The parent company of Berkshire Bank reported a $2.8 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2017 after a $21 million write down on its deferred tax assets.
Under generally accepted accounting principles, many financial institutions determine the value of their DTAs based on the current enacted federal and state tax rates. So, by the very nature of the federal corporate rate going down, so too will the value of the deferred tax assets.
Net income on the year was about $55 million, down from $59 million in 2016. But president and CEO Michael Daly still felt confident about the long term effects of tax reform.
“We’re optimistic about the economic prospects in our regions. We expect that the recent federal tax reform will lower our future statutory tax rate, leaving us more capital to provide credit support for the growth of the businesses and communities that we serve,” he said in a statement. “Due to the tax reform, we also recently announced new investment initiatives in our team and in our communities, including a higher minimum wage, employee bonuses, expansion of our AMEBU training programs, and a contribution to our Foundation to fund future community support.”
Berkshire is coming off a busy year in 2017 that included the integration of New Jersey-based First Choice Loan Services Inc., crossing the $10 billion threshold with the acquisition of Worcester-based Commerce Bank and moving its corporate headquarters to Boston. Aside from State Street, Berkshire is now the largest regional bank headquartered in Boston, with $11.6 billion in assets.
The Commerce acquisition helped the bank get its loan-to-deposit ratio back down to 95 percent. Deposits in Boston have reached about $500 million.
Net interest income for the year was $86.4 million, up from $59.2 million in 2016. The margin year-over-year is up 29 basis points and now sits at 3.5 percent. Total non-interest income for the year was $125.7 million, up from $65.9 million in 2016. Total loans exceeded $8 billion, up more than $1.8 billion from one year ago., driven primarily by big increases in the commercial real estate and commercial and industrial categories, and the acquisitions.
Berkshire executives said the pipeline looks very healthy this year, although they do not expect to see any significant growth on the residential mortgage side.
The company’s provision for loan losses was $6.1 million in the quarter, up more than $2 million from the fourth quarter of 2016. For the year, the provision was $51.8 million, up from roughly $44 million at the end of last year.
