Lake City Bank reports record year

Warsaw-based Lakeland Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: LKFN) is reporting record full-year net income of $95.7 million in 2021, up from $84.3 million the previous year. The parent of Lake City Bank says the results can be attributed to growth in net interest income and lower provision expense.

President and chief executive officer David Findlay said the company has experienced unprecedented growth over the last two years.

“We enter 2022 with great optimism and confidence in the core relationship businesses within Lake City Bank,” said Findlay. “We end 2021 strongly with record net income and a balance sheet ready for future growth. Our highly asset sensitive balance sheet is well-positioned for the interest rate hikes we expect to see in 2022. Further, we believe the liquidity on our balance sheet will prove valuable as we focus on future organic loan growth opportunities.”

The company is reporting fourth quarter net income of $24.3 million, compared to $24.6 million during the same period in 2020.

The company says commercial organic loan originations reached an all-time high during the fourth quarter. The bank originated more than $650 million of commercial loans.

“We continue to expand existing relationships and establish new ones as available commercial lines of credit reached a record high of $4.01 billion and outstanding commercial lines grew by 9% during the fourth quarter,” said Findlay. “The loan pipeline as we entered 2022 was encouraging as we are beginning to see signs of improved loan demand and borrower activity.”