Ken Lovik
Analyst · KBW. Please go ahead
Thanks David. Despite the continued challenges created by the pandemic, we were relatively happy with the performance for the quarter. As David mentioned, our asset quality metrics remain strong and we are particularly pleased by the positive trends with respect to our loans on deferral. The balance sheet increased about $157 million during the quarter due to continued strong deposit inflows, some of which were used to fund loan growth, while the rest added to our already strong liquidity position. Looking at Slide 4, loans outstanding at the end of the second quarter totaled $3 billion, an increase of $81.6 million or 2.8% from the first quarter. Commercial loans increased $98.9 million or 4.3% compared with the first quarter due primarily to the $59 million of PPP loan originations, as well as higher public finance and construction balances. This growth was partially offset by lower commercial and industrial loan balances as borrowers paid down balances on lines of credit or paid off term loans. Consumer loans decreased $16.2 million or 3% compared to the first quarter, due primarily to increased prepayment activity in the residential mortgage loan portfolio. We did not sell any portfolio loans during the second quarter due to less than optimal market conditions resulting from the pandemic. While the loan sale market was opened during the quarter, pricing was a bit lower than what we are used to seeing and we did not feel the need to force a sale as loan production was down and we knew overall portfolio growth would be modest. We do expect to resume selling portfolio loans in the second half of 2020 as these sales are a key component of our balance sheet management strategy. Moving on to deposits on Slide 5. Deposits at the end of the second quarter totaled $3.4 billion, an increase of $202 million or 6.4% from the first quarter. Like the rest of the industry, we were not immune from the flight to safety as consumers, small businesses and commercial clients looked to conserve cash in the face of an uncertain environment. Money market deposits increased by $311 million or 33% to $1.2 billion and now make up 37% of our total deposits, up from 20% one year ago. The increase in money market deposits included a $219 million contribution from small business. The strong money market deposit growth in the quarter was partially offset by declines of $161 million in higher cost CD and broker deposit balances. Compared to the first quarter, the cost of funds related to interest-bearing deposits decreased by 30 basis points with the cost of money market deposits declining 43 basis points as we continue to reduce our pricing throughout the second quarter. At the beginning of the quarter, our rate on all money market products was 1.6%. At the end of the quarter our rate on the consumer money market product was 1%, and on small business and all other commercial money market products, was 90 basis points. Furthermore, we have lowered all money market rates another 10 basis points so far in July. The cost of CDs and broker deposits decreased by 18 basis points as rates paid on new CD production remained well below the rates on maturing CDs. The continued shift in the deposit mix from CDs to money market accounts also favorably impacted deposit costs. During the second quarter, new CDs and brokered deposits were originated at a weighted average cost of 1.08% whereas maturing deposits rolled off at 2.64%, a positive spread of 156 basis points. Included in the maturing deposits were two higher cost broker deposit balances totaling $117.5 million and having a weighted average cost of 2.97%, which rolled off at the very end of the second quarter. Looking forward, we have approximately $1 billion of CDs with a weighted average cost of 2.18% maturing in the next 12 months versus current production in the range of 100 to 105 basis points. Turning to net interest income and net interest margin on Slide 6. Net interest income on both a GAAP and fully taxable equivalent basis declined compared to the linked quarter as a decline in earning asset yields driven by lower short-term rates following the Federal Reserve rate cuts in March more than offset funding cost reductions. Looking at the quarterly net interest margin progression on the next slide, Slide 7, the fully taxable equivalent net interest margin declined 15 basis points from the first quarter. Loan yields negatively impacted the fully taxable equivalent net interest margin by 24 basis points and lower yields on securities and cash balances, each, had a negative impact of 7 basis points. However, those pressures were partially offset by lower deposit costs, which had a positive impact of 23 basis points. Given the current interest rate environment and our expectation that interest rates will likely remain lower for an extended period of time, we see a significant opportunity to reprice deposits lower in the second half of the year, potentially saving $2 million to $4 million per quarter and we anticipate 2021 annual interest expense savings to be in the range of $17 million to $20 million. We are also expecting yields on earning assets to stabilize going forward. In the second quarter, we felt the full impact of the Fed's rate cuts on our variable-rate loans and securities, as well as non-cash balances. However, the vast majority of our earning assets are fixed rate including over 85% of our loan portfolio and as the pace of short-term rate declines is slowing, we are forecasting earning asset yields to remain flat over the remainder of 2020. The impact of the deposits repricing combined with stabilized asset yields provides us a significant opportunity to increase the net interest income and net interest margin during the second half of 2020 and throughout 2021. During the quarter, monthly net interest margin hit a low in May. However, June's margin was up substantially compared to May's results. So we are beginning