WSFS Financial, Wilmington, reported sharply higher net income of $9.7 million, compared to net income of $7.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, and net income of $6.4 million for the first quarter of 2012.
Mark A. Turner, CEO, said, “We are pleased to report another quarter of strong growth in bottom line results. As we exited last year we discussed the significant balance sheet realignment we undertook in 2012 and our focus on optimizing earlier investments in our franchise. This quarter’s improvement demonstrates the early benefits from these efforts.
“Strong commercial lending growth, particularly increases in our C&I portfolio, reflect market share wins. Normalized fee income growth was boosted by outsized year-over- year increases in our wealth management revenues related to successes in penetrating our traditional banking customer base as well as winning referrals from lawyers, investment managers and other centers-of-influence nationwide. New product introductions and additional customers at Cash Connect, our ATM business, drove 8% growth in its normalized revenues.
“This quarter, we also drove improvement in margin and net interest income. Prepayment of FHLB advances and investment portfolio deleverage that began in the fourth quarter, combined with other initiatives, led to a seven basis point improvement in margin and an expansion of net interest income. Continued tactical margin management, improved balance sheet mix, and positive margin trends as we exited the first quarter, bode well for continued improvement in margin in the second quarter.”
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