Huntington Bancshares Inc (HBAN) 2016 Q2 法說會逐字稿

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  • Operator

  • My name is Carol, and I will be your conference operator today.

  • At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Huntington Bancshares second quarter earnings call.

  • (Operator Instructions)

  • Thank you.

  • I would now like to turn the call over to Mark Muth, Director of Investor Relations.

  • - Director of IR

  • Thank you, Carol.

  • Welcome; I'm Mark Muth, Director of Investor Relations for Huntington.

  • Copies of the slides we will be reviewing can be found on our IR website at www.Huntington-IR.com or by following the investor relations link on www.Huntington.com.

  • This call is being recorded and will be available as a rebroadcast, starting about one hour from the close of the call.

  • Our presenters today are Steve Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO; and Mac McCullough, Chief Financial Officer.

  • Dan Neumeyer, our Chief Credit Officer, will also be participating in the Q&A portion of today's call.

  • As noted on slide 2, today's discussion, including the Q&A period, will contain forward-looking statements.

  • Such statements are based on information and assumptions available at this time, and are subject to changes, risks, and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially.

  • We assume no obligation to update such statements.

  • For a complete discussion of risks and uncertainties, please refer to this slide and material filed with the SEC, including our most recent Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K filings.

  • Lets get started by turning to slide 3 and an overview of the financials.

  • Mac?

  • - CFO

  • Thanks, Mark, and thanks to everyone for joining our call today.

  • We appreciate your interest and support.

  • It's an exciting time for Huntington.

  • We saw continued solid execution in the second quarter of 2016, built on the strong foundation and momentum demonstrated in the first quarter.

  • We believe we have a good story to share with you this morning.

  • We have followed a contrarian path since 2009, focused on building a strong, recognizable brand, differentiated product set, and industry-leading customer service.

  • While others have pulled back with a focus on cost-cutting, we invested in our Franchise, built our fair-play philosophy and our welcome culture.

  • Second-quarter results again provide proof that our strategies are working and that we are executing at a high level.

  • Turning to slide 3, let's review the financial highlights of our second quarter.

  • Huntington reported earnings per common share of $0.19, inclusive of $0.02 per share of significant items related to the cost associated with the integration of the pending FirstMerit acquisition.

  • Tangible book value per share increased 9% to $7.29.

  • Reported return on tangible common equity was 11%, while reported return on assets was 0.96%.

  • Fundamental trends were in line with our expectations.

  • Compared to the second quarter of 2015, revenue grew by 1%, despite an $8 million impact from net MSR activity and the realization of a $5 million gain on a securitization of auto loans in the second quarter of 2015.

  • Net interest income growth of 3% was largely responsible for reported revenue growth.

  • We continue to believe that our ability to deliver consistent top-line growth, despite the challenging interest rate environment, distinguishes Huntington from our peers.

  • Non-interest expense increased $32 million, or 6% year over year, including $21 million incurred in relation to the integration of our pending acquisition of FirstMerit.

  • Non-interest expense, adjusted for the FirstMerit integration expense, increased 3% year over year.

  • Our reported efficiency ratio for the quarter was 66.1%; however, the FirstMerit integration expense increased the reported efficiency ratio by 260 basis points.

  • While we remain above our long-term efficiency goal of 56% to 59%, improving operating efficiency continues to be the top priority for our management team.

  • We remain confident that productivity improvements from the FirstMerit integration will significantly accelerate our ability to achieve this important financial goal.

  • Balance sheet growth continued to be strong.

  • Average loans grew 8% year over year, while average core deposits grew 5%, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year core deposit growth being at least 5%.

  • Overall credit performance continued to demonstrate our commitment to an aggregate, moderate-to-low risk profile.

  • Second-quarter net charge-offs of 13 basis points remained well below our long-term financial target of 35 to 55 basis points.

  • Non-performing assets decreased 7% linked quarter.

  • Tangible common equity ended the quarter at 7.96%, up 4 basis points year over year and 7 basis points linked quarter.

  • And our CET1 ratio trended up 15 basis points year over year and 7 basis points quarter over quarter.

  • Turning to slide 4 and diving in deeper to the income statement, the net interest income was up 3% from the year ago quarter, primarily reflecting strong earning asset growth of 8%, which was partially offset by 14 basis points of net interest margin compression.

