EVERETT — Cascade Financial Corp. announced Tuesday afternoon that the fourth quarter of 2009 was profitable, pulling in $1.1 million in earnings.
The parent company of Cascade Bank reported stockholder income at roughly $521,000 for the fourth quarter, after adjustments and discounts on preferred stock were issued to the U.S. Treasury. That’s compared to $2.2 million in income for the fourth quarter of 2008.
“Cascade posted a profitable quarter, with record checking deposit growth and improved credit metrics,” said Cascade’s Chief Executive Carol Nelson.
She said checking deposits were up 138 percent from 2008 and up 36 percent from the third quarter of 2009, lowering the bank’s costs.
The bank is storing up its reserves to protect against loan losses. During the last few months of 2009, it posted loan loss provisions at $8 million, compared to $4 million in loss provisions the quarter before.
This marks a second quarter in the black for Cascade; its third-quarter earnings were reported at $1 million.
But the small bump late in the year wasn’t enough to salvage an otherwise dismal year, in which Cascade reported a net loss of $23.5 million and a stockholder loss of $25.8 million. That’s a big drop from 2008’s earnings of $1.8 million.
Federal restrictions placed on Cascade last year prohibited dividend payments on a $39 million injection from the government’s capital infusion program.
In the third quarter of 2009, the bank received a notice from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., stating that nonperforming loans had reached alarming levels.
The agency now requires Cascade to obtain permission before providing dividends to investors, provide notification of management changes and take steps to preserve capital,
Cascade’s stock price fell 5 cents to $2.75 during trading Tuesday, but saw a small jump in after-hours when earnings were released.
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