BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) reported first-quarter 2026 net income of $62 million, or $0.83 per diluted share.
The Miami Lakes-based financial institution demonstrated a focused effort on strengthening its balance sheet, characterized by solid growth in core deposits and a substantial improvement in asset quality metrics compared to both the prior year and the fourth quarter of 2025.
The bank’s deposit franchise showed continued resilience, with total deposits excluding brokered accounts rising $1.4 billion year-over-year.
As of March 31, 2026, non-interest-bearing demand deposits (NIDDA) totaled $8.6 billion, representing 30% of total deposits.
While NIDDA fell slightly by $166 million sequentially due to typical seasonal fluctuations, the category remains up 11% on a year-over-year basis.
On the lending side, core loans grew by $906 million compared to the first quarter of 2025.
However, total loans saw a modest sequential decline of $139 million, which management attributed to seasonally low commercial volume and the intentional runoff of non-core loan portfolios.
A primary highlight of the quarter was the marked improvement in credit risk profiles.
Criticized and classified loans decreased by $333 million (24%) year-over-year and fell $146 million (12%) from the prior quarter.
Perhaps most notably, non-performing loans (NPLs) dropped by $98 million, or 26%, since December 31, 2025.
This improvement drove the allowance for credit losses (ACL) to NPL coverage ratio up to 75.90%, compared to 58.99% in the previous quarter.