Stephen D. Steinour
Analyst · Sandler O'Neill
Turning to Slide 24. Our Fair Play banking philosophy coupled with our optimal customer relationship, or OCR, continues to drive new customer growth and strength in product penetration. This slide recaps the continued strong upward trend in consumer checking account households. For the quarter, consumer checking account households grew at an annualized rate of 11.8%. Our 4+ product through services penetration grew to 80%, an increase of 5% since this time last year. It's worth noting that in the second quarter, we anticipate making a change in our product and service count to a more conservative definition that will be most notable -- noticeable as modest decrease in our 4+ percentage. This change is a natural evolution, as we've made significant strides towards our 4+ cross-sell threshold. And as we hold ourselves to a higher standard, we are increasing our goals and measurement to drive 6+ products and services for our consumer, customers. For the fourth quarter-related revenue was $239 million, down $12 million from the quarter in 2012 mainly due to 2 items. That's -- the 2 -- first there are 2 -- few number of days, resulting in lower net interest income; and secondly, a decrease in service charges on deposit accounts. That decline reflects typical seasonality in the February implementation of a new posting order for consumer transaction accounts. Full year impact from the new posting order, which was incorporated in the previous 2013 guidance, is estimated to be between $25 million and $30 million. From here, we expect service charges on deposits to trend with overall household growth. Turning to Slide 25. Commercial relationships grew at an annualized rate of nearly 12%, as we experienced very strong growth in small business. At the end of the quarter, 36% of our commercial relationships utilized 4+ -- utilized 4 or more products and services. This is 3% higher than this time last year. Related commercial revenue of $175 million, while up $5 million from a year ago, is down $15 million from the fourth quarter of 2012. While the fourth quarter was particularly strong, the decline was larger than we expected, as we saw a noticeable change in commercial customer activity. Capital markets activity started off very slow, as many companies moved up transactions into December, given the uncertainties that existed at that time. Late in the quarter, we saw the pipeline rebuild and the second quarter is off to a solid start. Turning to Slide 26 and 2013 expectations. For the most part, we aren't changing our expectations all that much from what we stated in January. There are a few changes, and I will note these. We continue to benefit from the strength in the Midwest and believe our strategies will continue to drive growth and improve profitability. With regard to interest rates, we expect the interest rate environment will remain relatively stable. With the opportunities for deposit repricing and mix shift, we expect net interest margin to remain fairly stable and, for the full year, do not expect it to fall below the mid-3.30s percent. Modest total loan growth, excluding any future impacts of additional auto securitizations, is expected to continue. C&I pipeline is robust. Yet with the current economic uncertainties, we expect this to translate to stronger growth in the second half of this year. Auto loan originations remain strong. As we said last quarter, with the opportunity to change the size and timing of securitizations, the one change is that we are currently planning only one securitization for later in the year. Even with this change, we expect to continue to be well below our overall concentration limit of 20%. There's a clear opportunity given the environment to trade some of the securities reinvestments for auto loans. These loans carry a shorter duration and higher yield and do not have the OCI risk. The interest income gained by not securitizing nearly offsets the loss fee income in 2013, the net impact being well less than $0.01 and favorable in 2013. However, in 2014, the net impact due to higher interest income increases EPS by about $0.01. Our CRE balances, commercial real estate balances, should stabilize in 2013. We now expect that to be around $5 billion. Other consumer loan categories should reflect modest growth. Deposit balances will reflect continued growth in low-cost deposits, resulting in total deposit growth, in line with to slightly less than total loan growth. Noninterest income for the full year, excluding any impact from securitizations or change in net MSR, is expected to be relatively stable as the expected slowdown in mortgage banking will be offset by the benefit of our growth in new relationships and increased cross-sell success. Noninterest expenses in the first quarter were $10 million to $20 million lower than the quarterly run rate we expect for the remainder of the year. This slide lists a few areas where we expect to see an increase next quarter. But even with these increases, we remain committed to positive operating leverage for the full year. On the credit front, overall credit quality is expected to experience continued improvement and net charge-offs well in the normalized range this quarter -- this past quarter, are expected to remain volatile but reach sustainable normalized levels by the end of 2013. The level of provision for credit losses was at the low end of our long-term expectation. In summary, the environment remains challenging but 2013 is off to a solid start. The first quarter had some strong areas of performance: Double-digit annualized consumer and commercial relationship growth; net interest margin up 2 basis points from a year ago, with the cost of funds dropped another 23 basis points during that period; nearly $20 million in linked quarter decline in expenses; increased cross-sell across the board; 25% increase in our declared dividend and the approved buyback authorization; 5% annualized loan growth. Now as with all banks, there was some challenges. Pricing is tight and structure is loosening, but I think we are starting to see some separation between banks. A few of us that continue to invest are just starting to see some of the long-term benefits of these multiyear investments. Our differentiated strategies are working, and we will grow where we have relationship advantages and competitive advantages. We, our board, our management team and our employees are all long-term shareholders. So above all else, we'll remain disciplined in the use of our capital to drive appropriate risk-adjusted returns. Thanks for your interest in Huntington.