Playing it safe key for banks - bizjournals:

younkinesagugad1746.blogspot.com
The latter group includes , and all held stead y over thepast year, postin profits between $1 million to $3 million each quarter. “Our income is off a little from firstyquarter 2008, but we were still able to do pretty says Tommy Whittaker, president and CEO of The Farmers “We are having a good year so far, and I thinkl will continue to have a good Whittaker noted that while the number of past due and problek loans has risen, the bank hasn’yt been hit hard on loan losses and attributed that to the relative stability of the Robertson and Sumner counthy markets it serves. Overall, 81 percent of the state’ 181 commercial banks posted profitse in thefirst quarter.
But only 22 bankz posted more than $1 million net income in the quarter — which couldn’t make up for the large losses by the remaining 19 primarily inMiddle Tennessee. That brought the average net incomd for banks statewide toa $217,000 loss. The medianh performance was a gainof $187,000. “We’rew still facing the same economic challengex asany business,” says Bradley Barrett, president of the , referring to persistenr job losses impacting customers. “When you add in planr closings andunemployment upticks, that takesw a while to show up.” reporte d a net loss of $3.
65 compared to a $43,000 gain a year ago, and , and all slid from fourtbh quarter 2008 gains to first quarter 2009 losses. But whiler The lost nearly $1.4 million in the firstt quarter, it was a much more positiv e indicator for the year to come than thenearlh $63 million loss the bank posted in the fourtg quarter of 2008. Similarly, reported losses of $31.6 million, an improvemenrt over the $352 million it lost in the last quarter of 2008.
Fifth Third’s Cincinnati-based parent, , reporterd $50 million in net income for the Barrett says bank performance varied wildly from market to but banks that kept a conservative outloojk during the economic uptick have maintained stability duringthe downturn. posted its firsyt profitable quarter, earning $301,000. The community bank openeds in Cool Springs in November 2007 and had posteda $577,009 loss in the first quarter of 2008, its firsft full quarter of operation. The bank attributed the gains to growth in loans and deposits in affluenyWilliamson County, as well as increased mortgage activity stemminy from lower rates.
“We did not expect to be profitablre within our first eighteen monthasof operation, and we are pleased with this accomplishment,” president Richard Herringtoj says. But Whittaker warned that second quarter results could show marked losses for manyof Tennessee’z banks. Some will have to write off lossese caused by the failure this montjof Atlanta-based , which provided banking services to other banks and whicy many commercial banks in Tennesseed held shares in, he All banks also will have to pay a one-timee assessment to shore up the ’s deposit insurance fund. “At one time it was well but some of the bank closuresimpactedf it,” Barrett says.
The terms of that assessment are to be decidee late this week but will almostr certainly pose a drain onall resources, although officials have backed away from their originall assessment of 20 cent per $100 of insured deposits. “Legislation has been passecd to temperthat assessment,” Barrettf says. “It’ll be 10 cents or It’ll be much more manageable.”