Popular, Inc. (Banco Popular de Puerto Rico) - 10-Q quarterly report FY

 

 

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

     þ Yes           o No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

     o Yes           þ No

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date: Common Stock $6.00 par value 281,024,719 shares outstanding as of May 7, 2008.

 

 

The information included in this Form 10-Q contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may relate to the Corporation’s financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business, including, but not limited to, statements with respect to the adequacy of the allowance for loan losses, market risk and the impact of interest rate changes, capital markets conditions, capital adequacy and liquidity, and the effect of legal proceedings and new accounting standards on the Corporation’s financial condition and results of operations. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature are forward-looking, and the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continues,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “project” and similar expressions and future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “might,” “can,” “may,” or similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements.

These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties, estimates and assumptions by management that are difficult to predict. Various factors, some of which are beyond the Corporation’s control, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to: the rate of growth in the economy, as well as general business and economic conditions; changes in interest rates, as well as the magnitude of such changes; the fiscal and monetary policies of the federal government and its agencies; the relative strength or weakness of the consumer and commercial credit sectors and of the real estate markets; the performance of the stock and bond markets; competition in the financial services industry; possible legislative, tax or regulatory changes; and difficulties in combining the operations of acquired entities.

Moreover, the outcome of legal proceedings, as discussed in “Part II, Item I. Legal Proceedings,” is inherently uncertain and depends on judicial interpretations of law and the findings of regulators, judges and juries.

All forward-looking statements included in this document are based upon information available to the Corporation as of the date of this document, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited consolidated financial statements.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited consolidated financial statements.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited consolidated financial statements.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited consolidated financial statements.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited consolidated financial statements.

Popular, Inc. (the “Corporation” or “Popular”) is a diversified, publicly owned financial holding company subject to the supervision and regulation of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Corporation is a full service financial services provider with operations in Puerto Rico, the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. As the leading financial institution in Puerto Rico, the Corporation offers retail and commercial banking services through its principal banking subsidiary, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (“BPPR”), as well as auto and equipment leasing and financing, mortgage loans, consumer lending, investment banking, broker-dealer and insurance services through specialized subsidiaries. In the United States, the Corporation operates Banco Popular North America (“BPNA”), including its wholly-owned subsidiary E-LOAN, and Popular Financial Holdings (“PFH”). BPNA is a community bank providing a broad range of financial services and products to the communities it serves. BPNA operates branches in New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey, Florida and Texas. E-LOAN offers online consumer direct lending and provides an online platform to raise deposits for BPNA. As described in Note 19 to the consolidated financial statements, E-LOAN restructured its business operations during the fourth quarter of 2007 and beginning of 2008. PFH, after certain restructuring events discussed also in Note 19 to the consolidated financial statements, exited the branch network loan origination business during the first quarter of 2008, but continues to operate a mortgage loan servicing unit, a small scale origination / refinancing unit and carry a maturing loan portfolio. The Corporation, through its transaction processing company, EVERTEC, continues to use its expertise in technology as a competitive advantage in its expansion throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as internally servicing many of its subsidiaries’ system infrastructures and transactional processing businesses. Note 24 to the consolidated financial statements presents further information about the Corporation’s business segments.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Popular, Inc. and its majority-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. These unaudited statements are, in the opinion of management, a fair statement of the results for the periods reported and include all necessary adjustments, all of a normal recurring nature, for a fair statement of such results. Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior period consolidated financial statements to conform to the 2008 presentation.

The statement of condition data as of December 31, 2007 was derived from audited financial statements. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America have been condensed or omitted from the statements presented as of March 31, 2008, December 31, 2007 and March 31, 2007 pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements of the Corporation for the year ended December 31, 2007, included in the Corporation’s 2007 Annual Report. The Corporation’s Form 10-K filed on February 29, 2008 incorporates by reference the 2007 Annual Report.

