CIB Marine Bancshares, Inc. Announces First Quarter 2023 Results

BROOKFIELD, Wis., April 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CIB Marine Bancshares, Inc. (the “Company” or “CIBM”) (OTCQX: CIBH), the holding company of CIBM Bank, announced its unaudited results of operations and financial condition for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. CIBM Bank continued to show improved performance with strength in loan growth and earnings performance contributions from the Banking Division. The Mortgage Division saw an operating loss during the quarter, largely due to onboarding expenses related to the hiring of approximately 35 mortgage loan officers. Net income for the quarter was $0.2 million, or $0.17 basic and $0.13 diluted earnings per share, compared to $0.9 million, or $0.69 basic and $0.50 diluted earnings per share, for the same period of 2022.

Financial highlights for the quarter include:

• Net interest income and margin were $5.9 million and 3.22%, respectively, compared to $5.5 million and 3.05%, respectively, in the same period of 2022. The three-month period in 2023 had $0.2 million less PPP loan fee accretion income and $0.1 million more subordinated debt interest expense compared to the same period in 2022, both of which were partially offset by a $13 million rise in average earning assets. Although interest-bearing liability costs increased faster than interest yielding asset yields, the rise in interest earning yields versus noninterest bearing funding sources (i.e., capital and noninterest-bearing deposits) contributed to a rise in the net interest margin.
• Banking Division net income for the 3 months ended March 31, 2023, was $1.0 million and the Mortgage Division net loss was $0.6 million, the remaining $0.2 million on net was from parent company sub-debt and administration expenses. CIB Marine’s consolidated total loan portfolio was up $31 million in balances from December 31, 2022, with the main source of growth in commercial loans. Mortgage loans closed and net mortgage revenue were up $17 million and $0.4 million, respectively, compared to the fourth quarter of 2022; and down $15 million and $0.4 million, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2022. The Mortgage Division has added 36 mortgage sales employees since the third quarter of 2022 and approximately 7 mortgage operations/administration employees. The sales to operations staff ratio for the Mortgage Division has improved materially, but production takes a few quarters to normalize for each new lender. In addition to a traditional seasonal decline in mortgage loan production during the first quarter, the markets remain adversely affected by higher mortgage interest rates compared to recent years, and related tighter mortgage loan margins. We expect performance to improve over the coming quarters as the new lenders get established and seasonal factors improve. However, so long as relatively high mortgage rates and tighter margins persist, improvement will be more limited than the net income contributions seen in 2020 and 2021.
• As of March 31, 2023, non-performing assets, restructured loans, and loans 90 days or more past due and still accruing to total assets and nonaccrual loans to total loans were 0.14% and 0.08%, respectively, compared to 0.20% and 0.16%, respectively, on December 31, 2022, and 0.19% and 0.13%, respectively, on March 31, 2022. Also, as of March 31, 2023, the allowance for credit losses on loans (“ACLL”) to loans was 1.51% compared to an allowance for loan and lease losses of 1.37% at December 31, 2022, and 1.51% at March 31, 2022.
• Effective January 1, 2023, CIB Marine adopted the new “current expected credit loss” accounting standard commonly referred to as CECL. The $1.6 million implementation date accounting entry was composed of $1.2 million to the ACLL and $0.4 million to Other Liabilities for estimated credit losses for unfunded commitments or an allowance for unfunded commitments (“AUC”). As permitted under CECL, the implementing provision entry net of tax was made directly to retained earnings rather than through the income statement. In addition, the provision to the allowance for credit losses for the first three months ended March 31, 2023, was $159,000 split between $47,000 to the ACLL and $112,000 to the AUC resulting in a final ACLL of $9.2 million and a final AUC of $0.5 million.
• During the month of March 2023, the banking industry was rattled by news related of three troubled regional domestic banks. These unique situations put a spotlight on both uninsured deposits and unrealized losses in bank securities portfolios. One of the failed bank’s year-end 2022 financials reported more than 90% of domestic deposits were uninsured and a Tier 1 Capital level after unrealized losses in their securities portfolio near $0.
  • While unrealized security portfolio losses and uninsured deposits are not uncommon in community banks, CIB Marine’s assessment of CIBM Bank and peer banks in its markets indicates levels of both components that are substantially better than the failed bank noted above. CIBM Bank’s unrealized securities losses are comparable to or better than most peer banks. Caused primarily by higher interest rates, the losses are expected to be recovered as the securities approach maturity. and the Bank’s regulatory capital ratios remain well above regulatory “Well Capitalized” numerical guidelines when adjusted for the unrealized losses. CIBM Bank’s uninsured deposits are estimated to be around 25% of total deposits; this ratio is also comparable to the Bank’s peers and down from year-end.  
  • CIBM Bank offers several products to assist large deposit customers in maximizing the FDIC deposit insurance coverage, including a reciprocal deposit program that provides access to up to $50 million in FDIC insurance coverage and a non-deposit government repo sweep program which provides government security collateral coverage for balances in a daily repurchase agreement sweep service.
  • CIBM Bank maintains a variety of liquidity contingency plans and resources to ensure its ability to meet short-term cash needs in case of unexpected events or market disruptions, including contingent funding arrangements with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and other correspondent banks; collateralized borrowing arrangements, including the new Federal Reserve Term Funding Program; and the ability to raise funding through deposit promotions, issuing brokered deposits, and issuing new time deposits via a national online deposit listing service.
  • Despite the recent adverse banking news, during the first quarter of 2023 the Bank’s total deposit balances grew by $3 million, its non-deposit government repo sweep balances grew by $21 million, and it issued $10 million in new short-term advances with the FHLB Chicago for total new funding of $34 million, primarily to support the growth in the loan portfolio.
• Over the past year, CIBM Bank has seen a shift in deposit mix as customers seek higher returns in a rising rate environment and to maximize their FDIC insurance coverage. Total deposits are up $3.5 million since December 31, 2022, and up nominally from March 31, 2022. However, since December 31, 2022, noninterest-bearing deposits have declined $20 million, and interest-bearing deposit gained $23 million, largely in reciprocal and time deposit products. Since March 31, 2022, noninterest-bearing deposits are down $30 million, and savings product balances are down $34 million, again offset by increases in reciprocal and time deposit products. CIBM Bank’s loan portfolio grew by $31 million during the first quarter of 2023 due to strong commercial origination activity, with C&I loans up $16 million and commercial real estate loans up $7 million. In addition, portfolio residential loan balances were up $9 million with renewed customer interest in adjustable-rate mortgages and contributions from the recently hired mortgage lenders.

