James J. Herzog
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Comerica
Thanks, Curt, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide five. PPP loans decreased $1.8 billion to end [Phonetic] the quarter at $1 billion as the forgiveness process accelerated. Excluding the decline in PPP loans, we had good momentum in several business lines. Specifically, we've driven consistent growth in general Middle Market, Equity Fund Services, Environmental Services and Entertainment. This growth was partially offset by decreases in National Dealer Services and Mortgage Banker.
Industry data shows that auto and dealer inventory levels are at a 20 to 25 day supply versus the typical 60 to 70 days due to challenges resulting from chip shortages, labor constraints and foreign nameplate shipping issues. We believe our dealer floor plan balances are very close to the bottom and inventory levels should start to slowly rebuild.
Mortgage Banker loans also declined. Of note, our mix is beneficial with 71% of our loans tied to purchase activity. The expectation is that refi volumes should continue to fall as rates increase. However, purchase activity should remain relatively strong. As far as line commitments, we posted another strong quarter with an increase of over $800 million and growth in most business lines. Usage also grew resulting in the line utilization rate holding steady at 47%.
Loan yields increased 14 basis points, including 14 basis points from the net impact of PPP loans and 3 basis points from higher non-PPP fees. This was partly offset by a 3 basis point impact from lower rates, which included swap maturities.
Deposits continue to grow in nearly every business line, hitting a new record as shown on slide six. The majority of our deposits are non-interest bearing and the average cost of interest bearing deposits remained at an all-time low just below 6 basis points. Our total funding cost held steady at 7 basis points. With strong deposit growth, our loan to deposit ratio decreased to 59%.
Slide seven provides details on our securities portfolio. We deployed some of our excess liquidity by increasing the size of the securities portfolio by $1 billion or $566 million on average. This allowed us to mitigate the rate headwinds resulting in approximately the same level of securities income quarter-over-quarter.
MBS purchases in the third quarter had average durations of around six years and yields of about 170 basis points. With securities rolling off with rates over 200 basis points, the total portfolio yield declined to 1.76%. Our goal is to continue to offset any pressure from lower reinvestment yields by gradually and opportunistically increasing the portfolio size.
Turning to slide eight. Net interest income grew $10 million, primarily due to an increase in the contribution from loans. However, the net interest margin declined 6 basis points due to the large increase in excess liquidity. As far as the details, interest income on loans increased $7 million and added 6 basis points to the net interest margin. This was driven by one additional day in the quarter, which added $4 million, higher loan fees and balances on non-PPP loans together added $5 million, and the impact of PPP with higher fees netted against more balances added $2 million. This was partly offset by lower LIBOR and the swap maturity, which together had a $4 million unfavorable impact.
As I mentioned, we neutralized the drag from lower securities yields on interest income by increasing the portfolio size. A $4.5 billion increase in average balances of the Fed combined with a 5 basis point increase in the rate paid on these balances added $3 million and had a 10 basis point negative impact on the margin. Fed deposits remain extraordinarily high at over $20 billion and weighed heavily on the margin with the gross impact of approximately 65 basis points.
Given our asset sensitive balance sheet, the recent steepening of the yield curve is a positive sign for the future. Our models estimate an 11% increase in annual net interest income in the first year when rates gradually rise 100 basis points. And of course, the incremental income in year two compared to the year one increase would be yet higher.
Credit quality was excellent, as shown on slide nine. Net charge-offs were only $2 million and included $16 million in net recoveries from our energy business line.
Non-performing assets decreased and remained low at 62 basis points of loans. Also, criticized loans declined in nearly every business line and are now below 4% of total loans. With help from the rise in oil and gas prices, the energy portfolio had significant decreases in both non-accrual and criticized loans.
Strong credit metrics combined with our growing confidence and sustainable economic growth resulted in a decrease in our allowance for credit losses. Our total reserve ratio remains healthy at 1.33%. Overall, our customers quickly adapted and navigated a very challenging environment. However, we remain vigilant given the potential stress on our customers from supply chain disruptions, labor constraints and inflation.
Non-interest income declined modestly to $280 million following a very strong second quarter as outlined on slide 10. Warrant-related income increased $7 million to an all-time high due to robust IPO and M&A activity. Similarly, commercial lending fees were also a record driven by a large increase in syndication fees.
Deposit service charges grew $3 million as a result of an acceleration in customer activity. Also BOLI income increased primarily due to the receipt of the annual dividend.
