Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. All participants will be in a listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Eric Yoey.
Please go ahead.
Good morning. Joining me on the call this morning are Jeremy Ford, President and CEO and Will Furr, CFO. Before we get started, please note that certain statements during today's presentation that are not statements of historical fact, including statements concerning such items as our outlook, business strategy, future plans and financial condition are forward looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations concerning future events that by their nature are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual results, capital and financial condition may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of factors, including the precautionary statements referenced in our discussion today and those included in our most recent annual report and quarterly report filed with the SEC.
Except to the extent required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation to update earlier statements as a result of new information. Additionally, this presentation includes certain non GAAP measures, including taxable equivalent net interest margin, prepurchase accounting, taxable equivalent net interest margin, tangible common equity and tangible book value per share. A reconciliation of these measures to the nearest GAAP measure may be found in the appendix of this presentation, which is posted on our website at ir.hilltop holdings.com. And now I would like to hand the presentation over to Jeremy Ford.
Good morning. Before I get started, I would like to welcome Eric Yohi as our new Head of Investor Relations. Eric and I have worked together for a long time, and I know he will do a great job. For the Q2 2019, Hilltop reported net income of $57,800,000 or $0.62 per diluted share, which represents a 77% increase compared with the 0.3 $5 reported during the same quarter last year. Additionally, Hilltop delivered a return on average assets of 1.74% and a return on average equity of 11.6%.
This quarter reflected the strength and diversification of our business model, with the bank, mortgage business and broker dealer all delivering significant year over year pretax income growth. Average loans held for investment, excluding broker dealer loans, grew by $740,000,000 or 13% compared to the prior second quarter. The large drivers were our Bank of Baroque's acquisition in Q3 2018 and our National Warehouse Lending business, which increased its average balance by $225,000,000 or 81% from Q2 2018. We continue to maintain a healthy pipeline of unfunded commitments and aim to prudently grow our loan portfolio by fostering our bank's valued relationships. This was a strong quarter for PrimeLending as reflected by improvements versus Q2 2018 in both gain on sale margin and operating costs.
Also, the structured finance business of Hilltop Securities yielded a net revenue increase of $31,000,000 compared to prior year from optimal market conditions and the strategic alignment with the Capital Markets business. Through the 1st 6 months of 2019, we have returned $40,000,000 to our stockholders in dividends and share repurchases. Under our board authorized share repurchase program, dollars 25,000,000 remains available through January 2020. Credit quality remains a high priority and we continue to focus on maintaining our underwriting discipline. For the performing assets were $53,000,000 down slightly linked quarter and down $32,000,000 compared to Q2 2018.
Moving to Page 4. The bank had a healthy quarter with pretax income increasing by $13,500,000 or 41% from prior year. This increase was partially driven by a reduction in non interest expense of $7,300,000 attributed to a wire fraud and indemnification asset in Q2 2018 as well as operational efficiencies within the business. Additionally, higher yields on higher loan balances delivered net interest income growth of $5,500,000 despite lower accretion during the period. In the Q2, the bank closed 2 underperforming branches resulting in 62 full service branches.
Mortgage pretax income of $21,800,000 for the quarter, an improvement of $8,400,000 from Q2 2018 was the result of disciplined pricing and expense management despite a 4% decline in origination volume. Multiple initiatives implemented during the second half of twenty eighteen resulted in $6,000,000 lower fixed costs and $4,300,000 higher origination and closing cost 16 basis points from Q2 2018, though remain stable over the trailing 12 months. With elevated refinancing volume, we expect margin compression to persist and remain focused on delivering profitable volume through the second half of twenty nineteen. The broker dealer reported a very strong quarter with a pre tax margin of 18.9% on increased net revenues of 35% versus prior year. The increase was largely driven by structured finance, which experienced higher production levels and strong secondary market margins as 10 year rates declined.
We feel good about the path of our new CEO, Brad Wingate, His leadership teams are on to build upon Hilltop Securities' established business lines. Results were relatively stable compared to prior year in our insurance business as we reported a pre tax loss of $2,800,000 for the quarter with a combined ratio of 113%. Notably, we have begun to realize written premium growth in Texas and other core states. In January, we introduced our platform for growth and efficiency initiatives, which includes a broad set referenced mortgage efficiency and capital market strategic alignment initiatives, as well as realized savings from our consolidated shared services and strategic sourcing. While we expect the benefits to largely materialize in 2021, we are encouraged by the progress being made.
