Daniel T. Poston
Analyst · Ken Zerbe
Okay, thanks, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. I'll start with Slide 4 of the presentation and move into some of the details of the results for the quarter. In the first quarter, we reported net income of $430 million and recorded preferred dividends of $9 million. Therefore, net income to common shareholders was $421 million resulting in diluted earnings per share of $0.45, which was up 36% or $0.12 from the fourth quarter level. There were a number of unusual items during the quarter, although it was probably not as noisy as it might seem. As outlined in the release, first quarter results included several income items related to Vantiv that together contributed a total of $125 million in fee income for the quarter, which is about $0.09 per share after tax. Those items were $115 million in gains related to Vantiv's IPO. An estimated $36 million in charges that were recorded through equity method earnings related to Vantiv's refinancing of its bank debt, and $46 million in gains on Vantiv warrants. The first 2 items are clearly unusual in nature. As far as the warrant gains go, we do frequently have gains or losses there but the size of the gains this quarter was unusual and related to the sizable increase in Vantiv's valuation in connection with its initial public offering. Other than the Vantiv impact, there were several other unusual items affecting results that largely offset one another. In fee income, we recorded $19 million in charges on the Visa total return swap and $9 million in investment securities gains. In expenses, we recorded a $23 million benefit from the resolution of certain non-income tax related assessments. And recorded expenses of $28 million related to additions to litigation reserves, debt termination and severance. Taking a look at Slide 5. Net interest income on a fully taxable equivalent basis decreased $17 million sequentially to $903 million, and the net interest margin decreased 6 basis points to 3.61%. The decline in net interest income was primarily driven by asset yield compression in loans and securities, which was partially offset by balance growth in C&I, commercial lease, residential mortgage and auto loans. Interest expense increased $1 million as lower deposit costs were offset by a $5 million increase in hedging effectiveness. And then overall, NII was reduced by about $6 million due to day count. As for the margin, the decline was largely attributable to lower loan yields. Otherwise, lower securities yields, hedging effectiveness each reduced margin by 2 basis points, while deposit mix shift and day count each contributed about 2 basis points. To give a little more color on loan yields, on the C&I side, the portfolio average yield was down 8 basis points compared with last quarter. Yields on new originations have remained relatively stable, so the portfolio yield compression is largely the effect of portfolio repricing as well as the origination of higher quality loans, which naturally will carry a lower rate. In the indirect auto portfolio, the portfolio average yield has continued to decline, reflecting both increased competition in this space, as well as the portfolio effect of replacing older higher yielding loans with newer lower yielding loans. We will continue to closely manage pricing in loan volumes in the coming quarters to ensure that our returns remain appropriate. We currently expect NII in the second quarter to be down about $5 million to $10 million to the $895 million range, which is consistent with previous expectations. That's despite the impact of our debt issuance in March, which will cost us about $3 million for the full quarter and the impact of the Vantiv refinancing, which is about a $2 million income reduction. Otherwise, we'd expect loan growth and lower hedging effectiveness to more or less offset the impact of the rate environment on loans and security yields. In terms of the margin, we currently expect NIM to decline about 5 or 6 basis points due to the same factors outlined above. We generally expect the margin to stabilize in the second half of the year and for continued loan growth to produce NII growth in the second half. We continue to expect growth in full-year 2012 NII compared to 2011 with the full-year margin at the lower end of our outlook. Turning to the balance sheet in Slide 6. Average earning assets increased $971 million sequentially driven by a $1.5 billion increase in total loan balances partially offset by $508 million decrease in investment securities and other short-term investments. The securities portfolio trends reflect lower cash balances at the Fed, which are included in short-term investment balances. We expect the securities portfolio to be relatively stable over the next few quarters. Average portfolio loans and leases increased $1.6 billion sequentially, driven by positive trends in C&I, commercial lease, residential mortgage and auto loans. Those were partially offset by continued