West Bancorporation Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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October 26, 2023

There are 4 speakers on the call.

Operator

My name is Chris, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the West Bancorporation Inc. Q3 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

Thank you. Jane Funk, Chief Financial Officer. You may begin.

Speaker 1

All right. Thank you. We just want to welcome everybody today To our earnings call and thank you for your interest in our company. I'm Jane Shunt, the CSO. I have with me Dave Nelson, our CEO Harley Olesen, Chief Risk Officer Brad Winterbottom, our Bank President and Brad Peters, our Minnesota Group President.

Speaker 1

During today's conference call, we may make projections Or other forward looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding future events or future financial performance of the company. We caution that such statements are predictions and that actual results may differ materially. Please see the forward looking statement disclosures in our 2023 Q3 earnings release for more information about risks and uncertainties, which may affect us. The information we will provide today is accurate as of September 30, 2023 and we undertake no duty to update the information. And now I'll turn it over to Dave Nelson, our CEO.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Jane, and welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your interest in Our Q3 went as we expected and you'll hear more from others about our credit quality, our growth and our margin. Our credit quality remains incredibly strong with essentially no problem loans nor even any past due loans. In terms of growth, the Fed action appears to be working in terms of reducing demand for loan growth, The communities we serve are doing fine.

Speaker 2

Year to date loan growth is about 4% and we have a good loan and deposit pipeline. Our situation on margin is similar to others. We have been paying up on deposits and perhaps we are now at or near the peak. During 2020 2021, when our industry was flooded with liquidity from the federal deficit spending, We used that liquidity to make loans and investments mostly based upon a 5 year duration. Therefore, these assets will repriced the prevailing market rates during 2025 and 2026.

Speaker 2

We expect our temporary margin compression to continue into 2024 and improve with increasing velocity during 2025 and 2026. We have declared a dividend of $0.25 per share for the payment date of November 22nd to shareholders of record as of November 8. I will now turn the call over to our Chief Risk Officer, Mr. Harley Oleson for his comments. Thanks, Dave.

Speaker 2

As Dave mentioned earlier, credit quality is very strong at Westbank. Our watch list totals $526,000 seems almost like we don't have one anymore. We have no past due loans at quarter end over 30 days. Quarterly, we stress test our portfolio and have Seeing improving trends in total loan to value and debt service coverage. We have looked closely at our office portfolio.

Speaker 2

The total office portfolio was $185,000,000 The average loan to value was 69% and the debt service Coverage of the non owner occupied office properties is 1.43. About half of our office portfolio consists The remainder of our commercial real estate portfolio is strong in seasons. With rising rates there have not been a lot of significant new projects added to the portfolio. Our continuing focus is provide the best service to our customers that have a comprehensive relationship with us. We are not Providing financing to applicants that just want us to do a deal.

Speaker 2

Our bankers have been doing a good job capturing more of our customers' total business. The economy in our markets remains surprisingly resilient. We keep looking for cracks in areas of concern. With having to increase our deposit rates to maintain our customer base, we keep prospecting those relationships that add to both sides of the balance sheet. With that, I will turn it over to our Bank President, Brad Winterbottom.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Marley. This has been stated, but I'll repeat. For the 1st 9 months of the year, our loan portfolio grew approximately 4% to $2,850,000,000 in outstandings. And then for the quarter, our loan portfolio grew $43,000,000 or 1.7%. Our growth in the portfolio was in part due to a customer acquisition that we financed and vertical construction draws on previously committed transactions.

Speaker 2

We have slightly over $175,000,000 in Unfunded commitments on vertical construction draws that should take place over the next 12 to 18 months. Interest rate environment has slowed business activities in all markets. However, our pipeline is Solid given the environment we are working and living in. Financials of our customers remain strong and we do not see The general weakening of our customer base. Deposit gathering and deposit maintaining remain important to us and we are working hard to do that.

Speaker 2

We remain confident in our abilities to create and maintain positive relationships with our customers and the prospects we are pursuing. With that, I will turn it over to Brad Peters. Thanks, Brad. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to provide a brief update on our progress in Minnesota.

Speaker 2

We continue to navigate through a challenging environment Due to the rapid rise in interest rates, in spite of those challenges, we are growing new business and enhancing existing relationships. Our Our focus has been on C and I growth and we have been intentional in our calling efforts to grow our new deposit and treasury management business. We are also growing high value retail deposits by focusing on our business owners and their key employees. Mankato market will be opening their new building next month. We expect this new facility to be a great tool to continue to attract new The Otona market has finalized plans for their new building and construction will begin later this fall.

Speaker 2

Those are the end of my I will now turn the call back over to Jane.

