How did ShoreBank perform financially in 2003, and how does its performance compare with other banks?
ShoreBank’s financial performance demonstrates that we can benefit communities and encourage environmental responsibility while meeting or exceeding the financial performance of peer banks. Our bank in Chicago and Detroit, by far the largest of the ShoreBank companies, had an outstanding year. It achieved a net income of $15.4 million, $1.9 million more than any previous year. These earnings amount to a 16.8 percent return on equity and were bolstered by a 54.7 percent efficiency ratio. This is the second year in a row that it has performed significantly better than the median performance of its peer banks of $1 billion to $3 billion in assets, none of which are community development or environmental banks. The banks in the Pacific Northwest and Cleveland also continue to make good progress; ShoreBank Pacific’s profits exceeded expectations. All our banks increased their new loan volume, in part due to the continued strong demand for real estate loans brought about by the low interest
