Good morning, and welcome to the Investors Bancorp's Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] We'll begin this morning's call with the company's standard forward-looking statement disclosure. On this call, representatives of Investors Bancorp, Inc. may make some forward-looking statements with respect to its financial position, results of operations and business. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Investors Bancorp's control, are difficult to predict and which can cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed or forecast in these forward-looking statements. In last night's press release, the company included it's Safe Harbor disclosure and refers you to that statement. That document is incorporated into this presentation. For a more complete discussion of the certain risks and uncertainties affecting Investors Bancorp, please see the sections entitled Risk Factors, Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations set forth in Investor Bancorp's filings with the SEC. And now I'd like to turn -- please note, this event is being recorded. And now I would like to turn the conference over to Kevin Cummings, Chairman and CEO of Investors Bancorp. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Andrea, and good morning. Welcome to the Investors Bancorp's third quarter earnings call. Last night, the company reported in its press release net income of $64.3 million or $0.25 per diluted share for three months ended June 30, 2020 September 30, 2020]. This compares to $42.6 million or $0.18 per share for the three months ended June 30 and $52 million or $0.20 per share for the three month period ended June 30, 2019. These results represent a 51% increase in earnings from the second quarter and a 24% increase over the third quarter of 2019. On an EPS basis, the increase in earnings represent 50% increase over the linked quarter and a 35% increase over the prior year. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, net income totaled $146.4 million or $0.62 per diluted share compared to $146.8 million or $0.55 per share for the nine months ended June 30 -- I mean September 30, 2019. During the second quarter, the company completed its acquisition of Gold Coast, which added approximately $535 million in total assets, $443 million in loans and $490 million in deposits. It added seven branches to the New York market and nearly doubled our deposits in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. We continue to integrate these branches into our systems, and opportunities for market expansion is strong. Last Saturday, I was invited to a breakfast meeting in Southampton out on the island with prominent businessmen, and the feedback was positive regarding the transition of customers from Gold Coast to Investors. We continue to leverage our brand in this market because we think it is very attractive due to its demographics, concentration of small and midsized businesses and density of high net worth individuals. With respect to our brand, I am happy to report…

Thank you, Kevin. Net income was $64.3 million or $0.27 per share for the three months ended September 30, 2020, an increase of $21.7 million or 51% quarter-over-quarter and 24% year-over-year. Net interest margin increased six basis points to 2.79% in the third quarter, with declining cash balances and deposit costs driving the improvement. We expect cash balances and interest cost to further decline in the fourth quarter. Total non-interest income rebounded nicely from the second quarter and totaled $19.9 million, an increase of $9.8 million quarter-over-quarter. Strong swap income, mortgage banking activity and wealth and investment product revenues all contributed to the quarter-over-quarter increase. Expenses totaled $104.1 million in Q3, an increase of $4 million compared to the three months ended June 30, 2020. The increase was largely the result of increased incentive compensation and medical expenses. Included in expenses were approximately $1 million of costs related to the early extinguishment of borrowings in the quarter. Despite the uptick in expenses, our efficiency ratio improved slightly to 51.6% from 52.1% in Q2. Provision for credit losses was $8.3 million for the third quarter compared to $33.3 million for the second quarter. The decrease was driven by improving current and forecasted economic conditions. Third quarter loan originations were strong but not enough to offset the paydowns and payoffs. As a result, total loan balances decreased $364 million quarter-over-quarter, primarily driven by residential and multifamily loan categories. The impact to interest income from declining loan balances was minimized as we're able to allow high-cost funding to run off in Q3. While total deposits were down $384 million quarter-over-quarter, non-interest bearing deposits were up $305 million or 10% quarter-over-quarter. Our percentage of non-interest bearing deposits to total deposits improved to 18% at September 30, 2020, compared to 14% a year ago. Asset quality, liquidity and capital continue to remain in a strong position. Non-accrual loans represented 0.63% of total loans at September 30, 2020, compared to 0.59% at June 30, while our allowance for loan -- for credit losses to loans stood at 1.44% at September 30. Our common equity Tier one ratio was 13%. Our loan-to-deposit ratio was 110% compared to 122% at year-end 2019. Now, I'd like to turn it back over to Kevin for concluding remarks.