This past quarter, I traveled with several of our business leaders to our major markets in Texas and nationwide and met with employees from across all lines of business. It gave us the opportunity to have candid roundtable discussions to learn about what our people are seeing in their market. I came back inspired by our leadership and overwhelmed by the quality of our people in the field. The strength of Hilltop is in our talented people and the impact they have on our customers and communities. With that, I will now turn the presentation over to Will to walk through the financials.
Thank you, Jeremy. I'm starting on Page 5. As Jeremy discussed, for the Q2 of 2019, Hilltop reported $57,800,000 of income attributable to common stockholders equating to $0.62 per diluted share. During the Q2, Hilltop reported a $700,000 recovery in provision for loan losses. In the quarter, the bank recaptured $6,200,000 of allowance for loan loss, principally related to ongoing improvement in the oil and gas portfolio and a significant recovery from a previously classified oil and gas loan.
The 2nd quarter provision includes approximately $3,000,000 of net charge offs or 18 basis points of average bank loans on an annualized basis. Credit quality during the quarter remained solid, but even with the recent strong performance, we're monitoring our portfolio rigorously to evaluate areas that may be experiencing any weakness. Currently, we do not see any industries or concentrated exposures that are experiencing material deterioration. During the 2nd quarter, revenue related to purchase accounting accretion was $6,400,000 and expenses were $2,000,000 resulting in a net purchase accounting pre tax impact of $4,400,000 for the quarter. In the current period, the purchase accounting expenses largely represent amortization of deposit and other intangible assets related to prior acquisitions.
Related to the purchase loan accretion, as the purchase portfolio balances continue to decline, we expect scheduled interest income related to purchase loan accretion to average between $4,000,000 $6,000,000 per quarter for the remainder of 2019. Hilltop's capital position remains strong with a period end common equity Tier 1 ratio of 16.32 percent and a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 13%. I'm moving to Page 6. Net interest income in the 2nd quarter equated to $108,000,000 including $6,400,000 of purchase loan accretion. Net interest income increased $3,000,000 or 3% versus the same quarter in the prior year.
The growth in net interest income was driven by asset growth, including the acquired loans in Houston and improvement in net interest margin, which expanded by 3 basis points versus the prior year period. Net interest margin equated to 3.49 percent in the 2nd quarter and included 23 basis points of purchase accounting accretion. The pre purchase accounting taxable equivalent net interest margin equated to 3.26 percent, which improved by 8 basis points versus the same period in the prior year. On a linked quarter basis, taxable equivalent pre purchase accounting net interest margin declined by 12 basis points resulting from lower yields on loans held for sale and a 6 basis point increase in interest bearing deposit costs. During the Q2, long term interest rates and more directly 10 year rates continued to decline that began earlier in the year.
Year to date, the 10 year treasury yield has declined by approximately 65 basis points, which has a direct impact on Hilltop's loans held for sale yields, albeit on a lag basis. Overall, the average yield on loans held for sale during the Q2 dropped by 32 basis points to 4 60 basis points putting pressure on net interest margin during the quarter. Given the continued declines in the 10 year rates during the Q2, we expect that yields on loans held for sale will continue to decline further during the Q3. In addition, bank loan yields have increased as compared to the same period prior year, but the competitive pressure continues to intensify on both new and renewed loans. As expected, we've seen deposit betas continue to increase even the Federal Reserve did not move short term rates higher.
Hilltop's cumulative beta for interest bearing deposits from December of 2015 has been approximately 46%, remaining below our through the cycle model ranges of 50% to 60%. With the change in market sentiment and the market's indication that the Fed could reduce rates throughout the remainder of 2019, we expect the deposit cost will reach peak levels later this year. With the combination of lower loan held for sale yields and somewhat higher deposit costs, we expect additional pressure on net interest margin for the remainder of the year. Therefore, we are maintaining our full year average pre purchase accounting net interest margin outlook of 3.25 percent plus or minus 3 basis points. We will continue to revisit our assumptions based on the outcome of future Federal Reserve rate movements, yield curve shifts and asset and liability flows across our portfolios.
Quarterly average gross earning assets increased by $268,000,000 versus the same period in the prior year. 2nd quarter earning asset growth was driven by the BORO acquisition and growth in our national warehouse lending business, which provides warehouse financing to 3rd party mortgage companies. Growth was impacted by lower average loans held for sale, which declined by $282,000,000 versus the prior year period. I'm moving to Page 7. Total non interest income for the Q2 of 2019 equated to $313,000,000 2nd quarter mortgage related income and fees increased by $2,800,000 versus the Q2 of 2018.
During the Q2 of 2019, the competitive environment in mortgage banking remained intense as Hilltop's mortgage origination volumes declined by $147,000,000 or 4% versus the same period in the prior year. While mortgage volumes were challenged, gain on sale margins remained relatively stable during the Q2 at 333 basis points. With the recent decline in the primary mortgage rate, the business experienced improvement in the refinance market as refinance volumes grew by 28% versus the prior year. Given the improvements in the market related to lower long term rates, we expect that full year origination volume in 2019 will be in line with full year 2018 production levels. Regarding mortgage gain on sale margins, given the current competitive dynamics, our projected mix of origination business and our expectations on market rates, we expect the gain on sale margins will trend lower throughout balance of 2019.
Other income increased by $35,000,000 driven primarily by improvements in sales and trading activities in both the capital markets and structured finance businesses at Hilltop Securities. Favorable market conditions resulted in a 25% increase in structured finance mortgage backed security volumes and improved secondary spreads. These businesses continue to realize the benefits of the investments we've been making to improve our structuring and distribution capabilities since the Q3 of 2018. I'm moving to Page 8. Non interest expenses increased from the same period in the prior year by $5,000,000 to $344,000,000 The growth in expenses versus the prior year were driven by an increase in variable compensation of $18,000,000 at Hilltop Securities and Prime Lending.
This increase in variable compensation was linked to strong fee revenue growth in the quarter. Over the past 5 quarters, we have continued to make progress in aligning our businesses to the current market conditions and driving efficiencies across the franchise. Through these efforts, headcount, non variable compensation, professional services costs marketing and development expenses continue to trend lower as we make progress against our efficiency initiatives. During the 2nd quarter, Hilltop incurred $2,000,000 in costs related to the ongoing core system enhancements, and we do expect that these related expenses will increase for the remainder of 20 19. Moving to page 9, total average HFI loans grew by 11% versus the Q2 of 2018.
Growth versus the same period in the prior year was driven by loans acquired in Houston during the Q3 of 2018 and growth in our mortgage warehouse lending business. Based on current production trends, seasonal and scheduled pay downs, the current competitive environment and our focus on high quality conservative underwriting, we continue to expect that full year average HFI loans will grow between 4% 6% in 2019. Turning to Page 10. As previously noted and as shown on the chart on the top right of the slide, Hilltop's businesses have maintained solid credit quality as non performing assets have declined $32,500,000 from the same period in the prior year. The allowance for loan loss to HFI loans ratio equates to 83 It is important to note that we maintain approximately $90,000,000 of remaining discounts across the purchase loan pools and these discounts provide additional coverage against future losses.
Moving to Page 11. Average total deposits are approximately $8,300,000,000 and have increased by $483,000,000 versus the Q2 of 2018. Interest bearing deposit costs have risen by 6 basis points from the Q1 of 2019 as competitive pressures remain and clients are actively seeking higher rates of return on their deposits by migrating monies from non interest bearing and savings products into higher yielding money market, CD and investment products. We continue to focus on growing deposits through the expansion of existing relationships and new client acquisition, while managing overall deposit cost as aggressively as possible, while remaining competitive. Moving to Page 12.
During the Q2 of 2019, Plains Capital Bank continued to demonstrate solid improvement in profitability, generating approximately $47,000,000 of pre tax income during the quarter. The quarter's results reflect the benefits of the growth in the Houston market, the aforementioned allowance recapture which equated to $6,200,000 an improvement in the efficiency ratio versus the prior year period of 10.6%. The improvement in the efficiency ratio was driven by both revenue growth and lower expenses versus the prior year period. Of note, the Q2 of 2018 included $4,000,000 of expense related to the previously reported wire fraud and $2,000,000 of loss share related expenses. The focus at PlainsCapital remains consistent, provide great service to our clients, drive profitable growth while maintaining a moderate risk profile and delivering positive operating leverage by balancing revenue growth and expense efficiency.
