UPDATE 1-Westamerica posts higher Q2 profit

* Q2 EPS $0.75 vs est of $0.76

* Q2 net interest income $62.3 mln vs $49.7 mln yr ago

* Shares fall as much as 3 pct

July 14 (Reuters) - Westamerica Bancorp (WABC.O), the parent company of Westamerica Bank, reported an 81 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by higher net interest income.

For the second quarter, Westamerica's net income was $22.1 million, or 75 cents a share, compared with $12.2 million, or 42 cents a share, last year.

Excluding special items, analysts were looking for a quarterly profit of 76 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Westamerica, which received $83 million under the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Assets Relief Program, also said it intends to redeem a portion of the preferred stock issued to Treasury this month.

The U.S. regional bank said net interest income on a fully taxable equivalent basis jumped 25 percent to $62.3 million for the second quarter.

Provision for loan losses for the second quarter was $2.6 million, compared with $1.8 million for the first quarter.

Shares of the San Rafael, California-based company were down $1.28 at $48.50 in noon trade Tuesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Brenton Cordeiro in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)