Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Interest rate risk is a significant market risk and can result from timing and volume differences in the repricing of rate-sensitive assets and liabilities, widening or tightening of credit spreads, changes in the general level of market interest rates and changes in the shape and level of market yield curves. The Company manages the interest rate sensitivity of interest-bearing liabilities and interest-earning assets in an effort to minimize the adverse effects of changes in the interest rate environment. Management of interest rate risk is carried out primarily through strategies involving available-for-sale securities, loan and lease portfolio, and available funding sources.
The Company has an Asset/Liability Committee to communicate, coordinate and control all aspects involving interest rate risk management. The Asset/Liability Committee, which includes three members of our board of directors, establishes and monitors the volume, maturities, pricing and mix of assets and funding sources with the objective of managing assets and funding sources to provide results that are consistent with liquidity, growth, risk limits and profitability goals. Adherence to relevant policies is monitored on an ongoing basis by the Asset/Liability Committee.
The Company has a total cumulative gap in interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities of 4.56% as of March 31, 2022, indicating that, overall, assets will reprice before liabilities during the expected life of the instruments. Cumulative gap is a useful measure to monitor balance sheet match-funding, yet economic value of equity and net interest income simulations, discussed below, are more useful in understanding potential impacts to earnings from a change in interest rates.
The matching of assets and liabilities may be analyzed by examining the extent to which such assets and liabilities are “interest rate sensitive.” An asset or liability is said to be interest rate sensitive within a specific time period if it will mature or reprice within that time period. The Company analyzes interest rate sensitivity position to manage the risk associated with interest rate movements through the use of two simulation models: economic value of equity (“EVE”) and net interest income (“NII”) simulations. The EVE simulation provides a long-term view of interest rate risk because it analyzes all of the Company’s future cash flows. EVE is defined as the present value of the Company’s assets, less the present value of its liabilities, adjusted for any off-balance sheet items. The results show a theoretical change in the economic value of shareholders’ equity as interest rates change.
EVE and NII simulations are completed routinely and presented to the Asset/Liability Committee. The simulations provide an estimate of the impact of changes in interest rates on equity and net interest income under a range of assumptions. The numerous assumptions used in the simulation process are provided to the Asset/Liability Committee on at least an annual basis. Changes to these assumptions can significantly affect the results of the simulation. The simulation incorporates assumptions regarding the potential timing in the repricing of certain assets and liabilities when market rates change and the changes in spreads between different market rates. The simulation analysis incorporates management’s current assessment of the risk that pricing margins will change adversely over time due to competition or other factors.
Simulation analysis is only an estimate of interest rate risk exposure at a particular point in time. The Company continually reviews the potential effect changes in interest rates could have on the repayment of rate sensitive assets and funding requirements of rate sensitive liabilities.
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The table below sets forth an approximation of the Company’s NII sensitivity exposure for the 12-month periods ending March 31, 2023 and 2024 and the Company’s EVE sensitivity at March 31, 2022. The simulation uses projected repricing of assets and liabilities at March 31, 2022 on the basis of contractual maturities, anticipated repayments and scheduled rate adjustments. Critical model assumptions such as loan and investment prepayment rates, deposit decay rates, deposit betas and lags and assumed replacement pricing can have a significant impact on interest income simulation. A static balance sheet is maintained to remove volume considerations and to place the focal point on the rate sensitivity of the Company’s balance sheet. While management believes such assumptions to be reasonable, approximate actual future activity may differ from the results shown below as it will include growth considerations and management actions to mitigate the impacts of changing interest rates on the balance sheet’s earnings profile.
Estimated Increase/Decrease
in Net Interest Income
Estimated
Percentage Change in EVE
Basis Point ("bp") Change in
Interest Rates
12 Months Ending
March 31, 2023
12 Months Ending
March 31, 2024
As of
March 31, 2022
+400
8.4%
6.3%
(34.0)%
+300
6.3
4.6
(26.2)
+200
4.1
2.9
(17.8)
+100
2.0
1.4
(9.0)
-100
(5.2)
(5.7)
10.1
Rates are increased instantaneously at the beginning of the projection. The Company is slightly asset sensitive in the initial year, as the Company’s large variable rate loan portfolio reprices the full amount of the assumed change in interest rates, while the large retail savings and short-term retail certificates of deposits portfolio will reprice with an assumed beta. Annually, the Company’s retail certificate of deposits portfolio has a significant maturity event in the first half of the year. The Company is slightly asset sensitive in the second year of the projection due to interest rates increasing or decreasing for the full year, the Company’s loan portfolio continuing to reprice, and also due to the other assumptions used in the analysis as noted previously. Interest rates do not normally move all at once or evenly over time, but management believes that the analysis is useful to understanding the potential direction and magnitude of net interest income changes due to changing interest rates.
The EVE analysis shows that the Company would theoretically lose market value in a rising rate environment . The favorable EVE change resulting from the loan and lease portfolio in a rising rate analysis is more than offset by the devaluation of the interest-bearing liabilities. This is largely driven by the Company’s longer asset duration, primarily consisting of investments and loans, versus the shorter duration of its funding portfolio, primarily consisting of retail savings and short-term retail certificates of deposits. Increased fixed rate loan production since 2020, given the historical low market rate environment, has also been a significant driver in the model results.
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