Bank of N T Butterfield & Son Ltd

NYSE:NTB

Earnings Call Transcript

[Operator]

Good morning. My name is Michael, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the fourth quarter and full year 2024 Earnings Call for the Bank of NT Butterfield & Son Limited. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to Noah Fields, Butterfield's Head of Investor Relations.

[Noah Fields, executive]

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today, we will be reviewing Butterfield's fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results. On the call, I'm joined by Michael Collins, Butterfield's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; craig Bridgewater, Group Chief Financial Officer; and Michael Schrum, President and Group Chief Risk Officer. Following their prepared remarks, we will open the call up for a question-and-answer session.

Yesterday afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results. The press release, along with a slide presentation that we will refer to during our remarks on this call are available on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.butterfieldgroup.com. Before I turn the call over to Michael Collins, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussions will refer to certain non-GAAP measures, which we believe are important in evaluating the company's performance. For a reconciliation of these measures to U.S. GAAP, please refer to the earnings press release and slide presentation.

Today's call and associated materials may also contain certain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Additional information regarding these risks can be found in our SEC filings.

I will now turn the call over to Michael Collins.

[Michael Collins, executive]

Thank you, Noah, and thanks to everyone joining the call today. Butterfield had strong financial and operating performance in 2024 as we improved our customer propositions and increased shareholder value through our diversified fee income, low-risk density balance sheet and effective capital management. We finished the year with excellent fourth quarter results that were supported by higher noninterest income, lower funding costs and a stable net interest margin. Butterfield benefits from its long-standing market-leading banking businesses in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands with a growing retail banking presence in the Channel Islands. Our comprehensive wealth management offerings include trust services, private banking, asset management and custody in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Channel Islands. Bank also provides specialized financial services in the Bahamas, Switzerland, Singapore and the U.K., where we cater to high net worth clients with mortgages on properties in prime Central London.

I will now turn to the full year highlights on Page 5. Butterfield's strong performance in 2024 produced net income of $216.3 million and core net income of $218.9 million. This resulted in a core return on average tangible common equity of 24% for 2024. During the year, net interest margin decreased to 2.64% from 2.80% in 2023, with a cost of deposits rising to 183 basis points from 140 basis points in 2023. However, on a quarterly basis, we have recently seen net interest margin stabilize as market rates and deposit costs decrease. Tangible book value per common share grew increasing 12.5% to end the year at $21.70. Active capital management remains a priority with total quarterly cash dividends declared, representing 37% of earnings for the year in addition to the repurchase of approximately 4.5 million shares at a total value of $155.3 million.

On December 9, the Board approved a new share repurchase authorization for 2025 of up to 2.7 million common shares. Bermuda and Cayman have experienced improved visitor numbers as travelers continue to see both locations as premier destinations. Bermuda's tourism high season finished in October and will recommence in May, while Cayman is busiest during the winter and spring months. In addition, international financial services business, primarily reinsurance in Bermuda and Asset Management in Cayman continued to grow in 2024 as measured by incorporations, jobs graded and assets under management. Tourism and International Financial Services continue to drive economic development for both jurisdictions, and we expect growth to continue in 2025 and beyond.

I will now turn the call over to Craig for details on the fourth quarter.

[Craig Bridgewater, executive]

Thank you, Michael, and good morning, everyone. I will begin with the fourth quarter highlights on Page 6. Butterfield reported strong financial results in the fourth quarter of 2024 with net income and core net income of $59.6 million. We achieved core earnings per share of $1.34 with a core return on average tangible common equity of 25.2% for the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of 270 basis points over the third quarter. Net interest margin was 2.61%, stable from the prior quarter, driven primarily by a decrease in the cost of deposits which dropped to 173 basis points from 191 basis points in the prior quarter and an increase in the yield on investments from 2.39% from 2.51%. Deposit costs decreased across all of our banking jurisdictions as fixed term deposits rolled into lower rates. The Board has again approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.44 per share whilst we continue to repurchase shares during the quarter, with buybacks totaling 1.3 million shares at an average price of $0.3742 per share.

On Slide 7, here we provide a summary of net interest income and net interest margin. In the fourth quarter, we reported net interest income before provision for credit losses of $88.6 million an increase of $88.1 million in the prior quarter. Lower deposit costs, higher investment yields and increased interest-earning assets benefited net interest income this quarter, which was partially offset by the impact of lower loan and treasury rates following Central Bank rate cuts. Average interest earning assets in the fourth quarter of $13.5 million was up compared to the previous quarter, driven by higher deposit volumes.

