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8-K - 8-K - BankUnited, Inc. | a11-28870_18k.htm |
EX-99.1 - EX-99.1 - BankUnited, Inc. | a11-28870_1ex99d1.htm |
Exhibit 99.2
BankUnited, Inc.
Third Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call
October 27, 2011
1:00 PM Eastern Time
CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS
Mary Harris
BankUnited - SVP, Marketing & PR
John Kanas
BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Doug Pauls
BankUnited - CFO
Raj Singh
BankUnited - COO
John Bohlsen
BankUnited - Vice Chairman, Chief Lending Officer
CONFERENCE CALL PARTICIPANTS
Ken Zerbe
Morgan Stanley - Analyst
Robert Placet
Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Brady Gailey
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst
Connor Fitzgerald
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch - Analyst
Stephen Moss
Janney Montgomery Scott - Analyst
PRESENTATION
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Third Quarter 2011 BankUnited, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. My name is Anne, and I will be your coordinator for todays call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) We will be facilitating a question and answer session following the presentation.
I would now like to turn the presentation over to, Mary Harris, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Public Relations. Please proceed.
Mary Harris - BankUnited - SVP, Marketing & PR
Good morning and welcome. First Id like to remind everyone that this call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect the Companys current views with respect to, among other things, future events in financial performance.
The Company generally identifies forward-looking statements by terminology such as outlook, believe, expect, potential, continue, may, will, could, should, seeks, approximately, predicts, intends, plans, estimates, anticipates, or the negative version of these words or other comparable words.
Any forward-looking statements contained in this call are based on the historical performance of the Company and its subsidiaries or on the Companys current plans, estimates, and expectations. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by the Company that the future plans, estimates, or expectations contemplated by the Company will be achieved.
Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and assumptions relating to the Companys operations, financial results, financial conditions, business prospects, growth strategy, and liquidity. If one or more of these other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the Companys underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, the Companys actual results may vary materially from those indicated in these statements.
These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements.
Its now my pleasure to introduce John Kanas, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of BankUnited. John?
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Good morning, everybody. We are very pleased with the quarter obviously. We are reported $45.6 million, about $0.45 a share. Doug tells me that that is compared to consensus estimates of about $0.43.
The real story this quarter is embedded in tracking our organic growth rate. Loans grew about $378 million for the quarter most of which were commercial loans. This actually is running substantially above what we had estimated it to be last quarter and we are optimistic based on what were seeing that this kind of a growth rate, particularly of commercial loans, will continue on into the next few quarters.
The commercial loan portfolio is now just under $1 billion. By the year end we expect that it will be over $1 billion, and the growth rate of loans annualized for the quarter is about 180% a year. Were obviously benefiting from the fact that banking is badly dislocated in Florida. Many of our competitor institutions are virtually out of business for one reason or another. Many are struggling with balance sheet problems and regulatory problems, some of which we expect will eventually sort out and some wont, leading to what we predicted a long time ago, the emergence of the national consolidation of banks here in Florida.
Demand deposits, or transaction accounts, grew significantly during the quarter. And they amount to now about 15% of the deposit base. Thats up from 4% or 5% when we got here. So, all-in-all we are very pleased with the quarter and the financial results and are particularly riveted on the fact that organic growth seems to be gaining momentum. I reported to you earlier that when we first came to Florida we started hiring Florida bankers. We really got to pick I believe the pick of the litter of commercial bankers in South Florida in particular and those teams have gained traction and were finding that the more customers they bring, the more customers they bring. So, we have been very impressed with the performance of that part of the bank.
So, as I said in my quote, we really are the a strategically important bank is emerging here underneath the loss share agreement and were very pleased with those results. So, were on track with the new branches. I think weve got ten opening between now and January 1, all of which have been under construction this year for most of this year. Two have already opened. We went to a new opening this past week in Palm Beach that was greatly attended and were very encouraged by getting off to a strong start there. And many of these new locations, as reported to you before, are either relocations of some of the old branches or actual new locations in towns that weve not been represented in before.
I guess the anticipating a question with regard to M&A. Ill be happy to answer them but we do get that question frequently as to whats going on. We thought there would be more consolidation already within the market. And I know youve heard me say this before, we are seeing and I think those of you who are investment bankers and those of you who talk to investment bankers, they will confirm that the activity is beginning to heat up on the M&A side.