I'm turning to Page 13. PrimeLending generated a pre tax profit of $22,000,000 for the Q2 of 2019 driven by the efficiency efforts that the leadership team at Prime Lending executed during the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2018 and have continued into 2019. While origination volumes declined by 4% versus the same period in the prior year, the combination of back office efficiencies branch performance management have yielded significant reduction in operating expenses, which declined by approximately $6,000,000 versus the same period in the prior year. Further supporting the improved results is our focus on pricing and fees. Mortgage origination fees have increased from the same period in the prior year by 12 basis points, which yielded a small increase in fees versus the prior year even as origination volumes declined.
The focus for PrimeLending is to generate profitable mortgage volume, continue to focus on operational efficiencies and successfully launch our new mortgage loan operating system. Turning to Page 14, Hilltop Securities delivered a pre tax profit of $22,000,000 for the Q2 of 2019 driven by solid execution in the structured finance and capital markets businesses which have benefited from both our ongoing investments in structuring, sales and distribution and improved market conditions. While activity was strong in the quarter, results from both of these businesses can be volatile as market rates, spreads and volumes can change significantly from period to period. Related to public finance, while revenues declined modestly versus the same period in the prior year, we are investing in our franchise to support long term growth by strategically hiring bankers to support client expansion and acquisition. Based on current market activity, we expect results in this business to continue to improve throughout the remainder of 2019.
The focus for Hilltop Securities is to grow profitable revenue, optimize operating expenses, manage market and liquidity risk within a moderate risk profile, and finalize the deployment of the new core operating system. Moving to page 15, National Lloyds recorded a $3,000,000 pre tax loss for the quarter, which reflects seasonal increases in storm activity and claim related losses. During the Q2, the business delivered modest improvement in written premiums in our core states. Growth in these core states remains the primary focus for 2019. I'm moving to Page 16.
For 2019, we're maintaining the full year outlook for our key balance sheet items, loans and deposits. Given the actual changes in market interest rates and our expectation for rates over the coming quarters, we are adjusting our full year net interest income range lower to reflect our assets and position at PlainsCapital, the impact of lower market rates on loan held for sale yields, and our expectation of increasing deposit costs. To reflect the strength in our fee businesses, we are adjusting our non interest income outlook higher to reflect the results during the first half of twenty nineteen and the improvement in current market conditions. Our non interest expense outlook range is slightly higher as variable expenses will continue to be correlated to our fee revenue businesses. Lastly, as credit quality has remained solid and as a result of performance in the first half of twenty nineteen, we are adjusting our full year provision outlook range lower.
This outlook represents our current expectations with respect to the markets, rates and overall economic activity. These however may change throughout the remainder of the year and we will provide updates as necessary on our quarterly calls going forward. Operator, that concludes our prepared comments and we'll turn the call over to you for the Q and A section of the call.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Our first question today comes from Brady Gailey with KBW.
Another really strong quarter from the broker dealer. The pretax margin almost 19%. I know we've talked about kind of a longer term range in that 10% to 12%, but you look at it this year and you're well on top of that. So maybe just talk about obviously, the setup is great for this business, but longer term, is that 10% to 12% pretax margin still the right way to think about it? Or could that be a little better?
I think it could be a little better. But I mean, I think in some of the quarter, the real outperformance was in our structured finance business that benefited from the lower 10 year rate throughout the quarter, favorable market conditions. And that's kind of the higher margin business. So and there are some and so I think kind of over as other businesses that are kind of lower margin businesses as we kind of fluctuate through, we'll have, I think, 12% to 15% is probably where we're at now from a pretax margin basis on an ongoing basis.
