News Releases

Publications

Media Center

For Immediate Release
November 2, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas – The Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT) and 20 affiliated rural lending cooperatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas today reported an 11.9 percent increase in loan volume for the first nine months of this year.

The Austin-headquartered bank and its affiliated lenders comprise the Tenth Farm Credit District, the largest rural lending organization serving the five-state region.

The district’s loan volume totaled $14.4 billion at Sept. 30, 2007, up 21.4 percent from Sept. 30, 2006. At the same time, the quality of the district’s loan portfolio remained strong, with 99 percent of total loans and receivables classified as acceptable at Sept. 30, 2007.

“During the quarter, our local lending associations continued to focus on increasing their share of the rural financing market through competitive pricing and increased marketing and customer service efforts,” said Larry Doyle, FCBT chief executive officer. “The result is another loan volume record for the Tenth Farm Credit District.”

District net income for the third quarter of 2007 totaled $66.2 million, a 3.8 percent increase from the third quarter of 2006. Net income for the first nine months ended Sept. 30, 2007, was $177.5 million, down 0.7 percent from the same period of 2006, due primarily to provisions for loan losses related to a nonaccrual loan in which 12 district associations participated.

Impaired loans represented 0.6 percent of the district’s total loans at Sept. 30, 2007, compared to 0.3 percent at Dec. 31, 2006.

Total members’ equity in the customer-owned Tenth District lending institutions was $2.3 billion at Sept. 30, 2007, an 8 percent increase from Dec. 31, 2006. Combined assets totaled a record $17.4 billion at Sept. 30, 2007, compared with $16.0 billion at year-end 2006.

“It has been 90 years since the first local Farm Credit financing co-ops were established, and yet our growth shows that each day people are continuing to discover the benefits of financing with Farm Credit,” said Ralph W. Cortese, FCBT board chairman. “The cooperative way of doing business is as effective today as it was in 1917.”

The Farm Credit Bank of Texas, which is the wholesale bank for the 20 local financing cooperatives, reported strong third-quarter results. The bank’s net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2007, was $18.8 million, up 4.9 percent from the same quarter of 2006. Net income for the first nine months of 2007 totaled $54.6 million, a 14.6 percent increase over the same period of 2006.

The Tenth District provides loans and financial services to agricultural producers, rural homeowners and landowners, and agribusiness firms. It is part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, established by Congress in 1916.

Nationally, the Farm Credit System reported combined net income of $727 million and $2.02 billion for the three and nine months ended Sept. 30, 2007, as compared with combined net income of $621 million and $1.78 billion for the same periods last year.