SunTrust third-quarter profit climbed on stronger deposit fee growth

ATLANTA - SunTrust Banks Incorporated said Wednesday that third-quarter profit climbed nearly three percent on a rise in fee income from deposits. <br> <br> But the Atlanta-based bank holding company said it doesn&#39;t expect to see a meaningful short-term drop in problem loans. <br> <br> Net income came to $343 million, or $1.20 a share, in the latest quarter, compared with $334.1 million, or $1.15 a share a year earlier. <br> <br> The results were below Wall Street&#39;s expectations. The mean estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call was for third-quarter earnings of $1.21 a share. <br> <br> SunTrust, which operates more than 1,100 bank branches in Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Florida and the District of Columbia, said third-quarter noninterest income rose 5.5 percent to $580.9 million from $550.4 million a year earlier. Excluding securities gains and losses, noninterest income rose four percent from a year ago, to $535.1 million.