Tower Financial Corp. today reported second-quarter earnings of $1.36 million, or 28 cents per diluted share, a 25 percent increase from the $1.09 million, or 22 cents a share, posted for the same three months of last year.

The Fort Wayne-based parent of Tower Bank also reported that its written agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago was terminated on July 10.

The agreement was a kind of probation imposed after regulators determined the bank’s procedures for evaluating loan risk were inadequate.

With the written agreement lifted, Tower’s directors were once again allowed to declare a dividend. The board approved a 5.5 cents per share dividend, payable Aug. 21 to stockholders of record Aug. 7.

Also during the second quarter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. lowered Tower Bank’s risk assessment rate. As a result, the FDIC charged Tower $213,000 less in premiums than in the second quarter of 2011.

Mike Cahill, Tower Financial’s president and CEO, said termination of the written agreement is proof of the company’s success.

“We are making solid marked progress each quarter on our loan issues, as our watch list of (problem) loans dipped below 10 percent for the first time since October 2007. And we expect this momentum to continue,” he said in a statement. “However, we still have significant work to do in addressing known issues in this arena.”

The three months ended June 30 marked the fifth consecutive quarter when Tower has earned more than $1 million, officials said.

sslater@jg.net