Banker & Tradesman file photo
As more national and local banks continue to reduce or eliminate fees for overdraft and nonsufficient funds, Boston-based Eastern Bank will also make changes to these fees later this year.
Jim Fitzgerald, Eastern Bank’s chief financial officer and chief administrative officer, said during the bank’s first-quarter earnings call today that Eastern planned to implement changes to its overdraft practices in the second half of 2021.
Rockland Trust said during its earnings call last week that it planned to make changes to its fees, and Cape Cod 5, a mutual bank, announced plans to eliminate the fees beginning on June 1.
Eastern Bank expects non-interest income to be reduced by $2.5-3 million when the new policy takes effect, and the annualized reduction will total between $5-6 million, Fitzgerald said.
The bank did not provide details about the changes. In response to an analyst’s question regarding the amount of the bank’s current overdraft and nonsufficient funds fees, Fitzgerald said the reduction would represent about 50 percent of the total amount.
Eastern Bank’s noninterest income was $46.4 million for the first quarter, compared to $49 million in the fourth quarter.
Eastern Bank’s net income for the first quarter was $51.5 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, compared to $35.1 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of 2021, Eastern’s first full quarter as a public bank, net income was $47.6 million, or $0.28 per diluted share.
The bank’s total assets were $22.8 billion at the end of the first quarter, down 3 percent from the end of 2021.
Total loans were $12.2 billion, a decrease of $99.3 million, or 1 percent, from the fourth quarter. The bank attributed the decrease to $190.2 million in Paycheck Protection Program loan paydowns, which were partially offset by loan growth of $90.9 million, or 3.1 percent on an annualized basis, excluding PPP loans.
Deposits totaled $19.4 billion, representing a decrease of $235.5 million, or 1 percent, from the fourth quarter.
Fitzgerald said the bank expects to have a competitive advantage in its deposit franchise as short-term interest rates increase.
“We feel that our deposit franchise is a long-term strength of the company that tends not to be featured as prominently during periods of very low short-term interest rates,” Fitzgerald said. “We look forward to rising rates allowing us to spotlight the value of our funding position over time.”
Eastern is ready to partner with another bank on an acquisition, Eastern’s CEO Bob Rivers said in response to an analyst’s question. He confirmed that the bank is looking for an acquisition only within or adjacent to its current market and does not plan to look into other geographies.
Rivers added that the bank’s current focus was on organic loan growth, noting that the bank’s hiring activity has been “much more aggressive than it’s been in the past.”
The bank recently hired six new relationship managers for its commercial lending team away from other banks. Rivers in response to an analyst’s question said the new hires were not part of a team but hired individually from banks of different sizes, including some involved in a recent merger. The new employees are distributed across Eastern’s commercial banking lines, Rivers said, including middle-market, commercial real estate and community development lending.
Fitzgerald said the bank expects loan growth in the mid-to-high single digits in 2022.
