WSFS Financial Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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July 25, 2023

Key Takeaways

  • Pleasant Q2 results with Core EPS of $1.16 (+14% YoY), Core ROA of 1.41% (+14 bps YoY) and Core PPNR at 2.2% of assets.
  • Balance sheet growth with loans up $197 M (+6.5% ann.) led by C&I, CRE, residential mortgages and leasing, and deposits up $380 M (+10% ann.) from low-cost trust balances, producing a 4.11% NIM, 35% deposit beta and 75% loan/deposit ratio.
  • Core fee revenue rose 6% QoQ (4% YoY), lifting the fee ratio to 27% while NIM stayed above 4%, and the efficiency ratio was 55.5%.
  • Asset quality remained stable with delinquencies improving to 59 bps, NPAs at a low 16 bps, net charge-offs up modestly from NewLane and Upstart vintages, and an ACL coverage ratio of 1.28%.
  • The updated full-year outlook assumes one more 25 bps rate hike and a mild recession, forecasting core PPNR near 2.10%, core ROA around 1.25% and NIM exiting near 4.25–4.35%.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
WSFS Financial Q2 2023
00:00 / 00:00

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Wilmington Savings Fund Society Financial Corporation Second Quarter Earnings Call. I'd now like to turn the call over to your host for today, Mr. Dominic Canuso, Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Mandeep, And thanks to all of you for taking the time to participate on our call today. With me on this call are Roger Levinson, Chairman, President and CEO Art Bacci, Chief Wealth Officer Steve Clark, Chief Commercial Banking Officer and Sherry Krasinski, Chief Consumer Banking Officer. Before I begin with remarks on the quarter, I would like to read our Safe Harbor statement. Our discussion today will include information about our management's view of our future expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from historical results or those indicated by these forward looking statements due to risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the risk factors included in our annual report on Form 10 ks and our most recent quarterly reports on Form 10 Q, as well as other documents we periodically file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Speaker 1

All comments made during today's call are subject to the Safe Harbor statement. Good afternoon and thank you again for joining our Q2 2023 earnings call. Our earnings release and earnings release supplement, which we will refer to on today's call, can be found in the Investor Relations section of our company's website. We are pleased with the solid performance in the Q2 across all our businesses demonstrated by growth in loans, deposits and fee revenue. Combined with strong NIM, capital and liquidity levels and stable credit performance, we remain well positioned to compete in the current economic environment.

Speaker 1

After sharing some details on the quarter, I will provide an update to our full year outlook as we typically do with our 2nd quarter earnings release. 2nd quarter results included core EPS of $1.16 per share, which is a 14% increase over prior quarter year over year. Core ROA of 1.41 percent, which is up 14 basis points over prior quarter and year over year and core PPNR as a percentage of assets, which declined slightly to 2.2%. In the quarter, loans grew $197,000,000 or nearly 6 point 5 percent annualized. C and I led almost half of the volume growth followed by CRE as construction loans converted to commercial mortgages.

Speaker 1

On an annualized basis, consumer partnerships Spring in Q Continued moderated growth at 27%. Residential mortgage grew 23% from our competitive ARM products and new lane leasing grew 9%. Deposits grew $380,000,000 or 10% annualized, primarily from our wealth and capital markets trust businesses. While trust deposits can sometimes be short term in nature, They are typically no or low cost deposits and demonstrate the diversity of the overall deposit franchise. Non interest bearing deposit mix was 34% and the loan to deposit ratio held flat from prior quarter at 75%.

Speaker 1

Net interest margin was 4.11 percent with loan yields of 6.79 percent and total deposit costs of 1.16%. Interest bearing deposit betas ended the quarter at 35% through the cycle, While up 7 percentage points in the quarter, the pace of beta slowed after increasing 13 percentage points in the 1st quarter. Core fee revenue was up 6% or $3,700,000 over prior quarter and up 4% year over year when normalizing for the sale of BMT Insurance Advisors that occurred at the end of 2Q 2022. Growth in the quarter was from cash connect, wealth and core banking fees. The core fee revenue ratio increased to 27% even as our NIM held above 4%.

