Washington Trust Named to KBW “Bank Honor Roll” for Sixth Consecutive Year

WESTERLY, R.I., April 28, 2017 -- For the sixth consecutive year, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. (KBW) has named Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WASH) to its “2016 Bank Honor Roll” of superior performers. Selected from a list of nearly 400 companies listed on the NYSE and Nasdaq exchanges, Washington Trust is one of only 15 companies nationwide to be chosen for the Honor Roll; it is also the only Rhode Island bank, and one of only three financial service companies in New England to be selected. 

“The KBW Bank Honor Roll recognizes a select group of high performers that showed tremendous resilience in what may have been the most challenging decade in modern banking history,” noted Fred Cannon, KBW Director of Research. “These banks were able to differentiate themselves from their peers despite a challenging rate environment and flattening yield curve for the better part of 2016 and remain well-positioned to continue to succeed.”

“Washington Trust is honored to be recognized for the KBW Honor Roll for the sixth consecutive year,” stated Joseph J. MarcAurele, Washington Trust Chairman and CEO.  “Our solid growth and better-than-industry performance ratios continue to rank us among the top financial institutions in our region and peer group.” 

To qualify for inclusion on the KBW Bank Honor Roll, publicly traded banking institutions with at least $500 million in total assets had to meet the following three conditions as of year-end 2016:

• No annual loss reported in net income per share before extraordinary items over the past 10 years;
• 2016 annual reported net income per share before extraordinary items equal to or greater than peak net income per share over the past 10 years; and
• Consecutive increases in net income per share before extraordinary items since 2002.

ABOUT KBW
KBW (Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., operating in the U.S., and Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited, also trading as Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Europe, operating in Europe) is a Stifel company. Over the years, KBW has established itself as a leading independent authority in the banking, insurance, brokerage, asset management, mortgage banking and specialty finance sectors. Founded in 1962, the firm maintains industry‐leading positions in the areas of research, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions as well as sales and trading in equities securities of financial services companies.

ABOUT WASHINGTON TRUST BANCORP, INC.
Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. is the parent of The Washington Trust Company, with $4.4 billion in assets as of March 31, 2017. Founded in 1800, Washington Trust is the oldest community bank in the nation, the largest state-chartered bank headquartered in Rhode Island and one of the Northeast’s premier financial services companies. Washington Trust offers a full range of financial services, including commercial banking, mortgage banking, personal banking and wealth management and trust services through its offices located in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Corporation’s common stock trades on NASDAQ under the symbol WASH. Investor information is available on the Corporation’s web site at www.washtrustbancorp.com.

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Elizabeth B. Eckel
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401.348.1309
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