Elmira Savings Bank finishes paying back the federal government

ELMIRA — Elmira Savings Bank (NASDAQ: ESBK) announced this week it has repaid the final $3.5 million segment of the $14 million it received from the U.S. Treasury Department through the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF).

Established by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, the SBLF provides capital to community banks, like Elmira Savings, and community-development loan funds to encourage small-business lending. In exchange, the banks issue the Treasury Department preferred shares of their stock, on which they must pay the Treasury dividends.

“We are pleased to redeem these outstanding preferred shares, exiting the SBLF program, and reducing our dividend payments to preferred shareholders,” Thomas M. Carr, president and chief operating officer of Elmira Savings Bank, said in a Jan. 6 news release.

The banking company announced last April that it had repaid the Treasury $10.5 million, or three-fourths, of the total it had received from the government.

The U.S. Treasury says it has invested more than $4 billion in 332 institutions through the SBLF program, including about $3.9 billion in community banks.

Elmira Savings Bank, with $514.3 million in total assets, is a state-chartered bank with six branches in Chemung County, three branches and a loan center in Tompkins County, two offices in Steuben County, one branch in Cayuga County, one office in Schuyler County, and loan centers in Cortland and Broome counties. It employs about 125 people total.

The banking company’s main headquarters office is located at 333 E. Water St. in Elmira.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com