2008
President's Message
To our Shareholders,
While the ongoing national recession has been well covered by the media, this coverage has made little distinction between the large financial institutions that are behind the crisis’ primary causes and community banks like Abington Bank.
For over 140 years, Abington Bank has provided sound, community-oriented banking services, and we are continuing to lend to qualified local consumers and businesses. Through consistent, conservative loan underwriting and prudent investing, we have built a strong capital base that provides a secure foundation for our Bank and its customers. With this already strong capital position, we had no need for, and declined to participate in, the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program.
Despite our approach of responsible banking, our loan portfolio has been impacted by the economic realities of the current financial environment. During 2008, we took a large provision for loan losses, but as a result of our strong capital position, we have been able to absorb these loan losses without affecting our core operations. Furthermore, by increasing our allowance for loan losses we have strengthened our balance sheet going forward. We reported net income of $2.1 million for 2008, largely as a result of the significant year-over-year increases in our net interest spread and net interest margin.
We have leveraged our strong capital position to the benefit of our shareholders through multiple stock repurchase plans, and we are continuing to pay quarterly cash dividends. We remain focused on improving the long-term returns to our shareholders through our planned capital management and our fundamental business strategy.
Our mission of providing exceptional personal service and fast decision making has not changed over the years, and our success is a reflection of the trust our customers have placed in Abington Bank. We are very proud to be continually voted the “#1 Community Bank” in Montgomery Publishing’s Readers’ Choice Awards. We pledge to continue helping our customers achieve their financial goals and to continue our tradition of service to our customers, our shareholders, and our community.
Robert W. White
President/CEO