Speaker 1

The core efficiency ratio was 55.5%. When excluding growth in cash connect funding cost, which is more than offset in fee revenue and normalizing the Q1 NIE for one timers that were discussed last quarter. Costs were higher 2%, primarily driven by merit increases that occurred late in the Q1, along with some continued investment in technology enhancements. Asset quality remains relatively stable in the quarter. Problem assets increased slightly and remain at levels consistent with the average over the last year.

Speaker 1

Delinquencies improved to 59 basis points and non performing assets held flat at historically lower levels of 16 basis points. Net charge offs increased slightly to $13,000,000 Recent net charge off levels are attributable to growth in the new lane leasing portfolio and the maturation of upstart vintages. Losses from these portfolios are expected to stabilize at these levels, are consistent with our underwriting and profitability expectations and have been provided for. As such and consistent with the stable leading credit indicators across the other portfolios, the ACL increased slightly by 2,700,000 The ACL coverage ratio remained flat at 1.28% and 4.9% when including the estimated remaining credit marks on the acquired loan portfolio. Access to liquidity remains significant and capital levels remained well above well capitalized.

Speaker 1

When reducing capital levels by the effective AOCI, which includes the full impact of the HTM portfolio. All regulatory bank ratios remain well capitalized. We have updated our full year outlook for our key metrics, which can be found on Slide 13 of our supplement. Our outlook reflects 1 25 basis point rate increase in July, followed by flat rates for the remainder of the year and a mild recession to begin in the second half of the year. Our full year core PPNR is expected near 2.10 percent with a full year core ROA around 1.25%.

Speaker 1

Overall, our performance in the quarter demonstrated the resiliency and potential of our fee revenue businesses, The benefits of our diversified deposit base and the strength of the balance sheet. We are well positioned to continue to execute on our strategic plan and serve our markets as the largest locally headquartered community bank and trust company in the Greater Philadelphia and Delaware region. We will now open the line to answer any questions you may have.

Operator

The floor is now open for your questions. Our first question comes from the line of Frank Schiraldi from Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Good afternoon. Hi, Frank. Just on I wonder, Dominic, you mentioned the non interest bearing 34% of total deposits. And I think you noted that the trust related deposits can sometimes be short term in nature. And Just curious if you can talk a little bit about trends you're seeing or expecting there, maybe a little bit longer term than a Quarter on the non interest bearing side.

Speaker 2

Do you still see in general a mix shift out of non interest bearing or is that potentially offset by the trust business, non interest bearing deposits in the trust business.

Speaker 1

Sure. Thanks, Frank. Overall, I'll speak to trust first is that they continue to see opportunities in that business to raise short term deposits at low and no interest rates. But as we mentioned, they can be short term in nature. So quarter to quarter, they may fluctuate and would show up in the non interest bearing or the low interest bearing DDA accounts.

Speaker 1

Overall as a portfolio, we would expect the non Interest bearing to continue to decline as excess liquidity is consumed by our customers and customers continue to optimize their deposit products and we believe we're well positioned to retain those deposits, but maybe through a money market account or a short term CD or potentially even move to AUM if they're looking for Fed products.

Speaker 2

Okay. So you do expect that 34% to shrink by some margin in coming quarters?

Speaker 1

That is correct.

Speaker 2

And then if you could just talk about you mentioned In the release, you talked about on the charge off side, 2 C and I credits that had credit events during the quarter. Just wondered if you could provide any color there and what That component was in terms of the overall charge off picture.

Speaker 3

Yes. Frank, this is Steve Clark speaking. Regarding the 2 commercial charge offs, one was a classified asset that had been classified for over a year, A contractor in the HVAC space went through a bankruptcy sale that generated less than expected proceeds, hence the charge off. The other was a fulfillment company providing automation equipment for warehouse distributions. That client customer had a dispute with their largest customer over a change order, which resulted in Severe cash flow difficulties.

Speaker 3

So 2 really unrelated occurrences and really I would view as Unique Circumstances.

