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Q1 2025 M&T Bank Corp Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Steve Wendelboe; Senior Vice President, Market & Investor Relations; M&T Bank Corp

Daryl Bible; Chief Financial Officer, Senior Executive Vice President; M&T Bank Corp

Ken Usdin; Analyst; Autonomous Research

Ebrahim Poonawala; Analyst; BofA Global Research

Gerard Cassidy; Analyst; RBC Capital Markets

Matt O'Connor; Analyst; Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.

Manan Gosalia; Analyst; Morgan Stanley

John Pancari; Analyst; Evercore ISI

Christopher Spahr; Analyst; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Peter Winter; Analyst; D.A. Davidson & Company

Erika Najarian; Analyst; UBS Equities

Presentation

Operator

Please stand by. Your program is about to begin. (Operator Instructions) Welcome to the M&T Bank first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. And I would now like to turn the conference over to Steve Wendelboe, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Steve Wendelboe

Thank you, Margaux, and good morning. I'd like to thank everyone for participating in M&T's first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call, both by telephone and through the webcast.
If you have not read through the earnings release we issued this morning, you may access it along with the financial tables and schedules by going to our website at mtb.com. Once there, you can click on the Investor Relations link and then on the Events and Presentations link. Close captioning has been provided for webcast participants.
Also, before we start, I'd like to mention that today's presentation may contain forward-looking information. Cautionary statements about this information are included in today's earnings release materials and in the investor presentation, as well as our SEC filings and other investor materials. The presentation also includes non-GAAP financial measures as identified in the earnings release and investor presentation. The appropriate reconciliations to GAAP are included in the Appendix.
Joining me on the call today is M&T's Senior Executive Vice President and CFO, Daryl Bible. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Daryl.

