Investment Securities
Total investment securities were $5.81 billion at December 31, 2022, a decrease of $70.2 million, or 1.19% from September 30, 2022, and an increase of $699.6 million, or 13.69%, from $5.11 billion at December 31, 2021.
At December 31, 2022, investment securities held-to-maturity (“HTM”) totaled $2.55 billion, a decrease of $3.6 million, or 0.14% from September 30, 2022, and an increase of $628.3 million, or 32.62%, from December 31, 2021.
At December 31, 2022, investment securities available-for-sale (“AFS”) totaled $3.26 billion, inclusive of a pre-tax net unrealized loss of $500.1 million. AFS securities decreased by $66.6 million, or 2.01% from September 30, 2022 and increased by $71.3 million, or 2.24%, from $3.18 billion at December 31, 2021.
Combined, the AFS and HTM investments in mortgage backed securities (“MBS”) and collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMO”) totaled $4.76 billion or approximately 82% of the total investment securities at December 31, 2022. Virtually all of our MBS and CMO are issued or guaranteed by government or government sponsored enterprises, which have the implied guarantee of the U.S. Government. In addition, we had $548.8 million of Government Agency securities (HTM) at December 31, 2022, that represent approximately 9% of the total investment securities.
Our combined AFS and HTM municipal securities totaled $497.1 million as of December 31, 2022, or 8.6% of our total investment portfolio. These securities are located in 35 states. Our largest concentrations of holdings by state, as a percentage of total municipal bonds, are located in Texas at 15.87%, Minnesota at 11.27%, California at 9.14%, Ohio at 6.32%, Massachusetts at 6.27%, and Washington at 5.81%.
Loans
Total loans and leases, at amortized cost, of $9.08 billion at December 31, 2022 increased by $305.3 million, or 3.48%, from September 30, 2022. After adjusting for seasonality of dairy and livestock and PPP loans, our core loans grew by $189.7 million, or approximately 9% annualized from the end of the third quarter. The $305.3 million increase in total loans quarter-over-quarter included $123.8 million in dairy & livestock loans, $199.7 million in commercial real estate loans, $11.8 million in construction loans, partially offset by decreases of $13.3 million in agribusiness loans, $8.3 million in PPP loans, $5.8 million in SBA loans ,and $3.5 million in commercial and industrial loans .
Total loans and leases increased by $1.19 billion, or 15.11%, from December 31, 2021. The increase in total loans included $774.5 million of loans acquired from Suncrest in the first quarter of 2022. After adjusting for acquired loans and forgiveness of PPP loans, our core loans grew by $634.3 million, or 8.24% from December 31, 2021. The $634.3 million core loan growth included $514.4 million in commercial real estate loans, $51.2 million in commercial and industrial loans, $31.9 million in dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans, $25.1 million in SFR mortgage loans, $17.9 million in municipal lease financings, and $9.3 million in construction loans, partially offset by a decrease of $17.8 million in SBA loans. PPP loans decreased by $217.1 million, resulting in a remaining balance of $9.1 million at December 31, 2022.
Asset Quality
During the fourth quarter of 2022, we experienced credit charge-offs of $127,000 and total recoveries of $143,000, resulting in net recoveries of $16,000. The allowance for credit losses (“ACL”) totaled $85.1 million at December 31, 2022, compared to $82.6 million at September 30, 2022 and $65.0 million at December 31, 2021. The ACL was increased by $20.1 million in 2022, including an $8.6 million increase on January 7 for the acquired Suncrest PCD loans, $10.6 million in provision for credit losses for non-PCD loans, and $893,000 in net loan recoveries. At December 31, 2022, ACL as a percentage of total loans and leases outstanding was 0.94%. This compares to 0.94% and 0.82% at September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.
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