News Details

NEW CANAAN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWFG) reported GAAP net income of $12.4 million, or $1.52 per share for the second quarter of 2026, versus $11.3 million, or $1.41 per share, for the first quarter of 2026. The Company's Board of Directors declared a $0.20 per share cash dividend, payable August 21, 2026 to shareholders of record on August 10, 2026.

Discussion of Outlook; Bankwell Financial Group Chief Executive Officer, Christopher R. Gruseke:

"I’d like to congratulate our team for another outstanding quarter. Profitability continues to increase as we achieved a 1.46% Return on Average Assets and a 15.61% Return on Average Tangible Common Equity. We continue to execute key strategic objectives by meaningfully growing and improving our deposit base, accelerating loan growth, and establishing a more rate neutral balance sheet. We are particularly proud to note that as we continue to invest in our future, we have achieved a peer-leading 47.5% Efficiency Ratio this quarter.

Given our year-to-date results, we are updating prior full year guidance for 2026. We are increasing our Net Interest Income guidance to a range of $115 to $117 million while raising our outlook for loan growth to a range of 5% to 7%. We reiterate our previous guide to Non-interest Income of $12 to $13 million. Reflecting on our momentum this year, we will continue to make targeted investments in talent and infrastructure to support continued growth, and to compensate appropriately our teams for the strong performance they've delivered. Accordingly, we are raising our full-year non-interest expense guide to $65 to $67 million. Given our updated outlook for revenue, we would not expect our increased expense guidance to have a negative impact on our 2026 Efficiency Ratio."

Key Points for Second Quarter and Bankwell’s Outlook

Core Deposit Growth Funds Robust Loan Production, Reduces Wholesale Funding.

• Core deposit growth of $128 million during the quarter ended June 30, 2026, including $72.0 million growth in noninterest bearing and NOW deposits, when compared to March 31, 2026.
• Gross loans grew $93.1 million, or 3.2% compared to March 31, 2026, reaching $3.0 billion at June 30, 2026, as $268.2 million of funded originations, including $26.0 million of SBA originations, outpaced portfolio runoff.
• Wholesale funding decreased $43.7 million during the quarter ended June 30, 2026, lowering the Wholesale Ratio to 16.3% ⁽¹⁾, from 21.2% at year end.
• As of June 30, 2026, continued core deposit growth has enabled the Company to reduce brokered deposits by 50.6%, or $519.9 million, from their $1,026.6 million peak at December 31, 2022.

Net Interest Margin Expands on Favorable Repricing Dynamics.

• Reported Net Interest Margin expanded 30 basis points to 3.58% for the second quarter of 2026, compared to 3.28% for the quarter ended March 31, 2026.
• Total deposit costs improved 16 basis points to 2.94% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2026.
• Earning asset yields expanded 11 basis points to 6.26% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared to the linked quarter, as the average yield on new loan production of 7.00% continued to exceed the runoff yield.

Revenue Growth and Expense Management Drive Positive Operating Leverage.

• Pre-provision net revenue rose 31.4% to $17.5 million, or 2.07% of average assets, for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, driven by revenue growth and improved efficiency.
• Net interest income increased to $29.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, from $26.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, as net interest margin expanded 30 basis points to 3.58% on favorable repricing dynamics.
• SBA loan sale gains contributed $2.4 million of the Company's $3.3 million in total noninterest income for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, bringing first-half gains to $4.8 million, compared to $1.5 million in the first half of 2025.
• Noninterest expense declined to $15.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, from $16.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, primarily reflecting lower salaries and employee benefits following seasonal first-quarter compensation costs.
• The efficiency ratio improved to 47.5% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared to 55.8% for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, resulting in a year-to-date efficiency ratio of 51.4%.

Second Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Pre-Tax, Pre-Provision Net Revenue⁽¹⁾ ("PPNR")

PPNR for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026 was $17.5 million, an increase of 31.4% from $13.3 million recognized for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026.

• Revenues (net interest income plus noninterest income) for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 were $32.8 million, compared with $30.2 million in the previous quarter. The increase in revenues was primarily due to higher interest income.
• Noninterest expense for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 was $15.3 million, compared with $16.9 million in the previous quarter. The decrease in noninterest expense was primarily due to a decrease in salaries and employee benefits resulting from seasonal compensation-related costs recognized in the first quarter.

