Past Due Loans
Past due loans still accruing interest totaled $30.0 million or 0.21% of total loans held for investment at December 31, 2022, compared to $29.0 million or 0.21% of total loans held for investment at September 30, 2022, and $29.9 million or 0.23% of total loans held for investment at December 31, 2021. Of the total past due loans still accruing interest, $7.5 million or 0.05% of total loans held for investment were loans past due 90 days or more at December 31, 2022, compared to $7.4 million or 0.05% of total loans held for investment at September 30, 2022, and $9.1 million or 0.07% of total loans held for investment at December 31, 2021.
Allowance for Credit Losses
At December 31, 2022, the ACL was $124.4 million and included an allowance for loan and lease losses (“ALLL”) of $110.8 million and a reserve for unfunded commitments (“RUC”) of $13.6 million. The ACL at December 31, 2022 increased $5.4 million from September 30, 2022 due to increased uncertainty in the macroeconomic outlook and the impact of loan growth in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The ACL as a percentage of total loans was 0.86% at December 31, 2022, consistent with September 30, 2022. The ALLL as a percentage of total loans was 0.77% at December 31, 2022, compared to 0.78% at September 30, 2022.
Net Charge-offs
Net charge-offs were $810,000 or 0.02% of total average loans on an annualized basis for the quarter ended December 31, 2022, compared to $587,000 or 0.02% (annualized) for the third quarter of 2022, and $511,000 or 0.02% (annualized) for the fourth quarter of 2021. On a year-to-date basis through December 31, 2022, net charge-offs totaled $2.3 million or 0.02% of total average loans.
Provision for Credit Losses
For the quarter ended December 31, 2022, the Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $6.3 million, compared to a provision for credit losses of $6.4 million in the previous quarter, and a negative provision for credit losses of $1.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. The provision for credit losses for the fourth quarter of 2022 reflected a provision of $3.6 million for loan losses and a $2.7 million provision for unfunded commitments.
NONINTEREST INCOME
Noninterest income decreased $1.1 million to $24.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 from $25.6 million in the prior quarter primarily due to declines in equity method investment income, partially offset by increases in loan syndication, Small Business Administration (“SBA”) 7a, and foreign exchange revenues, each included within other operating income. In addition, mortgage banking income decreased $1.0 million from the prior quarter due to lower mortgage origination volumes and gain on sale margins, and bank owned life insurance income decreased $796,000, reflecting the impact of the prior quarter’s mortality benefit. These noninterest income category decreases were partially offset by increases in loan-related interest rate swap fees of $1.6 million due to an increase in average deal size among swaps executed in the current quarter.
NONINTEREST EXPENSE
Noninterest expense for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 decreased to $99.8 million from $99.9 million in the prior quarter. Notable noninterest expense activity in the fourth quarter of 2022 included a gain related to the sale and leaseback of an office building, refunds of prior period FDIC assessment expenses, costs related to the closure of five branches expected to close in the first quarter of 2023 and other restructuring expenses, the write-down of obsolete software, increased variable incentive compensation and profit-sharing expenses, as well as professional services increases related to strategic projects.
INCOME TAXES
The effective tax rate for the three months ended December 31, 2022 was 14.3%, compared to 17.0% for the three months ended September 30, 2022. The decrease in the effective tax rate reflects the impact of changes in the proportion of tax-exempt income to pre-tax income.