SFAS No. 157, issued in September 2006, defines fair value, establishes a framework of measuring fair value and requires enhanced disclosures about fair value measurements. SFAS No. 157 requires companies to disclose the fair value of its financial instruments according to a fair value hierarchy. The fair value hierarchy ranks the quality and reliability of the information used to determine fair values. Financial assets carried at fair value will be classified and disclosed in one of the three categories in accordance with the hierarchy. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are (1) quoted market prices for identical assets or liabilities in active markets, (2) observable market-based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data, and (3) unobservable inputs that are not corroborated by market data. SFAS No. 157 was effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007, and interim periods within those fiscal years. In February 2008, the FASB issued financial staff position FSP FAS No. 157-2 which defers for one year the effective date for nonfinancial assets and nonfinancial liabilities that are recognized or disclosed at fair value on a nonrecurring basis. The staff position also amends SFAS No. 157

to exclude SFAS No. 13 “Accounting for Leases” and its related interpretive accounting pronouncements that address leasing transactions. The Corporation adopted the provisions of SFAS No. 157 that were not deferred by FSP FAS No. 157-2, commencing in the first quarter of 2008. The provisions of SFAS No. 157 are to be applied prospectively. Refer to Note 12 to these consolidated financial statements for the disclosures required for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. The adoption of SFAS No. 157 in January 1, 2008 did not have an impact in beginning retained earnings.

In February 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 159, which provided companies with an option to report selected financial assets and liabilities at fair value. The election to measure a financial asset or liability at fair value can be made on an instrument-by-instrument basis and is irrevocable. The difference between the carrying amount and the fair value at the election date is recorded as a transition adjustment to beginning retained earnings. Subsequent changes in fair value are recognized in earnings. The statement also establishes presentation and disclosure requirements designed to facilitate comparisons between companies that choose different measurement attributes for similar types of assets and liabilities. It also requires entities to display the fair value of those assets and liabilities for which the company has chosen to use fair value on the face of the balance sheet. The Corporation adopted the provisions of SFAS No. 159 in January 2008.

The Corporation elected the fair value option for approximately $1.2 billion of whole loans held-in-portfolio by PFH. Additionally, management adopted the fair value option for approximately $287 million of loans and $287 million of bond certificates associated with PFH’s on-balance sheet securitizations that were outstanding as of December 31, 2007. These loans serve as collateral for the bond certificates.

Refer to Note 11 to these consolidated financial statements for the impact of the initial adoption of SFAS No. 159 to beginning retained earnings as of January 1, 2008 and additional disclosures as of March 31, 2008.

In April 2007, the FASB issued Staff Position FSP FIN No. 39-1, which defines “right of setoff” and specifies what conditions must be met for a derivative contract to qualify for this right of setoff. It also addresses the applicability of a right of setoff to derivative instruments and clarifies the circumstances in which it is appropriate to offset amounts recognized for those instruments in the statement of financial position. In addition, this FSP permits the offsetting of fair value amounts recognized for multiple derivative instruments executed with the same counterparty under a master netting arrangement and fair value amounts recognized for the right to reclaim cash collateral (a receivable) or the obligation to return cash collateral (a payable) arising from the same master netting arrangement as the derivative instruments. The adoption of FSP FIN No. 39-1 in January 2008 did not have a material impact on the Corporation’s consolidated financial statements and disclosures. The Corporation’s policy is not to offset the fair value amounts recognized for multiple derivative instruments executed with the same counterparty under a master netting arrangement nor to offset the fair value amounts recognized for the right to reclaim cash collateral (a receivable) or the obligation to return cash collateral (a payable) arising from the same master netting arrangement as the derivative instruments.

SFAS No. 141-R “Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 141(R), Business Combinations (a revision of SFAS No. 141)”

In December 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 141(R) “Business Combinations.” SFAS No. 141(R) will significantly change how entities apply the acquisition method to business combinations. The most significant changes affecting how the Corporation will account for business combinations under this statement include the following: the acquisition date will be the date the acquirer obtains control; all (and only) identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed, and noncontrolling interests in the acquiree will be stated at fair value on the acquisition date; assets or liabilities arising from noncontractual contingencies will be measured at their acquisition date at fair value only if it is more likely than not that they meet the definition of an asset or liability on the acquisition date; adjustments subsequently made to the provisional amounts recorded on the acquisition date will be made retroactively during a measurement period not to exceed one year; acquisition-related restructuring costs that do not meet the criteria in SFAS No. 146 “Accounting for Costs Associated with Exit or Disposal Activities” will be expensed as incurred; transaction costs will be expensed as incurred; reversals of deferred income tax valuation allowances and income tax contingencies will be recognized in earnings subsequent to the measurement period; and

