Due-on-sale clauses are an important means of adjusting the rates on the Bank’s fixed-rate mortgage loan portfolio, and the Bank will generally exercise its rights under these clauses if necessary to maintain market yields.
ARMs originated in recent years have interest rates that adjust annually based upon the movement of the one year treasury bill constant maturity index, plus a margin of 2.00% to 2.75%. These loans generally have a maximum interest rate adjustment of 2% per year, with a lifetime maximum interest rate adjustment, measured from the initial interest rate, of 5.5% or 6.0%.
The Bank offers a variety of other loan products including residential single family construction loans to persons who intend to occupy the property upon completion of construction, home equity loans secured by junior mortgages on one-to-four family owner-occupied residences, and short-term fixed-rate consumer loans either unsecured or secured by monetary assets such as bank deposits and marketable securities or personal property. At March 31, 2009 and 2008, the Company’s loan portfolio was comprised of $254.71 million and $240.26 million, respectively, or 55.98% and 53.17%, respectively, of other loan products.
Quantitative measures established by regulations to ensure capital adequacy require the Bank to maintain minimum amounts and ratios (set forth in the table below) of total and Tier I capital (as defined in the regulations) to risk- weighted assets, and of Tier I capital to average assets. Management believes that, as of March 31, 2009, the Bank meets all capital adequacy requirements to which it is subject.
As of March 31, 2009, the Bank met all regulatory requirements for classification as well capitalized under the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action. To be categorized as well capitalized, the Bank must maintain minimum total risk-based, Tier I risk-based and Tier I leverage ratios as set forth in the following table. There are no conditions or events since that date that management believes have changed the Bank’s category.
The following table set forth the actual and required regulatory capital amounts and ratios of the Company and the Bank as of March 31, 2009. (dollars in thousands):
Liquidity
The management of the Company’s liquidity focuses on ensuring that sufficient funds are available to meet loan funding commitments, withdrawals from deposit accounts, the repayment of borrowed funds, and ensuring that the Bank and the Company comply with regulatory liquidity requirements. Liquidity needs of the Bank have historically been met by deposits, investments in federal funds sold, principal and interest payments on loans, and maturities of investment securities.
At March 31, 2009, our portfolio of investment securities included approximately $94.12 million at cost of auction rate securities for which an other than temporary impairment (“OTTI”) charge has not been recorded in our financial statements. Auction rate securities are generally long-term debt instruments that provide liquidity through a Dutch auction process that resets the applicable interest rate at pre-determined calendar intervals, generally every 28 days. As a result of the auction failures beginning in February 2008, the fair value of these securities, presently $45.80 million, may be negatively impacted in the future.
The current uncertainties in the credit markets have negatively impacted our ability to liquidate, if necessary, investments in auction rate securities. We are not certain as to when the liquidity issues relating to these investments will improve; however, we have the ability to hold these available for sale securities to maturity, (predominately 19 years after December 31, 2008) thereby recovering our investment. We may be required to reflect a write-down of certain of our auction rate securities in future periods as a charge to earnings if any of our auction rate securities are deemed to be other-than-temporarily impaired. Such impairment charge would be recorded as other expense and could be material to our results of operations. The auction rate securities in our investment portfolio are currently paying interest with rates ranging from 0.765% to 8.791%.
Approximately $7.0 million principal amount of auction rate securities that became due during the first quarter of 2009 were paid.
Based on our expected operating cash flows, and our other sources of cash, we do not expect the potential lack of liquidity in these investments to affect our capital, liquidity or our ability to execute our current business plan.
For the parent company, Berkshire Bancorp Inc., liquidity means having cash available to fund its operating expenses and to pay stockholder dividends on its preferred and common stock, when and if declared by the Company’s Board of Directors. On March 31, 2009, the Company announced that its Board of Directors had temporarily suspended its previously announced policy of paying a regular cash dividend of $.20 per common share (payable in semi-annual installments), and would not declare or pay a semi-annual dividend in April 2009. We are current as to dividend payments on our preferred stock.
