NewAlliance Realigns Securities Portfolio

NewAlliance Bancshares Inc., New Haven, Conn., has announced the completion of a realignment of nearly $800 million of its available-for-sale investment securities, including over $600 million in mortgage-related securities.The $787.3 million portfolio realignment will create a pretax loss of about $28.3 million this year (before consideration of reinvestment income), the company reported. Of that total, $22.6 million is being recorded in the second quarter as a writedown to fair value of securities available for sale. The balance of the loss will be recorded in the third quarter as a loss on sale of securities. The securities sold include $177.6 million of balloon agency mortgage-backed securities and about $435 million of collateralized mortgage obligations. The company said the goal of the realignment is to improve the company's net interest margin and increase earnings. NewAlliance Bancshares is the parent company of NewAlliance Bank, which can be found online at http://www.newalliancebank.com.