As expected, government card activity declined a stimulus-related volume waned. However, this was partly offset by increases in merchant, consumer and commercial card activity.
Deferred comp asset returns, which is offset in non-interest expenses for less than $1 million compared to $6 million in the second quarter. Also, derivative income declined $2 million due to reduced customer appetite for interest rate hedges, partly offset by robust energy derivative transactions with oil and gas prices hitting multiyear highs. Fiduciary income decreased from a record level in the second quarter as continued strong equity market performance was more than offset by the absence of annual tax service fees. In summary, we are pleased with another very strong quarter for fee income.
As shown on slide 11, expenses were up $2 million in the quarter. Salaries and benefits increased $5 million, mainly due to an increase in performance-based incentives, which was partly offset by decline in deferred comp. Also, we had higher software and consulting costs as we progressed on our digital transformation journey and occupancy expense was seasonally higher. In line with lower card fee income, outside processing decreased $6 million. Litigation cost decreased following the elevated second quarter levels. And finally, FDIC insurance declined due to strong credit quality and higher capital ratios at the bank level. Our stable efficiency ratio is consistent with our commitment to maintaining our strong expense discipline as we invest for the future.
Slide 12 provides details on capital management. Our CET1 ratio decreased to an estimated 10.21%. We repurchased 3 million shares in the third quarter under our share repurchase program. We continue to closely monitor loan growth trends and capital generation as we manage our way towards our 10% CET1 target. In addition, we have maintained a very competitive dividend yield.
Slide 13 provides our outlook for the fourth quarter relative to the third quarter. Excluding PPP loans, we expect loan growth in several businesses, including general Middle Market and large corporate. Partly offsetting this growth, we expect continued decline in Mortgage Banker due to lower refi volumes and seasonality. Of note, we believe auto dealer floor plan loans were close to a bottom. PPP forgiveness is expected to continue and the bulk should be repaid by year end. As we look forward to next year, we believe loan growth from year-end '21 to year-end '22 should be relatively strong, supported by our robust pipeline and expectations that the economy will remain strong.
We expect the average deposits to remain elevated as customers continue to generate and maintain excess balances. We expect net interest income in the fourth quarter to be impacted by a decrease in PPP-related income from $34 million in the third quarter to be $10 million to $15 million in the fourth quarter. Ex-PPP, we expect net interest income to be relatively stable. Lower fees from elevated third quarter levels and to a lesser extent maturing swaps are expected to mostly offset the benefit from non-PPP loan growth.
As far as next year, putting aside the headwind from the decline in PPP income, we expect to benefit from loan growth. As I discussed earlier, we are highly sensitive to rate movements, so assumptions for rates are a key determinant for net interest income expectations, including the impact of maturing loan floors and swaps.
Credit quality is expected to remain strong. Assuming the economy remains on the current path, we believe the allowance should continue to move towards our pre-pandemic day-one CECL reserve of 1.23%. As far as fourth quarter non-interest income, we expect continued solid performance in several customer-driven fee categories such as deposit service charges, card and derivatives, particularly, foreign exchange. More than offsetting this growth, we expect a decrease from record levels of warrant and commercial loan fees as well as elevated BOLI.
We expect 2021 non-interest income will be one of the highest we've ever recorded. Certain line items such as card, warrants and derivatives, including CVA [Phonetic] may be difficult to repeat as we look in the next year. And we assume deferred comp, which is offset in non-interest expense will not repeat. However, we expect strength in growth across many other fee income categories.
We expect expenses in the fourth quarter to be relatively stable. As we continue to invest for the future, technology investments are expected to rise as they typically do as we approach year end. In addition, we expect seasonally higher occupancy, advertising and travel and entertainment expenses. This is expected to be offset by a reduction from the third quarter elevated performance-based incentives.
Our planning process for next year is underway. Big picture, we expect compensation to normalize in 2022. However, inflationary pressures could impact a number of line items, including salaries. Also, we are focused on product and market development, as well as driving efficiency, which means continued investment in technology. This is particularly important to ensure we continue to be well positioned to assist customers and colleagues given the prospect of strong economic growth for the foreseeable future.
We expect the tax rate to be 22% to 23%, excluding discrete items. And finally, as I indicated on the previous slide, we plan to continue managing towards our CET1 target as we monitor loan trends.
Now, I'll turn the call back to Curt.