WESTERLY – Washington Trust Bancorp Inc. on Tuesday reported a slight profit decline for the first quarter of 2016, as net income fell 0.7 percent to $10.9 million, or 64 cents per diluted share, compared with the same period last year.
The parent company of The Washington Trust Co., based in Westerly, saw revenue grow 5.2 percent to $47.6 million for the quarter ended March 31. Joseph J. MarcAurele, chairman and CEO, called the earnings “solid,” and pointed to the recent opening of a retail branch in Providence and plans for a new mortgage banking office in Wellesley, Mass., as signs of market expansion that could help bolster future earnings.
“Our market expansion efforts, along with the continuing strength of our commercial, retail, mortgage banking and wealth management business lines, will help us to continue to achieve favorable results in future periods,” MarcAurele said.
Total assets grew 6.5 percent to $3.8 billion compared with the same period last year. At the same time, loans grew 5.8 percent to $3 billion compared with $2.9 billion last year. The growth reflects year-over-year increases in commercial, residential real estate and consumer loans. The bank, however, did realize a 24.9 percent reduction in residential mortgage loan originations, which dropped to $138 million for the quarter while residential mortgage loans sold dropped 17.2 percent to $106 million during the same period.
The bank’s allowance for loan losses as a percentage of total loans fell to 0.86 percent compared with 0.97 percent in the 2015 first quarter. Nonperforming assets grew to 0.49 percent compared with 0.48 percent in the same period last year.
Wealth management assets under management increased 13.9 percent to $5.9 billion compared with $5.2 billion at the end of the same 2015 period. The bank is still benefiting relatively from last year’s third-quarter acquisition of Halsey Associates Inc., a Connecticut-based wealth management firm, which fueled a 6.1 percent increase in wealth management for 2015.
The bank’s net-interest margin grew to 3.24 percent compared with 3.18 percent in 2015. Total deposits grew 3.5 percent to $2.9 billion.