Good. Thanks, Sean. Our message is to be faithful and not fearful. We need to be a source of hope and optimism in our communities. All our branches are open at full service on regular hours, except for the recently mandated hotspots in Brooklyn. We are taking all precautions to protect our customers and employees. We have close to 75% of our corporate employees back to the office, and it is very good for me to see them healthy and strong, willing to return and lead our communities back to some form of normalcy. I visited a branch in Southampton, a former Gold Coast branch, on Saturday and listened to their challenges during this pandemic and their transition to our bank. Our retail teams are engaged and excited to be working and, more importantly, helping their customers and our communities through this pandemic. The past eight months have not been easy, but we have faced the challenge and continue to get stronger and more adaptable as we navigate the changes from these unprecedented events. If we can get some stabilization in the macroeconomic climate, some cooperation in Trenton, Albany and Washington, including another stimulus bill, which will then impact our economic models, we expect that we can finish the year with a great fourth quarter. We've been aggressive in calling on our loan customers and have a war room-type attitude toward monitoring our credit exposures with great teamwork and cooperation from our line of loan officers and our credit risk teams. This crisis is great different from 2008 as the banking industry is stronger with better capital to sustain this economic downturn. Investors Bank is also stronger and better prepared for these events, and I'm much more optimistic than I was in April or July when there was a lot more uncertainty. Our medical professionals and health workers have been outstanding and have learned a lot about the treatment of this virus, and we are in a better position to monitor and treat this terrible pandemic. We hit a goal of 10% return on tangible equity for the quarter. Our earnings per share increased 35% to last year after taking additional provisions in the quarter with less net charge-offs. Our balance sheet and capital are strong, and we are well positioned to grow as the economy improves. Now, I'd like to turn this call over to questions. Andrea?

[Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from Mark Fitzgibbon of Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Kevin, just to follow up on the buyback comments that you made. With the TCE ratio pushing 10% and the stock trading sort of 75% of tangible book value, I guess I'm curious why would -- you still have the buyback in place, why would you be executing on that right now even before the elections?

Mark, I think it's our way of being prudent. There's such uncertainty in the market. We're continuing to evaluate it, and I think we're just waiting after the dust settles after the election and have some continued discussion with the other constituents that are involved mainly our regulators. We did the big repurchase at the end of last year, and we want to manage it in a -- similar to what we've done since the first step through the second step in a prudent manner. So it's a wait-and-see attitude, see what happens to the markets afterwards. And our plan is to continue to buy back sometime in the very, very near future.

And Mark, it's Domenick, and if I could just add another comment to that. Obviously, we recognize that the buying back of the stock is a good investment for us, and it's something that we want to do. We have already had some preliminary discussions with our regulators and with our Board. And it's -- I remember someone saying to me once, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And so I think as Kevin said in his prepared remarks, things look good that we will resume buying back the stock sometime in the fourth quarter. But we would like to touch -- would like to do a little more analysis on it and have more discussions with the constituents that Kevin mentioned.

Okay. And then secondly, it looks like you still have about $4 billion of borrowings at an average rate of 2.22%. I guess I'm curious how much of those will roll off over the next few quarters. And should we expect more prepayments like you did this quarter?

Yes, Mark. Actually, we don't have any more borrowings coming due this quarter, but we do have about $1 billion of brokered CDs and retail CDs maturing over the quarter at an average cost of about 150 basis points. So, that's going to give us some momentum for NIM for the end of the fourth quarter. We are also looking at -- I think Kevin mentioned earlier in his prepared remarks that we did sign a contract to do a sale leaseback in which we're expecting a gain of somewhere between $7 million and $9 million. And our thinking is that we'll take that money, that gain, and use it to offset prepaid fees on borrowings that are averaging a cost of about 2%. So still -- and so we'll get some more momentum from that. But, in terms of this quarter, the big gain will be in the form of brokered CDs. There are no borrowings left to pay off this quarter.

Okay. And then, Sean, I apologize. I missed your comments on your expense outlook for 4Q.

Well, you missed it because I didn't provide one.

Well, let me rephrase. Can you provide one?

We believe expenses will be similar to Q3.

Okay. And then lastly, I wondered if you're seeing much of a difference in credit performance from your multifamily and commercial real estate loans in New York versus New Jersey.

