FDIC-insured banks had a good first quarter and community banks led the way, accordingto new data from the regulator.

Two-thirds of the nation's 6,419 FDIC-insured financialinstitutions reported year-over-year earnings growth in the firstquarter of 2015, and the percentage of unprofitable banks fell to5.6% for the quarter, the FDIC reported.

Aggregate net income for commercial banks and savingsinstitutions with FDIC insurance rose 6.9% to $39.8 billion in thefirst quarter of 2015, according to the report. The increase waslargely due to a $4.3 billion rise in net operating revenue for thequarter. The number of problem banks has fallen 72% from the888-bank peak in the first quarter of 2011, the FDIC noted.

But it was community banks that led the pack. Their netoperating revenue rose 8.7% to $21.5 billion at for the quartercompared to the first quarter of 2014. Additionally, net incomes atcommunity banks rose 16% to $4.9 billion in the first quarter of2015 versus the same quarter last year.

“Community banks reported improved performance during thequarter that outpaced the overall industry,” FDIC chairman MartinGruenberg said. “Their earnings were up significantly from a yearago, and their loan growth was appreciably higher than the rest of theindustry.”

“In the banker's parallel universe, this news won't cause aripple; no matter their performance, the sky is always falling, andit's always the fault of credit unions. It would be nice to seethem acknowledge just once that credit unions aren't thecompetitive threat the banks try to portray,” said John McKechnie,a partner at Washington, D.C.-based advocacy firm TotalSpectrum.