Lakewood, Colorado, Jan. 30, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FirstBank, Colorado’s second largest bank and one of the nation’s largest privately held banks, today reported financial and community investment results for 2017. As of December 31, 2017, FirstBank measured notable growth in income, assets and deposits over 2016.

• Net income increased 11.5 percent to $212.6 million.
• Total assets grew by 3.1 percent to $17.6 billion.
• Total deposits increased 2.5 percent to $15.8 billion.
• Net loan balance surpassed $10 billion for the first time, up 6.5 percent to $10.1 billion.

Beyond the 10^th straight year of record earnings, FirstBank also helped Colorado Gives Day raise more than $36 million and Arizona Gives Day raise over $2.7 million for local nonprofits.

“I can’t say enough about the overwhelming commitment of our staff and loyalty of our customers,” explained FirstBank CEO Jim Reuter. “Together, we achieved another year of record earnings, surpassed $60 million in charitable donations since 2000, and became one of the first banks nationwide to offer Zelle. 2017 was certainly a memorable year for our company.”

In 2017, FirstBank officially launched Zelle, a faster person-to-person (P2P) payment system that can transfer funds to account holders across the country within minutes. As a result, customer adoption of FirstBank’s P2P service skyrocketed 56 percent by year-end 2017 compared to the previous year. Total payment volume also rose 72 percent, increasing from more than 587,000 P2P payments in 2016 to over 1 million in 2017.

Additionally, FirstBank was recognized by publications and award programs in Colorado and Arizona for high employee engagement and satisfaction. It was named:

• Top Company (Financial Services category) by ColoradoBiz Magazine
• Top Workplace by The Denver Post
• Best Places to Work by the Phoenix Business Journal

Furthermore, FirstBank’s Arizona and California branch locations produced strong financial gains.

Arizona

Across FirstBank’s 15 Phoenix-area branches:

• Total deposits grew by 11.5 percent, from $402.3 in 2016 to $448.4 million at the end of 2017.
• Loans grew 7.2 percent from $749.8 million in 2016 to $803.6 million, and assets increased 5.8 percent from $808.3 million to $855.1 million.

California
Among FirstBank’s four Palm Desert-area branches:

• Deposits increased by 5.6 percent from $363.3 million in 2016 to $383.6 million in 2017.
• Loans increased from $295.9 million to $318.6 million, growing by 7.7 percent, and assets increased 7.3 percent from $306.7 million to $329.1 million in 2017.  

About FirstBank

FirstBank operates more than 115 locations in Colorado, Arizona and California. It’s the largest locally owned banking organization in Colorado, serving more than 750,000 customers. FirstBank offers a variety of checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity loans and a full range of commercial loans and business accounts and services. Since 2000, the company has been recognized as a top corporate philanthropist and has contributed more than $60 million and thousands of volunteer hours to charitable organizations. FirstBank is also unique in that a majority of its stock is owned by management and employees. For more information, go to www.efirstbank.com.

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Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

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