Loan growth for the fourth quarter of 2014 in the state of Florida was better than double the national average according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The volume of loans handed out by Florida financial institutions grew by $4.51 billion in the last three months of 2014, an increase of 3.96 percent. Industry-wide, loan volumes grew to $8.3 trillion in the fourth quarter, a 1.8 percent rise of $149.4 billion.
“The banking industry continued to improve at the end of the year,” FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in a news release. “[Banks] made loans at a faster pace, asset quality improved, and the number of banks on the ‘Problem List’ declined to the lowest level in six years,” he said. There were 179 commercial banks and savings institutions in the fourth quarter, down from 198 in the same period of 2013.
