Brookline Bancorp grew its balance sheet in the second quarter, boosted by growth in its commercial loan portfolio amid stiff competition in the Greater Boston market.
The holding company for Brookline Bank, Bank Rhode Island and First Ipswich Bank posted $10 million in net income during the second quarter this year, compared with $9.5 million in the comparable period last year. Total assets increased to $5.6 billion over $5.2 billion a year ago, largely due to loan growth.
At June 30, total loans and leases totaled $4.6 billion, an increase of approximately 9.5 percent from $4.2 billion in the same period last year. During the second quarter this year, total loan and leases grew 12.7 percent on an annualized basis.
The company’s commercial real estate and commercial loan and lease portfolios totaled $3.4 billion, or 73.7 percent of total loans and leases, compared with $3.3 billion, or 73.6 percent at March 31, and $3.2 billion, or 72.6 percent at year-end 2013. The commercial real estate and commercial loan and lease portfolios increased 12.9 percent on an annualized basis during the second quarter.
Brookline Bancorp’s loan pipeline was strong coming out of the second quarter, President and CEO Paul Perrault said during a conference call Thursday afternoon.
“Typically, going into the third quarter, it’s the summer months and things would slow down, but ending the second quarter, our loan pipeline is actually a little bit up,” he said in response to an investor’s question.
Perrault also remarked that the competitive landscape had “probably settled down” over recent months in the Greater Boston area.
“If we go back a quarter and look at the previous year, we saw ever increasing competitiveness in the Boston market. I think we’ve reached the point where it is incredibly competitive but it’s sort of staying at that level,” he said. “If we’re at all representative, we’re doing quite well in the markets and I think everybody’s very busy. I think you’re seeing that as banks are reporting their results for the quarter, particularly in the commercial disciplines.”
Total deposits increased year-over-year to $3.9 billion from $3.7 billion in the year-ago period. Total borrowings at June 30 were $1 billion, an increase of $228.4 million compared with year-end 2013.
Net charge-offs totaled $720,000, compared with $639,000 in the comparable period last year. As a percentage of average loans and leases, however, net charge-offs remained flat year-over-year at 0.06 percent of average loans and leases.
Brookline Bancorp scaled back its provision for credit losses slightly, to $2.3 million from $2.4 million a year ago. Its allowance for loan losses as of June 30 represented 1.12 percent of total loans and leases, compared with 1.05 percent a year ago.
