Medallion Financial announced earnings, or net increase in net assets resulting from operations, were $29.4 million in 2015, up $684,000 or 2% from $28.7 million in 2014, primarily reflecting lower operating expenses and higher net interest income, partially offset by lower net realized/unrealized gains and noninterest income.

Net investment income after income taxes was $16.8 million in 2015, up $1.7 million or 11% from $15.1 million in 2014.

The following highlights were excerpted from the news release:

• Medallion bank’s consumer lending portfolio grew 31% over the last year, all with a decrease in delinquencies from a year ago, and with loss rates remaining at low levels.
• On a combined basis with Medallion Bank, the net interest margin was 6.95% in the quarter and 6.98% in the full year, compared to 6.86% and 7.09% a year ago, reflecting the continued low cost of funds at the Bank, and the Bank’s higher-yielding loan portfolio.
• Medallion loans 90 days or more past due were 4.1% of the combined medallion loan portfolio, up from 2.5% last quarter. These rates are still down from historical levels, such as during the first 10 years of being a public company when delinquencies averaged 3% and rose as high as 7%. The company still experienced virtually no losses even at those levels and we had virtually no losses on medallion loans during 2015.

Andrew Murstein, president of Medallion Financial stated, “While taxi medallion lending continues to have virtually zero losses, the majority of our earnings continue to arise from non-taxi related loan products, primarily from our consumer lending businesses, which was responsible for 80% of our earnings in 2015. We anticipate that this area will contribute to earnings at an increasing rate as we continue to grow these portfolios.”