By Lisa Beilfuss

Ally Financial Inc. said profit fell in its latest quarter as the lender came up against a tough year-ago comparison and saw its auto originations decelerate.

Detroit-based Ally, the former financing arm of General Motors Co. previously known as GMAC, is one of the nation's biggest auto lenders. Ally lost a big chunk of that business last year when GM largely squeezed it out of its lucrative subsidized-leasing business, but Ally has since worked to recoup much of that lost business.

In the latest quarter, auto originations slipped to $9 billion from $9.8 billion a year earlier. Excluding GM, originations rose 10% from last year's quarter. While the lender has benefited from record auto sales, many economists have cautioned that those sales are plateauing.

Meanwhile, retail deposits jumped 17% from a year earlier to $59 billion as Ally added 1.1 million deposit customers. Thanks to the Federal Reserve's move to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade, though very modestly, savings products have become a bit more attractive. Retail deposit growth during the quarter was driven largely by such products, Ally said.

Ally has recently moved to expand its offerings beyond retail lending, signing a deal earlier this month to buy online brokerage firm TradeKing Group Inc. for about $275 million. The move is part of Ally's plan to expand into new business lines including wealth management, mortgages and credit cards.

On Tuesday, Chief Executive Jeffrey Brown reiterated that the deal would close in the second or third quarter.

For the first quarter, Ally reported a profit of $250 million, or 49 cents a share, down from $576 million, or $1.06 a share, a year earlier. Last year's quarter was boosted by a $397 million one-time gain stemming from the company's sale of its Chinese auto finance joint venture. Excluding that impact and others, earnings per share were flat from a year earlier at 52 cents.

Analysts projected 54 cents in adjusted earnings per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 26, 2016 08:59 ET (12:59 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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