First Merchants Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
July 25, 2023

There are 11 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to First Merchants Corporation Second Quarter 2023 Earnings. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer Be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Before we begin, Management would like to remind you that today's call contains forward looking statements with respect to the future performance and financial condition of First Merchants Corporation that involve risks and uncertainties.

Operator

Further information is contained within the press release, which we encourage you to review. Additionally, management may refer to non GAAP measures, which are intended to supplement, but not substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. The press release available on the website contains financial and other quantitative information to be discussed today as well as reconciliation of GAAP to non GAAP measures. I would now like to hand the conference over to the Chief Executive Officer, Mark Hardwick. Please proceed.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and welcome to the First Merchants' Q2 2023 conference call. Carmen, thank you for the introduction and for covering the forward looking statement on Page 2. We released our earnings today at approximately 8 am Eastern, And you can access today's slides by following the link on the second page of our earnings release or by going to our website Through the Investor Relations section. On Page 3, you will see today's presenters and our bios to include President, Mike Stewart Chief Credit Officer, John Martin and Chief Financial Officer, Michelle Kebiezki. On Page 4, you will see a map Representing the geographic locations of our 119 Banking Centers as well As a few financial highlights as of sixthirty June 30, 2023.

Speaker 1

Turning to Slide 5, I'm happy to report that our performance remains healthy and strong, and our teams continue to meet the demands of our communities and our client base. We reported 2nd quarter 2023 earnings per share of $1.02 compared to $0.63 per share in the Q2 of 2022 or $1.01 when adjusted for a couple of extraordinary items last year to include our acquisition of Level 1. Net income was just over $60,000,000 for the quarter. Our return on tangible common equity totaled 18.04% and return on assets Total 1.34 percent for the quarter. Year to date, we've earned $124,000,000 or $2.09 per share.

Speaker 1

We remain committed to mid single digit loan growth and our continued low 50s Efficiency ratio through the remainder of 2023 as we manage through what's left of continued modest margin compression. Now Mike Stewart will provide more insight on our balance sheet to include a small non core loan sale and Michelle and John will cover their respective areas. We did see an uptick in non accruals that I know John will be covering in detail. Mike?

Speaker 2

Yes. Thank you, Mark, and good morning to all. Slide 6 Remains unchanged and is a reminder that our financial results represent the durability of our business model within these markets we serve. And if you visualize the map on Slide 4, we primarily operate within these three states, the heart of the Midwest. Our markets include growing metropolitan cities like Indianapolis, Columbus and Detroit with many midsized cities And Communities in Between.

Speaker 2

As the last bullet point under the consumer banking header states, We serve diverse locations in stable rural metro markets. First Merchants has a granular and diverse customer base of deposits and loans derived from these 4 listed banking segments. Through the Q2 of 2023, these markets have remained resilient to the broad economic environment with stable unemployment rates and with businesses continuing to seek ways to expand and optimize their operations. We remain committed to our business strategy, and we remain committed to our strategic direction of organic growth, Continuing to invest in our team, continuing to invest in our technology platforms and top tier financial metrics. So if we turn to Page 7, the top of the page offers a breakdown of our core loan growth by business units.

Speaker 2

The total annualized loan growth for the 2nd quarter was 1.5% and 4.7% for the 1st 6 months of 2023. As noted on the page, we chose to sell a $116,000,000 commercial loan portfolio that was not core to our relationship banking expectations as there was no ability to cross sell or gain depository balances from those clients. That portfolio had been aggregated over the years through bank acquisitions and through direct origination. The portfolio was managed centrally and had a secondary market valuation that allowed for an effective sell. So as the footnote states, when adjusting for that $116,000,000 sale, our annualized 2nd quarter loan growth was 4.7% and 6.9% for the 1st 6 months of 2023.

Speaker 2

Moreover, when adjusting for the sale, the commercial segment loan growth for the quarter was 4.1% versus the 0.9% decline on the top right hand side of the slide. All the commercial loan growth during the quarter was within the commercial industrial sector as our investment real estate portfolio showed a small decline. The commercial segment, as we've talked about before, represents over 75% of our Total loan portfolio and the new loan generation during the quarter was approximately $142,000,000 when adjusting for that non relationship loan sale and over $300,000,000 year to date. While the consumer Segment on this page contracted this quarter by 0.6%. That dollar amount was less than $2,000,000 And all of that decline was within our private banking clientele.

