BB&T report slumps as credit issues weigh

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - BB&T Corp (BBT.N) said on Monday third-quarter profit fell 56 percent as continuing credit issues weighed on results.

Net income for the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based company was $157 million, or 23 cents per share, down from $362 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had forecast 22 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The bank -- one of the 10 largest in the United States -- is seen as one of the early winners in the financial industry turmoil of the last year. It was one of the first banks to repay a U.S. government bailout, paying back $3.134 billion in June.

BB&T acquired Colonial Bank's deposits, assets and branches when the Montgomery, Alabama-based lender failed on August 14, the largest U.S. bank failure this year. BB&T acquired $20 billion in deposits and $22 billion in assets, with partial government backstops against potential losses on the assets.

BB&T shares closed Friday at $28.25 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are up 2.8 percent this year, compared with a 6.7 percent gain in the KBW Bank Index .BKX.

(Reporting by Joe Rauch; editing by John Wallace)