AmeriServ Financial in Johnstown, Pa., reported lower net income after absorbing a $926,000 hit from a subordinated debt investment in the failed Signature Bank.
The $1.3 billion-asset AmeriServ said in a press release that its first-quarter net income fell by 37% from a year earlier, to $1.5 million.
A big reason for the decrease was a roughly $1.2 billion loan-loss provision that included the hit from the Signature investment. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced when Signature failed that unsecured debtholders would not be protected.
The company disclosed that it incurred nearly $600,000 in expenses tied to its dealings with activist investor Driver Management while selling all of its class B shares in Visa in March for $1.7 million. The company said it believed the Visa sale “was an appropriate time to capture the gain on these shares due to the current volatility and future uncertainty of the financial markets.”