INCOME TAXES

The following table presents income tax expense and the effective income tax rate for the quarters and nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014.

Income Tax Expense

(Dollar amounts in thousands)



	Quarters Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2015			2014			2015			2014
Income before income tax expense	$	34,451		$	27,098		$	96,564		$	80,076
Income tax expense:
Federal income tax expense	$	9,036		$	6,714		$	24,956		$	19,719
State income tax expense	2,131			1,835			5,868			5,644
Total income tax expense	$	11,167		$	8,549		$	30,824		$	25,363
Effective income tax rate	32.4		%	31.5		%	31.9		%	31.7		%

Federal income tax expense and the related effective income tax rate are influenced by the amount of tax-exempt income derived from investment securities and BOLI in relation to pre-tax income and state income taxes. State income tax expense and the related effective tax rate are driven by the amount of state tax-exempt income in relation to pre-tax income and state tax rules related to consolidated/combined reporting and sourcing of income and expense.

The increase in total income tax expense resulted primarily from higher levels of income subject to tax at statutory rates, partly offset by decreases in state statutory rates.

The Company's accounting policies for the recognition of income taxes in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition and Income are included in Note 1, "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" and Note 15, "Income Taxes" to the Consolidated Financial Statements in the Company's 2014 10-K.