Finwise Bancorp
NASDAQ:FINW
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Finwise Bancorp
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With a return on average assets of 2.2% and a return on average equity of 8.4%. Average loan balances, including both held-for-sale and held-for-investment loans, were $429.8 million during the quarter compared to $396.2 million in the prior quarter. This increase was primarily driven by continued growth in our SBA 7(a) and commercial lease programs. Average interest-bearing deposits were $310.7 million compared to $303.4 million in the prior quarter. The sequential quarter increase was driven primarily by an increase in demand deposits and brokered CDs.
Now turning to the income statement. Net interest income for the quarter was $14 million compared to last quarter's $14.4 million. Net interest margin was 10.12% this quarter compared to 10.61% last quarter. This decline was mainly due to our strategy to use our balance sheet in a lower risk manner through a pilot product offering, where we provided an extended held-for-sale option for an established fintech, but the rates we earn on these loans are lower. This action positively impacted gross interest income through higher loan balances, but negatively impacted the net interest margin. We are very excited about this strategy. It is in line with what we have communicated in the past to find ways to utilize our balance sheet in a manner that increases earnings without introducing outsized credit risk.
Other items that partially drove the net interest margin decline this quarter were continued loan mix shift towards lower risk loans carrying lower yields in both the held-for-investment and the held-for-sale portfolios as well as the impact of nonperforming loan balances. Noninterest income was $5.5 million in the quarter compared to $6 million in the prior quarter. The change from the prior quarter was due primarily to slightly lower strategic program fees as well as a decrease in the fair value of the company's investment in Business Funding Group, LLC, or BFG. Noninterest expense in the first quarter was $11.8 million, up modestly from $11.4 million in the prior quarter. The sequential quarter change was primarily due to slightly higher salary and employee benefits and other operating expenses due to additional investments in our strategic initiatives and the supporting business infrastructure. Within the professional services expense category, roughly $200,000 will not recur on a go-forward basis.
Although we don't provide formal guidance, let me give you a bit of perspective on expenses for the remainder of 2024. We expect a material pickup in expenses in Q2 over Q1, followed by a decelerating rate of growth in expenses in the second half of the year as we finish the build-out of our new initiatives and of the bank infrastructure to appropriately support our business. Also by the end of the year and going forward, we expect incremental head count-related expenses to be more correlated to production increases. Finally, our effective tax rate was 26.5% for Q1 compared to 28.5% in the prior quarter. As of now, we expect Q1's effective tax rate to be a reasonable assumption for the remaining quarters of 2024.
With that, we would like to open the call for the Q&A. Operator?
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Liesch with Piper Sandler.
Just a question on this latest announcement today on the extended held-for-sale option for this fintech. How much of the balance in held-for-sale loans did this generate? And I guess what's the outlook going forward? How large could this be from one quarter to the next in production?
Sure. So in the last few quarters, as you know, we've talked about using our balance sheet to prudently drive lower risk asset growth and interest income. And this is one of the things we were thinking of, basically provided an extended held-for-sale option for an established fintech. As Bob said, the rates we earn are lower, but so is the risk. And I just want to be clear, this is not a warehouse line, rather we are holding the originated loans for a longer period. So it does compress NIM some from our historical levels, but we believe it provides higher interest income on lower risk balances. And so we're excited about the incremental growth that these kind of pilots can do for us. But I do want to underscore that it is a pilot.
This specific program will drive some incremental pressure to the overall NIM in Q2, then its impact starts to become muted after Q2 because the balances in the program stabilize to our pilot levels. So what we -- we really don't disclose the amount of balances on this because they are sensitive to the partner itself, but specific to the partner itself. But we do say that probably -- well, a large part of the NIM compression is from this strategy. If it works out, we'll extend it further.
Got it. All right. That's really helpful. So you think -- I mean bringing on more growth -- I mean -- and more production would be the second half of the year where we can see net interest income start to rise following some more pressure here this quarter. Just with the production you're hearing -- you're seeing from other products, do you think we've now seen a stabilization or maybe a floor in net interest income that you can see it grow from here? Or is this $14 million number decent here for the second quarter?
