ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investments in the Company’s common stock involves risks. In addition to the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the information addressed above under “Important Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” investors in the Company’s common stock should carefully consider the risk factors discussed below. The following discussion highlights the risks that we believe are material to the Company, but the following discussion does not necessarily include all risks that we may face, and an investor in the Company’s common stock should not interpret the disclosure of a risk in the following discussion to state or imply that the risk has not already materialized. These factors could materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, and capital position, and could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from its historical results or the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, in which case, the trading price of the Company’s common stock could decline.
Risks Related to Credit
Nonperforming assets can take significant time to resolve and may adversely affect the Company’s results of operations and financial condition, and could result in further losses in the future.
As of December 31, 2023, our nonperforming loans totaled $309.5 million, or 8.83%, of the Company’s loan portfolio. The Company’s policy is to place loans in nonaccrual status when collection of interest or principal is doubtful, or generally when interest or principal payments are 90 days or more past due based on contractual terms. While the Company generally seeks to reduce or resolve problem assets through, among other methods, loan workouts, restructurings, or sales of the loans or underlying collateral, decreases in the value of the underlying collateral, decreases in the respective borrowers’ financial condition, profitability, or operating performance, or efforts by the respective borrowers’ to delay or avoid legal processes may inhibit such reduction or resolution efforts which, in turn, could adversely impact the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
The Company’s nonperforming assets adversely affect its business, financial condition and results of operations in various ways. The Company does not record interest income on nonaccrual loans or OREO; thus nonperforming assets adversely affect the Company’s net income and returns on assets and equity, increase the Company’s loan administration costs and adversely affects the Company’s results of operations and efficiency ratio. The resolution of nonperforming assets requires significant time commitments from management which can adversely impact the Company’s and Bank’s other strategic and operational priorities. If the Bank takes collateral in foreclosure and via a similar proceeding, the Bank is required to mark the collateral to its then-fair market value, which may result in a loss, and the Bank will incur legal and other expenses, which may be significant, in connection with the foreclosure and sale process. Nonperforming loans and OREO can also increase the Company’s and the Bank’s risk profile and the level of regulatory capital that their respective banking regulators believe is appropriate. Nonperforming loans and OREO also can adversely impact the Company’s liquidity available with secondary liquidity sources, as the Bank is not able to pledge nonperforming loans and OREO as collateral for borrowings from these sources. FDIC expense has increased significantly due to the deterioration in asset quality as a direct result of one large nonperforming loan relationship, which is a component used to determine the assessment.
During the second quarter of 2023, the Company placed in nonaccrual status certain commercial loans in the Other segment of the Company’s loan portfolio, all relating to the Bank’s largest lending relationship, that have an aggregate principal amount of $301.9 million. Because the Company placed these loans on nonaccrual status, the Company was unable to accrue approximately $30.0 million of interest income related to these loans as of December 31, 2023.
The Company’s level of credit risk is elevated due to relationship exposure to the Company’s largest lending relationship.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s largest lending relationship operates in the hospitality, agriculture and energy sectors and had loans outstanding with an aggregate principal amount of $301.9 million. All such loans are classified in the Other segment of the Company’s loan portfolio. During the second quarter of 2023, the Company placed these loans on nonaccrual status due to loan maturities and failure to pay in full. This lending relationship comprises 96.8% of the Company’s nonperforming assets and 97.5% of the Company’s nonperforming loans and 8.6% of total portfolio loans at December 31, 2023.
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The Company has initiated collection processes with respect to such loans and intends to explore all alternatives for repayment or recovery. Although the Company believes it is well secured based on the net carrying value of the credit relationship and appropriately reserved for potential losses with respect to all such loans based on information currently available, we cannot give any assurance as to the timing or amount of future payments or collections on such loans or that the Company will ultimately collect all amounts contractually due under the terms of such loans.
Further deterioration of this lending relationship, including adverse changes in the financial condition of the respective borrowers or guarantors, potential claims by other creditors of the respective borrowers, further litigation with the respective borrowers or guarantors or adverse changes in the value of collateral that secures this lending relationship, could require the Company to increase its allowance for loan losses or result in significant losses to the Company, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
A large percentage of the Company’s commercial loans are secured by real estate, and an adverse change in the real estate market or in economic conditions more generally may result in losses and adversely affect our profitability.
Approximately 92.4% of the Company’s commercial loan portfolio as of December 31, 2023, was comprised of loans secured by real estate. An adverse change in the economy affecting occupancy and/or rental rates in the investment real estate market areas we serve could increase the likelihood of defaults. Real estate collateral securing the Company's loans are a secondary source of repayment in the event of unremedied defaults. The value of the Company's collateral could be impaired by changes in demand, rental rates and capitalization rates and could be insufficient to recover outstanding principal and interest. As a result, the Company’s profitability and financial condition could be negatively impacted by an adverse change in the real estate market.
The Company’s CRE loan portfolio is concentrated predominantly in North Carolina and Virginia, within the retail, multifamily, hospitality, warehouse and office metrics. As a result of this concentration of the company’s loan portfolio, it may be more sensitive, as compared to more diversified institutions, to future disruptions in and deterioration of this market.
The Company relies on independent appraisals to determine the value of the real estate which secures a significant portion of our loans, and the values indicated by such appraisals may not be realizable if foreclosure on such loans is forced.
A significant portion of the Company’s loan portfolio consists of loans secured by real estate. We rely on independent appraisers to provide professional opinions of the value of such real estate. Appraisals are only estimates of value and the independent appraisers may make mistakes of fact or judgment that adversely affect the reliability of their appraisals. In addition, events occurring after the initial appraisal may cause the value of the real estate to increase or decrease. As a result of any of these factors, the real estate securing some of the loans may be more or less valuable than anticipated at the time the loans were made. If a default occurs on a loan secured by real estate that is less valuable than originally estimated, the Company may not be able to recover the outstanding balance of the loan.
Appraisal valuations can be impacted by changes in the equilibrium between supply and demand, changes in occupancy, lease rates and capitalization rates. Appraisals can also be impacted by the information available to the appraiser, including age of industry, market or borrower information, by access to property that is the subject of the appraisal, and by changing economic, industry or market conditions. The bank updates appraisals in connection with defined extensions of credit, which includes but is not limited to requests for additional loan funding, material changes to the loan’s amortization or material extensions of the maturity date. Additionally, the bank will generally update appraisals when the loan is considered collateral dependent and is either subject to Individually Evaluated Loan status or prior to the completion of a foreclosure initiating a collection process.
The Company’s level of credit risk is elevated due to the concentration of commercial real estate loans and commercial real estate construction loans in its portfolio.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s exposure to loans secured by commercial purpose real estate, including investment real estate loans related to hospitality, retail and multifamily apartments (but excluding construction) equated to $1.8 billion, or 51.2% of its total loan portfolio. The average balance of these loans are generally larger and these loans generally involve a more complex degree of financial and credit risk than loans secured by residential real estate. Repayment of these loans is dependent on the success of the borrower’s underlying business and/or the borrower’s ability to generate leases in order to receive sufficient cash flow to service its debts. The financial and credit risk associated with these loans is a result of several
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factors, including, but not limited to, macroeconomic conditions affecting supply, demand and property valuations, as well as larger balances in a smaller population of loans.
The Company’s exposure to hospitality at December 31, 2023 equated to approximately $341.1 million, or 9.7% of its total loan portfolio. These were mostly loans secured by upscale or top tier flagged hotels, which have historically exhibited low leverage and strong operating cash flows.
The Company’s exposure to commercial real estate construction loans at December 31, 2023 equated to approximately $500.0 million, or 14.3% of total portfolio loans. Construction loans are inherently risky. These risks include, but are not limited to, potential adverse changes in material costs resulting in cost overruns, and the potential that the general contractors develop financial stress and are unable to complete projects and the speculative nature of lease up risk. A severe downturn in real estate could affect demand for leases, capitalization rates and property valuations, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Our allowance for credit losses may be insufficient.
The measure of our allowance for credit losses is dependent on the interpretation and application of the Current Expected Credit Losses (“CECL”) methodology, which the Company adopted effective January 1, 2021, and which replaced the incurred loss methodology that was used by the Company and the Bank under GAAP prior to that date. The CECL methodology reflects expected credit losses and requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to inform credit loss estimates. Accordingly, the implementation of the CECL model changed the Company’s current method of providing allowance for credit losses (“ACL”) and resulted in material changes in the Company’s accounting for credit losses on financial instruments. The CECL model may create more volatility in the Company’s level of ACL, which, if materially increased, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We have and will continue to implement further enhancements or changes to our methodology, models and the underlying assumptions, estimates and assessments, as needed. If the assumptions or estimates we use in adopting the new standard are incorrect or we need to change our underlying assumptions and estimates, there may be a material adverse impact on our results of operation and financial condition. We maintain an ACL at a level we believe is adequate to absorb expected losses in our loan portfolio as of the corresponding balance sheet date. The process to determine the ACL uses models and assumptions that require us to make difficult and complex judgments that are often interrelated, including how borrowers will perform in changing economic and market conditions. Also, we may fail to accurately identify the appropriate economic indicators, to accurately estimate the timing of future changes in economic or market conditions, or to estimate accurately the impacts of future changes in economic or market conditions on our borrowers. Any of these failures could significantly impact the accuracy of our loss forecasts and allowance estimates and the sufficiency of our ACL.
If the models, estimates, and assumptions we use to establish reserves or the judgments we make in extending credit to our borrowers prove inaccurate in predicting future events, we may suffer unexpected losses. There is no guarantee that our ACL will be sufficient to address credit losses, particularly if the economic outlook deteriorates significantly and quickly, or if a specific segment of the Company’s loan or borrower portfolio is adversely impacted by changing market or other conditions. In such an event, we may need to increase our ACL, which would result in provisions for credit losses that would reduce our earnings. Management evaluates the appropriateness of the ACL for the “Other” segment through the projected discounted cash flow analysis with various assumptions and multiple scenarios. It is difficult to predict the specific resolution of this relationship. As a result, the reserve analysis employs a number of potential outcomes, which are weighted based on probabilities as determined by management based on current information available to us. Additionally, to the extent that credit losses are worse than expected, which could be caused by persistent inflation or an economic recession that negatively impacts borrowers, we may need to increase our provision for loan losses.
Our real estate lending business can result in increased costs associated with Other Real Estate Owned (“OREO”).
Because we originate loans secured by real estate, we may have to foreclose on the collateral property to protect our investment and may thereafter own and operate such property, in which case we are exposed to the risks inherent in the ownership of real estate. We use methods for valuing collateral for individually evaluated loans and OREO that are in compliance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 310 Receivables. The methods require the use of assumptions that are subject to change based on events impacting real estate values. The amount that we may realize after a default is dependent upon factors outside of our control, including, but not limited to, general or local economic conditions, environmental cleanup
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liability, neighborhood values, interest rates, real estate tax rates, operating expenses of the mortgaged properties, and supply of and demand for properties. Certain expenditures associated with the ownership of income producing real estate, principally real estate taxes and maintenance costs, may adversely affect the net cash flows generated by the real estate. Therefore, the cost of operating income-producing real property may exceed the rental income earned from such property, and we may have to advance funds to protect our investment or we may be required to dispose of the real property at a loss.
Risks Related to Our Operations, Cybersecurity and Technology
A failure in or breach of our operational or security systems or infrastructure, or those of third parties, could disrupt the Company’s businesses, and adversely impact our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, as well as cause reputational harm.
The Company’s operational and security systems, infrastructure, including our computer systems, data management, and internal processes, as well as those of third parties, are integral to our business. We rely on our associates and third parties in our day-to-day and ongoing operations, who may, as a result of human error, misconduct or malfeasance, or failure or breach of third-party systems or infrastructure, expose us to risk. We have taken measures to implement backup systems and other safeguards to support our operations, but our ability to conduct business may be adversely affected by any significant disruptions to us or to third parties with whom we interact. In addition, our ability to implement backup systems and other safeguards with respect to third-party systems is more limited than with our own systems.
The Company handles a substantial volume of customer and other financial transactions every day. Our financial, accounting, data processing, check processing, electronic funds transfer, loan processing, online and mobile banking, backup or other operating or security systems and infrastructure may fail to operate properly or become disabled or damaged as a result of a number of factors including events that are wholly or partially beyond our control. This could adversely affect our ability to process these transactions or provide these services. There could be sudden increases in customer transaction volume, electrical, telecommunications or other major physical infrastructure outages, natural disasters, events arising from local or larger scale political or social matters, including terrorist acts, and cyber-attacks. We continuously update these systems to support our operations and growth. This updating entails significant costs and creates risk associated with implementing new systems and integrating them with existing ones. Operational risk exposures could adversely impact our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, and cause reputational harm.
