Operator
Operator
Good morning. My name is Victoria and I will be your conference operator today. Thank you for joining us for this conference call for OFG Bancorp. Our speakers are José Rafael Fernández, President, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman; Ganesh Kumar, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Maritza Arizmendi, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The presentation that accompanies today’s remarks. There’s a presentation that accompanies today’s remarks. It can be found on the Investor Relations website on the homepage in the What’s New Box or on the webcast, presentations, and other files page. This call may feature certain forward-looking statements about management’s goals, plans and expectations. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties outlined in the risks factor section of OFG’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated. We disclaim any obligation to update information disclosed in this call, as a result of developments, which occur afterwards. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. I’d now like to turn the call over to Mr. Fernández. José Rafael Fernández: Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. I will review the quarter’s results and Ganesh and Maritza will join us for the question-and-answer session. Because of the hurricanes and the fact that we’re the first financial institution in Puerto Rico to report third quarter results. We will focus our prepared remarks on a few key quarter highlights, give you a view from the ground and then open the call for questions. Please turn to Slide 3. Before the market opened, we reported a small loss of $146,000, resulting in break-even results on a per share basis. Core operating results were comparable to the last quarter, not requiring much explanation. However, the third quarter included a $27 million pre-tax additional provision for loan and lease losses related to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Even with this provision, our capital metrics remain strong and significantly above regulatory requirements for a well-capitalized institution. Tangible book value per share declined only $0.02 and the tangible common equity ratio was only 11 basis points below year high levels in the second quarter. Other capital ratios, such as common equity Tier 1, Tier 1 risk-based and total risk-based, all increased for the second quarter. In addition, some of our key performance metrics such as net interest margin increased to 5.64% and the efficiency ratio improved to 51.66%. On an adjusted basis, excluding the hurricane-related additional provision, operating earnings growth in the third quarter was stellar. Net income available to shareholders totaled $18.8 million, or $0.40 per share fully diluted, that’s an increase of $0.10 per share, or 33% as compared to the second quarter, and an increase of $0.14 per share, or 54% from the year-ago third quarter. On an adjusted basis, return on average assets was 1.47% and return on average tangible common equity was 10.98%. Please turn to Slide 4. As you all know, the two hurricanes we experienced Irma and Maria, one at the beginning and the other at the end of September were unprecedented. Maria’s impact has been especially devastating and recovery has been slow. The hurricanes have clearly exposed the fragility of the island’s infrastructure and its level of unpreparedness towards such events. There have been continuing challenges in the areas of electricity and telecommunications that have increased everyday difficulties for businesses and households alike. Frankly, progress has been very disappointing. It is now more than a month since Maria hit. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail, as it has been widely covering the media, but I want to give you a flavor of what is it like on the ground. PREPA is generating electricity at less than a quarter of its capacity. During the initial days, none of our main buildings have power. We relied entirely on generators. Even now, we’re still relying on generators in our headquarter buildings, where we are today. Power generators and skilled technicians to maintain them are hard to find. Diesel fuel costs two to three times the normal price. Although the supply is somewhat regular, transportation was a major stumbling block in the initial few days. Even now, there is still instability issues in overall telecom. It would not surprise me if we draw a connection to this call. From the employee standpoint, only a third of cellphone antennas are working even now. Communication to our branch employees after the storm was impossible in the first few days. Gasoline for cars was unavailable, as gas station has – had closed their doors. The economy has reverted to cash transactions as the credit, debit card infrastructure shutdown due to lack of electricity. As of today, approximately 15% of POS terminals are functional. While close to 90% of the grocery stores are open, many basic items, such as bottled water are still difficult to find. Please turn to Slide 5. In response from day one after Maria hit, every single member of the OFG oriental team has worked under extremely adverse conditions. And they continue to do so enabling us to operate the bank, so that we can provide the best service possible for our clients. We are extremely grateful for and also proud of their dedication, commitment and willingness to go the extra mile for the benefit of our customers. Despite these challenges and with all of the logistical issues involved, our digital channels and back-office systems never went down. Within days after Maria, we started openings strategically located branches on a fully operational basis with no limits on cash withdrawals in teller window – windows. We focus on reopening branches based on customer traffic, geographic coverage and accessibility. Cognizant of additional costs to keep the branches open and run ATMs 20 hour – 24 hours a day. As of today, we’re operating 20 of our 48 branches and 142 of our 309 ATMs. The lines at our branches have stabilized, resulting in a customer experience much closer to normal times. Deposit level subsequent to the third quarter have held steady. While demand for lending and other businesses is still tame, commercial pipeline