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Loan growth in a rising rate environment helped drive earnings at several Massachusetts stock banks.
Lowell-based Enterprise Bank saw loans grow year-over-year in the fourth quarter by 2 percent, while the full-year 2022 saw 9 percent loan growth over 2021. The bank ended 2022 with total loans of $3.18 billion compared to $2.92 billion at the end of 2021.
The bank’s fourth quarter net interest income was $42.2 million, up $6.5 million from the fourth quarter of 2021. Net interest income for the full year was $151.8 million, up 7 percent from 2021.
“Our focus on community involvement, outstanding and responsive service, and a strong digital platform provides the foundation to deliver valued products and services including commercial lending, residential mortgages, cash management, and wealth management,” George Duncan, Enterprise Bank’s executive chairman and founder, said in the bank’s fourth quarter earnings statement.
Enterprise Bank, which has $4.44 billion in total assets, had fourth quarter net income of $12.3 million, or $1.01 per diluted common share, compared to $10.8 million, or $0.90 per diluted common share, in the fourth quarter of 2021. Net income for 2022 was $42.7 million, or $3.52 per diluted common share, compared to $42.2 million, or $3.50 per diluted common share, in 2021.
Brockton-based HarborOne Bank had fourth quarter net interest and dividend income of $39.2 million, up from $34 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. Net interest income for the year was $148.98 million compared to $131.37 million in 2021.
Loans increased 8.4 percent in the fourth quarter to $4.55 billion, up from $4.2 billion in the third quarter. Total loans at the end of 2021 were $3.6 billion.
“I am very proud of our team’s 2022 accomplishments,” Joseph F. Casey, HarborOne’s president and CEO, said in the bank’s fourth quarter earnings statement. “Despite a challenging rate environment, our focused customer engagement produced loan growth of 26 percent, deposit growth of 14 percent, and net interest income growth of 13 percent; all while reducing expenses by 13 percent.”
HarborOne, which ended 2022 with $5.36 billion in total assets, had fourth quarter net income of $9.6 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, down from $12.6 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2021. Full-year 2022 net income was $45.6 million, or $0.97 per diluted share, compared to net income of $58.5 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, in 2021.
The $2.6 billion-asset Western New England Bancorp Inc., parent company of Westfield Bank, had record fourth quarter net income of $9 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, compared to net income of $6.2 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2021. The full-year 2022 net income was $25.9 million, or $1.18 per diluted share, compared to net income of $23.7 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, in 2021.
Th bank’s fourth quarter net interest income was $20.9 million up from $18.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. For the full-year 2022, net interest income increased 8.3 percent to $79.2 million compared to $73.2 million in 2021.
Westfield Bank had total loans at the end of 2022 of $1.99 billion, up 6.8 percent from the end of 2021. Loans at the end of the third quarter of 2022 were $2.01 billion.
“We are very pleased to report that the Company delivered record earnings for the fourth quarter along with concrete earnings for 2022, with an increasing net interest margin, strong revenue and a lower efficiency ratio derived from solid loan growth across all loan segments,” James Hagan, Westfield Bank’s president and CEO, said in the fourth quarter earnings statement. “As a Company, we have continued to focus on expanding and attracting new loan and core deposit relationships in our existing and expanded markets, which resulted in loan growth coming in ahead of internal targets on a quarterly and annual basis.”
