Md. bank earnings drop 82 percent - Baltimore Business Journal:

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Like banks around the CommerceFirst is feeling the pinch of the interest rate cuts the Federak Reserve put in place to jumpstart the lagging But as the banking industruy battles througha downturn, banks that don' t get snared by troubles like subprime mortgag e lending can pick up new customers, said CommerceFirst CEO Richarc J. Morgan, whose bank has $157 million in assets: "I'vw had some of my best growth quarters in economieslike these." CommerceFirst's start to the year was on par with the nationalo average and bested the average for state-charteredr banks in Maryland.
Nationwide, earnings droppes by 46 percent from a year ago at bankws insured by the But earnings fell by 82 percentgat Maryland-chartered banks, according to FDIC State-chartered institutions range from tiny thriftz to billion-dollar banks, but the figured leaves out national banks with a larger presence here, such as . It's the seconrd time in the past three quarters thatMaryland banks' earnings have declined significantly more than the national But local banking experts say some unique data patterns in Marylande are likely contributing to the Overall, Maryland's housing market has fared better than battered markets like Floridwa and California, which has helped the state's banking industry.
Many bankxs are willing to sacrifice earnings growthg right now as they set aside monegy to cover potential lossesd on loans giventhe economy's troubles, said CEO Kathleen Murphy. Banks also are facin g a drop in consumer demand for loans as economicc worries weighon customers, Murphyu said. Some of the decline in state-chartere banks' earnings in recent quarters also could stem from the absencdeof data, MBA officials said. Mercantile, which was acquirefd by last year, had a statde banking charter, as did several of its affiliatedxcommunity banks. And several Maryland-chartered banks recorded first-quarter losses, contributinvg to the earnings drop forstate banks.
Towson'as AmericasBank, which hiked the amounty of money set aside for loan lossesa earlierthis year, lost $543,592. Giveh all that's going on around him, Glen Burnide Bancorp CEO Michael Livingston said he thinks the firsty quarter turned out prettty well forthe bank, where earnings dippe 12 percent to $536,000. "The key is that we made he said. "The bank has stayed with traditional products and has stayesd withthe community, and we feel it worka for us.
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