A fast-growing bank has proven its customers are keeping up with it.

Hartford-based The Connecticut Bank and Trust Co. announced earlier this week that it has surpassed $100 million in assets after just over two years of operation. Last month, the bank expanded its services when it entered into an investment pact with St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James Financial Services to offer investment services to customers of The CBT. The financial services company is opening representative offices at some of the bank’s locations, and started with the Hebron Avenue branch in Glastonbury. The CBT also has brought in a former Wachovia Securities financial advisor, Robert P. Peters, as a senior vice president and RJFS branch manager.

The CBT also is planning to open a new branch about every six months. The bank now has a total of five branches in Hartford, Vernon, Glastonbury, West Hartford and Newington. Bank executives are planning on a sixth branch in Windsor later this year and a branch in Rocky Hill in the middle of next year, making the bank Connecticut’s fastest-growing new bank ever, according to David Lentini, the bank’s chairman and chief executive officer.

“To pass the $100 million mark in assets in just nine quarters of operation is very gratifying and indicates our acceptance into the marketplace,” Lentini said in a prepared statement. “Loan growth remains strong, with more and more commercial firms choosing The CBT as their financial services partner.”

The bank reported total assets of $112 million at the end of the second quarter, an increase of $26 million, or 30 percent, compared to $86 million a year ago. Loans outstanding increased by $45.2 million, or 119 percent, to $83 million as of June 30, compared to $38 million last year.

A Familiar Name

The CBT, which opened its doors as a de novo bank in March 2004, took its name from the original Connecticut Bank & Trust, a popular Hartford-based institution that closed in the 1990s. Organizers of the new CBT hoped the association with the name, and the association with other symbols it adopted, would result in a good customer base. The Barney symbol, which the bank uses in its ATMs, also comes from the old CBT.

Second-quarter results improved by $213,000, or 19 percent, to a loss of $908,000, or 25 cents per share, compared to a loss of $1.12 million, or 59 cents per share, for the same period in 2005. For the second quarter, the net loss was $1.78 million, or 50 cents per share, compared to a loss of $2.09 million, or $1.10 per share, for the same period in 2005. The per-share results for the second quarter of 2006 reflect the issuance of 1.65 million shares of CBT common stock issued in September 2005.

The results for the second quarter of 2006 were affected by significant growth in net-interest income. Net-interest income rose by $416,000, or 76 percent, to $965,000 for the second quarter, compared to $549,000 for the second quarter of 2005. For the six months ended June 30, 2006, net-interest income amounted to $1.9 million, an increase of $885,000, or 87 percent, compared to $1.02 million in the first half of 2005.

The growth in loans, and an increase in the net-interest margin to 3.86 percent in the second quarter from 2.95 percent in the same period last year, were the main drivers of that performance. The operating results also reflect an increase of $181,000 in non-interest expenses to $1.72 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, compared to $1.54 million in the second quarter of 2005. For the first half of 2006, non-interest expenses were $3.47 million, compared to $2.86 million in the first half of 2005. That includes costs related to the opening and operation of the new locations in Vernon and Newington and new staff in lending, operations and administration.

Loans outstanding increased $26 million to $83 million at June 30, 2006, in connection with the bank’s most successful quarter of loan production to date. Total assets were $112 million at the end of the quarter, compared to $96.9 million as of Dec. 31, 2005. Total deposits were $75.8 million as of June 30, 2006, increasing $5.1 million – or 7.3 percent – from $70.7 million as of Dec. 31, 2005. Stockholders’ equity as of June 30, 2006, was $23 million, compared to $25 million as of Dec. 31, 2005, primarily reflecting the second-quarter 2006 operating loss and a decrease in the estimated market value of the bank’s available-for-sale securities portfolio.