This brings in a couple of different things. It also brings in expenses. So from a revenue perspective, I think that we'll continue to see -- our expectation is that as the balances increase, our total net interest income dollar amount will continue to increase. On the expense side, as it relates to expenses, we anticipate that, as noted, I used the word material, but we would anticipate additional expenses somewhat in line with what we experienced during the first quarter in terms of growth.
Got it. Similar increase than the first quarter and then trailing off in the second half of the year.
Yes.
Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Terrell with Stephens.
Bob, if I could just go back and maybe square some of that expense commentary really quick. For 2Q expenses, you would expect a similar lift is what we saw in the first quarter relative to 4Q. Was that the right way to think about it?
Yes.
Okay. Got it. And then maybe just a bigger picture question. It feels like we've seen maybe a pickup in the amount of kind of regulatory or consent orders for BaaS banks over the past kind of 6 -- 3, 6 months. I guess more of a two-pronged question for me. I guess, one, have any of these announcements changed how you guys view the regulatory landscape of BaaS or changed specifically how you're investing from a regulatory perspective on a go-forward basis? And then question, two, have you seen this translate to incremental pipeline for new fintech partners that could be kind of a source of either balance sheet or fee income growth for FinWise moving forward?
Yes. Those are great questions. First off, we don't currently see anything on the horizon that would negatively impact us or slow down any of our initiatives. But that being said, you're spot on, Andrew. We feel that the pipeline that we have right now looks stronger and more robust. And I think that maybe some fallout from some of the fintechs out in the space looking for banks that do it well, and we feel we're one of those banks. Just we've always thought that we have ultimate responsibility for these products. And so this perspective, I think, is what's driving our investments in people and compliance and infrastructure for years, which is keeping us square with the fintechs and the regulators.
Great. I appreciate it, Kent. If I could go back to some of the maybe commentary around SBA that you guys put less on the balance sheet, sold a bit less this quarter. It sounds like the expectation is for kind of similarly lower levels on the SBA front. But I wanted to go back to the commentary on some of the leasing business and commercial real estate. I guess on a go-forward basis, at least in kind of the short run, should we expect that CRE and then the leasing business drive more proportion-wise of the incremental loan growth moving forward?
Andrew, this is Jim. I would say if you're talking about kind of like near-term modeling, I would say, looking at the trend over the course of the last year, I'm not sure I would point to one quarter in particular as a reversal of kind of a, call it, like a 1-year trend. And if you're putting in an order of priority, I would be looking at SBA loans and the guaranteed portion being the primary driver of loan portfolio growth followed by capital leases, followed by owner-occupied commercial real estate lending.
Got it. Okay. Can you maybe compare and contrast the yields across those 3 different buckets that you're getting for incremental originations right now?
Yes. So generally, I think we've talked before about in the SBA portfolio, kind of across the board, you're looking at prime plus 250, prime plus 225, somewhere in that neighborhood. On the capital leases -- or I'm sorry, the equipment leases and owner occupied commercial real estate is going to be lower than that. Generally, the difference is also in the repricing. You guys are familiar with the calendar quarterly repricing that happens based on the underlying prime rate in the SBA portfolio. In the equipment leasing and owner-occupied commercial real estate, first, it's a lower overall yield, but it is a 5-year fixed rate typically.
Yes. Okay. Understood. Okay. That's it for me. I appreciate the questions this afternoon.
At this time, we have no further questions over the phone. I'd like to turn the line back over to Juan Arias.
Thank you, operator. We do have a couple of questions that came in via e-mail, as we now allow shareholders to do that. The first question is on the buyback. Why did you do a buyback? And are you still able to invest for growth?
Yes. Considering the current stock price relative to our tangible book value, we think it's an accretive decision for shareholders. Importantly, it doesn't impede our growth prospects. And so we think it's the right thing to do.
And the other question is on expenses. In terms of your outlook for expenses for the rest of 2024, can you provide a breakout of expenses by salaries and benefits and other?
Certainly, as we mentioned, we still have some nonproduction-related hires that we're expecting to make this year. So it's fair to assume that the biggest component of the expense pickup will be in the salaries and expenses category. In the other expenses category, which captures most everything else, it's fair to assume that we'll be relatively constant to first quarter 2024 or maybe only a slight increase throughout the year. Most of our expense growth will be in that compensation line.
We have no further questions. Thank you.
Thank you. With that, this concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.