Earnings Call: Q2 2020

Jul 24, 2020

Good morning. Thank you for joining OFG Bancorp's Conference Call. My name is Laurie, and I will be your operator today. Our speakers are Jose Rafael Fernandez, President, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman and Maritza Arasmindi, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. A presentation 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 Webcasts, 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 risks and uncertainties outlined in the Risk Factors section of OFG's SEC 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 that 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 would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Fernandez. Good morning. Thank you for joining us. Please turn to Page 3. First, I would like to thank all our team members for their dedication and commitment during these very challenging times. Like other banks, we faced a number of COVID-nineteen related challenges during the Q2. But for us at OFG, the pandemic also followed the earthquakes we experienced in January and occurred while we were in the process of integrating the Scotiabank acquisition, certainly no small challenge. But by acting quickly and with foresight, we produced excellent results for our customers, communities and people and continue to help them build better financial futures. In March, governments in Puerto Rico and U. S. Virgin Islands shut down businesses and personal activities. Restrictions were eased in late May, but recent spikes in new cases have forced Puerto Rico to reduce some of the flexibility. The Federal Reserve Bank cut rates 150 basis points in March, following the 75 basis points reduction in the second half of 2019. Our commitment and preparation enable us to successfully manage these challenges. Easy, fast, done, as we say at OFG. All our branches operated safely throughout the quarter, enhanced by our technology platform. Our full service ATMs and ITMs, mobile app and online bill paying tools facilitated routine transactions in a contactless manner. Online and mobile appointment scheduling helped make COVID safe customer meetings possible at branches. We deployed 100% digital client friendly application and funds disbursement process for PPP loans. About half of our team members are still working remote. We also implemented extensive new safety protocols for our customers and people on-site, and we continue to offer new benefits for our people such as free COVID on-site testing and daily online health check ins as well as incentives. The results speak for themselves. We provided high levels of customer service, safety and knowledge throughout all channels. Loan production in the 2nd quarter totaled more than $500,000,000 Customer deposits increased $760,000,000 Our online loan deferral tool and call centers processed relief for more than 44,000 retail customers. We reduced higher cost wholesale funding, maintained a strong level of net interest margin and continued to build liquidity and capital. And we secured $100,000 in Federal Home Loan Bank of New York grants to support local nonprofit and small businesses in Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Please turn to Page 4. We have continued to see strong technology utilization trends among both our retail and business customers since the beginning of the year and in particular since March. Online bill enrollment bill pay enrollments were up 12% as of March and 24% as of June. Mobile banking users jumped 17% by the end of the second quarter from the beginning of the first. The number of remote deposit capture users are up 68% from the end of March. In another area of success for us, during the Q2, we scheduled more than 18,000 COVID safe appointments with our customers through our online and mobile tool. We are very pleased with this to see these trends. Technology is a core part of our overall corporate strategy. We continue to look into new ways and innovative ways to use it to help our customers. Please turn to Page 5. Looking at our SBA PPP program, we continue to to exceed our market share in Puerto Rico. We generated a total of $286,000,000 in new loans. This enabled us to help more than 4,000 small businesses, save more than 50,000 jobs. It also enabled us to attract new accounts in this strategically important customer base. And we were able to distribute these funds electronically within 5 days of application approval. This is a great example of our ability to act quickly in response to changing conditions to the benefit of both existing and new customers and the communities we serve. Let's talk about our results on Page 6. We reported EPS of $0.39 and $0.37 on a non GAAP basis. Total core revenues were $128,000,000 Most of that was due to a large increase in interest earning assets, chiefly loans and cash. This was partially offset by a decline in yield due to significantly lower rates on cash and lower yields on variable rate commercial loans. In addition, we have lower investment security balances. As a result, we generated net interest income of $105,000,000 with a net interest margin of 4.78%. Banking and Wealth Management revenues totaled $23,000,000 Non interest expenses were $86,000,000 primarily due to the addition of the Scotiabank acquisition. 