  • Non-interest income was down $11 million, or 4%, from a year ago, impacted by $8 million of net MSR activity and a $5 million gain on the securitization of auto loans in the second quarter of 2015.

  • Reflecting the strength of new household acquisition, out of our OCR strategy, service charges on deposit accounts increased 8%, card and payment processing income increased 9%.

  • Trust service revenue in the quarter was impacted by the sale of our funds and fund-servicing businesses, as well as an ongoing shift in the product mix.

  • Non-interest expense increased $32 million, or 6%, from a year ago, with FirstMerit integration expense accounting for $21 million of the increase.

  • After adjusting for FirstMerit integration expense, non-interest expense increased 3%, primarily driven by salary expense, medical claims, and technology investments.

  • Of note, we continue to see wage inflation, given the relatively low unemployment levels in many of our markets.

  • Turning to slide 5, let's look at balance sheet trends.

  • Disciplined but strong loan and lease growth continued in the second quarter, increasing 8% year over year.

  • Growth was spread among many portfolios, but commercial banking and auto lending continue to lead the pack.

  • Auto lending increased 26% from the year ago quarter, as production continued at record levels, while we maintained our long-standing underwriting consistency and discipline.

  • Slides 46 to 49 in the appendix show the underwriting has not changed, and our credit performance remains superior.

  • Our auto portfolio continues to demonstrate industry-leading performance.

  • Our C&I portfolio grew 8%, driven by equipment finance, dealer floorplan, and corporate banking.

  • Average securities increased 15%, primarily reflecting reinvestment of portfolio runoff into LCR-compliant securities, and to a lesser extent, growth in direct-purchase municipal securities in our commercial banking segment.

  • We remain above the 100% threshold for the liquidity coverage ratio.

  • Strong growth in our loan and securities portfolio amounted to an overall 8% increase in our average earning assets from the year ago quarter.

  • Moving to the right side of the slide, average total deposits increased 5% over the year-ago quarter, including a 5% increase in average core deposits.

  • Demand deposits continued to drive growth, increasing 11% year over year, including a 4% increase in non-interest-bearing demand deposits and a 28% increase in interest-bearing demand deposits.

  • Our focus on new consumer checking, household and commercial relationship account acquisition, as well as relationship deepening, continue to drive growth in demand deposits.

  • Average total debt increased $1.7 billion, or 23%, as a result of the issuance of $3.1 billion in senior debt over the past five quarters, which was partially offset by a $1.1 billion decrease in short-term borrowings.

  • Money market deposits increased by $0.7 billion, or 4%, from the year-ago quarter, reflecting improved cross-sell and targeted marketing.

  • We also continued remixing our deposit base, moving consumer deposits out of higher cost CDs into other, less expensive deposit products.

  • As a result, average core CDs decreased $0.6 billion, or 24%, year over year.

  • The net interest margin was 3.06% for the second quarter, down 14 basis points from the year-ago quarter.

  • The decrease reflected a 4-basis-point decrease in earning asset yield and a 14-basis-point increase in funding cost.

  • Loan yields were only down 2 basis points year over year, while security yields declined 9 basis points.

  • The increase in funding cost was almost entirely driven by the impact of the debt issuances over the past four quarters, as the cost of deposits only increased 1 basis point year over year.

  • On a linked-quarter basis, the net interest margin decreased by 5 basis points, driven by a 3-basis-point decrease in earning asset yield and a 4-basis-point increase in the cost of interest-bearing liabilities.

  • Recall that last quarter's NIM benefited from approximately 2 basis points of interest recoveries in the commercial real estate portfolio.

  • Though modest further NIM compression is expected to continue, given the rate environment, we continue to expect that net interest margin at stand-alone Huntington to remain above 3% for the remaining two quarters of 2016.

  • Slide 7 provides an update on our asset sensitivity positioning and how we manage interest rate risk.

  • As shown on the chart on top, our modeling for stand-alone Huntington projects that net interest income would benefit by 4.1% if interest rates were to gradually ramp 200 basis points, in addition to increases already reflected in the current implied forward curve.

  • This is an increase of roughly 50 basis points from a quarter ago, as our asset swap book continued to mature.

  • Though we expect additional runoff from our asset swap book in coming quarters, the portfolio is laddered and there are no cliffs looming on the horizon.

