Photo: Belmont Savings Bank.
It’s been a busy and fruitful 2016 for Belmont’s most prominent business.
BSB Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for Belmont Savings Bank, the state-chartered savings bank headquartered in Belmont, reported last week a jump in net income – the difference between revenues generated by interest-bearing assets and the cost of servicing liabilities – of $3.2 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2016.
When compared to net income of $1.9 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2015, the bank saw the quarter-to-quarter increase in net income of a whopping 70 percent.
This marks the Bank’s 13th consecutive quarter – more than three years – of earnings growth. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2016, the bank reported net income of $8.7 million compared to net income of $4.8 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2015, or an increase in net income of 79 percent.
As of Sept. 30, 2016, total assets were $2.07 billion, an increase of $260.8 million or 14.4 percent from $1.8 billion at Dec. 31, 2015. The asset growth was primarily funded by growth in deposits and federal home loan bank advances.
The bulk of the bank’s growth came from healthy net loan growth of $251.4 million or 16.4 percent since the beginning of 2016.
“Strong loan growth pushed us past the $2 billion total asset mark this quarter. Good expense control and sound risk management were the foundations for our 13th consecutive quarter of earnings growth,” said Bob Mahoney, the bank’s president and CEO.
The jump in loan activity can be seen throughout all real estate lending groups as residential 1-4 family real estate loans, construction loans, commercial real estate loans, home equity lines of credit and commercial loans increased by $238.2 million, $16 million, $13.2 million, $10.8 million and $8.1 million, respectively.
So how about raising interest rates for savings accounts???