Segment Information

The Company’s operations consist of three primary segments: community banking, specialty finance and wealth management.

The three reportable segments are strategic business units that are separately managed as they offer different products and services and have different marketing strategies. In addition, each segment’s customer base has varying characteristics and each segment has a different regulatory environment. While the Company’s management monitors each of the fifteen bank subsidiaries’ operations and profitability separately, these subsidiaries have been aggregated into one reportable operating segment due to the similarities in products and services, customer base, operations, profitability measures and economic characteristics.

For purposes of internal segment profitability, management allocates certain intersegment and parent company balances. Management allocates a portion of revenues to the specialty finance segment related to loans and leases originated by the specialty finance segment and sold or assigned to the community banking segment. Similarly, for purposes of analyzing the contribution from the wealth management segment, management allocates a portion of the net interest income earned by the community banking segment on deposit balances of customers of the wealth management segment to the wealth management segment. See Note 10, “Deposits,” for more information on these deposits. Finally, expenses incurred at the Wintrust parent company are allocated to each segment based on each segment's risk-weighted assets.

The segment financial information provided in the following tables has been derived from the internal profitability reporting system used by management to monitor and manage the financial performance of the Company. The accounting policies of the segments are substantially similar to those described in the Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in Note 1. The Company evaluates segment performance based on after-tax profit or loss and other appropriate profitability measures common to each segment.

The following is a summary of certain operating information for reportable segments:



(Dollars in thousands)	Community Banking		Specialty Finance		Wealth Management		Total Operating Segments		Intersegment Eliminations			Consolidated
2018
Net interest income	$	791,838	$	136,981	$	17,455	$	946,274	$	18,629		$	964,903
Provision for credit losses	28,586		6,246		—		34,832		—			34,832
Non-interest income	238,668		65,898		91,896		396,462		(40,312		)	356,150
Non-interest expense	681,749		84,248		81,774		847,771		(21,683		)	826,088
Income tax expense	79,361		30,325		7,281		116,967		—			116,967
Net income	$	240,810	$	82,060	$	20,296	$	343,166	$	—		$	343,166
Total assets at end of year	$	25,438,454	$	5,073,011	$	733,384	$	31,244,849	$	—		$	31,244,849
2017
Net interest income	$	677,481	$	118,320	$	18,919	$	814,720	$	17,356		$	832,076
Provision for credit losses	27,059		2,709		—		29,768		—			29,768
Non-interest income	211,354		60,405		84,312		356,071		(36,565		)	319,506
Non-interest expense	599,455		74,559		77,012		751,026		(19,209		)	731,817
Income tax expense	87,486		35,775		9,054		132,315		—			132,315
Net income	$	174,835	$	65,682	$	17,165	$	257,682	$	—		$	257,682
Total assets at end of year	$	22,781,923	$	4,515,766	$	618,281	$	27,915,970	$	—		$	27,915,970
2016
Net interest income	$	588,847	$	98,248	$	18,611	$	705,706	$	16,487		$	722,193
Provision for credit losses	30,862		3,222		—		34,084		—			34,084
Non-interest income	230,414		49,706		78,478		358,598		(33,168		)	325,430
Non-interest expense	556,798		66,460		75,108		698,366		(16,681		)	681,685
Income tax expense	86,933		29,512		8,534		124,979		—			124,979
Net income	$	144,668	$	48,760	$	13,447	$	206,875	$	—		$	206,875
Total assets at end of year	$	21,172,080	$	3,884,373	$	612,100	$	25,668,553	$	—		$	25,668,553