Mark, on collection rates, I think we continue to see collection rates at about 85% for multi and about 50% to 60% on CRE. But I did want to put out one piece of information that wasn't in the deck that we put out. And specifically about Manhattan, we looked at the deferrals in Manhattan by category. And the LTVs of our multifamily loans in Manhattan is approximately 54%, and these are deferred balances in Manhattan. The lodging category, which is obviously the biggest category that we have of deferments, $244 million sit in Manhattan. And the weighted average LTV of those properties is approximately 49%. So, those are the two big categories in Manhattan, and I know there's been a lot of discussion around the industry about the knock on Manhattan and what's going on there. But, we feel very good about the LTV situation and the fact that the customers we're dealing with have a significant amount of equity in their properties in Manhattan, and we deem it a very low probability that they're going to walk away from these properties.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Jared Shaw of Wells Fargo Securities. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys. Just circling back on the margin, you talked about the runoff in the resi book and some opportunities for growth elsewhere. Should we expect or can we expect to see maybe an improvement in loan yields quarter-over-quarter on the core book based on that change in mix? Or should we expect sort of loan yields stay roughly where they are?

Yes. I think you actually may see a reduction in loan yields, Jared, because -- I mean if you just look at what the average loan yield was in our residential book, quarter-over-quarter was approximately the same. But if you go back a year in our residential book, we're down almost 40 basis points. So that resi book, we're continuing to put loans on. We're just not putting on as many as we were in prior years. On the multifamily side, we have now moved our pipeline up significantly. On the CRE front, our pipeline is about $1.7 billion. And the weighted average cost of the CRE pipeline is about 3.90%. So that will bring down the yield on the CRE book. C&I is about $800 million, and that's a little bit more difficult to project. But the combination of multifamily loans and residential loans continuing to come on the balance sheet will, I think, have the effect of lowering our average yield on loans.

If I may, Jared, it's Sean. I just wanted to add a comment, though, the trend that really benefiting margin in the third quarter, which are declining cash balances with very low average yields and deposit costs continuing to come down, we expect that will continue in Q4. And despite maybe some headwind on the loan side, we do expect improvement in margin in Q4, a similar ilk to that we experienced in the third quarter.

Great. That's great color. And then just circling back again on the credit and the trends you're talking about on those deferred loans, which is great. Are those values at origination? And I guess what are you seeing in terms of valuation impact from COVID? Obviously, you're not doing full reappraisals. But, are you seeing valuations really get hit because of this? And if you did mark those to market, what would you guess they look like?

Yes. I mean we haven't seen any significant decline in valuations. I mean we look specifically at cap rates, and cap rates continue to be in that 4.5% to 5.5% range. So, no significant decline there. On some of the C&I properties, it's a little bit more difficult to do because, obviously, operating income has been impacted. And, trying to put a valuation on a hotel, for example, its operating business, is difficult right now. So specifically, though, in the commercial real estate and multifamily sector, while we have seen a tick up in cap rates, it has not been significant. It's not actually what I expected it to be. It just -- it stayed pretty stable.

Jared, I don't think we see like a panic in the market. People aren't knocking on our doors giving back the keys. I think there's still confidence in the market. We don't see a panic out there dealing with the hotel operators, like they are generational owners. One in particular has put up a six months of payments in escrow on a large exposure, multi-properties -- multi-numbered properties. And, I think we're working with borrowers. It's a small group. Like I said, 61%, $360-plus million is in six relationships, and we know these customers very well. And I think it's -- we feel much more confident than we were sitting here six months ago.

Okay, great. And then just finally for me, as we look at the allowance level, if we make the assumption that the macro model doesn't change, the macroeconomic model doesn't change, is this a good high watermark for the allowance? And as you start dealing with some of those remainder loans that either on deferral or don't return to payment and if there's a charge-off needed there, should we just expect that provision -- or allowance as adequate? And you can see maybe a future decline as those loans are resolved?

I think it's a big if, but we understand if forecasted conditions improve or remain similar, then, yes, I would agree with your statement, Jared. But, also keep in mind that loan volume and loan production and loan balances also impact that. So, we've seen declining loan balances. And if that -- if the tide were to turn there and we would see more production, it could lead to increased provision as it relates to loan volume.

Thanks a lot.

Jared, that reminds me of a question I used to get when I was with Peat Marwick in 1991, '92 when the audit committee just asked me if the allowance is adequate. And I said, yes, today, it is, but God only knows in the future.

Our next question comes from Steven Duong of RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys. Just on the Manhattan, the CRE exposure. I just want to confirm if I heard that right, that it's primarily just the multifamily and the lodging that you guys spoke about?

Yes. Well, I think we put a deck out last night or this morning. But if you look at Manhattan, Manhattan has total deferments of $313 million. And the composition of that is $243 million in lodging, $58 million in multifamily and then $10 million CRE and $1 million in C&I.

All right. Perfect. Now, that -- the deck was really, really helpful. And then just on the buyback, the remaining capacity that you have, that's about roughly $150 million, $120 million. So that's a little more than 50% of a year's earnings. Assuming you go through that in the next few quarters, I guess looking beyond that, would you be open to starting another buyback program next year?

