The company reported substantial increases in its portfolio by the end of December 2020
Defying the widespread chilling effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, First National Financial Corporation reported substantial increases in its portfolio by the end of December last year.
Mortgages under administration grew from $111.4 billion on December 31, 2019 to a record $118.7 billion as of December 31, 2020. Revenue also increased by 4% annually to $1.38 billion, while net income had a 7% gain to $190.2 million ($3.12 per share).
In the fourth quarter alone, revenue surged by 13% year over year to $387.3 million, and net income experienced a 41% rise to $69.1 million ($1.13 per share).
“Despite the widespread economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic, our business and our markets performed exceptionally well,” said Moray Tawse, executive vice president at First National.
Both the single-family and commercial lending segments established new records for originations. Single-family originations grew by 42% annually to just over $19 billion, and commercial originations increased by 23% during the same time frame to settle at just over $9 billion.
“In both cases, we believe First National gained market share as our solutions resonated with our customers and partners and in the case of commercial, because we continued to lend when competitors pulled back,” Tawse added. “Consistency of lending is a hallmark of our business.”
Stephen Smith, chairman and CEO, said that these figures pointed to the effectiveness of First National’s long-standing business model, along with “the extraordinary efforts of our employees who worked from home to serve our residential and commercial borrowers.”
“We designed our business model and developed our MERLIN underwriting technology so that we do not require face-to-face interactions to be an effective lender,” Smith said. “The advantages from these innovations have become even more significant during the pandemic when physical distancing is required.”
