UPDATE 1-Valley National Q1 profit rises

* Q1 net interest income up 15 pct * Provision for credit losses doubles to $10 mln

April 23 (Reuters) - Valley National Bancorp (VLY.N), the holding company of Valley National Bank, posted a higher first-quarter profit, helped by an increase in net interest income.

For the quarter, the company earned $37.4 million, compared with $31.6 million, a year earlier.

Valley National said net income available to common shareholders, after dividends on preferred stock and accretion, was $33.2 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $31.6 million, or 24 cents a share, in the prior-year quarter.

Analysts were looking for a profit of 20 cents a share, excluding items, according to Reuters Estimates.

Valley National said accrued preferred dividends and accretion of discount on preferred stock issued in November hurt its profit by 3 cents a share.

Net interest income for the quarter rose 15 percent to $109.6 million.

Valley National competes with Hudson City Bancorp Inc (HCBK.O) among others, and has been generally conservative with its lending standards amid the credit crisis.

It operates as a super community bank with about 200 branches through the northern and central New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Shares of the Wayne, New Jersey-based company closed at $12.93 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Anurag Kotoky in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)