The Independent Staff

IberiaBank's record year

The year in rear view was a big one for locally based IberiaBank, which earned $144 million, 270 percent more than the $39 million it earned in 2008. Earnings per share were $8.03, compared with $2.96 in 2008. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the bank earned $106 million — that’s 340 percent more than last year's third quarter.

IberiaBank President and CEO Daryl Byrd called 2009 a “year of tremendous achievement and opportunity for our company,” all made possible, he added, by many years of sacrifice, hard work, discipline and foresight. “Our fourth quarter and year-end results are a clear demonstration of our profitability, capital strength, and sound asset quality compared to the severe strife within the financial services industry,” he said. “Despite the industry challenges, our shareholders received a total return on their investment of 522 percent between year-ends 1999 and 2009, assuming reinvestment of quarterly cash dividends. This equated to a total annual shareholder return of 20 percent over that period.”

Read more about how IberiaBank became a $10 billion financial institution in 2009 and rose to the No. 2 spot among Louisiana banks in The Independent Weekly’s Nov. 25 cover story, “A Defining Moment.”