Quarterly earnings at Fifth Third Bancorp, including mortgage revenues, strengthened. While residential loan originations have slowed, the servicing portfolio expanded.
In its first-quarter earnings report, Fifth Third disclosed $836 million in income before taxes during the three months that concluded on March 31.
Earnings at the Cincinnati-based bank-holding company more than doubled versus $396 million in the first-three months of last year and $393 million in the final-three months of last year.
In the mortgage banking business, net revenues rose to $56 million from $52 million in the first-quarter 2017 and $54 million in the fourth-quarter 2017. An $11 million decline in charges for net valuation adjustments on mortgage-servicing rights more than offset an $8 million drop in origination fees and gains on loan sales.
Single-family loan originations during the first quarter of this year
were reported at $1.56 billion. Business decreased from $1.90 billion the prior quarter and $1.93 billion a year prior.
Residential loans serviced for others ended the most-recent quarter at $60.973 billion, expanding from $60.021 billion
at the end of the fourth quarter and $55.413 billion at the end of the first-quarter 2017.
Residential investments ended March 2018 at $22.340 billion — including $15.583 billion
in mortgages and $6.757 billion in home-equity loans. The total was trimmed from $22.605 billion at the end of last year and $22.805 billion at the same point last year.
Delinquency of at least 90 days on mortgages was 0.40 percent, deteriorating from 0.37 percent the previous month and 0.29 percent a year previous.
HEL delinquency was deemed not meaningful.
Third-party servicing of commercial real estate loans was $0.325 billion.
CRE
assets grew to $11.295 billion from $11.157 billion as of Dec. 31, 2017, and $11.207 as of March 31, 2017. Most recently, CRE holdings were comprised of $6.509 billion in commercial mortgages and $4.786 billion in commercial construction loans.
Across the entire company, there were 18,344 full-time equivalent employees, more than 18,125 people three months earlier and 17,763 employees one year earlier.
Fifth Third said it operated 1,153 full-service banking centers as of the end of last month, one less than at the end of last year.
