First Defiance Financial has reported that its net income for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008 was $880,000, or $0.09 per diluted common share, compared to $3.6 million, or $0.50 per diluted common share, for the fourth quarter of 2007.
The company said that its net interest margin was strong at 3.72% for the quarter, a 20 basis point improvement over the fourth quarter of 2007. Net interest margin improvement was driven by a 134 basis point decline in interest-bearing liabilities to 2.56% in the 2008 fourth quarter compared to 3.90% for the same period in 2007.
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, First Defiance earned $7.4 million, or $0.91 per diluted common share, a decline of $6.5 million or 47%, as compared to $13.9 million, or $1.94 per diluted common share, for the year ended December 31, 2007.
Net interest income for 2008 totaled $62.2 million, a $13.5 million or 28% increase over 2007. Net interest margin for 2008 was 3.80%, up 25 basis points from the 3.55% margin for the year ended December 31, 2007.
Total assets at December 31, 2008 were $1.96 billion, compared to $1.61 billion at December 31, 2007. Total deposits at December 31, 2008 were $1.47 billion, compared to $1.22 billion at December 31, 2007.
