision for loan losses last year. Suffolk Bancorp has 30 branches, all in Suffolk County. The company had total assets of $1.6 billion at the end of last year, up nine percent from a year earlier.