WESTERLY – Washington Trust Bancorp Inc., parent of The Washington Trust Co., posted a 3.1 percent increase in net income for the second quarter of 2013 over the same 2012 period, according to an earnings report released by the bank after the close of business Monday.
The bank recorded second-quarter net income of $9 million, or 54 cents per diluted share, compared with profit of $8.7 million, or 53 cents per diluted share, in the 2012 second quarter.
At the same time, the bank reported a 2.5 percent year-over-year decline in total interest and non-interest income to $45.2 million.
“Washington Trust posted another quarter of solid operating results, with a continuation of strong commercial loan growth and healthy mortgage banking activity,” said the bank’s Chairman, President and CEO Joseph J. MarcAurele. “We continue to attract and build customer relationships across all business lines,” said MarcAurele
Total commercial, residential and consumer loans increased 7.7 percent over the 2012 second quarter to $2.4 billion. Nonperforming assets totaled $21.7 million at the end of the period, however, representing an increase of 14.9 percent. The ratio of nonperforming assets to total assets increased to 0.71 percent from 0.62 percent over the 12-month period. In addition, the bank took a loan loss provision for the period of $700,000, compared with a $600,000 provision a year earlier.
Return on average assets for the second quarter came to 1.18 percent, an increase from 1.16 percent in the 2012 second quarter, although return on average equity fell to 11.84 percent from 11.98 percent in the same period. Net interest margin fell to 3.26 percent in the quarter from 3.3 percent a year earlier.
Despite the year-over-year increase in loan activity, the bank did report that it experienced a decrease of $681,000, or 16 percent, in mortgage banking revenue for the second quarter, compared with the first three months of the year.
The decrease reflected “a lower level of mortgage loan refinancing activity due to rising market interest rates,” according to the report.
Residential loans sold to the secondary market totaled $132 million, compared with $153 million in the previous quarter.
