Bryn Mawr Bank Makes Financial Gains

While big banks were dealing in subprime mortgages and default credit swaps, Bryn Mawr Bank Corporation, the parent of The Bryn Mawr Trust Company (the bank), decided to play it safe and stay local, said Ted Peters, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of  Bryn Mawr Bank Corporation and The Bryn Mawr Trust Company.

The strategy appears to paying off for the Main Line bank, which not only opened 2011 with a strong first quarter, but is acquiring other companies and gaining a wider client base as it expands into wealth management, Peters said.

The first quarter report, for the three months that ended March 31, 2011, shows that diluted earnings per share increased 52 percent, to $.38 cents per diluted share for the three months that ended March 31, 2011, from $.25 per diluted share for the same period in 2010; and net income increased by $2.5 million, or 112 percent, from $2.2 million for the first quarter of 2010 to $4.7 million for the first quarter of 2011, according to a statement released by GlobeNewswire about the first quarter report.

Diluted earnings per share account for stock options and restricted stock options that have not been issued but could be, Peters said.

“One of the reasons income went up is we bought another bank,” Peters said, referring to Bryn Mawr Bank Corporations’ merger with First Keystone Financial Inc. in July 2010.

Bryn Mawr Bank’s acquisition of First Keystone for a sale price of about $34 million also caused Bryn Mawr Bank’s assets and liabilities to increase to $1.71 billion in the first quarter of 2011, compared to $1.22 billion for the first quarter of 2010, Peters said.

 “The other thing is, we just did a better job running the bank.  Our net interest margin took a pretty nice jump in the first quarter,” Peters said of why the net income increased for the first quarter of 2011.

The bank is on track to make three acquisitions in three years, Peters said. 

The first was Lau Associates, a money management company in Wilmington, Del., which has $650 million in wealth assets, and the second was First Keystone, Peters said.

Next in line is the anticipated purchase of the Private Wealth Management Group of the Hershey Trust Company, which has $1.1 billion in assets, Peters said.

Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. entered into an agreement in February 2011 to purchase the Private Wealth Management Group of the Hershey Trust Company for $18.3 million, Peters said.  The acquisition is anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2011, the GlobeNewswire release said.

Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. will retain the company’s 23 employees, as part of the acquisition, and have an office in Hershey, Pa., Peters said.

Bryn Mawr Bank has been able to make acquisitions, despite the poor economy, because of choices it made in the past, Peters said.

“We’ve been very strong through this whole recession,” Peters said. “We stayed local.”

Bryn Mawr Trust was never in the poor financial situation that big banks faced because it chose to stay away from subprime loans, credit default swaps and other risky business dealings, Peters said.

“We’re in a great position to acquire other banks or money management firms,” Peters said.  “We had the earnings, and we have the capital.”

Bryn Mawr Bank’s choices and its business expansion into wealth management are also helping the company increase its client base.

“Our client base has been growing,” Peters said.  “A lot of people want to leave the large banks and come to us.  Our wealth management has been growing very nicely.  We’re very excited about it.”