Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call January 24, 2023 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Mark Tryniski - President and CEO
Joseph Sutaris - EVP and CFO
Dimitar Karaivanov - EVP of Financial Services and Corporate Development
Conference Call Participants
Alex Twerdahl - Piper Sandler
Matthew Breese - Stevens
Chris O'Connell - KBW
Erik Zwick - The Hovde Group
Operator
Welcome to the Community Bank System Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Please note that this presentation contains forward-looking statements within the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industry, markets and economic environment in which the company operates. Such statements involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in these statements. These risks are detailed in the company's Annual Report and Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
[Operator Instructions] Please also note that this call is being recorded today. Today's call presenters are Mark Tryniski, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Joseph Sutaris, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. They will also be joined by Dimitar Karaivanov, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the question-and-answer session. Gentlemen, you may begin the call.
Mark Tryniski
Thank you Joe. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining our year-end conference call. We hope everyone is well. Earnings for the quarter were very good, infact our best quarter ever ex-reserve releases last year. We reported record revenues, record PPNR and record GAAP EPS ex acquisition expenses.
Loan growth was very strong across all our portfolio up 12% annualized over the third quarter and the deposit base remains sound with respect to retention and rate. Joe will comment further on the quarter, but it was a good one.
Looking at the whole of 2022, we likewise had a record year not just financially but for our commercial mortgage and instalment lending businesses as well. Investments we made over the past 18 months particularly in our commercial and mortgage businesses have proven fruitful. The commercial business grew organically 18% in 2022, the mortgage business was up 7% and the instalment grew at 28%.
Our non-banking businesses also had significant organic growth but were negatively impacted by the market declines with the exception of OneGroup our insurance business whose revenues were up 17%. Our wealth business which is entirely levered to the market was only down 4% against the market that was down 19.5% and our Benefits business which is about half levered to the market actually grew 1%. So these businesses had a fabulous year, despite the market and at this point, are a coiled spring for the future.