Of course, we always look at the buyback as an effective way to manage our capital. And obviously, if it makes sense to buy back the stock and we've run out of authorization, of course, we would go back to the Board and ask them to reauthorize an additional allotment.

Great. And just along those lines, is there a target capital level that you would like to be above?

Yes. I mean, again, you're asking me that question in the middle of a pandemic. If you had asked me, say, two years ago, I might have said 8.5%. And these days, it's more like 9.5%. So, it just depends on where we are at a particular point in the cycle. But it's difficult to say that in all situations, this is where I would be very happy.

Understood. And then you made a comment about the pipeline in fourth quarter looking good. Are there any particular segments that you're more optimistic about in the fourth quarter? A – Domenick Cama: Yes. Health care is having a good quarter. The C&I book, we think we're going to close about $500 million in the fourth quarter. That's -- I spoke to our Chief Lending Officer this morning about that. And multifamily has opened up a little bit. We have approximately $250 million of new C&I loans in the pipeline. And, I should mention that despite the continued reduction in multifamily loans that has occurred quarter-over-quarter, this month, we have finally stopped that bleeding. So, we're actually flat for the month.

That's great news. And then just last question for me. Your non-interest bearing deposits grew pretty well this quarter. Can you just give us some color like what drove the growth?

Yes. Steve, we -- obviously, we had some PPP money in there that continue to come in. We had -- also, we put out a team of bankers, business bankers that we talked about last year. And those folks have started to reap some benefit. We're doing more C&I lending. We are doing more treasury management. And those two factors are having the effect of bringing more non-interest bearing deposits in. So it's been our strategy to continue to transition the bank from a traditional thrift to a commercial bank, and I think we're finally starting to see some benefit from those strategic decisions.

Good to hear. Thank you.

Our next question comes from Matthew Breese of Stephens Inc. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. I appreciate the color on the near-term margin. Just considering the average balance sheet and the opportunity to continue to reprice the CDs, there's obviously room on the borrowings front. And then average new loan yields don't sound terribly off from where they are now. As we look into next year and you deploy the cash, where could we see the margin expand to? Where do you see that plateau mark?

So, we are going to reap the benefits of continued repricing of both borrowings and deposits, and so there is a tailwind there. And we believe that the benefit -- there's still a lot of benefit there, not only in Q4, but looking out into 2021, Matt. So, I think where you'd start to maybe peter out running out of that tailwind, probably the second half of 2021 is where you could see some trail off there. But we could have 20 more basis points to go here. I mean, ideally, we would like to see something in the 3% range. That may be a little bit of a stretch, but I think that's a stretched goal for us. And, not saying that we're going to get there, but that's a target that we have in mind.

And Matt, if I could just add to Sean's comment, so you -- obviously, you get the benefit that he described on the deposit side. But our continued remixing of the asset side of the balance sheet is going to continue to provide benefit to us. We're seeing yields on C&I loans of 50 basis points to 5/8, above where multifamily and CRE are coming in. So, as we continue to focus on the C&I front, that will help to add to NIM also.

Excellent. I appreciate that. You mentioned several points of the pipeline that sound relatively strong. Looking into the fourth quarter and beginning of 2021, how do you feel about net loan growth prospects? Can we expand gross loans from here?

Well, I think that net loan growth will be better as we head into '21. I think that, as I said earlier on the multifamily front, I think that we've stopped that bleeding. We are looking at ways to stop the bleeding on the residential side. We're dropping there probably $60 million to $70 million a month despite the activity that we have in that portfolio. And we're looking at -- now I should add the comment that it was a strategic decision to start to slow down residential balances on our balance sheet. However, when the pandemic came along, that presented an opportunity for us with wider spreads. Having said all of that, I think, Matt, it would depend on resi. If I can get resi to stabilize, we should see growth in 2021. We're going through the budget process right now. And while I'm not trying to give guidance at all here, we are projecting growth in 2021. And that budget hasn't been approved yet, but we are looking at ways to continue to grow the loans in 2021. Because, again, as Sean described earlier, the steam is going to run out just based on the -- getting rid of the cash balances, and we need to start to generate growth to continue to add to NIM.

Understood. Okay, last one for me. In your prepared remarks, you mentioned that you're getting 50% to 60% rent collection on the commercial real estate asset class. What are the components within that? What is it for office versus retail and hotels? You mentioned -- also mentioned 85% rent collection in multifamily. What is that in New York versus New Jersey?

