NY Community Bancorp, Suffolk Bancorp report earnings
New York Community Bancorp, the largest banking company based on Long Island, and Suffolk Bancorp, based in Riverhead, both reported higher earnings. Credit: iStock
Separately, Suffolk Bancorp, based in Riverhead, said its net income more than doubled in the first quarter.
New York Community said total assets rose $366.6 million in the quarter from Dec. 31, to $44.5 billion.
The bank said its net interest income fell by 4.6 percent from a year earlier, to $275.2 million, while net interest margin, the difference between interest earned on assets such as loans and what it pays to depositors, dropped to 2.95 percent from 3.24 percent a year earlier.
New York Community operates through two bank subsidiaries with a total of 275 branches in five states.
Suffolk Bancorp said earnings got a boost from higher noninterest income, mostly from the sale of loans; a lower effective tax rate; and reduced operating expenses from, among other things, lower pension costs from freezing its defined contribution benefits plan at the end of last year. Net interest income fell by 3.7 percent to $13.7 million.
Suffolk said its total assets rose 7.5 percent from March of last year, to $1.6 billion.
Both banks released results in the morning. New York Community shares closed at $13.32, down 23 cents on the New York Stock Exchange. Suffolk's shares, traded on the Nasdaq market, closed at $15.04, up 79 cents.