the allowance for loan losses of an acquiree will not be permitted to be recognized by the acquirer. Additionally, SFAS 141(R) will require new and modified disclosures surrounding subsequent changes to acquisition-related contingencies, contingent consideration, noncontrolling interests, acquisition-related transaction costs, fair values and cash flows not expected to be collected for acquired loans, and an enhanced goodwill rollforward. The Corporation will be required to prospectively apply SFAS 141(R) to all business combinations completed on or after January 1, 2009. Early adoption is not permitted. For business combinations in which the acquisition date was before the effective date, the provisions of SFAS 141(R) will apply to the subsequent accounting for deferred income tax valuation allowances and income tax contingencies and will require any changes in those amounts to be recorded in earnings. Management will be evaluating the effects that SFAS 141(R) will have on the financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and the disclosures that will be presented on the consolidated financial statements.

In December 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 160, which amends ARB No. 51, to establish accounting and reporting standards for the noncontrolling interest in a subsidiary and for the deconsolidation of a subsidiary. SFAS No. 160 will require entities to classify noncontrolling interests as a component of stockholders’ equity on the consolidated financial statements and will require subsequent changes in ownership interests in a subsidiary to be accounted for as an equity transaction. Additionally, SFAS No. 160 will require entities to recognize a gain or loss upon the loss of control of a subsidiary and to remeasure any ownership interest retained at fair value on that date. This statement also requires expanded disclosures that clearly identify and distinguish between the interests of the parent and the interests of the noncontrolling owners. SFAS 160 is effective on a prospective basis for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning on or after December 15, 2008, except for the presentation and disclosure requirements, which are required to be applied retrospectively. Early adoption is not permitted. Management will be evaluating the effects, if any, that the adoption of this statement will have on its consolidated financial statements.

In March 2008, the FASB issued SFAS No. 161, an amendment of SFAS No. 133. The standard requires enhanced disclosures about derivative instruments and hedged items that are accounted for under SFAS No. 133 and related interpretations. The standard will be effective for all of the Corporation’s interim and annual financial statements for periods beginning after November 15, 2008, with early adoption permitted. The standard expands the disclosure requirements for derivatives and hedged items and has no impact on how the Corporation accounts for these instruments. Management will be evaluating the enhanced disclosure requirements.

On November 5, 2007, the SEC issued Staff SAB 109, which requires that the fair value of a written loan commitment that is marked to market through earnings should include the future cash flows related to the loan’s servicing rights. However, the fair value measurement of a written loan commitment still must exclude the expected net cash flows related to internally developed intangible assets (such as customer relationship intangible assets). SAB 109 applies to two types of loan commitments: (1) written mortgage loan commitments for loans that will be held-for-sale when funded that are marked to market as derivatives under SFAS No. 133 (derivative loan commitments); and (2) other written loan commitments that are accounted for at fair value through earnings under SFAS No. 159’s fair-value election.

SAB 109 supersedes SAB 105, which applied only to derivative loan commitments and allowed the expected future cash flows related to the associated servicing of the loan to be recognized only after the servicing asset had been contractually separated from the underlying loan by sale or securitization of the loan with servicing retained. SAB 109 will be applied prospectively to derivative loan commitments issued or modified in fiscal quarters beginning after December 15, 2007. The implementation of SAB 109 during the first quarter of 2008 did not have a material impact to the Corporation’s consolidated financial statements, including disclosures.

In February 2008, the FASB issued FASB Staff Position (FSP) FAS 140-3, “Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets and Repurchase Financing Transactions.” The objective of this FSP is to provide implementation guidance on whether the security transfer and contemporaneous repurchase financing involving the transferred financial asset must be evaluated as one linked transaction or two separate de-linked transactions.