Daryl Bible

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. First, I will begin with our purpose on slide 3. Our purpose is to make a difference in people's lives. We are committed to serving not only our customers, but also supporting communities where we live and work, inspiring our 22,000 employees and delivering for our shareholders.
In René's annual shareholder letter, he notes that we operate in an environment in which change is the only constant. In these uncertain times, M&T starts from a position of strength with a strong liquidity, capital levels, and capital generation. This position of strength reflects our consistent adherence to the fundamentals of liquidity management, capital allocation, and transparency.
The strength of this operating model allows M&T to continue to perform through the peaks and valleys of the macroeconomic cycles, and support our customers and communities in the moments that matter most. As highlighted on slide 4, we continue to receive notable recognition, including 13 Greenwich Coalition awards for our small business and middle market segments. And we were included in Fortune's Most Admired and Most Innovative Company list.
Turning to slide 6, which shows the results for the first quarter. Our first-quarter results represent a strong start to the year with several successes to highlight. Net interest margin increased 8 basis points, reflecting our efficient balance sheet and the strength of our deposit franchise. We executed $662 million in share repurchases as we continue toward an 11% CET1 ratio in 2025, while also growing tangible book value per share by 2%.
Fee income grew 5% since the first quarter of '24 or 10% if you exclude last year's BLG distribution. Asset quality continued to improve with a $516 million reduction in commercial criticized balances and a $150 million reduction in nonaccrual loans. Our net charge-offs of 34 basis points were below our full-year expectations of 40 basis points.
Now let's look at the specifics for the first quarter. Diluted GAAP earnings per share were $3.32, down from $3.86 in the prior quarter. Net income was $584 million compared to $681 million in the linked quarter. M&T's first-quarter results produced an ROA and ROCE of 1.14% and 8.36%, respectively.
Slide 7 includes supplemental reporting of M&T's results on a net operating or tangible basis. M&T's net operating income was $594 million compared to $691 million in the linked quarter. Diluted net operating earnings per share were $3.38, down from $3.92 in the prior quarter. Net operating income [muted] an ROTA and ROTCE of 1.21% and 12.53%.
Next, let's look a little deeper into the underlying trends that generated our first-quarter results. Please turn to slide 8. Taxable-equivalent net interest income was $1.71 billion, a decrease of $33 million or 2% from linked quarter. The lower NII was primarily driven by two fewer days and lower average earning assets, partially offset by favorable deposit costs.
Net interest margin was 3.66%, an increase of 8 basis points from the prior quarter. The primary drivers of the increase in margin include continued securities growth and lower wholesale, funding, and time deposits; and favorable deposit pricing, with interest-bearing deposit cost declining 27 basis points.
Turning to slide 10 to talk about average loans. Average loans and leases decreased $0.9 million to $134.8 billion. Lower CRE balances were partially offset by the growth in C&I, consumer and residential mortgage. C&I loans grew 1% to $61 million, driven by continued strength in the corporate institutional and fund banking. CRE loans declined 6% to $26.3 billion, reflecting payoffs and paydowns and muted origination activity with increased market competition.
Residential mortgage loans were relatively unchanged at $23.2 million. Consumer loans grew 1% to $24.3 billion, reflecting increases in recreational finance and indirect auto loans. Loan yields decreased 11 basis points to 6.06% as lower rates on variable loans and lower nonaccrual interest was partially offset by fixed rate loan repricing and a smaller drag on our cash flow hedges. Turning to slide 11. Our liquidity remains strong.
At the end of the first quarter, investment securities and cash, including cash held at the Fed totaled $57.9 billion, representing 28% of total assets. Average investment securities increased $0.8 billion. The yield on the investment securities increased 12 basis points to 4% as the yield for new purchases exceeded the yield on maturing securities. In the first quarter, we purchased $2.6 billion in debt securities at an average yield of 4.9%. The duration of the portfolio at the end of the quarter was 3.6 years, and the unrealized pretax loss on the available-for-sale portfolio was $8 million or less than 1 basis point CET1 drag if included in regulatory capital.
Turning to slide 12. Average total deposits declined $3.4 billion or 2% to $161.2 million. A sequential decline included $0.7 billion decline in broker deposits, where the remainder of the decline was concentrated in commercial and business banking partially reflecting seasonal lower balances. Average noninterest-bearing deposits declined $1.1 billion to $45.4 million. Excluding broker deposits, average noninterest-bearing deposit mix in the first quarter was relatively unchanged at 30.2%.
Interest-bearing deposit costs decreased 27 basis points to 2.37%. We sold favorable deposit declines across business lines, higher level of broker and retail time deposit maturities in the quarter also contributed to the deposit cost decline. Continuing on slide 13. Noninterest income was $611 million compared to $657 million in the linked quarter. We saw continued strength across fee income categories with increases in mortgage banking, service charges, trust and brokerage fee income.
Recall that the fourth quarter included an $18 million net gain from the sale of noncore securities and a $23 million BLG distribution. Excluding these items from the prior quarter, noninterest income declined by $5 million sequentially. Mortgage banking revenues were $118 million compared to $117 million in the fourth quarter. Residential mortgage banking revenues increased $6 million sequentially to $82 million reflecting the partial quarter benefit from new subservicing. We expect to reach the full run rate on this subservicing in the second quarter.
