Butterfield, the Bermuda-headquartered banking group, said yesterday that net income in the first three months of the year reached $14.7 million, up by 75.4 per cent on a year before, while the group’s cost-income ratio also improved.

Butterfield reported net interest income of $52.1 million, a gain of 9.5 per cent on the same period a year ago.

The firm’s efficiency ratio was 79.7 per cent at the end of the quarter versus 82.8 per cent a year earlier.

Net income improved in all the main divisions of the bank - Bermuda, Guernsey, Cayman Islands and UK - the firm said in a statement.

Total assets under administration (including the UK, at $1.3 billion, Guernsey at $18.5 billion, and Cayman Islands at $3.6 billion), were $22.1 billion, up from $20.3 billion, it said.           

“We continue to make progress on our earnings turnaround – this was our fifth consecutive quarterly profit for the group. In the UK we are delighted with the progress which we have made and our Q1 results are mainly driven by good loan growth. This is part of our strategic initiative to attract new, international, high net worth private clients who are attracted to London by a robust property market,” Raymond Sykes, managing director at Butterfield, told this publication in an email.

At the UK private banking business, Butterfield is seeking a replacement for Danny Dixon, who stood down as private banking head last year.