For the first six months of the year, West Bancorporation had profits of $14.1 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with $12.5 million, or 76 cents a share, a year ago. Total loans for West Bank operations in Greater Des Moines, eastern Iowa and Rochester, Minn., rose to $1.5 billion from $1.4 billion quarter to quarter. Assets were nearly $2.2 billion, compared with $1.9 billion a year ago. “Our second quarter financial results for 2018 were solid,” Dave Nelson, president and CEO of West Bancorporation, said in a statement. “Year-over-year earnings growth benefited from the lower corporate tax rate but was tempered by rising interest rates and the resulting increased cost of funds.”