Matt, I don't have that breakdown. I would say that New Jersey is probably doing a little bit better than New York in all of the categories, but I don't have a specific -- I don't have the numbers to support your question. So -- but if you'd like, I can look up that information, and we can send that out to you.

Sure. Would appreciate it. That's all I had. Thank you very much.

Our next question comes from Laurie Hunsicker of Compass Point. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you. Good morning. These slides are great, and I'm probably missing it, so I just need your help finding it. So the -- of the $7.256 billion of multifamily, it looks like $3.049 billion is in New York City. But what I can't find, unless I'm not reading it properly, is the $188 million that you have in multifamily deferrals. What -- how much of that is actually in New York City?

Debt of $58 million is in Manhattan.

Okay, okay. Yes, I'm sorry. You gave that number earlier, and I just -- I couldn't find where it was. Okay. And so the $46 million of multifamily loans that you mentioned that are returning to payment status next week, is that coming out of the New York bucket? Or is that New Jersey bucket?

It's coming out of the New York bucket, mainly out of Manhattan, like in Bronx and other boroughs.

Okay, that's great. And then just a quick accounting question for you, Sean. The $1.9 million recovery that you're going to book on the non-performing loan disposition tomorrow, is that hitting your top line, your net interest income? Or is that going into non-interest income?

No, that will be in provision through the allowance of your recovery.

The allowance.

Recovery in the allowance. Okay. Perfect. That's all I have. Appreciate the detail.

Our next question comes from Collyn Gilbert of KBW. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, guys. Just one final question for me. Dom, you kind of touched on it, but just wanted to get your thoughts on the mortgage banking outlook. Dom, you kind of indicated your appetite for, perhaps, portfolio-ing more resi production. But just broadly, how we should be thinking about that. Because obviously, that was a huge, huge number this quarter.

Yes. I mean it's been a great business. I mean some of the spreads that we've seen on mortgage banking have been pretty remarkable. I mean this morning, just going through our rate meeting, selling loans to Fannie Mae at two 3/4%, we're reaping a price of 102. So to the extent that we can continue to generate business loans for sale to Fannie, we're going to continue to do that. And actually, one of the questions we had this morning was should we lower the rate and take less price from Fannie, and the consensus was that we want to maintain the quality of the underwriting process and the closing process. And we felt that we could be adding too much pressure to the group. So it's a long-winded answer, Collyn, but I think you're going to continue to see more non-interest income as we go through next quarter and the early part of 2021 because that business is really hitting on all cylinders.

Okay, that's helpful. And then just the corresponding expense to that. I know you had indicated that this quarter's expenses were up because of incentive comp. Is there a big number there, a big delta in there for what the mortgage commissions would be as well?

It's not a huge delta, but it is part of it. So the compensation -- a bigger piece of it, quite honestly, is the retail incentives. And we've had very good low-cost deposits and non-interest bearing deposit growth that we've incentivized our people to do and generate. And so that, in large part, is driving higher incentive comp.

Collyn, the commission on the sale of mortgage loans is netted in the gain on sale.

Okay. Just want to make that. Okay, got it. Okay, thank you very much. That's all I had.

Thank you, Collyn.

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

Thanks, Andrea. First of all, I'd like to thank you all for participation today. Our country is a great country. It's a strong country, but it's not perfect. We have created a country of great opportunities. But like Investors Bank, we need to continue to get stronger, improve and listen to all our constituents. Not going to be easy in 2021, regardless of Tuesday's results. We at Investors are well positioned to move forward into next year with great hope and optimism. We will create great opportunities for all our customers, employees and the communities that we serve. I want you all to please stay healthy and follow the CDC guidelines. Listen to that Jesuit educated Dr. Fauci. Wear a mask and stay away from crowds.

And wash your hands.

Yes, wash your hands. Let's pray for each other and inspire each other in our daily work and look for magical moments to help each other to be the best version of ourselves during this crisis as we make this journey together. And I said it earlier, in July, the journey is the destination. I want to again thank you for your participation today. And I look forward to the day we can get out on the road and be visiting with you all soon. Enjoy Halloween, as I know I will, as it is my first granddaughter's first birthday. Raptors won its first road game on the road last week, and college pro football continues. I think we have to be optimistic. Life is good, and we need to cherish the moments. It's another step back to normalcy, and let's continue to pray for a cure to this dreadful virus. Be strong, be safe, and God bless. Thanks for your time today, and have a great day. Appreciate it.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. And you may now disconnect.