U.S. Bancorp, the parent company of U.S. Bank, said Wednesday its second-quarter profit fell slightly from a year ago.
Net income was $1.483 billion compared with $1.495 billion in the second quarter of 2014.
The quarterly profit amounted to 80 cents a share, in line with analysts' expectations.
Little has changed over the past 12 months for the Minneapolis-based bank company. Both revenue and expenses declined slightly. The company's net interest margin was 3.03 percent, down from 3.27 percent a year ago.
"We must continue to balance the investments we make in our highest return initiatives with prudent financial discipline. That's the nature of navigating through this low interest rate environment," chief executive Richard Davis said in a statement.
Total loans grew for the bank, but its net interest margin, a key measure of lending profitability that represents the difference between what a bank pays out on deposits and what it earns in interest, fell to 3.03 percent from 3.27 percent a year ago.
U.S. Bank is anxious for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, which should quickly solve its net interest margin problems.
Revenue from credit and debit cards and merchant payment processing grew for the bank, and fees for trust and wealth management increased by 7.4 percent. Average total commercial lending grew by 11 percent over the past year. Retail lending is starting to pick up, Davis said, with more consumers tapping home equity loans and borrowing to buy cars.
