Westamerica Bancorp of San Rafael, Calif., said its first-quarter earnings dipped because of a loss from the sale of securities.
Net income fell 6.5%, to $22.7 million, the $5.2 billion-asset parent of Westamerica Bank said Tuesday. It recorded a $2.8 million after-tax loss from the sale of $170 million of securities, which were sold to manage interest rate risk after the recent acquisition of the $520 million-asset Redwood Empire Bancorp in Santa Rosa.
Aside from the loss from the securities sale, net interest income rose slightly, to $55 million.
The results included one month of operating results from Redwood, which Westamerica acquired March 1. Redwood's merchant card servicing business increased Westamerica's fee income by $473,000.
Westamerica officials said it intends to close some overlapping branches this quarter, but it expects to retain Redwood's employees and customers.