run-off in the commercial real estate and home equity books. Average loans held-for-sale were down $107 million during the quarter. Looking at each loan portfolio. Average commercial loans held for investment increased $1.3 billion sequentially or 3%, and $2.5 billion year-over-year or 6%. Average C&I loans increased $1.5 billion sequentially, that's a 5% increase from last quarter and a 15% increase from a year ago. Our C&I production continues to be strong and has been broad-based across industries and sectors. We're seeing continued demand in the large corporate and mid corporate space. Given our strong levels of production and our current pipelines, I expect we'll continue to see solid growth in the second quarter, even in the current environment. Commercial line utilization remained at 32% this quarter, which is consistent with last quarter. Commercial mortgage and commercial construction balances declined in the aggregate by $395 million sequentially or about 3%. We expect runoff in these portfolios to continue to slow, and I would expect that the size of this portfolio will generally plateau in the second half of the year. Commercial lease balances were up 6% sequentially after remaining relatively stable for the past several quarters. This represents increased seasonal activity that occurred in December of last year, and I would expect these balances to remain relatively stable in the coming quarters. Average consumer loans in the portfolio increased $309 million sequentially or 1%, and $1.4 billion compared with a year ago, which is about 4%. Average residential mortgage loans in the portfolio were up 3% sequentially. The sequential growth reflected strong originations during the quarter due to the current rate environment as well as the continued retention of certain shorter-term higher-quality residential mortgages originated through our branch retail system. These mortgages increased $286 million on an end-of-period basis during the first quarter. Average auto loan balances increased 2% sequentially. We continue to see a significant amount of competitive yield pressure in this space and as a result, origination volumes came down some this quarter, as we managed our volumes with an eye on profitability. Home equity loan balances were down 2% sequentially and average credit card balances were up 1% sequentially. Looking ahead to the second quarter, we expect to see growth in C&I and mortgage loans, partially offset by continued declines in commercial real estate and home equity balances. Overall, that should result in continued solid overall loan portfolio growth in the second quarter. Moving on to deposits. Deposit growth remained exceptionally strong. Average core deposits were up $1.1 billion or 1% compared with last quarter. Average transaction deposits, which exclude consumer CDs, were up $1.5 billion or 2% on a sequential basis, and up $7 billion or 10% from a year ago. Growth in transaction deposits was largely driven by interest checking balances, which were up 16% from the prior quarter and 20% from a year ago. Consumer CDs declined $409 million in the quarter driven by our continued disciplined approach to CD pricing. Average consumer transaction deposits increased 1% sequentially and 7% year-over-year, with growth across most categories. Our relationship savings products has now attracted over $14 billion of balances since its inception nearly 3 years ago. Given the current rate environment, we expect to continue to see customers moving funds into liquid savings products when CDs mature. Average commercial transaction deposits increased 3% from last quarter and 14% from a year ago. Customers continue to use balances in order to offset fees due to the lack of a better investment opportunity for their excess cash and I expect that tendency will continue given the current rate environment. For the second quarter, we currently expect transaction deposits to be relatively stable compared to first quarter and for consumer CD balances to continue to decline. Now turning to fees, which are outlined on Slide 7. First quarter noninterest income was $769 million, an increase of $219 million from last quarter and that includes the $125 million in net benefits related to Vantiv that I discussed earlier. Excluding that, noninterest income was up $94 million driven by strong mortgage banking, corporate banking revenue and investment advisory results, as well as the effect of the Visa total return swap. As I mentioned earlier, we recorded $19 million in negative valuation adjustments related to that Visa total return swap this quarter, while in the fourth quarter, we recorded a $54 million negative valuation adjustment on the swap due to Visa's funding of their litigation reserve. So while a negative for this quarter, the positive delta there was $35 million in terms of our fee growth sequentially. As you'll recall, this swap -- with this swap we essentially sold the economics of our Visa shares to a counter party while retaining the