Commerce Bancshares earnings fall 6 percent

Commerce Bancshares Inc. said its earnings fell 6 percent last year after taking a pre-tax charge of $21 million for the company’s share of estimated costs of  lawsuits involving VISA USA Inc., the credit card company.

Commerce also said it expects “significant future benefits” from its partial ownership of Visa when the company goes public later this year.

Excluding the charge, earnings were up slightly to $219.9 million or $3 a share. Net earnings were $206.7 million, or $2.82 a share, down from $219.8 million, or $2.94 a share in 2006.

For the quarter, earnings fell 23 percent to $43.7 million, or 60 cents a share, from $57.0 million or 76 cents a share.

David W. Kemper, chairman and chief executive, said the bank experienced higher levels of net loan charge-offs in its consumer loan portfolio in the quarter, but overall credit quality remained good. The bank’s allowance for loan losses was $133.6 million, or 1.26 percent of loans, and non-performing assets declined.