PNC Financial Services Group Inc reported a higher-than-expected first-quarter profit, as the bank earned higher interest and fee income. The lender's net interest income rose 4 percent to $2.39 billion. Non-interest income rose 9 percent to $1.57 billion. PNC, the 12th-largest US bank by assets, said commercial lending rose 10 percent to $110.3 billion. Average loans grew by 13 percent to $186.1 billion.
Net income rose to $1.00 billion, or $1.76 per share, from $811 million, or $1.44 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on an average expected earnings of $1.57 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Provision for credit losses rose 28 percent to $236 million. PNC raised its stock dividend 10 percent to 44 cents per share after it cleared the Federal Reserve's annual stress test earlier this year. The bank said in March that its minimum Tier 1 common capital ratio would be lower than the Federal Reserve's projection in the first round of stress tests conducted by the Fed. As of March 31, its Tier 1 capital ratio was 9.8 percent. Shares of the bank closed at $64.79 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.