Strong Loan and Deposit Growth
Total loans grew $129.5 million (excluding loans held for sale), or 6.1%, during the previous twelve months ended June 30, 2018 and $13.8 million compared to the previous quarter. At June 30, 2019, total net loans (excluding loans held for sale) aggregated $2.23 billion.
Home Savings continues to produce excellent results over all lending categories. The increase in total loans for the period was driven by an increase in commercial loans, which grew $73.5 million, or 8.2%, over the last twelve months, remaining flat compared to the prior quarter. This was as expected due to paydowns in the commercial real estate portfolio. Mortgage loans (excluding loans held for sale and permanent construction loans) increased $54.1 million, or 6.1%, over the previous twelve months and increased $8.1 million, during the past three months.
Average quarterly customer deposits (which exclude brokered certificates of deposit) increased 7.7% from June 30, 2018 and 5.7% from March 31, 2019. The growth in average customer deposits was driven by increases in averagenon-interest bearing accounts of 7.6% compared to the second quarter of 2018 and 1.2% over the past three months. Secondly, increases occurred in money market accounts of 19.8% compared to the second quarter of 2018 and 17.4% over the last three months. Finally, average business deposits continue to rise, increasing 29.6% compared to the second quarter of 2018 and 8.4% over the past three months.
Net Interest Income and Margin
Net interest income totaled $22.1 million on a fully taxable equivalent (FTE) basis for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 compared to $21.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2018, or an increase of 3.4%. This increase is the result of growth in average earning assets of 4.3% offset by a decline in purchase accounting adjustments.
The net interest margin on an FTE basis was 3.33% for the second quarter of 2019 compared to 3.36% in the second quarter of 2018. The decline was primarily due to lower purchase accounting adjustments. Excluding the effects of purchase accounting adjustments, the net interest margin was 3.29% in the second quarter of 2019 compared to 3.28% in the second quarter of 2018.
The net interest margin on a linked quarter basis declined 5 basis points from 3.38% in the first quarter of 2019 to 3.33% in the second quarter of 2019. Two basis points of this decline was the result of lower purchase accounting adjustments. One basis point is due to increased funding costs related to treasury share repurchases. The remaining difference can be attributed to a challenging interest rate environment with an inverted treasury curve along with falling treasury rates and LIBOR.
Asset Quality Remains Strong
Asset quality remained strong during the second quarter. At June 30, 2019, nonperforming loans aggregated $12.9 million compared to $10.8 million at June 30, 2018 and $7.1 million at the end of the previous quarter. The Company’s level of nonperforming loans moved up at the end of the quarter, primarily as a result of a single credit. A substantial portion of this credit was paid off in July, which should reduce nonperforming loans to levels seen in recent quarters. The allowance for loan losses at the end of the period, as a percent of nonperforming loans was 159.1%. Net recoveries for the quarter were $87,000, or two basis points. For the six months ended June 30, 2019, net recoveries totaled $29,000. The allowance for loan losses as a percent of loans totaled 0.91% at June 30, 2019 compared to 1.01% at June 30, 2018.
The Company recognized a negative provision for loan losses of $51,000 for the second quarter of 2019, compared to a negative provision of $138,000 in the second quarter of 2018. As of June 30, 2019 the allowance for loan losses to total loans amounted to 0.91% with no change from the prior quarter. Continued asset quality combined with net recoveries for the period resulted in the negative provision for the quarter.
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