In the fourth quarter, Cullen/Frost earned $101.7 million or $1.60 per share, compared with earnings of $117.2 million and $1.82 a share reported in the same quarter a year ago.
For the full year, Cullen/Frost earned $435.5 million or $6.84 a share compared with earnings of $446.9 million or $6.90 a share reported in 2018.
Our return on average assets was 1.21% in the fourth quarter compared to 1.48% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Average deposits in the fourth quarter of $27.2 billion were up 2.6% compared to the fourth quarter of last year, while average loans were up 5.4%.
Our provision for loan losses was $8.4 million in the fourth quarter compared to $8 million in the third quarter of this year and $3.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Net charge-offs for the fourth quarter were $12.7 million compared with $6.4 million in the third quarter and $9.2 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
Fourth quarter annualized net charge-offs were 34 basis points of average loans.
Non-performing assets were $109.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter compared with $105 million in the third quarter and $74.9 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
Overall delinquencies for accruing loan at the end of the fourth quarter were $58.2 million and that was 39 basis points of period end loans.
Total problem loans, which we define as risk grade 10 and higher were $511 million at the end of the fourth quarter compared to $487 million in the third quarter of this year and $477 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
Energy related problem loans were $132.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter compared to $87.2 million for the third quarter and $115.4 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
Energy loans in general represented 11.2% of our portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter, up from the previous quarter but well below our peak of more than 16% in 2015.
Our focus for commercial loans continues to be on consistent, balanced growth, including both the core component, which we define as lending relationships under $10 million in size as well as larger relationships, while maintaining our quality standards.
The balance between these relationships went from 52% larger and 48% core at the end of 2018 to 57% larger and 43% core at the end of 2019.
New relationships increased 4% versus the fourth quarter of a year ago.
The dollar amount of new loan commitments booked during the fourth quarter was up sharply, increasing 75% from a year ago and 44% from the prior quarter.
Even excluding the strong energy growth we saw in the fourth quarter, new loan commitments grew 42% versus a year ago and 20% from the prior quarter and represented good increases in both C&I and CRE.
In 2019, we booked just 3% more loan commitments compared to 2018 despite looking at 16% more deals.
In CRE, we saw our percentage of deals lost to structure increase from 63% in 2018 to 69% in 2019.
Our weighted current active loan pipeline in the fourth quarter was up by about 9% overall compared to the prior quarter and was driven by a 20% growth in C&I opportunities.
Of the 10 new financial centers that we've opened so far in the Houston region, four were opened in the fourth quarter.
We expect to open one more Houston area financial center in the current quarter on our way to a total of 25 new financial centers and we've already hired more than 150 of the approximately 200 employees we expect to staff this expansion.
We added almost 13,000 net new customers -- consumer customers in 2019, an increase of 48% from a year ago.
That represented a 3.8% increase in the total number of consumer customers, all of it representing organic growth.
In the fourth quarter 32% of our account openings came from our online channel which includes our Frost Bank mobile app.
In fact, online account openings were 30% higher compared to the fourth quarter of 2018.
The consumer loan portfolio averaged $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter, increasing by 1.2% compared to the fourth quarter last year.
Texas job growth was a very strong 4% in November and the Dallas Fed now estimates 1.9% Texas job growth for full year 2019.
December statewide unemployment of 3.5% uptick slightly from the historically low 3.4% level seen in each of the six months through November.
In terms of employment growth by industry, as of November, construction had the strongest employment growth in Texas with 11.5% growth for the month and growth of 5% for the year-to-date period through November.
Financial activities was the industry with the second fastest job growth at 3.5% year-to-date through November.
Energy was the only sector that showed meaningfully negative Texas job growth, down 2.7% year-to-date through November.
According to the Dallas Fed surveys, activity in the Texas services sector accelerated again in the fourth quarter and revenue growth in this sector has remained in positive territory every month since December of 2009.
Job growth in the Houston region accelerated to a 2.8% rate in the three months through November, compared to a more modest 1.6% rate for the full year through November professional and business services and education and health services led Houston job growth over the three months through November growing at 8.2% and 7.7% respectively over the same period a year earlier.
Regarding the DFW Metroplex the Dallas Business Cycle Index maintained by the Dallas Fed expanded at a 5% annual rate in the fourth quarter compared to 4.8% in the third quarter, while the Fort Worth Business Cycle Index expanded at a consistent 4.1% rate in the second half of the year.
For the DFW Metroplex, November job growth remains strong at a 4.8% annualized rate, and area unemployment remained near multi-year lows at 3.2% in Dallas and 3.3% in Fort Worth.
The Austin economy has also remained healthy in November and the Dallas Fed's Austin Business Cycle Index has now been in expansion territory for more than 10 years with index growth remaining at or above the region's historical 6% average for the past nine years.
In the three months ending in November, Austin area job growth moderated to 2.4%.
Austin's unemployment rate remained at 2.7% in November for the fourth consecutive month.
The San Antonio Business Cycle Index grew at a 5.5% rate in November and San Antonio job growth was 4.7% for the three months through November with area unemployment remaining at 3.1%.
Despite the lack of job growth in the Permian region, November unemployment remained low at 2.4% for the second consecutive month.
Our net interest margin percentage for the fourth quarter was 3.62%, down 14 basis points from the 3.76% reported last quarter.
The taxable equivalent loan yield for the fourth quarter was 4.88%, down 28 basis points from the third quarter, impacted by the lower rate environment with September and October Fed rate cuts.
The total investment portfolio averaged $13.6 billion during the fourth quarter, up about $197 million from the third quarter average of $13.4 billion.
The taxable equivalent yield on the investment portfolio was 3.37% in the fourth quarter, down 6 basis points from the third quarter.
Our municipal portfolio averaged about $8.4 billion during the fourth quarter, up about $193 million from the third quarter.
The municipal portfolio had a taxable equivalent yield for the fourth quarter of 4.8%, flat with the previous quarter.
During the fourth quarter, approximately $1.4 billion of our treasury securities that were yielding about 1.51% matured.
During the fourth quarter, we purchased about $1.5 billion in securities to replace the treasuries that matured.
During the quarter, we purchased $500 million in 30 year treasuries yielding about 2.27%, approximately $700 million in agency mortgage-backed securities yielding about 2.37% and about $300 million in municipal securities with a TE yield of 3.3%.
As a result of the maturities and purchases I just mentioned, the duration of the investment portfolio at the end of the quarter was 5.4 years compared to 4.3 years last quarter.
Looking at our funding sources, the cost of total deposits for the fourth quarter was 29 basis points, down 10 basis points from the third quarter.
The combined cost of -- the cost of combined Fed funds purchased and repurchase agreements which consists primarily of customer repos decreased 32 basis points to 1.21% for the fourth quarter from 1.53% in the previous quarter.
Those balances averaged about $1.42 billion during the fourth quarter, up about $126 million from the previous quarter.
Moving to non-interest expense; total non-interest expense for the quarter increased approximately $21.1 million or 10.6% compared to the third quarter -- excuse me, the fourth quarter last year.
Excluding the impact of the Houston expansion and the operating costs associated with our headquarters move in downtown San Antonio, non-interest expense growth would have been approximately 6.3%.
So again, regarding the estimates for full year 2020 earnings, we currently believe that the FactSet mean of $6.13 is reasonable.

Summary:
In the fourth quarter, Cullen/Frost earned $101.7 million or $1.60 per share, compared with earnings of $117.2 million and $1.82 a share reported in the same quarter a year ago.