2011 a Banner Year for EagleBank
Eagle Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for EagleBank, recently issued our financial statement for fiscal year 2011. Keep in mind that 2010 had been a record year for us. (In fact, we’ve had increasing income each year of our 13 year history.) So how did we follow up 2010’s record year? By increasing profits by 47% in 2011. Our income for the year was $24.6 million, up from $16.7 million the year before. That resulted in net income available to common shareholders of $1.14 per diluted share, a 50% increase. What’s the basis for our success? Our customers. Last year, we continued to build new relationships and deepened and expanded relationships with existing customers. More and more businesses and individuals…Read More >
DC: Move Deposits to Community Banks
A bill has been introduced in the District of Columbia Council to encourage the District government to increase deposits of government funds to local, community banks rather than to make those deposits into out-of-town megabanks. Participating banks would agree in return to make new loans to District small businesses equal to twice the amount of new DC government deposits. So for example, a $50 million deposit (of the more than $1 billion of invested District funds) into an eligible local bank would result in that bank making $100 million of new loans to DC small businesses. Interest on the deposits would be at market rates, so DC taxpayers come out with the same investment return while keeping the funds local. I…Read More >
Extend Unlimited FDIC Coverage on Business Checking Accounts
The Dodd-Frank legislation extended until the end of this year the FDIC unlimited coverage for traditional non-interest bearing transaction accounts, and eliminated the ability of banks to opt out of the program. It is critical to see that this coverage is extended. Recently, I spoke before the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s annual Supervision and Regulation Conference. I expressly raised this point and the significance it has for all community banks, their depositors and businesses who wish to borrow from their local banks. Large banks will use the sunset provision as an opportunity to effectively opt-out — by supporting the scheduled expiration of the coverage –- disadvantaging business customers who wish to keep their deposits at community banks. As the…Read More >
Holiday Season 2011
The Holiday Season is the perfect setting to look backwards at the year past and to look forward with anticipation. As I reflect on 2011 and the year EagleBank has had, I want to thank all of our customers, suppliers, employees, community and shareholders for their continued support. What a year! As other banks have experienced a continued drop off in loans, our loan portfolio is up. Our deposits through the third quarter are higher compared to the same period a year ago. Consolidated EGBN net income available to shareholders for the first nine months of 2011 is substantially ahead of the first nine months of 2010. I’ll save the details until next month when we release our year-end financial…Read More >
Banking Locally Reinforces the Value of Community
Guest Post by Don Blanchon, Chief Executive Officer of the Whitman-Walker Clinic Below is our first guest blog post. It is by Don Blanchon, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Whitman-Walker Health and a member of our District of Columbia Advisory Board. I invite other members of the Washington area business community to submit their own guest blog posts for consideration. I would like this blog to be a center of conversation about our local economy and business environment. Please email blog post ideas to ronsblog@eaglebankcorp.com. In the last few years, every individual, company and organization has been reminded of the significant role that banks play in our lives. We have come to rely on their financial products…Read More >
Making the Grade
You may have read how Moody’s downgraded Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. The New York Times reported that at the heart of the downgrading was a conclusion by Moody’s that next time there may not be a “too big to fail” institution. Moody’s also recognized that B of A remains significantly exposed on its residential mortgage portfolio as well as loans already sold to investors. Like Goldilocks, we view our size as “not too big” and “not to small.” We’re $2.5 billion strong. That makes us one of the largest community banks in metropolitan Washington. Deposits continue to rise. Capital is strong. We’re actually making commercial real estate and business loans; we’ve grown our loan portfolio by 32%…Read More >
Some musings…
SBA Lending…I was reading an article in The New York Times about the trials and tribulations of a New Jersey entrepreneur trying to get an SBA loan. At EagleBank, we welcome business founders and are a preferred SBA lender. As such, we can approve the loan in-house and simply notify the SBA of its closing. We don’t close our eyes to start ups. We simply underwrite them as such: We look at collateral, management experience, and whether there is sufficient capital being injected into the deal. Recent Bank Rankings…As I wrote in July, EagleBank has been performing particularly well. Income, deposits and loans all continue to be on the rise. I want to share some rankings in the press and…Read More >
A Great Combination
As you may have heard, EagleBancorp, Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire Alliance Bankshares Corporation. As part of the transaction, Alliance Bank will merge into EagleBank. Once merged, we envision being a $2.9 billion Washington area community bank. Let me tell you a little about Alliance: It has six branches, in Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William Counties. Its asset size is $536 million. Total loans are $321 million and total deposits are $412 million. That makes for a 76% loan-to-deposit ratio. Alliance has a strong business with title companies and we look forward to incorporating them into our own title company business. You all know the emphasis EagleBank has placed on building our footprint in Northern Virginia. We want…Read More >
Thank You, on Our 13th Anniversary
This summer marks 13 years from when EagleBank opened its doors. From that standing start, we’ve grown to become a $2.3 billion bank, with 13 branches. Three more locations are expected to open this year. Earnings have been strong. We earned $16.7 million last year, quite an accomplishment in these “interesting” times. And we recently released our earnings report for the second quarter of this year. Income is up 67% from the same quarter last year, itself an impressive period. For the second quarter of 2011, we made $5.8 million. That’s a record for EagleBank. In fact, it’s the tenth quarter in a row we exceeded the previous quarter’s earnings, each time a record. For the first six months of…Read More >
More Capital for More Loans
Two and a half years ago, EagleBank was proud to participate in the TARP Capital Purchase. In December 2008, we issued $38.2 million of preferred stock to the US Treasury. Unlike many banks at that time, we didn’t need a bailout; we were strong. But we recognized that more capital would allow us to make more loans. So we participated in TARP. And as opposed to many other participants, we didn’t sit on the capital. We went out and made more loans. (Between December 2008 and June 2011, our loans grew by 54%, to $1.9 billion.) In December 2009, we paid back $15 million of the TARP money. I’m pleased to report we have now paid off the rest. I’m…Read More >