The corporate parent of Mechanics & Farmers Bank eked out a small second-quarter profit.
Durham-based M&F Bancorp posted a second-quarter profit of $43,000, or two cents per share, down from a profit of $122,000 a year ago, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"Our continuing profitability reflects our careful cost containment efforts, as well as our strong net interest margin," CEO Kim D. Saunders said in a prepared statement.
Noninterest expenses totaled $2.9 million, down from $3 million a year earlier.
The bank's provision for loan losses totaled $422,000, up from $77,000 a year ago.
Loans outstanding at the end of June totaled $196.9 million, down $4.8 million over the past six months, which the bank said was due in part to "lack of demand for new loans."
Mechanics and Farmers is one of the nation's oldest black-owned financial institutions. It has seven branches: two in Durham, two in Raleigh, and one each in Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Greensboro.
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