2
Discussion of Operating
Results
Net Interest Income/Net Interest
Margin
Tax-equivalent
net interest income for the second quarter of 2021 totaled $26.1
million compared to $24.6 million for the first
quarter of 2021 and $25.6 million for the second quarter
of 2020.
Compared to the first quarter of 2021, the increase reflected higher
SBA PPP loan fees of $0.7 million, higher loan interest of
$0.5 million driven by loan growth, and higher investment
securities
income of $0.2 million which reflected deployment
of excess overnight funds into the investment portfolio.
Compared to the second
quarter of 2020, the increase was driven by higher SBA PPP
loan fees of $1.3 million partially offset by
lower interest earned on
investment securities and variable/adjustable rate loans.
For the first six months of 2021, tax-equivalent net interest
income totaled
$50.7 million compared to $51.4 million for the same period
of 2020.
The decrease generally reflected lower rates earned on
investment securities and variable/adjustable rate loans
partially offset by higher SBA PPP loan fees and lower
interest expense.
Our net interest margin for the second quarter
of 2021 was 2.89%, an increase of three basis points over
the first quarter of 2021 and
a decrease of 52 basis points from the second quarter
of 2020.
Compared to the first quarter of 2021, the increase was driven
by
higher SBA PPP loan fees.
Compared to the second quarter of 2020, the decrease was primarily
attributable to downward re-pricing
of earning assets and significant growth in overnight funds (driven
by deposit inflows) which negatively impacts our margin
percentage.
For the first six months of 2021, the net interest margin
decreased 72 basis points to 2.87% generally reflective of
downward re-pricing of our earning assets (variable/adjustable rate
loans and securities portfolio) partially offset by a
lower cost of
funds and higher SBA PPP loan fees.
Our net interest margin for the second quarter of
2021, excluding the impact of overnight
funds in excess of $200 million, was 3.46%.
Provision for Credit Loss
We recorded
a negative provision for credit losses of $0.6 million for the second
quarter of 2021 compared to a negative provision
of $1.0 million for the first quarter of 2021 and provision
expense of $2.0 million for the second quarter of 2020.
For the first six
months of 2021, we recorded a negative provision of
$1.6 million compared to provision expense of $7.0 million
for the same
period of 2020.
The negative provision for the first half of 2021 generally
reflected improving economic conditions and strong net
loan recoveries totaling $0.9 million.
We discuss the allowance
for credit losses further below.
Noninterest Income and Noninterest
Expense
Noninterest income for the second quarter of 2021 totaled
$26.5 million compared to $29.8 million for the first quarter of 2021
and
$30.2 million for the second quarter of 2020.
The aforementioned declines were primarily due to
lower mortgage banking revenues
at CCHL, partially offset by improvements in
wealth management and bank card fees.
The decline in mortgage banking revenues
reflected lower production volume (primarily re-finance
activity) and a lower gain on sale margin.
For the first six months of 2021,
noninterest income totaled $56.3 million compared to
$45.7 million for the same period of 2020 with the increase
driven by the
addition of CCHL mortgage banking revenues late in
the first quarter of 2020,
and higher bank card and wealth management fees
which grew $1.4 million and $1.2 million, respectively
.
Additional detail on CCHL’s
operations and key performance metrics is
Noninterest expense for the second quarter of 2021 totaled
$42.1 million compared to $40.5 million for the first quarter
of 2021 and
$37.3 million for the second quarter of 2020.
For the first six months of 2021, noninterest expense totaled
$82.6 million compared
to $68.3 million for the same period of 2020.
The $1.6 million increase over the first quarter of 2021
reflected a $2.0 million partial
pension settlement charge that was partially offset
by lower commission expense at CCHL and lower legal fees and
other real estate
owned (“OREO”) expense at CCB.
The partial pension settlement charge
was attributable to a higher level of lump sum pay-outs, a
trend that we expect will continue for the remainder of
the year.
Compared to the prior year periods, the increase was primarily
attributable to the partial pension settlement charge
of $2.0 million, lower realized loan cost (credit offset
to salary expense), higher
pension plan expense (driven by a lower discount rate
for plan liabilities), and performance based compensation.
Additionally, the
increase for the first half of 2021 reflects the inclusion
of CCHL expenses for a full six month period versus only
four months in
Income Taxes
We realized income
tax expense of $2.1 million (effective rate of 19
%) for the second quarter of 2021 compared to $2.8 million
(effective rate of 19%) for the first quarter
of 2021 and $2.9 million (effective rate of 18%) for
the second quarter of 2020.
For the
first six months of 2021, we realized income tax
expense of $4.8
million (effective rate of 19%) compared to $4.2 million (effective
rate of 20%) for the same period of 2020.
Absent discrete items, we expect our annual effective tax
rate to approximate 18%-19%.