Banker & Tradesman file photo
Eastern Bank’s insurance division helped drive performance during the Boston-based bank’s final quarter before becoming a stock bank in mid-October.
Boston-based Eastern Bank had third quarter net income of $28.5 million compared to $35.8 million in the third quarter of 2019, according to the bank’s quarterly report filed with the SEC. For the nine months ending Sept. 30, Eastern Bank had $66.8 million in net income compared to $103.86 million for the same time period in 2019.
Eastern Bank had said in a statement last month that it would not hold a conference call to discuss the third quarter earnings.
Nearly 85 percent of Eastern Bank’s total income for the third quarter came from the banking business, while about 15 percent come from its insurance agency business. But almost 46 percent of its noninterest income came from commissions earned from the sale of insurance products and services.
Eastern Bank had $47.7 million in noninterest income in the third quarter compared to $41.6 million in the same quarter last year. Noninterest income from insurance commissions was $21.9 million in the third quarter compared to $21.5 million in the third quarter of 2019. Eastern Bank has 25 non-branch insurance offices, mostly in Eastern Massachusetts.
About 7.1 percent of Eastern Bank’s total loan portfolio had COVID-19-related modifications as of Sept. 30, down from 9.5 percent of the portfolio on June 30.
Almost 42 percent of the loans in the bank’s restaurant portfolio had modifications as of Sept. 30, along with 30.5 percent of the hotel loans. The bank had 2.1 percent of its $9.9 billion loan portfolio in restaurants and 1.8 percent in hotels.
Easterns Bank’s loan portfolio grew by $957.2 million, or 10.7 percent, since the beginning of 2020. Most of the growth through Sept. 30 was due to $1.1 billion in PPP loan originations and a $117 million increase in commercial real estate loans. Growth was partially offset by a decrease in retail portfolios of $198.5 million.
Eastern’s total assets increased to $15.46 billion at the end of September, up from $11.6 billion on Dec. 31.
