Charter Bank Reports Record Assets, Strong 2007 Earnings.

Bank's assets top $1.4 billion as earnings near $17 million

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Charter Bank announced that its assets reached a record $1.40 billion as of Dec. 31, 2007, as the bank earned nearly $17 million in net income.

While income was down 11.8 percent from record earnings of $19.28 million in 2006, Charter Companies CEO Glen Wertheim said the bank was very satisfied with its 2007 performance.

"Charter is a real estate bank and while 2006 was a boom year, 2007 was a more challenging year in which we saw many of our major competitors lose money and, in some cases, contract their business," Wertheim said. "We were able to not only remain very profitable, but to expand."

Earnings were somewhat impacted by increased expenses related to Charter's expansion, including a new branch in Rio Rancho and an increased marketing budget. Net interest income was up 1 percent, from $31.6 million in 2006, to $31.9 million in 2007.

Wertheim said the continuing growth of Rio Rancho made it important for Charter to increase its presence in that market, where it is a major mortgage and construction lender. The bank increased its advertising, in part, to support its new high-interest Turbochecking account, which it unveiled mid-year.

Wertheim said that Charter was unaffected by charge-offs in its mortgage loan portfolio in 2007 and said Charter has actually seen a small decrease in mortgage delinquencies over the past year.