2nd quarter results included several items: $9,500,000 in revenues from Scotiabank interest recoveries and bargain purchase gain. We added $5,000,000 in provision for the pandemic. And within non interest expenses, we had a $5,000,000 in margin and restructuring charges and COVID related operating costs. Please turn to Page 7. The effects of these results is that we're building tangible book value, and our return on asset and return on equity continue to improve sequentially from the 4th quarter. Please turn to Page 8 for operational highlights. Average loan balances increased 52% year over year and 2% quarter over quarter. Average core deposits, excluding brokered, increased 76% year over year and 5% quarter over quarter. Loan generation was strong, increased production from PPP and other commercial loans was partially offset by reduced production in our retail categories, primarily due to the economic shutdown. We ended the quarter with good momentum and good pipelines in the mortgages and auto businesses. Loan yield at 6.97% continued to hold up well despite the recent Federal Reserve cuts. The cost of core deposits declined 4 basis points year over year. Net interest margin declined to 4.78%. Please turn to Page 9 to review credit quality. The net charge off and nonperforming loan rates declined year over year and quarter over quarter, reflecting loan pay downs and the effects of deferrals. Provision for credit losses of $18,000,000 was level with last year. I'd like to note the year ago provision included $9,000,000 related to loans transferred to held for sale. Please turn to Page 10 to review our loan deferrals. After disruptions in economic condition caused by COVID-nineteen, we offered several loan payment deferral programs ranging for 1 to 4 months. As I've mentioned, we've enhanced this effort by quickly developing unique and first to market digital tools to help consumers apply for forbearance on an individual basis. Our online loan deferral tool and call centers process relief for more than 44,000 retail customers. In total, we have about $1,400,000,000 or 32% of our retail loans on Defaro. The pace of retail request is significantly slowing. In addition, we have about $685,000,000 or 26% of our commercial loans on deferral. Please turn to Page 11. The allowance for loan and lease losses of $233,000,000 increased $70,000,000 year over year, and we have almost doubled the level of reserves from December 31, 2019. Compared to March 31, 2020, the allowance increased $2,000,000 Excluding SBA guaranteed PPP loans, 2nd quarter 2020 allowance was 3.49 percent of loans, 8 basis points higher than the 1st quarter. Please turn to Page 12. We are in a strong capital position. Our CET capital ratio, as you see on that slide, at 12.03 percent is up 112 basis points since last year. Please turn to Page 13. While we still face much uncertainty regarding COVID and the economy, we are in a strong financial position, ready to help our customers during these trying times. Once we get through this, Puerto Rico stands to benefit significantly from COVID stimulus and still unspent on distributed Maria and earthquake related stimulus programs. At OFG, we believe our results and our history demonstrate our ability to quickly respond and adapt to changing economic environments. During the Q2, we continued to build momentum in our core businesses and develop a good pipeline of new loans. From a liquidity, capital and balance sheet point of view, we are well positioned both financially and strategically. Our agenda going forward is clear. We plan to continue integrating the former Scotiabank operations and finish by the end of this year. At the same time, we must achieve the full benefits of the acquisition by the end of 2021. We also plan to continue to invest in the future to further simplify our operations and enhance our ability to serve customers. And ultimately, we intend to continue to play a significant role in the recovery in Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Again, I want to thank all our team members for our excellent results and for their dedication and commitment throughout these trying months. Crisis bring out the best in people to help others. Our people demonstrate that with purpose every single day. With this, we end our formal presentation. Thank you for listening. Operator, please open the call for the Q and A session. Thank you. Your first question comes from the line of Alex Twerdahl of Piper Sandler. Just to start off on the reserve and the provision, maybe you could help us kind of just break down the provision for this quarter and the $5,000,000 that you put aside for COVID. Was that related mostly to a change in the Moody's S3 scenario or was it related to internal downgrades of credits related to COVID or how should we be thinking about that? Yes. I'll give you a high level. I'll let Marisa answer you in more detail. But we actually have the S3 Moody scenario. We have kept that S3 Moody scenario. And we feel that the COVID-nineteen has proven to be extremely uncertain across the globe, and we feel that here in Puerto Rico is no exception. So we decided to keep the S3 Moody's as the scenario where we drive our provisioning. So that's the big side of it, the big picture of it. I'll let Maritza give you the details on the rest. Hi, Alex. Regarding the additional $5,000,000 Jose mentioned, we keep the MULIS S3 scenario. And we also evaluate the old qualitative adjustment that we did during the last quarter. We update them. And as a result of that, we added BRL 5,000,000,000 in the retail portfolio