Groton — Chelsea Groton Bank announced this week a 27 percent increase in its profits last year compared with 2015.

The impressive profit increase came at a time when the 162-year-old bank surpassed the $1 billion mark in assets, the first locally based financial institution to do so. The bank's growth was fueled largely by $81 million in new commercial loans and $148 million in retail loans, including financing for 130 first-time homebuyers.

The bank said its $40 million in home-purchase loans represented more than any other financial institution in the region. Annual profits topped $7 million, compared with just under $5.5 million in the previous year.

But Michael Rauh, president and chief executive of Chelsea Groton, said he doesn't focus so much on the numbers. He's just as pleased to have been named Best Bank in The Day's readers poll, a Top Workplace by The Hartford Courant and the Best Business Bank by the Connecticut Law Tribune.

"Our focus is on helping people," Rauh said in an interview at his headquarters office. "When you're getting those kinds of accolades, you're doing what's right for people."

Among Rauh's highlights for the year, he said, was the bank's ability, thanks to a profitable investment, to more than double the size of its foundation's endowment — from about $3.5 million to $8 million, he said. This will allow the Chelsea Bank Foundation to double its commitment to the needs of the community, focusing on basic needs, education, economic development, the arts and children. 

Rauh added that some of the extra money likely will go toward efforts to increase job creation in the region, particularly in the Norwich area.

"It all starts with having jobs," he said.

Rauh said the mutual bank's focus also has turned toward financial advice, particularly for those who normally fall through the cracks because they don't have enough assets to get individualized attention at bigger institutions.

"People are looking for good advice, not just at the beginning but through the whole process," he said.

Rauh said when he first became bank president there were only two full-time people working in investment management. Chelsea Groton now has five people in the department, he said. 

At the bank's annual meeting Monday, four new corporators were named: Leo E. Butler Jr., director of diversity at Norwich Free Academy; Meagan E. Seacor, managing partner of UP Fitness Corp. and chair of the Young Professionals of Eastern Connecticut; Donna L. Yother, owner of the SAVA Insurance Group, and Catherine L. Young, business developer for the Connecticut Airport Authority.

l.howard@theday.com