The ability of the Company to meet these obligations, including the payment of dividends on its preferred and common stock, is not currently dependent upon the receipt of dividends from the Bank. At March 31, 2009, the Company had cash of approximately $9.68 million and investment securities with a fair market value of $3.38 million.
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The Bank maintains financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers. These financial instruments, approximately $25.18 million at March 31, 2009, include commitments to extend credit, stand-by letters of credit and loan commitments. The Bank also had interest rate caps with a notional amount of $40.0 million.
At March 31, 2009, the Bank had outstanding commitments of approximately $478.05 million; including $38.39 million of long-term debt, $3.55 million of operating leases, and $436.11 million of time deposits. These commitments include $440.43 million that mature or renew within one year, $16.09 million that mature or renew after one year and within three years, $21.17 million that mature or renew after three years and within five years and $366,000 that mature or renew after five years.
Impact of Inflation and Changing Prices
The Company’s financial statements measure financial position and operating results in terms of historical dollars without considering the changes in the relative purchasing power of money over time due to inflation. The impact of inflation is reflected in the increasing cost of the Company’s operations. The assets and liabilities of the Company are largely monetary. As a result, interest rates have a greater impact on the Company’s performance than do the effects of general levels of inflation. In addition, interest rates do not necessarily move in the direction, or to the same extent, as the price of goods and services. However, in general, high inflation rates are accompanied by higher interest rates, and vice versa.
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ITEM 4 - | CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES |
Disclosure Controls and Procedures.
As of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the Company evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of its “disclosure controls and procedures” as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Disclosure Controls”). This evaluation (“Controls Evaluation”) was done under the supervision and with the participation of the Company’s management, including the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), who is also the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”). Based upon the Controls Evaluation, the CEO/CFO has concluded that the Disclosure Controls are effective in reaching a reasonable level of assurance that information required to be disclosed by the Company is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and that any material information relating to the Company is accumulated and communicated with management, including its principal executive/financial officer to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting.
In accordance with SEC requirements, the CEO/CFO notes that during the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2009, no changes in the Company’s Internal Control (as defined below) have occurred that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect the Company’s Internal Control.
Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls.
The Company’s management, including the CEO/CFO, does not expect that its Disclosure Controls and/or its “internal control over financial reporting”, as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Internal Control”), will prevent all error and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not
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absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs.
Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the control. The design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions; over time, control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.
PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 5. Other Information
On May 7, 2009, in connection with the Bank’s most recent examination by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) the Bank received a Joint Memorandum of Understanding (the “MOU”) from the FDIC and the New York State Banking Department (the “ NYSBD”), which the Bank’s board authorized the bank to execute. The MOU, when effective, will set forth an informal understanding among the Bank, the FDIC and the NYSBD addressing asset quality, loan review, underwriting and administration and certain other concerns identified in the examination. The Bank’s board has appointed a committee comprised of three directors to monitor the Bank's compliance. We do not believe that compliance with the MOU will have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. As set forth in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition And Results of Operations - Capital Adequacy”, the Bank is well capitalized for regulatory purposes as of March 31, 2009.
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Exhibit Number | | Description |
| |
|
| | |
31 | | Certification of Principal Executive and Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
| | |
32 | | Certification of Principal Executive and Financial Officer pursuant to Section 906 Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
| | | | |
| | | BERKSHIRE BANCORP INC. | |
| | | (Registrant) | |
| | | | |
Date: | May 11, 2009 | By: | /s/ Steven Rosenberg | |
| | |
| |
| | | Steven Rosenberg | |
| | | President and Chief | |
| | | Financial Officer | |
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EXHIBIT INDEX
| | |
Exhibit | | |
Number | | Description |
| |
|
| | |
31 | | Certification of Principal Executive and Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
| | |
32 | | Certification of Principal Executive and Financial Officer pursuant to Section 906 Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
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