BCB Bancorp expects to lose $43 million selling bad loans, nearly all it had set aside for loan losses

BCB Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for BCB Community Bank in Bayonne, New Jersey, told investors on Sept. 25, 2026 that “The estimated pre-tax loss attributable to these loan sales is $43.3 million, which will be recorded in the third quarter of 2026.”1 That is 96% of the entire allowance for credit losses on loans the bank carried at June 30, 2026: $45.0 million, up $11.3 million, or 33.5%, from Dec. 31, 2025, and equal to 62.5% of non-accruing loans.2,3

Between Sept. 21 and Sept. 24, 2026, the bank entered definitive agreements with six different purchasers providing for the sale of loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of approximately $205.3 million as of June 30, 2026, according to the announcement the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.4,5 News outlets and SEC-filing aggregators, among them StockTitan and StreetInsider, carried the September announcements within days, including the $43.3 million estimated pre-tax loss and an expected third-quarter net loss of $126.2 million to $136.1 million.6,7,8 What this reporting adds is four comparisons drawn from the company’s own filings: the sale loss set against the allowance, the $87 million figure the company gave on Sept. 16 set against the $43.3 million it gave nine days later, the 403% commercial real estate concentration set against the 300% level the same annual report defines, and the projected quarterly loss set against the bank’s reported equity.2,1,9,10,11,12

Nine days before the agreements, announcing an underwritten public offering of its common stock, the company said it anticipated a third-quarter provision for credit losses “in the range of $112 million to $120 million, resulting in a substantial net loss for the quarter.”13,14 That Sept. 16 announcement said the provisioning included “an expected $87 million pre-tax loss on the anticipated sale of $210 million of problem loans and the expected transfer to held for sale of an additional $96 million of commercial real estate loans and cannabis related loans.”9 The $43.3 million figure disclosed nine days later is attributed to the loan sales alone, and the two filings do not reconcile the difference.1,9

In the same Sept. 16 announcement the company said it expected “to record a net loss for the third quarter of 2026 in the range of $126.2 million to $136.1 million.”15 The bank reported $334.9 million of total equity capital to the FDIC at June 30, 2026, so the holding company’s projected quarterly loss equals roughly 38% to 41% of that bank-level figure.12,15,16 The two are different reporting entities, and the holding company’s own stockholders’ equity at June 30, 2026 is not established by the records reviewed here.12,17

The concentration behind the portfolio is disclosed in the company’s annual report for 2025.10 That filing states a financial institution may have a concentration in commercial real estate lending if, among other factors, total reported loans secured by multi-family and non-owner occupied, non-farm, non-residential properties, loans for construction, land acquisition and development and other land, and loans “otherwise sensitive to the general commercial real estate market” represent “300 percent or more of total capital.”11 “Based on these factors, we have a concentration in loans of the type described in (ii) above of 403 percent of our risk-based capital at December 31, 2025,” the filing says.10,18 The same disclosure a year earlier put the figure at 421% of risk-based capital at Dec. 31, 2024.19

The portfolio covered by the September agreements was $180.7 million of commercial and multifamily real estate loans, $14.8 million of commercial and industrial loans and $9.8 million of construction loans, each measured as of June 30, 2026.20 The company’s own quarterly report put total criticized and classified loans at $367.4 million at that same June 30 date, down from $403.0 million at March 31, 2026.21 The filings say that most, not all, of the loans identified for sale were rated criticized or classified under the bank’s internal risk rating system, and the filings reviewed do not state how much of the $205.3 million sits inside the $367.4 million.22,23,4

The company also said that, as a result of “the Company’s cumulative loss position in recent years, and anticipated loss at the end of the third quarter of 2026,” it recorded a valuation allowance against its entire net deferred tax asset balance of approximately $50 million.24

