Start Time: 10:00 January 1, 0000 10:47 AM ET
Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)
Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call
April 20, 2023, 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Nitin Mhatre - President and CEO
David Rosato - CFO
Greg Lindenmuth - CRO
Kevin Conn - IR, Corporate Development Officer
Conference Call Participants
Billy Young - RBC Capital Markets
Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler
David Bishop - Hovde Group
Chris O’Connell - KBW
Operator
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Berkshire Hills Bancorp First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Charlie, and I'll be coordinating the call today. You'll have the opportunity to ask your questions at the end of the presentation. [Operator Instructions].
I will now hand over to our host, Kevin Conn, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Development to begin. Kevin, please go ahead.
Kevin Conn
Good morning, and thank you for joining Berkshire Bank's first quarter earnings call. My name is Kevin Conn, Investor Relations and Corporate Development Officer. Here with me today are Nitin Mhatre, President and Chief Executive 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, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin my comments on Slide 3, where you can see the highlights for the first quarter. Overall, we made steady progress despite the market turmoil and headwinds in March and remain on solid footing overall. EPS or earnings per share of $0.63 in the quarter was our highest ever GAAP EPS in any first quarter.
Net income of 27.6 million declined 2% linked quarter and was up 33% year-over-year. Operating earnings per share of $0.63 declined 1% linked quarter and was up 45% year-over-year highlighting the momentum of our franchise. Return on tangible common equity was 9.59%, a modest decline linked quarter and up 210 basis points year-over-year.
In response to the market events, we took many actions to prudently fortify our liquidity position further in March. Resultantly, our cash and borrowing capacity as a percentage of uninsured deposits at the end of the quarter closed at 117%. Average loan balances were up 5% linked quarter, primarily driven by diversified organic growth and lower paydowns in the quarter.