First Hawaiian Bank, coming off its most profitable year since being founded in 1858, continued that momentum into 2016 as it posted its second-highest quarterly net income ever.

The state’s largest bank, which appears headed for an initial public offering by Paris-based parent BNP Paribas, was scheduled to report today that first-quarter earnings soared 21.4 percent to $68.6 million from $56.5 million in the year-earlier period. Its most profitable quarter ever was in the January-March period of 2009, when it made $74.5 million.

Last year First Hawaiian reported $236.1 million in earnings to beat its previous best of $230.5 million in 2009.

First Hawaiian, as with other local banks that reporting earnings, recorded strong loan growth. First Hawaiian’s loans rose 8 percent to a record $11 billion from $10.2 billion in the year- earlier quarter.

Deposits increased 5.8 percent to $16.1 billion from $15.2 billion. Assets rose 1.9 percent to $19.1 billion from $18.7 billion but were down from the bank’s record $19.3 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of French banking giant BNP Paribas, First Hawaiian isn’t required to publicly release its earnings, but has been doing so on a voluntary basis. Given the uncertainty surrounding BNP’s plans for the bank, First Hawaiian said it would not provide any comments regarding its financial results.

The quality of First Hawaiian’s loan portfolio continued to improve last quarter. Its nonperforming assets — delinquent loans not accruing interest and foreclosed real estate — as a percentage of total assets declined 38.5 percent to 0.08 percent from 0.13 percent a year ago.

First Hawaiian’s efficiency ratio, which measures in percentage terms how much it takes to make a dollar in revenue, improved to 41.52 percent from 44.65 percent.

In December BNP announced that it was contemplating a sale of First Hawaiian as a way to generate more capital. Among the options being considered was an initial public offering.

Reuters reported in January that BNP had chosen Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch to help prepare First Hawaiian for an IPO.

In April the Wall Street Journal reported that BNP was planning an IPO of First Hawaiian as early as June but that the local bank needed to complete a Federal Reserve “stress test” and seek regulators’ blessing of its capital-return plans before launching the deal.

The two news organizations have reported that First Hawaiian would try to raise roughly $1 billion in an offering that would value the bank at between $4 billion and $5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

First Hawaiian has 57 branches in Hawaii, three on Guam and two on Saipan.