Current practice records the transfer as a sale and the repurchase agreement as a financing. The FSP requires the recognition of the transfer and the repurchase agreement as one linked transaction, unless all of the following criteria are met: (1) the initial transfer and the repurchase financing are not contractually contingent on one another; (2) the initial transferor has full recourse upon default, and the repurchase agreement’s price is fixed and not at fair value; (3) the financial asset is readily obtainable in the marketplace and the transfer and repurchase financing are executed at market rates; and (4) the maturity of the repurchase financing is before the maturity of the financial asset. The scope of this FSP is limited to transfers and subsequent repurchase financings that are entered into contemporaneously or in contemplation of one another.

The FSP will be effective for the Corporation on January 1, 2009. Early adoption is prohibited. The Corporation will be evaluating the potential impact of adopting this FSP.

The Corporation’s subsidiary banks are required by federal and state regulatory agencies to maintain average reserve balances with the Federal Reserve Bank or with a correspondent bank. Those required average reserve balances were approximately $655 million as of March 31, 2008 (December 31, 2007 — $678 million; March 31, 2007 — $614 million). Cash and due from banks as well as other short-term, highly-liquid securities are used to cover the required average reserve balances.

In compliance with rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Corporation may be required to establish a special reserve account for the benefit of brokerage customers of its broker-dealer subsidiary, which may consist of securities segregated in the special reserve account. There were no reserve requirements as of March 31, 2008 (December 31, 2007 — securities with a market value of $273 thousand; March 31, 2007 — securities with a market value of $445 thousand). These securities were classified in the consolidated statement of condition within the other trading securities category.

As required by the Puerto Rico International Banking Center Regulatory Act, as of March 31, 2008, December 31, 2007, and March 31, 2007, the Corporation maintained separately for its two international banking entities (“IBEs”), $600 thousand in time deposits, equally divided for the two IBEs, which were considered restricted assets.

As part of a line of credit facility with a financial institution, as of March 31, 2008, the Corporation maintained restricted cash of $1.9 million as collateral (December 31, 2007 — $1.9 million; March 31, 2007 — $1.9 million). The cash is being held in certificates of deposits which mature in less than 90 days. The line of credit is used to support letters of credit.

As of March 31, 2008, the Corporation had restricted cash of $3.5 million (December 31, 2007 — $3.5 million) to support a letter of credit related to a service settlement agreement.

Certain securities and loans were pledged to secure public and trust deposits, assets sold under agreements to repurchase, other borrowings and credit facilities available. The classification and carrying amount of the Corporation’s pledged assets, in which the secured parties are not permitted to sell or repledge the collateral, were as follows:

Pledged securities and loans in which the creditor has the right by custom or contract to repledge are presented separately in the consolidated statements of condition.

The amortized cost, gross unrealized gains and losses and approximate market value (or fair value for certain investment securities where no market quotations are available) of investment securities available-for-sale as of March 31, 2008, December 31, 2007 and March 31, 2007 were as follows:

The table below shows the Corporation’s gross unrealized losses and market value of investment securities available-for-sale, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position, as of March 31, 2008, December 31, 2007 and March 31, 2007.

As of March 31, 2008, “Obligations of Puerto Rico, States and political subdivisions” include approximately $55 million in Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Appropriation Bonds (“Appropriation Bonds”). The rating on these bonds by Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) is Ba1, one notch below investment grade, while Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) rates them as investment grade. As of March 31, 2008, these Appropriation Bonds represented approximately $1.7 million in unrealized losses in the Corporation’s investment securities available-for-sale portfolio. The Corporation is closely monitoring the political and economic situation of the Island as part of its evaluation of its available-for-sale portfolio for any declines in value that management may consider being other-than-temporary. Management has the intent and ability to hold these investments for a reasonable period of time for a forecasted recovery of fair value up to (or beyond) the cost of these investments.

The unrealized loss positions of available-for-sale securities as of March 31, 2008, except for the obligations of the Puerto Rico government described above, are primarily associated with U.S. Agency and government sponsored-

issued mortgage-backed securities and collateralized mortgage obligations. The vast majority of these securities are rated the equivalent of AAA by the major rating agencies. The investment portfolio is structured primarily with highly-liquid securities, which possess a large and efficient secondary market. Valuations are performed at least on a quarterly basis using third party providers and dealer quotes. Management believes that the unrealized losses in these available-for-sale securities as of March 31, 2008 are temporary and are substantially related to market interest rate fluctuations and not to the deterioration in the creditworthiness of the issuers. Also, management has the intent and ability to hold these investments for a reasonable period of time for a forecasted recovery of fair value up to (or beyond) the cost of these investments.

