Operator
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Columbia Banking Systems Third Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Melanie Dressel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Banking Systems. Melanie Dressel;President and Chief Executive Officer: Thank you, Martina. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call to discuss our third quarter results. I hope you've all had a chance to review our earnings press release, which we issued this morning and which is also available on our website at columbiabank.com. With me on the call today are Clint Stein, our Chief Financial Officer; and Andy McDonald, our Chief Credit Officer. As we outlined in our press release, our third quarter results showed the continued improvement in our credit quality, the relative stability of our operating net interest margin, a rise in fee income and the announcement of our merger with West Coast Bancorp. Clint will begin our call by providing details of our earnings performance for the quarter, including the financial benefits of our FDIC-assisted transactions, our capital position and net interest margin. Andy McDonald will review our credit quality information, including trends in our loan mix, allowance for loan losses and our charge-offs. I will conclude by giving you our thoughts on the economy here in the Pacific Northwest, an update on our merger with West Coast Bank and a brief outline of our strategies as we move forward. We will then be happy to answer your questions. As I always need to remind you, we will be making some forward-looking statements today, which are subject to economic and other factors. And for a full discussion of the risks and uncertainties associated with the forward-looking statements, please refer to our securities filings and in particular our Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the year 2011. And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Clint to talk about our financial performance. Clint Stein;Chief Financial Officer: Thank you, Melanie. Earlier today, we announced third quarter earnings of $11.9 million or $0.30 per diluted common share. This compares to $18.9 million for the same quarter of 2011 or $0.48 per diluted common share. Our reported earnings decreased considerably over the same quarter last year due to the substantial positive impact acquisition [indiscernible] Entries had on our third quarter 2011 earnings. On a linked quarter basis, our reported results for the third quarter are consistent with our second quarter performance. However, there are some subtle differences, so I'd like to review a few of the items that made an impact to the results of the third quarter as compared to the second quarter of this year. We provided a table in our earnings release, illustrating the impact of certain accounting entries associated with our acquired loan portfolios. The net effect of our acquired loan accounting resulted in additional pre-tax income of $2.6 million for the current quarter. This is a reduction of $800,000 when compared to additional pre-tax income from acquired loans of $3.4 million for the second quarter of 2012 and a reduction of $2.5 million from the first quarter of this year. As expected, the accretion to interest income of the discount on the other acquired loans portfolio, also known as the Bank of Whitman portfolio, continues to decline and is becoming less significant to the results of our acquired loan accounting. The discount accretion recorded in the third quarter was $613,000, a $524,000 decrease from the $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2012. But more significantly, it has declined $2.5 million from the first quarter. If the accretion income from the discounted loan portfolio is removed from the total, the net change in third quarter pre-tax income resulting from the acquired loan accounting entries was a decrease of $261,000 when compared to the second quarter of this year. This is notable because the individual components of our acquired loan accounting entries can change significantly -- by millions of dollars in some cases -- but the change in the impact to earnings is relatively inconsequential. While the GAAP accounting entries for our covered loan portfolios create some geographic noise within the components of the income statement, the volatility they have on the earnings has moderated in recent quarters. Our tax equivalent net interest margin for the third quarter was 5.52%, down from 6.53% for the same quarter last year and 5.88% for the second quarter of 2012. The margin was positively impacted by 112 basis points as a result of the additional accretion of income related to our acquired loan portfolios as compared to 144 basis points in the second quarter. The change in our reported net interest margin is an example of why it is important to understand the geographic interplay of the acquired loan accounting I previously mentioned. The net interest margin, excluding the additional accretion income, was 4.4% for the third quarter compared to 4.44% and 4.49%, respectively, for the second and first quarter of 2012. As you can see, our operating net interest margin is declining each quarter. Historically, our operating net interest margin has been consistently in the 4.25% to 4.5% range, regardless of the rate environment. We continue to maintain our disciplined approach to deposit pricing. Our average cost of interest-bearing deposits for the quarter was 20 basis points, down from 23 basis points in the prior quarter. Our constant total deposits for the quarter was just 14 basis points, down from 16 basis points in the second quarter. We still have some limited ability to lower our deposit cost and have $105 million of our $113 million in Federal Home Loan Bank advances, maturing during the fourth quarter of 2012 and first quarter of 2013. Unfortunately, our anticipated lower funding costs will not be enough to slow the velocity of margin compression resulting from the anticipated length of this low rate environment we are currently experiencing. On a linked quarter basis, average interest earning asset yields decreased 39 basis points to 5.72% during the current quarter, down from 6.11% in the second quarter. The decrease in yield is due in large part to the reduced accretion