Speaker 2

The mortgage portfolio growth during the quarter was $80,000,000 in adjustable rate loans. And as we discussed last quarter, we have modified our mortgage approach And have pivoted back to an originate and sell model with a target of 70% of originations to be sold. Page 15, The non interest income highlights page reflects that continued growth in gain on self fee income. So overall, The commercial segment continues to be the loan growth engine of the bank and we continue to get higher spreads on our new loan generation. Within Investment Real Estate segment, the spreads continue to widen up to 50 basis points on a similar risk profile from the second half of twenty twenty two.

Speaker 2

And within the C and I space, the spreads have widened up to 25 basis points with a strong emphasis on relationship strategies, Deposits and fees. The commercial and consumer loan pipelines ended the quarter at consistent levels to prior quarters. So like I said before, we are committed to continued organic loan growth with our clients and with prospective clients. Our balance sheet is positioned for that growth and our underwriting remains consistent and disciplined across all of our markets. The overall economic environment coupled with our current loan pipelines affirms my expectation of single digit loan growth moving forward through 2023 with Commercial driving the bulk of that growth.

Speaker 2

Let me talk a little bit about deposits, which is in the second, the bottom half of that page. Deposit balance contracted roughly 3% on an annualized rate for the Q2, but through the 1st 6 months of 2023, Total deposits have grown nearly 3%. The commercial and consumer decline is primarily due to clients using their excess liquidity Within their working capital cycles or their capital plans to minimize debt usage or to optimize their capital structures, These clients with the clients that have excess deposits have been active in taking advantage of money market and CD rates, Specifically, municipalities and private wealth clients. On a unit basis, we continued to grow our commercial and consumer households throughout the quarter year to date. I'll turn the call over to Michelle to review more detail the composition of our balance And the drivers of our income statement.

Speaker 2

Michelle?

Speaker 3

Thanks Mike. Slide 8 covers our Q2 results and that is followed by the year to date results on Slide 9. As Mike touched on in his remarks, loan growth totaled $163,200,000 this quarter, which was offset by the sale of 116 point $6,000,000 of loans, which netted to our stated loan growth of $46,700,000 for the quarter. The investment portfolio declined $165,900,000 during the quarter, which included sales of bonds totaling 101,000,000 Despite a deposit decline of $122,100,000 we were able to reduce Federal Home Loan Bank advances by 100,000,000 and kept broker deposits flat this quarter. All of this demonstrates good liquidity and balance sheet management while maintaining the ability to support our customers' credit needs despite the industry's liquidity tightening.

Speaker 3

Our loan to deposit ratio increased slightly to 84.3% this quarter compared to 83.3% in the prior quarter. Pretax pre provision earnings totaled $71,600,000 this quarter. Pre tax pre provision return on assets was 1.58 percent and pre tax pre provision return on equity was a strong 13.38 percent, all of which reflect strong profitability metrics. Tangible book value per share totaled $23.34 an increase of $0.41 over prior quarter and $2.89 over the last year. Details of our investment portfolio are disclosed on Slide 10.

Speaker 3

The sale of 100 and 1,000,000 in bonds that I mentioned resulted in a realized loss of $1,400,000 or 1.4 percent. The effective duration of the portfolio remains stable at 6.5 years. Expected cash flows from scheduled Principal and interest payments and bond maturities through the remainder of 2023 totals 150,000,000 Since quarter end, we have sold approximately $35,000,000 in bonds and we will continue to sell bonds where we see opportunity creating additional cash flow. Slides 1112 show some details of our loan portfolio and our allowance for credit losses. The total loan portfolio yield increased meaningfully, up 34 basis points to 6.34%.

Speaker 3

New and renewed loan yields averaged 7.3 percent for the quarter, an increase of 22 basis points from last quarter. New commercial loan yields are generally higher with yields in the high 7s and low 8s. Mortgage construction loans that were locked in a lower rate environment offset those higher commercial loan yields impacting the overall new loan yield. Dollars 8,200,000,000 of loans or 67% of our portfolio, our variable rate was 38% of the portfolio repricing in 1 month and 54% repricing in 3 months. So we will continue to benefit from loan repricing throughout the remainder of the year.

