Butterfield Bank spent more than $8.25 million buying back its own shares during December.

The bank revealed the buybacks in a filing with the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

Butterfield said it repurchased 254,212 shares for treasury at an average price of $32.48 per share.

December’s buybacks represent more than one tenth of Butterfield’s new 2.5 million-share repurchase programme, announced on December 6 last year, as the bank took advantage of a dip in its share price late in the year.

Previously, the bank had bought back its full allocation of one million shares in the prior repurchase programme, which had started on April 1 last year.

Buying back shares helps to boost the share value and earnings per share by reducing the total number of shares outstanding.