Quincy-based Envision Bank saw declining mortgage demand in the fourth quarter as earnings in 2021 dropped more than 50 percent compared to 2020.

Envision Bank had fourth quarter net income of $786,000, or $0.16 per diluted share, compared to net income of $3.1 million, or $0.62 per diluted share, in the third quarter and $5.3 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2020.

For the full-year 2021, the bank had net income of $9.6 million, or $1.88 per diluted share, down 51.8 percent from 2020, when net income was $19.9 million, or $3.86 per diluted share.

William M. Parent, Envision Bank’s president and CEO, described the fourth quarter as a “transitional quarter.” In the bank’s fourth quarter earnings statement, Parent pointed to the negative effects that declining origination volumes had on the mortgage banking business.

The bank will continue to transition its mortgage banking operations in the first quarter of 2022, Parent added, with lower loan production levels leading the bank to initiate a reduction in workforce.

Parent did express optimism heading into 2022.

“During the [fourth] quarter, we were able to grow our commercial lending business and increase and extend our low-cost funding, while also repositioning our fixed-rate residential mortgage loan portfolio,” Parent said. “This significantly increased our liquidity and prospects for improving net interest margin in anticipation of loan growth into a higher interest rate environment in 2022.”

The bank ended the fourth quarter with a mortgage pipeline of $85.9 million compared to $158.1 million at the end of the third quarter. The bank saw its noninterest income decrease by 44.3 percent in the fourth quarter to $4.5 million comparted to $8.1 million in the third quarter. The change included a decrease of $3.5 million in the net gain on loan origination and sale activities

Envision Bank had total assets of $803.3 million at the end of 2021, up from $751.1 million at the end of the third quarter and $721.1 million at the end of 2020. Total loans were $549.8 million, and total deposits were $638.1 million.

The bank also adjusted its plans for managing its capital. In October, the bank’s parent company, Randolph Bancorp, had announced plans to repurchase up to 510,000 shares of its common stock, representing approximately 10 percent of outstanding common stock. By Dec. 31, 4,337 shares had been repurchased.

The stock repurchase program was modified in January, with the company now planning to purchase up to 62,000 shares, or approximately 1 percent of outstanding common stock, through the end of the year.

The company instead declared a $2 per share one-time special dividend to manage capital.

“Our decision to declare a special dividend that returns approximately $10 million in capital to our shareholders, reflects the impact of low stock trading volume on the pace of our stock buybacks and our commitment to actively manage our strong capital position,” Parent said.

The board of directors also declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.15 per common share, the same as last quarter.

“We look forward to 2022 with strong prospects for growth in our community bank that should generate continued operating leverage and stronger recurring earnings,” Parent said.