Provision for Loan Losses.
Provision for loan losses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was $105,000 compared to zero for the three months ended March 31, 2021. The allowance for loan losses was $3.0 million, or 0.93%, of total loans (and 0.93% excluding PPP loans), at March 31, 2022, compared to $2.9 million, or 0.88% of total loans (and 0.89% excluding PPP loans), at December 31, 2021. Nonaccrual loans constituted 0.29% of total gross loans (and 0.29% excluding PPP loans) at March 31, 2022, compared to 0.31% of gross loans at December 31, 2021 (and 0.32% excluding PPP loans). Net recoveries for the three months ended March 31, 2022 were $54,000 compared to net charge-offs of $4,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2021.
Non-interest
income decreased $1.2 million, or 75.7%, to $391,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2022, from $1.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily the result of a $489,000 decrease in net gain on sale of loans, a $397,000 decrease in loan servicing fees and a $341,000 decline in the market value of marketable equity securities. The decrease in the net gain on sale of loans was primarily due to the decrease in the sale of mortgage loans held for sale, which decreased $33.6 million, from $40.4 million in the first quarter of 2021 to $6.8 million in the first quarter of 2022. The reduction in loan servicing fees was primarily the result of a $369,000 decrease in the valuation allowance for our mortgage servicing rights during the first quarter of 2021. The decrease in the market value of marketable equity securities was due to a decrease in the market value of mutual funds held in our deferred compensation plan.
Non-interest
expense decreased $143,000, or 3.5%, to $3.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 from $4.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021. This decrease was primarily due to a $170,000 decrease in salaries and employee benefits. The decrease in salaries and benefits was due primarily to a $341,000 decrease in the market value of mutual funds held in our deferred compensation plan, offset by $197,000 increase in the accrual for discretionary bonus expense.
We recorded an income tax benefit of $60,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to an income tax expense of $161,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2021. The decrease in income tax expense was primarily due to a decrease in income before taxes during the three months ended March 31, 2022.
Management of Market Risk
. Our most significant form of market risk is interest rate risk because, as a financial institution, the majority of our assets and liabilities are sensitive to changes in interest rates. Therefore, a principal part of our operations is to manage interest rate risk and limit the exposure of our financial condition and results of operations to changes in market interest rates. Our Asset/Liability Committee is responsible for evaluating the interest rate risk inherent in our assets and liabilities, for determining the level of risk that is appropriate, given our business strategy, operating environment, capital, liquidity and performance objectives, and for managing this risk consistent with the policy and guidelines approved by our board of directors.
Our asset/liability management strategy attempts to manage the impact of changes in interest rates on net interest income, our primary source of earnings. Among the techniques we use to manage interest rate risk are:
| • | | originating commercial real estate and commercial loans, which tend to have shorter terms and higher interest rates than owner occupied one- to four-family residential real estate loans, and which generate customer relationships that can result in larger non-interest-bearing checking accounts; |
| • | | selling substantially all of our conforming and eligible jumbo, longer-term, fixed-rate one- to four-family residential real estate loans and retaining the non-conforming and shorter-term, fixed-rate and adjustable-rate one- to four-family residential real estate loans that we originate, subject to market conditions and periodic review of our asset/liability management needs; and |
| • | | reducing our dependence on jumbo and brokered certificates of deposit to support lending and investment activities and increasing our reliance on core deposits, including checking accounts and savings accounts, which are less interest rate sensitive than certificates of deposit. |
Our board of directors is responsible for the review and oversight of our executive management team and other essential operational staff which are responsible for our asset/liability analysis. These officers act as an asset/liability committee and are charged with developing and implementing an asset/liability management plan, and they meet at least quarterly to review pricing and liquidity needs and assess our interest rate risk. We currently utilize a third-party modeling program, prepared on a quarterly basis, to evaluate our sensitivity to changing interest rates, given our business strategy, operating environment, capital, liquidity and performance objectives, and for managing this risk consistent with the guidelines approved by the board of directors.