Investment volumes expanded by $218.1 million or 4.2% to $5.5 billion as excess liquidity in the form of cash and short-term securities, and maturities amounts were deployed into medium-term U.S. Treasury and Agency MBS securities. Average loan balances saw a slight increase overall due to growth in the Channel Islands and U.K. segments which was partially offset the impact of mortgage amortization outpacing new originations in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. The yield on interest-earning assets decreased 17 basis points to 4.28% from 4.45% in the prior quarter due to lower yields on cash and short-term securities as well as loans. The yield on treasury assets during the quarter was 4.25% versus 4.66% in the prior quarter, and the year on loan balances was 6.43% versus 6.22% in Q3. The investment portfolio yielded 2.51% in the quarter, which was 12 basis points higher than the prior quarter.

Slide 8 provides a summary of noninterest income, which totaled $63.2 million for Q4 up 12.9% versus the prior quarter due to the expected fourth quarter seasonal increases in card services, incentive revenues and transaction volumes. Higher foreign exchange volumes as well as the strength of the tourism activity in Cayman Islands. Banking fee income also benefited from receipt of increased cross-border [ card ] volume incentives. Noninterest income continues to be a stable and capital-efficient source of revenue with a fee income ratio of 41.7% for the quarter. Excluding seasonal factors, we would expect noninterest income to stabilize around the mid-$50 million per quarter.

On Slide 9, we present core noninterest expenses. Total core noninterest expenses were $90.6 million, a 2.2% increase compared to $88.6 million in the prior quarter. The higher core noninterest expense are primarily attributable to increased marketing expenditures related to events and sponsorships for our credit card products and professional and outside services costs. Looking into 2025, we expect expenses to be slightly elevated versus last year due to inflationary pressures on salaries and the continued investment and support for technological systems and specialist rules. We expect to continue to position appropriate non client facing staff in lower call service centers. Technology expenses are now accelerated as cloud IT solutions now amortized typically over short of 5-year license terms. Overall, we expect quarterly core expenses run rate of between $90 million to $92 million in 2025.

I will now turn the call over to Michael Schrum to review the balance sheet.

[Michael Schrum, executive]

Thank you, Craig. On Slide 10, it shows that Butterfield's balance sheet remains liquid and conservatively managed. Period-end deposit balances held steady at $12.7 billion versus the prior quarter. We continue to see elevated period-end balances and the average deposit balance of $12.5 billion versus $12.4 billion in the prior quarter demonstrates this. We continue to hold some deposits marked to flow out over the coming quarters and as a result, the expectation continues to be for the average deposits to settle into a range of around $11.5 billion to $12 billion. Butterfield's low-risk density of $0.30 continues to reflect the regulatory capital efficiency of the balance sheet, potential mortgage loan portfolio, which now represents 68% of our total loan assets.

On Slide 11, we show that Butterfield continues to have strong asset quality with low credit risk in the investment portfolio, which is comprised of 99% AA-rated U.S. government-guaranteed agency securities. Credit quality in the loan book improved and remained strong with nonaccrual of 1.7% of gross loans. We also continue to see a low large of ratio of 4 basis points.

On Slide 12, we present the average cash and securities balances with a summary interest rate sensitivity analysis. Asset sensitivity remains modest and unrealized losses in the AFS portfolio included in the OCI increased during the quarter, $63.3 million, up from $170.1 million at the end of the fourth quarter, but consistent with the $163.9 million as at the end of fourth quarter of 2023. We continue to estimate OCI burndown of 25% over the coming 12 months and 35% over the coming 24 months.

Slide 13 summarizes regulatory and leverage capital levels. Butterfield's capital levels continue to be conservatively above regulatory requirements. We also expect to transition to the updated Basel IV capital guidance in 2025 for the group, which will likely improve capital adequacy ratios further due principally to the low loan-to-value ratios in our residential mortgage book.

I will now turn the call back to Michael Collins.

[Michael Collins, executive]

Thank you, Michael. I'm very pleased with Butterfield's performance throughout 2024. We have continued to position the bank for success with a secure and conservatively managed balance sheet, a strong culture around operating efficiency, active capital management and the pursuit of acquisitions of fee businesses. Our efforts to find the right dealer are ongoing. We continue our focus on growing organically where possible given market share opportunities in the Channel Island's retail banking business and the continued build-out of the Singapore trust business as well as continued market growth in the Cayman Islands.

In 2025, we continue to pursue sustainable growth and remain well positioned to benefit from the anticipated higher for longer interest rate environment. We are closely managing expenses with continued emphasis on our Canadian service center, in addition to our sustained focus on improving operational efficiency and returning excess capital to shareholders. I would also like to thank all of our customers and colleagues for their continued support, which has led to a successful 2024.

