Columbia Financial Inc. reported net income of $10.8 million, or $0.10 per basic and diluted share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2018, compared to net income of $1.5 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2017.

The Sept. 30, 2018 quarterly earnings reflect increased tax expense of $2.2 million as a result of the changes in the New Jersey corporate business tax signed into law on July 1, 2018 (Assembly Bill 4202). The Sept. 30, 2017 quarterly earnings reflected $3.3 million of cash contributions to the Columbia Bank Foundation.

Excluding the charitable contribution and gains or losses on the sale of investment securities, core net income would have been $35.3 million for the nine months ended Sept.30, 2018, an increase of 34.6%, compared with core net income of $26.2 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2017.

"We experienced solid financial results during the quarter driven primarily by loan growth within the multifamily and commercial sectors and a slight improvement of our yield on investment securities,”  said Thomas Kemly, president and CEO. “We do, however, continue to experience margin compression driven by the increasing cost of deposits and borrowings given the current interest rate and competitive environment."

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2018, the Columbia reported net income of $7.9 million, or $0.07 per basic and diluted share, compared to net income of $21.1 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2017. The decrease in earnings for the nine-month period is driven primarily by the one-time contribution of company shares to the Columbia Bank Foundation, during the quarter ended June 30, 2018 in connection with the completion of the minority stock offering.

Other highlights from the quarterly filing are as follows:

• The total non-performing loans as of  30, 2018was $3.9 million, or 0.08% of total loans as compared to $6.5 million, or 0.15%, of total loans at Dec. 31, 2017, and $3.8 million or 0.08% of total loans at June 30, 2018. Columbia held $251,000 in foreclosed assets at Sept. 30, 2018, as compared to $959 thousand at Dec. 31, 2017 and $660 thousand at June 30, 2018. Non-performing assets as a percentage of total assets were 0.06% at Sept. 30, 2018 as compared to 0.13% at Dec. 31, 2017 and 0.07% at June 30, 2018.
• The bank transferred classified residential and home equity loans totaling $2.4 million from the loans held-for-investment portfolio to the loans held-for-sale portfolio during the three months ended September 30, 2018. It recorded charge-offs on these transferred loans of $482,000 during the three months ended  30, 2018. The pending loan sale is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2018.
• The bank's allowance for loan losses was $63.4 million, or 1.30% of total loans at 30, 2018, as compared to $58.2 million or 1.31% of total loans at Dec. 31, 2017 and $62.5 million or 1.35% of total loans at June 30, 2018.
• Total assets increased $801.4 million, or 13.9%, to $6.6 billion at  30, 2018 from $5.8 billion at Dec. 31, 2017. The increase in total assets was primarily attributed to increases in loans receivable, net, of $442.8 million and available-for-sale securities of $276.5 million. Loan growth was funded by $492.4 million of net proceeds from the minority stock offering and increased borrowings and deposits.
• Loans receivable, net increased $442.8 million to $4.8 billion at September 30, 2018 from $4.4 billion at Dec. 31, 2017. Multifamily and commercial, one-to-four family, construction loans and commercial business lending contributed $217.9 million, $207.0 million, $36.1 million and $26.3 million respectively to our loan growth. Home equity loans and advances declined $44 million between  Dec. 31, 2017 and Sept. 30, 2018. The decrease in home equity loans and advances was driven by lower originations.