Provident Bankshares Corp. / PBKS

About Provident Bankshares Corp.

114 E. Lexington St., Baltimore, Md. 21202
www.provbank.com | 410-277-7000 | Founded: 1886

Industry: Banking | Category: Banks

Accounting errors forced Provident to restate financial statements in 2005, resulting in a cumulative reduction in earnings of $947,000 for 2004 and the first nine months of 2005. The restatement was required because of bookkeeping errors related to the company's use of derivatives, which are complex financial contracts used to manage risk, and to an executive's severance agreement.
Even so, the bank's earnings for all of 2005 rose to $73 million, an 18 percent increase over 2004. The gains were largely because of its merger in late 2004 with Southern Financial Bancorp, which gave it an additional 30 branches in Northern Virginia, Richmond, Charlottesville and the District. The merger is part of the bank's plan to become a strong regional bank from Baltimore to Richmond and serve both retail and business customers. Until the merger, Provident had specialized in consumer banking, Southern in business lending.

Chairman and CEO: Gary N. Geisel

2005 Financial Data

Net Income: $72,950,000
Asssets: $6,355,926,000 | Earnings Per Share: $2.17
Stockholder Equity: $630,495,000 | Annual Dividend: $1.09
Total employees: 2,017 | Local employees: 499