NORWICH – NBT Bancorp, Inc. has reported that net income for the three months ending March 31, 2009 was $13.1 million, down 4.7 percent from the same quarter last year. Net income per diluted share fell from $0.43 to $ 0.40 for the first 3 months of 2009 from the same period in 2008.

“Our first quarter results were down slightly from the same period in 2008 primarily due to higher FDIC premiums which were imposed on all FDIC insured financial institutions,” reported NBT President and CEO Martin Dietrich in a statement issued Tuesday. “I am pleased with our performance as we were able to grow our net interest income over last year by more than 9 percent due to effective management of our earning assets and liabilities in this challenging economic environment.”

NBT’s total assets were $5.4 billion as of March 31, up $70.1 million from December 31, 2008. Loans and leases account for $3.6 billion of total assets, down nominally from December 31.