GRAND RAPIDS — Independent Bank Corp. ended 2019 with a nearly 40-percent growth rate in quarterly earnings.
The Grand Rapids-based Independent Bank (Nasdaq: IBCP) today reported net income of $13.8 million for the fourth quarter, or 61 cents per diluted share. The bank recorded net income of 9.9 million, or 41 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier.
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Net income for all of 2019 totaled $46.4 million, or $2 per diluted share, versus $39.8 million, or $1.68 per diluted share, in the prior year.
“For all of 2019, we continue execute on our operating plan, delivering strong growth in earnings, growth in loans, while maintaining excellent asset quality, growth in core deposits and effectively managing our capital,” CEO Brad Kessel told brokerage analysts on a Thursday conference call to discuss results. “We are optimistic about our future.”
Total loans grew 5.5 percent, or by $142.5 million, to $2.72 billion as of Dec. 31. The bank’s mortgage loan origination exceeded $1 billion for the first time ever.
Growth in mortgage lending “more than offset the higher than usual payoffs we experienced in our commercial loan portfolio,” Kessel said. The bank at the end of 2019 had $1.16 billion in commercial loans, up about 2 percent from a year earlier.
Independent Bank has 70 branch offices in the Lower Peninsula with $3.56 billion in total assets and $3.03 billion in deposits as of Dec. 31, 2019.
