Access National Annual and Quarterly Earnings Rise, Declares Dividend

Access National Corporation (NASDAQ: ANCX), parent company for Access National Bank (Bank), reported fourth quarter 2015 net income of $3.9 million, or $0.37 per common share. This represents the Corporation’s 62nd consecutive quarterly profit over its 64 quarter history. Consistent with management’s stated objective of a 40%-50% payout ratio against core earnings, the Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.15 per share for holders of record as of February 05, 2016 and payable on February 25, 2016. The routine dividend reflects Management’s favorable performance outlook and comfort with a favorable capital position.

Fourth quarter 2015 pretax earnings rose by $586 thousand or 10.9% when compared to fourth quarter 2014 pretax earnings. Fourth quarter 2015 pretax income for the banking segment rose $376 thousand from fourth quarter 2014 due to increases in net interest income of $862 thousand and other income of $370 thousand due largely to returns on the Bank’s investments in Small Business Investment Companies. These increases were partially offset by an increase in salaries and benefits of $331 thousand and an increase in other operating expense of $525 thousand due in part to enhancements in the Bank’s online banking platform. The mortgage segment’s increase of $328 thousand over fourth quarter 2014 was due mainly to an increase in gains recorded on secondary mortgage activity, net of the hedging impact.

Pretax earnings for 2015 were $23.6 million, up $2.1 million or 9.7% from $21.5 million for the year 2014. Year over year, the banking segment pretax earnings increased $1.7 million or 9.1%. Net interest income increased $4.1 million, from $34.5 million in 2014 to $38.6 million in 2015. Offsetting this increase in net interest income were increases in salaries and employee benefits of $1.6 million, due to increased group health costs as well as additions to staffing, and other expenses of $1.5 million, due largely to the increase in operational expenses such as FDIC insurance, business and franchise taxes and data processing costs. Decreased losses in the other operating segment of $837 thousand pretax were due mainly to a nonrecurring pretax impairment recorded in third quarter 2014 of $707 thousand.

The net interest margin decreased from 3.80% to 3.68% when comparing 2014 to 2015. On a linked quarter basis, the margin decreased to 3.63% for the three months ended December 31, 2015 when compared to 3.70% for the three months ended September 30, 2015.

On a consolidated basis, the Corporation reported annualized return on average assets of 1.35% and 1.39% for the three and twelve month periods ended December 31, 2015, respectively. Meanwhile, the annualized return on average equity was 14.53% and 14.83% for the three and twelve month periods ended December 31, 2015, respectively.

Total assets were $1.2 billion at December 31, 2015 and grew $126 million when compared to December 31, 2014. An increase in loans held for investment of $110.9 million and a $35.1 million growth in investment securities was partially offset by a decrease of $21.6 million in interest-bearing balances. During the fourth quarter of 2015, commercial loan growth was the leading driver of a 14.3% annualized growth of loans held for investment.

Total deposits at December 31, 2015 were $913.7 million, an increase of $158.3 million when compared to December 31, 2014. Non-interest bearing deposits grew at a rate of 21.7%, from $252.9 million at December 31, 2014 to $307.8 million at December 31, 2015 due to management’s continued focus on expanding business banking relationships. Interest bearing deposits increased $103.4 million, from $502.6 million at December 31, 2014 to $605.9 million at December 31, 2015. A targeted marketing campaign was the majority of the reason for growth in this category which saw an increase in savings and money markets of $48.6 million and an increase in time deposits of $28.5 million.

Non-performing assets (NPAs) increased to $7.4 million at December 31, 2015 from $1.6 million at December 31, 2014, representing 0.63% and 0.15% of total assets, respectively. The increase in NPAs from year end 2014 was mainly impacted by the addition of two loans, one totaling $6.6 million which was added in the first quarter of 2015 and the second totaling $1.0 million which was added in the fourth quarter of 2015. The Bank did not have other real estate owned at December 31, 2015 while Access Real Estate, LLC had other real estate owned with a carrying value of $500 thousand. The allowance for loan loss was $13.6 million and $13.4 million at December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively, and represented 1.53% and 1.73% of total loans held for investment at December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively.

Book value per common share increased from $9.45 at December 31, 2014 to $10.35 at December 31, 2015. The ratio of total equity to total assets for Access National Corporation and its subsidiary bank was 9.3% at December 31, 2015, within the Corporation’s target range of 8.00% to 10.50%.

Access National Corporation is the parent company of Access National Bank, an independent, nationally chartered bank serving the business community of the greater Washington DC Metropolitan area. Additional information is available on our website at www.AccessNationalBank.com. Shares of Access National Corporation are traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "ANCX".

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements may be identified as “may”, “could”, “expect”, “believe”, anticipate”, “intend”, “plan” or variations thereof. These forward-looking statements may contain information related to those matters such as the Company’s intent, belief, or expectation with respect to matters such as financial performance. Such statements are necessarily based on assumptions and estimates and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties concerning the Company’s operations and business environment, which are difficult to predict and beyond control of the Company. Such risks and uncertainties could cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those matters expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. For an explanation of certain risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and other SEC filings.

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