income on our acquired loan portfolios, but lower loan origination interest rates and investment yields are a factor as well. We originated roughly $130 million in loans during the third quarter and have originated in excess of $400 million year-to-date. New loans were originated during the third quarter at rates that are about 55 basis points lower than the existing portfolio. The yield on our noncovered loan portfolio declined 10 basis points from the second quarter to roughly 5.07%. The yield on the investment portfolio declined 21 basis points to 3.24% during the third quarter as compared to 3.45% in the second quarter of 2012. With a portfolio duration of 2.77 and current CPR rates for our mortgage-backed securities averaging in the mid-20s, we expect there will be significant cash flows reinvested at lower market rates during the coming quarters, putting additional downward pressure on yield of the investment portfolio. Total non-interest income was a loss of $911,000 for the third quarter, a decrease of $12.7 million from the second quarter. The decline was due entirely to the $13 million change in the FDIC loss-sharing asset recorded as a reduction in non-interest income during the current quarter compared to a $168,000 reduction during the second quarter. At the risk of being redundant, this is another example of the previously mentioned geographic noise that occurs as a result of the GAAP accounting entries stemming from our FDIC-assisted acquisitions. If we compare non-interest income before the change in FDIC loss-sharing asset, the third quarter experienced an increase of $44,000 over the second quarter of this year and nearly $800,000 or 7% from the first quarter's run rate. The increase from the first quarter was driven by higher service charges, which increased roughly $430,000 or 6% and additional mortgage banking income of $324,000. Total non-interest expense was $40.9 million for the current quarter, an increase of $1 million from $39.9 million in the second quarter of this year. The increase was due to $1.1 million of expense associated with our recently announced merger agreement with West Coast Bancorp. While there will be ongoing merger expense as we move forward in the process, we don't expect it to be at the same level as the third quarter until we approach the closing date. Current quarter merger expenses are significantly impacted by the costs associated with our due diligence efforts and other professional expenses. Absent the merger activity, total non-interest expense was unchanged from the $39.8 million reported in the second quarter of this year and was fractionally lower than the $39.9 million reported for the third quarter of 2011. After removing the effect of the FDIC clawback liability and the net benefit of OREO and OPPO activity, non-interest expense increased roughly $400,000 on a linked quarter basis. The increase was driven by higher compensation expense of $557,000 over the second quarter of this year. The entire increase was the result of obligations accumulated under our incentive compensation program, which is heavily influenced by the production activities of our bankers. We continue to be well capitalized. At September 30, our total risk-based capital ratio exceeded 20%, while the leverage ratio was approximately 12.8% and our tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio was 13.2%. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Andy McDonald, our Chief Credit Officer. Andrew McDonald;Chief Credit Officer: Thanks, Clint. During the quarter our noncovered loan portfolio increased modestly, and growth was again centered in commercial business loans and commercial and multifamily real estate term loans. Growth in business loans remained centered in agriculture, forest and fishing, followed by finance and insurance and healthcare and social services. Growth in commercial real estate term loans was centered in office property, primarily in the owner-occupied bucket along with multifamily. Commercial real estate construction loans also saw some modest growth with owner-occupied healthcare property types driving this growth. The growth in business loans was, however, offset by a continued contraction in our consumer portfolio, which declined $6.6 million. As we have seen in the past, the decline was centered in our HELOC portfolio as homeowners are refinancing to lower conventional first mortgage products at historically low rates. The covered portfolio continued to contract, declining by over $54 million before discounts and loan loss provisions. Most of this decline was due to the resolution of problem loans within these portfolios as we continue to address the issues associated with loans acquired through FDIC-assisted transactions. The vast majority of these resolutions are occurring in the commercial real estate portfolios, both permanent and construction and of course, the one-to-four family residential construction portfolios as well. Year-to-date, the portfolio is contracted by $167 million and about 80% or $134 million were problem assets. The balance of the contraction is seasonal line usage along with scheduled payments. Looking at our nonperforming assets, we continue to see these decline and they now represent about 1.2% of our noncovered assets as of September 30, 2012, down from 1.56% as of last quarter and 2.15% as of this time last year. Year-to-date, we've been able to reduce nonperforming assets by 38%. NPAs to loans and OREO and OPPO for the quarter also improved, declining from 2.7% to 2.1%. As for each of the portfolio segments there as follows: Our one-to-four family perm portfolio remained stable. We have about $2.3 million of nonperforming assets in this category, and that kind of remains the same. In our commercial perm portfolio, we did see improvement this quarter. And compared to year-end 2011, the nonperforming assets have declined from 2.8% to 2.4%. One-to-four family construction has improved again, and it stood at 33.9% as of December 31, 2011 and is now down to 16.8%. Commercial construction saw a nice decline. It went from 19.2% as of December 31, down to 2.2% this quarter, as we were able to resolve most of our condominium projects. Commercial business saw some modest improvement, declining from 1.9%, as of December 31, to 1.2%. And