Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

How does a community bank founded in 1891, Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB), continue to deliver significant shareholder value in a volatile 2025 market? As of September 30, 2025, the bank reported total assets of nearly $1.6 billion, demonstrating disciplined growth with consolidated net income hitting $8.3 million for the first nine months of the year, a strong signal for a micro-cap stock with a market capitalization of roughly $104.56 million. You have to ask yourself, what is the secret to their resilience and how do they sustain a compelling dividend yield-currently around 6.36%-by focusing on core lending in Vermont and New Hampshire?

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) History

You want to understand the foundation of Union Bankshares, Inc. and how a community bank in Vermont grew into a NASDAQ-listed entity. The story isn't just about a single date; it's a dual history, starting with the local bank and then the strategic holding company structure that enabled its growth. This is a classic case of a community institution adapting to modern finance while keeping its local focus.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The institution's roots trace back to 1891, when the primary subsidiary, Union Bank, was originally chartered. The bank holding company, Union Bankshares, Inc., was formally incorporated much later, in 1983, to gain structural flexibility for expansion and capital raising.

Original location

The bank started in Morrisville, Vermont, establishing its deep community ties in the state. Today, the holding company's headquarters remain in Morrisville.

Founding team members

Union Bank was founded by local Morrisville community leaders and business people. Their initial goal was simple: to serve the financial needs of the immediate region. The formation of Union Bankshares, Inc. in 1983 was spearheaded by the bank's existing leadership at that time, aiming to expand that original mission.

Initial capital/funding

Specific initial capitalization figures from 1891 are defintely hard to pinpoint, but the bank was established with capital pooled from local investors and community members, a common practice for community banks of that era. The 1983 holding company was essentially formed based on the existing equity of the successful Union Bank.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The journey from a single-office bank to an institution with 18 banking offices and three loan centers across Vermont and New Hampshire required a few decisive, transformative moves. The biggest shifts were structural and strategic.

• The BHC Formation in 1983: Creating the bank holding company (BHC) was a simple but crucial legal maneuver. It allowed the bank to diversify into non-banking activities and raise capital more easily, which is essential for any regional player looking to grow beyond its initial town borders. This structure set the stage for all future M&A activity.
• The 1996 St. Johnsbury Acquisition: Acquiring The Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company wasn't just about adding branches; it was a calculated move to consolidate a presence in key northeastern Vermont markets. This single acquisition significantly expanded the asset base and customer reach overnight, moving the company from a local player to a regional one.
• The 2024 Balance Sheet Clean-up: In a tough interest rate environment, management made a hard but smart call: selling $38.8 million of low-yielding securities at a loss. Here's the quick math: you take a one-time hit of $1.3 million in 2024 to free up capital to reinvest in higher-yielding assets, boosting Net Interest Income (NII) in 2025 and beyond. This strategic repositioning directly contributed to the Q3 2025 net income of $3.4 million, up from $1.3 million in the prior year's quarter.

The company's focus on disciplined growth and maintaining strong asset quality, evidenced by its proactive increase in the allowance for credit losses by 14.0% through September 30, 2025, shows a trend-aware, realist approach to banking. You can see how this strategy aligns with their core purpose by reviewing their Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB).

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) Ownership Structure

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) has a unique ownership structure for a publicly traded bank, where individual investors hold the majority stake, giving them significant collective influence over the company's direction. This is a crucial distinction from many of its peers, which are often dominated by large institutional funds.

Given Company's Current Status

Union Bankshares, Inc. is a publicly traded bank holding company, meaning its shares are available to buy and sell on a major exchange. It trades under the ticker symbol UNB on the NASDAQ Global Market (NasdaqGM). As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization (market cap) was approximately $113.783 million, with around 4.55 million shares outstanding. It operates as the holding company for Union Bank, which provides retail, commercial, and municipal banking services primarily in the United States.

This public status ensures a high degree of transparency, requiring regular filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is defintely a plus for investors seeking detailed financial and operational data.

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

The shareholder base of Union Bankshares is notably weighted toward individual investors, which is a key factor in its governance and strategic decision-making. As of the most recent 2025 data, the breakdown shows a strong retail presence alongside significant institutional and insider holdings.

Here's the quick math: Insiders, plus the largest individual investors, control a substantial portion of the company. The largest individual shareholder, Susan Mercia, for instance, holds a considerable stake, highlighting the influence of key individuals.

Given Company's Leadership

The governance of Union Bankshares is steered by an experienced leadership team, with several key executives having long tenures at the bank, providing institutional knowledge and stability. The board is also considered experienced, with an average tenure of 8.5 years. For an in-depth look at the guiding principles, you can check out the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB).

• David Scott Silverman: Serves as the President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and a Director. He has been with the bank for over three decades, providing deep operational and market expertise.
• Karyn J. Hale CPA: Holds the critical role of Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). She oversees accounting, treasury, regulatory reporting, and shareholder relations.
• Timothy Willis Sargent: Acts as the Independent Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Board.
• Cornelius J. Van Dyke: Serves as the Independent Chairman of the Board.

