MidWestOne Financial earnings up 40%

MidWestOne Financial Group reported sharply higher earnings for the company's third fiscal quarter, as noninterest expenses and provisions for loan losses fell.

The Iowa City-based MidWestOne reported net income rose to $3.8 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2011 from $2.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2010, an increase of 36 percent.

Net income available to common shareholders increased to $3.6 million, or 42 cents per diluted share, from $2.6 million or 30 cents per diluted share in the year-earlier quarter, an increase of 40 percent.

The company was able to lower its provision for loan losses by 40 percent. Noninterest expenses declined 5.3 percent, including a 54 percent drop in FDIC insurance expenses.

"We are marking good progress," CEO Charles Funk said, pointing to hard work by the bank's staff since the company was formed in a 2008 merger.