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Q1 2025 First Citizens BancShares Inc (Delaware) Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Deanna Hart; Senior Vice President, Investor Relations; First Citizens BancShares Inc

Frank Holding; Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer of the Company and FCB; First Citizens BancShares Inc (Delaware)

Craig Nix; Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer of the Company and FCB; First Citizens BancShares Inc (Delaware)

Chris McGratty; Analyst; Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc

Christopher Marinac; Analyst; Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Anthony Elian; Analyst; JPMorgan

Brian Foran; Analyst; Truist Securities

Benjamin Gerlinger; Analyst; Citi Investment Bank (US)

Nick Holowoko; Analyst; UBS

Presentation

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the First Citizens Bancshares first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to introduce the host of this conference call, Ms. Deanna Hart. Head of Investor Relations, you may begin.

Deanna Hart

Good morning, and welcome to First Citizen's first-quarter earnings call. Joining me on the call today are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Frank Holding; and Chief Financial Officer, Craig Nix. They will provide first quarter business and financial updates referencing our earnings call presentation, which you can find on our website.
Our comments will include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. We assume no obligation to update such statements.
These risks are outlined on Page 3 of the presentation. We will also reference non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures against the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in section five of the presentation.
Finally, First Citizens is not responsible for and does not edit nor guarantee the accuracy of earnings transcripts provided by third parties. I will now turn it over to Frank.

Frank Holding

Thank you, Deanna. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our earnings call, and thank you for joining us today. I'll start with by providing brief comments on our first quarter results before turning it over to Craig to review our performance in more detail.
Starting on Page 5, today we reported solid financial results aligned with our guidance with adjusted earnings per share of $37.79. We remain encouraged by the performance of our operating segments and achieved loan growth in our commercial bank and SVB commercial segments.
Deposit growth was strong, concentrated in our direct bank and throughout our branch network. Credit performance remains stable, with net charge offs declining from the fourth quarter and that a 41 basis points coming in at the low end of our guidance range.
We maintained strong capital and liquidity positions which allowed us to return an additional $613 million of capital to our shareholders through share repurchases. This quarter's repurchases brought total repurchases since the inception of the plan to $2.3 billion or 8.26% of the total Class A shares.
In early March, we successfully re-entered the debt markets, issuing $500 million of senior unsecured borrowings and $750 million of subordinated debt providing us with additional funding and capital at attractive terms.
We believe this was a proactive step that positions us to effectively manage our debt and capital structures to support future growth. On April 7, we terminated our lost share agreement with the FDIC, which we entered into as a part of the SVB acquisition. The agreement was put in place to protect the bank from material downside risk on the acquired commercial loan portfolios despite SVB's long history of strong credit performance.
After two years together, given the low likelihood of reaching the $5 billion loss threshold during the five-year period covered by the agreement, the adequacy of our reserves and the purchase discount on the covered portfolio and the operational complexity and cost of maintaining the agreement, we determined that the shared loss agreement was no longer warranted. The decision to terminate reflects our confidence in the quality of the SVB portfolio.
We continue to make progress on our strategic priorities as outlined on slide 6, and remain focused on our commitments to our customers and clients, innovation and operating efficient -- operational efficiency.
Before I hand it over to Craig, I want to take a second to acknowledge the level of uncertainty in the macro environment, and the macroeconomic environment. While tariff announcements and market volatility have been disruptive, the ultimate impact on the broader economy is unknown at this point, and as such, quantifying potential impacts on our future results is difficult.
Despite the level of uncertainty, we continue to operate from a position of strength supported by our strong capital and liquidity levels which we believe will allow us to continue to support our customers and clients in a variety of economic scenarios.
We will continue to monitor and respond to both known and anticipated policy changes and their potential effects on our operating environment. No matter what outcomes eventually materialize, we're committed to staying disciplined in our long term strategic approach, which will enable us to remain resilient through short-term volatility while continuing to support our customers and clients with confidence.
I'll now turn it over to Craig to review our financial results in more detail. Craig?