US Bancorp Profits Boosted by Record Mortgage Originations

Minneapolis-based US Bancorp (USB) reported a record $4.2bn net revenue for Q209. A record $16.3bn in mortgage loan origination bolstered the bank’s record revenue. The bank’s mortgage revenue was $75m in the quarter. Repayment of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, increased credit costs and an increase to the credit loss reserve brought second-quarter profits to $471m, or $0.12 per share. That’s down from $950m in Q208 and $529m in Q109. The bank also made a more than special assessment payment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that amounted to $.05 per share, and spent $1.4bn to cover credit losses and shore up its loss reserve. US Bancorp repaid the government’s $6.6bn TARP investment in June. “Today we reported the company’s second quarter earnings which, although lower than the same quarter of 2008 and the prior quarter, continued to demonstrate US Bancorp’s core earnings strength during a period of unsurpassed challenges and economic stress for the financial services industry,” Richard Davis, the bank’s chairman, president and CEO said in the quarterly report. The bank has a Tier 1 capital ratio of 9.4%. Write to Austin Kilgore.