Speaker 2

Okay. Is that more of the driver of the just trying to get in terms of Is it more the leasing and the Upstart portfolio just maturing and those losses Coming through that are driving the net charge offs to that level. Is that more of a driver or is it the 2 C and I credits in the quarter?

Speaker 1

It's both. As you mentioned and as we referred to in our materials, there were these unique one off Charge offs, but the maturation of New Lane and Upstart have driven net Charge offs to these levels as we noted that 62% of the net charge offs are coming from NewLane and Upstart and are performing within the range of expectations that but because of the maturation and the vintaging, they've been growing over the last 4 quarters and we expect them to stabilize around these levels going forward.

Speaker 2

Okay. Great. And then just one last one if I could On the wealth side, I believe you talked about the AUM being market driven, the increased AUM this quarter. Can you just talk about any putting the market Leaving the market aside, what net customer flows look like in that business?

Speaker 4

Hey, Frank, this is Art Bacci. We've actually seen really 3 straight quarters of record inflows in AUM and I think that's attributed to the increased referrals going on between the Commercial, consumer and wealth businesses at Wizz Fizz. We have seen continue to see some outflows as you can imagine just because Spend rates with higher inflation, people asking for distributions, there is idiosyncratic events like deaths where Distributions are made from trust. So it's a slight, say, core positive flow, but I'm really positively looking at the future because the flows coming in have just been growing pretty steadily over the last 3 quarters and we continue to see more in the pipeline going forward.

Speaker 2

Okay. And then if the market is up In 2Q, then you see more of that flow through revenues in 3Q all else equal. Is that the way to look at it? Yes,

Speaker 4

Q2 will drive Q3, but increasingly our billing with the Bryn Mawr acquisition is a little bit more complex. We have some that bill monthly, some quarterly. But generally because we've built in advance, we should expect the Q3 to look Positive for us.

Speaker 2

Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thanks, Frank.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Perito from KBW. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey, good afternoon guys. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 1

Hey, Michael.

Speaker 5

I just wanted to follow-up on Frank's question quickly. Dominic, you mentioned that 62% or so of the net charge offs Came from New Lane and Upstart. Do you have the actual like charge off rate in both of those portfolios that you expect to kind of stabilize moving forward.

Speaker 1

Yes. We would expect Upstart to be in around 6% On an annualized basis and New Lane to be around 2%.

Speaker 5

Okay. And when you say stabilize going forward, I mean how does that Because in the guidance slide you guys mentioned you assume a mild recession in the back half of the year. Does that is that Elevated, I guess, to what would be you would expect to see in a non recessionary environment from a charge off perspective or is it not really material enough in either direction To read into it that much.

Speaker 1

No. Well, it's impacting our ACL as in the Q1 when we spoke to updating the economic forecast in the ACL model, but they're all performing relatively in the range of what we've Underwritten, so most of the AECL increase is forecast based, not performance based at this point in time.

Speaker 5

Okay. And maybe Transitioning from that line of questioning, as you think about kind of those loss rates normalized loss rates in those portfolios, the environment that you guys are assuming over the next The kind of the distance you've now put between the Bryn Mawr acquisition. Can you maybe give us an update on how we should think about the mix of your loan portfolio or the target mix Your loan portfolio going forward. I remember years ago after Beneficial, you guys were had mentioned that you were still targeting to get that C and I back up to 50%. Obviously, consumers grown a lot since then.

Speaker 5

There's been another deal, a lot's changed. Can you maybe just give us some updated thoughts about how you think that mix Should ideally look over the next handful of quarters if you guys are kind of hitting your targets?

Speaker 1

Yes. Hey Mike, it's Roger.

Speaker 6

I would say that as we've talked about in the past, in longer term, we would like the mix to be 80% commercial, 20% consumer. And within that commercial bucket, clearly C and I being the driver. It's a little bit different than where we were several years ago The acquisitions were a little heavier on CRE, but what you should expect going forward and we were pleased with what we saw this quarter is There'll definitely be growth in the CRE portfolio, but we would expect more growth to come from the C and I book.

