WSFS Financial reported net income of $14.2 million for the third quarter of 2013 compared to $10.9 million for the second quarter of 2013, and $10 million for the third quarter of 2012. WSFS is the parent company for WSFS Bank. The company is based in Wilmington.
Net income for the first nine months of 2013 was $34.8 million, up 47% from $23.8 million for the same period in 2012.
Mark A. Turner, CEO, said, “We are pleased to show strong third quarter results for both reported and core earnings. In fact, it is our best quarter of earnings since before the financial crisis hit in late 2008.
“Our strong core operating results were the result of improvements in net interest income, growth in many of our fee businesses, careful expense management and continued moderation in our credit costs,” Turner stated. “We increased both net interest income and net interest margin from the second quarter and year-ago levels as loan and deposit market share gains improved the mix of our balance sheet. Core fee income, adjusted for securities and investment gains, improved at a healthy rate from last year’s third quarter as we continued to build momentum in our wealth, ATM and traditional banking businesses. Even with this business growth and improved performance, we continually and prudently controlled our expenses to be essentially flat with this time last year and decreased from the previous quarter.”
Highlights for the third quarter of 2013:
- Net loans grew at a 5% annualized rate; with 9% annualized growth in commercial and industrial lending.
- WSFS completed the purchase of Pennsylvania mortgage banking company, Array Financial Group, Inc. and an abstract and title company, Arrow Land Transfer Company during the third quarter of 2013 adding fee income and management depth to its consumer lending platform.
- WSFS also completed the repurchase of its shares of preferred stock (formerly TARP) in the third quarter. TARP was the federal program that pumped equity into banks during the financial crisis. WSFS, like other healthy banks that came out of the crisis with little or no damage, has been working to sell the TARP shares.