our consumer portfolio has been holding relatively steady at around 1.3%. For the quarter, the company made a provision for originated and discounted loans of $2.9 million, down from $3.7 million last quarter. The provision was primarily driven by the level of net charge-offs during the quarter. With that, I would like to turn the discussion back over to Melanie. Melanie Dressel;President and Chief Executive Officer: Thanks, Andy. While the economic picture here in the Pacific Northwest still holds challenges, we are seeing uneven but significant improvement in market areas as the economy moves in the right direction. According to Marple's Northwest Business Letter, large metro areas are recovering faster than states overall. They cite the major metropolitan areas of Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue in Washington; and Portland, Oregon as excellent examples. Even though the Northwest's 2 largest metro areas were hit as hard as Washington and Oregon as a whole, they're setting the pace in recovery with employment rising faster than average. I mentioned last quarter that the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area experienced the nation's second highest rise in wages this past year. Washington's unemployment showed modest improvement in September with the jobless rate falling to 8.5% from 8.6% in August. The state added about 1,200 jobs since September, mostly in education and the leisure and hospitality sectors. Our chief economist said that the trend over the past 31 months shows an increasing rate of job growth. For example, from January through September 2011, Washington added over 32,000 jobs. Whereas from January through September of this year, about 52,000 jobs have been added. Oregon's unemployment rate also dipped slightly in September to 8.7% from 8.9% in August, the state's lowest rate since October 2008. A year ago, the state's rate was 9.4%. The leisure and hospitality and financial activity sectors added workers during the month, while government and professional service sectors decreased. We continue to see some positive signals toward a real recovery in the housing market. Although sales have plateaued during the quarter, prices continue to gain as inventories drop. The Urban Land Institute has listed the Seattle area as one of the country's top markets, ranking our area #7 for investment, development and homebuilding. According to this institute, Seattle's attractiveness comes from the diverse economy, high quality of life and being one of the nations, "Brainpower centers." While the nation overall -- like the nation overall, housing starts, particularly multifamily, are up considerably in Oregon from their recessionary lows. Sales of single-family homes have improved as well, although progress is a bit bumpier. Expectations are for these gains to continue moving forward. The region's largest private employer is Boeing, who continues to hire as firm orders roll in, adding to their backlog for commercial airplanes. The company is predicting that they will hire hundreds of new production workers, perhaps close to a thousand, to staff assembly lines in Renton, Washington, for its current best-selling 737 and one line for its newest variation, the 737 MAX. Boeing will also add hundreds of engineering jobs for the MAX. Other types of manufacturing, electronics, fabricated metal, machines, food products and industrial equipment continue to do very well also in Washington and Oregon. Manufacturing is a big player in Oregon, particularly Portland, which has over 100,000 manufacturing jobs, 17th among American metro areas. Nearly 20% of Oregon's state gross product comes from manufacturing, which has been a bright spot for the state, primarily due to Intel and the high-tech industry. In talking about the economy of our area, I must also mention our military with its $3 billion payroll in Washington state. The headquarters for the new division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is now fully operational and is adding in more personnel. Agriculture-related industries in our region continue to do very well, building on last year's production record, driven by exports to Asia, especially China. For example, Washington's apple harvest looks to break records for both price and production. Since much of our agriculture has benefited from the difficult weather conditions that afflicted so much of our country this year, Washington state could account for as much as 65% of all apples grown in the U.S., which is up from the usual 50% to 60%. The Pacific Northwest has some real advantages that we believe will help us outperform the nation as a whole going forward. Certainly, the improving economy has been a factor and our good progress in resolving problem assets in both our covered and noncovered loan portfolios. I'd like to give you a quick update on the merger with West Coast Bancorp, which we announced on September 26. We look forward to receiving shareholder approval from both companies, most likely late in the fourth quarter and expect the transaction to be completed sometime in the first quarter of 2013. Our strategic plan to integrate key Columbia and West Coast is underway with cross-functional teams from both banks playing essential roles. We anticipate a smooth transition, and we're anxious to join forces with West Coast's great team of bankers. For the past 4 quarters, we have provided a full payout of earnings with our regular and special dividends since we didn't see the need to accumulate capital and our high capital ratio has allowed us to remain in the position to take advantage of any strategic opportunities which might arise. This scenario has, of course, changed with our announcement of our acquisition of West Coast. We are discontinuing our special dividend, and we'll play a regular cash dividend of $0.09 per common share on November 21, 2012, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 7. This $0.09 regular dividend represents a dividend yield of 2%. With that, this concludes our prepared comments this afternoon. As a reminder, Clint Stein, our Chief Financial Officer; and Andy McDonald, our Chief Credit Officer, are with me on the call to answer any questions you might have. And now, Martina, will you open the call for questions, please?