Year-over-year total assets and deposits at Massachusetts-based, FDIC-insured institutions rose 23.6 percent and 34.5 percent, respectively, in the fourth quarter of last year as the percentage of unprofitable institutions fell roughly 27 percent.
Massachusetts-based commercial and savings banks, with either a state or national charter, reported $317.17 billion in total assets in the fourth quarter, up from roughly $256.62 billion during the same period in 2010. Total deposits rose to $245.99 billion in the quarter, up from $182.96 billion at the end of 2010.
The percentage of unprofitable institutions fell to 7.5 percent, from 10.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the latest FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile. Fewer banks were in the red, but fewer also reported income gains over 2010 – 60 percent of institutions reported year-over-year earnings gains in the fourth quarter, down from 76.97 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
But even as total assets grew in the fourth quarter, institutions’ returns on those assets dropped year-over-year. In the fourth quarter, the average return on assets at Massachusetts’ FDIC-insured firms fell to 0.87 percent, down from 0.99 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Still, the returns are a far cry from the negative returns experienced in the fourth quarter of 2009, when banks experienced a -0.54 percent return on assets.
Among smaller institutions of less than $100 million in assets, however, average returns on assets grew to 3.46 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 2.15 percent at the end of 2010. But the better returns at smaller institutions were not enough to offset a decline at institutions with more than $100 million in assets, which dropped year-over-year to 0.86 percent from 0.98 percent.
Assets may not have been as profitable in the fourth quarter for the majority of institutions, but their quality did seem to improve. The ratio of non-performing assets to total assets fell to 0.43 percent in the fourth quarter, down almost 25 percent from 0.57 percent during the same period in 2010. That number stood at 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Massachusetts institutions’ REO portfolios also grew in the fourth quarter, rising approximately 21.5 percent to $237 million from $195 million at the end of 2010.
The total number of Massachusetts-based institutions reporting results fell to 160 in the fourth quarter, down from 165 in 2010 and 171 in 2009. But those 160 institutions employed 45,874 people in the fourth quarter, up from 44,815 in the fourth quarter of 2010 and 44,134 at the end of 2009.