And with that, we would be happy to take your questions. Operator?

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from David Feaster with Raymond James.

[David Feaster, analyst]

Maybe just start on the deposit side. You guys have done a great job. We've been expecting some of these transitional deposits to flow out, but that doesn't seem like it's been occurring. And exclusive of currency, I mean, you continue to grow deposits. I mean, could you just talk about what you're seeing on the deposit front and maybe the time line that you are expecting to get back to that 11.5% and the $12 billion asset or deposit range? And then just any commentary on the deposit cost side. You guys have done a great job. So I just wanted to broad question on deposits.

[Michael Schrum, executive]

It's Michael Schrum. So I'll kick off. I mean it's really a BAU kind of story here. Obviously, we are subject a little bit to exchange fluctuations. We've seen a strengthening dollar during fourth quarter. And so we -- I think we put that in our appendix as well. In terms of the sort of temporary deposits or what we call contractual funding really is a couple of clients in a couple of hundred millions that are 1 that's in the Channel Islands that's has done an RFP process and is in progress of moving our overall banking relationship to another service provider. So we kind of know that, that's coming. And then we have 1 in Bermuda, a couple of hundred million of sort of liquidation money that's been sitting around pending the court's direction and then that will be distributed sometime probably in the first half of this year. I mean the overall deposit level being elevated and although I would say, post -- even more recently, we've seen that much closer to the [ 12% ] level. So we continue to expect that range, obviously, at stable FX rates, which can also impact that gives you a little bit of a flavor for it, but it's really a BAU story. It's just these couple of big sort of deposits [ starts ] sitting around.

[Michael Collins, executive]

Yes. I'd say we feel like the deposit base is a little less concentrated. So I think some of the outflows in 2023, 2022 weren't a bad thing. So I think it's a little less concentrated, and we feel like it's stickier. But yes, I think we still feel like 12 is about the right number.

[Craig Bridgewater, executive]

Going to say, David, a good reference point also is looking at the average deposits during the quarter as well. So we do see quite a bit of fluctuation again, kind of normal business flows during the quarter. At the period end, it was kind of -- it was back to similar levels as it was in Q3. But if you look at the average deposit levels very similar quarter-to-quarter, which kind of tells more of the story in regards to kind of deposit levels and also some seasonal.

[David Feaster, analyst]

Okay. And then could you -- I was hoping you could maybe touch on the margin trajectory, right? Obviously, there's some pretty material repricing tailwind in the securities book. You guys -- you got some opportunity to deploy some excess liquidity. You did that a bit in the quarter, some opportunity to further reduce deposit costs for some of those more floating rate deposits. I'm just curious the levers you're pulling to help defend the margin and drive expansion. And just how do you think about the margin trajectory going forward? You've done a great job keeping it stable in spite of the asset sensitivity. So I just wanted to get a sense of what you're thinking.

[Craig Bridgewater, executive]

Yes, David, I guess, if we consider, again, kind of the existing interest rate environment, kind of assuming rates where they are now, we would expect to, over the next couple of quarters, start to see kind of a slow expansion of NIM. As you've seen during the quarter, we've been able to kind of get cost of deposits kind of down. And that's really through active management in each jurisdiction, looking at deposit rates, we benefited from the changes in base rates in the U.K. as well as coming in the U.S. as well. So the [ tickets ] some benefit. And as you said, we'll continue to deploy paydowns and maturities as well as excess liquidity into the investment portfolio. And we're investing at rates that are kind of around 480 to 500 basis points, which is a significant pickup from the existing kind of portfolio yield. So we at 250, 251 now and if we continue on just kind of, again, in the BAU rate has kind of entering back into the portfolio at higher rates, assuming that kind of rates stay very stable at 10-year has kind of been pretty stable over the last kind of 2 quarters. We've seen to kind of stay elevated, and that's going to be to our benefit. So assuming that, again, [ richly ] where they are, we can continue to control the cost of deposits, not a back into the portfolio then I think we are going to start to see some slow expansion out of [indiscernible].

[David Feaster, analyst]

And then I just wanted to touch on capital priorities. Obviously, you guys have been really active with the buyback. You've got the new program you just announced. We got a nice pop in the stock, some catch-up, I think, in the share price. How price sensitive are you on the buybacks? And then just on M&A conversations, how are those going coming out of the Analyst Day that we had and with maybe some increased appetite and willingness to compete on pricing to some degree. Just kind of curious how those M&A conversations are going.