A cyber-attack, information or security breach, or a technology failure of ours or of a third-party could adversely affect the Company’s ability to conduct business or manage exposure to risk, resulting in the disclosure or misuse of confidential or proprietary information, increase costs to maintain and update our operational systems, security systems, and infrastructure, and adversely impact results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, as well as cause reputation harm.
The Company’s business is highly dependent on the security and efficacy of our infrastructure, computer and data management systems, as well as those of third parties with whom we interact and rely upon. Cyber security risks for financial institutions have significantly increased in recent years in part because of the proliferation of new technologies, the use of the internet and telecommunications technologies to conduct financial transactions, and the increased sophistication and activities of organized crime, hackers, terrorists and other external parties, including foreign state actors. Our operations rely on the secure processing, transmission, storage and retrieval of confidential, proprietary and other information in our computer and data management systems and networks, and in the computer and data management systems and networks of third parties. We rely on digital technologies, computer, database and email systems, software, and networks to conduct our operations. In addition, to access our network, products and services, our customers and third parties may use personal mobile devices or computing devices that are outside of our network environment.
Financial services institutions have been subject to, and are likely to continue to be the target of, cyber-attacks, including computer viruses, malicious or destructive code, phishing attacks, denial of service or other security breaches that could result in the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, loss or destruction of confidential, proprietary and other information of the institution, its associates or customers or of third parties, or otherwise materially disrupt network access or business operations. For example, denial of service attacks have been launched against a number of large financial institutions and several large retailers have disclosed substantial cyber security breaches affecting debit and credit card accounts of their customers. We have not experienced material cyber security incidents in the past, but there is no assurance that we will not experience an attack in the future. Technology failures, cyber-attacks or other information or security breaches can cause
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material losses or other material consequences, and even with all reasonable security efforts, not every system or network breach can be prevented or even detected. Furthermore, because some of our employees are working remotely from their homes, there is an increased risk of disruption to our operations because our employees’ residential networks and infrastructure may not be as secure as our office environment.
In addition to external threats, insider threats also represent a risk to us. Insiders, having legitimate access to our systems and the information contained in them, have the opportunity to make inappropriate use of the systems and information. We have policies, procedures and controls in place designed to prevent or limit this risk, but we cannot guarantee that such policies, procedures and controls fully mitigate this risk.
As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify and enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities or incidents. Any of these matters could result in loss of customers and business opportunities, significant disruption to our operations and business, misappropriation or destruction of our confidential information and/or that of our customers, damage to computers or systems of our customers and/or third parties, violation of applicable privacy laws and other laws, litigation, costs associated with customer notification and credit monitoring services, increased insurance premiums, regulatory fines, penalties or intervention, loss of confidence in our security measures, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensatory costs, and additional compliance costs. In addition, any of the matters described above could adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
The Company relies on third-party providers and other suppliers for a number of services that are important to our business. An interruption or cessation of an important service by any third-party could have a material adverse effect on our business.
The Company is dependent for the majority of our technology, including our core operating system, on third-party providers. If these companies were to discontinue providing services to us, we may experience significant disruptions to our business. In addition, each of these third parties faces the risk of a cyber-attack, information breach or loss, or technology failure and there is no assurance that they have not or will not experience a system or network breach. If any of our third-party service providers experience such difficulties, or if there is any other disruption in our relationships with them, we may be required to find alternative sources of such services, which may not be on comparable or commercially reasonable terms. We are dependent on these third-party providers securing their information systems, over which we have no control, and any failure to maintain performance, reliability and security of these systems could have a significant adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations. A breach of our third-party providers’ information systems could adversely affect our ability to process transactions, service our clients or manage our exposure to risk and could result in the disclosure of sensitive, personal customer information, which could have a material adverse impact on our business through damage to our reputation, loss of customer business, remedial costs, additional regulatory scrutiny or exposure to civil litigation and possible financial liability. Assurance cannot be provided that we could negotiate terms with alternative service sources that are as favorable or could obtain services with similar functionality as found in our existing systems without the need to expend substantial resources, if at all, thereby resulting in a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.
The Company is dependent on its management team, and the loss of any senior executive officers or other key personnel could impair its relationship with its customers and adversely affect its business and financial results.
We believe that our growth and future success will depend in large part on the skills of our executive officers. We also depend upon the experience of the senior executive officers and other key personnel and their relationship with the communities they serve. The loss of the services of one or more of these officers or key personnel could have an adverse impact on the business of the Company because of their skills, knowledge of the market, years of industry experience and the difficulty promptly finding qualified replacement personnel.
The success of our business strategies depends on our ability to identify and recruit individuals with experience and relationships in our primary markets.
The successful implementation of our business strategy will require us to continue to attract, hire, motivate and retain skilled personnel to develop new customer relationships as well as new financial products and services. The market for qualified management personnel is competitive, which has contributed to salary and employee benefit costs that have risen and are expected to continue to rise, which may have an adverse effect on the Company’s net income (loss). In addition, the process of
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identifying and recruiting individuals with the combination of skills and attributes required to carry out our strategy is often lengthy, and we may not be able to effectively integrate these individuals into our operations. Our inability to identify, recruit and retain talented personnel to manage our operations effectively and in a timely manner could limit our growth or impair our ability to implement our business strategy effectively and efficiently, which could materially adversely affect our business.
Risks Related to Market Conditions, Interest Rates and Investments
The Company’s business is subject to interest rate risk and fluctuations in interest rates may adversely affect its earnings and capital levels.
The majority of our assets are monetary in nature and, as a result, we are subject to significant risk from changes in interest rates. Changes in interest rates can impact our net interest income as well as the valuation of our assets and liabilities. Also, our earnings are significantly dependent on net interest income, which is the difference between interest income on interest-earning assets, such as loans and securities, and interest expense on interest-bearing liabilities, such as deposits and borrowings. We expect we will experience “gaps” in the interest rate sensitivities of our assets and liabilities, meaning that either our interest-bearing liabilities will be more sensitive to changes in market interest rates than our interest-earning assets, or vice versa. In either event, if market interest rates should move contrary to our position, this “gap” will work against us and our earnings may be negatively affected.
To combat rising inflation, between March of 2022 and July of 2023, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds benchmark rate by a total of 525 basis points. Although the Federal Reserve has held rates steady since July 2023 and signaled the potential for rate cuts in 2024, if interest rates do not rise, or if the Federal Reserve lowers the target federal funds rate to below 0%, such low rates could limit our interest rate spread and may adversely affect our business forecasts. Moreover, if the interest rates on our interest-bearing liabilities increase at a faster pace than the interest rates on our interest-earning assets, the result would be a reduction in net interest income and with it, a reduction in net earnings. Further increases in the general level of interest rates, to combat inflation or otherwise, may also, among other things, result in a change in the mix of noninterest and interest-bearing accounts, reduce the demand for loans or increase the rate of default on existing loans. Conversely, a decrease in the general level of interest rates may, among other things, lead to an increase in prepayments on loans and increased competition for deposits. Accordingly, changes in the general level of market interest rates may affect net yield on interest-earning assets, loan origination volume, loan portfolios, and funding costs which impact our overall results.
Although our asset-liability management strategy is designed to control our risk from changes in the general level of market interest rates, market interest rates will be affected by many factors outside of our control, including inflation, recession, changes in unemployment, other economic conditions, money supply and international disorder and instability in domestic and foreign financial markets. We are unable to predict changes in interest rates, which are affected by factors beyond our control, including inflation, deflation, recession, unemployment, money supply and other changes in financial markets. It is possible that significant or unexpected changes in interest rates may take place in the future, and we cannot always accurately predict the nature or magnitude of such changes or how such changes may affect our business or results of operations.
The value of our investment securities could decline.
Changes in interest rates could cause the value of our investment securities to decline. We hold available-for-sale investment securities, which are carried at fair value, the majority of which are high-quality, liquid fixed income securities. The determination of fair value for certain of these securities requires significant judgment of management. Therefore, the market price we receive for our investment securities could be less than the carrying value for such securities. Further, the value of our investment portfolio could decline for numerous reasons, many of which are outside our control, including general market conditions, volatility in the securities market, changes in market interest rates, and inflation rates or expectations of inflation. For example, increases in interest rates or changes in interest rate spreads may negatively impact the fair value of our investment securities and may adversely affect accumulated other comprehensive income and, thus, our equity levels.
Changes in interest rates could adversely affect our income and cash flows and may result in higher defaults and lower collateral values in a rising rate environment.
Changes in interest rates influence the origination of loans, the prepayment of loans, the fair value of existing assets and liabilities, the purchase of investments, the retention and generation of deposits, the rates received on loans and investment securities, and the rates paid on deposits or other sources of funding. In general, periods of rising interest rates and other
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inflationary pressures can have a significant negative effect on our borrowers, and particularly on borrowers that operate businesses that generate revenue to pay principal and interest on commercial loans. Periods of rising interest rates and other inflationary pressures could cause the values of collateral securing our loans to decline. If either our borrowers are negatively impacted by rising interest rates or other inflationary pressures, or if the value of collateral securing our loans declines, our financial performance may be negatively impacted.
Inflation could negatively impact our business, our profitability, and our stock price.
Volatility and uncertainty related to inflation and the effects of inflation, may lead to increased costs for businesses and consumers and potentially contribute to poor business and economic conditions. For example, higher inflation, or volatility and uncertainty related to inflation, could reduce demand for the Company’s products, which could affect the creditworthiness of the Company’s borrowers, result in lower values for the Company’s investment securities and other interest-earning assets and increase expense related to talent acquisition and retention. If significant inflation continues the Company could result in missed earnings and budgetary projections causing our stock price to suffer.
Risks Related to Liquidity
Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults, or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, which may be compounded by the reach and depth of media attention, including social media, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. Liquidity is essential to the Company’s banking business, and the Company’s business strategies are largely based on access to funding from customer deposits and supplemental funding provided by secondary liquidity sources, including wholesale funding facilities.
Deposit levels may be impacted by industry factors, market interest rates, rates paid for deposits by other financial institutions and market interest rates generally, inflationary conditions, general economic conditions than can impact savings rates, and banking industry conditions that can impact customers perceptions of the safety and soundness of the banking industry generally or of specific financial institutions. The failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank in the first quarter of 2023, and the resulting industry turmoil, have underscored the importance of maintaining diversified funding sources to ensure the safety and soundness of a financial institution. In response to these failures, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) and the FDIC approved actions enabling the FDIC to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank in a manner that fully protected depositors by utilizing the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund, and the Federal Reserve took actions to make available additional term funding for eligible financial institutions to help ensure continued liquidity in the banking industry. It is uncertain whether these additional steps will be sufficient to address the turmoil in the banking industry, ensure continued funding and liquidity, reduce the risk of deposit outflows, and particularly sudden outflows, from banks. Should any of these conditions materialize, our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely impacted.
The Company’s liquidity could be impaired by an inability to access short-term funding or the inability to monetize liquid assets.
If significant volatility or disruptions occur in the wholesale funding or investment securities markets, the Company’s ability to access short-term liquidity could be materially impaired. In addition, other factors outside of the Company’s control could limit the Company’s ability to access short-term funding or to monetize liquid assets, including by selling investment securities at an attractive price or at all, operational issues that impact third parties in the funding or securities markets or unforeseen significant deposit outflows. The Company’s inability to access short-term funding or inability to monetize liquid assets could impair the
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Company’s ability to make new loans or meet existing lending commitments, and could adversely impact the Company’s overall financial condition, liquidity and regulatory capital.
We rely substantially on deposits obtained from customers in our target markets to provide liquidity and support growth, and impairment of our access to funding may negatively affect our financial performance.
Our primary funding and liquidity source to support our business strategies is a stable customer deposit base. Deposit levels may be affected by a number of factors, including interest rates paid by competitors, general interest rate levels, returns available to customers on alternative investments and general economic conditions. If our deposit levels fall, we could lose a relatively low-cost source of funding and our interest expense would likely increase as we obtain alternative funding to replace lost deposits. If local customer deposits are not sufficient to fund our normal operations and growth, we will look to outside sources, such as fed funds lines with other financial institutions or borrowings with the FHLB and we have access to the institutional CD market and the brokered deposit market. We may also seek to raise funds through the issuance of shares of our common stock, or other equity or equity-related securities, or debt securities including subordinated notes as additional sources of liquidity. A number of factors, many of which are outside the Company’s control, could make accessing such financing more difficult or more expensive, or could make such financing unavailable altogether, including the financial condition of the Company, rate disruptions in the capital markets, the attractiveness of investing in or lending to financial services companies generally, and competition for funding from other banks, holding companies or similar financial service companies, some of which could be substantially larger or have stronger credit ratings or profiles. If we are unable to access funding sufficient to support our business operations and growth strategies or are only able to access such funding on unattractive terms, we may not be able to implement our business strategies which may negatively affect our financial performance.
