Friday, January 23, 2015
YOUNGSTOWN
Huntington Bancshares Inc. reported a profit of $164 million, or 19 cents per common share, for the 2014 fourth quarter — a $5 million increase from the same time period a year ago.
“We met our commitments of positive operating leverage and revenue growth,” Steve Steinour, CEO of the Columbus-based bank, said in a statement. “We continue to invest opportunistically to position ourselves well as we move into 2015 and beyond.”
The 2014 full-year net income was $632 million, or 72 cents per common share, down 1 percent from the prior year. The bank saw a 7 percent increase in noninterest expenses to $1.88 billion for the full year of 2014, driven by $76 million of one-time expenses such as the acquisition of Camco Financial Corp.
“We’re very pleased with our results,” said Bill Shivers, president of the Mahoning Valley region of Huntington Bank.
Shivers said recent innovations such as the bank becoming a member of Apple Pay, which stores credit- or debit-card information on the iPhone 6, will help its customers and clients.
“That gives us tremendous momentum going into 2015,” he said.
Total loans and leases in 2014 increased by $4 billion, or 9 percent, to $45.4 billion compared with 2013. Automobile loans spiked in both the full year and fourth quarter of 2014 at 35 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
Shivers said Huntington we’ll continue to be involved with the Valley by supporting the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
“We’re looking to invest more,” he said.
Huntington is the largest bank in the Youngstown area.