Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call October 20, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Kevin Conn - Investor Relations and Corporate Development Officer

Nitin Mhatre - Chief Executive Officer

Sean Gray - Chief Operating Officer

David Rosato - Chief Financial Officer

Greg Lindenmuth - Chief Risk Officer

Conference Call Participants

Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler

Bill Young - RBC Capital Markets

Dave Bishop - Hovde Group

Chris O'Connell - KBW

Laurie Hunsicker - Seaport Research

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Berkshire Hills Bancorp Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Friday, October 20, 2023.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Kevin Conn. Please go ahead.

Kevin Conn

Good morning, and thank you for joining Berkshire Bank's third quarter earnings call. My name is Kevin Conn, Investor Relations and Corporate Development Officer. Here with me today are Nitin Mhatre, Chief Executive Officer; Sean Gray, Chief Operating Officer; David Rosato, Chief Financial Officer; and Greg Lindenmuth, Chief Risk Officer.

Our remarks will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-GAAP financial measures. Actual results could differ materially from those statements. Please see our legal disclosure on Page 2 of the earnings presentation, referencing forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP measures is included in our news release.

At this time, I'll turn the call over to Nitin. Nitin?

Nitin Mhatre

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. I'll begin my comments on Slide 3, where you can see the highlights for the third quarter. While the rate environment remains challenging for Berkshire and the overall banking industry, we are encouraged by the trends in our margin that reflects a deceleration in NIM compression.

We're also encouraged by the trends in asset quality and deposit durability. While expenses were flat quarter-over-quarter, given the challenging macroeconomic environment, we will have heightened focus on rationalizing expenses. Some of these initiatives have already begun, and we are exploring all other avenues to create a sustained long-term efficiency improvement.

David will discuss this in more detail in his remarks. Credit is trending in-line with expectations. Charge-offs declined linked quarter and loan loss reserves increased modestly. Operating net income of $21.5 million and operating EPS of $0.50, both declined 9% linked quarter, primarily from a decline in net interest income. Year-to-date EPS of $1.67 is up by 7% year-over-year.