Speaker 1

Thanks Brad. I'll make just a few comments about the financials and then we'll open it up for questions. Our net income was flat this quarter compared to the previous quarter. The 3rd quarter income included a one time swap fee of $431,000 recorded on a back to back swap transaction and we also recorded a $200,000 provision for credit loss as a result of loan growth. Net interest income $700,000 in the 3rd quarter compared to the 2nd quarter and our net interest margin declined from 2.02% in the 2nd quarter to 1.91% in the 3rd quarter.

Speaker 1

Along with the rest of the industry, we continue to see rate pressure on our deposit base, resulting in an increasing cost of deposits. The increase in interest costs continue to outpace the repricing of our loan and securities portfolios. Our deposit balances were lower at September 30 compared to June 30, 2023, partially due to the seasonality of public fund deposits. In October, our deposits have increased $120,000,000 Our core deposit base remains stable. Those are the end of our prepared remarks and we'll now open it up to questions.

Operator

Thank you. Our first question is from Andrew Liesch with Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

Speaker 3

Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Just want to touch base on margin here. Certainly, it's trending lower, but the pace of compression slowed. Do you think that that Slowing, we'll continue here and recognizing that the assets won't really reprice until 2025. I guess, what do you think the margin might look Like a year from now?

Speaker 1

Well, that's the $1,000,000 question I think for everybody. Margin, We will we are expecting to continue to see some compression because we know across the industry there will be continue to be pressure on the cost of deposits. So even if the Fed doesn't change rates, costs will continue to increase, but at what pace It has slowed down, so that's a good sign. At what point it stops and starts to reverse is yet to be seen. So, we expect to see margin see additional pressure in the rest of this year and early next year.

Speaker 2

I would also add Andrew that I mentioned the $175,000,000 in unfunded commitments on Construction draws. The vast majority of those are floating rates. And so that actually will help the margin a little bit as those get advanced.

Speaker 3

Got it. I guess turning I mean, what's the timing on those draws? And if we look out maybe a year from now, is mid single digit growth appropriate? I've said some good construction gains this quarter, but how do you think loan growth overall is going to trend for the next year?

Speaker 2

Well, I think our We're not seeing as certainly, we're not seeing as many deals as we've had in the, let's say in the 2022, 2021 era. But that's really hard to We've seen and we're aware of 5 deals that total $22,000,000 that's probably going to pay off between now and the end of the year. But those construction draws, That's mostly going to be 12, 15 months maybe 18. And that's probably evenly spread.

Speaker 3

Got you. All right. That's helpful. Then, I mean, Harley, as you mentioned, I mean, your credit metrics Excellent. You've been looking for where there might be cracks.

Speaker 3

Are you seeing anything out there? The metrics are very strong.

Speaker 2

Well, the areas that we are watching carefully are like senior housing where you have assisted living For more care because the costs of that have gone up so high, but we don't have very much of that to tell you the truth. We had one deal that we didn't love in that category that's actually going to pay off this next month. So that's an area of Just because of the labor costs in that area. Our office portfolio, we don't have Anything that would be called metro downtown office, multi tenant office That doesn't have strong long term tenants in it. So we keep looking and we do the stress on the portfolio.

Speaker 2

And Since there isn't a great deal of new projects coming into the fold, The old ones keep just paying down and the debt service coverages remain strong. So our C and I portfolio has been Good. We've done some new business there and have some businesses that have made some acquisitions. So That's all good business for us because it adds to both sides of the balance sheet. I don't Have I hate to say that I don't have a good answer for you, but I we keep looking, Andrew.

Speaker 3

That's good And encouraging. And then just one question on run rate expenses here. I guess the operating costs have bounced around the last What's a good level to be forecasting out here going forward?

Speaker 1

I would say probably this quarter was Okay. It was a pretty stable quarter.

Speaker 3

Got it. That covers all my questions. Thanks so much. I'll step back.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Andrew.

Operator

The next question is from Paul DeShaw. Your line is open.

Speaker 2

I have a question for Ms. Funk. What is the duration on the securities portfolio?

Speaker 1

About 6 years.

Speaker 2

6? Thank you.

Operator

It appears that we have no further questions. I'll turn it back over to Jane Funk for any closing remarks.

Speaker 1

All right. We just want to thank everyone for joining us again today on this quarterly earnings call and we look forward to next quarter and talking to you in January. Thank you.

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Key Takeaways

  • Strong credit quality: No problem loans or past-due loans, watch list negligible at $526,000, with office portfolio LTV of 69% and DSCR of 1.43.
  • Loan growth: Year-to-date loan growth of 4% ($2.85 billion outstanding), Q3 growth of 1.7%, plus $175 million in unfunded construction commitments.
  • Margin compression: Net interest margin fell from 2.02% to 1.91% as deposit costs rose faster than asset repricing; further pressure into 2024, with relief expected in 2025–26.
  • Stable core deposits: Q3 deposit decline largely from seasonal public funds was offset by a $120 million inflow in October, and deposit rates may be near peak.
  • Dividend declared: $0.25 per share payable November 22 to shareholders of record as of November 8.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
West Bancorporation Q3 2023
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