2024
Highlight: Capital buffers declining at community banks
January 31, 2024
Very few community banks report a capital conservation buffer below the minimum requirement, which protects banks during periods of stress; however, the number of banks below has increased.
Highlight: Losses in securities portfolios remain historically high
January 12, 2024
Community bank securities portfolio losses generated in the rising interest rate environment remain elevated but unrealized, as institutions are yet to liquidate securities and realize losses.
2023
Feature: Agricultural loan growth has returned to pre-pandemic levels
December 04, 2023
Community banks continue to play an integral part in commercial bank agricultural lending.
Highlight: Liquid Assets Declining From Pandemic Highs
October 17, 2023
The level of assets generally considered highly liquid has seen a significant decline as on-balance sheet liquidity has been used to fund loan growth and deposit runoff over the prior year.
Highlight: Decline in net interest income driven primarily by interest rates
September 27, 2023
The decline in net interest income at community banking organizations in 2023 is attributable to the interest rate environment despite being partially offset by benefits from growing balance sheets.
Highlight: CECL adoption’s impact on community bank allowance levels
August 04, 2023
There is considerable variance in the average percentage change in allowance levels with adoption of the CECL model, with larger community banks seeing the biggest increases.
Highlight: Funding costs increase as composition changes
June 29, 2023
Pricing pressures from deposit competition and shifts in consumer behavior have caused a decline in non-maturity deposits while time deposits and borrowings have increased, elevating funding costs.
Highlight: Risk premium for CRE lending has declined
June 01, 2023
As the federal funds rate and broader market interest rates have risen over the past year, lags in repricing have resulted in a dramatically narrowing risk premium for commercial real estate loans.
External LinkHighlight: Rising salary expenses as balance sheets grow
April 19, 2023
Community banks are paying more in salary costs, despite lower staffing levels, but employees are managing more assets than ever before.
External LinkHighlight: Earnings remain elevated despite slight decline in 2022
March 31, 2023
Earnings fell slightly at community banking organizations in 2022 compared to the year prior, though remain above pre-pandemic levels.
Highlight: FHLB borrowings increase and tangible common equity remains depressed
February 22, 2023
Community banks are increasingly accessing FHLB borrowings at a time when tangible common equity, though improving, remains at historic lows.
Highlight: Branch counts and deposit market share have declined
January 10, 2023
The number of branches at community banking organizations (CBOs)* continue to decline, as does their market share of deposits.
2022
Highlight: Banks turn to noncore borrowings as funding profiles shift
December 15, 2022
The use of noncore funding has increased in 2022 as banks look to fund loan growth, in contrast to the trends of the prior two years, characterized by large influxes of deposits.
Feature: Net interest margin movement throughout recent rate cycles
November 29, 2022
Driven by balance sheet changes and interest rate movements, community bank margins were challenged throughout the last two years but saw significant recovery starting in mid-2022.
Highlight: Commercial real estate loan losses remain muted despite significant recent loan growth
October 25, 2022
Commercial real estate (CRE) loss rates remain low despite rapid growth in CRE loan volume at community banks over the past year, particularly in construction and land development and multifamily loans.
Highlight: Assets decline as decrease in cash holdings outpaces loan growth
October 6, 2022
Total assets have declined for the second consecutive quarter, driven by a significant decrease in cash holdings which more than offset loan growth.
External LinkHighlight: Unrealized Losses Lowering Tangible Equity Capital
September 8, 2022
The rising interest rate environment has led to unrealized loss positions in community bank* available-for-sale securities portfolios and declining tangible equity capital ratios.
Highlight: Capital Adequacy Measures Diverge During Pandemic
August 1, 2022
Unprecedented asset growth during the pandemic placed downward pressure on leverage capital ratios while total risk-based capital ratios improved.
Highlight: Decreased gains on loan sales driving drop in noninterest income
July 13, 2022
Revenue from secondary market sales of loans continues to decline, in line with the drop in reported* sales of 1-4 family residential loans across community banks.
Feature: Effects of Pandemic Unlike Previous Financial Crisis
June 28, 2022
While the COVID-19 pandemic brought uncertainty across the financial sector, community banks have fared better than in the previous financial crisis.
Highlight: Unrealized losses mount across securities portfolios
June 13, 2022
As a result of recent interest rate increases and the lengthening of maturities in securities portfolios during the pandemic, unrealized positions in available-for-sale (AFS) securities have dropped to record lows.
Highlight: Earnings support dividends and moderate declining leverage ratio trend at community banks
May 11, 2022
Higher earnings in 2021 have supported continued dividend payouts and capital growth to moderate the downward pressure of deposit-fueled asset growth on community bank leverage ratios.
Highlight: Continued deposit growth fueling growth in liquid assets
April 15, 2022
Deposits continued to grow at a substantial pace for community banks in 2021, further expanding balance sheets with banks holding the majority of these funds in cash and securities.
Highlight: Provision Expenses Reach Historic Lows in 2021
March 8, 2022
Loan loss allowance levels were boosted following strong provisioning at the onset of the pandemic. However, as credit quality issues remained subdued, provisions reversed course in 2021.
Highlight: Merger Activity Started to Pick Up in the Second Half of 2021
February 22, 2022
As the economy has started to rebound from the COVID‐19 pandemic, merger activity at community banking organizations (CBOs) has also started to rebound.
Highlight: Asset maturity and repricing dates extend to historic highs
January 5, 2022
With interest rates at historic lows and balance sheets inflated, community banks are extending maturity and repricing dates on loan and security portfolios to maintain profitability.
2021
External LinkHighlight: Community Bank Loan Growth Driven by Increases in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Loans
December 17, 2021
Community bank CRE loans have grown consistently each quarter since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, while growth in other loan categories has been muted.
External LinkHighlight: Deposit Market Share Relatively Unchanged Through Pandemic
November 24, 2021
The share of deposits in community banking organizations (CBOs)* remains relatively unchanged since the COVID-19 pandemic with CBOs continuing to hold significant deposits in many counties across the U.S.
External LinkHighlight: Balance sheet growth pressures community bank capital ratios
November 1, 2021
Significant balance sheet expansion since the onset of the pandemic is driving lower capital ratios at community banks.
External LinkHighlight: Community banks continue to play a pivotal role for small businesses
October 14, 2021
Community banks continue to support local communities by actively lending to small businesses and participating in the Paycheck Protection Program despite a smaller share in total industry loans.
External LinkFeature: Revenues Elevated Despite Distorted Profitability Metrics
September 29, 2021
Asset growth driven by economic stimulus programs has caused many traditional profitability measures, which utilize asset volumes in the calculations, to fall. However, dollar volumes of revenues are up, and expenses are down, resulting in community bank income levels at historic highs. Bottom line returns could face future challenges with continued depressed net interest margins and current provision expenses at exceptionally low levels.
External LinkHighlight: Surge in deposits has caused plummeting loan-to-deposit ratio
August 31, 2021
The rush of deposits into community banks* caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with low loan demand, has caused loan-to-deposit ratios to fall to nearly 30-year lows.
External LinkHighlight: Problem asset levels remain low, but uncertain future remains
August 4, 2021
While problem assets at community banks* remain at low levels, the volume of loans modified during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates an uncertain future.
External LinkHighlight: Profitability improving, though net interest income remains compressed
July 22, 2021
While net interest income has fallen to historic lows, earnings are comparable to pre-pandemic levels.