litigation risk that Visa member banks have. Now looking at each line item in detail. Deposit service charges declined 5% sequentially, but increased 4% from the prior year. Consumer deposit fees decreased 10% sequentially and 1% year-over-year. The sequential decline was driven by seasonally lower overdraft occurrences in the first quarter. Commercial deposit fees declined 1% from last quarter, but increased 7% year-over-year driven by new customer account growth. For the second quarter, we expect to see a solid increase in deposit fees, about $5 million or so, driven by growth in the commercial deposit fees. Investment advisory revenue increased 7% from last quarter and decreased 1% on a year-over-year basis. The sequential increase is largely due to seasonal trust tax preparation fees, increased brokerage revenue and higher market values. We currently expect to see a modest further increase in investment advisory revenue in the second quarter driven by brokerage revenue. Corporate banking revenue of $97 million increased 18% from the fourth quarter and 13% from last year. The sequential increase was primarily due to higher syndication fee revenue as well as increased lease related fees, institutional sales and business lending fees. We expect second quarter corporate banking revenue of about $100 million up moderately from the solid results in the first quarter. Card and processing revenue was $59 million, down $1 million from the fourth quarter and $21 million from a year ago. The sequential decline was driven by seasonally strong fourth quarter volumes while a year-over-year decline represents the impact of the new debit interchange rules, which cost us about $30 million on a quarterly basis. We've mitigated a little less than half of that thus far through various revenue and expense categories. Our current expectation for second quarter total card and processing revenue is for growth of about $10 million from the first quarter levels due to higher volumes and seasonality. Mortgage banking revenue of $204 million increased $48 million from the fourth quarter and $102 million from a year ago. Originations were $6.4 billion this quarter compared with $7.1 billion in the fourth quarter. Gains on deliveries of $174 million increased $22 million from the previous quarter. Servicing fees were $61 million compared with $58 million last quarter, and net servicing asset valuation adjustments were negative $31 million this quarter with MSR amortization of $46 million and net MSR valuation adjustments, including hedges, of a positive $15 million. In the fourth quarter, net servicing asset valuation adjustments were a negative $54 million. Currently, we would expect mortgage banking revenue to be down about $50 million from the first quarter with volumes at similar levels, but we would expect lower MSR results and the gain on sale margin to decline from the relatively high levels we saw during the first quarter. Net gains on the sale of investment securities were $9 million in the first quarter compared with net gains of $5 million in the prior quarter. Turning to other income within fees. Other income was $175 million, compared with $24 million last quarter. All of the Vantiv related effects are recorded in this line item. Additionally, as I mentioned, we had a charge on the Visa total return swap of $19 million this quarter versus $54 million last quarter. Other significant items in other income include equity method earnings from our interest in Vantiv. And that included the estimated $36 million charge related to Vantiv's debt termination and refinancing charges that were disclosed in March. Now that Vantiv is a public company, we expect to have additional information to provide related to our equity method earnings results in our quarterly filings after Vantiv reports its earnings. But we won't be explicit about that contribution in our earnings releases and related calls. Credit costs recorded in other noninterest income were $14 million in the first quarter compared with $33 million last quarter. That decline was largely due to decreased fair value charges on commercial loans held-for-sale, which were $1 million in the first quarter compared with $18 million last quarter. Otherwise, these costs were $13 million in the first quarter compared with $15 million in the fourth quarter. We expect second quarter credit cost in revenue to be in that $15 million range. Looking at overall fee income expectations for the second quarter, we currently expect fee income of about $625 million to $630 million in the second quarter or perhaps a bit better. That's better than we were expecting in January, but down about $15 million to $20 million from fee income resulting the first quarter, which were $644 million, exclusive of the Vantiv gains we've discussed. That decline would be driven by lower mortgage banking revenue that I've discussed, and partially offset by fee income growth that we currently expect in other business lines. Turning now to expenses