Courtesy photo / File
Stamford-based Patriot Bank saw full-year 2022 earnings increase 20 percent, and the bank continues to evaluate its next strategic moves.
The bank’s parent company, Patriot National Bancorp, said in a statement today that it had fourth quarter net income of $1.8 million, or $0.45 basic and diluted earnings per share, compared to $1.9 million, or $0.48 basic and diluted earnings per share, in the fourth quarter of 2021. Net income in the third quarter of 2022 was $2.3 million, or $0.59 basic and diluted earnings per share.
Full-year 2022 net income was $6.2 million, or $1.56 basic and $1.55 diluted earnings per share, compared to net income of $5.1 million, or $1.29 basic and diluted earnings per share, in 2021. The bank said its 2021 pre-tax income included the recognition of an Employee Retention Credit of $2.9 million and non-recurring merger related costs of $1.9 million.
“Despite the myriad impacts related to the changing interest rate environment, we are proud of the increasing operational and financial results achieved for the fourth quarter and full year 2022,” Patriot President and CEO Robert Russell said in the statement. “Operational and business unit initiatives are gaining good traction, and we are seeing the results expressed in increasing earnings and widening net interest margin.”
Patriot Bank’s total assets increased by $94.9 million to $1 billion on Dec. 31, 2022. Net loans increased from $729.6 million at the end of 2021 to $838 million at the end of 2022. Total deposits increased year-over-year from $748.6 million to $860.4 million at the end of 2022.
The bank’s average net interest margin increased to 3.77 percent for the fourth quarter and 3.46 percent for the full year of 2022, up from 3.05 percent and 2.92 percent, respectively.
Fourth quarter net interest income was $9.6 million, an increase of $2.7 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. Full-year net interest income was $33.3 million, an increase from 2021 of $8 million, or 31.7 percent. The bank attributed these increases primarily to loan growth and to growth in prepaid deposits from its payments division.
“The Bank’s Payments division has increasingly been contributing to the Bank’s lower-cost funding sources,” Patriot said in the statement. “This new Group is keenly focused on expanding unique deposit gathering channels, while continuing to widen the Bank’s net interest margin.”
Noninterest income in the fourth quarter was $1.3 million compared to $2.3 million in the same quarter in 2021. Full-year noninterest income was $3.6 million compared to $4.4 million in 2021. Patriot attributed the full-year decrease primarily to lower gains from sales of U.S. Small Business Administration loans resulting from lower market premiums.
Patriot had expected to merge in 2022 with another Stamford-based company, American Challenger Development Corp., but that deal was called off in July. The bank has launched an initiative to maximize shareholder value.
“Patriot remains aggressively committed to completing one or more transformational events that will elevate the scale of Patriot and its digital forward capabilities,” Michael Carrazza, Patriot’s Chairman, said in the statement. “Strategic discussions are actively underway; such event(s) will be coupled with the organic roll-out of initiatives on the digital deposit gathering and asset generating sides of the balance sheet.”
