Auto loan yields fell to 2.86% at Fifth Third Bank last quarter, down from 3.29% in the prior-year period.
Stiff competition industrywide has been pressuring margins at auto financiers for several years. In 2010, for example, Fifth Third closed the quarter with auto loan yields at 6.24%.
In an earnings call yesterday, Fifth Third Bancorp SVP and Treasurer James Leonard told analysts that the bank was pleased with its 3.58% overall net interest margin, up 1 basis point from the prior quarter. “A lot of that was due to continued discipline in pricings in commercial auto and mortgage,” he said.
Fifth Third had $12 billion in average auto portfolio loans and leases outstanding in the first quarter, up from $11.9 billion in 1Q13. The bank recorded $8 million of net charge-offs in the auto portfolio, up from $4 million in the prior-year period.
