Central Pacific Bank’s loans continue to grow at a double-digit pace, but net income fell for the second quarter in a row.

The state’s fourth-largest bank was due to report today that third-quarter earnings fell 6 percent to $11.5 million, or 37 cents a share, from $12.2 million, or 38 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Central Pacific’s loans, though, rose 11 percent to $3.44 billion to mark the third straight quarterly double-digit increase.

“It was a solid quarter of financial performance,” Central Pacific Financial Corp. President and CEO Catherine Ngo said in a telephone interview Wednesday on the eve of the release of the bank’s financial results. “We’re continuing our good momentum in loan and deposit growth, with loans up almost 11 percent year over year and deposits up close to 7 percent.”

Central Pacific’s earnings declined last quarter when compared to the year-earlier period as the bank added only $743,000 in income from what it had set aside for potential loan losses. In the third quarter of 2015, the bank added $3.6 million to its income from its loan-loss reserve. Banks routinely set aside money in a reserve for potential loan losses and sometimes return some of that money to their income statement if their risk improves.

Despite the lower earnings, the bank’s net interest income and noninterest income, which together comprise the bank’s revenue, both increased from the year-earlier quarter.

Central Pacific’s net interest income, the difference between the interest the bank pays on deposits and the interest it receives on loans, rose 4 percent to $39.4 million from $37.8 million.

The bank’s noninterest income, which includes service charges and fees, rose 12 percent to $11 million from $9.8 million.

Central Pacific, which has reduced its delinquent loans over the past six years after being burned by the California real estate meltdown, had $496 million in nonperforming assets — delinquent loans not accruing interest and foreclosed real estate — in March 2010. But at the end of last quarter the bank had cut that number to just $11.7 million, down 17 percent from $14 million in the year-earlier period.

“We are seeing improved credit quality as we continue to grow our loan portfolio and we’d expect to see at some point that (nonperforming assets) level off,” Central Pacific Chief Credit Officer Anna Hu said. “With the economy continuing strong, we are finding opportunities to refinance and work with the borrowers to bring (the nonperforming loans) back into performing status.”

Central Pacific’s mainland loan exposure was 12.3 percent, or $422.3 million, with no nonperforming assets as of the end of the third quarter. Its Hawaii loan exposure was 87.7 percent, or $3.02 billion, with $11.7 million in nonperforming assets.

The bank also boosted its deposits and assets last quarter. Deposits rose 7 percent to $4.52 billion while assets increased 6 percent to $5.32 billion.

Chief Financial Officer David Morimoto said the bank is well-positioned if the Federal Reserve raises its key interest rate one-quarter of a point in December as many economists are predicting.

“Our balance sheet is relatively well matched from an interest rate risk standpoint, so to the extent that the Fed raises rates later this year, we expect it to have little effect on net interest income,” he said.

Central Pacific’s stock slipped 13 cents to $25.03 on Wednesday.