Our ability to meet contingency funding needs, in the event of a crisis that causes a disruption to our core deposit base, is dependent on access to wholesale markets, including funds provided by the FHLB of Atlanta.
We own stock in the FHLB of Atlanta, in order to qualify for membership in the FHLB system, which enables us to borrow on our line of credit with the FHLB that is secured by a blanket lien on select commercial loans, multifamily loans, residential mortgages and investment securities available-for-sale and is estimated to be equal to 25% of our assets approximating $1.1 billion, with available borrowing capacity subject to the amount of eligible collateral pledged at any given time. Changes or disruptions to the FHLB or the FHLB system in general may materially impact our ability to meet short and long-term liquidity needs or meet growth plans. Additionally, we cannot be assured that the FHLB will be able to provide funding to us when needed, nor can we be certain that the FHLB will provide funds specifically to us, should our financial condition and/or our regulators prevent access to our line of credit. The inability to access this source of funds could have a materially adverse effect on our ability to meet our customer’s needs. Our financial flexibility could be severely constrained if we were unable to maintain our access to funding or if adequate financing is not available at acceptable interest rates.
Other wholesale market sources of liquidity include the Fed discount window, the brokered CD market, and our four fed funds lines totaling $95.0 million with correspondent banks. Additionally, we have a large bond portfolio that can be used for liquidity purposes, including pledging or outright sales. It should also be noted that our customer base is very diversified and granular, which should minimize any unexpected deposit outflows. Average commercial deposit account balances are $42 thousand, and average consumer retail deposit account balances are $14 thousand.
We rely on dividends from our subsidiaries for most of our revenue.
The Company is a separate and distinct legal entity from the Bank. A substantial portion of the Company’s revenue comes from dividends from the Bank. Various federal and Virginia laws and regulations limit the amount of dividends that the Bank may pay to us. Also, in the event the Bank is unable to pay dividends to the Company, the Company may not be able to service any debt that is outstanding, pay obligations, or pay any future dividends on its common stock. The inability to receive dividends from the Bank could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Business Strategy
Our profitability depends significantly on economic conditions.
Our success depends primarily on the general economic conditions of the geographic markets in which we operate, primarily in Virginia and North Carolina. The local economic conditions in the areas where we operate have a significant impact on our
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS - (continued)
commercial, real estate and construction loans, the ability of our borrowers to repay their loans and the value of the collateral securing these loans and on customer demand for loans, deposits and other bank products. A significant decline in general economic conditions, including pandemics or significant health hazards (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), inflation, recession, acts of terrorism, outbreak of hostilities (including the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Palestine) or other international or domestic calamities, unemployment or other factors, all of which are beyond our control, could impact economic conditions and negatively affect our financial results.
We face strong competition from financial services companies and other companies that offer banking services which could negatively affect our business.
We conduct our banking operations primarily in Virginia and North Carolina, including Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Blacksburg, Martinsville, and Danville in Virginia, and Greensboro, Charlotte, Raleigh and Mooresville in North Carolina. Increased competition in these markets may result in reduced loans and deposits. Ultimately, we may not be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors. Many competitors offer the same banking services that we offer in our service area. These competitors include national banks, regional banks and other community banks. We also face competition from many other types of financial institutions, including without limitation, savings and loan institutions, finance companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies, credit unions, mortgage banks and other financial intermediaries. In particular, our competitors include several major financial companies whose greater resources may afford them a marketplace advantage by enabling them to maintain numerous banking locations and ATMs, conduct extensive promotional and advertising campaigns and offer a wider range of products, services and technologies.
Additionally, banks and other financial institutions with larger capitalization and financial intermediaries not subject to bank regulatory restrictions have larger lending limits and are thereby able to serve the credit needs of larger customers. Areas of competition include interest rates for loans and deposits, efforts to obtain deposits, and range and quality of products and services provided, including new technology-driven products and services. Technological innovation continues to contribute to greater competition in domestic and international financial services markets as technological advances enable more companies to provide financial services, products and services traditionally provided by banks, such as automatic transfer and automatic payment systems. We also face competition from out-of-state financial intermediaries that have opened loan production offices or that solicit deposits in our market areas. If we are unable to attract and retain banking customers, we may be unable to continue to grow our loan and deposit portfolios or may be required to increase the rates we pay on deposits or lower the rates we offer on loans and results of operations and financial condition may otherwise be adversely affected.
Our customers may increasingly decide not to use the Bank to complete their financial transactions, which would have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and operations.
Technology and other changes are allowing parties to complete financial transactions through alternative methods that have historically involved banks. For example, customers can now maintain funds that would have historically been held as bank deposits in brokerage accounts, mutual funds, or general-purpose reloadable prepaid cards. Customers can also complete transactions such as paying bills and/or transferring funds directly without the assistance of banks. We face increasing competition from fintech companies, as trends toward digital financial transactions have accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic. The process of eliminating banks as intermediaries, known as “disintermediation,” could result in the loss of fee income, as well as the loss of customer deposits and the related income generated from those deposits. The loss of these revenue streams and the lower cost of deposits as a source of funds could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Regulatory Compliance and Legal Matters
We are subject to extensive government regulation and supervision.
Banking regulations are primarily intended to protect depositors’ funds, federal deposit insurance funds and the banking system as a whole, not security holders. These regulations affect our lending practices, capital structure, investment practices, dividend policy and growth, among other things. Congress and federal regulatory agencies continually review banking laws, regulations and policies for possible changes. Changes to statutes, regulations or regulatory policies, including changes in interpretation or implementation of statutes, regulations or policies, could affect us in substantial and unpredictable ways. Such changes could subject us to additional costs, limit the types of financial services and products we may offer and/or increase the ability of non-banks to offer competing financial services and products, among other things. For example, we currently derive a portion of our
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS - (continued)
noninterest income from consumer overdraft fees, which have recently come under scrutiny by banking regulators and politicians. Such regulators or politicians could act to impose additional restrictions on overdraft fee programs which could reduce our noninterest income, increase our compliance costs, or increase our exposure to regulatory and legal claims related to our overdraft program. Failure to comply with laws, regulations, policies or supervisory guidance could result in enforcement and other legal actions by Federal or state authorities, including criminal and civil penalties, the loss of FDIC insurance, the revocation of a banking charter, other sanctions by regulatory agencies, civil money penalties and/or reputational damage. In this regard, government authorities, including the bank regulatory agencies, are pursuing aggressive enforcement actions with respect to compliance and other legal matters involving financial activities, which heightens the risks associated with actual and perceived compliance failures. See “Supervision and Regulation” included in Item 1, Business, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a more detailed description of the certain regulatory requirements applicable to the Bank.
Regulatory capital standards may require the Company and the Bank to maintain higher levels of capital and liquidity, which could adversely affect its return on equity and otherwise affect its business.
The Company and the Bank are each subject to capital adequacy guidelines and other regulatory requirements specifying minimum amounts and types of capital, which each must maintain. From time to time, regulators implement changes to these regulatory capital adequacy guidelines. In addition, regulators may require the Company to maintain higher levels of regulatory capital based on the Company’s condition, risk profile, or growth plans or conditions in the banking industry or economy. The Basel III capital adequacy standards applicable to the Company and the Bank impose stricter capital requirements and leverage limits than the requirements to which the Company and the Bank were subject in the past.
The application of more stringent capital requirements could, among other things, result in lower returns on equity, require the raising of additional capital, and result in regulatory actions if the Company were to be unable to comply with such requirements. Furthermore, the imposition of liquidity requirements in connection with the implementation of Basel III capital adequacy standards could result in the Company having to lengthen the term of its funding, restructure its business models, and/or increase its holdings of liquid assets. Implementation of changes to asset risk weightings for risk-based capital calculations, items included or deducted in calculating regulatory capital and/or additional capital conservation buffers could result in management modifying its business strategy, and could limit the Company’s ability to make distributions, including paying out dividends or buying back shares. If the Company and the Bank fail to meet these minimum capital guidelines and/or other regulatory requirements, the Company’s financial condition would be materially and adversely affected.
Failure to maintain effective systems of internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures could have a material adverse effect on our results of operation and financial condition.
Effective internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and effectively prevent fraud and to operate successfully as a public company. We are required to establish and maintain an adequate internal control structure over financial reporting. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our reputation and operating results would be harmed. As part of our ongoing monitoring of internal control, we may discover material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control that require remediation. A “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Our inability to maintain the operating effectiveness of the controls described above could result in a material misstatement to our financial statements or other disclosures, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, any failure to maintain effective controls or to timely effect any necessary improvement of our internal and disclosure controls could, among other things, require significant investments of management time, funds and other resources in remediation efforts, result in losses from fraud or error or harm to our reputation, or cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operation and financial condition.
Claims and litigation against the Company could result in significant expenses or losses or damage to our reputation, which may have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operation or business.
The Company operates in a business, legal and regulatory environment that exposes the Company to potential significant litigation risk. The Company may be involved from time to time in a variety of litigation arising out of its business, and the
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS - (continued)
outcome of litigation and other legal matters is frequently uncertain. Litigation and claims against the Company can arise from the Company’s lending activities, commercial agreements, compliance programs, and other general business matters. Such litigation and claims have involved and could involve large amounts in controversy and substantial legal costs necessary for the Company’s defense or to recover amounts owed to the Company, and substantial legal liability, which may or may not be insured, against the Company could materially and adversely impact the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. Even if the Company has insurance coverage for certain claims or legal or administrative actions against it, the Company’s insurance may not cover all claims that may be asserted against it in legal or administrative actions or costs that it may incur defending such actions, and any claims asserted against it, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, may harm the Company’s reputation which may harm the Company’s business. Should the ultimate judgments or settlements and/or costs incurred in any litigation exceed any applicable insurance coverage, they could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operation for any period. Litigation may also divert management resources, which may adversely impact the Company’s business and results of operations.
The Company is currently involved in significant pending litigation. Please see the information contained in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data – Note 18, “Commitments and Contingencies,” under the heading “Legal Proceedings”.
Our risk management framework may not be effective in mitigating risk and loss.
We maintain an enterprise risk management program that is designed to identify, quantify, monitor, report and control the risks we face. These risks include, but are not limited to, interest rate, credit, liquidity, operational, reputation, legal, compliance, economic and litigation risk. Although we assess our risk management program on an ongoing basis and make identified improvements to it, we can offer no assurances that this approach and risk management framework (including related controls) will effectively mitigate the risks listed above or limit losses that we may incur. If our risk management program has flaws or gaps, or if our risk management controls do not function effectively, our results of operations, financial condition or business may be adversely affected.
Our earnings are significantly affected by the fiscal and monetary policies of the federal government and its agencies.
The policies of the FRB affect us significantly. The FRB regulates the supply of money and credit in the United States. Its policies directly and indirectly influence the rate of interest earned on loans and paid on borrowings and interest-bearing deposits and can also affect the value of financial instruments we hold. Those policies determine, to a significant extent, our cost of funds for lending and investing, and can significantly impact the levels of inflation in the United States. Changes in those policies are beyond our control and are difficult to predict. FRB policies can also affect our borrowers, potentially increasing the risk that they may fail to repay their loans. For example, a tightening of the money supply by the FRB could reduce the demand for a borrower's products and services. This could adversely affect the borrower’s earnings and ability to repay a loan, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Increased scrutiny and evolving expectations from customers, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders with respect to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) practices may impose additional costs on the Company or expose it to new or additional risks.
As a regulated financial institution and a publicly traded company, we are facing increasing scrutiny from customers, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders related to ESG practices and disclosure. Investor advocacy groups, investment funds, and influential investors are increasingly focused on these practices, especially as they relate to climate risk, hiring practices, the diversity of the work force, and racial and social justice issues. Failure to adapt to or comply with regulatory requirements or investor or stakeholder expectations and standards could negatively impact the Company’s reputation, ability to do business with certain partners, and stock price. New government regulations could also result in new or more stringent forms of ESG oversight and expanding mandatory and voluntary reporting, diligence, and disclosure. ESG-related costs, including with respect to compliance with any additional regulatory or disclosure requirements or expectations, could adversely impact our results of operations.