  • As shown on the bottom right, in a hypothetical scenario without the $4.7 billion of remaining asset swaps, the estimated benefit is projected to be 5.4% in the up-200-basis-point gradual ramp scenario.

  • The chart on the bottom of the slide shows our $4.7 billion asset swap portfolio and $6.8 billion liability swap portfolio, including their respective average remaining lives and their impact on net interest income.

  • The incremental benefit of the swaps was $19 million in the 2016 second quarter, down slightly from $21 million in the first quarter and $26 million in the year-ago quarter.

  • 75% of the $19 million in swap benefit in the second quarter was from liability swaps, with the remainder coming from asset swaps.

  • Turning to slide 8, we see our capital ratios, which increased across the board, on both a year-over-year and linked-quarter basis.

  • Tangible common equity ended the quarter at 7.96%, up 4 basis points year over year, and 7 basis points linked quarter.

  • During the quarter, we issued an additional $200 million of attractively priced, fixed-rate preferred equity on top of the $400 million issued late in the first quarter.

  • Referring to slide 9, we booked provision expense of $25 million compared to net charge-offs of $17 million.

  • This modest reserve build, along with reduction in NPLs, led to a 151% NAL coverage ratio, as noted in the chart on the right.

  • The ACL as a percentage of loans fell 1 basis point to 1.33% due to portfolio growth.

  • Asset quality metrics were favorable in the quarter, as indicated on slide 10.

  • NPAs fell in the quarter, as new inflows were down substantially from prior periods.

  • The criticized asset ratio was down modestly, falling 3.5% to 3.44%.

  • New additions to criticized were offset by upgrades and paydowns.

  • Delinquencies were also well controlled, exhibiting continued reductions.

  • Let me now turn the presentation over to Steve.

  • - Chairman, President & CEO

  • Thanks, Mac.

  • I want to use the next few slides to talk about our industry-leading customer acquisition.

  • Mac mentioned at the beginning of the call that we've taken a contrarian approach for the past several years, focusing on customer acquisition and relationship deepening through our fair-play banking philosophy.

  • Slide 10 shows the fruits of our labor; and as you can see, both consumer and business relationships are up substantially since 2009.

  • Consumer households have experienced an 8% compound annual growth since 2010, while business relationships have experienced 5% compound annual growth over the same time period.

  • We can see the relationship growth flowing through to revenue growth, as business revenues have seen 9% compound annual growth since 2009, while consumer revenues are up 5% over the same period.

  • I want to call out particularly strong revenue growth on the consumer side over the last five quarters.

  • We've not always seen the revenue benefit on the consumer side, but we've now overcome the headwind of the latest adjustments under our fair-play philosophy implemented in the third quarter of 2014, and the investments in data and analytics we began in 2015 are starting to show results.

  • We experienced 10% year-over-year growth in consumer household revenue in the second quarter of 2016, along with 5% linked-quarter growth.

  • Now, these are very strong numbers, and we are optimistic we can build on these in coming quarters.

  • It's not just about relationship growth, but indeed the deepening of our existing relationships.

  • For us, this strategy has remained consistent since put in place in 2009, and we continue to see progress.

  • The next two slides show how we think about deepening relationships with our customers.

  • As of quarter end, 52% of our consumer checking households use six or more products and services, up from 51% a year ago.

  • On the commercial side, 47% use four or more of our products and services, up from 43% a year ago.

  • These figures are important, and ones we monitor closely.

  • We believe the revenue growth is the result of a deeper understanding and relationship with our customers.

  • The fair banking philosophy starts with doing the right thing for our customers, but that's just the beginning of any single customer relationship.

  • To achieve the full potential on both sides, we have to better understand the individual customer needs, and tailor our products, services, and experiences to fit those needs.

  • So we are not just adding new customers, we are making sure we can better serve and foster a mutually beneficial relationship with our total customer base, all of our existing relationships.

  • Moving to the economy, slide 14 contains what we feel to be some of the more meaningful economic indicators for our footprint.

  • The bottom left chart illustrates trends in unemployment rates across our six Midwestern states; and as you can see, the majority of our footprint has shown marked improvement in unemployment rates relative to the national average, and Ohio and Michigan in particular remain at or near their lowest level since the early 2000s.

