Increases in net interest income, noninterest income, and noninterest expense were attributable in part to the Central Federal Acquisition, which was completed in May 2020.
We expect, over time, to continue to grow our assets through the origination and occasional purchase of loans, and purchases of investment securities. The primary funding for this asset growth is expected to come from retail deposits, brokered funding, and short- and long-term FHLB borrowings. We have grown and intend to continue to grow deposits by offering desirable deposit products for our current customers and by attracting new depository relationships. We will also continue to explore strategic expansion opportunities in market areas that we believe will be attractive to our business model.
Comparison of Financial Condition at December 31 and June 30, 2020
The Company’s consolidated balance sheet grew modestly in the first six months of fiscal 2021, with total assets of $2.6 billion at December 31, 2020, reflecting an increase of $80.8 million, or 3.2%, as compared to June 30, 2020. Growth primarily reflected increases in cash and cash equivalents and AFS securities, partially offset by a reduction in loans receivable.
Cash equivalents and time deposits were a combined $150.5 million at December 31, 2020, an increase of $95.3 million, or 172.5%, as compared to June 30, 2020, increasing primarily as a result of rapid deposit growth, along with loan repayments. AFS securities were $181.1 million at December 31, 2020, an increase of $4.6 million, or 2.6%, as compared to June 30, 2020.
Loans, net of the ACL, were $2.1 billion at December 31, 2020, a decrease of $20.5 million, or 1.0%, as compared to June 30, 2020. Gross loans decreased by $10.2 million, or 0.5%, during the first six months of the fiscal year, while the ACL at December 31, 2020, reflected an increase of $10.3 million, as compared to the balance of our allowance for loan and lease losses (ALLL) at June 30, 2020. The Company adopted ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses, also known as the current expected credit loss (“CECL”) standard, effective as of July 1, 2020, the beginning of our 2021 fiscal year. Adoption resulted in an increase to the ACL of $8.9 million, related to the transition from the incurred loss model to the CECL ACL model, and an increase of $434,000 related to the transition from PCI to PCD methodology, relative to the ALLL as of June 30, 2020, while provisioning in excess of net charge offs during the first quarter of fiscal 2021 increased the ACL by an additional $1.0 million, as compared to July 1, 2020. Commercial loan balances decreased primarily as a result of forgiveness of PPP loans, which declined by $36.8 million in the fiscal year to date, and by $38.2 million in the quarter ended December 31, 2020, to stand at $95.5 million. Residential real estate loans increased primarily due to growth in 1- to 4-family residential lending, and commercial real estate loans increased primarily due to loans secured by nonresidential owner-occupied property. Management expects to continue to receive significant PPP forgiveness payments in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, although these will be somewhat offset by anticipated funding of “second draw” PPP loans under the program re-opened by the SBA in January 2021. Loans anticipated to fund in the next 90 days stood at $85.1 million at December 31, 2020, as compared to $122.7 million at September 30, 2020, and $72.7 million at December 31, 2019. The pipeline figure at December 31, 2020, did not include second draw PPP loans.
Deposits were $2.3 billion at December 31, 2020, an increase of $80.2 million, or 3.7%, as compared to June 30, 2020. This increase primarily reflected an increase in interest-bearing transaction accounts, noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, savings accounts, and money market deposit accounts, partially offset by a decrease in time deposits. The increase included a $14.8 million increase in public unit funds, and was net of a $7.3 million decrease in brokered deposits. Public unit balances were $320.0 million at December 31, 2020, while brokered time deposits totaled $16.0 million, and brokered money market deposits were $20.0 million. Depositors continue to hold unusually high balances in this uncertain environment. The average loan-to-deposit ratio for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 was 98.5%, as compared to 100.4% for the same period of the prior fiscal year.
FHLB advances were $63.3 million at December 31, 2020, a decrease of $6.7 million, or 9.6%, as compared to June 30, 2020, as the Company’s deposit inflows outpaced loan demand or desired investment portfolio growth. The Company has continued to monitor the availability of the Federal Reserve’s PPP Lending Facility (PPPLF), but has not utilized it to date, given our improved liquidity position and the lack of attractive alternative investment options.