While many U.S. banks are pulling bank of their mortgage operations — Bank of America (BAC) comes to mind — still others are finding room to roam in a market that continues to evolve post-crisis. A great example is U.S. Bancorp (USB), which saw the super-regional post a 50% sequential increase in mortgage banking revenues during the first quarter of 2012. The gain came largely from higher origination volumes and gain-on-sale margins as the bank has found selling mortgages to the GSEs to be a highly profitable business line. Analysts are taking note of USB’s strong performance as well, with Paul Miller at FBR Capital Markets writing this morning that the bank is positioned “to thrive in any economic environment.” That’s quite an endorsement. You can read more about the emergence of USB as a mortgage banking powerhouse over at CNBC. — Paul Jackson