Okay. And then I know when you had a nice quarter last quarter in Q1, we talked about roughly $12,000,000 of fees that were kind of one time in nature coming out of the broker dealer that you wouldn't really respect to be recurring going forward. What is that number for the Q2? 2nd quarter kind of one time pipeline marks, etcetera, approximately $6,000,000
And again if I just to double click there a little bit, I think what you saw is that at the end of the Q1, we had a rally or the 10 year declined materially in the last couple of weeks of March and so that created a price mark volatility at the very end of the quarter. During the second quarter, the 10 year declined more ratably through the period. It wasn't perfectly straight line, but more ratably through the period. And so the gains that came from that were that were at the end of the quarter that would have been one time in nature were smaller. And the overall portfolio balances of securities was lower as we continue to kind of move volume through.
All right. And then finally for me, Will, you left the net interest margin range on change, but you took the spread income guidance down a little bit. So I mean, is the offset just higher average earning assets from like mortgage loans held for sale, is that the right way to think about it?
I think what we're expecting is the National Warehouse Lending business which we denoted a few times as having a better than expected years. We are seeing some benefit from that from an average earning asset perspective, but we do expect again continued pressure on NIM. That said, if you remember through the Q1 taxable equivalent pre provision was 3.38 and then it obviously dropped to 326 in this quarter. We're expecting that number to continue to trend lower through the year, but on a full year average basis to be within the ranges provided.
Got it, thanks guys.
Thank you. Our
next question comes from Michael Rose with Raymond James. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. Just when I look at the loan growth outlook, is the way to explain the what would seemingly imply a drop off in the back half of the year is just the mortgage warehouse volumes?
I think that's the way to think about it. So we've got 2 things happening. First, the Houston asset, the Houston business that we acquired last year, August 1, will come into the comparative period in Q3. So that will have an impact. And when we purchased that bank, it had loans of about $327,000,000 at the close, so obviously that will come in from an average comparative perspective.
Then the national warehouse business as we've said is outperforming and we do expect they will have seasonal declines and balances as those business flows naturally occur later in the 3rd 4th quarters.
Okay, that's helpful. And then just going back to the margin, what are you guys assuming for, I guess, deposit costs or betas in the back half of the year? And perhaps if we do get to Fed rate cuts, I mean, should we think about continued pressure on the margin into 2020?
I think we expect margin again will be under some pressure in the back half of the year, more so on the asset side than on the deposit side. As I noted in my comments, we expect deposit costs will peak in the second half. We are expecting 2 Fed rate reductions, that's what's in our current forecast internally. And as a result of that, we expect that deposit costs will peak and then we will lag there will be a lag between whenever the Federal Reserve moves and our ability to actually reduce rates on clients because again what we're seeing and we've said this is a really competitive deposit market especially for those for our competitors that have higher loan to deposit ratios and they remain focused on growing their deposits and by virtue of that, that's keeping deposit cost higher and will cause us to need to lag a bit. Yes, there's a few of
those banks with high lender deposit ratios in Texas. Maybe just final one for me, just on the share repurchase. Looks like you guys used half of the authorization this quarter. How should we think about the pace of buybacks going forward given still a pretty stout capital level? Thanks.
Yes. Well, I mean, we so as we said,
we have $25,000,000 left of the authorization and endeavor to be active during open market periods.
Okay. Thanks for taking my questions. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Michael Young with SunTrust. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. Congrats on the good quarter. I wanted to start off, obviously, the revenue growth this quarter was very strong across all the businesses. But underlying that, the expense curtailment was also looked pretty strong. So I wanted to maybe just start on the bank side.
It looked like the non comp related expenses dropped down pretty significantly. Is that kind of a good run rate going forward or should we think about it more from an efficiency ratio standpoint? Any color you can provide there?
I think our perspective is that the expenses in the quarter are a solid place to start from a run rate perspective. Obviously, we continue to focus on driving efficiencies. As we noted in our prepared comments, the Q2 of 2018 did have 2 significant items, whether both the fraud loss that we noted as well as some loss year related expenses that are no longer kind of in the run rate, But again, the baseline that we have, which was a pretty clean quarter from an expense perspective.
Okay. So moving forward, I mean, do you think expense cuts could maybe offset some of the purchase accounting accretion decline and we could stay in this sort of 56% efficiency ratio paradigm or will we see some pressure on that with the NIM pressure you're talking about?
Well, we're not going to we don't guide kind of segment level efficiency ratio, but I think our focus is to continue to grow revenue prudently, albeit with the NIM pressure we're talking about at the bank that will be it will be revenue growth will be under some pressure, but overall expense management and the efficiency efforts we're putting in, we do expect to be accretive to help support that.
