Old Second Bancorp, Inc.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Old Second Bank Corp's first quarter 2024 earnings call. On the call today are Jim Ecker, the company's chairman, president, and CEO, Brad Adams, the company's COO and CFO, and Gary Collins, the vice chairman of our board. I will start with a reminder that Old Second's comments today will contain forward-looking statements about the company's business, strategies, and prospects, which are based on management's existing expectations in the current economic environment. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and results may differ materially from those projected. Management would ask you to refer to the company's SEC filings for a full discussion of the company's risk factors. The company does not undertake any duty to update such forward-looking statements. On today's call, we will also be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures are described and reconciled to their GAAP counterparts in our earnings release, which is available on our website at oldsecond.com, on the home page, and under the Investor Relations tab. Now I will turn it over to Jim Ecker. The floor is yours.

Hey, good morning, and thank you for joining us. As customary, I have several prepared opening remarks, and we'll give my overview of the quarter and then turn it over to Brad for additional color. I will then conclude with certain summary comments and thoughts about the future before we open it up for questions. Net income was $21.3 million, or $0.47 per diluted share in the first quarter. Return on assets was 1.51%. The first quarter 2024 return on average tangible common equity was 17.8%, and the tax equivalent efficiency ratio was 53.09%. First quarter earnings were negatively impacted by $3.5 million of provision for credit losses, which reduced after-tax earnings by $0.06 per share. However, profitability old sector remains exceptionally strong, and balance sheet strengthening continues with our tangible common equity ratio increasing by 51 basis points linked quarter to 9.04%. Common equity Tier 1 crossed 12% this quarter, and we feel very good about it. profitability, and our balance sheet positioning at this point. Our financials continue to be positively impacted by higher market interest rates. Pre-provision net revenues remain stable and exceptionally strong. For the first quarter of 2024, compared to the prior like-year period, income on earning assets increased $3.2 million, or 4.5%, while interest expense increased $7.5 million. The increase in both cases is rate-driven, however, exception pricing on certain commercial deposits, as well as growth in average balances on other short-term borrowings compared to the prior year-like period caused a net decrease in net interest margin, which is attributable to both interest rate and volume factors on the liability side. First quarter of 2024 reflected a decrease in total loans of $73.5 million from the prior linked quarter end. primarily due to a few payoffs and some large credits towards the end of the quarter. The historical trend for our bank is really softer first quarter of originations due to limited new projects and construction during the winter season. 2023 was an anomaly as the savvy commercial customers realized interest rates were about to increase and sought funding prior to those market rate increases in late first quarter 2023. Our loan growth was much larger in the year-ago like period compared to the first quarter of 2024. Activity within our loan committee remains modest relative to prior periods due to both the higher interest rate environment, lower demand, and seasonal impacts. Our net interest margin compressed slightly this quarter driven by higher funding costs. Loan yields reflected a seven basis point increase during the first quarter compared to the link quarter and 37 basis points increase year over year. Funding costs increased due to the increases in both rates and growth in time deposit balances. The tax equivalent net interest margin was 4.58% for the first quarter compared to 4.62% for the fourth quarter and 4.74% in the first quarter of 2023. The net interest margin decreased 16 basis points in the year over year quarter due to the impact of rising rates on the cost of funds which is partially mitigated by growth of interest income driven by the variable portion of the loan and securities portfolio. The loan-to-deposit ratio is 86% at March 31st, 2024, compared to 88% last quarter and 82% a year ago. As we said last quarter, our focus continues to be balance sheet optimization, and I'll let Brad talk about more of that in a minute. The first quarter of 2024 reflected stable asset quality metrics and much more moderate actions taken on substandard credits compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Our hope and belief remains that the prior quarter represented an inflection point in our credit trends. Old Second began substantially downgrading large amounts of commercial real estate loans, including office and healthcare. at the end of 2021 and accelerating through 2022. Substandard and criticized loans went from approximately 60 million or a little more than 1% of loans at third quarter of 2021 to a peak of nearly 300 million or over 7% of loans in the first quarter of 2023. As at the end of the first quarter of 2024, substandard and criticized loans are down to 200 million which is approximately $3.2 million less than year-end 2023, and the trend expectation remains for further improvement through the remainder of the year. Encouragingly, our special mention loans are now at their lowest level in over two years. We continue to expect realization of a relatively less costly resolution on a number of non-performers in the near future, and we remain hopeful we can recover some of the losses realized in the second half of 2023. The reality is that commercial real estate valuations are heavily dependent upon the market level of interest rates as a primary determinant of cash flows for a given property. A movement in rates such as we have seen is substantial enough to significantly impair the equity positions and a large percentage of commercial real estate credits. Additionally, the residual stress brought upon by the pandemic in office and health care has not abated. We believe we are being proactive and realistic in addressing commercial real estate loans facing deterioration from higher interest rates, declining appraisal values, and cash flow pressures. As we discussed last quarter on the call and consistent with our expectations, we recorded net charge-offs of $3.7 million in the quarter, one specific current period charge-off of $3.9 million on a previously allocated loan. was partially offset by approximately 159,000 of net recoveries during the first quarter. The one charge-off was due to the receipt of an updated appraisal on a health care property. The good news is that criticized and classified loans are declining, and the remainder of the portfolio remains well-behaved. Continued stress testing at renewal rates has not raised any new red flags for us, and the bulk of our loan portfolio has transitioned and is seasoning into a higher-rate environment. Being short duration on the asset side has obviously helped us immensely in terms of interest rate risk management, but probably put us at the forefront in terms of commercial real estate stress. The belief is reinforced by the experience that a significant percentage of our substandard loans are acquired secondary participations. The allowance for credit losses on loans decreased to 44.1 million as of March 31st, 2024, or 1.1% of total loans from 44.3 million at year end 2023, which was also 1.1% of total loans. Unemployment and GDP forecast using the future loss rate assumptions remain fairly static from last quarter. The change in provision level quarter over link quarter reflects the reduction in our allowance allocations on substandard loans, which largely relates to the 31% reduction in criticized assets since March 31st of 2023. I think investors should know that we are continuing with a level of strong profitability, and we will be aggressive in addressing weak credits, and that we remain confident in the strength of our portfolios. Non-interest income continued to perform well with growth noted quarter over link quarter in bully and mortgage banking income. Bully income bounced back from a weak fourth quarter due to changes in market conditions. Mortgage banking income increased $1.3 million quarter over link quarter, primarily due to minimal MSR gains recorded in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the MSR losses of $1.3 million for the prior quarter. Expense discipline continues to be strong, with the usual seasonal uptick noted in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the prior link quarter recorded. primarily due to the annual increase in wage rates, as well as growth in payroll-related taxes and 401 company match due to payout and employee-related annual incentives in the first quarter of 2024. In addition, our occupancy costs have increased quarter over the link quarter due to the rollout of multiple updated branches at our corporate office. Our efficiency ratio continues to be excellent. As we look forward, we're continuing on doing more of the same, which is managing liquidity, building capital, and also building commercial loan origination capability for the long term. The goal is obviously to continue to build towards a more stable long-term balance sheet mix featuring more loans and less securities in order to maintain the returns on equity commensurate with our recent performance. I'll now turn it over to Brad for additional color in his comments.

