East Boston Savings Bank’s fourth quarter net income increased a record 38 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, the company reported this week.

Fourth quarter net income was $17.1 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2019, compared to $12.4 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2018.

Richard J. Gavegnano, East Boston Savings’ chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement that the earnings represented a new fourth quarter record for the bank.

The bank’s net earnings for the third quarter of 2019 were $19.7 million, or $0.38 per diluted share.

For the full year ending Dec. 31, 2019, net income was $67 million, or $1.30 per diluted share, up 20 percent compared to the 2018 earnings of $55.8 million, or $1.06 per diluted share.

Gavegnano said the earnings reflected loan loss provision reversals of $2.6 million for the year 2019 and $504,000 in the fourth quarter resulting both commercial loan payoffs and construction loans that converted to permanent status in the second half of the year. He added that continuing increases in net interest income and improvements in the market valuations of our marketable equity securities portfolio during 2019 also contributed to the earnings.

“This high volume of loan payoffs continued to be driven by the competitive interest rate environment and the strength of commercial real estate market conditions in the metropolitan Boston area, although our loan pipelines also remain strong as we achieved the highest origination volume of the year at $361 million in the fourth quarter,” Gavegnano said.