Chris Bergstrom, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “The Federal Reserve’s rapid increase in the federal funds rate from 0.25% to 5.25% over the past 15 months has resulted in a challenging environment. Short-term yields have exceeded long-term yields causing an inverted yield curve. Inverted yield curves drive up funding costs with comparatively less relief from increased loan yields and exert pressure on net interest margin. As demonstrated by our 15th consecutive quarter of zero non-performing assets, we remain laser focused on credit. Furthermore, we have organically increased both our capital and liquidity positions for the opportunities that we believe are ahead. Our loan pipeline, with credits that meet our stringent criteria, is building for very promising growth in the second half of this year. The restructuring that we executed in July provides additional funding to be redeployed in higher yielding assets. This will benefit our net interest margin and bottom line. In short, we are well-positioned to continue to develop and grow relationships with competitive financial products and services and access to the Bank’s decision makers. Recession or soft landing, we believe the strength of our balance sheet provides flexibility to pursue prudent and profitable growth.”
Balance Sheet, Liquidity and Credit Quality
Total assets were $2.36 billion at June 30, 2023, $2.35 billion at March 31, 2023 and $2.32 billion at June 30, 2022. Asset growth from June 30, 2022 to June 30, 2023 was $47.9 million or 2.1%.
Total loans, net of unearned income, increased $77.1 million or 4.6% to $1.77 billion at June 30, 2023, compared to $1.69 billion at June 30, 2022. The increase in loans was primarily attributable to growth in the residential mortgage and commercial investor real estate loan portfolios.
Total loans, net of unearned income, decreased $1.5 million during the quarter ended June 30, 2023 or 0.1% from $1.77 billion at March 31, 2023. The decrease in loans was primarily attributable to loan pay downs and payoffs exceeding originations in the investor real estate, multifamily, commercial business and commercial owner occupied real estate loan portfolios. The Company’s loan pipeline headed into the third quarter of 2023 is robust and gaining momentum. We are seeing increased lending opportunities that meet our underwriting standards and, in many cases, fewer competitors for those loans as some market participants have scaled back lending efforts.
The carrying value of the Company’s fixed income securities investment portfolio was $422.7 million at June 30, 2023, $438.7 million at March 31, 2023 and $467.4 million at June 30, 2022. Only $11.7 million or 2.8% of our bond portfolio is not covered by the implied guarantee of the United States government or one of its agencies and is largely comprised of high-quality Virginia and Maryland municipal bonds rated AA or better at June 30, 2023. At June 30, 2023, nearly 70% of the fixed income portfolio is invested in amortizing bonds, which provides the Company with a source of steady cash flow. At June 30, 2023, the fixed income portfolio had an estimated weighted average life of 4.4 years. The available-for-sale portfolio comprised approximately 79% of the fixed income securities portfolio and had a weighted average life of 3.6 years at June 30, 2023. The held-to-maturity portfolio comprised approximately 21% of the fixed income securities portfolio and had a weighted average life of 7.1 years at June 30, 2023. The Company did not purchase any fixed income securities during the three or six month periods ended June 30, 2023.
The Company’s balance sheet remains highly liquid. The Company’s liquidity position, defined as the sum of cash, unencumbered securities and available secured borrowing capacity, totaled $839.4 million as of June 30, 2023 compared to $852.6 million as of March 31, 2023 and represented 35.5% and 36.3% of total assets, respectively. The decrease in the Company’s liquidity position during the quarter resulted primarily from pledging securities to obtain the Bank Term Funding Program (“BTFP”) advance, as discussed below. Wholesale deposits, defined as brokered and QwickRate certificates of deposit, decreased $36.7 million or 9.3% from $395.8 million at March 31, 2023 to $359.1 million at June 30, 2023.
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| | Liquidity Trends |
| | | June 30, 2023 | | | March 31, 2023 | | | December 31, 2022 | | | September 30, 2022 | | | June 30, 2022 | |
(Dollars in thousands) | | | Amount | % of Assets | | | Amount | % of Assets | | | Amount | % of Assets | | | Amount | % of Assets | | | Amount | % of Assets | |
Cash | | $ | 129,551 | 5.5 | % | $ | 103,359 | 4.4 | % | $ | 61,599 | 2.6 | % | $ | 74,756 | 3.2 | % | $ | 120,887 | 5.2 | % |
Unencumbered Securities | | | 233,695 | 9.9 | % | | 298,194 | 12.7 | % | | 313,618 | 13.4 | % | | 345,987 | 15.0 | % | | 351,675 | 15.2 | % |
Available Secured Borrowing Capacity | | | 476,144 | 20.1 | % | | 451,008 | 19.2 | % | | 388,257 | 16.5 | % | | 401,828 | 17.4 | % | | 402,840 | 17.4 | % |
Total Liquidity | | $ | 839,390 | 35.5 | % | $ | 852,561 | 36.3 | % | $ | 763,474 | 32.5 | % | $ | 822,571 | 35.6 | % | $ | 875,402 | 37.8 | % |
On May 15, 2023, the Company obtained a $54.0 million advance from the Federal Reserve Bank’s BTFP to secure lower funding costs relative to wholesale deposits. The BTFP advance has a term of one year and bears interest at a fixed rate of 4.80%.