Photo by James Sanna | Commercial Record Staff

Ahead of its upcoming merger with Sterling National Bank, Waterbury-based Webster Bank finished 2021 with record quarterly and full-year net income.

Webster Financial Corp., the parent company for Webster Bank and its HSA Bank division, had fourth quarter earnings of $108.4 million, or $1.20 per diluted share, up about 88 percent compared to $57.7 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Webster’s full-year 2021 earnings were $398.7 million, or $4.42 per diluted share, compared to $211.47 million, or $2.35 per diluted share, in 2020. The full-year 2021 results includes $47.1 million in expenses related to the merger, strategic optimization initiatives and debt prepayment, according to the bank’s fourth quarter earnings statement, and the fourth quarter 2021 results reflected $13.7 million for the same expenses.

“We are very proud of our performance for the fourth quarter and full-year of 2021, as we achieved a record level of EPS and net income on both a quarterly and full-year basis,” John R. Ciulla, Webster’s chairman and CEO, said in the statement. “As we have secured all regulatory approvals, we look forward to closing our merger with Sterling. The combination will form a uniquely positioned commercial bank that will further the exceptional performance Webster’s stakeholders have come to expect.”

Webster plans to complete its merger-of-equals transaction with New York-based Sterling National Bank on Feb. 1.

Webster had total assets at the end of 2021 of $34.9 billion, up from $32.59 billion at the end of 2020.

Total loans were $22.3 billion compared to $21.6 billion at the end of both the third quarter and 2020. Webster saw commercial loans, not including Paycheck Protection Program loans, increase year-over-year by $1 billion, while commercial real estate loans increased by $300 million. Residential mortgages increased by $600 million, and consumer loans decreased by $300 million year-over-year. The bank had $2.55 billion in loan originations in 2021 compared to $1.8 billion in 2020.

Net interest income was $226.8 million in the fourth quarter compared to $216.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

“Our financial performance is the result of a broad effort across our company,” Glenn MacInnes, Webster’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in the statement. “We continued to generate robust loan growth, we were successful in deploying the meaningful liquidity our deposit growth generated, and measures of asset quality remained exceptionally strong. We approach our merger with Sterling with substantial momentum.”