During the three months ended March 31, 2008, the Corporation recognized through earnings approximately $2.3 million in losses considered other-than-temporary on residual interests classified as available-for-sale. During the quarter ended March 31, 2007, the Corporation recognized through earnings approximately $29.3 million in losses in residual interests classified as available-for-sale and $7.6 million in losses in equity securities that management considered to be other-than-temporarily impaired.

The following table states the names of issuers and the aggregate amortized cost and market value of the securities of such issuer (includes available-for-sale and held-to-maturity securities), when the aggregate amortized cost of such securities exceeds 10% of stockholders’ equity. This information excludes securities of the U.S. Government agencies and corporations. Investments in obligations issued by a state of the U.S. and its political subdivisions and agencies, which are payable and secured by the same source of revenue or taxing authority, other than the U.S. Government, are considered securities of a single issuer.

The amortized cost, gross unrealized gains and losses and approximate market value (or fair value for certain investment securities where no market quotations are available) of investment securities held-to-maturity as of March 31, 2008, December 31, 2007 and March 31, 2007 were as follows:

The following table shows the Corporation’s gross unrealized losses and fair value of investment securities held-to-maturity, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position, as of March 31, 2008, December 31, 2007 and March 31, 2007:

Management believes that the unrealized losses in the held-to-maturity portfolio as of March 31, 2008 are temporary and are substantially related to market interest rate fluctuations and not to deterioration in the creditworthiness of the issuers. Management has the intent and ability to hold these investments until maturity.

The Corporation recognizes as assets the rights to service loans for others, whether these rights are purchased or result from asset transfers (sales and securitizations).

Effective January 1, 2007, under SFAS No. 156, the Corporation identified servicing rights related to residential mortgage loans as a class of servicing rights and elected to apply fair value accounting to these mortgage servicing rights (“MSRs”). These MSRs are segregated between loans serviced by PFH and by the Corporation’s banking subsidiaries. Fair value determination is performed on a subsidiary basis, with assumptions varying in accordance with the types of assets or markets served.

Classes of mortgage servicing rights were determined based on the different markets or types of assets served. Under the fair value accounting method of SFAS No. 156, purchased MSRs and MSRs resulting from asset transfers are capitalized and carried at fair value.

Effective January 1, 2007, upon the remeasurement of the MSRs at fair value in accordance with SFAS No. 156, the Corporation recorded a cumulative effect adjustment to increase the 2007 beginning balance of MSRs by $15.3 million, which resulted in a $9.6 million, net of tax, increase in the retained earnings account of stockholders’ equity.

At the end of each quarter, the Corporation uses a discounted cash flow model to estimate the fair value of MSRs, which is benchmarked against third party opinions of fair value. The discounted cash flow model incorporates assumptions that market participants would use in estimating future net servicing income, including estimates of prepayment speeds, discount rate, cost to service, escrow account earnings, contractural servicing fee income, prepayment and late fees, among other considerations. Prepayment speeds are adjusted for the Corporation’s loan characteristics and portfolio behavior. Refer to Note 8 to the consolidated financial statements for information on assumptions used in the valuation model of MSRs.

The changes in MSRs measured using the fair value method for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2007 were:

Net mortgage servicing fees, a component of other service fees in the consolidated statements of operations, include the changes from period to period in fair value of the MSRs, which may result from changes in the valuation model

inputs or assumptions (principally reflecting changes in discount rates and prepayment speed assumptions) and other changes, representing changes due to collection / realization of expected cash flows.

Servicing rights associated with Small Business Administration (“SBA”) commercial loans are the other class of servicing assets held by the Corporation. These SBA servicing rights are accounted under the amortization method. The changes in SBA servicing rights for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2007 were as follows:

SBA loans serviced for others were $537 million as of March 31, 2008 (December 31, 2007 — $527 million; March 31, 2007 — $453 million).

Key economic assumptions used to estimate the fair value of residual interests and MSRs derived from PFH’s securitizations transactions and the sensitivity of residual cash flows to immediate changes in those assumptions as of period end were as follows: