New York Community Bancorp quarterly earnings slip 12 percent

Westbury-based New York Community Bancorp, the largest bank headquartered on Long Island, reported Wednesday that third-quarter net income dropped to $110 million, a 12 percent decline from the same period a year ago.

NYCB’s assets stood at $48.5 billion at the end of the third quarter, a year-over-year drop of 2 percent.

The bank has kept its assets below the $50 billion regulatory threshold that would mark NYCB as a systemically important financial institution, or SIFI. A bank is designated as a SIFI if its failure would cause significant disruption to the economy.

SIFI designation means a bank would incur additional compliance expenses.

Bank executives said in a conference call Wednesday morning that they expect the regulations to change in the coming months, allowing them to grow past $50 billion without facing the same expenses.

Joseph R. Ficalora, president and chief executive of NYCB, said regulatory and tax reform “will be a positive for the company and beneficial for the company as a whole.”

NYCB shares fell 1 percent to $12.60 in early trading Wednesday. The bank’s shares are down about 11 percent from their price one year ago.