Commercial mortgage banking revenues decreased $5 million to $36 million, reflecting lower gains on the sale of commercial mortgage loans. Other revenues from operations decreased $34 million to $142 million mostly reflecting the fourth quarter $23 million BLG distribution. Turning to slide 14. We continue to execute on our expense plans. Noninterest expenses were $1.42 billion, an increase of $52 million from the prior quarter.
Last year's fourth quarter included $35 million in notable expenses related to the redemption of certain M&T trust preferred obligations, expenses associated with corporate real estate optimization, partially offset by pension-related credit. Salary and benefits increased $97 million to $887 million, mostly reflecting $110 million of seasonally higher compensation expense related to stock-based compensation, payroll-related taxes and other employee benefit expenses.
As usual, we expect those seasonal factors to decline significantly as we enter the second quarter. Other cost of operations decreased $50 million to $118 million, primarily reflecting the previously mentioned fourth quarter notable items. The efficiency ratio was 60.5% compared to 56.8% in the linked quarter.
Next, let's turn to slide 15 for credit. Net charge-offs for the quarter totaled $114 million or 34 basis points decreasing from 47 basis points in the linked quarter. Charge-offs were relatively granular in the first quarter, with the five largest charges amounting to less than $30 million in total, representing both C&I and CRE credits. Nonaccrual loans decreased $150 million or 9% to $1.5 billion. The nonaccrual ratio decreased 11 basis points to 1.14% driven largely by payoffs, charge-offs and upgrades out of nonaccrual.
In the fourth quarter, we reported a provision of $130 million compared to the net charge-offs of $114 million. The allowance to loan ratio increased 2 basis points to 1.63%, reflecting growth in certain consumer loan portfolios as well as a modest deterioration in the macroeconomic forecast. The increase was not related to changes in the underlying credit performance, which is mostly in line with expectations. Please turn to slide 16. We estimate that the level of criticized loans will be $9.4 billion compared to $9.9 million at the end of December.
The improvement from the linked quarter was driven by $667 million decline and CRE criticized balances, partially offset by a $150 million increase in C&I. Within C&I, the increase in criticized was concentrated in a motor vehicle and recreational finance dealers. The CRE criticized decline was primarily within multifamily, office, health care, construction and was driven by payoffs, paydowns and upgrades to past status. Improved leasing, occupancy and cash flows and healthcare and multifamily helped drive the improvement in the CRE criticized. Turning to slide 19 for capital.
M&T CET1 ratio at the end of the first quarter was an estimated 11.5% compared to 11.66% at the end of the fourth quarter. The decline in the CET1 ratio reflects increased capital distributions, including $662 million in share repurchases, partially offset by continued strong capital generation. AOCI impact on the CET1 ratio from available-for-sale securities and pension-related components combined would be approximately a positive 6 basis points is included in regulatory capital. Now turning to slide 20 for the outlook. First, let's begin with the economic backdrop.
The economic backdrop remains dynamic in light of the developments over the past several weeks. Recent economic data is mixed with strong job gains of moderating wage growth. Our recent readings show weakening business and consumer sentiment and eating inflation. The ultimate impact on tariffs on the broader economy remains unknown at this point. That uncertainty is reflected in recent equity market and rate volatility.
We ended the first quarter well positioned for a dynamic economic environment of strong liquidity, strong capital generation and a CT1 ratio at 11.5%. With that economic backdrop, let's review our net interest income outlook. We expect taxable-equivalent net interest income to be $7.05 billion to $7.15 billion, with net interest margin increasing through the year and averaging in the mid- to high 360s. We expect the full year average loan and lease balances to be $135 million to $137 million. The lower loan outlook reflects lower CRE balances with related payoffs and pay downs and muted originations.
Full year average deposit balances are expected to be $160 million to $164 billion. We remain focused on growing customer deposits at a reasonable cost while also considering loan growth. Turning to fee income. We expect noninterest income to be at the high end of the $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion range. The environment remains dynamic.
However, our diversified product set should help provide relative stability from our fee income businesses. Continuing with expenses, we anticipate total noninterest expense, including intangible amortization, to be $5.4 billion to $5.5 billion. Our business lines remain focused on closely managing their expenses, allowing the bank to continue to target investments in projects and business opportunities that support our enterprise priorities. Regarding credit, we continue to expect net charge-offs for the full year to be near 40 basis points. We also expect criticized loans to continue to decline in 2025.
As it relates to capital, we expect the CET1 ratio to reach 11% in 2025 but we'll monitor the economic backdrop and adjust as needed. The level of share repurchases will vary with RWA growth. As shown on slide 21, we remain committed to our four priorities, including growing our New England and Long Island markets, optimizing our resources through simplification, making our systems resilient and scalable and continuing to scale and develop our risk management capabilities.
To conclude on slide 22, our results underscore an optimistic investment thesis. M&T has always been a purpose-driven organization with a successful business model that benefits all stakeholders, including shareholders. We have a long track record of credit outperforming through all economic cycles while growing within the markets we serve. We remain focused on shareholder returns and consistent dividend growth. Finally, we are a disciplined acquirer and prudent steward of our shareholder capital.
Now let's open the call up to questions before which Margaux will briefly review the instructions.