Ron Ohsberg
Analyst · Piper Sandler. Please go ahead
Thank you, Ned. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call today. I'll review our second quarter 2020 results in more detail. As Ned mentioned, net income was $21 million or $1.21 per diluted share for the second quarter, as compared to $11.9 million and $0.68 for the first quarter. Net interest income of $30.9 million decreased by $1.7 million, or 5% from the preceding quarter, the margin was 231 compared to 261 in the first quarter, the income from prepayment penalties was modest and totaled $21,000 compared to $125,000 in the first quarter. Net interest income and margin were negatively affected by the decline in LIBOR during the quarter as compared with Q1. The average balance of interest earning assets increased by $357 million on a linked quarter basis. Average loans were up by $261 million, and average cash and short-term investments were up by $74 million. The yield on earning assets decreased by 58 basis points from the first quarter to 3.18%. On the funding side, average in-market deposits rose by $94 million, while the average balance of wholesale funding increased by $115 million. The cost of interest bearing liabilities declined by 33 basis points to 1.08%. Non-interest income comprised 46% of total revenues in the quarter, and amounted to $26.3 million, up by $6.4 million, or 32% from the first quarter. Our mortgage banking revenues totaled $14.9 million, a record high, but linked quarter increase of $8.8 million or 144% included an increase in net realized gains reflecting both a higher sales volume, as well as a higher sales yield on loans sold to the secondary market. Mortgage loans sold totaled an all-time quarterly high $305 million in the second quarter, up by $143 million or 88% from the first quarter. This was also up by $168 million or 122% from the second quarter of 2019. Net unrealized mortgage gains also increased from the preceding quarter, reflecting growth in the mortgage pipeline and a corresponding increase in the fair value of mortgage loan commitments as of June 30. Our mortgage origination pipeline at June 30 was about $410 million and up about 25% from the end of March. Wealth management revenues were $8.6 million, down by $84,000 or 1%. This was due to a $199,000 or 2% decline in asset base revenues, which were partially offset by an increase in transaction-based revenues of $115,000. The decline in asset base revenues correlated with a decline in the average balance of assets under administration, which decreased by $157 million or 3%. The June 30 end of period balance of assets under administration totaled $6.1 million, and was up by $801 million or 15% from March 31. This was due to a recovery in financial markets during the quarter, as well as net client asset inflows. Loan related derivative income amounted to $99,000. This was down by $2.4 million from the first quarter, reflecting a lower volume of commercial borrower interest rate swap transactions as well as unusually high activity in the first quarter. Income from bank-owned life insurance totaled $791,000, up by $227,000 or 40%. Included in the second quarter was a $229,000 non-taxable gain due to the receipt of life insurance proceeds. Now, let me turn to non-interest expenses. Total expenses were down by $2 million, or 6% from the first quarter. The linked quarter change was impacted by the following items. In the first quarter, we established a contingent loss reserve within other non-interest expenses of approximately $800,000. This matter was resolved in the second quarter, and $170,000 of unnecessary reserves were reversed. Excluding the impact of this item, non-interest expenses for the second quarter decreased by $1 million or 3% on a linked quarter basis. Salaries and employee benefits expense was essentially flat, as increased mortgage commission expense was offset by approximately $1.1 million of deferred labor costs, including $1 million associated with the PPP loan originations. The PPP deferred labor costs are a contra expense in our non-recurring. Outsourced services expense was down 216,000, mainly reflecting volume-related decreases in third-party processing costs related to customer swap transactions. FDIC insurance costs were up by 252,000 from the preceding quarter, largely due to growth in average assets, mainly related to the PPP loans. We expect quarterly expenses to approximate 550,000 in both the third and fourth quarter of 2020. Income tax expense totaled $5.5 million. The effective tax rate for the second quarter was 20.9%, unchanged from the prior quarter, and we currently expect our full-year effective tax rate to be approximately 21% for 2020. Turning to the balance sheet, total loans were up by $197 million or 5%, compared to March 31, and up by $557 million, or 15% from a year ago. Total commercial loans were up by $210 million, or 9% in the second quarter. The increase mainly reflected $220 million of PPP originations. Also a single $25 million line advance that was made at the end of the first quarter was repaid during the second quarter. Residential loans decreased by $2 million and consumer loans were down by $11 million. In-market deposits were up by $299 million, or 9%, and by $551 million or 18% from a year ago. We estimate approximately $175 million of the increases associated with PPP loans, which are expected to be temporary. Wholesale brokered CDs were up $97 million, and FHLB borrowings were down by $193 million. We also were elected to participate in the PPP liquidity facility with the Fed. At June 30, advances under this program totaled $39 million. Non-performing assets declined by $1.9 million from the end of Q1. Non-accruing loans were 4.37% of total loans, compared to 0.44% at the end of the first quarter. Loans past due 30 days or more were 0.34% of total loans, compared to 0.4% in Q1. Net charge offs of 308,000 were recognized in Q2, compared to 623,000 in Q1. The allowance for credit losses on loans totaled $41.4 million or 97 basis points of total loans, and provided NPL coverage of 259%. Excluding PPP loans, the allowance coverage was 101 basis points. The provision for credit losses was $2.2 million, compared to $7 million recorded in Q1. We use the baseline national unemployment rate forecasts from Factset the econometric data provided used by our wealth management division for our CECL modeling, continued uncertainty regarding the severity and duration of the pandemic and related economic effects remains, and it is unclear to what extent various government initiatives will be able to mitigate future credit losses. Total shareholders equity was $520 million at June 30, up by $11.6 million from the end of the first quarter. Washington Trust remains well-capitalized. The total risk based capital ratio was 12.78%, compared to 12.42% at March 31. The tangible equity to tangible assets ratio was 7.74%, compared to 7.89. This reflected the increase in total assets associated with PPP lending, which is government guaranteed and anticipated to be relatively short-term. Finally, our second quarter dividend declaration of $0.51 per share was paid on July 10, and finally, I'd like to update you on our COVID-19 lending/loan deferments as of June 30 totaled $652 million or 15% of outstandings. This includes $447 million of CRE, $74 million of C&I, $122 million of residential and $9 million of consumer. A breakdown of commercial deferments by industry category is presented in a table in our earnings release. We will be happy to get into the details during Q&A. Also as of June 30, we have underwritten 1741 PPP loans totaling $220 million, and an average size of 127,000. Gross fees related to PPP loans totaled about $7.4 million or 3.4% of originations, and these are expected to be -- which will be offset by projected underwriting costs, which include $1 million of the internal deferred labor costs that I mentioned previously. The timing of the recognition of net fees into the margin will depend upon the pace of loan forgiveness as approved by the SBA. And at this time, I will turn the call back to Ned.