Speaker 3

The allowance for credit losses on Slide 12 remains robust at 1.8% of total loans along with $26,900,000 at fair value accretion remaining. We did not book any provision expense this quarter, We'll continue to monitor economic forecast changes, loan growth and credit quality to determine provision needs in the future. Slide 13 showed details of our deposit portfolio. We continue to have a Strong core deposit base with 43 percent of deposits yielding 5 basis points or less. The percentage of uninsured deposits declined to 25.5 percent And the average deposit account balance is only 34,000 reflecting a diversified deposit franchise.

Speaker 3

Our non interest bearing deposits were 18 of total deposits at the end of the quarter, which was down from 20% in the prior quarter, reflecting the continued mix shift driven by our commercial customers. Although total deposits were down $122,000,000 at quarter end, they have increased by $168,000,000 since June 30. Our total cost of deposits increased 58 basis points to 1.99% this quarter, reflecting the competitive pricing environment. Our interest bearing deposits cycle to date beta at quarter end was 47%, which was up from 37% last quarter. Note that our deposit betas do include time deposits.

Speaker 3

Although we expect the cost of deposits to continue to increase through the remainder of the year, we expect the pace will be slower than what we've experienced this quarter. Next, I will cover some notable income statement items beginning with net interest income on Slide 14. Net interest income on a fully tax equivalent basis of $143,700,000 declined $6,700,000 from the prior quarter, but was $8,900,000 higher than the Q2 of 2022. The decline in net interest income reflects the margin compression we're experiencing as the rising earning asset yield shown on Line 5 was offset with higher funding costs shown on Line 6. The resulting stated net interest margin on Line 7 totaled 3.39% for the quarter, a decline of 19 basis points.

Speaker 3

Despite the decline, we did see some stability in margin in the back half of the quarter with June margin ending at 3.4%. Non interest income on Slide 15 increased $1,300,000 driven primarily by a 1 and selling 30%. But that has flipped and we are now selling 70% of the production and only portfolioing approximately 30%. So we will be able to sustain a higher level of mortgage sale gains going forward. Moving to Slide 16.

Speaker 3

Total expenses were in line with our guidance and totaled $92,600,000 for the quarter. Salaries and benefits expense decreased $2,700,000 compared to prior quarter due to lower incentives and an annual benefit plan expense that was recorded in Q1 of $1,300,000 thereby elevating Q1 expenses. FDIC assessment costs increased 1 point $3,000,000 to a total of $2,700,000 this quarter. We expect our FDIC assessment costs to normalize to a run rate of $3,100,000 next quarter, given we have now recognized all of our FDIC assessment credits in the first half of the year. Our low core efficiency ratio is 52.21 percent for the quarter 51.96% year to date, which is reflected in the top right of the slide shows that we continue to achieve strong operating leverage despite rising funding costs and continued investments in our business.

Speaker 3

Slide 17 shows our capital ratios. Our strong earnings growth this quarter drove capital expansion in all ratios. The tangible common equity ratio increased 24 basis points totaling 7.99% back to our internal target despite the impact of increased unrealized loss valuation on the available for sale portfolio due to changes in rates during the quarter. The comments and the highlights communicate the strength of our capital ratios after reflecting the impact of unrealized losses in our bond portfolio. The common equity Tier 1 ratio for the quarter was 11.07% and total risk based capital ratio is now at 13 This model is reflected in our Q2 results.

Speaker 3

Our earning asset mix continues to trend in a favorable direction, and we feel our balance sheet is well positioned heading into the 3rd quarter to support the growth of our company. That concludes my remarks and I will now turn it over to our Chief Credit Officer, John Martin to discuss asset quality.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Michelle, and good morning. My remarks start on Slide 18. I'll highlight the loan portfolio, touch on the expanded portfolio insight slides, Review asset quality and the nonperforming asset rolled forward before turning the call back to Mark. So turning to Slide 18 on line 1, C and I Regional Banking reflects the sale of the $116,000,000 Term Loan B portfolio that Mike Stewart mentioned earlier. Backing this out, regional banking grew by $18,000,000 roughly 2.5% annualized.

