First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Matthew Breese: Yeah.

Jim Reske: Yeah. So for the quarter as a whole, we were putting on loans in the high 5s, 588 and what was rolling off at 544. So it was a 44 basis point differential.

Matthew Breese: Okay. And you have the pipeline yield all in?

Jim Reske: I don’t have the pipeline yields all in. But I could tell you that like we are looking at — what I am looking in front of me just speaking historically for the quarter just ended, those numbers include consistently over every month in the quarter. So the new loan yield is going up, up, up every quarter end.

Matthew Breese: Understood. Yeah. I was waiting — I was hoping there was a 6% number either at the pipeline or at quarter end, is that…

Jim Reske: Well, there are — yeah, there are. So like, for example, a bit like historically different. So some businesses have longer tails than others. So, for example, in the mortgage construction business will be locked in a rate for a loan for someone who is building a house eight months or nine months ago. That’s a really low rate. And then in particular, it gets to the power is in the books and it’s a low rate. That brings on the current period, down the term period yield. But for commercial variable adjustable loans, for example, one of our biggest categories, where we originated $400 million. Those new money yields in the fourth quarter were in the high 6s, 667. So that really brings the loan portfolio yield up and that’s been going very nicely. So the story depends on what portfolio you are talking about.

Mike Price: And that category was our largest category in the fourth quarter in terms of volume and throughput, almost $400 million.

Jim Reske: Yeah. Half of all the originations in that category and really helping — and that’s a new origination. The existing portfolio also re-priced with the Fed rate increases. So that’s been really helpful for the bank.

Matthew Breese: Got it. Maybe turning to indirect auto, I mean, I heard you at the onset. It sounds like there’s really no notable deterioration in credit delinquencies, criticized classified. I did want to hone in and get a little bit of additional color on indirect auto, which we are getting more questions. Could you just give us a sense for the health of that book, the FICOs of the book and maybe just an update on duration?

Mike Price: Yeah. Just we brushed up on this before the call. Average ticket is about 30, Jane, as you shared with us, six-year duration and contracted duration, it tends to be shorter than that, two and half years or so. The average payment is up a little bit over the last year about $50 to just over $500. And FICO, do we have that?

Jim Reske: Yeah. Over 700, but let me see if I can get more refined on that.

Mike Price: Yeah. Good. Jane, do you want to add anything while Jim’s finding the FICO. I know that’s on the report there.

Jane Grebenc: Yeah. There’s been really no degradation. You keep waiting for it to happen, but there’s been none. And the used car market is staying very, very healthy, because there are still shortages in the used car market. So few customers are leasing anymore that used car values are holding beautifully, and so far, it’s been magical. We underwrote…

Jim Reske: 90…

Jane Grebenc: Go ahead.

Jim Reske: No. Go ahead. I am sorry, Jane. Go ahead and finish.

Jane Grebenc: I was just going to say we are holding to our underwriting standards, we haven’t blinked and we are a paper shop. So our capture rate is a little bit skinnier, a little bit lower than what you might see in other banks. We just don’t — we don’t buy everything by any stretch.

Jim Reske: Yeah. 92% of our production is over 700 FICO.

Matthew Breese: Okay. Last one for me is just around capital management, hopefully, the worst of kind of any sort of major impact to AOCI is behind us. I am curious, just given where the stock is and how you think about buybacks and if there’s any level where you would be more interested in that?

Mike Price: Jim?