Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff / File
Eastern Bank saw record income growth in the third quarter, it announced in its third-quarter earnings call Friday.
The Boston-based bank reported $111 million in operating net income, an increase of 50 percent on a year-over-year basis. Eastern also saw net interest income increase from $200.2 million in the third quarter of 2025 to $257.9 million in the third quarter of this year. Total revenue increased from $241.5 million a year ago to $306.6 million in the third quarter of 2026.
“We are pleased with our third quarter performance, which reflects disciplined execution on our priorities of growing organically and returning capital to shareholders,” CEO Denis Sheahan told analysts on the call. “Overall, customers remain resilient and business activity continues to generate demand for financing. On the funding side, period-end deposits grew modestly despite seasonal municipal outflows. While competition remains elevated, we are committed to gathering core deposits to support our growth strategy.”
Sheahan also touted progress in the bank’s Cambridge Trust wealth-management division, which grew assets under administration to $11.6 billion, including $10.8 billion of assets under management.
“Wealth management further increased assets under management and administration, and our comprehensive, team-based approach continues to differentiate us,” he said. “While we are in the early stages of capitalizing on the full potential of our wealth management business, we are generating meaningful momentum, and are encouraged about its long-term outlook.”
Eastern executives’ struggle with activist investor HoldCo last fall over the bank’s acquisitions from 2018 to 2025 hasn’t yet receded in the rear-view mirror: The bank remains committed to organic growth, bank executives told analysts Friday.
Eastern Bank CFO David Rosato said he belivees the bank is well positioned to perform well financially even in a high-interest-rate environment.
“Our third quarter results underscore the strength of the franchise,” Rosato said. “We generated record operating net income, produced positive operating leverage, and maintained excellent asset quality, all while executing priorities of growing organically and returning capital to shareholders. As we look ahead, we remain encouraged by the underlying momentum across the franchise. At the same time, we continue to operate in a dynamic environment characterized by elevated deposit competition, evolving interest rate expectations, inflationary pressures and broader macroeconomic uncertainty. While these factors may influence the pace of loan and earnings growth in 2027, we believe our relationship-based banking model, disciplined expense management and strong balance sheet position us well to continue delivering attractive returns to shareholders.”
Eastern now has $31.7 billion in assets, a 24.8 percent increase from a year ago.