Speaker 4

The decision to liquidate the term loan B portfolio was related To the non relationship nature of these assets and the liquid nature of the portfolio, The entire portfolio was liquidated with a $128,000 gain. C and I sponsor Finance grew $124,000,000 driven by increased relationship management market coverage and slower than expected payoffs from sponsors who are being patient given the market. We have maintained consistent underwriting and continue to see stable to improved loan pricing. Moving down to Slide 9, we slowed balance sheet growth of 1 to 4 family mortgage loans with $81,000,000 added to the portfolio in the quarter. We've completed the origination transition strategy we discussed last quarter by adjusting loan rates to return to our historical levels.

Speaker 4

Turning to Slide 19, I've included and updated the portfolio insights slide to provide additional transparency. In the commercial space, the C and I classification includes sponsor finance as well as owner occupied CRE associated with the business. Our C and I portfolio is representative of our markets and has a 19% concentration in manufacturing. Our current line utilization remained consistent around 41% with commitments increasing $162,000,000 We participate in roughly $600,000,000 of shared national credits across various industries, down from $782,000,000 last quarter Associated with the Term Loan B sale just mentioned. These are generally relationships where we have taken a position And there is access to management and revenue opportunities beyond the credit exposure.

Speaker 4

We also have roughly $65,000,000 of SBA guaranteed loans. In the sponsor finance portfolio, I continue to highlight key portfolio metrics. There are 80 relationships with 68 percent having a fixed charge coverage ratio of 1.5 times. This is trended down with higher borrowing costs, But still healthy with the current classified loan portfolio of 3.8% as compared to 3.5% the prior quarter. Borrows are platform companies owned by private equity firms with an eventual expectation of sale.

Speaker 4

We review the individual She ships quarterly for changes including leverage, cash flow coverage and borrower condition. Then moving to construction finance. We have limited exposure to residential development, and we are primarily focused on 1 to 4 family non tracked individual build residential construction loans Through our mortgage department. For commercial construction, we continue to have a bias towards multifamily construction. We've continued to give detail into our non owner occupied commercial real estate portfolio.

Speaker 4

Since the Great Recession, we have focused on multifamily CRE lending, while selectively adding projects in other segments. Office exposure is broken out the chart And represents 2.1% of total loans with the highest concentration outside of general office From a historical perspective, the portfolio has performed well, much like the rest of the portfolio. The office And view the exposures as mitigated and acceptable given the current market conditions. On Slide 21, I highlight our asset quality trends and current position, NPAs and 90 days greater than 90 days past due. Loans increased 13 basis points this quarter.

Speaker 4

We had 2 larger commercial relationships, which moved to non accrual totaling $26,600,000 Accounting for much of the change, the first credit was what I would term asynchronous caused by a fraud that impacted our borrowers' ability to repay, while the second was driven by a pullback in industrial construction in a segment of the market in which the borrower focused. On line 3, the $6,600,000 decline in 90 days past due resulted from the resolution of 2 separate relationships immediately following the Q1 and were not related to the relationships I just mentioned. Classified loans remain Stable at 2.09 percent of loans, below historical and pre pandemic levels. And finishing out the slide, we had net charge offs of $1,900,000 or 6 basis points for the quarter. Then moving on to Slide 22, where I began to roll forward the migration of non performing loans, charge offs, ORE and 90 days past due.

Speaker 4

For the quarter, we added non accrual loans on line 2 of $33,200,000 including the new non accruals I just mentioned, A reduction from payoffs or changes in accrual status of $8,300,000 on Line 3 and a reduction from gross charge offs of $2,300,000 Dropping down the line 11, 90 days past due decreased $6,600,000 which resulted in NPAs plus 90 days past due, up $15,900,000 for the quarter. I appreciate your attention and I'll now turn the call back over to Mark Hardwick.

Speaker 1

Great. Thanks, John, Mike and Michelle, we hear from you, our investors, all the time that you value the level of transparency that we share And just appreciate the time to tell our story. If you turn to Slide 2324, we highlight our 10 year CAGRs for growth and returns. And on Slide 25, we have a reminder of our vision, mission and our team's statement along with the strategic imperatives that guide our decision making. We do appreciate your time and attention.

Speaker 1

And at this point, we're happy to take questions.

Operator

Thank you. And with that, as a reminder, we'll get you in the queue. One moment for our first question please. All right. And airline of Ben Gurlinger with Hovde Group.

Operator

Please proceed.

Speaker 5

Hey, good morning everyone.

Speaker 1

Good morning, Ben.

