Newport’s Bank Comes Through the Panic Still Paying Dividends
Directors of the First National Bank of Newport report a clean balance sheet, a 5 percent dividend and a 17 percent year despite the financial stringency.
A regular meeting of the directors of the First National Bank of Newport was held this morning at the bank. The following directors were present: Henry Tweedie, of Tweedie; J. B. Tarbet, of Penrith; Hugh Kennedy, of Dalkena; A. E. Reid, E. E. Reid and Charles F. Craig.
The business of the past six months was carefully gone over, and after all doubtful loans and accounts had been charged off it was found that there was left a net profit on a capital of $25,000 to permit the payment of a semi-annual dividend of 5 per cent and to pass 2 per cent—$500—into the surplus fund.
As the bank paid out a 10 per cent semi-annual dividend the first six months of 1907, it will be noted that they have paid a total of 17 per cent on last year's business. The directors were very well pleased with the condition of the bank and the manner in which it has come through the financial stringency. It has been handled conservatively and begins the new year with the brightest of prospects.
“The directors were very well pleased with the condition of the bank and the manner in which it has come through the financial stringency.”
A local bank surviving a national panic was front-page news because depositors knew how quickly credit could vanish. The same tension persists in small-town banking, where a single institution's health can decide whether local businesses make it through a downturn.
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