| Brookline Bancorp maintained earnings in the fourth quarter of 2016, beefing up its commercial real estate and commercial loan and lease portfolios while managing charge-offs in its taxi medallion business.
The holding company for Brookline Bank, First Ipswich Bank and Bank Rhode Island, posted net income totaling $13.3 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, essentially flat from the year-ago period. For the year ended Dec. 31, the company posted $52.4 million in net income, up about 5.3 percent from the $49.8 million it recorded in 2015.
“We are very pleased to finish 2016 with over 5 percent year-to-year growth in earnings,” President and CEO Paul Perrault said in a statement. “We grew our loan balances by more than 8 percent and our demand deposits grew by 13 percent. Our asset quality remains stable and we continue to be well-capitalized. Looking towards 2017, the company is solidly positioned to continue to grow and deliver consistent returns to our stockholders. I am grateful to all our employees who have demonstrated dedication and commitment in accomplishing these outstanding results.”
Total assets increased to $6.44 billion at Dec. 31, compared with $6.38 billion in the prior quarter and $6.04 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company said that was driven by growth in loans and leases.
At year-end 2016, total loans and leases stood at $5.4 billion, up a little more than 8 percent from $4.9 billion in 2015. During the fourth quarter, total loans and leases grew 5.0 percent on an annualized basis. Commercial real estate and commercial loan and lease portfolios increased $59.7 million during the quarter, or 5.5 percent on an annualized basis.
The ratio of nonperforming loans and leases to total loans and leases was 0.74 percent at Dec. 31, compared with 0.70 percent at Sept. 30 and 0.39 percent for the same period in 2015. Nonperforming loans and leases increased $2.5 million to $40.1 million at Dec. 31, from $37.6 million in the third quarter.
The company recorded a provision for credit losses of $3.2 million for the fourth quarter ended, compared with $2.2 million in the third quarter. Net charge-offs in the fourth quarter totaled $8.3 million compared to $0.5 million in the third quarter and $1.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
In a conference call announcing their fourth quarter earnings, Brookline Bancorp’s leadership stressed that the company had previously established specific reserve for $6.1 million of those charged off loans. Of those, $4.5 million were related to its taxi medallion business.
CFO Carl M. Carlson said the company’s taxi medallion portfolio totals $31.1 million and that $13.4 million of those loans are currently classified as impaired.
The remaining $2.2 million in net charge-offs were related to originated and acquired loans that deteriorated in the fourth quarter, the company said.
Deposits totaled $4.61 billion at Dec. 31, compared with $4.56 billion at Sept. 30 and $4.31 billion in the year-ago period.
