WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- B&T Corp. said its second-quarter profit rose 66 percent after the bank gave out more mortgage loans and recorded a gain from buying an insurance division.

The bank also wrote off fewer bad loans and set aside less money to cover problem lending.

For the April through June period, the regional bank said Thursday its net income available to common shareholders rose to $510 million, or 72 cents per share, compared with $307 million, or 44 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

BB&T CEO Kelly King called it the bank's strongest earnings quarter in its history.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 71 cents per share, according to data provided by FactSet.

Its stock rose 68 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $32.29 in midday trading.

The regional bank's revenue increased 21 percent to $2.5 billion in the quarter, largely due to its acquisition of the life and property and casualty divisions of insurer Crump Group Inc.

The bank's income from collecting interest on deposits and loans, also known as net interest income, rose 8 percent to $1.5 billion. Part of the growth came because the bank's decreased its own interest payments after it decided to buy back its trust preferred securities, which usually pay investors a high interest.

BB&T's income from other venues such as fees, also known as non-interest income, rose 23 percent to $966 million. A large part of that increase, or $99 million, came from increased revenue from mortgage loans. Another $94 million came from insurance income, largely from its acquisition of the Crump insurance divisions.

However, the bank's income from fees that it collects from stores where customers pay by debit cards fell by $34 million.

Commercial banks that issue debit cards have experienced large drops in income after a Federal Reserve rule in October capped the amount that banks can charge merchants at about 26 cents per transaction. Previously, the average income from such fees was 44 cents per transaction.

BB&T's average loans grew 7 percent, on a 20 percent increase in home loans and a 33 percent jump in mortgage loans originated by its lending subsidiaries.

The bank's portfolio of unpaid loans declined by 16 percent. The costs related foreclosed properties decreased $73 million, or 50 percent, to the lowest levels since the first quarter of 2008.

As more of its customers paid on time and the bank was able to reduce its bad loans, BB&T also reduced the amount it keeps aside for future losses from loans by 17 percent.