[Michael Schrum, executive]

It's Michael Schrum. So I mean the capital priorities are still number one, obviously, retaining dividend rate that we have today and keeping that secure. And then over time, we can hopefully find the right deal that will expand our fee income and provide sort of a base level of earnings that would over a longer period of time, lead to some discussions about increasing dividend. But for right now, they're still on sheet. And then secondly, obviously, we are domestically systemically important bank, both in Cayman and Bermuda. So we need to make sure that we're able to support any loan growth in our local markets as well as credit migrations should they occur. We're not seeing anything there, but that's a priority as well.

And then thirdly, obviously, M&A, if we can find the right deal, I think we have ample capacity in the layers of the capital stack to complete certainly any deal that we've looked at so far. So -- but we're not sort of holding capital for an imminent deal. And unfortunately, the buyback and the way we think about that is your normal regression, obviously, we've been trading below 2x book and so -- and a pretty modest PE ratio. So we feel pretty good at it's a risk-free trade for us. So -- but we do look at earn back, obviously, in TBV dilution as part of that equation as well. But that's really how the capital priorities is kind of stacking up.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Timur Braziler with Wells Fargo.

[Timur Braziler, analyst]

Maybe just following up on that line of questioning around the capital basis. The buyback announced for '25 is roughly half of what you guys did in '24. And I'm just wondering kind of the rationale for maybe ratcheting down a little bit and maybe how does that correlate to a higher likelihood or greater possibility of maybe an M&A transaction hitting in '25. Are those 2 related? Or maybe just talk through why the buyback authorization was ratcheted down at '25, if not.

[Michael Schrum, executive]

It's Michael Scrum again. So I would just say we just had our Board meeting support is -- extremely supportive of the current capital strategy that we're deploying, and we have, obviously, as always, very good conversations about the returns to shareholders and mining all stakeholders. The current authorization was said in December, just post the election, there was a lot of volatility. But I think you shouldn't correlate that to other uses of capital. The Board is very supportive. If we don't find a deal to re-up as and when that is required, and we will do that as appropriate as we have done in prior years. So that isn't necessarily related to that. And I think just in terms of the level of buyback. Obviously, I talked a little bit about that before, but we used the standard sort of regression lines and these [ swarms ] from that regression line to kind of come up with something reasonable. And obviously, if we start trading at a higher level, then we would expect to kind of pay that back a little bit and that's.

[Michael Collins, executive]

Yes. Michael is right in terms of the Board support for returning excess capital, we're completely focused on getting it back to shareholders. And if we need to do a new authorization midyear or later in the year, we'll do the same thing we did in the last year. So as Michael said, it doesn't really mean anything at this point. But we will -- if we do have good M&A discussions and we are and dialogue with a lot of different parties. If we see something that starts to become likely, we would start to [ pare ] it back, but that's not the case right now.

[Timur Braziler, analyst]

Got it. Okay. And then I think the highlight of 24 was just your ability to defend the top line, given the asset-sensitive balance sheet. And I'm just wondering, as we go into '25, you can give some color around margin next [ then ] I'm just looking at net interest income, does that follow suit with margin where you're getting a little bit of stability and maybe some expansion as the year goes on? Or the fact that maybe the balance sheet is still a little bit bloated from some of these deposits that might migrate away, there could be some interim pressure on the top line. How are you guys thinking about NII versus NIM here?

[Craig Bridgewater, executive]

Yes. I think in -- actually, in quarter 4 we would be beneficiaries of any changes in yields, as I talked about earlier. But as you said, the continued volume of the balance sheet inside of the balance sheet as well, which is a bit inflated. So again, we're expecting some outflow deposits, which is going to obviously fund the assets and what we have to invest and get yield on. So if the deposits do settle around $12 billion as we expect them to, that would have some downward pressure on net interest income as well. So yes, to your point, we have benefited from kind of both kind of changes in yield on the assets or the investable assets that we do have as well as the kind of elevated volume or size of the balance sheet.

[Michael Schrum, executive]

Yes. And Tim, I would just add -- sorry, it's Michael Schrum. As you've seen the quarter-over-quarter, NII obviously is suffering a little bit from the front end of the curve. But generally speaking, we haven't seen too much movement or pull through to the long end. So that's still benefiting from asset repricing. But the short end, obviously, the short-term treasuries is going to be a bit of a headwind for NII.

[Timur Braziler, analyst]

Yes. Okay. And then just last for me, if you mind me what the remaining impact is for the Bermuda resi book from the rate cuts. Is that fully baked into those yields now? Or is there still some pull-through that's going to hit in the first quarter?

[Craig Bridgewater, executive]

So in the first quarter, we would expect the impact of that. So the last [ 2025 ] adjusted rate for [ rent ], we decreased stock base rate by 25 basis points. And as you know, that's got a 90-day lag on it. So we would actually see that putting through in this quarter.

