San Antonio based Cullen/Frost Bankers, the largest Texas based bank, today announced sharply higher third quarter income despite Hurricane Harvey, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
CEO Phil Green told reporters in a conference call the 16.% percent income increase was despite the fact that Frost Bank's energy loans have fallen by half since 2014 due to the changing nature of the Texas oil industry.
He credited Frost's aggressive pursuit of new customers.
"Our strategy of growing our loan portfolio relationships continues to show progress, and we have also seen growth in our deposit relationships, Green said.
Green said the number of loans on the books is up significantly over the third quarter of last year.
Frost CFO Jerry Salinas said Frost is growing as the Texas economy is growing.
"Despite the impact from Hurricane Harvey in the third quarter, the Texas economy continues to expand, with consistent growth and historically low unemployment," Salinas said.
He says as the economy grows, money market account balances and deposit balances are growing along with it.
"The San Antonio economy is accelerating," he said. "Jobs grew at an annualized 4.5% for the third quarter. Expansion was strongest in leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, mining, health care, and government."
Cullen/Frost also benefited from a $3.7 million tax benefit related to the correction of an over-accrual of taxes that resulted from incorrectly classifying certain tax-exempt loans as taxable from previous tax periods dating back to 2013.