Regions Financial experienced a decrease in first-quarter earnings, primarily due to higher credit costs and operational expenses. The bank reported a net income of $368 million, or 37 cents per share, down from $391 million, or 39 cents per share in the previous quarter, and significantly lower than the $612 million, or 62 cents per share, a year earlier. The decline in earnings was attributed to a $22 million impact from ongoing check fraud issues and a rise in noninterest expenses, which increased by 6% to $1.1 billion. Despite these challenges, the bank has implemented new fraud prevention measures and expects these issues to represent the peak of expenses for the year. Additionally, Regions Financial saw an increase in net charge-offs due to specific high-risk loans and anticipates a return to historically average levels of loan losses. The bank also noted a slight decline in net interest income and a contraction in net interest margin.
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