“Growth in net interest income of 15% year over year was partially offset by acquisition-related expenses associated with our purchases of LBC Bancshares, Inc. and PFB Mortgage. Despite the growth in our interest earnings assets, our net interest margin decreased 16 basis points to 3.41% compared with the year-earlier period due to the addition of lower yielding PPP loans offset by lowering our borrowing costs during the quarter as well as lower interest on the level of deposits on our balance sheets.

“Noninterest income saw strong growth, increasing 21% in the second quarter 2020 over the same period last year as a result of our strategic efforts to diversify our revenue streams with mortgage fee income increasing to $1.3 million in the current quarter compared to $544,000 in the second quarter of 2019 due to the acquisition of PFB Mortgage, as well as customers refinancing due to the lower rate environment. This increase in noninterest income was partially offset by increases in noninterest expense, such as increases in salaries and employee benefits due to the additional headcount, as well as increases in occupancy and equipment.

“Despite our strong asset quality, we recorded a higher provision for loan and lease losses in the second quarter of 2020 of $2.2 million, a substantial increase from $179,000 in the second quarter of 2019 and up from $2.0 million in the sequential period, due to increases in our loan portfolio and the current impaired economic operating environment. Our allowance for loan and lease losses now represents 0.92% of total loans outstanding, an increase from 0.73% in the year-earlier quarter and 0.85% on a sequential-quarter basis. Total nonperforming assets in the second quarter of 2020 is 0.75% of total assets, compared to 0.76% in the year-earlier quarter and 0.91% on a sequential-quarter basis.

“As a final thought, against the backdrop of the pandemic and the ensuing disruptions, our team is focused on controlling what we can in order to protect our business. Our investments in strategic acquisitions to diversify our business model, our expenditures in technological enhancements to stay connected to our customers, and our efforts to aggressively protect our capital position and credit metrics allow us to continue to drive our business forward. We also continue to monitor all state and local news to protect our employees and customers. Based on our diversified loan portfolio, capitalization, conservative loan underwriting philosophy and continued growth in several revenue streams, I am confident that we will come out of the current crises stronger,” concluded Fountain.

Balance Sheet

Total assets were $1.78 billion at June 30, 2020, an increase of $262.3 million, or 17.31%, from $1.51 billion at December 31, 2019. The increase in total assets was a result of increased loan production associated with the funding of approximately 1,700 PPP loans which also generated much higher balances in our interest-bearing deposits with other banks as of June 30, 2020.

Total loans, including loans held for sale, were $1.13 billion at June 30, 2020, an increase of $151.6 million, or 15.49%, from $978.9 million at December 31, 2019. The growth in loans was primarily a result of PPP loan production during the second quarter 2020, which totaled $137.8 million in gross PPP loans at June 30, 2020.

Total deposits at June 30, 2020 were $1.42 billion, an increase of $128.0 million, or 9.90%, compared to total deposits of $1.29 billion at December 31, 2019. Noninterest-bearing deposits accounted for the majority of the increase in total deposits, with an increase of $96.2 million, or 41.36%, compared to December 31, 2019. The growth in noninterest-bearing deposits was attributable to PPP-related deposits. In addition, our participation in the PPP loan program resulted in an increase in borrowings, specifically through the Payroll Protection Program Liquidity Facility (“PPPLF”) which totaled $134.5 million at June 30, 2020.