David Becker
Chairman, President and CEO
The past year presented extraordinary challenges. From the constraints of isolation to the economic strain of business lockdowns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed remarkable resolve within our society. As a company, we enacted creative measures and provided helpful tools to strengthen our associates, customers and communities throughout the year.
Our foundational principles helped us balance the priority of health, while maintaining our promise of delivering an exceptional banking experience to our customers. I’m proud of the talented team we have assembled that, through it all, allowed us to achieve exemplary financial results in 2020. Closing out our twenty-first year of operations, we delivered record net income of $29.5 million and record diluted earnings per share of $2.99, representing a seventeen and nineteen percent increase, respectively.
First Internet Bank attained robust revenue growth, with our direct-to-consumer mortgage business producing the best year in our history. We capitalized on the increase in demand accelerated by low interest rates, winning new business with an unwavering commitment to exceptional service and our user- friendly online mortgage loan process. Our expanding national Small Business Administration (SBA) lending platform also gained momentum and drove gain-on-sale revenue, contributing to our success throughout the year. And, looking ahead, our pipelines in key business lines remain solid heading into 2021.
Financial results were only part of our success in 2020. As I reflect on the many challenges our team members faced over the course of the year – losing loved ones, juggling work and parenting responsibilities as schools closed, struggling for answers in the face of social and political turbulence – I applaud the resilience of our team. Our unique workplace culture promotes innovation, collaboration and customer focus, collectively guiding us forward. We maintained operations at the highest level, while serving our customers and supporting one another. Our response team enabled associates to work remotely in order to reduce our onsite workforce. We implemented new workplace safety guidelines for those who remained in our offices. As a pioneer in digital direct-to-consumer banking, we have always embraced technology, and this year we relied upon it to enhance the opportunities for our newly distributed workforce to communicate effectively.
The need to work together – even as we worked apart from one another, at kitchen tables and in spare bedrooms – was clear as we shaped response plans for our customers. Within days, we instituted relief and deferral options to allow those customers negatively impacted by the pandemic to preserve cash and liquidity. We also worked tirelessly to enroll small business clients in the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided much-needed relief to fellow entrepreneurs.
I am fiercely proud of the way our team responded to events of 2020, and I am prouder still of the resolve we show to challenge ourselves to be better and achieve more in the years ahead.
When we launched First Internet Bank, we introduced a more flexible banking model to better meet the evolving needs of our personal and business clients, one that challenged the conventional delivery system of traditional brick and mortar banks. The pandemic has pulled consumer adoption of digital channels forward by many years; we remain committed to increasing shareholder value by capitalizing on our 20-year head start.
In order to push forward, to innovate, to challenge conventional wisdom, it is imperative that we have a broad range of ideas. We continue to advance our diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within our organization in order to encourage different perspectives working toward positive customer outcomes. More broadly, we must also be thoughtful about our contributions to the communities we serve and the planet we inhabit. We are on a journey and look forward to sharing our progress with you along the way.
We thank you for your support as we continue forward… and upward. Despite the headwinds we faced in 2020, we are stronger than ever as an organization, and we are so pleased to have been able to deliver another outstanding year for our shareholders. On behalf of the team at First Internet Bank, I thank you for your support for allowing us to create an environment where imagination can soar.
Sincerely,
David B. Becker
Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer