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS - (continued)
Risks Related to Owning Our Stock
The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to a number of factors.
Our operating results may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including the changing U.S. economic environment and changes in the commercial and residential real estate market, any of which may cause our stock price to fluctuate. If our operating results fall below the expectation of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially.
Our stock price can fluctuate significantly in response to a variety of factors including, among other things:
•volatility of stock market prices and volumes in general;
•changes in market valuations of similar companies;
•changes in the conditions of credit markets;
•changes in accounting policies or procedures as required by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or other regulatory agencies;
•legislative and regulatory actions, including the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act and related regulations, that may subject us to additional regulatory oversight which may result in increased compliance costs and/or require us to change our business model;
•government intervention in the U.S. financial system and the effects of and changes in trade and monetary and fiscal policies and laws, including the interest rate policies of the FRB;
•additions or departures of key members of management;
•fluctuations in our quarterly or annual operating results; and
•changes in analysts’ estimates of financial performance.
Future issuances of the Company’s common stock could adversely affect the market price of the common stock and could be dilutive.
The Company is not restricted from issuing additional shares of common stock, and may issue securities that are convertible into or exchangeable for, or that represent the right to receive, shares of common stock. Issuances of a substantial number of shares of common stock, or the expectation that such issuances might occur, including in connection with acquisitions by the Company, could materially adversely affect the market price of the shares of common stock and could be dilutive to shareholders. Because the Company’s decision to issue equity securities in the future will depend on market conditions and other factors, it cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of possible future stock issuances. Accordingly, the Company’s shareholders bear the risk that future stock issuances will reduce market prices and dilute their stock holdings in the Company.
Common stock is equity and is subordinate to the Company’s existing and future indebtedness and effectively subordinated to all the indebtedness and other non-equity claims against the Bank.
Shares of the Company’s common stock are equity interests and do not constitute indebtedness. As such, shares of the common stock will rank junior to all of the Company’s indebtedness and to other non-equity claims against the Company and its assets available to satisfy claims against it, including in the event of the Company’s liquidation. The Company is permitted to incur additional debt. Upon liquidation, lenders and holders of the Company’s debt securities would receive distributions of the Company’s available assets prior to holders of the Company’s common stock. Furthermore, the Company’s right to participate in a distribution of assets upon the Bank’s liquidation or reorganization is subject to the prior claims of the Bank’s creditors, including holders of any depositors of the Bank or any debt issued by the Bank.
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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Not applicable.
ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY
Cybersecurity Risk Management and Strategy
The Company has developed and implemented a Cybersecurity and Information Technology Incident Response Plan intended to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the Company’s critical systems and information.
The Company has designed this Cybersecurity and Information Technology Incident Response Plan based in part on the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (“NIST”). Use of the framework does not imply that the Company meets any particular technical standards, specifications, or requirements, but rather the NIST is used as a guide to help identify, assess, and manage cybersecurity risks relevant to the Company’s business. The Company’s Cybersecurity and Information Technology Response Plan is led by our Chief Operations Officer, (“COO”) who is responsible for the oversight and implementation of such plan. Additionally, the COO and the Information Security Manager meet with the Information Technology Steering Committee (“IT Steering Committee”) on a monthly basis or more frequently as necessary to discuss, among other things, cybersecurity matters.
The Cybersecurity and Information Technology Incident Response Plan is aligned to the Company’s business strategy. It shares common methodologies, reporting channels and governance processes that apply to other areas of enterprise risk management, including legal, compliance, strategic, operational, and financial risk. In the event of a material or potentially material cybersecurity event, senior members of management, which includes the Chief Financial Officer, are promptly informed of the event and status update, response, and disclosure efforts following the terms of a documented incident response plan. Key elements of the Cybersecurity and Information Technology Incident Response Plan include:
•risk assessments designed to help identify material cybersecurity risks to our critical systems, information, products, services, and our broader information technology (“IT”) environment;
•an incident response team principally responsible for managing cybersecurity risk assessment processes, security controls, and responses to cybersecurity incidents;
•the use of external service providers, where appropriate, to assess, test or otherwise assist with aspects of our security controls;
•training and awareness programs for team members that include periodic and ongoing assessments to drive adoption and awareness of cybersecurity processes and controls;
•a cybersecurity and IT incident response plan that includes procedures for responding to cybersecurity incidents;
•utilization of independent third parties to perform penetration testing of the Company’s environment; and
•utilization of a third party to monitor our environment continuously.
The Company has experienced cybersecurity incidents in the past, but none of these incidents, individually or in the aggregate, have had a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. For a discussion of whether and how any risks from cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect the Company, including our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition, refer to Item 1A. Risk Factors – "Risks Related to Our Operations and Technology," which is incorporated by reference into this Item 1C.
Cybersecurity Governance
Management’s Role
The Company’s management has created an Incident Response Team (“IRT”), that consists of the Chief Operations Officer, a network manager, an application delivery manager, an information security manager, the IT Steering Committee, the regulatory
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risk management director and an internal auditor. Our COO holds multiple cybersecurity industry-recognized certifications and has gained extensive cybersecurity knowledge and skills through over 7 years of work experience on the IT security team at the Company. Our Information Security Manager, who also holds multiple cybersecurity industry-recognized certifications and is a member of the IT Steering Committee, has 20 years of experience working in IT and cybersecurity in various roles and industries throughout his career. Additionally, leaders in the Company’s IT function receive periodic training and education on cybersecurity related topics. The IRT is governed by policies and procedures and their proactive responsibilities include implementing awareness programs for the overall cybersecurity risk management plan and for the supervision of vulnerability and penetration testing.
The Company’s IRT serves as the central point for all cybersecurity incidents and reporting, including incidents that directly target associates, customers or the Company’s internal information systems and incidents originating from third parties. The IRT evaluates each incident in terms of its impact on the Company’s operations, ability to conduct business with customers, reputational risk to the Company, reduce legal risk and the speed and degree to which the incident has been contained. The IRT is also responsible for assessing the nature and scope of the incident, and engaging third-party service providers where appropriate to support the Company through the resolution of the incident. The COO escalates incidents to the Company’s IT Steering Committee, who is responsible for cybersecurity risk oversight, and also reports to the Board on a monthly basis.
Our information security team and members of IT also monitor the prevention, detection, mitigation, and remediation of cybersecurity risks and incidents through various means, which may include briefings with law enforcement, regulators, and external consultants we may engage, and reports produced by security tools we have deployed in our IT environment.
Board of Director’s Role
The Company’s Board of Directors recognizes the importance of cybersecurity in safeguarding the Company’s sensitive data, including with respect to its associates and customers. The Board is responsible for the consideration and oversight of risk facing the Company and is also responsible for ensuring that material risks are identified and managed appropriately, including cybersecurity risks. The COO gives a monthly report to the Company’s IT Steering Committee and Board on various information security issues. The Company has created and designated a separate committee of its Board as the Audit Committee consisting of four independent directors. The Audit Committee meets quarterly and reviews the Company’s major financial risk exposures, including cybersecurity risks, and reviews the steps management is taking to monitor and control such exposures, including results of internal and external audits.
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
The Company’s principal executive office is located at 1300 Kings Mountain Road in Martinsville, Virginia. There are also two other corporate administrative locations that house its operations center and various other corporate functions. As of December 31, 2023, we offer our community banking services through 65 combined depository locations in Virginia and North Carolina, and have 53 offices located in Virginia and 12 offices located in North Carolina. Three of these depository banking locations are held under lease contracts. In addition, the Bank leases a loan production office, a commercial banking office and another office housing various Bank functions. Management believes the terms of the various leases are consistent with market standards and were arrived at through arm’s length bargaining. The leases are described in Note 9, Premises and Equipment, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
The information contained in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data – Note 18, “Commitments and Contingencies,” under the heading “Legal Proceedings,” is incorporated by reference into this Item 3.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
PART II
Market for Common Stock and Dividends
The Company’s common stock trades on NASDAQ, under the ticker symbol “CARE.” As of the close of business on March 4, 2024, we had 2,160 shareholders of record.
Dividends
In October 2016, prior to the Reorganization, the board of directors of the Bank (the "Bank Board") determined that it was prudent not to declare a quarterly cash dividend on the Bank's common stock beginning in the fourth quarter of 2016. Notwithstanding the Bank’s prior practice of paying a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock, the Bank Board believed this decision was necessary and appropriate as the Bank committed, and now the Company commits, additional resources to assist with regulatory compliance, and making significant investments in new technology and human resources.
The Bank Board paid a special one-time cash dividend of $0.14 per share on March 3, 2020. The amount and timing of future dividends, if any, remains subject to the discretion of the Board and will depend upon a number of factors, including future earnings, financial condition, liquidity and capital requirements of the Company, applicable governmental regulations and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.
Repurchases of Shares of Common Stock
On March 29, 2023, the Company announced that its Board of Directors (the “Board”) authorized, effective May 1, 2023, a common share repurchase program to purchase up to 1,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock in the aggregate over a period of twelve months, (the “2023 Program”) subject to receipt of non-objection from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, which was received on April 24, 2023. The 2023 Program authorizes the purchase of the Company’s common stock in open market transactions or privately negotiated transactions, including pursuant to a trading plan in accordance with Rule 10b-18 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The authorization permits management to repurchase shares of the Company’s common stock from time to time at management’s discretion. The actual means and timing of any shares purchased under the 2023 Program will depend on a variety of factors, including the market price of the Company’s common stock, general market and economic conditions, management’s evaluation of the Company’s financial condition and liquidity position and applicable legal and regulatory requirements. The 2023 Program is authorized through May 1, 2024, although it may be modified or terminated by the Board at any time. The 2023 Program does not obligate the Company to purchase any particular number of shares, and was exhausted as of August 31, 2023. During the year ended December 31, 2023, 1,000,000 shares of common stock had been repurchased under this program at a total cost of $14.2 million, or an average price of $14.16 per share.
Previously on June 28, 2022, the Company announced that its Board authorized, effective August 1, 2022, a common share repurchase program to purchase up to 750,000 shares of the Company’s common stock in the aggregate over a period of twelve months, subject to non-objection from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, which was received in July 2022 (the “2022 Program”). The 2022 Program authorized the purchase of the Company’s common stock in open market transactions or privately negotiated transactions, including pursuant to a trading plan in accordance with Rule 10b-18 promulgated under the Exchange Act. The authorization permitted management to repurchase shares of the Company’s common stock from time to time at management’s discretion. The 2022 Program was originally authorized through August 1, 2023, did not obligate the Company to purchase any particular number of shares, and was exhausted as of March 10, 2023.
Previously on December 13, 2021, the Company announced that its Board authorized, effective December 10, 2021, a common share repurchase program to purchase up to 2,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock in the aggregate over a period of twelve months (the “2021 Program”). The 2021 Program was originally authorized through December 9, 2022, did not obligate the Company to purchase any particular number of shares, and was exhausted as of April 28, 2022.
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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES - (continued)
The following table provides information regarding the Company’s purchases of our common stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2023.
Total — $— —
(1)The Company had no purchases of our common stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2023 as the 2023 Program was fully exhausted as of August 31, 2023.
Five-Year Cumulative Total Return
The following chart compares the cumulative total shareholder return on our common stock with the cumulative total return of the NASDAQ Composite Index and S&P U.S. BMI Banks Index, which includes the stocks of banks, thrifts and bank and financial holding companies listed on all major exchanges (NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ) in the S&P Global Market Intelligence’s coverage universe.
Period Ending
(1)An investment in Carter Bankshares, Inc. prior to November 2020 represents an investment in Carter Bank & Trust.
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ITEM 6. [RESERVED]
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
OVERVIEW
The following Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) is intended to help the reader understand Carter Bankshares, Inc., our operations, and our present business environment. The MD&A is provided as a supplement to, and should be read in conjunction with, our Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying notes thereto contained in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The MD&A includes the following sections:
•Explanation of Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
•Critical Accounting Estimates
•Our Business & Strategy
•Results of Operations and Financial Condition
•Capital Resources
•Contractual Obligations
•Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
•Liquidity
•Inflation
•Stock Repurchase Program
This section reviews our financial condition for each of the past two years and results of operations for each of the past three years. Certain reclassifications have been made to prior periods to place them on a basis comparable with the current period presentation. Some tables may include additional time periods to illustrate trends within our Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto. The results of operations reported in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected in future periods.
Explanation of Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to the results of operations presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), management uses, and this annual report references, interest and dividend income, yield on interest earnings assets, net interest income and net interest margin on a fully taxable equivalent, (“FTE”) basis, which are non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes these measures provide information useful to investors in understanding our underlying business, operational performance and performance trends as it facilitates comparisons with the performance of other companies in the financial services industry. The Company believes the presentation of interest and dividend income, yield on interest earnings assets, net interest income and net interest margin on an FTE basis ensures the comparability of interest and dividend income, yield on interest earning assets, net interest income and net interest margin arising from both taxable and tax-exempt sources and is consistent with industry practice. Interest and dividend income (GAAP) per the Consolidated Statements of Income is reconciled to interest and dividend income adjusted on an FTE basis, yield on interest earning assets (GAAP) is reconciled to yield on interest earning assets adjusted on an FTE basis, net interest income (GAAP) is reconciled to net interest income adjusted on an FTE basis and net interest margin (GAAP) is reconciled to net interest margin adjusted on an FTE basis in the "Results of Operations and Financial Condition - Net Interest Income" section of this MD&A for the years ended 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Although management believes that this non-GAAP financial measure enhances investors’ understanding of our business and performance, this non-GAAP financial measure should not be considered an alternative to GAAP or considered to be more relevant than financial results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor is it necessarily comparable with similar non-GAAP measures which may be presented by other companies.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
Critical Accounting Estimates
The Company’s preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Over time, these estimates, assumptions and judgments may prove to be inaccurate or vary from actual results and may significantly affect our reported results and financial position for the periods presented or in future periods. We currently view the determination of the allowance for credit losses to be critical, because it is made in accordance with GAAP, is highly dependent on subjective or complex judgments, assumptions and estimates made by management and have had or is reasonably likely to have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
We have identified the following critical accounting estimate:
Allowance for Credit Losses (“ACL”)
The ACL represents an amount which, in management's judgment, is adequate to absorb expected credit losses over the life of outstanding loans as of the balance sheet date based on the evaluation of current risk characteristics of the loan portfolio, past events, current conditions, reasonable and supportable forecasts of future economic conditions and prepayment experience. The ACL is measured and recorded upon the initial recognition of a financial asset. The ACL is reduced by charge-offs, net of recoveries of previous losses, and is increased by a provision or decreased by a recovery for credit losses, which is recorded as a current period operating expense.
Determination of an appropriate ACL is inherently complex and requires the use of significant and highly subjective estimates. The reasonableness of the ACL is reviewed quarterly by management.
Management believes it uses relevant information available to make determinations about the ACL and that it has established the existing allowance in accordance with GAAP. However, the determination of the ACL requires significant judgment, and estimates of expected credit losses in the loan portfolio can vary from the amounts actually observed. While management uses available information to recognize expected credit losses, future additions to the ACL may be necessary based on changes in the loans comprising the portfolio, changes in the current and forecasted economic conditions, changes to the interest rate environment which may directly impact prepayment and curtailment rate assumptions, and changes in the financial condition of borrowers.
Management will periodically assess what adjustments are necessary to qualitatively adjust the ACL based on their assessment of current expected credit losses and other economic factors. Various regulatory agencies also review the allowance for credit losses as an integral part of their examination process. The Company periodically engages a third party to validate the model. We believe the level of the allowance for credit losses is appropriate as recorded in the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2023. As future events cannot be determined with precision, actual results could differ significantly from our estimates.
The ACL “base case” model is derived from various economic forecasts provided by widely recognized sources. Management evaluates the variability of market conditions by examining the peak and trough of economic cycles. These peaks and troughs are used to stress the base case model to develop a range of potential outcomes. Management then determines the appropriate reserve through an evaluation of these various outcomes relative to current economic conditions and known risks in the portfolio. For the year ended December 31, 2023 the range of outcomes would produce a 16.98% reduction or a 18.80% increase in reserves based on the best and worst case scenarios, respectively.
Refer to Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, for further detailed descriptions of our estimation process and methodology related to the ACL and Note 6, Allowance for Credit Losses, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our Business and Strategy
Carter Bankshares, Inc. (the “Company”) is a bank holding company headquartered in Martinsville, Virginia with assets of $4.5 billion at December 31, 2023. The Company is the parent company of its wholly owned subsidiary, Carter Bank & Trust (the “Bank”). The Bank is a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, (“FDIC”) insured, Virginia state-chartered bank, which operates 65 branches in Virginia and North Carolina. The Company provides a full range of financial services with retail, and
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commercial banking products and insurance. Our common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “CARE”.
The Company earns revenue primarily from interest on loans and securities and fees charged for financial services provided to our customers. The Company incurs expenses for the cost of deposits, provision for credit losses and other operating costs such as salaries and employee benefits, data processing, occupancy and income tax provision.
Beginning in 2023, and continuing into 2024 and 2025, the Company is focusing on refining and enhancing its brand image and position in the markets it serves. To strengthen and further shape the culture of the Company, a new set of guiding principles were introduced to associates in June 2023. The guiding principles include a new purpose statement: To create opportunities for more people and businesses to prosper; supported by our new set of core values: Build Relationships, Earn Trust and Take Ownership. We believe these new guiding principles will help create alignment to support future growth by empowering our associates and igniting a passion for the Company.
The Company’s goal is to shift from restructuring the balance sheet to pursuing a prudent growth strategy when appropriate. We believe this strategy will be primarily targeted at organic growth, but will also consider opportunistic acquisitions that fit this strategic vision. We believe that the Bank’s strong capital and liquidity positions support this strategy. In addition to loan and deposit growth, the Company will seek to increase fee income while closely monitoring operating expenses.
The Company is focused on executing this strategy to successfully build our new brand and grow our business in our current markets as well as any new markets we may enter. As part of executing this strategy, the Company continues to dedicate significant resources to resolving the Company’s nonaccrual loans, the significant majority of which are related to a single large lending relationship that the Company placed on nonaccrual status in the second quarter of 2023 due to loan maturities and failure to pay in full, in a manner that best protects the Company, the Bank and shareholders. The Company is also dedicating significant resources to resolving pending litigation related to this single large lending relationship in a manner that best protects the Company, the Bank and shareholders.
Results of Operations and Financial Condition
Earnings Summary
2023 Highlights
•Net interest income decreased $17.6 million, or 12.6%, to $122.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to an increase of 156 basis points in funding costs and the $30.0 million year-to-date negative impact of placing the Bank’s largest lending relationship in nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023, partially offset by an increase of 59 basis points in the yield on earning assets due to the higher interest rate environment;
•The provision for credit losses increased $3.1 million to $5.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the same period in 2022;
•Total noninterest income decreased $3.4 million to $18.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022;
•Total noninterest expense increased $8.5 million to $105.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022; and
•Provision for income taxes decreased $6.3 million to $5.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
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Balance Sheet Highlights (period-end balances, December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022)
•The securities portfolio decreased $57.3 million and is currently 17.3% of total assets compared to 19.9% of total assets;
•Total portfolio loans increased $357.0 million, or 11.3%, primarily due to loan growth in the commercial real estate (“CRE”), residential mortgage and construction segments during the year ended December 31, 2023;
•The portfolio loans to deposit ratio was 94.2%, compared to 86.7%, due to loan growth;
•Nonperforming loans as a percentage of total portfolio loans were 8.83% compared to 0.21% at December 31, 2022. The significant increase is due to loans contained in the Other segment with an aggregate principal balance of $301.9 million that were placed into nonaccrual status due to loan maturities and failure to pay in full during the second quarter of 2023. These loans comprise 97.5% of nonperforming loans at December 31, 2023;
•Total deposits increased $89.4 million or 2.5% to $3.7 billion at December 31, 2023 due to increases of $29.4 million in money market accounts and $325.1 million in CDs, offset by a total decrease of $265.1 million in noninterest-bearing demand, interest-bearing demand and savings accounts; and
•The ACL to total portfolio loans ratio was 2.77% compared to 2.98%. The ACL on portfolio loans totaled $97.1 million at December 31, 2023, compared to $93.9 million at December 31, 2022.
The Company reported net income of $23.4 million, or $1.00 diluted earnings per share for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to net income of $50.1 million, or $2.03 diluted earnings per share, for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Years Ended December 31,
Return on Average Shareholders' Equity 6.79 % 14.30 % 7.92 %
Allowance for Credit Losses to Total Portfolio Loans 2.77 % 2.98 % 3.41 %
Nonperforming Loans to Total Portfolio Loans 8.83 % 0.21 % 0.26 %
Net Interest Income
Our principal source of revenue is net interest income. Net interest income represents the difference between the interest and fees earned on interest-earning assets and the interest paid on interest-bearing liabilities. Net interest income is affected by changes in the average balance of interest-earning assets, interest-bearing liabilities, as well as changes in interest rates and spreads. The level and mix of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities is managed by our Asset and Liability Committee (“ALCO”), in order to mitigate interest rate and liquidity risks of the balance sheet. A variety of ALCO strategies were implemented, within prescribed ALCO risk parameters, to produce what the Company believes is an acceptable level of net interest income.
Net interest income and the net interest margin are presented on an FTE basis. The FTE basis (non-GAAP) adjusts net interest income and net interest margin for the tax benefit of income on certain tax-exempt loans and securities using the applicable federal statutory tax rate for each period (which was 21% for the periods presented) and the dividend-received deduction for equity securities. The Company believes this FTE basis presentation provides a relevant comparison between taxable and non-taxable sources of interest income. Refer to the “Explanation of Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” above for additional discussion regarding the non-GAAP measures used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The following table reconciles interest and dividend income (GAAP), yield on interest-earning assets (GAAP), net interest margin (GAAP) and net interest income per the Consolidated Statements of Income to interest and dividend income on an FTE
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basis (non-GAAP), yield on interest-earning assets on an FTE basis (non-GAAP), net interest margin on an FTE basis (non-GAAP) and net interest income on an FTE basis (non-GAAP), respectively, for the periods presented:
(Dollars in Thousands) Years Ended December 31,
Yield on Interest-earning Assets (GAAP) 4.57 % 3.98 % 3.37 %
Yield on Interest-earning Assets (FTE) (Non-GAAP) 4.60 % 4.01 % 3.41 %
Net Interest Margin (GAAP) 2.85 % 3.48 % 2.80 %
Net Interest Margin (FTE) (Non-GAAP) 2.87 % 3.51 % 2.84 %
Average Balance Sheet and Net Interest Income Analysis (FTE)
Total net interest income decreased $17.6 million, or 12.6% to $122.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. The decrease for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 was a result of the higher funding costs in 2023 as a result of the higher interest rate environment and the $30.0 million negative impact on interest income during the year ended December 31, 2023 related to the Company placing its largest lending relationship with an aggregate principal balance of $301.9 million on nonaccrual status in the second quarter of 2023. These decreases were partially offset by higher yields on new loan originations and investment securities.
Net interest income, on an FTE basis (non-GAAP), decreased $17.8 million, or 12.6%, to $123.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $141.1 million for the same period in 2022. The decreases in net interest income, on an FTE basis (non-GAAP), was driven by higher interest expense of $53.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 when compared to the same period in 2022, offset by an increase in interest income of $36.1 million. Net interest margin decreased 63 basis points to 2.85% for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to 3.48% for the same period in 2022. Net interest margin, on an FTE basis (non-GAAP), decreased 64 basis points to 2.87% for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to 3.51% for the same period in 2022.
The Company’s net interest income and net interest margin will continue to be negatively impacted in future periods by the Company’s largest lending relationship being placed on nonaccrual status until it is ultimately resolved.
During 2023, there has been more pressure on our cost of funds due to the shift from non-maturing deposits to higher yielding money market and certificates of deposits and higher-cost borrowings, which has negatively impacted our net interest margin. We believe this trend is beginning to stabilize and will continue to stabilize in the coming quarters. Our balance sheet is currently exhibiting characteristics of a slightly liability sensitive balance sheet due to the short-term nature of our deposit portfolio. Specifically, 75.9% of our time deposit portfolio will mature and reprice over the next twelve months which gives us flexibility to manage the structure and pricing of our deposit portfolio to reduce funding costs, should the Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) begin cutting short-term rates during 2024.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company’s yield on earning assets continued to benefit from the higher interest rate environment. However, the impacts of higher yields on earning assets may not be sufficient to offset the negative impacts of increased funding costs in the higher rate environment and the negative impacts on interest income related to the Company’s largest lending relationship being placed in nonaccrual status.
Positively impacting the year ended December 31, 2023 was the asset sensitivity of our balance sheet for the majority of the year. Yields on a large portion of our loan and securities portfolios adjusted upward as rates rise at a quicker rate than the rates on our deposits and other funding sources adjusted upward during the recent rising interest rate cycle. Yields on our loan
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portfolio consist of 24.8% floating rates and 41.9% variable rates, while 47.2% of the securities portfolio is floating rate and adjust as interest rates increase. This positively impacts revenue and helps mitigate increased funding costs.
The following table provides information regarding the average balances, interest and rates earned on interest-earning assets and the average balances, interest and rates paid on interest-bearing liabilities for the years ended December 31:
ASSETS
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
(1)Nonaccruing loans are included in the daily average loan amounts outstanding.
(2)Tax-exempt income is on an FTE basis using the statutory federal corporate income tax rate of 21 percent.
(3)Loan and deposit balances include held-for-sale transactions in connection with sale of Bank branches.
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Interest income increased $36.2 million, or 22.6% for 2023 compared to 2022. Interest income, on an FTE basis (non-GAAP), increased $36.1 million, or 22.4%, for 2023 compared to 2022. The change was primarily due to increases in average interest-earning assets of $270.2 million for 2023, and higher interest rate yields on interest-earning assets of 59 basis points compared to 2022 due to the higher interest rate environment in fiscal year 2023. These changes were offset by the negative impact of $30.0 million to interest income for the year ended December 31, 2023 related to the Company placing its largest lending relationship on nonaccrual status, as noted above. Average interest-bearing deposits with banks decreased $30.4 million in 2023, and the average rate paid increased 455 basis points for 2023 compared to 2022 as funds were deployed into higher yielding loans.
Average loan balances increased $335.9 million primarily influenced by the consistent loan growth in 2023 as compared to 2022. Loans provide the greatest impact on interest income and the yield on earning assets as they have the largest balance and the highest yield within major earning asset categories. The average rate earned on loans increased 24 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 despite the negative impact caused by the Company placing its largest lending relationship on nonaccrual status, as noted above. At December 31, 2023, the loan portfolio was comprised of 24.8% floating rate loans which reprice monthly, 41.9% variable rate loans that reprice at least once during the life of the loan and 33.3% fixed rate loans that do not reprice during the life of the loan.
Average investment securities decreased $52.4 million and the average rate earned increased 125 basis points for 2023 compared to 2022. The change in investment securities is the result of active balance sheet management to deploy the proceeds from securities maturities and principal payments into higher yielding loans, rather than reinvesting those proceeds back into the securities portfolio. The portfolio has been diversified as to bond types, maturities, and interest rate structures. As of December 31, 2023, the securities portfolio was comprised of 47.2% variable rate securities with approximately 99.3% that will reprice at least once over the next 12 months. We believe having a significant percentage of variable rate securities is an important strategy during times of rising interest rates because fixed-rate bond prices generally fall when interest rates increase, which can result in unrealized losses. However, variable rate securities do not carry as much interest rate risk so there is much less price volatility. This variable rate strategy is expected to limit the impact of rising rates on the Company’s unrealized losses on debt securities.
Interest expense increased $53.9 million for 2023 compared to 2022. The increase was primarily due to increases in the cost of all interest-bearing liability categories, except savings accounts, in the higher rate environment. Also contributing to the increased interest expense was the shift to higher cost deposits and borrowings due to a decline and change in mix of deposits and the Company’s use of higher-cost borrowings to fund growth in the loan portfolio, including a $97.8 million decline in average interest-bearing deposits for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. Interest expense on deposits increased $34.0 million for 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to the rates on these deposits increasing 119 basis points to 1.81%. The increase in rates for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period last year included interest-bearing demand deposits up by 24 basis points, money market accounts up by 163 basis points, and CDs up by 169 basis points, in response to competitive pressures from higher market rates compared to the same period in 2022.
The average balance on borrowings increased $374.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended 2022. The cost of borrowings increased 121 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, largely due to increased balances and the higher interest rate environment.
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The following table sets forth for the periods presented a summary of the changes in interest earned and interest paid resulting from changes in volume and changes in rates:
Interest Earned on:
Interest Paid on:
(1) Nonaccruing loans are included in the daily average loan amounts outstanding.
(2) Tax-exempt income is on an FTE basis (non-GAAP) using the statutory federal corporate income tax rate of 21 percent.
(3) Changes to rate/volume are allocated to both rate and volume on a proportionate dollar basis.
Provision for Credit Losses
The Company recognizes provision for the ACL based on the difference between the existing balance of ACL reserves and the ACL reserve balance necessary to adequately absorb expected credit losses associated with the Company’s financial instruments. Similarly, the Company recognizes provision (recovery) for unfunded commitments based on the difference between the existing balance of reserves for unfunded commitments and the reserve balance for unfunded commitments necessary to adequately absorb expected credit losses associated with those commitments.
The ACL as a percentage of total portfolio loans was 2.77% at December 31, 2023 and 2.98% at December 31, 2022. The provision for credit losses increased $3.1 million to $5.5 million for the year ended 2023 compared to $2.4 million for the year ended 2022. The increase in the provision for credit losses was primarily driven by loan growth.
The provision for unfunded commitments for the full year 2023 was a provision of $0.9 million compared to a provision of $0.5 million for the full year 2022, an increase of $0.4 million primarily due to an increase in construction commitments.
Net charge-offs were $2.3 million for the full year 2023 compared to $4.5 million for the full year 2022. During 2023, net charge-offs were concentrated in the other consumer loan segment. As a percentage of average portfolio loans, on an annualized basis, net charge-offs were 0.07% and 0.15% for the years ended 2023 and 2022, respectively. See the “Allowance for Credit Losses” section of this MD&A for additional details regarding our charge-offs.
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Nonperforming loans (“NPLs”) increased at December 31, 2023 by $302.9 million to $309.5 million compared to $6.6 million at December 31, 2022. During the second quarter of 2023, the Company placed commercial loans that reside in the Other segment of the Company’s loan portfolio, relating to a single lending relationship which has an aggregate principal amount of $301.9 million, on nonaccrual status due to loan maturities and failure to pay in full. In connection with our adoption of Topic 326 “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses” on January 1, 2021, the bank segmented this relationship in the CECL model, along with select other loans, into a segment labeled Other. As of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, those Other segment reserves were $54.4 million and $54.7 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, the Company utilized discounted cash flow valuation techniques to evaluate the current condition of certain of the borrowers’ operating businesses, those borrowers’ capacity to repay and scenarios through which the Company may ultimately resolve this nonaccrual relationship, which resulted in individually evaluated reserves related to that single lending relationship. The bank established a reserve of $51.3 million for this relationship as of January 1, 2021 with the adoption of CECL. As a result of the discounted cash flow analysis and the reserves that were established for this relationship as of December 31, 2022, the classification of these commercial loans in nonaccrual status did not have a significant impact on the Company’s provision for credit losses during the year ended December 31, 2023. NPLs as a percentage of total portfolio loans were 8.83% at December 31, 2023 compared to 0.21% at December 31, 2022. See the “Credit Quality” section of this MD&A for more detail on our NPLs.
Discussion of net interest income for the year ended December 31, 2021 has been omitted as such discussion was provided in Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” under the heading “Net Interest Income” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed with the SEC on March 11, 2022, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Noninterest Income
Years Ended December 31,
(Dollars in Thousands) 2023 2022 $ Change % Change
(Losses) Gains on Sales of Securities, net $ (1,521) $ 46 $ (1,567) NM
Service Charges, Commissions and Fees 7,155 7,168 (13) (0.2) %
Gains on Sales and Write-downs of Bank Premises, net — 73 (73) (100.0) %
NM - percentage not meaningful
For the full year 2023, total noninterest income was $18.3 million, a decrease of $3.4 million, or 15.8%, from the full year 2022. The decrease was primarily related to net losses on sales of securities of $1.5 million, a decrease of $1.6 million in other noninterest income, a decrease of $0.6 million in commercial loan swap fee income, as well as a decrease of $0.1 million in gains on sales and write-downs of bank premises, net. These decreases were offset by an increase of $0.4 million in debit card interchange fees due to higher volume during 2023.
The net losses on sales of securities were driven by the sale of approximately $30.0 million of available-for-sale securities during the fourth quarter of 2023 to reposition the securities portfolio and reinvest the proceeds in higher earning assets. The decrease within other noninterest income related to the unwind of two completed historic tax credit partnerships, which resulted in a gain of $1.2 million during the fourth quarter of 2022 and lower fair value adjustment of our interest rate swap contracts with commercial customers. The decrease in commercial loan swap fee income was due to the changing interest rate environment.
Discussion of noninterest income for the year ended December 31, 2021 has been omitted as such discussion was provided in Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” under the heading “Noninterest Income” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed with the SEC on March 11, 2022, and is incorporated herein by reference.
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Noninterest Expense
(Dollars in Thousands) Years Ended December 31,
For the full year 2023, total noninterest expense was $105.5 million, an increase of $8.5 million, or 8.7%, from the full year 2022 primarily due to higher salaries and employee benefits of $3.5 million, an increase of $2.9 million in FDIC insurance expenses, an increase of $0.9 million in other noninterest expense, an increase in losses on sales and write-downs of other real estate owned, (“OREO”), net of $0.7 million, an increase in occupancy expenses of $0.5 million, an increase in professional and legal fees of $0.4 million, and an increase in advertising expenses of $0.3 million. Offsetting these increases was a decline in tax credit amortization of $0.6 million and a decrease on $0.1 million in data processing expenses.
The increase in salaries and employee benefits was primarily related to higher salary expense of $4.5 million due to fewer open positions in retail, job grade assessment increases and normal merit increases, increases of $0.2 million in restricted stock expense, increased Federal Insurance Contributions Act expenses of $0.4 million, offset by a decrease in medical claims of $0.3 million and lower performance based incentives of $1.4 million in 2023.
The increase in FDIC insurance expenses was due to a final rule adopted by the FDIC to all insured depository institutions, to increase initial base deposit insurance assessment rate schedules uniformly by two basis points, beginning in the first quarterly assessment period of 2023, as well as the deterioration in asset quality as a direct result of the large NPL relationship, which is a component used to determine the assessment.
The increase in other noninterest expense relates to immaterial amounts resulting from various operating and administrative expenses including business development expenses (i.e. travel and entertainment, donations and club dues), insurance, supplies and printing, equipment rent, and software support and maintenance.
The increase in losses on sales and write-downs of OREO, net related to three legacy OREO properties that sold in the fourth quarter of 2023, and $0.5 million in write-downs on three closed retail branches. These branches were closed in 2023, transferred to OREO and marketed for sale.
The increases in occupancy expenses primarily related to additional seasonal services performed during the year ended 2023. The increase in professional and legal fees relates to higher legal expenses incurred from the large NPL relationship and new consulting engagements. Advertising expenses increased due to marketing initiatives during the full year 2023.
The decline in tax credit amortization was due to the early adoption of Accounting Standard Update 2023-02 Investments Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323): Accounting for Investments in Tax Credit Structures Using the Proportional Amortization Method. Under the proportional amortization modified retrospective basis, the amortization of tax credit investments is recorded as a component of income tax expense instead of through noninterest expense as previously recorded in 2022. The decrease in data processing expenses related to additional expenses incurred during the full year 2022 for our online banking platform.
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Discussion of noninterest expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 has been omitted as such discussion was provided in Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” under the heading “Noninterest Expense” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed with the SEC on March 11, 2022, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Provision for Income Taxes
The provision for income taxes decreased $6.3 million to $5.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $11.6 million for December 31, 2022. Pre-tax income decreased $33.0 million for the year ended 2023 compared to 2022. Our effective tax rate was 18.6% for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to 18.8% for December 31, 2022. The decrease in the effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 was primarily related to changes in pre-tax income, partially offset by increases to the valuation allowance in 2023. The Company ordinarily generates an annual effective tax rate that is less than the statutory rate of 21% due to benefits resulting from tax-exempt interest income, tax credit projects and bank owned life insurance (“BOLI”).
Discussion of provision for income taxes for the year ended December 31, 2021 has been omitted as such discussion was provided in Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” under the heading “Provision for Income Taxes” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed with the SEC on March 11, 2022, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Financial Condition
December 31, 2023
Total assets increased $308.0 million, to $4.5 billion at December 31, 2023 compared to $4.2 billion at December 31, 2022. Total portfolio loans increased $357.0 million, or 11.3% to $3.5 billion at December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022 primarily due to loan growth in the CRE, residential mortgage and construction segments during the year ended December 31, 2023. The variances in loan segments for portfolio loans related to increases of $200.1 million in commercial real estate loans, $130.0 million in residential mortgages, $82.8 million in construction loans, offset by decreases of $38.3 million in commercial and industrial (“C&I”) loans, $10.3 million in other consumer loans and $7.3 million in the other category.
