Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., said its first-quarter earnings fell 1.4% from a year earlier, to $5.1 million.
In a press release Tuesday, Thomas S. Kohlmann, Suffolk's chairman, president, and chief executive officer, attributed the results to the persistently inverted yield curve and fierce competition for loans and deposits in the New York metropolitan market. He stressed, however, that the $1.4 billion-asset Suffolk would not "succumb to the temptation to chase market share by compromising credit standards or yields at a cost to the long-term quality of the balance sheet."
Suffolk's most important task at the moment, Mr. Kohlmann said, "is to keep the powder dry."
Total loans at Suffolk fell 2.2%, to $904 million at the end of the first quarter, and average deposits fell 0.3%, to $1.1 billion. The return on equity fell 164 basis points, to 19.43%, but remained well above the industry average.
