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Investing.com -- Moody’s Ratings has affirmed Cadence Bank’s ratings while changing the outlook to stable from negative, according to an announcement made Wednesday.
The rating agency maintained Cadence’s long-term issuer rating at Baa2, long-term deposit rating at A2, short-term deposit rating at Prime-1, and Baseline Credit Assessment at baa1.
The outlook change reflects Cadence’s reduced exposure to commercial real estate (CRE) construction lending and its stable asset quality. As of March 31, 2025, Cadence’s CRE concentration accounted for 2.2 times its Moody’s Ratings-adjusted tangible common equity, down from 2.3 times at the end of 2023. During the same period, the bank reduced its construction exposure to 78% of tangible common equity from 91%.
The bank’s allowance for credit losses remained at 1.34% as of March 31, 2025, well above its first-quarter net charge-offs of 0.27% of average loans.
Despite these improvements, Cadence’s CRE concentration remains above the peer median of Moody’s-rated U.S. banks, presenting a key challenge amid economic uncertainties. The bank’s modest liquidity also remains a relative weakness, with liquid banking assets stabilizing around 20% of total banking assets, below the 25.9% level at year-end 2023.
Profitability continues to be a strength for Cadence. Net income to tangible assets was 1.09% in the first quarter of 2025, while adjusted return on average assets rose to 1.15% from 1.11% in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 0.62% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
On April 28, 2025, Cadence announced the acquisition of Texas-based Industry Bancshares, which had total deposits of $4.5 billion and total loans of $1.1 billion. This follows the January 22, 2025 announcement of Cadence’s acquisition of FCB Financial Corp, the parent company of First Chatham Bank in Georgia.
Moody’s expects Cadence will continue to reduce its CRE concentration, maintain capitalization above 11%, and sustain adequate liquidity.
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