Speaker 5

Got it. That makes sense, Roger. Thanks. And then just lastly for me and then I'll step back. Just The guidance update was helpful, particularly some of the exit run rates and I don't want to put the cart in front of the horse, but just As we think ahead, I mean, is it fair to think of those exit run rates as something that on the ROA and the PPNR ROA, something that over time you guys, You would hope in a more normalized deposit environment, there would be kind of upside to.

Speaker 5

I realize it's challenging to kind of put timing parameters around that now. But just Kind of structurally as you think about your name and your profitability targets longer term, is that a fair way to kind of think about those exit run rates or would you cite it differently?

Speaker 1

No, I think the way you've described it is a fair assumption. I would say it's clearly interest rate environment dependent There would likely be some continued deposit beta lag into next year into the early Q1, but from then we would expect NIM expansion, portfolio expansion to improve both margins and ROA from there. So I think the 4Q exit range is Probably a decent indicator, but obviously, it's dependent on a lot to play out economically in the second half of this year.

Speaker 6

Yes, I would just add to that with the economic uncertainty going forward. Credit as we've always said can be lumpy And we'll play out over the next couple of years. And so all things being equal, That's where we're at in terms of how Dominic described it. Credit may be a little bit of a wildcard depending upon the path of the economy

Speaker 2

going forward.

Speaker 5

Got it. Thank you guys. It's very helpful.

Speaker 2

Thanks Mike.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Freddie Strickland from Janney Montgomery Scott. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Thanks. Good afternoon, everybody. Just wanted to follow-up on that last question. It sounds like if the Fed were to do another 25 basis We potentially have another one in September and then stop. It would maybe be reasonable to expect the margin to still potentially come up in 2024 over the course of the year, if we assume Fed funds remain flat.

Speaker 7

Is that right?

Speaker 1

Yes. I don't want to get The specifics into 2024, but we've assumed one rate increase tomorrow in the rate forecast. Like I said, it really will come down to liquidity trends, deposit betas. And once those Settle though, we do have tailwinds in the mix shift of our portfolio as we liquidate the investment portfolio and it migrates into loans And that should add some tailwinds to expand margin from there. Again, all timing depended on the economy.

Speaker 7

Understood. That makes sense. And along that same line of questioning, just wanted to touch on Slide 12. Appreciate you putting that in the deck, We talk about the $1,000,000,000 in securities cash flow over the next 24 months. Just trying to think about how That's going to flow through.

Speaker 7

I mean, should we think about that as roughly $125,000,000 a quarter or is that runoff more front end or back end loaded. Just trying to get a sense of where that can go, particularly in the next couple of quarters as it relates to both increased yield and AOCI coming back.

Speaker 1

Sure. That represents the cash flow from the investment portfolio, which To some extent, it is interest rate driven on prepaid speeds, etcetera. But I think it's a fair assumption to assume it's relatively straight lined over the 24 month period and would mix shift from a 2.3% yield to loan yields in the upper 6s, if not 7 depending on the rate environment. Got it.

Speaker 7

Just One last one for me. Should we see share repurchases continue in future quarters just given where capital is and the size of the authorization? Or do you think you'll pause on that for now?

Speaker 1

Yes. As we discuss regularly, we take a quarter by quarter view where we evaluate our total capital position, Economic stress, credit stress in the environment and anticipated growth in the portfolio. And we believe Based on where we are today that we would likely see in the Q3 share repurchases and capital return commensurate with The levels we had in the 1st and second quarter, but we take a quarter to quarter view and we can provide another outlook on the next call.

Speaker 7

Sounds good. Thanks, Dominic. I'll step back in the queue.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Dave.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Manuel Neves from D. A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hey, good afternoon. Just following up on those exit returns, those exit return ranges. They include a mild recession, would if the recession was pushed back even further, would you be above those ranges or at the high end of the range.

Speaker 1

Yes, it's a fair question. I think the mild recession suggests that there's very limited impact To our outlook, other than what we've already incorporated into the ACL. So I think the mild recession is captured with in the ranges that were given. And then to the extent a recession is doesn't show up, maybe it's at the high end, But of course, it would be dependent upon the type of recession we have, which is yet to be determined. Shifting to,

Speaker 8

do you have an update on deposit betas and kind of what's in the assumption for the NIM?

