April 25 (Reuters) - First Citizens BancShares'

first-quarter profit beat expectations as the lender

earned higher interest income and reaped the benefits of its

acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last year.

Adjusted profit attributable to common stockholders was $769

million, or $52.92 per share, for the three months ended March

31, the bank reported on Thursday, compared with analysts'

average estimate of $43.32 per share, according to LSEG.

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based lender has been boosted by

its buyout of SVB, which collapsed last year after a deposit

flight spiraled out of control and led to the biggest banking

crisis in 15 years.

Since SVB's collapse, banking giants including JPMorgan

Chase ( JPM ) and HSBC ( HSBC ) have tried to beef up their

businesses catering to startups and venture capital firms.

"It's been over one year since SVB became part of First

Citizens, and we continue to successfully execute on our

integration efforts, which are accelerating the momentum of our

franchise," CEO Frank Holding Jr. said.

First Citizens' net interest income - the difference between

interest earned on loans and paid out on deposits - more than

doubled from a year earlier to $1.82 billion and was above

analysts' expectations of $1.81 billion.

Compared to the fourth quarter of last year, loans in the

SVB Commercial segment jumped $335 million and net charge-offs,

debts that are unlikely to be recovered, decreased by $31

million.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Tatiana Bautzer in

New York; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)