Pandemic presents a big unknown for recovery, TowneBank leader says
It could be 2021 before the long-term industry effects of the coronavirus pandemic are known, according to TowneBank Executive Chairman G. Robert Aston Jr.
There are still huge questions about how the economy will recover from disruptions caused by COVID-19, Aston told TowneBank shareholders during a video broadcast of its annual meeting Wednesday.
“That speed of recovery is part of that uncertainty that we’re challenged with in the financial industry, because we just don’t know what that looks like,” Aston said.
The coronavirus dominated much of the discussion during the annual meeting. When Gov. Ralph Northam issued a stay-at-home order at the end of March, bank executives didn’t even know if they could operate the business remotely. However, Aston said, TowneBank successfully transitioned to remote operations and closed all lobbies for the safety of its employees.
“That’s a radical change,” he said.
Like much of the financial industry, TowneBank’s stock price has declined substantially since the beginning of the pandemic. The stock value has fallen more than 30% since Feb. 20. Aston believed that it would take an effective treatment to make the virus less deadly before stock prices recovered.
The bank also celebrated the success of its administration of Paycheck Protection Program loan applications. TowneBank has processed $1.1 billion in loans from about 6,200 applications, said Richard Bray, who leads the bank’s board of directors. In fact, Bray said, many nonmembers came to TowneBank for help because they were so successful at approving applications, and the bank picked up several hundred more accounts due to the loan submissions.
“It really gave us an opportunity to really show the best of TowneBank,” Bray said.
At the meeting, shareholders also tentatively approved the election of the bank’s board of directors, signed off on executive compensation and selected Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP as the bank’s 2020 auditors.