First Bancorp Inc ME

The carrying value of the Company's investment portfolio decreased by $1.6 million between December 31, 2023 and September 30, 2024 from $670.7 million to $669.1 million. The change in value of the portfolio is attributable to a combination of incoming cash flow from amortizing investments, limited re-investment or new purchases, and the effects of interest rate movement on the fair value of AFS holdings. As of September 30, 2024, mortgage-backed securities had a carrying value of $280.7 million and a fair value of $271.5 million. Of this total, securities with a fair value of $74.8 million or 28.7% of the mortgage-backed portfolio were issued by GNMA and securities with a fair value of $185.7 million or 71.3% of the mortgage-backed portfolio were issued by FHLMC and FNMA.

The Company's investment securities are classified into two categories: securities available for sale and securities to be held to maturity. Securities available for sale consist primarily of debt securities which Management intends to hold for indefinite periods of time. They may be used as part of the Company's funds management strategy, and may be sold in response to changes in interest rates, prepayment risk and liquidity needs, to increase capital ratios, or for other similar reasons. Securities to be held to maturity consist primarily of debt securities that the Company has acquired solely for long-term investment purposes, rather than potential future sale. For securities to be categorized as HTM, Management must have the intent and the Company must have the ability to hold such investments until their respective maturity dates. The Company does not hold trading account securities.

All investment securities are managed in accordance with a written investment policy adopted by the Board of Directors. It is the Company's general policy that investments for either portfolio be limited to government debt obligations, time deposits, and corporate bonds or commercial paper with one of the three highest ratings given by a nationally recognized rating agency. The portfolio is currently invested primarily in U.S. Government agency securities, mortgage-backed securities and tax-exempt obligations of states and political subdivisions. The individual securities have been selected to enhance the portfolio's overall yield while not materially adding to the Company's level of interest rate risk.

During the third quarter of 2014, the Company transferred securities with a total amortized cost of $89,780,000 and a corresponding fair value of $89,757,000 from AFS to HTM. The net unrealized loss, net of taxes, on these securities at the date of the transfer was $15,000. The net unrealized holding loss at the time of transfer continues to be reported in AOCI, net of tax and is amortized over the remaining lives of the securities as an adjustment of the yield. The amortization of the net unrealized loss reported in AOCI will offset the effect on interest income of the discount for the transferred securities. The remaining unamortized balance of the net unrealized losses for the securities transferred from AFS to HTM was $49,000 at September 30, 2024. This compares to $56,000 and $58,000, net of taxes, at December 31, 2023 and September 30, 2023, respectively. These securities were transferred as a part of the Company's overall investment and balance sheet strategies.

The following table sets forth the Company's investment securities at their carrying amounts as of September 30, 2024 and 2023 and December 31, 2023.

The Company adopted ASC 326, the CECL standard in 2023. In conjunction with adoption, holdings of AFS Securities and HTM securities were evaluated to determine the need to establish an ACL, if any. The total ACL for HTM securities was $224,000 as of September 30, 2024, $434,000 as of December 31, 2023 and $432,000 September 30, 2023. Further details are included in Note 2 of the accompanying financial statements.

The following table sets forth yields and contractual maturities of the Company's investment securities as of September 30, 2024. Yields on tax-exempt securities have been computed on a tax-equivalent basis using a tax rate of 21%. Mortgage-backed securities are presented according to their final contractual maturity date, while the calculated yield takes into effect the intermediate cash flows from repayment of principal which results in a much shorter average life.