net interest margin

Net interest margin for the year was around 2.7 per cent.

The bank holding company attributed the drop to lower net interest margins.

The bank said net interest income was affected by lower net interest margins.

Credit losses should continue to decline, and loan demand should be improving, along with net interest margins.

The net interest margin can therefore be higher (or occasionally lower) than the net interest spread.

The company's annual report has in the past praised Wells Fargo's management, its high net interest margins and good cost controls.

Good pricing decisions, executives said, led net interest margins to rise 2 percent even as interest rates crept upward.

Net-interest income increased by $8 million from the first quarter, to $198 million, partly because of a rise in the bank's net interest margin.

Most of Fleet's earnings gains were attributed to widening net interest margins, which grew to 4.82 percent, from 3.97 percent a year ago.

On all parameters, including important ones such as business growth, net interest margin and NPA control, it was a good year.

But the net interest margin, the spread between interest paid and interest received, declined to 3.95 percent from 4.21 percent.

And net interest margins, which make up roughly half of Citigroup's revenue, appear to be stabilizing after months of sharp declines.

Ford Motor Credit profit declined to $142.5 million, from $171.3 million, reflecting increased borrowing costs and reduced net interest margins.

According to industry experts, this was a big factor contributing to the increase in the bank's net interest margin, which was 7.14 percent at the end of 1988.

Examiners also review the impact of excess liquidity on the credit union's net interest margin, which is an indicator of interest rate risk.

"The company is dependent on access to the debt markets, has a razor-thin net interest margin and uses derivatives to manage its interest rate exposure," she wrote.

"I do expect that net interest margins will decline later this year, but what will drive earnings momentum is falling credit costs," Mr. Shea of Morgan Stanley said.

An increase in retail loans brought an increase in the bank's net interest margin, the spread between what it pays for funds and what it earns on loans, to 6.13 percent.

Also, Moody's is concerned that increased consumer bankruptcies and pressure to lower consumer credit-card rates could result in "decreases in net interest margin" for Sears's $31 billion credit-card portfolio.

But this is unlikely, according to bank analysts, because the increase in net interest margins is due less to changes in rates than to long-term improvements in the quality of bank portfolios.

The Providence, R.I., bank said that lower interest rates and its acquisition last year of the Bank of New England raised both net interest income and net interest margins.

Profit from financial services was down 4 percent in 1989, providing 17 percent of Ford's total earnings for the year as the group felt the effects of lower net interest margins, increased loan losses and unfavorable exchange rates.

The Bank of New York Company and the Fleet Financial Group posted strong increases in second-quarter earnings yesterday, as both companies benefited from wide net interest margins and internal efforts to reduce nonperforming assets.

Lower loan losses and higher net interest margins helped the financial-services units increase earnings to $396 million in the first quarter, compared with $249 million in the comparable period a year ago, excluding the cumulative effects of the accounting changes.

Then we had a great period, beginning in 2002 and accelerating in 2003, of an earnings recovery driven by lower credit losses, improving net interest margins, the mortgage refinancing boom and the fact that the banks weren't doing stupid acquisitions.