United Community kept more of its SBA and USDA loans in the three months ended June 30 instead of selling them. That is a small operational choice with a large backdrop: net income jumped 46.9% to $115.6 million, while revenue rose 7.3% to $279.3 million.
The result looks like growth, but the sharper movement was in profitability. Net margin rose from 30.3% to 41.4%, and diluted EPS climbed from $0.63 to $0.95 as the diluted share count edged down 0.8%.
The main lift came from the price of deposits, not from a broad surge in every revenue line. United said loan interest revenue increased $8.26 million, mostly from loan growth, while securities interest revenue fell $9.55 million because average balances and rates declined. The company also disclosed that net interest revenue was mostly driven by lower deposit interest expense.
Management tied the margin improvement to the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts and the uneven speed at which the bank’s assets and liabilities repriced. In plain English, what United paid depositors fell faster than what it earned on loans.
"The increases in net interest margin were primarily due to the larger decrease in interest rates paid on deposits compared to the decrease in interest rates earned on loans following aggregate reductions of 75 basis points in the federal funds rate over the past year."
United Community Banks, 10-Q, August 5, 2026
That makes the 41.4% margin a useful snapshot of rate sensitivity. It also puts the earnings increase in a narrower frame: the bank’s earnings reflected a widening spread between deposit costs and loan yields during the latest reported period.
The other notable move ran against fee-generating loan sales. United’s net gains on sales of other loans declined because it chose to retain more SBA and USDA production during the second quarter. The company gave the decision a strategic explanation, but the filing does not quantify how much future income those retained loans may produce.
"The decrease in net gains on sales of other loans is primarily driven by our strategic decision to retain more of our SBA/USDA loan production during the second quarter of 2026."
United Community Banks, 10-Q, August 5, 2026
So the bank produced more revenue while shifting some activity away from an immediate gain on sale and toward loans held on the balance sheet. That changes the mix of the business, even as lower deposit expense did most of the visible work in the period’s margin.
United’s annual results show revenue rising from $952.1 million in 2024 to $1.1B in 2025, with net margin reaching 30.9%. Its filings have also repeatedly linked interest-rate conditions to the business, with adverse evidence across five filings. The latest report adds a concrete instance: deposit pricing moved faster than loan pricing after 75 basis points of aggregate cuts.
United shares closed at $36.15 on August 4, up 0.9% that day. The unresolved detail is not whether earnings rose, but how much of the latest margin can be observed again in the next three months, especially against the current 41.4% net margin.
Source: United Community Banks 10-Q filed August 5, 2026.