Thank you, Jim. Not a lot of surprises from us this quarter, which I think is good news. Net interest income decreased by $1.5 million or 2.4% to $59.8 million for the quarter relative to the prior quarter of $61.2 million, a decrease of $4.3 million or 7% from the year ago-like quarter. Loan yields were seven basis points higher in the first quarter, and securities yields were flat. Total yield on interest-earning assets increased six basis points over the linked quarter to 561 basis points. but that was offset by a 29 basis point increase in the cost of interest-bearing deposits and an 18 basis point increase in interest-bearing liabilities in aggregate. The end result was the expected four basis point decrease in the tax equivalent NEM to 4.58 from 4.62 last quarter, which we believe continues to be exceptional margin performance. The core margin was a little bit stronger than that, We saw a decrease in accretable yield of a few hundred thousand dollars. I'm pretty certain we're pretty much done with that at this point. We've only got about 600,000 or so left to accrete. So from this point forward, core margin is actual margin for us. Deposit flows this quarter continue to display signs of stabilization and actually some growth. Average deposits increased only 3 million over the linked quarter, but period and total deposits increased by 38 million. it's not really anything that we did on rates. I think others being kind of anticipatory of rate cuts have peeled back some time to present pricing, making ours relatively more attractive. And you can see that showing up in the balances. I would say that we are still some 30 to 40 basis points below market leaders in that pricing, but others have fallen off. So I guess as an alternative, we've picked up more dollars on that front. Our interest rate outlook hasn't really changed on that front, and we haven't peeled back pricing at all in anticipation of any rate cuts. Deposit pricing overall remains exceptionally aggressive relative to the Treasury curve and is still largely pricing off of overnight borrowing pricing. We did add some time deposits, as I mentioned, as others had peeled back. I'm not a lover of time deposits, but they aren't exactly garbage either, and the rate cut expectations that were in the marketplace as we discussed this last quarter were quite simply wrong. The growth here remains short. We are largely pricing less than a year and does offer significant value relative to overnight borrowing rates. You can see our reliance there has fallen somewhat significantly relative to prior quarters. On an overall basis, we are continuing to add duration and expect margin trends from the bounce back in market rate indices to be absorbed by projected growth in the securities portfolio beginning in the second quarter of 2024. We aren't going to lurch at anything, but we are looking to add more fixed rate product As we've seen long rates kick back up here recently, it's going to give us another opportunity to move some variable rate product out of the portfolio, as we've been consistently doing over the last 18 months. Incrementally, I'm more bullish on margin than I was at this time last quarter, but I highly expect that we'll give back the upside in terms of reducing further duration. I think that's prudent at this point. The concentration of variable rate securities will resume its decline if the market continues to move on the path that it has been on in recent weeks. I would be remiss if I didn't point out that all of the relatively minor margin compression that we have seen to date is attributable to balance sheet actions to reduce this asset sensitivity, specifically and most notably the reduction in variable rate securities. In totality, marginal spreads remain unattractive at this point, and we don't feel the pressure to swell in order to overcome expected margin pressures. Marginal returns on allocated equity remain poor for outsized growth, but I still think we can see relatively flat net interest income performance for the year. We have made a ton of progress in reducing asset sensitivity over the last year, and we are extending duration in the loan portfolio at this point as well. I'm pleased markets have lost some of the inexplicable bloodlust for rate cuts that we were talking about last quarter, and I look forward to more rational Fed speak in the face of persistent inflationary trends. That's the extent of my soapboxing on rates for this quarter, but margin trends for the remainder of the year are expected to be relatively flat, maybe slightly down. If I'm wrong and a couple of rate cuts actually occur, we would lose a few basis points. The loan-to-deposit ratio remains low at 86.1% and our ability to support liquidity from the securities portfolio continues as the fair value adjustment on the portfolio was only 800,000 loss over the prior linked quarter from 84.2 to 85 million. This total unrealized loss remains high but will be recaptured relatively quickly. The net result is that Old Seconds should continue to build capital quickly. as evidenced by the 51 basis point improvement in the TCE ratio over the link quarter, which means that we have added an astonishing 221 basis points of TCE and $2.23 of tangible book value over the last 12 months. As of March 31, 2024, we have approximately $880 million in undrawn borrowing capacity and an additional $365 million in unplugged securities. In short, liquidity at the bank is excellent, and the holding company is in a very strong position as well. Mentioned last quarter that we received non-objection from the Fed in December 2023 to resume stock repurchases. We haven't done anything yet, but it's getting very close based on the rationale I discussed last quarter. Non-interest expense increased $1.2 million from the previous quarter, primarily due to growth in salaries and employee benefits, as well as a small increase in occupancy costs due to seasonal maintenance and depreciation on new office and remodeled branches. Salaries and employee benefits reflected the annual increase in base salary rates paid to employees in the first quarter, as well as an increase in payroll taxes, 401K matches, and employee benefit costs over the prior linked quarter. I expect quarterly wages and benefits to be lower than $23 million going forward in the near term. Given the revenue performance, employee investment costs have been running high, but we will maintain the ability to dial back as conditions warrant. I'd say this quarter that we saw two or three kind of $300,000 to $400,000 items within salaries that make it kind of link quarter artificially high. Those include better than expected performance on performance-based stock issuance. That also had an impact on the tax rate as well. With that, I'd like to turn the call back over to Jim.