National City CEO sees mortgage banking profitable

NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - National City Corp. NCC.N Chief Executive David Daberko on Monday said he expects mortgage banking at the eighth-largest U.S. bank to be "in the black" in coming quarters, excluding the impact of hedging, as problems afflicting the subprime mortgage begin to abate.

Earlier Monday, the Cleveland-based bank said first-quarter profit fell 30 percent to $319.2 million, or 50 cents per share, less than analysts on average had forecast. It attributed some of the shortfall to charges from mortgages it kept after selling its First Franklin Financial Corp. subprime lending unit late last year to Merrill Lynch & Co. MER.N.

"We would expect to be in the black in future quarters" in mortgage banking, Daberko said in an interview. "Mortgage banking, ex-hedging, actually made 5 cents in the quarter. We think, actually, mortgage banking ought to trend upward over the rest of the year, outside hedging."