Patriot National Bancorp. in Stamford reported a sharp drop in earnings in 2009, as the company set aside more money to cover bad loans.
The parent of Patriot National Bank reported a net loss for the year ended Dec. 31 of $23.9 million compared to a net loss of $7.1 million in the year ago period.
The net loss per share was $5.02 for 2009, compared to a loss of $1.50 for the previous year.
The bank said its market area, principally Fairfield County, New York City and its suburbs were hard hit by the recession and the paralysis of the credit markets, which continued during the last half of 2008 into 2009.
In particular, the Bank said it was severely impacted by the deterioration of large Wall Street firms.
“With the viability of these institutions being called into question and the government threatening to limit the compensation of their executives, management had no alternative but to significantly increase the allowance for loan losses due to the significant detrimental effect these factors had on the bank’s local real estate markets,” the bank said in a written statement. “Many individuals and companies with long established credit histories were faced with dramatic decreases in business and in many cases loss of jobs.”
During the year Patriot National, which began lending in 1994 and currently has 19 branches and $866 million in assets, set aside $13.1 million to cover bad loans, and charged off another $2.3 million.
Its deposit and asset base also shrunk. Total deposits decreased $23.5 million from $784.8 million in December 2008 to $761.3 million at the end of last year.
Meanwhile its assets base fell by $47 million to $866.4 million.
But, while 2009 proved to be a difficult year, the bank is predicting a better 2010.
“It appears with the worst of the recession over, financial institutions have begun to stabilize, if not recover,” the bank said. “This is also evidenced by an increase in real estate transactions and a stabilization of real estate prices in the Bank’s market area during the past six months.”