People are starting to get a lot more realistic about pricing and about asset valuations on their own balance sheets and while we dont have anything imminent, it wouldnt be surprising to see us turn something up in the next four or five months or so. I know thats longer than we
expected to take, but quite frankly, pricing is just out of whack with reality, I think. Listened interestingly to Kelly King the other day at BB&T but he was predicting that consolidation was probably going to heat up this year because they are noticing the same thing. I couldnt agree with him more.
We are off to a great start for a close of the year and expect this momentum to build. I remind you, going into the fourth quarter that as part of our FDIC agreement we get to sell a portion of our covered loans, about $275 million or $273 million worth. We do that we execute that transaction every fourth quarter. So, we will we do intend to execute a transaction like that in the fourth quarter. It will have an impact on fourth quarter earnings because we run our portion of the loss through the income statement. So, you will see that as you have in the past couple years.
Were also launching an ambitious marketing campaign down here. Up until now we frankly didnt have much to talk about and we were kind of hoping people didnt go in our branches because they werent anything that we were particularly proud of. Thats no longer the case. Weve repositioned our branches. Weve rebranded them. And we have upgraded management all across the organizational chart and particularly out in the branches. We are now beginning to show off BankUnited here in Florida and those of you who are down here, this winter you will start seeing us and we will become more of a household name, particularly in the Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County areas. And also over in the West Coast.
So, we look forward to that and I think that I have spoken enough. Most people are probably at their trading desks this morning getting their buy orders in based on the futures this morning. Im happy to take questions.
QUESTION AND ANSWER
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Ken Zerbe with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed.
Ken Zerbe - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
Great. Thanks. John, can you just talk a little bit about geography of M&A? Are you seeing any differences between parts, regions in Florida or versus maybe Florida versus some of the surrounding states in terms of whos being more or less reasonable? And also just remind us about your views on acquiring sort of slightly North of Florida, so again the Southeast region in general? Thanks.
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
We are concentrated almost exclusively on Florida. People have shown us bank franchises in contiguous states. None of them have made any sense to us, Ken. In Florida, it is a bit fractured. Some areas in Florida are doing better than others. The Miami-Dade market is clearly showing more signs of life the economy that is, particularly in the real estate markets than the rest of Florida at least at the moment. Thats not being reflected in bank performance in this market. In fact, unfortunately some of the worst performing banks are in this market, struggling the most. And thats where the emphasis of our growth has been.
With regard to ambitions North of Florida, right now we dont have any except for the planned expansion in New York City. We are moving forward with that and I remind you that under our non-competes we expect to be doing business in Manhattan sometimes probably in the third quarter of next year. We are site selecting there and we are getting ready to move into that market and look forward to it anxiously. If you and Ive said before we expect significant trajectory of our growth in New York early on and if you put that on top of the annualized growth rate we seem to be getting in Florida, and I know nobody likes to get excited about organic growth and youd rather have an M&A deal to take apart and look at but frankly the organic growth story here is quite impressive and just at this rate alone we will build a pretty big bank in a couple years.
Ken Zerbe - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
Understood. Just in terms of the quality of the people who are getting a little more realistic about their about prices, are you willing to buy sort of quote junk? Or does it have to be a decent franchise but at a lower price? How willing are you to buy lower quality?
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
We look at junk. Most of the junk is either in the hands of the regulator or closely aligned with the regulators and being controlled by them. I can say this, we really dont see any juice in FDIC deals anyway. The economics are not at all compelling and we look at the pricing on the last few of those and theyre not interesting to us at all. Im not sure whether that changes. Im not sure as the banking market ambles through here and consolidation takes place whether the FDIC gets more generous with their deals. I doubt it.
So, we have looked at decently performing banks in Florida and those people have gotten more realistic about price. And some of the funds that came down here and either bought banks or recapitalized or started banks or recapitalized old banks are probably not performing up to what the investors thought they would see in these things. So, we think there will be some action in that area soon.
Ken Zerbe - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
Great. Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line of Robert Placet with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed.
Robert Placet - Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Good morning, John. First question, I was wondering if you could just talk about what types of securities youve been buying I guess this quarter and with rates as low as they are, does this kind of change your strategy as it relates to your securities portfolio at all?
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Well let Raj or Doug answer that. But the quick answer is low-yielding ones. Go ahead, Doug.
Doug Pauls - BankUnited - CFO
Well, Rob, to answer your question about does it change our strategy, no, not really, because our strategy has been revolved around we want to buy good securities. Were not going to take credit risks in the securities portfolio. Theres no reason for us to do that. We look every month in terms of the mix between floating rate, fixed rate, those types of things. But were not stretching to get yield in the investment portfolio. John is correct. Obviously the yields are not great.
