Washington Trust Bank has posted $9.1 million in net income for 2010, up substantially from the $3 million profit it reported the previous year, but still well short of the gains it experienced in 2007 and 2008.

Peter Stanton, the bank's chairman and CEO, says the economy showed slight improvement last year and slowly is continuing to get better for the banking industry.

"We're feeling confident that the worst is behind us," Stanton says. "We're just unsure how long it's going to take to get back an economy that's growing."

The bank expects to experience a modest increase in total loans this year after three years of decline, Stanton says. As of Dec. 31, the bank had total loans of $2.7 billion, down from $2.9 billion a year earlier.

Total assets on Dec. 31 were almost $4 billion, down from almost $4.1 billion a year earlier. Total deposits fell to $3.3 billion, down from almost $3.4 billion a year earlier.

Stanton says no banks have been immune to the economic downturn in recent years, but he says Washington Trust fared better than some because of its focus on business banking and commercial and industrial lending. He says banks that were heavier into real estate lending typically took bigger hits than Washington Trust.

Still, he says, "The last couple of years, it was hard for any bank. There was no place to hide."

Stanton says the bank is focused on staying well diversified, both in the industrial sectors in which it lends money and in the geographic locations in which it operates. Also, he says, customers and potential customers who have survived the recession should be stronger as a result.

"Marginal competitors go away in a recession," he says.

Founded in 1902, Washington Trust Bank has 20 branches in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area. It also has operations in Idaho, Oregon, and Utah.