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The former Astoria chief, who died Sunday, took Astoria from a sleepy mutual to the fifth-biggest publicly traded thrift in New York. Engelke was also know for freely speaking his mind while maintaining strong relationships with fellow bankers.
December 18 -
George Engelke Jr., former chairman, president, and chief executive of the Astoria Financial in Lake Success, N.Y., has died.
December 16 -
Astoria Financial in Lake Success, N.Y., set out a few years ago to become more commercially focused by going after more multifamily and commercial real estate loans. The goal is for such loans to make up 50% and at the end of the third quarter they were 38%.
October 17
Astoria Financial in Lake Success, N.Y.,
The $15.6 billion-asset company's fourth-quarter profit rose 17% from a year earlier, to $21.1 million. Earnings of 21 cents a share topped the average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg by 5 cents.
A reversal of prior loan-loss provisions aided the results. Astoria released $2.3 million from its loan-loss allowance, compared to a $3.4 million provision a year earlier. The company also benefitted from a 45% decrease in income tax expense.
Those developments offset decreased revenue and higher operating expenses.
Net interest income fell 3.3%, to $83.9 million. Total loans, including loans held for sale, fell 2%, to $12 billion, and the net interest margin narrowed by 1 basis point, to 2.30%.
Noninterest income fell 22%, to $13.6 million. Noninterest expenses rose 17%, to $70.2 million.
