Kroll Bond Rating Agency Affirms Ratings for Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.
June 20 2023 - 5:11PM
Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (the “Company” or “Dime”) (NASDAQ:
DCOM), the parent company of Dime Community Bank (the “Bank”),
announced that Kroll Bond Rating Agency (“KBRA”) has affirmed all
ratings of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. and Dime Community Bank.
KBRA affirmed the Bank’s senior unsecured debt rating of “BBB+”
and the Company’s senior unsecured debt rating of “BBB”. The
Outlook for all long-term ratings is “Stable”.
According to the KBRA report:
- Dime's ratings are
supported by the effective integration of its merger-of-equals
transaction which has facilitated the increased scale and
diversification of the Company's operating profile, including the
leading market share position in Long Island among local banks
- Dime’s cycle-
to-date deposit beta has been respectable relative to other local
banks
- Dime maintains
a very low expense base, with noninterest expenses to average
assets of 1.40% as of Q1 2023; over the longer-term, KBRA believes
that provides greater upside to the earnings potential in a more
normalized interest rate environment
- KBRA also
recognizes that the negative impact from AOCI has not been
overly impactful to Dime's capital ratios, even when including
marks on the HTM portfolio, given that Dime maintains a relatively
smaller sized securities portfolio
- A substantial
portion of the company’s investor CRE portfolio is comprised of
rent-regulated multifamily loans throughout NYC that has reflected
low loss content historically, which also displays conservative
underwriting criteria
- Given that Dime has
exhibited among the lowest credit losses through multiple economic
cycles, including a cumulative NCO ratio of below 15 basis points
since 2007, we believe that similar outperformance on the credit
front is certainly possible
- KBRA also favorably
views Dime’s strong performance throughout the volatile liquidity
environment in Q1 2023, with core deposits growing. Moreover, the
Company’s uninsured deposit balances are considered rather minimal
at 28% of total when excluding collateralized deposits, and total
available liquidity sources are ample, which cover nearly 2x those
balances
- There are also
potential tailwinds for core deposit levels over the next year as
Dime has recently added seven new deposit focused groups in Q2
2023, which reflected strong core deposit levels at their prior
institutions, notably higher level of non-interest bearing
accounts
Kevin O’ Connor, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are
pleased to receive an affirmation of our investment grade rating
from KBRA.”
ABOUT DIME COMMUNITY BANCSHARES, INC.Dime
Community Bancshares, Inc. is the holding company for Dime
Community Bank, a New York State-chartered trust company with over
$13.8 billion in assets and the number one deposit market share
among community banks on Greater Long Island (1).
Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.Investor
Relations Contact:Avinash ReddySenior Executive Vice President –
Chief Financial OfficerPhone: 718-782-6200; Ext.
5909Email: avinash.reddy@dime.com
(1) Aggregate deposit market share for Kings, Queens,
Nassau & Suffolk counties for community banks with less than
$20 billion in assets
Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM)
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