In Brief: Ailing Thrift Focuses On Small Businesses

A northwestern Connecticut savings bank is focusing on small business in its struggle to earn its way out of asset- quality problems in the early 1990s.

The latest step in New Milford Savings Bank's effort came earlier this summer when it started to market aggressively a menu of small-business products, including a new debit card and a new money market account.

"It's an extension of our commitment to small-business lending in general," said Francis Wiatr, chief executive of the bank. "The packaged- service concept makes it easier for businesses to do business with us."

That commitment began when Mr. Wiatr took the reins of the savings bank in 1994, when it was saddled with nonperforming assets and earnings were weak.

Almost 10% of New Milford's loans were not performing at the end of 1993. At the end of March this year, that figure had dropped to 5.2%. Profitability has edged up as well, with an return on assets of 0.49% in 1993 to 0.86% in the March 1996 quarter.

"We were fairly unprofitable and not making much money," he said. "There was no real way to earn our way into profitability."

Since coming aboard, Mr. Wiatr has moved the savings bank away from its traditional focus on real estate loans to higher-yielding small-business loans. He has implemented a Small Business Administration lending program, hired four commercial lenders for a total of six, and identified the niches to target.

"We make a very directed approach at medical professionals, commercial relocations, and general industrial companies" in New Milford and surrounding markets, Mr. Wiatr said.

The bank focuses on small businesses with annual revenues of up to $20 million. It estimates that 2,000 of its 17,000 customers are small-business proprietors.

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