One of the nice things for us frankly this quarter as well as projecting forward is that we think well have less cash we have to put to work in the securities portfolio because were doing more lending and thats really what we want to do anyway. So, strategy really hasnt changed. What were buying really hasnt changed drastically. Just have to speak to what were dealing with.
Robert Placet - Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Great. And then as it relates to your branch expansion down in Florida, as you look out beyond this year, do you have a target for the number of branches that youre looking to build in 2012 and then longer-term? How many branches do you see yourself operating?
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Our current thoughts are eight or ten next year. Branches, as has been widely publicized are less and less important in this business and theres such an oversupply of banks and branches in this market and every other one that we are very, very careful about where we put these locations. We build them only when theyre strategically important and only when we go in with a team of people that lead the new branch into a market we dont were not building branches and hoping people come, try to find somebody to manage it the week before we open. Well continue to execute on that plan as long as we can find the kind of people that weve been able to hire so far that can grow those branches quickly but it has become an art and not a science. And branches themselves are less important to our expansion strategy than people.
Robert Placet - Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Okay. And just lastly on a related matter as it relates to refurbishing your existing branches, are you completely finished with that process? Or how much is left?
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Were 100% done. All the branches have been refurbished. The new logos are up. The signs are up. Thats one of the reasons why were going to advance this marketing plan. That will be a combination of media - television, radio, and paper, the internet. We really want to show these places off down there. Weve had great comments from people, unsolicited, from all over Florida. We now want to broadcast.
Robert Placet - Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Great. Thanks very much.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line of [Bradley] Gailey with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Please proceed.
Brady Gailey - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst
Thanks. Its Brady Gailey. Good morning, guys. My first question is about your estimated cumulative loss estimate. I know its been trending down over the last couple quarters. I saw in the press release youre now down to $4.7 billion from $4.8 billion. I was just wondering whats driving that? Is it better cash flows? Are you more positive on the Florida economy? Do you expect that number to continue to drift down over the next couple quarters?
Doug Pauls - BankUnited - CFO
Brady, the cash flows have consistently gotten a little better. Before we were at $4.8 billion. Now were at $4.7 billion. Last quarter we probably rounded up to $4.8 billion. This quarter we rounded down to $4.7 billion. Theyre getting better, Roll rates in the portfolio have gotten better. Were still not seeing in a lot of our markets loan price appreciation. The recent Case-Shiller stuff came out and there were some improvements but were not seeing anything massive. So, at this point we expect that number to it may trickle down a bit but were not projecting any great change in that number going forward, obviously.
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Anything to add to that, Raj?
Raj Singh - BankUnited - COO
No. Its roll rates getting better. Severities are just the same. Its not much of an improvement from $4.8 billion to $4.7 billion. Thats just rounding.
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President , CEO
But we dont really think its much of an improvement, just stable.
Brady Gailey - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst
Okay. And then, John, how many new lenders did you hire in 3Q? Over the last year youve been hiring pretty aggressively. Is that aggressive hiring continuing today?
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Did you say in the third quarter or over the last year?
Brady Gailey - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst
In the third quarter, how many new lenders have you hired?
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
In the third quarter, 15 or 20. And over the last year probably 100?
John Bohlsen - BankUnited - Vice Chairman and Chief Lending Officer
Upwards to 100.
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Yes. Around 100.
Brady Gailey - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst
Okay. And then my last question, the sale thats coming up, the auction where you can sell the 270, 275 is there any idea how much of a negative impact that will be on fourth quarters earnings?
Doug Pauls - BankUnited - CFO
Brady, the only thing I can say to that is that in 2009 it was $9 million pretax and in 2010 it was $18 million pretax. The bids are not due for a couple of weeks. So, we cant really give any more guidance than that. We can tell you what happened the last couple of years. Other than that, were not sure.
Brady Gailey - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst
Okay. Thanks, guys.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line of Erika Penala with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. Please proceed.
Connor Fitzgerald - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch - Analyst
Hi. This is [Connor Fitzgerald] for Erika. Good morning.
Doug Pauls- BankUnited - CFO
Hi, Connor. How are you doing?
Connor Fitzgerald - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch - Analyst
Good. Just a quick question on the loan yields. I know they moved up this quarter on higher accretable, but can you talk about the yields youre seeing on your new originations, particularly in C&I?