[Michael Schrum, executive]

And obviously, in the U.K., but even though we have a significant amount of fixed rate loans on the books, which wouldn't be expected to move as part of this, but you've just seen the [ baiting ] rates, which is our reference rate for the U.K. loan book.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Tim Switzer with KBW.

[Timothy Switzer, analyst]

The expense trajectory with your guide of $90 million to $92 million of quarterly expenses. Does it kind of move up to the higher end of that range over the course of the year and maybe [ leak ] above that in the back half of the year? Or do you expect to be in that range in every quarter?

[Craig Bridgewater, executive]

Yes. The expectation is that we'll be in that range every quarter. Kind of as was said in the formal comments, we are kind of facing inflationary pressures when it comes to salaries. We are very focused on continued expense management. I guess where we can move kind of non-client-facing roles we do that to our service center in [ Halifax ]. But I guess, against that is also looking out and looking for specialist roles in technology and risk management, et cetera, that we think is important for the business to manage our risks and we kind of measure our client offering. And as you can imagine, these roles come to be more expensive than kind of operational rules. So we're very focused on having the right people in the right places. And kind of where necessary, we're going to have to incur additional expense because of inflation as well as specialist roles to make sure that we're attracting good talent that's beneficial to the bank.

[Michael Schrum, executive]

Tim, I would just add to that. We are continuing to test both the Bermuda and Cayman Island updated functionality for our customers as well as a new ATM estate for people to be able to access their cash and some various other enhancements that we've been rolling out on the new platform. So I think that should be good from a client experience point of view.

[Michael Collins, executive]

Yes. So we think that range is right. I mean we are looking at some tactical reductions in the short term, but the bigger bang for the buck is the movement of rules to Halifax and we're up to about 250 positions in Halifax. It's been a very successful service center for us, but it does take time to reorganize how we process things and then move the function to Halifax. So over time, that will continue to keep expenses with a lid, but it takes some time.

[Timothy Switzer, analyst]

Great. Got it. And I have a similar question on the noninterest income guide that you guys gave for the mid-$50 million range. That kind of implies for the full year stable to slightly lower fee income year-over-year. Is that kind of a guide more for the first 3 quarters and you're above that in Q4? How should we think about that?

[Craig Bridgewater, executive]

Yes. So as -- and every year, if you going to look back in our history, the Q4 is elevated compared to the other quarters. And as -- again, we said in the comments, that's really around seasonal factors. So Christmas shopping, et cetera, as a higher credit card volume, kind of volume incentives kind of being crystallized, et cetera. But on a kind of quarter-to-quarter basis, we think around $55 million is the right number. We don't anticipate significant increases in fee income. We can normally planned around kind of the rates of inflation on fee income so around 2%. We already have last year, we had baked in the additional revenue from Credit Suisse assets that we acquired. So that's kind of now kind of be a BAU level. So that kind of came through over the last 2 years as we [ what ] those clients and add revenue kind of coming through. So we think that, that line item is pretty much payable at this point at that level.

[Timothy Switzer, analyst]

Okay. Got it. That's helpful. And the last question I have, I wonder if you could kind of provide an update on the drivers of the lower NPLs this quarter. It seems like you guys have a good resolution in a residential mortgage on Channel Islands? And then any update you have on that legacy hospitality facility. I believe that was a [ sale expects ].

[Michael Schrum, executive]

It's Michael Scrum. Great question. The slightly lower nonaccruals really came from the full repayment of facility that was -- that had gone over the 90 days. And so that was a satisfactory outcome. They actually sold the property and paid us back, so that's how it should work. So we -- as I think I've mentioned last couple of quarters, we have a little bit elevated in terms of past due and accruing facilities and some of that is due to the London market kind of freezing up before the election, and then there was a number of new rules announced or changes to rules in the U.K. So that created money on the side, even though it's a stored wealth market.

And we've seen that sort of starting to pick up now with some [ Home ] transactions that's a good sign for the underlying valuations that we have on the book there. In terms of the Bermuda legacy hospitality, which is going through the creation process, we had originally anticipated that would resolve either in Q4 or into Q1. It's on track to get resolved and the liquidators have to go through their process before we kind of distribute proceeds, et cetera. But we're hoping to close that certainly here in the first quarter. So that should be a very positive story as well for that. And then we have a couple of other sort of commercial loans that are in various stages of getting resolution. So -- but we're highly focused on ensuring that our credit metrics are pristine and we'll continue to work hard at that.

[Operator]

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

[Noah Fields, executive]

Thank you, Michael, and thanks to everyone for dialing in today. We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Have a great day.

[Operator]

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.