NOTE 5 – SECURITIES

 

 

 

 

 

At December 31, 2015, certain asset-backed securities with an amortized cost of $21.4 million were pledged to secure certain deposits. At December 31, 2015, asset-backed securities with an amortized cost of $1.9 million were pledged as collateral for advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) of Atlanta.

 

At December 31, 2015, 99% of the asset-backed securities portfolio was rated AAA by Standard & Poor’s or the equivalent credit rating from another major rating agency. AFS asset-backed securities issued by GSEs had an average life of 4.39 years and average duration of 4.04 years and are guaranteed by their issuer as to credit risk. HTM asset-backed securities issued by GSEs had an average life of 5.07 years and average duration of 4.58 years and are guaranteed by their issuer as to credit risk.

 

At December 31, 2014, certain asset-backed securities with an amortized cost of $37.7 million were pledged to secure certain deposits. At December 31, 2014, asset-backed securities with an amortized cost of $2.3 million were pledged as collateral for advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) of Atlanta.

 

At December 31, 2014, 99% of the asset-backed securities portfolio was rated AAA by Standard & Poor’s or the equivalent credit rating from another major rating agency. AFS asset-backed securities issued by GSEs had an average life of 3.66 years and average duration of 3.41 years and are guaranteed by their issuer as to credit risk. HTM asset-backed securities issued by GSEs had an average life of 3.40 years and average duration of 3.21 years and are guaranteed by their issuer as to credit risk.

 

We believe that AFS securities with unrealized losses will either recover in market value or be paid off as agreed. The Company intends to, and has the ability to, hold these securities to maturity. We believe that the losses are the result of general perceptions of safety and creditworthiness of the entire sector and a general disruption of orderly markets in the asset class.

 

Management has the ability and intent to hold the HTM securities with unrealized losses until they mature, at which time the Company will receive full value for the securities. Because our intention is not to sell the investments and it is not more likely than not that we will be required to sell the investments before recovery of their amortized cost basis, which may be maturity, management considers the unrealized losses in the held-to-maturity portfolio to be temporary.

 

No charges related to other-than-temporary impairment were made during for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

 

During the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company recognized net gains on the sale of securities of $4,000, which consisted of the sale of one HTM security with a carrying value of $67,000 and the call of an AFS agency bond with a carrying value of $2.0 million. These sales resulted in a loss of $1,000 for the HTM security and a gain of $5,000 for the AFS security. During the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company recognized net gains on the sale of securities of $19,000. The Company sold five AFS securities with aggregate carrying values of $2.1 million and 12 HTM securities with aggregate carrying values of $4.2 million, recognizing gains of $8,000 and $11,000, respectively. There were no sales of AFS and HTM securities during the year ended December 31, 2013.

 

The sale of HTM securities was permitted under ASC 320 “Investments - Debt and Equity Securities.” ASC 320 permits the sale of HTM securities for certain changes in circumstances. Securities were disposed of using the safe harbor rule that allows for the sale of HTM securities that have principal payments paid down to less than 15% of original purchased par. ASC 320 10-25-15 indicates that a sale of a debt security after a substantial portion of the principal has been collected is equivalent to holding the security to maturity. In addition, HTM securities were disposed of under ASC 320-10-25-6 due to a significant deterioration in the issues’ creditworthiness and the increase in regulatory risk weights mandated for risk-based capital purposes.

 

AFS Securities

Gross unrealized losses and estimated fair value by length of time that the individual AFS securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at December 31, 2015 were as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

At December 31, 2015, the AFS investment portfolio had an estimated fair value of $35.1 million, of which $22.0 million of the securities had some unrealized losses from their amortized cost. The securities with unrealized losses were CMOs issued by GSEs.

 

AFS securities issued by GSEs are guaranteed by the issuer. Total unrealized losses on the asset-backed securities issued by GSEs were $557,000 of the portfolio amortized cost of $31.2 million. AFS asset-backed securities issued by GSEs with unrealized losses had an average life of 4.45 years and an average duration of 4.04 years. We believe that the securities will either recover in market value or be paid off as agreed.