Mr. J. Brian Chaffin, CIBM’s President and CEO, commented, “The banking team at CIBM Bank has been highly successful the last quarter with new loan production and actively managing deposit relationships in light of the adverse banking industry news.   Despite a disappointing quarter for earnings in our Mortgage Division, we expect our efforts to expand production capacity and improve staffing efficiency metrics will improve our results, with the biggest impact in the second half of 2023.”

He also added, “To date, our asset quality metrics remain strong, but with Federal Reserve monetary policy actions being taken to fight inflation we expect a continuance of the evolving net negative impact to the economy overall, which raises our awareness of related risk management practices and activities around extending credit and portfolio management. The Bank’s operating efficiencies have improved on a trending basis, but we still have capacity for growth and further efficiency gains. Going forward, our focus remains on better earnings performance and taking advantage of strategic opportunities.”

He concluded, “As a reminder, we expect the sale of approximately $30 million in retail deposits at our Danville, Illinois, branch will take place in the second quarter of 2023.”

CIB Marine Bancshares, Inc. is the holding company for CIBM Bank, which operates ten banking offices in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, and has mortgage loan officers and/or offices in nine states. More information on the Company is available at , including recent shareholder letters, links to regulatory financial reports, and audited financial statements.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

CIB Marine has made statements in this release that may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. CIB Marine intends these forward-looking statements to be subject to the safe harbor created thereby and is including this statement to avail itself of the safe harbor. Forward-looking statements are identified generally by statements containing words and phrases such as “may,” “project,” “are confident,” “should be,” “intend,” “predict,” “believe,” “plan,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements reflect CIB Marine’s current views with respect to future events and financial performance that are subject to many uncertainties and factors relating to CIB Marine’s operations and the business environment, which could change at any time.

There are inherent difficulties in predicting factors that may affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements.

Stockholders should note that many factors, some of which are discussed elsewhere in this Earnings Release and in the documents that are incorporated by reference, could affect the future financial results of CIB Marine and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements contained or incorporated by reference in this document. These factors, many of which are beyond CIB Marine’s control, include but are not limited to:

• operating, legal, execution, credit, market, security (including cyber), and regulatory risks;
• economic, political, and competitive forces affecting CIB Marine’s banking business;
• the impact on net interest income and securities values from changes in monetary policy and general economic and political conditions; and
• the risk that CIB Marine’s analyses of these risks and forces could be incorrect and/or that the strategies developed to address them could be unsuccessful.

These factors should be considered in evaluating the forward-looking statements, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. CIB Marine undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties and CIB Marine’s actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in forward-looking statements.

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