Regions Financial profit up12% on ‘stable’ deposits, despite banking sector turmoil

Regions Financial Corp.
RF,
-1.72%
said it grew its profit by 12% as deposits remained stable despite turmoil in the banking sector during the quarter. Regions Financial said its first-quarter profit increased to $588 million, or 62 cents a share, from $524 million, or 55 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The company missed its earnings target of 65 cents a share, according to analyst estimates compiled by FactSet. Revenue increased by 22% to $2.0 billion, slightly ahead of the analyst forecast of $1.97 billion. Net interest income increased by 1% from the fourth quarter to a record $1.4 billion. “Total deposits declined approximately 2%, but importantly, deposits remained stable from earlier in the month of March through the end of the quarter,” Regions said. Regions Financial said it has total available liquidity of about $54 billion, which exceeds uninsured retail and non-operational wholesale deposits by roughly three-to-one. Regions Financial stock is down 12.4% so far in 2023, compared to a 2.5% drop by the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF
XLF,
-0.30%
and a 7.6% rise by the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.60%.