mostly based on most recent information, and that's the $5,000,000 adjustment for the COVID related provision. Okay. So it was retail oriented mostly, but I'm just kind of curious if there was a specific factor in retail that you're looking at just kind of thinking about the amount of stimulus money that's flowing down to the island and seeing the deposits really balloon at you and some of your peers. It seems like the retail might be in better shape today than they normally would without that stimulus. So kind of how should we think about how you're expecting the retail portfolios to perform? Yes. I think the assumptions that you pose are correct. There's certainly stimulus flowing down from COVID and still from the Hurricane Maria and the earthquakes and that's going to play out. I think there's a portion of it that will play out on the short term and we would like to see the deferral program end as it ended in June 30 and see how the retail portfolios behave forward to feel more comfortable on the scenarios. But I agree with you, longer term, we just think that the economy it's hard for us to pinpoint how the economy is going to be doing in the next 6 months. But we do agree that the economy with the stimulus and all the items that you mentioned should have good momentum on a more longer term scenario. So we will update as we see and feel more comfortable with the data on the credit side. Great. And you guys have done the full reviews at this point on all your commercial customers and gone through and of course, if there's something that you saw you would have added to the reserve this quarter? Yes. So on the commercial side, I can tell you that we are keeping a close eye on different industries, but particularly on the hospitality. That's the industry that we are most focused on in terms of the effects of the COVID-nineteen pandemic. Right now, most all of the deferrals on the large and middle market commercial portfolios ended on June 30. And we just have 12 loans on the hospitality that asked for 3 additional months. So we feel positive about our commercial portfolio on the middle and large commercial portfolio. We also feel good about our efforts on the small business side and how we're monitoring those. So again, we're okay on that side and we're happy to see commercial clients coming back as they are. But again, when we look at the provisioning, we felt that on the retail side, the effects of the pandemic are still quite uncertain and we don't know how the government is going to react to the recent spike. Understood. And then just to switch gears a little bit and looking at expenses, if you kind of back out the COVID adjustment as well as some merger expenses, you get to kind of like an 80 $500,000 run rate for expenses. Is that the right run rate to use going into the 3rd quarter? Or I guess where is the starting point? And then kind of as you near the end of the integration of Scotia, where you expect expenses to kind of end the year and start 2021? So on the expense side, remember the 2nd quarter has lower activity. So we were showing lower cost of transactionality, the lower transactionality that we're seeing from the customer. So as the economy picks up, we expect those expenses to come back up. But on the other hand, we started the efforts on extracting the savings from the Scotia acquisition in this Q3. And we're very, very cautious simply because of the environment in terms of the COVID. But we are going to see some benefits from those efforts. And we feel more comfortable giving you a comfort on us extracting the 25% cost saves from the acquisition by the end of 2021 because again, we're operating in a different environment than normal. So that's kind of the best I can give you, Alex, on the expenses. I really think that we are in good shape there as we are executing on our efficiencies, albeit at a slower pace than we anticipated given the COVID-nineteen. Thanks for taking my questions. You're welcome, Alex. Thank you for your questions. Your next question comes from the line of Glenn Manna of KBW. Hi, good morning. Good morning, Glenn. I just wanted to discuss the NIM for a minute. Maybe if we could talk about what portion of the quarter over quarter decline came from excess liquidity and what portion came from rates and PPP? And if you could discuss it in the context excluding the interest rate recovery, that would be helpful. Including the interest rate recovery you said, Glenn? Right. The 5 0. Excluding, right. Excluding. Okay. Okay. Now I understand. All right. I'll let Marit answer that one. That's Hey, Glenn. Thanks for your question. In general, the 44 basis point reduction, excluding the recovery, we have done several assumptions regarding what it depends on how much cash we will keep going forward. But in general, our assessment is about 1 third, about 15 basis points relates to the cash balances that we hold during the quarter and the balances that we added in the PPP loan program. It's about 15 basis points. So that would be onethree from excess liquidity and twothree of the drop was just on rate was on rates? Yes. Because cash balances, as you know, were impacted because of the Fed rate cuts and also the portion of the commercial portfolio that is indexed by our rates that we have around 52% of our portfolio of the commercial portfolio is viable, but we are expecting that this quarter already have the full effect of the Fed cuts. So going