Speaker 1

Yes, sure. So just to clarify through the cycle today in June, we had a 35% deposit betas. We talked about this in the Q1 call that we expected our year end deposit betas to be around 45%. I think that holds in this outlook. We have seen them slow down a bit, but given the Fed increases, we'll have Play that out, but we do have some capacity for our deposit betas to increase the second half of the year within the NIM forecast.

Speaker 8

Do you have kind of a jumping off point for 3rd quarter deposit costs or like a June NIM Can I help with that modeling?

Speaker 1

Yes, sure. So our 2nd quarter interest Customer funding cost was a $175,000,000 for a total customer funding at $116,000,000 that was the June average and that's in the material. Our step off in the month of June was a $184,000,000 for interest bearing and then $123,000,000 for total customer funding. And that represents the 35% deposit beta.

Speaker 2

Okay.

Speaker 8

I appreciate that. Thank you. I'll step back into the queue.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Manuel. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Russell Gunther from Stephens. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

Hey, good afternoon guys. I just had

Speaker 2

a follow-up on the hey, Dominic,

Speaker 9

on the loan growth discussion. More just how you characterize the updated guide. Is that mid to upper, so the upper single digit reflective of The strength and results in the first half of the year kind of in that range and you see the back half moderating Or do you think you can kind of continue at this clip? How would you frame that?

Speaker 3

Hey, Russell, Steve Clark. So yes, the updated guidance mid to high, I think really reflects a couple of things. It reflects, yes, our performance in the Q1 and first half of the year, our pipeline which really has rebounded from the end of the Q1 where we had some significant production And our pipeline reduced down to kind of the low $200,000,000 that's a 90 day weighted average pipeline. It's back up to $300,000,000 at the end of the second quarter.

Speaker 2

So, getting significant activity And I

Speaker 3

really think our outlook reflects our position kind of in the Greater Philadelphia market as Dominic mentioned, the largest locally of Managed Independent Bank. And our focus is on this market And our larger bank competitors are focused across the country. So, we're taking care of customers And we're taking advantage of opportunities that are presented to us in the current macro environment.

Speaker 9

I appreciate that. And as a follow-up in terms of those opportunities, are you guys seeing the ability to recruit Commercial lending talent from some of your competitors given the position you're in, is that A driver of growth going forward or how would you characterize the opportunities up there?

Speaker 3

So yes, we are attracting talent from some of the local competitors. Those additions production from them aren't baked into our outlook. So that's an upside. So here in the Q3, we expect to announce and onboard several new adds to the team And we continue to entertain discussions and we're frankly very selective in who we add to the team. It's a pretty high bar to join the commercial banking team at WSFS.

Speaker 9

Understood. Okay. I appreciate that. And then the other is just a follow-up on the capital return discussion. I appreciate the quarter by quarter look and Comments on where the 3Q buyback could look.

Speaker 9

You're kind of right around that 35% total payout that you guys Tend to think about, are there bogeys that we should think about though Dominic going forward that would you would want to see materialize before kind of increasing beyond your more normal targeted payout.

Speaker 1

Sure. I think first would be to the extent there is a recession and the severity of it followed by the impact on credit performance. That would be the biggest bogey. In the meantime, we are well capitalized. We're positioned well to compete, as I mentioned, And we're positioned to be able to return our targeted level of capital on a quarterly basis.

Speaker 1

From there, we'll reassess as we always do.

Speaker 9

Great. All right, guys. That's it for me. Thanks for taking my question.

Speaker 2

Thanks. Thanks Russ.

Operator

Thank you. And with no further questions in queue, I would now like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Canuso.

Speaker 1

Thank you for joining the call today. If you have any specific follow-up questions, feel free to reach out to me directly. Also Roger and I will be attending conferences and investor meetings throughout the quarter and we look forward to meeting with many of you then. Have a good day.

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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