  • The chart on the top and bottom right show coincident and leading economic indicators for the region.

  • The bottom chart, which shows leading indexes for our footprint as of May, shows that five of the six states in our footprint expect positive economic growth over the next six months.

  • Slide 15 takes a deeper look at the trends in unemployment rates in our largest metropolitan markets.

  • Many of the large MSAs -- the footprint were near 15-year lows for unemployment rates at the end of May.

  • Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan in particular continue to outpace overall US growth since the recovery.

  • There's additional cause for optimism here in our home footprint: per capita disposable personal income growth has outpaced the national average through the recovery, and continued to do so through the second quarter.

  • Housing markets in the footprint, and especially here in Ohio, have shown to be far more stable than the national average.

  • Affordability in the Midwest is the best in the country.

  • The higher rate in the Midwest continues to be among the highest in the nation, and over 50% of net manufacturing jobs created in the country since the recession are in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana -- three states have over 50% of the net manufacturing increase since the recession.

  • Despite continued market volatility and global macro economic uncertainty, we remain confident in the economy in our footprint.

  • Indeed, the average consumer remains confident in our footprint economy, as consumer confidence in the Midwest is near the 2002 levels.

  • And we recognize the escalation of market and global volatility in recent months, and the threat it can pose to business here in our footprint, but effects so far have been modest.

  • Turning to slide 16, operating leverage for the first six months of the year was slightly negative, which was consistent with our internal forecast.

  • Recall this is almost exactly where we were at the end of the second quarter of 2015.

  • We delivered positive operating leverage in 2015, which was our third consecutive year doing so.

  • The positive operating leverage remains an annual financial goal.

  • So with that, let's turn to slide 20 for some closing remarks and important messages.

  • We remain focused on delivering consistent through-the-cycle shareholder returns.

  • This strategy entails reducing short-term volatility, achieving top-tier performance over the long term, and maintaining our aggregate moderate-to-low risk profile throughout.

  • Our DFAST stress loss estimates continue to reflect comparatively well, and for this year included FirstMerit loan portfolios.

  • Our value proposition for both consumers and businesses continues to drive industry-leading new customer acquisition.

  • We've successfully built a strong and recognizable consumer brand with differentiated products and superior customer service.

  • For the third year in a row, we were recognized for leading customer satisfaction by JD Power and others.

  • We continue to execute our strategies, and refine or react when necessary.

  • We have invested, and will continue to invest, in our businesses, particularly around enhanced sales management, mobile and digital technologies, data analytics, and optimizing our retail distribution network.

  • Importantly, we plan to continue to manage our expenses appropriately within our revenue outlook.

  • We expect to grow revenue.

  • We expect growth within our core Midwest footprint local economies, and the businesses and consumers with them.

  • We are prudently managing certain industries or sectors potentially impacted by the market volatility and global macro economic uncertainty.

  • However, we believe these risks remain well contained.

  • We see no evidence of near-term deterioration or problems looming on the horizon.

  • Customer sentiment remains positive.

  • Pressure on our NIM will remain a modest headwind in the near term; we continue to expect the NIM for stand-alone Huntington will remain above 3% for each quarter throughout 2016.

  • We expect to grow revenue despite this pressure, consistent to our 4% to 6% long-term financial goal, excluding significant items, net MSR activity, and the impact of FirstMerit.

  • We will continue to pace ongoing investments in our businesses consistent with our revenue outlook, and consistent with our long-term goal of annual positive operating leverage.

  • We continue to monitor our loan portfolio very closely; and given the absolute low level of our credit metrics, and recent market and global economic volatility, we do expect some volatility in our credit metrics going forward.

  • And as we stated last quarter, anticipate that loan loss provisions for both ourselves and the broader industry will gradually begin to return to more normalized levels.

  • Let me stress, we do not see any material deterioration on the horizon; we're simply moving off cyclical lulls, and will gradually move back towards normal for both provisioning and net charge-offs.

  • We expect our net charge-offs for the year will remain below our long-term expected range of 35 to 55 basis points.

  • Next, as we always like to include a reminder that there is a high level of alignment between the Board, management, our employees, and our shareholders.

  • The Board and our colleagues are collectively the sixth largest shareholder of Huntington.

  • We have hold-through-retirement requirements on certain shares, and are appropriately focused on driving sustained long-term performance.

