Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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David Rosato: It’s a little bit more complicated than that. So we’re really good at originating and a lot of it is in some of our markets higher balance loans, so jumbos. And that’s a harder product to sell. We do sell some of that. There are outlets to sell some of that, but that’s a harder sell than conventional Freddies and Fannies to the agencies, right? So part of it is the generating the right product and having the geography to do conforming loans and sell to the agencies, which we already do, we just want to do a bit more of that. And then while there’s funding pressures put a little bit slow down some of the originations that hit our balance sheet, but we have to give our business people time to do that.

Nitin Mhatre : Yeah. I think the shorter version of the answer would be, Chris, yes. I think the business leader in managing that group is working on improving the mix so that it’s more conforming to that extent. Yeah, 20%, 25% is the current target. If we can sell more, we will sell more in the secondary market.

Chris O’Connell : Great. And then just lastly, if you could provide any additional color as to the allocation of the $100 million sustainability bond. I mean is that backward looking? Or is that commitments going forward? Just yeah, any additional color there?

Nitin Mhatre : Yeah. I think the typical models that are out there for issuance of these bonds and how the procedure allocated, they typically give you a minus 2, plus 2 kind of construct whereas you look at what you did two years prior to the issuance and how you deploy the proceeds in the two years. And the reason why we reported this on the call is we were successful in deploying all of it within the first year, which actually we’re very proud of. And so it’s all done. And a big chunk of it, as I said, was 200,000 square feet of green building development, affordable housing and the rough mix was 41%-ish about affordable housing, 33%-ish for green building development in another quarter for about financial inclusion and access to projects in LMI neighborhoods.

Chris O’Connell : Okay, great. Appreciate the color. That’s all I have for now. Thank you.

Nitin Mhatre : Thank you, Chris.

Operator: At this time, there are no further questions. So I will turn the conference back to it Nitin Mhatre for any closing remarks.

Nitin Mhatre : Thank you all for joining us on our call and for your interest in Berkshire. Have a great day and be well. Michelle, you can close the call now.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for this morning. We would like to thank you all for participating. And ask you to please disconnect your lines.

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