 

Gross unrealized losses and estimated fair value by length of time that the individual AFS securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at December 31, 2014 were as follows:

 

 

 

 

At December 31, 2014, the AFS investment portfolio had an estimated fair value of $41.9 million, of which $27.2 million of the securities had some unrealized losses from their amortized cost. The securities with unrealized losses were CMOs issued by GSEs.

 

AFS securities issued by GSEs are guaranteed by the issuer. Total unrealized losses on the asset-backed securities issued by GSEs were $830,000 of the portfolio amortized cost of $38.3 million. AFS asset-backed securities issued by GSEs with unrealized losses had an average life of 3.77 years and an average duration of 3.46 years. We believe that the securities will either recover in market value or be paid off as agreed.

 

HTM Securities

Gross unrealized losses and estimated fair value by length of time that the individual HTM securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at December 31, 2015 were as follows:

 

 

 

At December 31, 2015, the HTM investment portfolio had an estimated fair value of $109.3 million, of which $53.8 million of the securities had some unrealized losses from their amortized cost. Of these securities, $52.8 million were asset-backed securities issued by GSEs and the remaining $992,000 were asset-backed securities issued by others.

 

HTM securities issued by GSEs are guaranteed by the issuer. Total unrealized losses on the asset-backed securities issued by GSEs were $841,000 of the portfolio amortized cost of $107.6 million. HTM asset-backed securities issued by GSEs with unrealized losses had an average life of 5.42 years and an average duration of 4.78 years. We believe that the securities will either recover in market value or be paid off as agreed. The Company intends to, and has the ability to, hold these securities to maturity.

 

HTM asset-backed securities issued by others are collateralized mortgage obligation securities. The securities have credit support tranches that absorb losses prior to the tranches that the Company owns. The Company reviews credit support positions on its securities regularly. Total unrealized losses on the asset-backed securities issued by others were $100,000 of the portfolio amortized cost of $1.1 million. HTM asset-backed securities issued by others with unrealized losses have an average life of 4.04 years and an average duration of 3.29 years.

 

Gross unrealized losses and estimated fair value by length of time that the individual HTM securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at December 31, 2014 were as follows:

 

 

 

At December 31, 2014, the HTM investment portfolio had an estimated fair value of $84.9 million, of which $36.9 million of the securities had some unrealized losses from their amortized cost. Of these securities, $35.6 million were asset-backed securities issued by GSEs and the remaining $1.3 million were asset-backed securities issued by others.

 

HTM securities issued by GSEs are guaranteed by the issuer. Total unrealized losses on the asset-backed securities issued by GSEs were $625,000 of the portfolio amortized cost of $82.2 million. HTM asset-backed securities issued by GSEs with unrealized losses had an average life of 3.23 years and an average duration of 3.01 years. We believe that the securities will either recover in market value or be paid off as agreed. The Company intends to, and has the ability to, hold these securities to maturity.

 

HTM asset-backed securities issued by others are collateralized mortgage obligation securities. All of the securities have credit support tranches that absorb losses prior to the tranches that the Company owns. The Company reviews credit support positions on its securities regularly. Total unrealized losses on the asset-backed securities issued by others were $112,000 of the portfolio amortized cost of $1.5 million. HTM asset-backed securities issued by others with unrealized losses have an average life of 4.27 years and an average duration of 3.62 years.

 

Maturities

The amortized cost and estimated fair value of debt securities at December 31, 2015 and 2014 by contractual maturity, are shown below. The Company has allocated the asset-backed securities into the four maturity groups listed below using the expected average life of the individual securities based on statistics provided by industry sources. Expected maturities will differ from contractual maturities because the issuers of the securities may have the right to prepay obligations without prepayment penalties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credit Quality of Asset-Backed Securities

The tables below present the Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) or equivalent credit rating from other major rating agencies for AFS and HTM asset-backed securities and agency bonds issued by GSEs and others at December 31, 2015 and 2014 by carrying value. The Company considers noninvestment grade securities rated BB+ or lower as classified assets for regulatory and financial reporting. GSE asset-backed securities and GSE agency bonds with S&P AA+ ratings were treated as AAA based on regulatory guidance.