SunTrust Banks reported net income available to common shareholders of $393 million representing a 16% increase from the first quarter of 2013.

“Our 16% earnings per share growth over the past year reflects progress in several key areas–expense management, credit quality improvement, and increased lending to clients,” said William H. Rogers, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SunTrust Banks, Inc. “To deliver further profitable growth, we are focusing our efforts on meeting more of our clients’ needs and expanding relationships in key growth areas, while continuing our expense management discipline.”

Highlights from the news release:

• Average performing loans increased $2.9 billion sequentially, or 2%, with growth concentrated in C&I, commercial real estate, and consumer loans. Average performing loans increased $8.2 billion, or 7%, compared to the first quarter of 2013 driven by broad-based growth.
• Asset quality continued to improve as nonperforming loans decreased 5% from the prior quarter and totaled 0.72% of total loans at March 31, 2014.
• Annualized net charge-offs decreased to 0.35% of average loans compared to 0.40% in the prior quarter and 0.76% in the same quarter in 2013, while the allowance for loan losses to total loans ratio declined to 1.58% from 1.79% one-year ago.
• The provision for credit losses 0f $102 million was down $110 million from $212 million in the same quarter in 2013.