Oct 20 (Reuters) - U.S. regional bank Fulton Financial Corp reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit and said the rate of credit deterioration within its loan portfolio slowed during the quarter.
For the quarter, the company earned $18.3 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with $29.1 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 7 cents a share, excluding items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
"While the past year has been extremely challenging for us, the quarter just completed showed slowing in the rate of credit deterioration within our loan portfolio and, as a result, we were able to decrease the provision from the second quarter," Chief Executive Scott Smith said in a statement.
Provision for loan losses fell 10 percent sequentially to $45 million.
Net interest income fell about a percent to $132.8 million.
Shares of the the Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based company closed at $7.25 Tuesday on Nasdaq. They were flat after the bell.

(Reporting by Abhinav Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair) Keywords: FULTONFINANCIAL/ (abhinav.sharma@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S +1 646 223 8780; Outside U.S +91 080 4135 5800; Reuters messaging: abhinav.sharma.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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