there on Slide 8. Noninterest expense of $973 million was down $20 million or 2% sequentially. Current quarter expenses included the $23 million benefit from agreements reached on certain non-income tax related assessments, offset by $13 million in additions to litigation reserves, $9 million in debt extinguishment charges and $6 million in severance expense. You'll recall that the prior quarter expenses included $19 million in additions to litigation reserves. So if you exclude those items, noninterest expenses were down $6 million, and that's despite a $25 million seasonal increase in FICA and unemployment costs. That improvement was driven by lower credit related costs as well as careful management of expenses. Credit related costs within operating expense were $34 million, down $10 million from last quarter. That decline was driven by lower workout related expenses within other assets, other problem asset related expense, which was $19 million this quarter compared to $28 million last quarter. As well as a modest reduction in mortgage repurchase expense to $15 million. We saw a slight uptick in our claims inventory as we expected, but within the range of variability that we've seen historically. We haven't seen any significant increase in recognized losses associated with GSC activity. In terms of the second quarter, we currently expect total credit related cost recognized in expense to be stable to up modestly from the first quarter levels. Overall, we currently expect operating expense in the second quarter to be down about $15 million from the $973 million reported this past quarter. Key drivers of that decrease are the net $5 million in unusual first quarter items that I mentioned earlier, a reduction of about $15 million related to FICA and unemployment expense, as well as continued expense discipline. Partially offsetting those benefits, we'll see a temporary increase in marketing expense during the second and the third quarters of about $15 million above the first quarter levels. Those are related to our new branding campaign and the related advertising. Those expenses will come back down to first quarter levels on a run-rate basis in the fourth quarter. We continue to expect that our quarterly efficiency ratio will move back close to 60% or so by the end of the year, reflecting the trends that I just discussed. Moving on to Slide 9, and taking a look at PPNR. Pre-provision net revenue was $694 million in the first quarter compared with $473 million in the fourth quarter. This quarter's results included the $125 million in benefits related to Vantiv. If you exclude that, PPNR in the first quarter was $569 million, driven by strong fee income results and disciplined expense management, as most of the other unusual items that I mentioned largely offset one another. We expect PPNR to be the same ballpark in the second quarter and again, that's above the previous expectations that we had. The effective tax rate was 29% this quarter. Higher than we were initially expecting and that was due to the effect of the Vantiv IPO gains. For the second quarter, we expect the effective tax rate to be 32% or 33%, and that's due to the effect of stock options that are expiring. Those will cost us about $0.02 in the quarter, in the second quarter while in the third and fourth quarters, the effective tax rate should be at about the 28.5% range, which will result in a full-year tax rate of about 29%. Turning to capital on Slide 10. Capital levels continue to be very strong. Tier 1 common ratio increased about 30 basis points to 9.6%, reflecting higher retained earnings. Tier 1 capital was 12.2%, up 28 basis points from last quarter, while total capital ratio was 16.1% and consistent with the fourth quarter level. Tangible common equity was 9.0%. That's calculated excluding unrealized gains, which totaled $468 million on an after-tax basis. All in, TCE was 9.4% and that was up 33 basis points from last quarter. Our current estimate for our Basel III Tier 1 common ratio would be about 10.0%. These ratios are all significantly above our targets and the common ratios exceed targeted levels by well over 100 basis points. As Kevin mentioned, we plan to repurchase common shares in an amount equal to the after-tax gains realized from the Vantiv common shares, which were about $75 million this quarter. And we expect to enter into an accelerated share repurchase agreement shortly. Additionally, we entered into agreements in early April to sell certain mutual funds and money market funds from our asset management business. We expect these transactions to close in the third quarter, but they are not expected to have a material impact on our results. After the closing, our investment advisory fees will be reduced by about $5 million per quarter and we expect expenses will be reduced by a similar amount, but overall, it should be a net positive from a bottom-line perspective. That wraps up my remarks. I'll now turn it over to Bruce to discuss credit trends. Bruce?