  • We are highly focused on our commitment to being good stewards of shareholder capital.

  • And finally, before we move into the Q&A period, I'd like to tell you how pleased we are with the progress we're making with FirstMerit.

  • We recently received sign-off from the Department of Justice for a divestiture that resolves our concentration issue, which was primarily in the Canton, Ohio, market.

  • We've identified the branch closures that will occur coincident with the branch conversion in the first quarter of next year.

  • We also continue to make progress in building out the organization for the combined Entity.

  • Our systems conversion planning efforts continue to progress, as our IT teams have completed all product mapping or are in the final stage of completing all data mapping.

  • Indeed, we are coding now for the conversion.

  • Finally, we remain confident that the transaction will close in the third quarter of 2016.

  • I'll now turn it back over to Mark so we can get to your questions.

  • Thank you.

  • - Director of IR

  • Thanks, Steve.

  • Operator, we'll now take questions.

  • We ask that as a courtesy to your peers, each person ask only one question and one related follow-up, and then if that person has additional questions, he or she can add themselves back into the queue.

  • Thank you.

  • Operator

  • (Operator Instructions)

  • Erika Najarain, Bank of America.

  • - Analyst

  • Hi, good morning.

  • - Chairman, President & CEO

  • Good Morning, Erika.

  • - Analyst

  • So I apologize if you already addressed it in the prepared remarks; there are a bunch of calls that are happening today.

  • Very much, you know, noting that you've reiterate your goal for revenue growth in annual positive operating leverage, and I am wondering how we should think of that $503 million core run rate as we move into the second half of the year?

  • And also, as we think about core Huntington ex-FirstMerit for 2017, I know it's a little too early, but you do have some peers that, in the face of lower-for-even-longer, give a little bit more color on how they're thinking about expense management over the medium term?

  • And just wanted to get your thoughts on that.

  • - CFO

  • Hi Erika, it's Mac.

  • As you think about the expense base in the second quarter, keep in mind, we are very focused on the FirstMerit integration.

  • We have a lot of focus, a lot of attention going into that.

  • We are being very disciplined in how we approach expenditures right now, and I think that's a good base if you think about core Huntington.

  • As it relates to 2017 and beyond, with the focus we have on positive operating leverage, we go into each planning year understanding the revenue environments, and in particular we've been planning assuming a rate environment that's flat, and we've been building our expense base that allows us to achieve positive operating leverage.

  • So we're going to continue to take that approach, going forward.

  • Also, keep in mind we have got the cost takeouts from FirstMerit that will start to materialize in 2016 and 2017, and we are highly confident in terms of the cost takeouts achievement we put on the table.

  • - Analyst

  • Got it.

  • And just a follow-up question on CCAR.

  • Clearly a lot of ink has been written about your quantitative results, and I'm wondering if you could share any insight in terms of how that process went and how -- the Fed was thinking about the timing of the deal close and whether or not that those results are really sort of one-time in your mind relative to the timing of when the deal was going to close?

  • - CFO

  • It's a good question, Erika.

  • And clearly, we don't have complete insights into what happens inside the black box, and we do think that the process is very different for a company that's going through an acquisition, if that's included in the CCAR results.

  • But let me just point out a few things that could help reconcile the numbers from a capital perspective.

  • We knew, going into this year CCAR process, that we were below our peer group in terms of CET-1 probably to the tune of 120 basis points on average.

  • That really comes back to the fact that we were pretty aggressive in 2014 and 2015 in returning earnings to shareholders.

  • Probably 76% on average across the two years.

  • Also, keep in mind that we did the Macquarie acquisition without issuing any a capital.

  • So that put us in a lower starting point relative to the peers.

  • We also disclosed on announcement of FirstMerit that we had a 100 basis point impact to CET-1 because the structure of the transaction.

  • So that impacted as well.

  • And then finally, we know that, as we went through a business combination and a severely adverse scenario inside the CCAR process, that it probably cost us 50 to 70 basis points of CET-1.

  • So when you reconcile all those things and consider everything but the starting position, it really is related to going through the business combination and the CCAR process.

  • - Analyst

  • Got it.

  • Thank you.

  • Operator

  • Bob Ramsey, FBR Capital Markets.

  • - Analyst

  • Good morning, guys.

  • I was wondering if you could touch a little bit on the personal costs.

