Vince Delie
Analyst · JPMorgan
Good morning and welcome to our quarterly earnings call. Joining me today are Vince Calabrese, our Chief Financial Officer and Gary Guerrieri, our Chief Credit Officer. I will provide highlights for the fourth quarter and full year of 2015 and discuss some key strategic initiatives. Gary will review asset quality and Vince will provide further detail on our financial results, provide guidance for 2016 and then open the call up for any questions. We are very pleased with both the quarter’s results and our performance for the full year 2015. Full year operating EPS of $0.88 increased 9% year-over-year when adjusting for merger costs and the cost of capital raised proactively for upcoming acquisitions. For the fourth quarter, operating net income available to common shareholders was $0.22 per diluted share. The outstanding performance in 2015 was defined by record revenue as we continue to gain scale and generate positive operating leverage. On a full year basis, total operating revenue increased $50 million, or 8% and operating expenses were well controlled, increasing $20 million or 6%. The fourth quarter efficiency ratio of 56.3% marked the 15th consecutive quarter under 60%, a period of nearly 4 years. On a full year basis, our efficiency ratio improved 109 basis points to 56.1%. The significant drivers for the improvement included our ability to generate continued organic revenue growth, diligently manage expenses and successfully execute our acquisition strategy by gaining scale and achieving the modeled EPS accretion. We continue to generate positive operating leverage and our larger organization has enabled us to remain flexible and quickly adapt to changes in a challenging regulatory landscape. We strive to maintain our low risk profile and have consistently invested in overall enterprise-wide risk management infrastructure commensurate with our growth by investing in risk management, technology, operations and support. Fourth quarter results reflect its solid organic loan and deposit growth, a stable net interest margin and excellent performance from our fee-based businesses. The quarter’s record high total revenue of $172 million marked the 12th consecutive quarter of total revenue growth. Our ability to grow fee income has been driven by adding new customers and enhancing our cross-selling efforts. Full year wealth management revenues totaled $35 million, an impressive year-over-year increase of $4 million, or 13%. As discussed on prior calls, our strategic decision to expand the mortgage business and the capabilities of our capital markets group, have produced very strong returns in a short period. 2015 mortgage banking revenues more than doubled and capital markets revenue, which includes syndications, international banking and derivatives, ended the year up over 50%. These areas continue to be a focus for F.N.B. as we benefit from expanded cross-selling efforts, lessen our dependence on spread income and strengthen our overall revenue mix. Non-interest income made up 24% of total revenue in 2015, up 90 basis points from 2014. Looking at the quarter’s results on a linked quarter basis, annualized average loan growth was a solid 8% and consistent with our guidance. Commercial loan growth of 11% annualized reflects strong origination volumes, with the metro markets making up a majority of the quarter’s production. At the end of December, our commercial pipelines were healthy and slightly higher than year end 2014, with about two-thirds of the pipeline coming from the metro markets. We are fully staffed in Maryland and Cleveland and have seen increasingly greater contributions from these markets. The consumer loan portfolio organic growth was a combined 6%, with nearly equal contributions from residential, indirect and home equity-related portfolios. Total average deposit and repo growth was 9% annualized led by average non-interest DDA growth of 14% annualized largely attributable to growth from commercial relationships. We also continue to invest in our people across multiple revenue-generating and support areas of the organization. Regarding talent retention and acquisition, we have earned a reputation as an employer of choice and strengthened our ability to attract premium talent from larger financial institutions. Additionally, we have invested in technology as customer preferences evolve. We are constantly looking to enhance our products and services in order to provide the best solutions for our clients and continue to drive market share gains. Next, I would like to focus on several key strategic initiatives. We have now received all shareholder and regulatory approvals for the acquisitions of Metro Bancorp, Inc. and 17 Pittsburgh branches from Fifth Third Bank. We are pleased with the receipt of these approvals and expect the Metro transaction to close February 12. The conversion process is going well for both transactions and we are targeting an April conversion for the Fifth Third branches. As part of the Metro merger, we will be deploying some leading edge technology in the Central Pennsylvania market to augment the consumer delivery channel. This is part of our clicks to bricks strategy, a strategy rooted in providing the customer with an experience that integrates the e-delivery and traditional physical delivery channels. As noted in our recent press release, these initiatives will include an upgraded consumer mobile banking app, a commercial banking app, innovative branch merchandising, which includes scannable product packaging and integration into the company website, as well as the installation of intelligent teller machines. We are deploying our strategy in Metro’s footprint and will use video chat to assist customers with almost any transaction they could conduct in a branch, outside of traditional branch hours. In December, F.N.B. was recognized by Greenwich Associates as a best brand in small business banking award winner. F.N.B. also received recognition for trust and ease of doing business in small business banking. Of more than 750 banks evaluated nationally, F.N.B. was one of only 11 to be recognized for trust and one of only 10 to be recognized for ease of doing business. Also, during the quarter, F.N.B. was recognized by consumer reports and received a top 5 score among all traditional banks included in the national survey. The recognition by Consumer Reports and Greenwich Associates provides evidence of how successfully and seamlessly we have integrated our culture of service across business lines in regions. This is a testament to our commitment to doing what’s right for our customers. Before turning the call over to Gary, I would like to congratulate and thank our team for another great quarter and a tremendous year. During 2015, we successfully completed the acquisition of 5 Bank of America branches and announced the Metro Bancorp, Inc. and Fifth Third branch acquisitions. These integrations are all tracking to plan, momentum is strong and F.N.B.’s enhanced market position will serve us well in the future. In summary, we completed a number of initiatives that serve to better position the company and enable us to deliver record annual results in 2015. We have achieved a number of outstanding accomplishments, including record total revenue, record net income, 9% operating EPS growth, continued growth in loans, deposits and our fee based businesses and an improved efficiency ratio. Our success would not have been possible without the extraordinary effort and exceptional teamwork put forth by our employees. With that, I will turn the call over to Gary, so he can share asset quality results.