SunTrust continues to improve following the financial crisis, but the Atlanta-based bank made less money than it did in 2012, largely because of settlements related to its mortgage lending.

SunTrust made $1.34 billion in 2013, a 31 percent decrease in net income over 2012. It agreed in October to pay more than $1.3 billion to resolve problems with its mortgage lending and servicing practices.

Without that hit — and profits from a sale of Coca-Cola stock in 2012 — the bank would have made $1.48 billion in 2013, a 25 percent increase from the year before.

Nonperforming loans and nonperforming assets were at their lowest level since the second quarter of 2007, the bank said. Bank-owned real estate decreased 36 percent in 2013.

SunTrust reduced its allowance for future loan losses and had broad-based loan growth, the company said. CEO William H. Rogers Jr. said he was building a “more effective and efficient company.”

“We’re taking the actions we believe are necessary to return this business to profitability,” Rogers said in a conference call. “We’ll continue to be responsive to changes in the evolving operating environment and the opportunities within our markets.”

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