Two banks with a Baton Rouge presence reported earnings, with Capital One seeing a profit and BancorpSouth earnings falling. This was the first quarterly profit in a year for Capital One, boosted by sales in its investment portfolio and lower funding costs. The McLean, Va., company, one of the largest U.S. credit card issuers, had net income of $425.6 million, or $0.94 per share, compared with net income of $374.1 million, or $1 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting a profit of $0.14 per share. Consumers are still having trouble keeping up with their bills. The company said U.S. credit card delinquencies of 30 days or more rose to 5.38% from 4.2% in the year-ago quarter. International card delinquencies also rose. The late payments are tied to rising unemployment rates.
BancorpSouth posted a 24% drop in third-quarter earnings, blaming the reduction partially on an increase in nonperforming assets. For the three months ending Sept. 30, BancorpSouth earned $21.5 million, or 26 cents per share, compared with year-ago earnings in the third quarter of $28.3 million, or 34 cents per share. Nonperforming assets increased to $173.7 million from the year-ago figure of $97.7 million. The company also said its profit was cut by a $4.1 million decrease in the value of its mortgage servicing rights and a $2.7 million jump in rates charged by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
