Fifth Third Bancorp's CEO Discusses Q1 2011 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning. My name is Mische, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Fifth Third Bancorp First Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Thank you, Mr. Jeff Richardson, Director of Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

Jeff Richardson

Thanks, Mische. Hello, and thanks for joining us today. Today, we'll be talking with you about our first quarter 2011 results. This call may contain certain forward-looking statements about Fifth Third pertaining to our financial condition, results of operations, plans and objectives. These statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause results to differ materially from historical performance in these statements. We've identified a number of those factors in our forward-looking cautionary statement at the end of our earnings release and in other materials, and we encourage you to review those factors. Fifth Third undertakes no obligation and would not expect to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this call.

I'm joined on the call by several people: Kevin Kabat, our President and CEO; Chief Financial Officer, Dan Poston; Chief Risk Officer, Mary Tuuk; Treasurer, Mahesh Sankaran; and Jim Eglseder, Investor Relations. During the question-and-answer period, please provide your name and that of your firm to the operator.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Kevin Kabat. Kevin?

Kevin Kabat

Thanks, Jeff. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Today, we reported first quarter 2011 net income of $265 million or net income to common shareholders of $88 million or $0.10. Net income to common included the effect of $153 million of discount accretion on the TARP Preferred Stock, which is in the preferred dividend line. Excluding this item, net income to common was $241 million or $0.27 per share. It was an eventful quarter for Fifth Third. We completed and submitted our capital plan to the Federal Reserve at year-end. We issued $1.7 billion in common stock and $1 billion in senior debt in January, and in February redeemed the U.S. Treasury's $3.4 billion preferred stock investment in Fifth Third.

In March, we repurchased a warrant issued to Treasury for $280 million. The warrant gave the Treasury the right to purchase 43.6 million shares at $11.72. And this repurchase eliminates this potential future dilution at what we consider to be a reasonable cost. Also in March, we increased our quarterly common stock dividend by $0.05 to $0.06 per share. We believe this is the first step towards beginning to normalize our dividend payout after 2 years of nominal dividend. With no TLGP debt outstanding, Fifth Third has completely exited all crisis-era government programs. We have a robust capital position with Tier 1 common of 9%, Tier 1 capital of 12.2%. We're confident we meet today any capital standards that will be set in the U.S. under the Basel III framework.

Now turning to our quarterly results. Overall, they were in line with our expectations, with strengths and weaknesses reflecting broader aspects of the economy as it recovers. The interest rate environment negatively affected mortgage production and results. Loan demand, while improving, remains lower than would be typical at this stage of the cycle. However, debt capital markets have been very strong, which led to an elevated level of payoffs and refinancings during the quarter and diminished loan growth and yield relative to what we were expecting. Those effects were largely offset by the benefit of continued improving credit trends and lower credit costs. Dan and Mary will provide more details in their remarks, but I'll touch on a few high-level results.