Jim Glines, president and chief executive officer of Community Bank of Santa Maria, recently released the bank’s year-end earnings report.
“Our financial numbers are a direct reflection of the community we service,” he said in a release to the media. “We hope the new year will bring an economic upswing that will undoubtedly strengthen the health of our community as a whole.”
Glines reported a 5 percent increase in deposits for 2008, noting $120,300,000 in deposits as of the last day of 2008. The bank also saw loans increase 17 percent from 2007 to 2008.
“We don’t have any sub-prime loans and we don’t invest in mortgage-backed securities, yet we still see this dramatic increase between 2007 and 2008,” Chief Operating Officer Janet Silver said in the release. “I think this says something about the strength of our institution.”
Glines attributed a decrease in profits to an increase in loan loss provisions in 2008.
“When local businesses suffer, we certainly feel their pain,” Glines said. “During our first seven years in business, we had very little loan collection problems. But in 2008, we had measurable charge-off loans. It’s obviously an expression of the state of our local economy.”
For more information about Community Bank of Santa Maria, visit yourcbsm.com or call 922-2900.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 5, 2009.