The leadership structure balances long-serving insiders, like Mr. Silverman, with independent directors, which is a common setup to ensure strategic continuity while maintaining oversight.

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) Mission and Values

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) anchors its identity not just in its $1.57 billion in total assets as of September 30, 2025, but in a deep-rooted commitment to its local communities in Vermont and New Hampshire, prioritizing stability and personalized service over transactional scale.

Union Bankshares, Inc.'s Core Purpose

The company's purpose is to be the essential, stable financial partner for its neighbors, a role it has played since 1891. This local focus is what drives its disciplined growth, which saw consolidated net income reach $3.4 million in Q3 2025 alone, a significant leap from the prior year. They are a community bank, plain and simple.

Official Mission Statement

While a single, formal mission statement isn't always a community bank's primary focus, Union Bankshares' operating philosophy centers on being a trusted, full-service financial institution that invests in the success of its local community. This means providing the essential services without the big-bank bureaucracy.

• Keep deposits safe, ensuring financial stability for customers and the region.
• Offer convenient financial choices that rival larger institutions.
• Provide loans-like the $1.18 billion in loans on the books as of Q3 2025-to help people buy homes, grow businesses, and create jobs locally.

Vision Statement

The company's long-term vision is to remain one of the few independent community banks serving its region, leveraging its local expertise to drive both community prosperity and shareholder value. They want to be the premier choice for banking services, defintely not just a commodity.

• Maintain a track record of longevity and stability, translating into confidence for customers.
• Deliver a consistency of performance, so you always know the people you are working with.
• Expand the use of digital services while preserving the sincere, helpful service of a local branch.

If you're looking for more details on who is betting on this model, you can read more here: Exploring Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Union Bankshares, Inc. Slogan/Tagline

The company's long-standing tagline perfectly captures its dual commitment to local roots and customer success.

• Stay Local. Go Far.

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) How It Works

Union Bankshares, Inc. operates as a bank holding company primarily through its subsidiary, Union Bank, generating revenue by taking in customer deposits and lending those funds out, with net interest income being the core driver of its business model, which was $11.2 million in the third quarter of 2025. The company focuses on a community banking model across northern Vermont and New Hampshire, leveraging local decision-making to drive disciplined loan growth, which reached $1.18 billion as of September 30, 2025.

Union Bankshares, Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

Union Bankshares, Inc.'s Operational Framework

The company's operational framework is built on the classic community bank strategy: gather low-cost core deposits and deploy them into higher-yielding loans within its local market. Here's the quick math: total assets stood at $1.57 billion as of September 30, 2025, heavily weighted toward the loan portfolio.

This model is supported by a multi-channel delivery system, but the real value creation comes from a high-touch, local focus. They are defintely not a national mega-bank.

• Funding the Loan Portfolio: Total deposits were $1.190 billion in Q3 2025, providing the primary funding source for the $1.18 billion loan portfolio.
• Net Interest Income (NII) Generation: The core process is earning more in interest on loans and investments than is paid out on deposits and borrowed funds. NII rose to $11.2 million in Q3 2025, an 18.3% increase year-over-year, driven by higher yields on earning assets.
• Noninterest Income Streams: Secondary revenue is generated through noninterest income, which reached $3.4 million in Q3 2025, coming from service charges, gains on loan sales, and fees from wealth management and treasury services.
• Risk Management: Proactive risk management is a key operational step; the allowance for credit losses saw a 14.0% increase, reflecting a prudent approach to loan growth and portfolio monitoring.

You can read more about the foundational principles that guide these operations here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB).

Union Bankshares, Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

Union Bankshares' success in its regional market stems from a clear set of competitive advantages that are difficult for large national banks to replicate, plus still maintaining a strong balance sheet. The Q3 2025 results show this strategy is working, with net income hitting $3.4 million.

• Deep Local Market Penetration: The bank's long-standing presence in northern Vermont and New Hampshire allows for local decision-making and strong community ties, which translates into better credit underwriting and customer loyalty.
• Strong Asset Quality: Despite economic uncertainty, the company maintains strong asset quality, with management actively increasing the allowance for credit losses, demonstrating effective risk management.
• Focus on Core Banking Fundamentals: Management prioritizes disciplined asset growth and prudent expense control, avoiding the high-risk, high-cost ventures of larger institutions.
• Consistent Shareholder Return: A commitment to returning value, evidenced by the declared quarterly cash dividend of $0.36 per share in Q3 2025, enhances its reputation as a stable investment.

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) How It Makes Money

Union Bankshares, Inc. primarily generates revenue by leveraging its balance sheet, taking in customer deposits and other funds, and then lending that capital out at higher interest rates, which is the core banking business. This is supplemented by noninterest income from fees for services like wealth management and mortgage sales.

The company's financial engine is heavily reliant on its net interest income (NII), which is the difference between the interest earned on assets (like loans and securities) and the interest paid on liabilities (like deposits and borrowings). In the third quarter of 2025 (Q3 2025), this traditional banking activity accounted for the vast majority of its operating revenue.