Speaker 6

I was

Speaker 5

curious if we could just touch base on deposits. It seems like across the bank space, the 2nd quarter is probably the most amount of And then it's starting to alleviate in the back half. I was curious if you could give any clarity towards like the end of Quarter, if not July deposit costs and how things have trended over the past, call it 60 days in terms of pricing?

Speaker 3

Yes. Ben, I can give you start off and give you some information. So our June interest bearing deposit costs were 2.6%. So hopefully that gives you some color. We do expect that there will still be some pressure on deposit But we do think it will slow from here on out.

Speaker 3

It already feels like it's slowing a bit and has kind of felt like that through particularly through the back half of the quarter.

Speaker 5

Got you. That makes a lot of sense. And it seems like from a credit perspective, everything is Fine. But loan growth itself is probably a little bit softer in the back half of the year. I was curious just What are some of the puts and takes that your clients are saying or potential frustrations or why they might not be lending or is this entirely just you guys Pulling back on a little bit on the range to adhere to pristine credit.

Speaker 2

Mike Stewart here. I'll try to give you a point of view on that. We've been very focused on our relationship. So We are very willing to continue to work with our clients. Our underwriting, like I've noted, hasn't changed.

Speaker 2

We talked about a non core relationship sell, so that's really not a point of view around our willingness to continue to be active in Capital formation of our clients and our prospective clients. And we're continuing to make sure that As we think about relationship and pricing during this period of time, that we get a nice balance on that. So clients Our prospective clients have to assure that they've got a capital structure and income statement of repayment capacity that not only Can work through the inflationary pressures that might be in their business absent interest rate increases, but now they've got to make sure that they can Cover the absolute increases in interest rates. So all I think there is a combination of Businesses really evaluating their capital structures and their real need to use loans And be really judicious with that use because they want to get the right return on those. Might require more equity on Transactions if you're in investment real estate or if you're doing an acquisition, but our point of view is our underwriting standards and our willing to extend our balance She is the same.

Speaker 5

Got you. That's helpful. If we just sorry, just to Circle back on the cost of deposits real quick. Michelle, when you think about just the back half of the year, looking at your average balance sheet versus the 260 you referenced, It doesn't seem like that much of an uptick. So hopefully, we are beyond the worst of it here.

Speaker 5

But when you think about the next 6 months or even 12 months, Do you think the biggest portion is just mix shift that drives the is higher? Or do you think that there's potentially some people Waiting for the all right, we're at the top here with the Fed rate hikes. Let me get the best rate it possibly can and shop it that could drive a little bit more Cost, like what I'm really getting at is CD pricing and the time deposit pricing At its peak? Or do you think that, that could also be a factor outside of just mix shift alone?

Speaker 3

Yes, it's a good question given that the Fed is probably going to do another raise here and some forecasts have them doing 2. And so whether that drives CDs up a tick more or not, I feel like we're getting to a peak and I think There may be some customers that still that may be still looking for some rate tonight. I think the mix shift will I think it might be a combination of all those things, but I do feel like we're getting closer to a peak. We just think, like I said, that we feel like there could be just a bit more pressure through the end of the year. I don't think we're at the peak yet, but

Speaker 2

I also just give a point of view, the daily routines of our bankers working with clients, The pace of play, the conversations around deposit pricing and assuring that clients are maximizing their deposit pricing has also started to slow. So I think that the general bank environment and where we're at is kind of at a level where we're all within the same deposit pricing Channel markers and we might all be getting there.

Speaker 5

Right. It feels that way at least in commentary thus far this earnings So I appreciate the color and insights. Good luck on the latter half of the year.

Speaker 1

Yes. Ben, thank you. It does feel that

Speaker 5

We're kind

Speaker 1

of getting to the end of this process. And we were encouraged by June. I'd love to see the same kind of results in July August, but at least Well, optimistic based on the second half of the quarter.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question please. And it comes from the line of Nathan Race with Piper Sandler. Please proceed.

Speaker 7

Yes. Hi, everyone. Good morning. Question on just some of the deposit growth expectations going forward. I think Michelle indicated that deposits were up about 1% thus far in 3Q.

Speaker 7

So is the plan for funding future loan growth just Combination of some of the securities portfolio cash flow coming off in future deposit growth. And also curious if there's if you could maybe size up a portion

Speaker 3

I think it will be a combination of deposit growth as well as cash flows from the securities portfolio. And we still think that we'll be able to continue to sell some securities. We do find opportunities where we get good pricing. In Q1, we sold $200,000,000 in Q2, we sold $100,000,000 we sold $35,000,000 so far this quarter. I'd say that within that range of Q1, Q2 would be a good expectation going forward.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. And I think just given that the June margin was kind of ahead of the quarter coming out of June, is it possible to Just the margin compression slowing, is that kind of what was alluded to in your prepared remarks? And if you could maybe size up kind of the future pressure that we can expect In 3Q and positive?

Speaker 3

Yes. Sure. We do expect the decline in net interest margin to slow through the rest of the year. Using the forward curve, our models are suggesting that we could see potentially maybe another 10 basis points of margin compression through the end of the year. And that's assuming that we see just a bit higher deposit beta, cumulative interest bearing deposit beta as well.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. And then just on expenses, it was very well controlled in the quarter. I think last quarter, We were thinking to 95% to 96% in terms of the run rate going forward. Does that still hold

Speaker 8

for the

Speaker 7

3, Q and 4% this year?

Speaker 3

Yes, I probably would reinforce the guidance that we gave last quarter of the 94 to 95 On the expense side on a quarterly basis for the remainder of the year.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. And then if I could just ask One more on credit. It sounds like there was some fraud related in the specialty finance company credit that moved to nonaccrual in the quarter. Are there any charge offs that we should be thinking about tied to that credit in 3Q? And just any other Additional details on that credit in particular, I think,

Speaker 8

with all?

Speaker 4

Yes. So the potential loss content of that loan and that relationship has not been fully identified at this point. We continue to review the what happened in this situation and establish our Specific reserve against that. But into the next quarter, what we saw in 1st quarter, we'll probably see a little bit more in the Q3 related to that name than we saw in the Q2?

Speaker 1

Yes. It was interesting. We found out about the situation pretty late in the quarter, and we're still Actively trying to establish where we stand. And given that it was a fraudulent situation, it takes So I'll peel back all the layers. And so we're anticipating some loss in Q3, but at this point, we don't have a number.

Speaker 7

Okay, understood. And then just maybe more broadly on the reserve going forward. Obviously, you guys are Operating from a well above average level coming out of the second quarter. Any thoughts on maybe kind of where that bottoms over the next few quarters? Or is there kind of an ACL level that you want to stay above Relative to loans or NPLs or anything within that context?

Speaker 3

Yes. I don't think we have like a bright line threshold. I think we're just going to continue to monitor Sure. The changes in the economic scenarios and how that informs the model, along with balancing information on our loan growth. Right now, we don't see any systemic credit deterioration, which is good, but then we'll also monitor the level of Charge offs that we have.

Speaker 3

And I just think taking we'll just have to take a quarter by quarter take all of that into account to determine whether we decide to book any provision or not.

Speaker 9

Yes, understood.

Speaker 1

I know the answer has answered this in the past, but we've talked about our KPIs, our key performance indicators and we've gone back to look at Prior quarters and we tend to think that the reserve is staying at 150 or above, but you still have to get through all the CECL models and make sure that it works.

Operator

One moment for our next question please. And it comes from the line of Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James.

Speaker 6

Please proceed.

Speaker 10

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, I guess now, everyone.

Speaker 5

Thanks for taking my questions. So Most of my questions have been asked at this point, but I jumped on

Speaker 10

a little late, so I apologize if I missed this. But just on the fee income outlook, I'm curious if you had An idea for where that may go and if there was anything unusual in the quarter related to The Wealth business that brought that number down a bit.

Speaker 3

Yes, I don't think that there was really anything unusual related to the Wealth business, But I would say like our overall level of fee income, it was a little higher this quarter over last quarter. And I really think this quarter's fee income level is a good run rate. We had a few things. The mortgage gains definitely was a plus, but And I think we'll be able to maintain that level of mortgage gains going forward. So I think this is a good run rate to use.

Speaker 1

Just a little more color. We're so pleased that we've made that shift from using the portfolio to get back to where we have Historically been, which is more of a fee for service model and getting to 70% sales, 30% portfolio really does change the fee income Dynamic of the income statement.