Doug Pauls - BankUnited - CFO
Yes. For the quarter, the yields, the new C&I stuff came on at roughly 3.5. Most of that is floating rate product.
Connor Fitzgerald - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch - Analyst
Okay. Great. And then just on the liability side, can you talk about just deposit repricing opportunities in 2012 and 4Q?
Doug Pauls - BankUnited - CFO
Connor, its actually a little closer to four on the commercial side. High 3s
Connor Fitzgerald - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch - Analyst
Got you. And then just repricing opportunities on the deposit side going forward?
Raj Singh - BankUnited - COO
We repriced money market savings by five basis points just a couple of weeks ago. We repriced the ETR which raised our fee income on the cash management side by 10 basis points. So, were repricing but we also carefully look at what the competition is doing. So, its hard for me to say where 2012 would be. I would think theres more opportunities to reprice but I cant give you a number.
Connor Fitzgerald - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch - Analyst
Okay. Great. Any big CD chunks coming due or anything like that from the failed bank?
Raj Singh Doug Pauls - BankUnited - COO
No. The failed bank CDs are pretty much run off and there isnt much left from prior to 2009. In fact, if you would notice, our CD balances for the first time have actually now started growing. So, weve been running off CDs and very aggressively so but weve now come down to a place where I think the CD portfolio we have is fairly core and wed like to keep it flat or even grow it a little bit.
Connor Fitzgerald - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch - Analyst
Great. Thanks.
Doug Pauls - BankUnited - CFO
Just to second what Raj is saying, were talking internally. Weve put out information over the last couple quarters about core deposits and whatnot. But were talking internally. That definition has excluded CDs and what weve been reporting and going into 2012 well probably take another look at that because as Raj said, weve run out the one relationship CD customers that we werent looking for and now what were left with is a good, stable base of CD customers to have other relationships with us. So, we may just stop talking about core deposits and talk about our deposit base in general.
Connor Fitzgerald - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch - Analyst
Great. Thanks for taking my questions.
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Stephen Moss with Janney Montgomery Scott. Please proceed.
Stephen Moss - Janney Montgomery Scott - Analyst
Good morning. Thanks for taking my call. Just one question with regard to the Florida commercial real estate market. What are you seeing for activity and pricing here?
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
I have John Bohlsen sitting here. John deals with that every day. I dont think were seeing much at all but, John, would you ?
John Bohlsen - BankUnited - Vice Chairman, Chief Lending Officer
No. We dont see much activity there at all at this point. What is out there and looks good to us were getting a shot at but in general theres no growth in that market today.
John Kanas - BankUnited - Chairman, President, CEO
Frankly, were surprised. We thought that by now wed see more activity in that area. We are seeing people coming in from other parts of the country, investing serious money in this market in commercial real estate. But a lot of thats cash. Its interesting though. On the front page of the business section of the Miami Herald last week I think I reminded you last time wed probably start seeing big towers going up in Florida again pretty soon.
Sure enough theres a 279 unit spec condo tower just breaking ground on Brickell Avenue. Its going to go right next to the other empty condo towers that mostly have been taken up now by deep discounting the price. The difference is this one is being driven by a whole different financing structure where buyers have to put 70% of the money up before construction commences. So, the banks arent back in this business, thank God. But we are starting to see people developing new property.
Ill remind me before we go on with the questions, something I failed to mention. We have a number of different regulatory applications that are pending. To bring you up to date on those, remember that we have an application in with the Fed to convert the thrift holding company to a bank holding company. We have an application with the OCC to convert the charter of the bank from a thrift charter to that of a bank. And we have an application before the regulators to approve the Herald Bank acquisition.
We expect that we will be putting an announcement out within a matter of days were hopeful. On not all of those but on several of those. Probably the OCC application approving us as a national bank. Weve completed the process with them. Weve had the conversion examinations
and had our interviews with the regulators. Theyve gone very well. We expect no issues. And then were hopeful that the rest of it, the Fed application approval, Herald will take place before January.
Stephen Moss - Janney Montgomery Scott - Analyst
Thank you very much.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, there being no further questions in the queue, this concludes todays question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mary Harris for closing remarks.
Mary Harris - BankUnited - SVP, Marketing & PR
Thank you, everyone, for participating in the call today. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your participation in todays conference. This concludes the presentation and you may now disconnect. Have a good day.