Union Bankshares' Revenue Breakdown

For the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, Union Bankshares reported total operating revenue of approximately $14.21 million, demonstrating a strong reliance on its lending activities.

Here's the quick math: Net Interest Income was $11.16 million, and noninterest income was $3.05 million in Q3 2025, totaling $14.21 million in operating revenue. The Net Interest Income (NII) saw an 18.3% year-over-year increase, which is defintely a clear sign of stronger asset yields and volume growth.

Business Economics

The bank's profitability hinges on its ability to manage the spread between lending rates and funding costs, known as the net interest margin (NIM). The increase in NII is driven by higher yields on earning assets, meaning the bank is getting a better return on its loans and investment securities.

• Loan Portfolio Focus: Total loans grew 5.1% year-over-year to $1.18 billion as of September 30, 2025, which is the primary driver of interest income.
• Fee Income Drivers: Noninterest income, while smaller, is an important revenue diversifier, increasing by $452 thousand year-over-year. This stream is supported by services like commercial and retail banking fees, wealth management, and significant mortgage banking activity, including secondary market mortgage sales which totaled $46.0 million in Q3 2025.
• Funding Challenge: A key economic headwind is the funding mix. The bank still utilizes meaningful wholesale funding sources, including $270.8 million in Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) advances and $65.3 million in brokered deposits as of Q3 2025. These sources are generally more rate-sensitive and expensive than core customer deposits, putting pressure on the NIM.
• Liquidity Management: The loan-to-deposit ratio, which was around 98.6% at the end of Q2 2025, indicates that nearly all deposits are being used to fund loans. What this estimate hides is the need to grow core deposits to lower this ratio closer to the national average, reducing reliance on higher-cost wholesale funding.

You can learn more about the strategic direction that underpins these financial decisions by reviewing the company's long-term goals: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB).

Union Bankshares' Financial Performance

The bank's financial health as of Q3 2025 shows a significant rebound in profitability, largely due to strong NII growth and the non-recurrence of a prior-year securities loss. Consolidated net income for Q3 2025 reached $3.4 million, a substantial increase from the prior year.

• Profitability Metrics: The annualized Net Profit Margin is strong at 21.6%, with an annualized Return on Equity (ROE) of 15.1%, reflecting effective use of shareholder capital. The Return on Assets (ROA) is 0.7%.
• Asset Quality: Asset quality remains robust. The Allowance for Credit Losses (ACL) was proactively increased by 14.0% to $8.40 million, aligning with the growth in the loan portfolio and reflecting prudent risk management.
• Expense Control: Noninterest expenses are a watched area, rising 9.9% year-over-year to $10.34 million in Q3 2025, primarily due to increases in salaries and other operating costs. This increase tempers the operating leverage gained from revenue growth.
• Capital and Book Value: Total assets stood at $1.57 billion as of September 30, 2025. Stockholder's equity increased by 6.1%, pushing the book value per share up to $16.95.

The core earnings power is clearly inflecting upward, with Q3 2025 basic earnings per share (EPS) hitting $0.75. The next step for you is to monitor Q4 2025 results for continued NIM expansion and evidence of a successful deposit remix away from wholesale funding.

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) Market Position & Future Outlook

Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) is a small, resilient community bank poised for disciplined growth, driven by a strong Q3 2025 performance that saw total assets rise to $1.57 billion and consolidated net income reach $8.3 million year-to-date. Its future outlook hinges on successfully managing interest rate risk and leveraging its deeply local presence in northern Vermont and New Hampshire to sustain loan portfolio expansion.

Competitive Landscape

Union Bankshares operates as a micro-cap institution, with a market capitalization of approximately $106.31 million as of November 2025, positioning it as a highly localized player within the broader US regional banking sector. While its direct deposit market share in its specific operating areas is the true measure of local dominance, the table below illustrates its size relative to comparable regional bank competitors.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's strategy of disciplined growth and expense management positions it well to capture specific market opportunities, but it must actively mitigate concentration risks inherent to its regional focus.

Industry Position

Union Bankshares maintains a stable, albeit small, position in the regional banking industry, focusing on a niche geographical footprint in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Its total assets of $1.57 billion as of September 30, 2025, firmly place it in the micro-cap category, but its commitment to local decision-making and community involvement provides a distinct competitive moat against larger, national banks. The bank's book value per share rose 6.1% year-over-year to $16.95 in Q3 2025, signaling strengthened equity and a solid balance sheet. It is a stable, income-generating option for investors, supported by a consistent quarterly cash dividend of $0.36 per share. The core challenge is scaling profitability beyond its localized market without compromising its high-touch community model. You can dig deeper into the shareholder base and motivations by Exploring Union Bankshares, Inc. (UNB) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

• Maintain strong asset quality with a proactive increase in the allowance for credit losses, demonstrating prudent risk management.
• Focus on disciplined asset growth, especially in the loan portfolio, which increased 5.1% year-over-year in Q3 2025.
• The bank's size makes it susceptible to adverse regional economic shifts, a defintely critical factor to monitor.