Our profitability and strong capital position enabled us to repurchase 165,700 shares of CPF stock during the fourth quarter.
During the 2019 year, we repurchased 797,000 shares or roughly 2.8% of our common stock outstanding as of the end of 2018.
Combined with cash dividends, we have returned $48.5 million in capital to our shareholders this past year.
The Hawaii economy continues to perform well with annual visitor arrivals set to exceed 10 million for the first time ever, continued strength in construction activity and growing importance of military in Hawaii over U.S.'s Indo-Pacific strategy.
Our total assets surpassed the $6 billion mark at year-end and reflected an increase of 3.5% from the previous year-end.
Total loans increased by $82 million or 1.9% over the previous quarter and by $371 million or 9.1% year-over-year.
On a sequential quarter basis, increases were led by $43 million in growth in consumer loans and $41 million in growth in resi mortgages.
On a year-over-year basis, the $371 million loan growth was broad-based in almost all loan categories.
Asset quality continued to be strong with non-performing assets of $1.7 million, which represented 3 basis points of total assets.
Total deposits increased on a sequential quarter basis by 1.6% and year-over-year by 3.5%.
Importantly, core deposits contributed to all that growth with the sequential quarter increase of $103 million or 2.5% led by a 3.7% increase in non-interest bearing demand balances.
The year-over-year increase in core deposits of $243 million or 6.1% was led by a 10.5% increase in savings and money market balances and a 9.3% increase in interest-bearing demand.
Our loan-to-deposit ratio was 87% as of the end of the year.
Net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $14.2 million or $0.50 per diluted share, compared to net income of $14.6 million or $0.51 per diluted share reported last quarter.
Return on average assets in the fourth quarter was 0.95% and return on average equity was 10.70%.
For the full 2019 year, net income was $58.3 million or $2.03 per diluted share, compared to net income of $59.5 million or $2.01 per diluted share in the prior year.
Return on average assets for the 2019 year was 0.99% and return on average equity was 11.36%.
For the full-year 2019, pre-tax pre-provision net revenue totaled $84.2 million, which was a year-over-year increase of $7.1 million or 9.2%.
Net interest income for the fourth quarter increased by $2.3 million to $47.9 million on a sequential quarter basis, and the net interest margin was 3.43%.
The fourth quarter included $1.1 million in non-recurring interest and dividend income, which positively impacted net interest income and net interest margin.
On a normalized basis, the fourth quarter net interest margin was 3.34%, which represented a 4 basis point sequential quarter increase.
During the fourth quarter, we recorded a provision for loan and lease losses of $2.1 million, compared to a provision of $1.5 million recorded in the prior quarter.
Net charge-offs in the fourth quarter totaled $2.3 million, compared to net charge-offs of $1.6 million in the prior quarter.
At December 31, our allowance for loan and lease losses was $48.0 million or 1.08% of outstanding loans and leases.
Fourth quarter other operating income totaled $9.8 million, compared to $10.3 million in the prior quarter.
Other operating expense for the fourth quarter was $36.2 million, compared to $34.9 million in the prior quarter.
The efficiency ratio was 62.81% in the fourth quarter, compared to 62.48% in the prior quarter.
The effective tax rate increased to 26.7% due to return to provision adjustments.
Going forward, we expect that effective tax rate to be in the 24% to 26% range.

Summary:
Net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $14.2 million or $0.50 per diluted share, compared to net income of $14.6 million or $0.51 per diluted share reported last quarter.
Net interest income for the fourth quarter increased by $2.3 million to $47.9 million on a sequential quarter basis, and the net interest margin was 3.43%.