Banker & Tradesman file photo

Brookline Bancorp plans to maintain its multi-bank holding structure and keep separate charters for Brookline Bank and Bank Rhode Island.

Paul Perrault, Brookline Bancorp’s chair and CEO, said during the bank’s first quarter earnings call last week that having separate charters is “working pretty well.”

Perrault was responding to an analyst’s question about why he wouldn’t combine the bank’s charters to reduce costs.

Brookline Bancorp in 2020 had merged a third bank in the holding company, First Ipswich Bank, into Brookline Bank.

Brookline Bank and Bank Rhode Island have separate leaders, and Perrault said the reporting structures were “terrific.”

“I would fear that we would be leaking functionality, and we would lose the presence in each of the markets being totally controlled by their CEOs,” Perrault said. “And I look at our efficiency ratio, and it looks pretty good on a relative basis.”

Brookline Bancorp’s efficiency ratio, which measures a bank’s noninterest expenses in relation to total income, was 56.37 percent in the first quarter compared to 52.23 percent in the fourth quarter and 55.22 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

Several banks in the region had first quarter efficiency ratios between 55-60 percent. Banks often target a ratio of 50 percent.

Brookline Bancorp had first quarter net income of $24.7 million, or $0.32 per basic and diluted share, compared to $26.5 million, or $0.34 per basic and diluted share, for the first quarter of 2021. Net income in the fourth quarter was $28.5 million, or $0.37 per basic and diluted share.

Brookline Bancorp’s total assets were $8.63 billion at the end of the first quarter, up from $8.6 billion at the end of 2021 and $8.56 billion on March 31, 2021.

Total loans and leases were $7.2 billion, an increase of $68.7 million from Dec. 31 and a decrease of $44.4 million from March 31, 2021.

Total deposits increased to $7.09 billion compared to $7.05 billion at the end of 2021 and $6.87 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2021.

Brookline Bancorp’s first quarter non-interest expenses were $42.5 million compared to $42.9 million in the fourth quarter. The bank in its first quarter earnings statement attributed the decrease in part to $1.7 million less in compensation and employee benefits expenses. Decreases were partially offset by an increase of $700,000 in occupancy expense, $500,00 in equipment and data processing expense, $400,000 in advertising and marketing expense and $100,000 in FDIC insurance expense.