MEMPHIS -- First Horizon National Corporation, which operates the First Tennessee Banks, has reported its third-quarter net loss available to common shareholders was $52.9 million, or 24 cents per diluted share.

"Despite a loss for the quarter amid a challenging economy, First Horizon National remains on track," a First Horizon press release said.

Bryan Jordan, First Horizon's CEO, said, "We're continuing our focus on our strategic repositioning efforts and making good progress in spite of a weak economy and a difficult operating envirornment."

Among the encouraging signs, the bank's quarterly statement said, "were overall credit quality improvement, average core deposit growth, net interest margin expansion, and further balance sheet reduction."

First Horizon listed these results in the third quarter:

* "Pre-tax pre-provision earnings of $144.8 million, a sequential quarter increase of $64.0 million;

* "Overall asset quality stabilizing: Provision expense decreased $75.0 million to $185.0 million, net charge-offs declined, nonperforming assets were slightly down;

* "Positive trends within core businesses continued: Regional Banking net interest margin expanded and average core deposits increased $148 million or 1.4 percent; Capital Markets produced another good quarter;

* "Performance in wind-down businesses also improved as Mortgage Banking income increased and provision expense significantly declined in National Specialty Lending;

* "Stronger balance sheet with improved liquidity: Average assets declined to $26.8 billion; Average core deposits increased $400 million, a 3.2 percent increase from the prior quarter;

* "Capital position grew even stronger: Capital ratios improved, remaining among industry leaders with tangible common equity to tangible assets of 7.85 percent."