Farm Credit Bank of Texas Reports Solid Earnings and Asset Growth
For Immediate Release: May 2, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas – Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT), a wholesale funding bank, reported an increase in loan volume during the first quarter of 2012.
The bank’s gross loan portfolio totaled $10.6 billion at March 31, 2012, up 3.3 percent since Dec. 31, 2011. This growth was attributed primarily to increases in the bank’s participations loan portfolio, offset by a decrease in the bank’s direct loans to its affiliated lending cooperatives.
The quality of the loan portfolio also improved, with 93.8 percent of total loans classified as acceptable or other assets especially mentioned at March 31, 2012, compared with 91.2 percent at Dec. 31, 2011. Nonaccrual loan volume decreased 13.1 percent during the quarter to $89.2 million at March 31, 2012.
FCBT net income for the first three months of 2012 was $34.2 million, a decrease of 18.1 percent from the same period of 2011. The decrease was mainly attributable to a decrease in net interest income, due primarily to concession expenses on debt that was called and replaced with lower-cost debt, and to an increase in provision for credit losses.
“Farm Credit Bank of Texas is pleased to report solid earnings and growth in our loan portfolio during this sluggish period for the financial sector,” said Larry Doyle, FCBT chief executive officer.
“Although many farmers and ranchers are still feeling the impact of last year’s drought as well as higher operating costs this year, agriculture remains a bright spot in the nation’s economy,” added FCBT Board Chairman Jimmy Dodson.
Shareholders’ equity totaled $1.2 billion at March 31, 2012, an increase of 2.8 percent.
Farm Credit Bank of Texas is owned by 17 rural financing cooperatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas, which in turn are owned by their customers — farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, country homeowners and other rural landowners.
Together, the Austin-based bank and its affiliated lenders constitute the Texas Farm Credit District, the largest rural lending network in the five-state region. Collectively, the district lenders reported $96.0 million in net income for the first quarter of 2012, a 5.9 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago. District loan volume increased 2.4 percent to $16.0 billion at March 31, 2012, from $15.6 billion at year-end 2011.
The district is a part of the 95-year-old Farm Credit System, the nation's largest source of financing for agriculture and rural America. Nationally, the System reported combined net income of $1.052 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, compared with combined net income of $1.004 billion for the same period last year.