PROVIDENCE – Twenty-five with branches in Rhode Island and Bristol County, Mass., saw year-over-year net income increases in the first quarter of 2018, while three experienced declines in net income, including one that lost money in the first three months of both 2017 and 2018, according to data released Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The banks, comprised of the nine headquartered in Rhode Island, as well as 13 based in Massachusetts and six with branch locations regionally but headquartered elsewhere, earned $7.9 billion combined in net income, an increase from $5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Overall, commercial banks and savings institutions insured by FDIC across the country reported $56 billion in aggregate net income in the first quarter, a 27.5 percent increase, much do to “higher net operating revenue and a lower effective tax rate,” according to a release from the FDIC.
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Providence-based Citizens Bank N.A. had the largest first-quarter net income for a bank headquartered in the region, with $312.8 million, a 16.71 percent increase from the same 2017 period. The Washington Trust Co. in Westerly earned $16.5 million in net income in the 2018 first quarter, a 40.31 percent increase from a year ago. Bank Rhode Island’s first-quarter net income increased year to year by 308.8 percent from $1.2 million in 2017 to $5 million this year.
Other Rhode Island banks that reported increases this year were:
- BankNewport, which had net income of $3.9 million in the 2018 first quarter, a 31.3 percent year-over-year increase.
- Centreville Bank of West Warwick reported first-quarter net income of $1.3 million, a 45.8 percent increase.
- East Greenwich-based Independence Bank reported earnings of $1.2 million, nearly triple its net income from a year earlier.
- Coastway Community Bank of Providence saw a 40.7 percent gain in net income to $819,000.
- Home Loan Investment Bank F.S.B. of Warwick reported first-quarter net income of $252,000, growth of 38.5 percent from last year.
- Freedom National Bank of Greenville reversed a net loss in 2017 of $6,000 and turned it into net income of $62,000 this year.
In Massachusetts, Boston-based Eastern Bank earned net income of $34.5 million in this year’s first quarter, a 37.6 percent increase from this point last year. Rockland Trust Co. of Rockland saw a 32.5 percent increase from year to year in the first quarter to $28.5 million in net income this year. Taunton-based Bristol County Savings Bank’s first-quarter net income rose 11 percent from year to year from $4.4 million in the period.
Other Massachusetts banks that saw increases were:
- Mechanics Cooperative Bank’s first-quarter net income was $1.3 million, a year-over-year increase of 49.5 percent.
- Fall River Five Cents Savings Bank, also known as BankFive, saw its first-quarter net income rise 67.2 percent from $580,000 in 2017 to $970,000 this year.
- Mansfield Co-operative Bank reported first-quarter earnings of $702,000, a 20 percent gain over last year.
Swansea-based BayCoast Bank had a 66.4 percent decrease in net income from year to year. The bank’s first quarter net income in 2018 was $2.3 million, compared with $7 million in 2017. HarborOne Bank of Brockton also saw a decline in first-quarter net income, from $2.8 million this time last year to $2.5 million this year – a 9.4 percent drop. Bridgewater Savings Bank of Raynham declined slightly from $690,000 in 2017 to $689,000 this year.
Bank of America N.A. had the largest first-quarter net income of any bank operating in New England, with $6.7 billion in earnings, a 36.4 percent increase from last year. TD Bank posted a 40.9 percent increase in net income to $616 million in the first three months of the year, while Santander Bank saw net income icrease 47.5 percent to $104.1 million over the year.
James Bessette is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Research@PBN.com.
