Valley National Bancorp Announces First Quarter 2025 Results

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Valley National Bank
Valley National Bank

NEW YORK, April 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY), the holding company for Valley National Bank, today reported net income for the first quarter 2025 of $106.1 million, or $0.18 per diluted common share, as compared to the fourth quarter 2024 net income of $115.7 million, or $0.20 per diluted common share, and net income of $96.3 million, or $0.18 per diluted common share, for the first quarter 2024. Excluding all non-core income and charges, our adjusted net income (a non-GAAP measure) was $106.1 million, or $0.18 per diluted common share, for the first quarter 2025, $75.7 million, or $0.13 per diluted common share, for the fourth quarter 2024, and $99.4 million, or $0.19 per diluted common share, for the first quarter 2024. See further details below, including a reconciliation of our non-GAAP adjusted net income, in the "Consolidated Financial Highlights" tables.

Ira Robbins, CEO, commented, "The first quarter was highlighted by the continued improvement in our funding base. Core deposit growth has enabled us to further reduce our reliance on indirect deposits which benefited our revenue and net interest margin. We anticipate that additional core deposit growth will create a sustainable tailwind despite the volatility in the current operating environment.”

Mr. Robbins continued, “I am generally pleased with the quarter’s results from a credit perspective. The provision for loan losses for the first quarter was at the lowest point in the last four quarters, and we anticipate further improvement throughout the remainder of the year. Non-accrual loans and early stage delinquencies also improved sequentially, and we believe our allowance coverage to total loans is at a comfortable level as of March 31, 2025. We remain on track to achieve our profitability goals for the year as we continue to benefit from the net interest income and credit cost tailwinds that we have discussed previously.”

Key financial highlights for the first quarter 2025:

  • Net Interest Income and Margin: Our net interest margin on a tax equivalent basis increased by 4 basis points to 2.96 percent in the first quarter 2025 as compared to 2.92 percent for the fourth quarter 2024. Net interest income on a tax equivalent basis of $421.4 million for the first quarter 2025 decreased $2.9 million compared to the fourth quarter 2024 and increased $26.5 million as compared to the first quarter 2024. The moderate decrease in net interest income from the fourth quarter 2024 was due to the impact of two less days during the first quarter 2025. See additional details in the "Net Interest Income and Margin" section below.

  • Loan Portfolio: Total loans decreased $142.6 million, or 1.2 percent on an annualized basis, to $48.7 billion at March 31, 2025 from December 31, 2024 mostly due to normal repayment activity and selective originations within the commercial real estate (CRE) portfolio. As a result, our CRE loan concentration ratio (defined as total commercial real estate loans held for investment and held for sale, excluding owner occupied loans, as a percentage of total risk-based capital) declined to approximately 353 percent at March 31, 2025 from 362 percent at December 31, 2024. Partially offsetting the lower CRE loan balances, commercial and industrial (C&I) and automobile loans grew by $218.8 million and $140.2 million, respectively, at March 31, 2025 from December 31, 2024. Auto loan originations resulting from high quality consumer demand remained strong during the first quarter 2025. See the "Loans" section below for more details.

  • Allowance and Provision for Credit Losses for Loans: The allowance for credit losses for loans totaled $594.1 million and $573.3 million at March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively, representing 1.22 percent and 1.17 percent of total loans at each respective date. During the first quarter 2025, we recorded a provision for credit losses for loans of $62.7 million as compared to $107.0 million and $45.3 million for the fourth quarter 2024 and first quarter 2024, respectively. See the "Credit Quality" section below for more details.

  • Credit Quality: Total accruing past due loans (i.e., loans past due 30 days or more and still accruing interest) decreased $47.5 million to $51.7 million, or 0.11 percent of total loans, at March 31, 2025 as compared to $99.2 million, or 0.20 percent of total loans, at December 31, 2024. Non-accrual loans totaled $346.5 million, or 0.71 percent of total loans, at March 31, 2025 as compared to $359.5 million, or 0.74 percent of total loans, at December 31, 2024. Net loan charge-offs totaled $41.9 million for the first quarter 2025 as compared to $98.3 million and $23.6 million for the fourth quarter 2024 and first quarter 2024, respectively. See the "Credit Quality" section below for more details.

  • Deposits: Non-interest bearing deposits increased $199.9 million to $11.6 billion at March 31, 2025 from December 31, 2024 largely due to higher inflows of commercial customer deposits during the first quarter 2025. Savings, NOW, and money market deposits increased $108.6 million to $26.4 billion at March 31, 2025 from December 31, 2024 mostly due to new deposits from our online savings deposit product offerings. Total actual deposit balances decreased $110.0 million to $50.0 billion at March 31, 2025 as compared to $50.1 billion at December 31, 2024 as the increases in our direct customer deposits were offset by a $726.5 million decrease in indirect customer deposits (consisting largely of brokered CDs) during the first quarter 2025. See the "Deposits" section below for more details.

  • Non-Interest Income: Non-interest income increased $7.1 million to $58.3 million for the first quarter 2025 as compared to the fourth quarter 2024. The increase reflected net gains on sales of loans of $2.2 million for the first quarter 2025 as compared to net losses of $4.7 million for the fourth quarter 2024, which included $7.9 million of losses related to the sale of performing CRE loans.

  • Non-Interest Expense: Non-interest expense decreased $2.0 million to $276.6 million for the first quarter 2025 as compared to the fourth quarter 2024 largely due to decreases of $6.1 million in professional and legal expenses; and $5.6 million in technology, furniture and equipment expense, partially offset by higher amortization of tax credit investments and the normal seasonal increases in salary and employee benefits expense related to payroll taxes during the first quarter 2025. The decreases in professional and technology-related expenses were mostly due to elevated fourth quarter 2024 expenses resulting from transformation and enhancement efforts in our bank operations.

  • Income Tax Expense: Income tax expense was $33.1 million for the first quarter 2025 as compared to an income tax benefit of $26.7 million for the fourth quarter 2024, which reflected a $46.4 million total reduction in uncertain tax liability positions and related accrued interest due to statute of limitation expirations. Our effective tax rate was 23.8 percent for the first quarter 2025 compared to a negative 29.9 percent for the fourth quarter 2024.

  • Efficiency Ratio: Our efficiency ratio was 55.87 percent for the first quarter 2025 as compared to 57.21 percent and 59.10 percent for the fourth quarter 2024 and first quarter 2024, respectively. See the "Consolidated Financial Highlights" tables below for additional information regarding our non-GAAP measures.

  • Performance Ratios: Annualized return on average assets (ROA), shareholders’ equity (ROE) and tangible ROE were 0.69 percent, 5.69 percent and 7.76 percent for the first quarter 2025, respectively. See the "Consolidated Financial Highlights" tables below for additional information regarding our non-GAAP measures.