Cambridge Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATC) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call July 18, 2023 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Denis K. Sheahan - Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Pete Halberstadt - Chief Credit Officer
Joe Lombardi - Vice President of Finance
Conference Call Participants
Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler
Steve Moss - Raymond James
Chris O'Connell - KBW
Operator
Welcome to the Cambridge Bancorp Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. We'll be making forward-looking statements during this call, and actual results may differ materially. We encourage you to review the disclaimer in our earnings release dealing with forward-looking information, which applies to statements made in this call.
In addition, some of our discussion may include references to non-GAAP financial measures. Information about those measures including reconciliation to GAAP measures may be found in our SEC filings, and in our earnings release. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions]. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions]. Please note this event is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Denis Sheahan, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.
Denis K. Sheahan
Thank you, Marlise, and good morning everybody and thank you for joining our earnings conference call today.
I'm joined by our Chief Credit Officer, Pete Halberstadt; our Interim Chief Financial Officer, Joe Sapienza; our Vice President of Finance, Joe Lombardi; and our Chief Marketing Officer, Danielle Remis Hackel.
In a moment, I will speak to earnings for the second quarter and our current thinking on the outlook. From a macro perspective, we see continued uncertainty regarding interest rates and recession in addition to equity market volatility. At Cambridge Bancorp deposit levels have stabilized and pricing pressure while not as elevated still exists. Growth in deposits remains a priority and is very challenging, due to the pricing pressure in the market. However, we are beginning to see green shoots and I'm hopeful of deposit growth in the second half of this year. Beyond deposit levels, capital is strong and continues to grow. Liquidity is robust at approximately two times the level of uninsured deposits, and asset quality remains excellent.
From a lending perspective, activity during the quarter was modest as expected. Total balances were essentially flat, as a result of slowing market activity, and the continued disconnect between buyer and seller expectations in commercial real estate, combined with the reduction in consumer mortgage activity due to level of interest rates and ongoing lack of housing supply.