Okay. And then maybe switching to the broker dealer, same question on the expense side, the kind of fixed expenses dropped a fair bit there. It looks like maybe that's sustainable. And could you just talk about is that the implementation of some of the cost save initiatives that you've implemented? Or is that systems?
Maybe just give a little color behind what's driving the decline in expenses there?
Well, I guess on the
just the non comp expense, I would probably look at that as a pretty good proxy for a run rate. And then the other expenses were elevated obviously related to variable compensation.
Okay. And then maybe just lastly on the deposit side, you guys have had a kind of 40% or 50% beta on the interest bearing side. It sounded like you expected kind of a lag in terms of seeing some improvement there. But as we move into 2020, if we get the rate cuts that are out there, is there anything that would kind of structurally offset your ability to lower deposit or funding costs that you see on the horizon?
No, I think as I try to say, the competitive pressure is really the item that we're continuing to watch. We are prudently going to market. We've got a very solid liquidity position, and so we're prudently going to market in terms of our overall pricing and cost of deposits and kind of what we're pursuing, and we are fundamentally looking to grow deposits through the expansion of existing relationships and the acquisition of new clients. But the competitive landscape across our banking footprint is very aggressive and from a deposit cost perspective. So that will to some extent provide a slower or a lag kind of reduction in deposit cost versus kind of when the Fed moves.
Our next question comes from Matt Olney with Stephens. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning and thanks for taking my question. I wanted to circle back on the mortgage discussion. I believe Will mentioned that the gain on sale margin could be pressured for the remainder of the year. Did I hear that correctly? And is that based off a 333% baseline margin from 2Q.
It looks like it bottomed in 1Q, improved in 2Q. I just want to make sure I appreciate your outlook there. Yes,
so from a gain on sale margin perspective, we obviously troughed last year Q2 3.17 and we've been I think reasonably in a range of 3.30 to 3.35 and so you know I wouldn't pick a single basis point starting spot, but in that $3.30 to $3.35 what we're seeing is, as the market moves to something of a refinance market, which with the lower rates and we see higher refinance percentages in our portfolio and we're seeing that volume start to increase as we did in the Q2. That will have an impact on yields and then the competitive pressures that are in the market and if you will, the oversupply in the marketplace in the context of just mortgage loan officers, mortgage bankers hasn't abated materially and so we are continuing to see price pressure there, but really it's a mix of our overall origination that will cause that gain on sale margin to be under pressure through the second half.
Okay, got it. And then going back to the structured finance business, even if I strip out that 6 $1,000,000 benefit that as you noted could be considered one time in nature, it looks like that business still had a really good quarter. Just trying to understand how sustainable the 2Q results are ex the $6,000,000 Is that a seasonal business that we should be looking at year over year? Just any color about how to forecast that? Thanks.
Well, the $6,000,000 is kind of the inherent gain. But just given the lower rate environment and it's a mortgage related business, it is a mortgage business. So it's seasonally higher in the 2nd and third quarters. And year over year for the Q2, I had a 25% increase in volume. I think where interest rates are today and the housing market and down payment assistance programs, I would assume that it continued to have a pretty good year.
Got it. Okay. Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Chris Gamaitoni with Compass Point. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning everyone.
Good morning.
I wanted to start, is there
of your kind of efficiency, your PPNR improvement target, can you give us a sense of kind of how much is in the current run rate today?
We haven't disclosed that and what we'll as we will provide kind of updates toward throughout the year, but we'll have a more fulsome review of that at the end of this year in our January call. But as Jeremy noted, we are making progress, we make progress every single day on those endeavors and it is top of mind with everything we do.
Okay. And maybe get back to the gain on sale commentary. I'm still a little confused on seeing pressure. Generally across most banks are seeing improvement. Employment year over year was down 4% by the last mark.
Apps are up 38%. I'm just not seeing anywhere else where there's gain on sale pressure, so maybe help me understand that more.
