WESTERLY – Despite multiple business lines failing to yield anticipated revenue, Washington Trust Bancorp Inc. will stay the course with its current business model and look to bounce back from a third-quarter profit drop reported last week.
Total interest and noninterest revenue grew 4.6 percent to $45.4 million compared with the same period last year, but the parent of Westerly-based Washington Trust Co. reported a 3.1 percent decrease in net income, to $10.2 million, or 60 cents per diluted share.
Wealth-management assets grew 14.7 percent to $5.7 billion and total loans increased 10.3 percent to $2.7 billion, compared with the same period last year. But Joseph J. MarcAurele, chairman and CEO, said a number of contributing factors affected revenue, including volatility in the global equity markets and “fierce” competition in the regional lending market.
“The third quarter is evidence that Washington Trust is not immune to the challenges of this operating environment,” MarcAurele said during a conference call with investors.
MarcAurele said new-loan production generated during the quarter was offset by an “unusually high amount of commercial real estate payoffs.”
But Edward O. “Ned” Handy III, president and chief operating officer, says the commercial-lending pipeline is healthy, so he expects more robust lending in the company’s final quarter.
The bank expects to open a new branch on Waterman Street in Providence during the first quarter of next year.
“We continue to strongly believe in the soundness of our business model, which has fairly consistently benefited from the diversity of our revenue-generating lines of business,” MarcAurele said. •