Speaker 10

Got it. I appreciate that color. That's all I had. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Danny.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Danny.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question please. All right, and it comes from the line of Terry McEvoy with Stephens Inc. Please proceed.

Speaker 9

Hi, good morning everyone.

Speaker 8

Hi, Terry. Hey, Terry.

Speaker 9

First question on Page 20, how much of that $261,000,000 office Portfolio will mature over the next 6 to 12 months. And what are your thoughts on the impact of updated appraisals And overall higher interest rates on that portfolio and the possibility of either reserves or charge offs having to be taken.

Speaker 4

Yes. So when I look at the office portfolio, Terry, the largest Names or relationships in that portfolio have a primary tenant who is, I'll call it relationship. So it's kind of owner occupied ish, but they occupied less than half. So it's not an office building that Is in a downtown metropolitan sort of configuration. It's a Suburban location where we've got a tenant that's occupied a higher portion of the total.

Speaker 4

So The concern over a maturity and reappraisal and a write down, as we've kind of gone through that portfolio is Relatively low. I don't have the actual what matures in the next year or so. But we've been through the portfolio last And feel pretty good about what we see in there.

Speaker 9

Thanks for that. And Michelle, a question for you. Did the outflow of non interest bearing deposits, did that slow throughout the second quarter? And if we get a 25 basis point rate hike, all things being equal, is that a positive or negative for the net interest margin?

Speaker 3

So on the non interest bearing, it did slow some in the second quarter. And in fact, even just looking at June's non interest bearing and even what we've seen so far through July, it has slowed as well that remix has. In fact, in July, we haven't really seen the remix change at all. So we could still see a bit of remix. I would expect that we would through the end of the year, but as we've kind of the theme I think of our call is that we're starting to see Slowness in that area, which is great.

Speaker 3

And I would say that on the second part of your question, Given that we have 2 thirds of our loan portfolio repriced typically when we see rates increase and I think with the Slowness of deposit rates increasing, I would think that will be a benefit to the margin.

Speaker 9

Thanks, Michelle. And then one last Quick one, the 2 new non accrual loans, either of them shared national credits?

Speaker 5

What's the Where

Speaker 4

they shared national credits? Where they shared national credits? No, neither of them were.

Speaker 9

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. Have a good day.

Speaker 8

Thank you, Jerry.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question please. And it comes from the line of Brian Martin with Janney. Please proceed.

Speaker 8

Hey, good morning. Good afternoon, everyone.

Speaker 1

Hi, Brian. Hey, Brian.

Speaker 8

Hey, just one follow-up, I guess, Michelle on the margin and that was I guess if you look at the margin, I guess, dropping and kind of all your guidance, I guess my assumption assumes another rate hike in there For the next meeting here, but just as you think about the dollars of NII in the second half, I mean, is your expectation with the growth outlook and I joined late, so I didn't miss any comments On the loan growth outlook, but is the expectation that sequentially you can grow the dollars of NII even if the margin is Declining a bit here in the second half?

Speaker 3

I think with the margin declining, I think that there could be a bit of compression in net interest income that we would see really the what we model is the net interest margin and about a right now our models are telling us about a 10 basis point decline And we'll see. I mean, there's a lot of assumptions that go into us determining all of that. And it's been a pretty challenge from quarter To quarter to try to determine where we think things are going to be. So, but that's what our assumptions are today.

Speaker 8

Okay, perfect. And then maybe just one for, I guess, on the credit side, I know there was one question on the Shared National Credits. But John, I guess, just anything When you're looking out there today, I guess where you're focusing more attention on or just areas that maybe you have a bit more concern on? I mean, the shared national credits was one thought, but just Anything else that we should be paying closer attention to on the credit side of UR as you kind of look at the numbers and everything holding up still really well here?

Speaker 4

Yes. It's a good question, Brian. It's interesting. I look at we look at the portfolio in different cuts each quarter. And there's nothing there from a macroeconomic perspective.

Speaker 4

Interest rates have impacted borrowers with higher borrowing costs. We focus a lot. We spend a lot of time with the commercial construction portfolio and the commercial real estate and the Investment real estate portfolio. And so far, borrowers have been able to adjust to the higher rates Either through higher rents, or just been able to absorb the increased interest costs. But That's really about the only thing I would say.

Speaker 4

We have had in the senior living portfolio, but that's pretty well at this point. We've hashed through it and have really worked that to a point where I feel pretty good about that as well now. So That's how I'd respond to that.