I think I would without speaking to kind of others, from our perspective, we have been historically a purchase origination business, which has and we've got a solid government franchise within that and what we're seeing is that market as the market shifts, as you can see in our results, the purchase volume declined approximately $300,000,000 versus the prior year and refinance volume increased by the 28% I noted earlier, a couple of $100,000,000 So by virtue of that and the mix and then the lower percentage of government volume that you might see as a result of that, we expect volumes to be under pressure. Again, the bigger driver is volume mix and origination mix, which tried to call out, and even if volumes increase, if it's refinance volume increasing, that's a lower margin business for us.
Okay, thank you.
The
next question comes from Brett Rabatin with Piper Jaffray. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning.
Hey, Brett.
Wanted to go back to the NII guide and just thinking about the back half of the year in terms of balance sheet and the margin, it would seem like the guidance on NII would it basically is really conservative and assumes the margin is kind of tough in the back half of the year and we get the reasons for a part of that, but it would seem like given the balances, particularly given the Q2 loan growth that that would be conservative. Can you just talk about what you're assuming in terms of the loan portfolio and the securities book yield in the back half of the year? And then how much pressure you're expecting on deposits because it kind of seems like the guidance on the back half NII number is a little tough?
Well, again I would say just as a note to remember, again the acquisition of the Houston Bank in August will change obviously the growth rate from a reference period perspective in the second half. So that's the first leg of the journey. Then the second piece there and to your point, so loan held for sale yields, we are expecting to travel materially lower in the second half, just given where the 10 year has rallied to here at or around 2 10 basis points. We are expecting to see deposit costs maintain their trajectory of increase through the balance peaking in the second half of the year. And so that with that trajectory that they're on, we would expect to continue.
And then from there, as we noted on a prior discussion, as the Fed moves, we don't expect necessarily to be able to see or reap those benefits immediately. We do expect there's going to be a lagged impact to that any benefits that come from the Federal Reserve declines. That said, for our loan portfolio that's adjustable, that's related to kind of LIBOR or the short term rates, they will reset within the month that they are set to. So we'll have kind of asset yield pressure, we'll have deposit yield we think going up and then the lag there, lag implication and then again loans held for sale, which is just really a market function more than anything.
Okay, fair enough. And then everyone's pointed out that the broker dealer had a really good quarter again and obviously market conditions are a part of that. As we think about that business over a longer period of time, and you talked some about the margins going forward, but as we think about that business over time, I guess, Jeremy, is that something you want to continue to emphasize versus the commercial bank? Or can you give us some color around how you think about the priority of that business versus the other pieces of Hilltop?
I mean, I think they're all similarly of importance. And the way we the business model works is it provides a tremendous amount of diversified fee income. It also provides about $2,000,000,000 of sweep deposits to the bank. And I'm really excited about Brad Wingus and the leadership team. And I do think that what we're working on with them has the prospects for continued
growth. Okay, great. Appreciate the color.
Thanks. Thank you.
The next question is a follow-up question from Michael Young with SunTrust. Please go ahead.
Hey, thanks. Just wanted to follow-up on the insurance business. Obviously, pretty good quarter, more similar to what we saw in terms of loss experience last year. Just wanted to get an outlook on maybe what's happened thus far into the Q3 in terms of losses there, if those have picked up at all or should we expect kind of a similar trend year over year in the Q3 in terms of the combined ratio?
We can't comment on anything that's happened so far in July. But I think overall, we expect similar kind of similar loss patterns as we've historically had in the 3rd quarter. And the thing that could hit you would be a hurricane, but we're well reserved for it or excuse me, well reassured for it. So I think for the year in this business, we're pleased to be midway through and be profitable and from your year to date perspective and the second half of the year is when it typically makes its income.
Income. Okay. And then just one kind of bigger picture question back on whole bank M and A. I think you've commented before that not a lot of opportunities out there. Just curious if you're seeing any shift in the environment there, any more conversations or any more willingness on y'all's part to look at some either smaller or larger deals?
Sure. Well, I think, obviously, the big deal for the quarter was Prosperity and Legacy. Other than that, there's a couple of deals that were announced just this past week. And
we are
getting some inbound calls on some smaller deals and we'll evaluate that, see if it's franchise enhancing. Otherwise, our focus has been on getting our earnings up, so that we're better positioned. And that's what we're trying to do. And for anything big, we'll be patient.
Okay. Thanks.
This concludes our question and answer session. The conference has now also concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.