Ronald Nicolas
Analyst · Kevin Reynolds, Wunderlich Securities
Thanks, Steve, and good morning, everyone. As customary, I will be directing my comments to the financial statements included with the release provided earlier this morning, along with our supplemental presentation, focusing primarily on the comparison to the first quarter of 2014, starting with the highlights for the second quarter on Slide 2.
As Steve mentioned, today, we reported net income of $8.1 million and net income to common shareholders of $7.2 million or $0.27 per diluted share with an average return on tangible common equity of 12%. The quarter was punctuated by strong loan growth, improved results from our mortgage banking operations, lower operating expense, excluding our volume-related costs.
We experienced strong loan growth during the quarter with total loans increasing by $301 million or 9% for the first quarter. As Steve mentioned, recent additions to our lending teams are gaining traction and quickly ramping up to our full production capabilities. In addition, we experienced solid deposit growth as well during the second quarter, which increased by $238 million or 8% compared to the prior quarter.
Our net interest income increased just over 1% from the first quarter, and our consolidated net interest margin finished the quarter at 3.7%.
Our noninterest income grew by $10.1 million compared to the first quarter and was largely driven by the strength in mortgage banking. The second quarter marked an important turning point for our mortgage banking operations, as the completed cost efficiency work is beginning to bear fruit. Keep in mind these cost reductions were implemented without compromising origination growth.
Second quarter mortgage banking originations experienced nearly a 40% increase compared to the first quarter, resulting in a positive net contribution to earnings this quarter.
Lastly, with respect to our highlights, our capital ratio has improved during the second quarter due to our main capital raise with our Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 14.1% at June 30. Our capital ratios for the bank subsidiary remained strong and well in excess of regulatory guidelines. Our TCE ratio also improved during the quarter to 7.3% from 5.1% at the end of the first quarter as a result of the offering.
Turning now to Slide 3. We're taking a closer look at the income statement for the second quarter. As noted, we reported net income of $8.1 million and $0.27 per diluted share on approximately $26 million average diluted shares. That compares favorably to the net loss to common shareholders of $153,000 for the first quarter of 2014. Profitability increased was driven principally by higher revenues of $71 million before loan-loss provision for the second quarter, an increase of over $10 million from the $60 million reported in the first quarter.
Net interest income highlighted on Slide 4 was $35.6 million for the second quarter, an increase of over 1% from the first quarter, largely due to higher loan balances during the quarter.
Our consolidated net interest margin for the second quarter was 3.7%, and we expect our NIM to remain at or just below the lower end of our target net interest margin range of 3.75% to 4% during the quarter and return to its target range upon the closing of the Popular transaction.
Our cost of interest-bearing liability declined by 3 basis points from the first quarter to 1.02% on a consolidated basis.
Average deposit costs were down 3 basis points from the first quarter to 0.74%, as we work to reprice and actively manage down our cost of funds.
We're taking a closer look at noninterest income for the quarter. We reported $35.4 million, an increase of $10 million compared to the first quarter. The primary driver of the increase, as mentioned, was higher mortgage banking revenues, both higher origination fees, driven by the higher volumes and higher gains on sale achieved on the sale of our loans. Our gain on sale rate widened to 3.25% for the second quarter from 2.96% in the first quarter.
Total SFR mortgage originations for the quarter were $1.1 billion, up from $870 million in the prior quarter with our agency and conforming mortgage banking operations originating $715 million and selling $651 million for the quarter.
The second quarter production of nonconforming jumbo originations was $378 million with sales of $224 million in total fees and gains, delivering over $4 million in noninterest revenue. You will recall we sold $97 million of jumbo loans during the first quarter and indicated we would be selling more here in the second quarter. We intend to continue to originate and sell jumbo mortgage loans to manage both portfolio risk and economic returns. In addition, during the second quarter, we sold mortgage servicing rights with an unpaid principal balance of approximately $400 million, achieving approximately a 1% gain.
On Slide 6, taking a closer look at noninterest expense. We continue to be diligent in managing our noninterest expense. The second quarter noninterest expense totaled just over $60 million, up $2.5 million from the first quarter, primarily as a result of higher loan-related origination expense. This quarter, we saw the benefits of our efficiency plans within the mortgage banking area as fixed expenses were lower than the prior quarter, while variable volume-related expenses increased due to the higher production volumes. The total volume-related expenses for the second quarter totaled $12 million compared to $9 million in the first quarter.
