U.S. banks are lending to companies and individuals at the fastest pace since the financial crisis, helping propel profits to near-record levels, The Wall Street Journal reported.

    U.S. banks posted US$40.24 billion in net income during the second quarter, the industry’s second-highest profit total in at least 23 years, The Wall Street Journal quoted data from research firm SNL Financial as saying. The latest profits are just below the record US$40.36 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2013.

    The rebound comes even as bank executives say rising costs of regulation are hurting their businesses.

    Banks set aside less money to cover soured loans, helping to boost profits. At the same time, overall loan growth increased at its fastest quarterly pace since the financial crisis, topping US$8 trillion in total loans outstanding for the first time since SNL began tracking the data in 1991.

    Commercial lending rose at an annualized 12.6 percent rate in the second quarter.

    Growth in consumer lending, particularly student lending, auto loans and credit cards, also has picked up, to about 6 percent from 3 percent a year ago.

    On the heels of the financial crisis, some lawmakers, regulators and consumers complained that banks weren’t lending enough. But steady improvement in credit quality, or borrowers’ ability to repay loans, is prompting banks not only to lend more but also to ease their standards.

    The improving picture reflects a healing of the U.S. economy five years after the official end of the recession that began in late 2007. White House officials on Friday said the U.S. labor market is about 80 percent back to precrisis levels.

    “Everyone is delighted to see a resurgence of bank earnings that is consistent with the economic recovery nationwide,” said John Kanas, an industry veteran who is now chief executive officer of BankUnited Inc., a lender based in Miami Lakes, Florida.

    So far, the results haven’t impressed investors, who remain concerned about a range of headwinds facing the industry, from growing regulatory costs and stubbornly low interest rates to steep slowdowns in mortgage lending and securities-trading revenue. Such issues have weighed on other measures of bank health, such as the returns lenders generate on their equity.

    (SD-Agencies)