  • The adjusted personnel cost number was higher than we were looking for.

  • Was there much in terms of variable comp related to the strong mortgage banking quarter in that number, or what were some of the drivers of the sequential increase in a quarter that, I guess, seasonally usually would be a little bit better?

  • - CFO

  • There were a few things that impacted that.

  • I think you did see Merit increases come into effect in the quarter.

  • We also had some higher comp related to mortgage, as you point out, and then we have higher healthcare costs, which I pointed out in my comments.

  • Just some higher medical expense relative to prior years.

  • But, those are the primary things that impact that, and I would say outside of the medical costs, nothing extraordinary.

  • - Analyst

  • Could you quantify the medical and the -- maybe the variable mortgage comp?

  • - CFO

  • In the scheme of things, I think the medical might've been a couple million dollars, and the mortgage comp I don't really have at my fingertips right now.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay.

  • Fair enough.

  • And then, it was the real strong quarter for mortgage banking, curious just how the pipeline looks headed into the third quarter?

  • Whether you think this is a level we repeat in the third quarter, possibly?

  • - CFO

  • Pipelines are strong.

  • We are seeing good purchase volume, and of course re-fi is picking up as well.

  • So really, really good quarter as you point out.

  • And in particular, if you think about year over year, the $8 million MSR net impact, $6 million gain last year, $2 million loss this year.

  • So the outlook is good, just given where the pipeline is today.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay, great.

  • Thank you.

  • Operator

  • Geoffrey Elliott, Autonomous.

  • - Analyst

  • Hello, good morning.

  • Thank you for taking the questions.

  • Two more CCAR related questions.

  • I guess a question and a follow-up.

  • The first is -- you said in the presentation, when you announced the FirstMerit deal that you were suspending the buyback, I think, until the deal closed, and then no announcement, no buyback [asked] for the full CCAR submission.

  • So, why that change?

  • And then secondly, just wanted to clarify on the 4Q 2016 to 2Q 2018, [50%] total payout.

  • Do we now just think about that being from 3Q 2017 to 2Q 2018 for that short a period?

  • Thank you.

  • - CFO

  • Geoff, it is Mac.

  • Starting with the first question.

  • Clearly, as we went through CCAR this year, the most important outcome for us was getting the FirstMerit deal through the process and getting approval for the deal itself.

  • Of course, we are still waiting for approval.

  • We expect that to happen in the third quarter.

  • But we just thought it best to be a bit cautious and making sure that we got through the process, because we can create so much more value by getting FirstMerit closed early and on time relative to the buyback that we had in for 2016 CCAR process.

  • What I would tell you, going forward, is that we'll take each year as it comes.

  • Next year is a different process.

  • We expect to be in a different position.

  • Not quite sure what the economic scenarios that the Fed will give to us would look like.

  • So don't want to comment on what the future looks like.

  • But that's basically our thought process around this year's process.

  • - Analyst

  • Expecting deal closing during 3Q?

  • - CFO

  • We still expect to get the 3Q closing.

  • - Analyst

  • Thank you.

  • - CFO

  • You bet.

  • Operator

  • Marty Mosby, Vining Sparks.

  • - Analyst

  • Thanks.

  • Mac you're increasing your asset sensitivity in a time when most of the market is expecting a lot less in rate hikes.

  • You have a lot of banks that are moving the other direction.

  • They've been asset sensitive throughout, anticipating what the Fed was going to do.

  • Now that they don't have that hope anymore there, they are kind of slimming, what I would call out of the pool of pain, and trying to get as much as they can before the O-curve kind of collapses on the backend on them.

  • You're really going in the opposite direction and creating a lot of revenue headwinds when you're looking at about $10 million from the peak of what you were getting out of the swaps.

  • Are you still committed to do this?

  • And do you feel like -- what's the behind the scenes, driving you in this direction?

  • - CFO

  • Thanks Marty.

  • Just a few things to think about.

  • So the asset sensitivity numbers that we publish are a 200 basis point gradual increase scenario.

  • If you think about where the rate curve is today, and you think about a flat rate environment going forward, over the next 12 months we have maybe 1 basis point or 2 of margin at risk.

  • So I'm not totally uncomfortable that position, plus we've got the FirstMerit closing integration and I would say optimization of the two balance sheets as they come together.

