Terry Dolan
Analyst · Piper Sandler
Thanks, Andy. If you turn to Slide 6, I will start with the balance sheet review followed by a discussion of second quarter earnings trends. Average loans grew 6.9% on a linked-quarter basis and increased 10.0% year-over-year. Growth includes $7.3 billion of loans made under the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program during the second quarter. The average loan size to these small businesses was approximately $73,000. Excluding the impact of PPP, average loans grew 5.4% on a linked quarter basis and 8.5% year-over-year. Excluding PPP, linked quarter growth was primarily driven by growth in commercial loans and in mortgage loans. In late first quarter, business customers drew down their lines to support business activity and future liquidity requirements. We started to see pay-downs of commercial loans in May and the paydown activity accelerated in June as many customers access the capital markets. As of last week, about two-thirds of the defensive draws we saw in the late first quarter and early second quarter have been repaid. Strong residential mortgage growth reflected the low interest rate environment. Credit card balances declined in the quarter due to lower spend activity. Turning to Slide 7, average deposits increased 11.2% on a linked quarter basis and grew 16.8% year-over-year. Average non-interest-bearing deposits increased 30.1% year-over-year driven by corporate and commercial banking, consumer and business banking, and wealth management and investment services. Turning to Slide 8, while the net charge-off ratio was relatively stable on a linked quarter basis, non-performing assets increased 24% sequentially, reflecting increased economic stress. The non-performing assets to loans plus other real estate owned ratio totaled 0.38% at June 30 compared with 0.30% at March 31. We have taken a proactive approach in evaluating credit quality across the entire commercial loan portfolio and considered risk rating changes in the evaluation of our allowance for credit losses. Our loan loss provision was $1.7 billion in the second quarter, inclusive of $437 million of net charge-offs and a reserve build of $1.3 billion. The increase in the reserve was related to changes in risk ratings and deterioration in economic conditions driven by the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. global economies and our expectation that credit losses and non-performing assets will increase from current levels. The increase in the allowance for credit loss is considered our best estimate of the impact of slower economic growth and elevated unemployment partially offset by the benefits of government stimulus programs as of June 30. While estimates are based on many quantitative factors and qualitative judgments, our base case outlook assumes an unemployment rate of 13% to 14% for the second quarter, declining to 9.0% in the fourth quarter of 2020 and to 7.8% by the fourth quarter of 2021. Slide 9 highlights our key underwriting metrics and exposures to certain at-risk segments given the current environment. We have a strong relationship-based credit culture at U.S. Bank, supported by cash-flow-based lending that considers sensitivity to stress, proactive management, and portfolio diversification, which allows us to support growth throughout the economic cycle and produces consistent results. Slide 10 provides an earnings summary. In the second quarter of 2020, we reported $0.41 per share. These results were adversely affected by the current economic environment and the related impact to consumer and business spend and the expected increases in credit losses. Turning to Slide 11, net interest income on a fully taxable equivalent basis of $3.2 billion was essentially flat compared with the first quarter in line with our expectations as the impact of lower interest rates was partially offset by deposit and funding mix and loan growth. Also as expected, the net interest margin declined by 29 basis points compared with the first quarter. The lower margin reflected lower rates and a flatter yield curve as well as higher cash balance of being maintained for liquidity to accommodate customer demand. While loan mix put pressure on the net interest margin, the earning asset impact was mostly offset by beneficial shifts in deposit and funding mix. Slide 12 highlights trends in non-interest income. Strength in mortgage banking and commercial product revenue more than offset declines in the payment revenues. Mortgage banking revenue benefited from higher mortgage production and stronger gain-on-sale margins partially offset by the net impact of change in fair value of mortgage servicing rights and related hedging activity. Commercial product revenue reflected higher corporate bond issuance fees and trading revenue. Slide 13 provides information about our payment service businesses, including exposures to impacted industries. Payments revenues were pressured – was pressured by the impact of COVID-related shutdowns and reduced economic activity in the quarter. However, consumer sales trends improved throughout the quarter and that trajectory has continued in early July. Credit and debit card revenue declined 22.2% year-over-year and merchant processing services revenue declined 34.2% year-over-year, both categories performing somewhat better than what we had expected. Corporate payment products revenue declined 39.5% year-over-year in line with our expectations as business spending continues to reflect cautious sentiment. Slide 14 – turning to Slide 14, non-interest expense was essentially flat on a linked quarter basis in line with our expectations. Second quarter expense reflected an increase in revenue related costs from mortgage and capital markets production and expense related to COVID-19 situation. During the quarter, we incurred incremental COVID-19 related costs of approximately $66 million. These expenses consisted of about $30 million related to increasing liabilities for potential future delivery claims related to the airline industry and other merchants and about $50 million related to premium pay for frontline workers and costs tied to providing a safe working environment for our employees. We expect these incremental COVID expenses to begin to dissipate in the second half of the year. Slide 15 highlights our capital position. At June 30, our common equity Tier 1 capital ratio calculated in accordance with transitional regulatory capital requirements related to the current expected credit loss methodology implementation was 9.0% at June 30. Our common equity Tier 1 capital ratio, reflecting the full implementation of the current expected credit loss accounting methodology was 8.7%. I will now provide some forward-looking guidance. For the third quarter of 2020, we expect fully taxable equivalent net interest income to be relatively flat compared to the second quarter. We expect mortgage revenue to continue to be strong on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter, but it is likely to decline compared with the second quarter reflecting slower refinancing activity for the industry. Payments revenue is likely to be adversely affected through the remainder of the year on a year-over-year basis due to reduced consumer and business spending activity. However, we expect continued gradual improvements in sales volumes. We expect non-interest expenses to be relatively stable compared to the second quarter. Future levels of reserve build will depend on a number of factors, including changes in the outlook for credit quality, reflecting both economic conditions and portfolio performance and any beneficial offset from government stimulus. We will continue to assess the allowance – the adequacy of the allowance for credit losses as credit conditions change. For the full year 2020, we expect our taxable equivalent tax rate to be approximately 15%. I will hand it back to Andy for closing remarks.