Allowance for Credit Losses - Loans ("ACL-Loans")

The ACL-Loans was $30.6 million as of June 30, 2026 compared to $29.6 million as of March 31, 2026. The ACL-Loans as a percentage of total loans was 1.03% as of June 30, 2026 compared to 1.03% as of March 31, 2026. The provision for credit losses - loans was $1.0 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 primarily driven by loan volume.

Total nonperforming loans decreased $3.2 million to $15.9 million as of June 30, 2026, when compared to the previous quarter. Nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets decreased to 0.46% at June 30, 2026, compared to the previous quarter's ratio of 0.56%. As of June 30, 2026, the ACL-Loans provided 193.14% coverage of total nonperforming loans.

Financial Condition & Capital

Assets totaled $3.5 billion at June 30, 2026, an increase of $115.7 million, or 3.4% compared to December 31, 2025. Gross loans totaled $3.0 billion at June 30, 2026, an increase of $119.6 million, or 4.2% compared to December 31, 2025. Deposits totaled $3.0 billion at June 30, 2026, an increase of $171.0 million, or 6.0% compared to December 31, 2025. Brokered deposits have decreased $52.1 million or 9.3%, when compared to December 31, 2025.

Shareholders’ equity totaled $323.5 million as of June 30, 2026, an increase of $22.0 million compared to December 31, 2025, primarily a result of year-to-date net income of $23.6 million. The increase was partially offset by dividends paid of $3.2 million.

As of June 30, 2026, the Bank's regulatory capital ratios were all above 'well capitalized' values, with total risk-based capital, common-equity tier 1 capital and leverage ratios at 12.70%, 11.66%, and 10.36%, respectively.

We recommend reading this earnings release in conjunction with the Second Quarter 2026 Investor Presentation, located at https://investor.mybankwell.com/events-and-presentations/ and included as an exhibit to our July 23, 2026 Current Report on Form 8-K.

Conference Call

Bankwell will host a conference call to discuss the Company’s financial results and business outlook on July 23, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. E.T. The call will be accessible by telephone and webcast using https://investor.mybankwell.com/events-and-presentations/. A supplementary slide presentation will be posted to the website prior to the event, and a replay will be available for 12 months following the event.

About Bankwell Financial Group

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. is the holding company for Bankwell Bank ("Bankwell"), a full-service commercial bank headquartered in New Canaan, CT. Bankwell provides businesses and professionals with a range of commercial financing solutions, including working capital lines of credit, SBA loans, acquisition financing, and commercial mortgages, along with treasury management and deposit services. Bankwell emphasizes accessibility, expertise, and responsiveness through experienced local banking teams serving its markets.

For more information about this press release, interested parties may contact Christopher R. Gruseke, Chief Executive Officer or Courtney E. Sacchetti, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. at (203) 652-0166 or at ir@mybankwell.com.

For more information, visit www.mybankwell.com.

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements about the Company. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding anticipated future events and can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” and “intend” or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” or “may.” Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results include increased competitive pressures, changes in the interest rate environment, general economic conditions or conditions within the banking industry or securities markets, and legislative and regulatory changes that could adversely affect the business in which the Company and its subsidiaries are engaged.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to evaluating the Company's financial performance in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), management may evaluate certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as the efficiency ratio. A computation and reconciliation of certain non-GAAP financial measures used for these purposes is contained in the accompanying Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures tables. We believe that providing certain non-GAAP financial measures provides investors with information useful in understanding our financial performance, our performance trends and financial position. For example, the Company believes that the efficiency ratio is useful in the assessment of financial performance, including noninterest expense control. The Company believes that tangible common equity, tangible assets, tangible common equity to tangible assets, tangible common shareholders' equity, fully diluted tangible book value per common share, efficiency ratio, noninterest expense to average assets, return on average shareholders' equity, return on average tangible shareholders' equity, pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue, net interest margin, net loan (recoveries) charge-offs as a percentage of average loans, pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue on average assets, wholesale ratio, and the dividend payout ratio are useful to evaluate the relative strength of the Company's performance and capital position. We utilize these measures for internal planning and forecasting purposes. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute for GAAP basis measures and results, and we strongly encourage investors to review our consolidated financial statements in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure. See "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures (unaudited)".