** Shares of regional lender Bank OZK OZK.O jump as much as 7.2%; last up 6% at $48.04

** OZK late Thursday posted record Q4 profit of $178.1 mln, a 4% jump from a year earlier

** Excluding one-time costs, OZK earned $1.56/shr, topping Wall Street expectations of $1.44/shr - LSEG

** Q4 net interest income rose 2.4% to $379.4 mln, beating estimates of $376.9 mln

** OZK expects further growth in average earning assets this year, which should result in record NII for the full-year and in one or more quarters

** Q4 loan loss provisions of $37.2 mln were lower than estimates of $42.2 mln

** Piper Sandler says the notable improvement in credit performance should take OZK shares meaningfully higher

** Adds that updates given around non-performing assets were far better than it would have expected

** OZK shares fell 10.6% in 2024 vs a 32.8% gain in the KBW Bank .BKX index

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)

((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))