** Shares of regional lender Washington Trust fall 2.2% to $35.50 premarket after overnight follow-on offering priced

** WASH sold ~1.9 mln shares in an upsized stock offering at $34/shr for gross proceeds of about $65 mln

** Offering boosted from initial size of $55 mln, priced at a 6.3% discount to stock's last close

** BofA Securities was the sole book-running manager for the offering

** Regional lenders have increasingly tapped equity capital markets in recent weeks, cashing in on a rally in bank stocks fueled by President-elect Donald Trump's victory

** Coastal Financial , Dime Community Bancshares

, Valley National Bancorp and Associated Banc-Corp among those who have raised equity recently

** WASH will use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes including balance sheet optimization strategies

** Such strategies may involve the bank selling lower-yielding loans and debt securities, repaying wholesale funding balances, and purchasing new bonds - WASH

** As of last close, WASH up 12.1% YTD

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)

((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))