Dime Community Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:DCOM) Q3 2023 Results Conference Call October 22, 2024 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Stuart Lubow - President and CEO
Avi Reddy - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Steve Moss - Raymond James
Manuel Navas - D.A. Davidson
Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler
Matthew Breese - Stephens Inc
Christopher O'Connell - Keefe, Bruette and Woods
Operator
Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.’s Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call.
Before we begin, the company would like to remind you that discussions during this call contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements, including as set forth in today's press release and the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to which we refer you.
During this call, references will be made to non-GAAP financial measures as supplemental measures to review and assess operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with the U.S. GAAP. For information about these non-GAAP measures and for reconciliation to GAAP, please refer to today's earnings release.
At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Stuart Lubow, President and CEO. Please go ahead.
Stuart Lubow
Good morning. Thank you, Didi, and thank you all for joining us this morning for our quarterly earnings call. Joining me today is Avi Reddy, our CFO.
In the third quarter, Dime continued to execute on our growth plan. The momentum in our business is extremely strong and in the third quarter, we grew core deposits by over $500 million and the business loan portfolio by $125 million. As a result of strong growth in core deposits and a 4 basis point reduction in the cost of total deposits, the net interest margin increased to 250 basis points.
To put things in perspective, our margin for the first quarter of 2024 was 221 basis points, implying a 29 basis point improvement through the third quarter. As we outlined in our press release, since the Federal Reserve reduced Fed funds rate by 50 basis points in mid-September, the spread between loans and core deposits has increased by approximately 15 basis points, and this will contribute to continued NIM expansion in the fourth quarter. Avi will provide more detail in his remarks, but suffice to say, we have a clear line of returning to a 3% plus net interest margin.