forward, we are expecting a more stable type of NIM as we will see during the Q3, the full effect of the PPP loan program in the loan yields, but also we will experience lower cost of borrowings as they continue to mature during the Q3. Right. I was looking at the repo balances and it looked like on an average basis they were still in there, but on a spot basis you've paid off you've got you've taken off all the repos? Yes. And on the Glenn, we still have some maturities coming in the next several quarters and into 2021, but we'll certainly we'll use the excess liquidity to cancel them. Okay. And on the PPP loans, what was the average yield you used in the quarter? And what's your expectation on forgiveness for those loans going forward? I'll talk to you about the expectations on forgiveness and I'll let Marisa talk about the yield. On the forgiveness, we're still expecting the federal government to give more guidelines on the forgiveness. But we feel that there is a large proportion, more than 80% of those loans that will be forgiven. It's hard for us to pinpoint when that will occur, but we are more and more of the opinion that there's going to be a larger percentage of our PPP loans that will be forgiven. On the rate, I'll let Maricboro. Yes. The all inclusive deal, including the amortization of the fees, we are expecting to be around 2.95%, 3% considering the life of the loan. But also remember that as Jose mentioned, if they are repaid before maturity, we will be able to recognize the unamortized portion of that fees. Okay. And you're using that level yield method? Yes. Okay. And on the deferrals, with some of them beginning to roll off, have you got an idea of what re deferral rates are or re deferral request rates? It's too early to tell. We're not seeing that much activity on the as I mentioned, on the large and middle commercial so far. Where we're focusing are more on the hospitality industries. On the retail side, it's too early. It's been 3 weeks into the quarter and the Q3. So we'll be able to update later in the next quarter's call. But the first indications are positive for sure, but at the end of the day, it depends on how it plays out at the end of the Q3 when you have the full effect of the end of the deferrals. How many ask for an additional deferral program or process or how many come back to pay? Okay. Thank you for taking my questions. Yes. You're welcome, Wayne. Your next question comes from the line of Joe Gladue of Alden Securities. Good morning. Hi, Joe. Good morning. Good morning. Just one quick question. Just wondering if you could give us since the economies started opening up a little bit more late in the quarter, just wondering if you could sort of walk us through some of the trends you're seeing in the different lending markets, mortgage and auto and whatever? Sure. We're seeing good momentum on the mortgage lending business. We have good pipelines there. Same with auto, we're also seeing good pipelines there. Obviously, that's a reflection on the one side. We're doing around 50%. On the mortgage side, we're doing 50% is refi. There's 50% that is purchased in terms of buying a home. So that's actually encouraging for us. We're seeing some more residential activity and that's extracting the benefits of the Scotia acquisition, which they had an important servicing portfolio as well as a more significant residential mortgage operation. So we're happy with that and we're seeing that pipeline coming through. On the auto side, we are seeing higher new car sales and we're that's translating into more volume for us also, as I'm sure for the rest of the market. So those are the 2 main ones. We're not seeing much yet on the consumer lending side, meaning on the installment lending side. And on the commercial side, we're having we're building a pipeline, but it's still below the trends that we've had before the pandemic. There's still some cautiousness from business people and there's still the uncertainty still can be felt across the different industries. And we're seeing that in our commercial side and commercial lending side. All right. Well, thank you. That's it for me. Thank you, Joe. Have a good weekend. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I will now return the call to management for any closing I'm sorry, you now have a follow-up question from Alex Twerdahl of Piper Sandler. Hey, you almost couldn't make it, Alex. Yes, I pressed the I don't know. I didn't register the first time. But I wanted to I was just looking at Slide 5 here on the PPP and just specifically the bullet where it talks about attracting new clients and strategically important small business segments. If you can maybe expand a little bit on that, if that's obviously, it's meaningful enough to put it as a bullet here, but kind of what the opportunity could be, how big that is, that kind stuff? Yes. For us, that's always been a focus on the small business side. And we've been for the last 3 or 4 years incrementally doing more business in that segment. PDP gave us a great opportunity to act quickly, to be agile and to deploy our technology and deploy our processes to be there for our customers. And we got great reviews from our customers throughout the PTP process and the fast and agile way that we disburse the funds, particularly in the middle of the lockdown that we were operating in, which no other state of the or any other jurisdiction in the United States had a