William Henry Rogers
Analyst · Sandler O'Neill
Okay, Kris, thanks. And I'll begin today's call with some brief comments on the first quarter, and then I'm going to pass it over to Aleem to provide the details on the results. We'll start on Slide 3 of our presentation where we hit the high-level points. Net income for the quarter was $245 million and earnings per share was $0.46, which was $0.33 increase over last quarter and a $0.38 increase over the prior year. Growth in revenue and continued favorable loan deposit and asset quality trends drove the improved results. Both net interest income and noninterest income were up over last quarter. On the net interest income side, we benefited from higher loan balances, lower cost deposit growth and a reduction in funding costs, such that our net interest margin expanded 3 basis points. Sequential quarter fee income was up sharply, and most notably in mortgage production, as low interest rates and HARP 2 drove significant refinance activity. On a year-over-year basis, fee income was stable as high mortgage revenue this quarter offset the lost income due to debit interchange changes and lower security gains. Expenses declined from prior quarter, and we've made significant progress against our Playbook for Profitable Growth expense savings goal. Today, we've put in place annualized savings of $190 million, and as such, we're on track to achieve the $300 million goal for the program. So while I'm pleased with the progress, this is ultimately about establishing an efficiency-minded culture, which will allow us to exceed our goal without a bounce-back. Now moving to the balance sheet. Favorable loan and deposit trends continued this quarter. Performing loans were up 3%, with growth in targeted categories and declines in high-risk loans. We also saw sustained lower-cost deposit growth. Credit quality also continued to improve with marked decreases in all primary credit metrics. Nonperforming loans were down another 9% this quarter, and net charge-offs were down 11% sequentially. Lastly, we generated positive capital growth and our capital ratios remained strong and well in excess of our current and proposed regulatory requirements. Now that being said, however, let me take a moment to proactively address CCAR. As part of the process moving forward, we'll be resubmitting our capital plan. We're required to submit the revised plan by mid-June and then expect to hear back by the end of the third quarter. First quarter results will be included in our submission, and we'll be running another full stress test. This new submission will only cover any proposed capital actions for the fourth quarter of this year and first quarter of 2013 as anything beyond that will be incorporated in the next year's CCAR process. So we're still in the process of learning all the variables. There's not much to report at this time. We're going to be working closely with our board as we decide what to include in our revised submission. So with that, Aleem, let me turn it over to you.