Published: October 26, 2009 11:21 pm      

In brief: First Commonwealth posts $3M loss

INDIANA — First Commonwealth Financial Corp., the holding company for First Commonwealth Bank, has announced financial results for the third quarter.

First Commonwealth reported a net loss for the quarter ended Sept. 30 of $3 million, 4 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $10.2 million, 14 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2008.

The company blamed the deficit on a $17.5 million increase in the provision for credit losses and an increase of $1.3 million in other-than-temporary impairment charges. The higher provision was related to commercial construction loans primarily outside of Pennsylvania.

“Although our provision for credit losses remains high, our third-quarter provision of $21.4 million was down significantly from the previous quarter,” said John J. Dolan, CEO. “We believe these actions are prudent during this distressed economic period. At the same time, our capital ratios are strong, allowing us to work through this difficult environment.”

First Commonwealth operates banks throughout Cambria and Somerset counties.

Northwest Bancorp’s earnings increase

WARREN – Northwest Bancorp Inc., holding company for Northwest Savings Bank, recently announced earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 of $12.1 million, or 25 cents per diluted share. This represents an increase of $2.3 million, 22.7 percent, over the same quarter last year.

CEO William J. Wagner said, “We are pleased to report positive earnings when many institutions in our industry are reporting operating losses.

“Unfortunately, economic conditions have caused our company to record higher provisions for loan losses, which has greatly impacted earnings over the past year. We also continued to improve our balance sheet, as we experienced significant growth in home equity and commercial loans ... while also realizing good growth in deposits.”

Among Northwest Savings Bank branches are locations in Johnstown, Richland, Westmont and Ebensburg.