Michael W. McCall
Analyst · Scott Valentin with FBR Capital Markets
Thank you, C.G., and good afternoon, everyone. I will discuss our financial results for the full year of 2014 in more detail, and we'll also discuss selective fourth quarter items. As noted in our press release, we are currently in the process of completing our accounting for the acquisition of Central Bancorp, Inc. As of September 30, 2014, Hanmi recorded the acquisition based on provisional acquisition accounting estimates with the expectation that these estimates would be refined during the measurement period. The provisionally recorded acquisition accounting estimates were refined during the fourth quarter related to certain valuation estimates. The total amount of these retrospective adjustments was $8 million, of which $5.0 million related to the resolution of certain tax matters associated with the acquisition and $1.9 million after tax dollars related to loans. Under generally accepted accounting principles, measurement period adjustments are accounted for as retrospective adjustments as of the date of the acquisition and do not require the previously issued September 30, 2014 financial statements to be restated. However, when we report comparative financial information related to the third quarter of 2014, we have to revise the September 30 financial information retrospectively to reflect the adjustment as if they had been recorded as of the acquisition date. Prior to the issuance of this earnings release, we were unable to revise the third and fourth quarter financial information to reflect the retrospective adjustments due to time constraints. We expect to file an 8-K that details our third and fourth quarter results within the next 2 to 3 weeks. As C.G. noted, it is important to mention that for the full year 2014, results included 4 months of combined Hanmi and CBI operations and 8 months of legacy Hanmi operations. We generated $122.7 million in net interest income before provision for loan losses in 2014, which was up from $105.6 million or 16 2 -- 16.2% in 2013. The increase in 2014 was due primarily to loan growth and the acquisition of CBI. We recognized a $6.1 million negative provision for loan losses for the year compared to no provision in 2013. In the fourth quarter, we recorded a $1 million provision for loan losses which related to purchase credit impaired or commonly known as -- referred to as PCI loans, and $0 in provision for loan losses for legacy Hanmi and non-PCI loan portfolios. Net interest income in 2014 was $42.3 million compared to $27.9 million in the prior year. For the full year of 2014, the company recorded a $14.6 million bargain purchase gain associated with the CBI acquisition. Service charges on deposit accounts were $11.4 million for the year, of which $3.4 million related to the fourth quarter. Service charges were $2.9 million in the preceding quarter. For the full year 2014, gains on sales of SBA loans of $3.5 million was down from $8.0 million in 2013. The decline was primarily due to a lower volume of SBA loans sold in 2014. These gains resulted from the sale of $42.4 million of SBA loans in 2014 compared to sales of $94.4 million in 2013. During the fourth quarter, $15.4 million of SBA loans were sold compared to $14.3 million in the preceding quarter. In 2014, we recognized $1.4 million in disposition gains on PCI loans, which was recorded in the fourth quarter. We did not recognize any disposition gains in any prior period. On the expense side, noninterest expense was $98.6 million for 2014 compared to $71.0 million in 2013. The increase related primarily to salaries and employee benefits, merger and integration cost and an increase of professional fees. Salaries and benefits totaled $50.2 million in 2014 compared to $35.1 million in 2013. Merger and integration costs in 2014 totaled $6.6 million compared to $0.7 million in 2013. Professional fees increased to $7.6 million in 2014 compared to $5.3 million in 2013. During the fourth quarter, we recorded $4.8 million in professional fees compared to $1.4 million in the third quarter. The increase primarily was due to the significant costs incurred to strengthen our infrastructure and to meet heightened internal control requirements. For 2014, the provision for income taxes was $22.9 million or 31.5% compared to $22.8 million or 36.4% in 2013. The year-over-year decrease in our tax rate can be attributed to the bargain purchase gain. Excluding this gain and transaction-related costs, the effective tax rate for 2014 would be 39.4%. Moving to the balance sheet. Gross loans, excluding loans held for sale, increased 25.7% to $2.74 billion from $2.18 billion a year ago. Fourth quarter new loans totaled $224.8 million, which includes $20.5 million in loan purchases during the quarter. I'd also like to mention that as of December 31, 2014, legacy Hanmi's commercial line of credit commitments increased 13.3% over the preceding quarter, while the outstanding balance increased by 12.3%. And on a full year basis, legacy Hanmi's commercial line of credit commitments increased 31.1% over 2013 while the outstanding balance increased by 21.1%. On the deposit side. Core deposits were $2.65 billion or 74.4% of deposits, up by $641.0 million or 32.0% compared to a year ago. Year-over-year, our core deposit growth was fueled by 240 -- I'm sorry, $204 million increase in demand deposits, $222.2 million increase in MMD [ph] in dollar accounts and $209.6 million in other time deposits. Our overall deposits were up by $1.04 billion from a year ago. The percentage of noninterest-bearing deposits to total book deposits was down to 28.8% at December 31, 2014, from 32.5% at December 31, 2013. The cost of deposits declined to 0.47% in 2014 from 0.53% in the prior year. Net interest margin was 3.88% for the year, down 6 basis points from the prior year. The slight decline in NIM year-over-year was due primarily to declining market interest rates, which were partially offset by the impact of acquisition accounting adjustments. For the full year of 2014, NIM, excluding the impact of acquisition accounting adjustments, were 3.66%. A reconciliation table for NIM, excluding purchase accounting, can be found in our earnings release issued this morning. Now I'd like to turn the call back to C.G.