Fixed expenses decreased compared to the prior quarter, including nonrecurring charges, such as those related to our pending acquisition of Banco Popular of approximately $1 million.
Overall, the company headcount was flat at just over 1,200 employees compared to the first quarter, and our account in the residential business lending area, which includes mortgage banking, saw a decline of 39 employees during the quarter that was offset by an increase of 42 employees in both the bank and TPG combined. TPG added employees during the quarter, as well as retail banking related to our new branch locations, and the remainder was spread across the company.
For the quarter, our cash expense was $253,000, an $8.4 million of pretax income for an effective rate of approximately 3%.
The company statutory rate was reduced through the utilization of its deferred tax assets by virtue of reversing out a portion of the valuation allowance. As we indicated last quarter, while it is impossible to accurately predict the future utilization of the company's DTA, to the extent we continue to have positive earnings, the company's tax rate will be significantly reduced by the realization of its DTA or until the valuation allowance is fully reversed.
Turning now to the balance sheet on Slide 7. The company finished at $4.4 billion in assets compared to $4 billion in assets at the end of the first quarter. This increase came primarily as a result of loan growth and, to a lesser extent, an increase in our securities portfolio associated with the second quarter capital rates. Also related to the capital rates, our notes payable increased by $14 million to $96 million, as a portion of the TEUs were classified as debt. In addition, equity increased to $439 million, which includes both the equity portion of the TEUs and the common raise completed during the second quarter.
Total organic growth outlined on Slide 8 added $301 million of net loan balances during the quarter, as total loans increased to $3.7 billion, representing a quarter-over-quarter growth rate of almost 9%. As highlighted in the release, our commercial loan portfolio grew to 48% of total loans held for investment, up from 46% with C&I and multifamily both contributing significantly to the increase.
Loans held for investment increased by $205 million or 7% for -- from the first quarter and was comprised of broad-based growth across various portfolios outlined on the chart on Slide 3 -- Slide 8, excuse me.
Commercial lending, C&I, SBA and leases grew by $81 million during the quarter, and multi-family business -- balances increased by $79 million from the first quarter, as we begin to see production from our new multi-family lending team. In addition, we transferred to HFI approximately $80 million of jumbo SFR previously classified as HFS.
Our loans held for sale increased by $95 million during the quarter to $1.1 billion and is comprised of approximately 80% of nonconforming jumbo loans and 20% of agency and conforming. Both increased from the previous quarter as a result of higher originations, partially offset by higher loan sales. We anticipate selling more jumbo loans through the balance of the year to approximate the level of originations.
Continued growth from our commercial and multifamily portfolios, coupled with lower levels of loans held for sale over time and the pending acquisition of our Banco Popular loan portfolio, will accelerate the rebalancing of the loan portfolio to a higher concentration of commercial loans.
As mentioned earlier, the securities portfolio increased by $125 million during the quarter, primarily as a result of investing the capital raise during the quarter. Our securities purchases for the quarter were primarily of shorter duration, such as agency CMOs in anticipation of our acquisition.
On the liability side as highlighted on Slide 9, deposits grew by $238 million overall from the prior quarter, with money market accounts, interest-bearing checking and CDs primarily providing the increase. Money market deposits were up $116 million from the prior quarter, and interest-bearing checking balances also increased by $44 million. In addition, we added $100 million of brokered CDs to help fund the increase in our loans-held-for-sale originations during the quarter. Excluding the held-for-sale portfolio, our loan-to-deposit ratio was 75%.
The company continues to successfully grow its retail base to fund loan growth, as well as utilize additional sources of liquidity to fund loan production ahead of loan sales and balance its short-term liquidity needs. To that end, during the second quarter, we opened a new branch location in Fullerton as part of our branch deposits -- franchise expansion strategy. We intend to open 2 additional locations in the back half of the year in Santa Barbara and Rancho Santa Fe.
Slide 10 highlights our capital position as equity increased during the second quarter to $439 million as a result of the May capital raise, while total shares outstanding increased to $27.6 million versus $20.3 million during the first quarter.
Our tangible book value increased $11.45 per share from $9.94 as of March 31. When adjusting for the TEU conversion, tangible book value per share is $9.66.
Our TCE ratio improved to 7.3%, up from 5.1% during the first quarter, and the -- both the bank and the company remained well-capitalized at the end of the quarter for each of the key risk-based and leverage ratios.
With that, I'll now turn it over to Hugh Boyle to highlight our asset quality.