Metropolitan National Bank earned $537,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011, a vast improvement over the $4.61 million loss recorded in the same quarter of 2010.
It was not, however, enough to overcome losses earlier in the year. Metropolitan lost $4.82 million in 2011, compared with a loss of $12 million in 2010.
"2011 was a much better year for Metropolitan," President and CEO Lunsford W. Bridges said in a press release. "Gradual recovery in commercial real-estate values, particularly in northwest Arkansas, has allowed Metropolitan to strengthen our balance sheet by reducing our non-performing assets by more than $63 million."
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, Metropolitan’s Tier 1 capital ratio improved to 5.93% and the risk-based ratio increased to 9.35%. Both ratios were higher than at the end of 2010, but still below the level ordered by federal regulators.
"We understood the road to recovery would be difficult and require meticulous attention to detail and although we still have challenges to face, we are encouraged by our progress," Bridges continued. "The recovery of the economy continues at a very slow pace. All of us at Metropolitan are cautiously optimistic that improvements experienced over the past 12 months will continue through 2012 and beyond."
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