The increase in assets wasprimarily attributable to a substantial increase in cash
The increase in assets wasprimarily attributable to a substantial increase in cash and cash equivalents of$25.4 million due to the substantial deposit growth that occurred. Thecoverage of non-performing loans increased from 54 percent to 63 percent due tocontinued planned reserve building.Balance SheetCompany assets were $715.6 million at March 31, 2009, an increase of $19.0million, or 2.7 percent from December 31, 2008. This increased provisioning wasprimarily driven by current economic factors in our local marketplace. The year to date increase was the net resultof a reduction on loan outstandings of $2.9 million, net charge-offs of$117,000, and loan loss provision of $960,000. Net charge-offs were $117,000 for the quarter compared withnet recoveries of $527,000 in the first quarter of 2008.Tower's allowance for loan losses was 2.06 percent of total loans at March 31,2009, an increase from 1.90 percent and 1.67 percent at December 31, 2008 andSeptember 30, 2008, respectively.
This compares with $19.7 million, or 2.83 percentof assets at December 31, 2008 and $20.8 million, or 2.99 percent of assets onSeptember 30, 2008. This was the net result of several settlements on nonperforming loans.Nonperforming assets plus delinquencies at period end were $18.3 million, or2.55 percent of total assets. The slightreduction in capital levels pertain primarily to a high level of quarterly assetgrowth of $19.0 million.Asset QualityNonperforming assets plus delinquencies decreased $1.4 million from December 31,2008. Total risked-based capital atMarch 31, 2009 was 12.8 percent, compared to 13.0 percent at December 31, 2008.Leverage capital was 9.5 percent at March 31, 2009, almost double the regulatoryrequirement of 5 percent to be considered "well-capitalized". Tier 1 capital at March 31, 2009 was 11.5 percent,compared to 11.7 percent at December 31, 2008. * Allowance for Loan Losses increased to 2.06 percent of Total loans compared to 1.90 percent at December 31, 2008.This increase was primarily the result of $960,000 of loan loss provision expense compared to $300,000 in the first quarter 2008.CapitalThe Company's regulatory capital ratios continue to remain above the"well-capitalized" levels of 6 percent for tier 1 capital and 10 percent forrisked-based capital.
* Lending experienced solid growth in our Commercial & Industrial (C&I) and Home Equity categories.C&I loans grew by $6.5 million and Home Equities grew by $3.4 million.These were offset by reductions in both our Commercial and Residential real estate loan categories of $7.1 million and $4.7 million, respectively. * Asset quality continues to steadily improve as nonperforming assets plus delinquencies were lowered to $18.3 million, or 2.55 percent of total assets as of March 31, 2009, a decrease of $1.2 million from December 31, 2008 and $6.0 million lower than our highest point reached at the end of the second quarter of 2008. * The Company's regulatory capital ratios continued to remain above the "well-capitalized" levels even while the bank continues to increase its loan loss reserves due to a challenging economic climate. Our commitment to building our local franchise remains unchanged. The decrease in earnings is a resultprimarily of an additional $660,000 of pre-tax loan provision expense recordedin the first quarter 2009 compared to the first quarter 2008.First quarter highlights include: * Consumer banking growth was led by an increase in core deposits of $29.7 million, an annualized increase of 29.2 percent. FORT WAYNE, Ind., April 23, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tower Financial Corporation(Nasdaq:TOFC) reported first quarter 2009 earnings of $410,000, or $0.10 perdiluted share, compared with net income of $711,000, or $0.17 per share,reported for the first quarter 2008. American League East beware, the Rays are for real this year!Go Rays!.
Their pitching and fielding has kept them in the games, and the hitting is starting to come around. When the hitting picks up, this team will really be fun to watch. We can only hope that Floyd can stay healthy for the rest of the season. Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske have been impressive additions this year. While Pena has eight jacks this year, most of them came in the first couple of weeks, and his average is floating just up above the Mendoza line. Upton are both hitting and running like they should, but the biggestdisappointment has been Carlos Pena at the plate.