Year to Date Earnings
Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2024 was $20.5 million, or $2.45 per diluted share, compared to $21.3 million, or $2.57 per diluted share for the same period in 2023. Returns on average assets and equity for the six months ended June 30, 2024 were 2.59% and 20.15%, respectively, compared to 3.15% and 25.55% for the same period of 2023. Excluding the pretax gain of $4.0 million ($3.0 million after-tax or $0.36 per diluted share) on the partial sale of our Litify fintech investment in the first quarter of 2023, adjusted(1) net income, diluted earnings per share, return on average assets, and return on average common equity for the six months ended June 30, 2023 was $18.4 million, $2.21, 2.72% and 22.02%, respectively.
Net interest income for the six months ended June 30, 2024 increased $7.8 million, or 19.8%, to $47.2 million, due to growth in average interest earning assets (funded with low-cost core deposits) totaling $230.6 million, or 17.5%, to $1.55 billion as well as an 11 basis point increase in our net interest margin to 6.13% when compared to the same period in 2023. Our net interest margin was positively impacted by growth in higher yielding variable rate commercial loans and low-cost litigation-based deposits. The average yield on loans increased 20 basis points to 7.82%, primarily driven by growth in higher yielding variable rate commercial loans. Average loans for the six months ended June 30, 2024 increased $251.8 million, or 25.9%, to $1.22 billion, primarily due to growth in our national commercial lending platform and, to a lesser extent, growth in our regional multifamily loan portfolio during 2023. Loan interest income increased $10.9 million, or 29.5%, to $47.6 million with the increases in average loan balances (primarily commercial) comprising $10.1 million of the increase and $732 thousand representing increases in average rate. Our deposit cost-of-funds, excluding demand deposits, increased 51 basis points for the six months ended June 30, 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023 due to increases in short-term interest rates as well as management proactively increasing rates on IOLTA accounts in the various states where we operate. Deposit expense increased $3.2 million to $6.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024 with increases in average rate (primarily IOLTA and to a lesser extent relationship money market deposits) comprising $2.2 million of the increase and the remaining increase of $1.1 million (primarily IOLTA and to a lesser extent relationship money market deposits) attributable to average deposit balances. Average securities for the six months ended June 30, 2024 increased $31.2 million to $239.8 million and yields increased 77 basis points to 3.04% due to our previously noted balance sheet or ALCO strategy. The movement in short-term interest rates increased yields and interest income on our interest earning cash balances.
The provision for credit losses was $2.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024, a $175 thousand increase from the same period in 2023. The increase in the allowance as a percentage of loans was general reserve driven considering loan growth and qualitative factors associated with the current short-term interest rate environment as well as the current uncertain economic environment including, but not limited to, its potential impact on the New York metro multifamily and commercial real estate market.
Noninterest income totaled $12.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to $17.0 million in the same period for 2023. Excluding the $4.0 million gain on our Litify fintech investment, adjusted(1) noninterest income in the six months ended June 30, 2023 was $12.9 million. Payment processing income was $10.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024, a $659 thousand decrease from the same period in 2023, primarily due to the anticipated ISO attrition and changes in our overall merchant risk profile. Payment processing volumes and transactions for the credit and debit card processing platform increased $1.7 billion, or 10.8%, to $17.9 billion and 6.4 million, or 2.1%, to 306.1 million transactions, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2024, as compared to the same period in 2023. These increases were due to the expansion of sales channels through ISOs, an increased number of merchants, volume increases, and were facilitated by our focus on technology and other resources in the payments vertical. ASP fee income increased $98 thousand to $1.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same period in 2023. Other noninterest income increased $295 thousand to $680 thousand for the six months ended June 30, 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023, primarily due to increases in client loan related fees.
Noninterest expense increased $4.3 million, or 17.1%, to $29.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024, as compared to the same period in 2023. This increase was primarily due to increases in employee compensation and benefits, advertising and marketing, data processing, and occupancy and equipment, partially offset by decreases in professional services costs. Employee compensation and benefits costs increased $3.4 million, or 22.2%, due to increases in employees to support growth and excellence in client service as well as the impact of year end salary, bonus and stock-based compensation increases. In 2024, we experienced the full year impact of our 2023 key hires including, but not limited to, our regional senior BDOs, sales support, lending/lending support, and risk management staffing initiatives. Advertising and marketing costs increased $1.0 million as we continued to grow our digital marketing platform, expand our thought leadership in our national verticals, and support our regional BDOs. Data processing costs increased $851 thousand due to increased processing volume, primarily driven by our core banking platform, and additional costs related to our technology implementations. Occupancy and equipment costs increased $419 thousand due to amortization of our investments in internally developed software to support our digital platform and additional office space to support our growth. Professional services costs decreased $1.4 million due to the hiring costs associated with our executive search firm in 2023. Our investment in current resources (people, technology, and digital marketing) will continue to support our long-term growth goals.
| (1) | See non-GAAP reconciliation provided at the end of this news release. |