to move in the right direction. Turning to non-interest income on Slide 8. Non-interest income for the second quarter declined by $1.2 million to $5 million as compared to the linked quarter. The decrease was driven primarily by a $1 million decrease in gain on sale of loans during the quarter and a $300,000 decrease in revenue from mortgage banking activities. The decline in gain on sales revenue was due primarily to not conducting any portfolio loan sales during the quarter. However, as David mentioned earlier, we did sell $11.5 million of SBA 7(a) guaranteed loans for a gain of $800,000, which was an increase of $300,000 from the first quarter when we sold $5.6 million of loans at a gain of $500,000. In terms of mortgage banking, our direct to consumer mortgage business is experiencing strong demand, fueled by the decline in mortgage rates and refinance activity. Although our mortgage business experienced some market volatility, which negatively impacted revenues late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter, it rebounded in the latter half of the quarter and the pipeline remains very strong heading into the third quarter. With respect to non-interest expense shown on Slide 9, the decrease of $200,000 from the first quarter to $13.2 million was due primarily to decreases in consulting and professional fees, loan expenses, and deposit insurance premium, partially offset by an increase in other expense. The decrease in consulting, and professional services reflected seasonal costs incurred during the first quarter related to the filing of our annual report and proxy statement. The decrease in loan expenses is related to costs incurred during the first quarter associated with nonperforming loans. And the decrease in deposit insurance premium was due to declines in the balance of broker deposits in year-over-year asset growth, both of which positively impact the formula used to calculate deposit insurance expense. The increase in other expenses was due primarily to a $250,000 charitable contribution to assist small businesses and nonprofits to address the economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now let's turn to asset quality on Slide 10. The allowance for loan losses increased to $24.5 million, up 7% on modest loan growth excluding PPP balances resulting in an increase in the allowance to total loans to 82 basis points or 84 basis points, excluding PPP loans. The linked quarter increase was due primarily to additional adjustments to qualitative factors in our allowance model to reflect the continued economic uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Of note, there were no new specific reserves taken on individual loan balances during the quarter. Net charge-offs of $900,000 were recognized during the quarter resulting in net charge-offs to average loans of 12 basis points compared to 6 basis points for the first quarter. The net charge-offs for the quarter included a $740,000 charge-off in our healthcare finance portfolio, which is the first loss that we have ever experienced in that line of business and one that had some unique circumstances associated with them. Nonperforming loans increased by $800,000 in the second quarter to $8.2 million, due primarily to a $700,000 owner-occupied CRE loan that was placed on non-accrual status during the quarter. However, the ratios of nonperforming loans to total loans and non-performing assets to total assets remained relatively consistent with the prior quarter. While there is much that we still don't know about the longer term implications of COVID-19 on the economy and on our borrowers, our credit metrics remains strong to date, and we continue to take comfort in the low LTVs on our real estate secured loans and our overall conservative approach to underwriting, as reflected in our low levels of both nonperforming loans and net charge-offs. With respect to liquidity and capital, as shown on Slide 11, our overall capital levels remain healthy due in part to balance sheet actions we have taken over the last several quarters to manage and preserve capital. Our tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio decreased to 7.01% in the second quarter from 7.22% in the first quarter, primarily due to the asset growth associated with our continued strong deposit inflows, most of which was held in cash or to fund the PPP loans. Excluding growth in cash and PPP balances, the tangible common equity ratio would have been 35 basis points higher. Additionally, tangible book value per share increased to $30.92. Overall, our regulatory capital ratios at the holding company and the bank remains strong and we have more than sufficient on-balance sheet liquidity supplemented by access to additional funding sources to manage the current economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. In terms of capital and overall balance sheet growth going forward, our intent is to reduce the size of the balance sheet over the second half of 2020 through continued deposit repricing and a lower, but still prudent, level of cash balances. As a result, we expect capital levels to increase meaningfully with improved earnings on a smaller balance sheet. Looking ahead, we are extremely excited about our prospects moving into the second half of 2020 and 2021. We believe the trends we have experienced to date with respect to our loans on deferrals speak to the quality of the loan portfolio. Our stabilizing asset yields, coupled with the opportunity to significantly lower deposit costs over the next 18 months are expected to drive substantial increases in net interest income and net interest margin. Fee income in the near term from our mortgage business should remain solid while gain on sale revenue from our small business lending division has the potential to become a significant source of revenue and drive increased profitability. With that, I will turn it back to the operator so we can take your questions. Operator?