Liquidity
Liquidity reflects a financial institution’s ability to fund assets and meet current and future financial obligations. Liquidity is essential in all banks to meet customer withdrawals, compensate for balance sheet fluctuations, and provide funds for growth. Monitoring and managing both liquidity measurements is critical in developing prudent and effective balance sheet management. Management conducts liquidity stress testing on a quarterly basis to prepare for unexpected adverse scenarios and contemporaneously develops mitigating strategies to reduce losses in the event of an economic downturn.
The Company’s principal source of liquidity and funding is its deposit base. The level of deposits necessary to support the Company’s lending and investment activities is determined through monitoring loan demand. In addition to the liquidity provided by balance sheet cash flows, the Company supplements its liquidity with additional sources such as secured borrowing credit lines with the FHLB and the Reserve Bank. Specifically, the Company has pledged a portion of its commercial real estate and residential real estate loan portfolios to the FHLB and the Reserve Bank. Based on collateral pledged as of September 30, 2024, the total FHLB available borrowing capacity was $373.2 million. Additional borrowing capacity with the Reserve Bank was approximately $101.6 million as of September 30, 2024.
On March 12, 2023, the Reserve Bank made available the BTFP, which enhances the ability of banks to borrow against the par value of certain high-quality, unencumbered investments. The Company refinanced its $54.0 million advance and secured an additional $23.0 million from the BTFP in January 2024. In doing so, the Company obtained lower funding costs relative to wholesale deposits and the prior outstanding BTFP advance. The $77.0 million BTFP advance matures January 2025, bears interest at a fixed rate of 4.76% and can be prepaid in whole or in part, at any time without penalty prior to maturity. On September 3, 2024, the Company paid off the BTFP advance.
On September 3, 2024, the Company took out three fixed interest rate advances with terms of 18, 24, and 36 months. The interest rates on the advances range from 3.92% to 4.15%. At September 30, 2024, the Company had three outstanding FHLB advances totaling $56 million.
Total liquidity, defined as cash and cash equivalents, unencumbered securities at fair value, and available secured borrowing capacity, was $775.5 million at September 30, 2024 compared to $638.9 million at December 31, 2023.
In addition to available secured borrowing capacity, the Company had available federal funds lines with correspondent banks of $110.0 million at September 30, 2024.
Liquidity is a core pillar of the Company’s operations. Conditions may arise in the future that could negatively impact the Company’s future liquidity position resulting in funding mismatches. These include market constraints on the ability to convert assets into cash or accessing sources of funds (i.e., market liquidity) and contingent liquidity events. Changes in economic conditions or exposure to credit, market, operational, legal, and reputation risks also can affect a bank’s liquidity. Management believes that the Company has a strong liquidity position, but any of the factors referenced above could materially impact that in the future.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
The Company enters into certain off-balance sheet arrangements in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers. These off-balance sheet arrangements include commitments to extend credit, standby letters of credit and financial guarantees which would impact the Company’s liquidity and capital resources to the extent customers accept and or use these commitments. These instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amount recognized in the balance sheet. With the exception of these off-balance sheet arrangements, the Company has no off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on the Company’s financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures, or capital resources, that is material to investors. For further information, see Note 7 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 1 of this Form 10-Q, for further discussion of the nature, business purpose and elements of risk involved with these off-balance sheet arrangements.
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Not required for smaller reporting companies.