situation like that. So I have to tell you, the results from that program has given us quite good momentum in that segment and excellent credibility by being close to our customers, but also reputationally. And we're benefiting from that slowly but surely. It's not going to move the needle from your perspective in terms of the results at the end of the day. But for us, it's important because to the communities and our team on the retail channel they just put their heart out and they demonstrated what living a life with purpose at Oriental means. And I'm really proud of that and that's why I wanted to highlight that effort. Great. Thanks for taking my follow-up. You're welcome, Al. Have a good weekend. You have a follow-up from Glenn Manna of KBW. Hi. I just wanted to ask a question on the ACL. I think when we look at your competitor that reported yesterday and you guys, we've seen some stability in ACL to loans versus last quarter. So could you talk about what's kind of giving you comfort with that level? And some of the banks on the mainland have talked about whether or not they expect continued reserve building in forward quarters and maybe if you could just discuss that a little bit too? So again, then what I can tell you is that we're looking at this from a longer term perspective. We're not trying to figure out what's going to happen next quarter or next half of the year. It's very hard to predict. We're living in different times and it requires a lot of adaptation. It requires a lot of flexibility. And from our operation, we are ready to tackle those uncertainties and those challenges. But going and trying to predict how is life going to be in the next 3 months, it's really difficult. So I say this in terms of your question because when we look at the different scenarios that we review to determine the provisioning. We really want to be cautious. And that's kind of why we feel more comfortable with maintaining the Moody S3. And the good thing is that we are we have a resilient bank, a forecast balance sheet that gives us the opportunity to build for the long term in a market that is a 3 bank market. And we have a great opportunity here to do the right thing longer term. So we're not interested in trying to figure out how close am I or are we to pinpointing the next quarter or the following quarter. We're here to do the longer term and to make sure that we win this long road. So sorry for my long winded answer, but I can't give you specific on any of the numbers that you're inclining to get. No, no, I appreciate what you did give. And just I wanted to follow-up on Alex's question a little bit. You guys have been considered a challenger bank on the island, high digital. When you look at some of the numbers of your customers that are moving into using more digital platforms, I mean, it's no secret that Puerto Rico has lagged the mainland in some of the adoption of digital. Is COVID kind of pushing down that wall? There's a feeling that once customers start depositing a check online, they don't go back. And is this really an opportunity for Puerto Rico to push past that kind of resistance that may have been there before? You're hitting on the nail. We've been in for the last 10 years and actually more than that. We've always said technology, technology, technology. And now the pandemic is forcing the speed of adoption at a higher speed. And I think that plays completely into our into the strategy that we have deployed in the last several years. So again, we are showing you those charts, particularly because of what you mentioned, which is, yes, the pandemic is accelerating the adoption here in Puerto Rico. Having said that though, we do have a great opportunity, but we also have to do what we need to do in terms of continuing to invest in technology, continuing to finding ways to do things more fast, agile and proactively for our customers because at the end of the day, we have great competitors here in the island with great resources and we need to do what we need to do. So it's exciting for us. And again, our teams are all focused on how to achieve that and pull out the benefits of having a strong balance sheet, resilient bank with a culture that is proactive, that is agile and is looking to do simple more simple things for customers. And again, the journey continues and that's what gets us up every morning to come to the bank or to stay at home remotely but work for the bank. And I can repeat how exciting times we have ahead of us in spite of the short term pandemic we're operating in. And I can't underestimate the tremendous amount of work and dedication our teammates are putting during this pandemic and also throughout the last 3 or 4 years, but particularly in the last 3 or 4 months. So again, I'm optimistic of the future and cognizant of the uncertainties of the short term and looking forward to continuing that path. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Glenn. At this time, there are no further questions. Mr. Fernandez, are there any closing remarks? Thank you, operator. Thank you also to all our stakeholders who have listened in. Our concern goes out to those who have suffered from this pandemic. Our hope is that it ends as soon as possible and that everybody stays safe and healthy. Thank you again and have a nice day and a great weekend. Thank you. That does conclude the OFG Bancorp 2nd quarter 2020 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.