Speaker 8

Got you. Okay. And if I missed it, maybe just the loan growth outlook or just the pipelines in general. I don't know If Mike, if you can just run back through that just quickly or just high level comments. If it's not, I can go back and listen to the transcript.

Speaker 6

No, no, that's later.

Speaker 9

No, I'll hit him again. The bulk of our loan growth

Speaker 2

for the balance of the year will be coming through the commercial portfolio. We target that at that mid single digit run rate. When you adjust for the portfolio sale that we did, The commercial segment grew a little bit over 4% annualized in this quarter. It's 5% year to date, a little over that. And the pipeline In commercial, it's really the same as the pipeline ended going into this quarter.

Speaker 2

So I really feel good that the commercial business and our Willingness to continue to be a relationship bank and extend our balance sheet, we'll continue to see the growth in that single mid single digit run rate.

Speaker 1

Yes, there is no absence of demand. It's we're clearly trying to make sure that, in this environment, we're Gaining the entire relationship and that we're getting paid for the extension of credit. And so we're pretty Domestic about the communication we're having with customers, the relationships are still very strong and just recognizing the environment has changed a little.

Speaker 8

Yes. That all makes sense. So okay. Well, I appreciate you guys taking the questions and nice quarter guys.

Speaker 1

Yes. Thank you, Brian.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question please. And it comes from the line of Damon DelMonte with KBW, please proceed.

Speaker 6

Hey, everybody. Hope everybody is doing well today. Pretty much most of my questions have been asked and answered, but Just looking for

Speaker 10

a little bit more color on the brokered CDs you guys put on. What's the average term of those as far as like the maturity dates?

Speaker 3

They tend to be more on the shorter end of the curve.

Speaker 10

So generally like less than a year?

Speaker 3

Yes, less than a year or 2 years.

Speaker 6

Okay. And then just one kind of modeling question here. I think you guys noted you had a BOLI gain this quarter. Could you call out how much that was?

Speaker 3

Yes. It was actually just a couple of very small ones. And so I think there was it was under $800,000 of BOLI gains.

Speaker 6

Okay, perfect. Okay, that's all that I had. Everything else was asked and answered. So thank you very much.

Speaker 7

Thanks, Damian.

Operator

Thank you. And this concludes the Q and A session. I would now like to turn the call over to Mark Heilrich for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Carmen. Thanks everyone for your participation. As you can tell, it's an interesting Time for net interest margin. We're kind of at an inflection point and it's hard to give absolute guidance. But Yes, we just have looked back at our history and the Q1 of 2022, our margin was 3.03%.

Speaker 1

It did increase all the way to As rates were rising rapidly and we were benefiting from a variable rate loan portfolio and our ability to lag deposit rates. And eventually that changed and we had to start paying more for deposits and we were additionally Aggressive after the Silicon Valley failure that occurred. And so if we landed at 3.39 for the quarter, we've got a 3 40 June, it's hard for us to come out and say, hey, we think the next rate increase causes margin to go up Because we know there's still some additional modest pressure on deposits, but really looking forward to getting through the quarter, having a Q3 net interest margin number that we think kind of Establishes a run rate going forward. So we appreciate your time and I know as you're working through all the different models and forecasts, It's a key component. So, look forward to talking to you next quarter and we appreciate your investment in First Merchants.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Operator

And with that, thank you all for participating. This concludes the conference and you may now disconnect.

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Key Takeaways

  • Second-quarter EPS of $1.02 and net income of $60 million delivered an 18.04% return on tangible common equity and a 1.34% return on assets.
  • Core loan growth was 4.7% annualized excluding a $116 million non-core loan sale, with $163 million in originations driven by commercial industrial lending.
  • Net interest margin compressed by 19 basis points to 3.39% as rising earning asset yields were offset by higher funding costs, with another ~10 basis point decline expected through year-end.
  • Deposit balances fell 3% annualized in Q2 but rose 3% year-to-date; interest-bearing deposit costs reached 2.6% in June and are expected to peak as rate hikes decelerate.
  • Nonperforming assets grew due to two commercial relationships—one fraud-related and one industrial construction pullback—though the allowance for credit losses remains strong at 1.8% of total loans.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
First Merchants Q2 2023
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