Laurentian Bank of Canada today reported a 34% rise in fourth quarter earnings, helped by a gain from the restructuring of credit card company Visa Inc. and a favorable tax adjustment.

The bank said net income for the three months ended October 31 was $30.2 million, or $1.14¢ per diluted share. That’s up from $22.6 million, or 84¢, in the same period a year ago.

Earnings from continuing operations were $25.7 million, or 95¢ a share, in the quarter, compared with $18.1 million or 65¢ a share, a year earlier.

Laurentian said the bank wrote down the value of its $20 million portfolio of Canadian non-bank asset-backed commercial paper by 15%, or $2.9 million.

The bank said the Visa gain equaled $4 million before taxes, while the tax benefit was worth $2.2 million.

Return on equity, a measure of a bank’s efficiency, increased to 13.8% from 10.8% a year earlier.

For the year ended October 31, Laurentian reported net income of $94.5 million. or diluted earnings of $3.48 per share, compared with $70.3 million, or diluted earnings of $2.48 per share in 2006.

The bank also raised its quarterly dividend by 10% to 32¢ a share.