The securities portfolio decreased $57.3 million and is currently 17.3% of total assets at December 31, 2023 compared to 19.9% of total assets at December 31, 2022. The decrease is due to $92.2 million in security sales, curtailments and maturities deployed into higher yielding loan growth or to curtail wholesale funding, partially offset by security purchases of $24.9 million and the positive changes in fair value of securities during 2023. As of December 31, 2023, the securities portfolio was comprised of 47.2% variable rate securities with approximately 99.3% that will reprice at least once over the next 12 months. At December 31, 2023, total gross unrealized gains in the available-for-sale portfolio were $0.7 million, offset by $92.3 million of gross unrealized losses. Refer to the “Securities Activity” section below for further discussion of unrealized losses in the available-for-sale securities portfolio.
Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) stock, at cost increased $11.9 million to $21.6 million at December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022. The increase is due to the FHLB requirement to hold a specified level of stock based upon level of borrowings. OREO decreased $5.9 million at December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022 due to the sale of one OREO property in June 2023. During the year ended 2023, the Bank closed three retail banking offices and moved $1.4 million at fair value to OREO. These properties are currently being marketed for sale. Closed retail bank offices had a book value of $2.3 million at December 31, 2023 and $1.1 million at December 31, 2022.
Total deposits increased $89.4 million to $3.7 billion at December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022. The increase primarily related to an increase of $325.1 million in certificate of deposits (“CDs”) and an increase of $29.4 million in money market accounts offset by declines of $265.1 million in savings and demand deposits due to customers migrating to higher-yielding CD products driven by high market interest rates. At December 31, 2023, noninterest-bearing deposits comprised 18.4% of total deposits compared to 19.4% at December 31, 2022. CDs comprised 42.6% and 34.7% of total deposits at December 31, 2023 andDecember 31, 2022, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, based on assumptions that the Bank uses to prepare its regulatory call report, approximately 82.6% of our total deposits of $3.7 billion were insured under standard FDIC insurance coverage limits, and approximately 17.4% of our total deposits were uninsured deposits over the standard FDIC
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insurance coverage limit. The Company’s deposit base is diversified and granular and is comprised of approximately 78.9% of retail deposits.
Total capital of $351.2 million at December 31, 2023, reflects an increase of $22.6 million compared to $328.6 million at December 31, 2022. The increase in total capital from December 31, 2022 is primarily due to net income of $23.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, other comprehensive income of $14.2 million increased due to changes in fair value of investment securities, an increase of $1.5 million related to restricted stock activity during the year, as well as, the transitional adjustment of $0.1 million, net of tax for the adoption of ASU 2023-02. Offsetting these increases was a decrease of $16.6 million related to the repurchase of common stock and the 1% excise tax on stock repurchases.
The ACL was 2.77% of total portfolio loans at December 31, 2023 compared to 2.98% as of December 31, 2022. General reserves as a percentage of total portfolio loans were 1.22% at December 31, 2023 compared to 2.96% at December 31, 2022. The decrease in the general reserves as a percentage of total portfolio loans was primarily driven by the largest lending relationship’s movement from the general pool to the individually evaluated loans due to the transfer to nonaccrual during the second quarter of 2023, offset by loan growth. Management believes the ACL is adequate to absorb expected losses inherent in the loan portfolio. See the sections of this MD&A titled “Provision for Credit Losses,” “Credit Quality” and “Allowance for Credit Losses” for information about the factors that impacted the ACL and the provision for credit losses.
The Company remains well capitalized. The Tier 1 capital ratio decreased to 11.08% at December 31, 2023 compared to 12.61% at December 31, 2022. The leverage ratio was 9.48% at December 31, 2023, compared to 10.29% at December 31, 2022 and the total risk-based capital ratio was 12.34% at December 31, 2023 compared to 13.86% at December 31, 2022. The decrease is related to the aforementioned repurchase of common stock of $16.6 million and the 1% excise tax on stock repurchases and loan growth during the year ended December 31, 2023. Another significant factor driving the ratios downward was the Company placing the above mentioned large lending relationship on nonaccrual status, which resulted in a $30.0 million year-to-date negative impact on interest income, combined with the movement of nonaccrual assets to higher risk rating categories.
The Bank also remained well capitalized as of December 31, 2023. The Bank’s Tier 1 capital ratio was 10.99% at December 31, 2023 compared to 12.42% at December 31, 2022. The Bank’s leverage ratio was 9.41% at December 31, 2023 compared to 10.13% at December 31, 2022. The Bank’s total risk-based capital ratio was 12.25% at December 31, 2023 compared to 13.68% at December 31, 2022.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
Securities
The following table presents the composition of available-for-sale securities for the periods presented:
(Dollars in Thousands) 2023 2022 $ Change
The balances and average rates of our securities portfolio are presented below as of December 31:
Balance Weighted-AverageYield Balance Weighted-AverageYield
U.S. Treasury Securities $ — — % $ 17,866 1.43 %
The Company invests in various securities in order to maintain a source of liquidity, to satisfy various pledging requirements, to increase net interest income and as a tool of the ALCO to diversify and reposition the balance sheet for interest rate risk purposes. Securities are subject to market risks that could negatively affect the level of liquidity available to us. Security purchases are subject to our investment policy that is approved annually by our Board and administered through ALCO and our treasury function.
The securities portfolio decreased $57.3 million to $779.0 million at December 31, 2023 compared to $836.3 million at December 31, 2022. Securities comprise 17.3% of total assets at December 31, 2023 compared to 19.9% at December 31, 2022. The decrease is primarily due to $92.2 million in security sales, curtailments and maturities deployed into higher yielding loan growth or to curtail wholesale funding, partially offset by security purchases of $24.9 million and the positive changes in fair value of securities during 2023. As of December 31, 2023, the securities portfolio was comprised of 47.2% variable rate securities with approximately 99.3% that will reprice at least once over the next 12 months.
At December 31, 2023, total gross unrealized gains in the available-for-sale portfolio were $0.7 million offset by $92.3 million of gross unrealized losses. At December 31, 2022, total gross unrealized gains in the available-for-sale portfolio were $0.3 million offset by $109.7 million of gross unrealized losses.
The unrealized losses on debt securities are believed to be temporary primarily because these unrealized losses are due to reductions in market value caused by upward movement in interest rates since the securities purchase (as applicable), and not related to the credit quality of these securities. Our portfolio consists of 48.7% of securities issued by United States government
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
sponsored entities and carry an implicit government guarantee. States and political subdivisions comprise 28.5% of the portfolio and are largely general obligations or essential purpose revenue bonds, which have performed very well historically over all business cycles, and are rated AA and AAA. We have the ability to hold these securities to maturity and expect full recovery of the amortized cost. From time to time we may sell securities to take advantage of market opportunities or as part of a strategic initiative.
The Company’s investment securities with intermediate and long-term maturities were the largest driver of these gross unrealized losses, as the market values of these securities are significantly impacted by the Treasury yield curve for similar durations (i.e., 5- and 10-year Treasury securities). This portion of the Treasury yield curve has moved lower over the past three months, driving unrealized losses on these securities lower. The Company believes that the Federal Reserve System, (“FRB”) is at or near the end of its aggressive strategy of raising short-term interest rates to combat inflation. Some market information indicates that the FRB may start lowering short-term interest rates in 2024. Changes in short-term interest rates can affect the yield on floating rate securities. Therefore, yields on floating rate securities may begin to fall should the FRB begin lowering short rates. Changes in intermediate and long-term interest rates, which are market driven, affect the market value of fixed rate securities with similar maturities. Thus, the Company expects that market values on the Bank’s intermediate and long-term maturity holdings will continue to fluctuate in large part driven by treasury yield changes.
At December 31, 2023 the 5-year and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields were 3.84% and 3.88%, respectively. At December 31, 2022, those same bond yields were 3.99% and 3.88%, respectively. The flatness in 10-year treasury yields was neutral to bond market values, while the decrease of 15 basis points in the 5-year treasury in the intermediate part of the yield curve helped drive the decrease in unrealized losses for the year ended December 31, 2023. The effects were generally greater for longer maturity bonds, such as municipal bonds. On the other hand, floating rate bonds largely held consistent values, as those interest rates adjust in line with Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
Should the impairment of any of these securities become credit related, the impairment will be recognized by establishing an ACL through provision for credit losses in the period the credit related impairment is identified, while any non-credit loss will be recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of applicable taxes. At December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the Company had no credit related impairment.
The Basel rules also permit most banking organizations to retain, through a one-time election, existing treatment for accumulated other comprehensive loss, which currently does not affect regulatory capital. The Company elected to retain this treatment which reduces the volatility of regulatory capital levels.
The following table sets forth the maturities of securities at December 31, 2023 and the weighted average yields of such securities.
Available-for-Sale Securities
(Dollars in Thousands) Maturing
Amount Yield Amount Yield Amount Yield Amount Yield
U.S. Government Agency Securities $ — — % $ 2,898 6.07 % $ 40,929 5.77 % $ — — %
Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities(2) — — % — — % — — % 99,150 3.62 %
Corporate Notes — — % — — % 59,360 3.87 % — — %
(1)Weighted -average yields are calculated on a taxable-equivalent basis using the federal statutory tax rate of 21 percent.
(2) Securities not due at a single maturity date
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
At December 31, 2023 the Company had no held-to-maturity securities; however, if at a future date we classify securities as held-to-maturity, our disclosures will show the weighted average yield for each range of maturities.
At December 31, 2023, the Company held 52.8% fixed rate and 47.2% floating rate securities. The floating rate securities may have a stated maturity greater than ten years, but the interest rate generally adjusts monthly. Therefore, the duration on these securities is short, generally less than one year, and will therefore not be as sensitive to interest rate changes.
Refer to Note 4, Investment Securities, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information related to our securities.
Loan Composition
The following table summarizes our loan portfolio as of the periods presented:
December 31,
Commercial
Consumer
Our loan portfolio represents our most significant source of interest income. The risk that borrowers are unable to pay such obligations is inherent in the loan portfolio. Other conditions such as downturns in the borrower's industry or the overall economic climate can significantly impact the borrower’s ability to pay. For a discussion of the risk factors relevant to our business and operations, please refer to Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Total portfolio loans increased $357.0 million, or 11.3%, to $3.5 billion at December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022 with strong production primarily in our CRE, residential mortgage and construction portfolios. The CRE portfolio is monitored for potential concentrations of credit risk by market, property type and tenant concentrations. Given the continued rising rate environment our mortgage portfolio experienced more modest growth in 2023 compared to 2022. At December 31, 2023, the loan portfolio was comprised of 24.8% floating rates which reprice monthly, 41.9%, variable rates that reprice at least once during the life of the loan and the remaining 33.3% are fixed rate loans. The Company continues to carefully monitor the loan portfolio during 2023, including in light of market conditions that impact our borrowers and the interest rate environment.
Total CRE represented 47.7% of total portfolio loans at December 31, 2023 compared to 46.7% at December 31, 2022. The Company’s CRE loan portfolio is concentrated predominantly in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, West Virginia and Georgia within the retail, multifamily, hospitality, warehouse and office metrics.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
The following table presents the Company's CRE breakout by segment, the segment amounts included in special mention and substandard and the related percentages by segment to total CRE and total portfolio loans as of the periods indicated:
December 31,
Commercial Real Estate
CRE loans represent a portfolio concentration risk. The majority of our CRE loans are made in the above noted geographies and granted to experienced developers and sponsors with loan guaranty structures that provide recourse to individuals with access to financial resources. We believe our knowledge of CRE and our operating knowledge at the local and regional level of these markets allows us to effectively manage concentration risk. Our operating knowledge at the local and regional level is derived from our front-line connection to the customer and our understanding of their business model. We also have access to research tools that inform us about market statistics such as occupancy, lease growth rates and new construction starts. This data is reviewed frequently by our credit officers and disseminated to our lenders. The bank’s underwriting process includes multiple shock scenarios primarily focused on cash flow and leverage in order to determine a supportable loan amount.
We attempt to limit our exposure to credit risk by diversifying our loan portfolio by segment, geography, collateral and industry while actively managing concentrations. When concentrations exist in certain segments, we seek to mitigate this risk by reviewing the relevant economic indicators and internal risk rating trends of the loans in these segments. The Company established transaction, relationship and specific loan segment limits in its loan policy. Total commercial real estate balances should not exceed the combination of 300% of total risk-based capital and growth in excess of 50% over the previous thirty-six months and construction loan balances should not exceed 100% of total risk-based capital. Investment real estate property types and purchased loan programs have individual dollar limits that should not be exceeded in the portfolio and are based on management’s risk tolerance relative to capital. In addition, there are specific targets for various categories of real estate loans with respect to debt service coverage ratios, loan-to-value ratios, loan terms, and amortization periods. We also have policy limits on loan-to-cost for construction projects. Although leverage is important, the Company also focuses on cash flow generation and employs stress testing to calculate a supportable loan amount.