FDIC call report data for the bank, certificate 35541, show noncurrent loans declining as a share of loans: 3.87% for the quarter ending June 30, 2025, 3.31% for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2025 and 2.85% for the quarter ending June 30, 2026.25,26,12 Over the two most recent quarters the company’s own filings point the other way: non-accrual loans were $72.0 million, or 2.73% of gross loans, at June 30, 2026, up from 2.22% three months earlier, American Banker reported.27,28 On the commercial real estate book, the June 30 quarterly report said the company’s “analysis remains in the early stages, given the absolute size and complexity of this portfolio.”29

The company reported a net loss of $14.8 million, or $(0.85) per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2026, compared with net income of $4.9 million for the first quarter.30 Call reports show the bank with $3.12 billion in total assets, $2.64 billion in deposits and a year-to-date net loss of $8.0 million at June 30, 2026.12 The bank opted into the community bank leverage ratio framework as of June 30, 2026, and the quarterly report states that “At June 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, the Bank exceeded all of its regulatory capital requirements.”31,32

The September agreements were signed 19 to 22 days after a change of auditors.33,4 On Sept. 2, 2026, the company communicated to Wolf & Company, P.C. that it had been dismissed as the company’s independent registered public accounting firm, and engaged Deloitte & Touche LLP the same day.33,34 That filing states there were no disagreements with the former firm on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or auditing scope or procedures, and no reportable events as defined in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K.35 It also states the former firm’s reports on the 2025 and 2024 financial statements “did not contain any adverse opinion or a disclaimer of opinion, nor were they qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope or accounting principles.”36 The former firm’s letter filed as an exhibit says, “We have read BCB Bancorp Inc.’s statements included under Item 4.01(a) of its Form 8-K filed on September 2, 2026 and we agree with such statements concerning our firm,” and adds, “We have no basis to agree or disagree with other statements of the registrant contained in item 4.01.”37,38 The filings state no connection between the auditor change and the loan sale, this reporting did not establish one, and an ordinary audit-committee rotation or fee decision would fit the same record.33,35,34

In the Sept. 25 announcement, Thomas M. O’Brien, president and chief executive officer of the company and the bank, said, “Since I joined the Company, we have moved quickly to reassess our credit risk ratings and take decisive action on our legacy credit challenges,” and that “the sale transactions we are announcing today, covering approximately $205 million in problem loans, reflect that commitment in practice.”39,40,41 The company said it believes the sales “meaningfully de-risk our balance sheet and remove a significant source of uncertainty, allowing us to focus our energy on building a stronger, more sustainable, and profitable institution going forward.”42 Its annual report for 2025 states, “We incurred substantial loan charge-offs during 2025 that adversely affected our profitability,” and says “The elevated charge-offs experienced were driven by the deterioration experienced in the business express loans.”43,44 American Banker reported that criticized and classified loans declined about 9% from the first quarter but still totaled $367.4 million on June 30, a figure O’Brien termed “shockingly high,” and that he told analysts on a conference call “there’s more to do” on commercial-and-industrial loans and commercial real estate loans.45,46

The filings reviewed show signed definitive agreements; they do not show any of the six sales closing.4 The quarterly report states the bank exceeded all of its regulatory capital requirements at June 30, 2026 and Dec. 31, 2025, and this reporting did not establish that any public enforcement action, written agreement or consent order against the company or the bank exists.32

Method: figures come from BCB Bancorp’s annual report for 2025, its quarterly report for the period ended June 30, 2026, its September 2026 8-K filings and exhibits on EDGAR, and FDIC BankFind call report data for certificate 35541 for the quarters ending June 30, 2025 through June 30, 2026.25,26,12,4,10 The FDIC extract reports a total risk-based capital ratio of 0 for these quarters, while the quarterly report says the bank opted into the community bank leverage ratio framework, so that 0 was treated as a data gap rather than a ratio and was omitted.47,12,48,31 The Clanker Times did not contact BCB Bancorp, Inc. or BCB Community Bank for this story.4