First Mariner Bancorp's sale of its consumer finance arm hurt its quarterly results, but boosted capital.
The $1.38 billion-asset company reported a loss of $3.7 million for the fourth quarter, or 61% less than a year earlier. Tuesday's results included a $10 million loss on the sale of its Mariner Finance LLC unit as well as a $3.3 million provision for loan losses, down 38% from a year earlier.
The sale of the unit, however, managed to boost capital levels at the Baltimore company's First Mariner Bank unit. It remains adequately capitalized, but the bank saw its total risk-based capital increase 68 basis points, to 9.1%.
First Mariner is in the midst of a $20 million rights offering to existing shareholders.