Aggregate commitments to our top 10 credit relationships were $636.7 million at December 31, 2023. The Other segment represents 47.4% of the top 10 credit relationships and the Company has since transferred its largest lending relationship of $301.9 million to nonaccrual during the second quarter of 2023, as described in more detail below under “Credit Quality” in this MD&A.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
The following table summarizes our top 10 relationships and a description of industries represented for the periods presented:
For the Periods Ending
Unfunded commitments on lines of credit were $568.7 million at December 31, 2023 as compared to $512.7 million at December 31, 2022. The majority of unused commitments are for construction projects that will be drawn as the construction completes. Total utilization was 53.8% at December 31, 2023 and 50.3% at December 31, 2022. Unfunded commitments on commercial operating lines of credit was 53.7% at December 31, 2023 and 49.7% at December 31, 2022.
Unsecured loans pose higher risk for the Company due to the lack of a well-defined secondary source of repayment. Commercial unsecured loans are reserved for the best quality customers with well-established businesses that operate with low financial and operating leverage. The repayment capacity of the borrower should exceed the policy and guidelines for secured loans. The Company significantly increased the standards for consumer unsecured lending by adjusting upward the required qualifying Fair Isaac Corporation (“FICO”) scores and restricting loan amounts at lower FICO scores.
Deferred costs and fees included in the portfolio balances above were $7.2 million and $8.2 million at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. Discounts on purchased 1-4 family loans included in the portfolio balances above were $133.4 thousand and $161.2 thousand at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
The following tables present the maturity schedule of portfolio loan types at December 31, 2023:
Maturity
Fixed interest rates
Other — — — — —
Variable interest rates
Refer to Note 5, Loans and Loans Held-For-Sale, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information related to our loans.
Credit Quality
On a monthly basis, a Criticized Asset Committee meets to review certain watch, special mention and substandard risk rated loans within prescribed policy thresholds. These loans typically represent the highest risk of loss to the Company. Action plans are established and these loans are monitored through regular contact with the borrower and loan officer, review of current financial information and other documentation, review of all loan or potential loan restructures or modifications and the regular re-evaluation of assets held as collateral.
On a quarterly basis, the Credit Risk Committee of the Board meets to review our loan portfolio metrics, approve segment limits, approve the adequacy of ACL, and review the findings from Loan Review identified in the previous quarter. Annually, this same committee approves credit related policy changes and policy enhancements as they become available.
Additional credit risk management practices include continuous reviews of trends in our lending footprint and our lending policies and procedures to support sound underwriting practices, concentrations, delinquencies and annual portfolio stress testing. Our Loan Review department serves as a mechanism to independently monitor credit quality and assess the effectiveness of credit risk management practices to provide oversight of all lending activities. The loan review function has the primary responsibility for assessing commercial credit administration and credit decision functions of consumer and mortgage underwriting, as well as determining the appropriateness of risk ratings for those loans reviewed and providing input to the loan risk rating process. Our policy is to place loans in all categories in nonaccrual status when collection of interest or principal is doubtful, or generally when interest or principal payments are 90 days or more past due based on contractual terms. Consumer unsecured loans and secured loans are evaluated for charge-off after the loan becomes 90 days past due. Loans past due 90 days are automatically transferred to nonaccrual status. Management reserves the right to exercise discretion at the individual loan level. For example, we may elect to transfer a loan to nonaccrual regardless of the delinquency status if we believe the collection in full of both principal and interest to be unlikely. We may also elect to retain a loan that is 90 or more days’ delinquent in accrual status if we believe the loan is well secured and in the process of collection. Unsecured loans are fully charged-off and secured loans are charged-off to the estimated fair value of the collateral less the cost to sell.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
The ability of borrowers to repay commercial loans is dependent upon the success of their business and general economic conditions. Due to the greater potential for loss within our commercial portfolio, we monitor the commercial loan portfolio through an internal risk rating system. Loan risk ratings are assigned based upon the creditworthiness of the borrower and are reviewed on an ongoing basis according to our internal policies. Loans rated special mention or substandard have potential or well-defined weaknesses not generally found in high quality, performing loans, and require attention from management to limit loss.
Nonperforming assets consist of nonaccrual loans and OREO. The following table summarizes nonperforming assets for the dates presented:
(Dollars in Thousands) December 31, 2023 December 31, 2022 Change
Nonaccrual Loans
Nonperforming Loans to Total Portfolio Loans 8.83 % 0.21 %
Nonperforming assets increased $297.0 million to $312.0 million at December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022. During the second quarter of 2023, the Company placed commercial loans that resided in the Other segment of the Company’s loan portfolio, relating to the Bank’s largest lending relationship which has an aggregate principal amount of $301.9 million, on nonaccrual status due to loan maturities and failure to pay in full. These nonperforming loans are 97.5% of the Company's total nonperforming loans and 96.8% of the Company's total nonperforming assets.
Based on analyses of the credit relationship and various discounted cash flow valuation techniques utilized in the alternative modeling, which resulted in a valuation allowance with respect to these loans of $54.3 million at December 31, 2023, representing 18.0% of these loans aggregate principal amount. At December 31, 2023, all of the Bank’s loans related to this lending relationship are on nonaccrual status.
The Company believes it is well secured based on the net carrying value of the credit relationship and appropriately reserved for potential losses with respect to all such loans based on information currently available. As the borrowers on these loans operate in the hospitality, agriculture, and energy sectors, this credit relationship is secured by, among other collateral, commercial real estate properties in these sectors including but not limited to top-tier hospitality properties. When evaluating the net carrying value of this credit relationship at December 31, 2023, the Company utilized discounted cash flow valuation techniques to estimate the timing and magnitude of potential recoveries resulting from various collection processes.
The following is an analysis of nonperforming loans by loan portfolio segment for the dates presented, and each segment’s relative contribution to total nonperforming loans:
(Dollars in Thousands) Amount % of NPLs Amount % of NPLs
Commercial and Industrial 52 — % 204 3.1 %
Other Consumer 59 — % 8 0.1 %
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The Company has initiated collection processes with respect to such loans and intends to explore all alternatives for repayment. However, we cannot give any assurance as to the timing or amount of future payments or collections on such loans or that we will ultimately collect all amounts contractually due under the terms of such loans. For a discussion of collection proceedings with respect to these loans, see the information contained in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data – Note 18, “Commitments and Contingencies,” under the heading “Legal Proceedings” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Closed retail bank offices have a remaining book value of $2.3 million at December 31, 2023 and $1.1 million at December 31, 2022, and are recorded in OREO on the Company’s balance sheet. During the year ended 2023, the Bank closed three retail banking offices and moved $1.4 million at fair value to OREO. These properties were marketed for sale as of December 31, 2023.
Past Company legacy underwriting standards relied heavily on loan to value and did not necessarily consider the income characteristics of the borrower or the repayment capacity of collateral with respect to speculative land financing. An overreliance on value as a primary repayment source can become compromised during real estate cycles. As a result, management has worked through these legacy credits and has installed a number of underwriting guardrails that consider the global cash flows and repayment capability of borrowers and/or guarantors, the proportion of speculation, transaction limits and introduced sensitivity analysis in order to determine supportable loan amounts. While these guardrails do not insulate the Company from credit cycles, we believe it should reduce the experience of defaults.
Closed-end installment loans, amortizing loans secured by real estate and any other loans with payments scheduled monthly are reported past due when the borrower is in arrears two or more monthly payments. Other multi-payment obligations with payments scheduled other than monthly are reported past due when one scheduled payment is due and unpaid for 30 days or more. We monitor delinquency on a monthly basis, including loans that are at risk for becoming delinquent and early stage delinquencies in order to identify emerging patterns and potential problem loans.
The following table summarizes past due loans for the dates presented:
(Dollars in Thousands) December 31,
Loans 30 to 89 Days Past Due
Commercial
Commercial Real Estate $ 319 $ 104
Commercial and Industrial 39 283
Consumer
Other — —
Portfolio loans past due 30 to 89 days and still accruing increased $1.2 million to $6.0 million at December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022, primarily in the residential mortgage segment. There were no loans during the year ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 that were past due more than 90 days and still accruing.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
The following tables represent credit exposures by internally assigned risk ratings as of December 31, 2023 and 2022:
At December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the Company had no loans that were risk rated as doubtful. Special mention and substandard loans at December 31, 2023 increased $156.5 million to $313.3 million compared to December 31, 2022, with an increase of $167.5 million in substandard and a decrease of $11.0 million in special mention. The increase of $167.5 million in substandard loans is primarily related to the above mentioned $301.9 million nonaccrual lending relationship in the other loan category. The $301.9 million of loans related to the Bank’s largest lending relationship was nonperforming and rated as substandard at December 31, 2023. At December 31, 2022 the largest lending relationship in the other segment loans were all accruing and totaled $309.1 million of which, $177.3 million of those loans were pass-rated and $131.8 million of those loans were substandard-rated. The decrease of $11.0 million in special mention is primarily due to the upgrade of a CRE credit totaling $9.9 million to a pass rating.
Refer to Note 6, Allowance for Credit Losses, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information related to our nonperforming loans and OREO.
Troubled Debt Restructuring Disclosures Prior to Our Adoption of ASU No. 2022-02
Prior to our adoption of ASU No. 2022-02, the Company accounted for Troubled Debt Restructuring (“TDR”) as a loan which, for economic or legal reasons related to a borrower’s financial difficulties, granted a concession to the borrower that we would not otherwise grant. The Company strived to identify borrowers in financial difficulty early and work with them to modify terms and conditions before their loan defaults and/or is transferred to nonaccrual status. Modified terms that might have been considered a TDR generally included extension of maturity dates at a stated interest rate lower than the current market rate for a new loan with similar characteristics, reductions in contractual interest rates or principal deferment. While unusual, there may have been instances of principal forgiveness. Short-term modifications that were considered insignificant were generally not considered a TDR unless there were other concessions granted. On April 1, 2022, the Company adopted ASU 2022-02, which eliminated TDR accounting prospectively for all restructurings occurring on or after January 1, 2022. Refer to Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Polices, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information related to ASU No. 2022-02.
Generally, the Company individually evaluates all loans that are nonaccrual or considered a restructured loan, with a commitment equal to $1.0 million or greater and/or based on management’s discretion; for individually evaluated loan reserves.
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In addition, the Company may individually evaluate credits that have complex loan structures, even if the commitment is less than $1.0 million. Nonaccrual loans can be returned to accruing status if the ultimate collectability of all contractual amounts due, according to the restructured agreement, is not in doubt and there is a period of a minimum of six months of satisfactory payment performance by the borrower either immediately before or after the restructuring.
Allowance for Credit Losses
The following summarizes our allowance for credit loss experience at December 31 for each of the years presented:
Impact of CECL Adoption — — 61,642
Charge-offs:
Commercial Real Estate — — 19,662
Other — — —
Recoveries:
Commercial Real Estate — — 159
Commercial and Industrial 88 1 291
Other — — —
Net Charge-offs to Average Portfolio Loans 0.07% 0.15% 0.79%
Allowance for Credit Losses to Total Portfolio Loans 2.77% 2.98% 3.41%
Total net charge-offs decreased to $2.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $4.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 primarily in the C&I segment. The largest charge-off in 2022 was $3.4 million on a purchased syndicated C&I loan in the amount of $4.9 million, which was previously reserved for $2.6 million, transferred to held-for-sale in the third quarter of 2022 in the amount of $1.5 million and then sold in the fourth quarter of 2022. The net charge-offs of $23.1 million for the full year 2021 was primarily attributable to the resolution of five problem relationships during 2021, in which the majority of losses were anticipated and previously reserved.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS - (continued)
The following is the allocation of the ACL balance by segment as of December 31 for the years presented below:
The increase in the ACL was primarily due to increases in the CRE, residential mortgage and construction segments as a result of loan growth in these segments during 2023. The ACL was $97.1 million, or 2.77%, of total portfolio loans at December 31, 2023 compared to $93.9 million, or 2.98% of total portfolio loans at December 31, 2022.
The following table summarizes the credit quality ratios and their components as of December 31 for the years presented below:
Allowance for Credit Losses to Total Portfolio Loans