Iowa banks reported a total of $246.3 million in net income for the second quarter, up from $231 million a year ago, the Iowa Bankers Association said in a release. Loans grew nearly 8.6 percent to $55.1 billion from $50.8 billion, outpacing the loan growth of 6.7 percent nationwide. Construction and land development loans for consumer and business purposes recorded the largest year-over-year increase, with gains reported in all categories. Loan quality remained steady. Return on assets, another indicator of overall bank performance, improved to 1.22 percent at the end of the second quarter, compared with 1.2 percent a year ago. Total assets reached $81.4 billion, compared with $76.5 billion the year prior. Nationally, bank profits improved to $43.6 billion in the second quarter from $43 billion a year ago. The number of banks across the nation on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “problem list” fell to 147 during the quarter, the smallest number of problem banks since the first half of 2008. The FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund, supported by bank premiums, increased to $77.9 billion in the second quarter, up $2.8 billion from the first quarter.