The Company adopted ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (CECL), as of January 1, 2023. Details of the day one accounting adjustments were described in the prior quarterly press releases this year.
The Company recognized an increased provision for credit losses and higher net loan charge-offs in the fourth quarter of 2023. The Company recorded a $6.0 million provision for credit losses in the fourth quarter of 2023 after recognizing a $275,000 provision expense in the fourth quarter of 2022. For the full year of 2023, the Company recorded a $7.4 million provision for credit losses after recognizing a $50,000 provision expense for the full year of 2022. The Company recognized net loan charge-offs of approximately $3.3 million during the fourth quarter and $3.5 million, or 0.35% of total average loans, for the full year of 2023 compared to net loan charge-offs of $1.7 million, or 0.17% of total average loans, for the 2022 year.
Rite Aid, a national tenant in several commercial real estate properties financed by the Bank, declared bankruptcy in the fourth quarter of 2023. As a result of this action, the Bank updated its comprehensive evaluation of its exposure to Rite Aid throughout its loan portfolio as it received information on leases that Rite Aid either rejected or modified. This evaluation required the recognition of $2 million in charge-offs related to two CRE loans in which Rite Aid was the sole tenant. Note that these loans had been on the Company’s books since 2009 and the Company was able to completely exit these two credits with no ongoing exposure to Rite Aid. There was also a partial charge-off of $804,000 on another CRE loan for a mixed-use retail/office property that has Rite Aid as the major tenant. The remaining balance of this loan moved into non-accrual status which was the main reason for non-performing assets increasing by $6.2 million since the end of the third quarter of 2023. Non-performing assets amounted to $12.4 million, or 1.19% of total loans, at December 31, 2023. Also contributing to the significant increase in the provision for credit losses in the fourth quarter of 2023 was an unfavorable adjustment to the historical loss factor used to calculate the allowance for credit losses in accordance with CECL requirements and growth in the loan portfolio.
As a result of this action, the Company built its allowance for credit losses and maintained solid coverage of both total loans and non-performing assets at December 31, 2023 as indicated by the allowance for credit losses coverage ratio of non-performing assets at 121% while the allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans increased to 1.45%. This compares to allowance coverage of non-performing assets of 207%, and total loans of 1.08% as of December 31, 2022. Finally, also included in full year 2023 provision expense was the recognition of a $926,000 loss in the first quarter of 2023 from a subordinated debt investment with Signature Bank which was closed by banking regulators on March 12, 2023.
Total non-interest income in the fourth quarter of 2023 decreased by $1.1 million, or 29.0%, from the prior year's fourth quarter and decreased by $303,000, or 1.8%, for the full year of 2023 when compared to the full year of 2022. The Company recognized a $922,000 loss on investment securities during the fourth quarter of 2023 after selling $16.8 million of available for sale (AFS) investment securities which included both government agency obligations and municipal bonds. The sold securities had an average yield of 3.1% and an effective duration of 3.3 years. The proceeds from this sale were used to purchase new government agency mortgage-backed securities that have a yield of 5.2% and an effective duration of 3.6 years. The Company expects to recover this loss in 3.7 years and to generate additional interest income from this transaction of approximately $325,000 in 2024. Wealth management fees improved by $228,000, or 8.6%, for the fourth quarter of 2023, but are $354,000, or 3.0%, lower for the full year compared to 2022. The fourth quarter improvement resulted from the addition of several new large accounts within the Financial Services division as well as the market value of wealth management assets increasing. However, full year results for wealth management fees reflected the unfavorable market conditions for both equity securities and particularly bonds which existed for the majority of the 2023 year that more than offset the positive impact of new customer business growth. Overall, the fair market value of wealth management assets totaled $2.5 billion at December 31, 2023. Other income is $403,000, or 70.1%, lower for the fourth quarter of 2023 and $765,000, or 30.0%, lower for the full year due primarily to the recognition of an unfavorable adjustment to the fair market value of an interest rate swap related risk participation agreement as well as the recognition of a credit valuation adjustment to the market value of the interest rate swap contracts that the Company executed to accommodate the needs of certain borrowers while managing our interest rate risk position. The Company did benefit in 2023 from AmeriServ Financial Bank selling all 7,859 shares of the Class B common stock of Visa Inc. during the first quarter of the year, resulting in a $1.7 million gain. The Company elected to capture this gain in 2023 due to volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets.
Total non-interest expense in the fourth quarter of 2023 decreased by $555,000, or 4.4%, when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 but increased by $1.4 million, or 2.8%, for the full year of 2023 when compared to the full year of 2022. The rise in total non-interest expense for the full year is primarily due to increased legal and professional fees related to the defense against an activist investor and a proxy contest relating to our 2023 annual meeting. These costs amounted to $2.2 million for the full year of 2023. As expected, costs related to the activist shareholder issue continued to decline for a second consecutive quarter, decreasing by $125,000 between the third and fourth quarters of 2023. However, given continued activity by the activist investor, the Company cannot estimate, at this time, costs related to this issue in 2024. Salaries & employee benefits increased by $314,000, or 4.5%, in the fourth quarter of 2023 and $1.1 million, or 4.0%, for the full year of 2023. The increase is attributable to management restructuring costs within the wealth management division, annual employee merit increases, a greater level of full-time equivalent employees (FTE) as the Company filled certain open positions that were vacant last year, and the impact that inflationary pressures are having on the cost of new hires. Partially offsetting the higher level of salaries were lower incentive compensation for the full year and reduced pension expense in both time periods as there are fewer employees in the defined benefit pension plan due to