and auto loan productions have begun to pick up somewhat. One of the major reasons why we were able to get up and running so quickly with full service is the direct result of investments we’ve made in technology. For example, our full-service ATMs are able to both take deposits and issue cash. These investments proved the worth over the last month. These have made us even more convinced that we should continue on this path. We took this opportunity also to field test our new virtual teller ATMs in our marquee branch in Plaza Las Americas, and it was very well received. In response to the hurricanes, we also put into place our program, alivio cuando mas lo necesita, relief when you need it most. For all retail loan customers, we’re providing three months automatic moratoriums on payment of principal and interest. For all mortgage and commercial loan customers, we have been similarly accommodating depending on client needs. Please turn to Slide 6. At September 30, we knew there will be an impact on our business from the hurricanes. As a result, third quarter results included $27 million pre-tax in our additional loan loss provision to cover the impact of the hurricanes. As you can see on this slide, $16.8 million was allocated for originated book of $3 billion, representing approximately 54 basis points of balances. Our total allowance coverage ratio is now 2.83%. The balance of the additional provision, or $10.2 million was allocated to our acquired book, which is $960 million. From a purchase accounting perspective, this carrying amount represent 89% of the unpaid principal balance. You might have several questions regarding how we came up with this figure for the provisions. Our allowance methodology has not changed, but as the hurricanes are expected to have an adverse impact on the economy, based on current information available, we model separately what the impact might be on our portfolio. For the commercial portfolio, we were able to get our commercial loan officers to contact almost all of the borrowers for an assessment of the immediate impact on their businesses. For the homogeneous portfolio, the method is based on various assumptions. It is possible, the insurance proceeds could play a mitigating role for us, as well as for our borrowers. But today, it is too early to provide a definite estimate. The next few slide show trends that are very similar to the prior few quarters. So let me skip ahead to Slide 10. This slide explains variances in our income statement in detail compared to the second quarter. The only item that I’d like to point out is an increase of $5.5 million in interest income from originated loans. This was primarily due to an early payoff of the full principal of a commercial loan that was classified as non-accrual. The next few slides show the strong levels of OFG capital position and core operating trends. So let me skip ahead again to Slide 14 for our outlook. Looking ahead, we believe the island will continue to achieve some level of stabilization, but it will take time. Even when we get over these initial crisis, the road back will be a long and drawn-out affair. On the upside, there’s a lot of talk of recovery. There are discussions in Washington about providing additional funding for Puerto Rico, and there is talk about a lot of reconstruction work. As an example, between FEMA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they have disbursed so far $573 million to private contractors, primarily for infrastructure restoration projects. On the downside, people are leaving the island and companies are cutting back their work forces due to their inability to operate at full capacity and because the economy is still paralyzed. In the short run, the upsides might mitigate somewhat some of the downsides. However, it is yet to be seen how the long-term will play out. One thing is for certain. After years of worrying about it, Puerto Rico has finally hit bottom. It is painful. It is difficult. It is challenging. But it finally gives us a chance to rebuild the island in a new and different way, una Puerto Rico diferente. The market paradigms will change. This will affect the shape of our business. We will need to look for how we should adapt to the new reality in Puerto Rico and take advantage of the potential opportunities it presents. We also need to develop new profit centers. Though we did not expect the calamitous hurricanes, we have been preparing for a geographical diversification in our business for the last few quarters. As an initial step, we’re actively exploring partnerships with stateside financial institutions, with proven origination and servicing capabilities. We’re interested in having flow arrangements for participations in commercial credit, as well as ongoing loan pool purchases. Rest assured, in line with our operating discipline, we will be prudent and methodical in executing these strategies. Puerto Rico will continue to remain our main market as we gradually add stateside credit to our balance sheet. As we have in the past, we’re proud to be front and center in any effort, helping our communities in this hour of need. Between direct assistance to the communities we serve and to our own employees who suffered losses, we have donated approximately $2.5 million. In addition, as part of our volunteer program, manos Oriental, a group of employees and their families donated their personal time and talent to not for profit organizations, helping the needy with basic necessities of life. OFG is truly committed to the recovery efforts of Puerto Rico, playing a constructive role in our economy. Economy-wide, it is not the first time we’re facing a crisis. Although this is – this one is quite impactful. At OFG, we pride – proud ourselves – we pride ourselves to be prudent managers of capital deployment, quick in adapting to evolving situations and demonstrating the business agility required to operate under such circumstances for more than a decade. The hurricanes have disrupted our business temporarily. But I’m confident, that OFG will emerge stronger by making the right moves at appropriate times. We will keep you abreast in our future calls on how we continue along the path of such transformation. With this, we end our formal presentation. Operator, please open the call to questions.