  • So we have that entire process to work through as well.

  • So that's the way I take a look at it.

  • We feel good about the margin, and where it's at today, we still believe that we are above 3% for the remainder of the year in core Huntington.

  • And if you take a look at FirstMerit, excluding any impact on the first accounting adjustments, it's actually additive to the margin.

  • So that's our perspective, Marty.

  • - Analyst

  • When you're looking at issuing that debt, what are you matching that up against on the asset side?

  • So, kind of what is the kind of -- is there a balance in securities and trying to not have any more asset sensitivity come from that initiative as well, or are you matching against shorter-term assets that will increase your asset sensitivity?

  • - CFO

  • It's primarily funding the securities, and that's been a bit of the pressure that we've had on the margin over the past year.

  • Today, we are bringing securities on at probably close to [1.9%], and the next issuance that we that we -- if we issued debt today, we'd probably be in the [2.10%] range.

  • Something like that, swap to floating.

  • So you can see where some of the pressure starts to build from a margin perspective, but having said that, we are at 115% LCR right now.

  • We feel good about where we are from a securities perspective, and really, we're just replacing and also keeping in mind the amount of debt that we need from a rating agency perspective and an FDIC perspective.

  • - Analyst

  • Thanks.

  • - CFO

  • You bet.

  • Take care.

  • Operator

  • Bill Carcache, Nomura.

  • - Analyst

  • Thank you, good morning.

  • You have been spot on in calling for used car prices to continue to hold up even when others have kind of taken opposing view, and really just based on the idea that new car payments continue to exceed used car payments by increasingly larger amounts, and not everyone can afford a new car payment.

  • And that has been the right view.

  • And, as we look at the market now, though, it seems like there's increasingly more controversy around whether the Manheim Index can hold up from its current levels.

  • Can you share your updated thoughts on the sustainability of used car prices at these levels?

  • And how important is that to the continued health of the market?

  • - Chief Credit Officer

  • Sure, Bill.

  • This is Dan.

  • We plan -- one, the Manheim [to fail].

  • As you suggested, it has held up, and we don't expect it to necessarily be sustained at those levels, but even when we will look at a worst-case scenario, I think we have a chart in the deck that shows what the Manheim has been over the last 10 or so years, and I think it bottomed out in the 107 range, briefly.

  • And we have stressed the portfolio, on our end, going down to 100, which we don't think is really possible, but even at that level the impact to us on our portfolio is about 9 basis points of charge-offs.

  • Keep in mind, we have a different customer base than average.

  • So with our prime, super prime focus, we manage the probability default.

  • We think that our portfolio will have a much lower incidence of default, and therefore the impact of the used car value relative to the rest of the market is not as significant.

  • So we're very comfortable where we stand, and even if the index were to fall, we think we're very well-positioned.

  • Again, we have a differentiated model from what any others would have.

  • - Analyst

  • Understood.

  • Very helpful.

  • Thank you.

  • Operator

  • (Operator Instructions)

  • Ken Zerbe from Morgan Stanley.

  • - Analyst

  • Good morning.

  • Quick question, just in terms of the merger costs.

  • Looks like I probably underestimated them this quarter.

  • Can you just give us an estimate of sort of timing of when those might come in from quarter to quarter?

  • - CFO

  • Ken, so we are still tracking -- we said about $420 million we announced the acquisition, and I would tell you that we have probably realized 75% of that in 2016.

  • Is the way I would think about it.

  • It's going to start to pick up from here.

  • We're obviously very deep into the integration process, but that's how I would think about it from a timing perspective.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay, that does help actually.

  • And then just a quick question.

  • On the preferred stock dividends, was there any sort of unusual catch up?

  • I think there's like $19 million in total this quarter.

  • I wonder if I would be that high, given what you issued?

  • - CFO

  • So there was a bit of a stub period related to the first quarter payment for the period that it was without, about $3 million.

  • - Analyst

  • Got it.

  • So in an all-in basis next quarter, what should the run rate be for [pref]?

  • - CFO

  • It's going to be 6.25 times the $600 million is the way to think about it.

  • So about $17 million.

  • - Analyst

  • Perfect.

  • Okay, thank you.

  • - CFO

  • Thanks, Ken.

  • Operator

  • There are no further questions in queue at this time.

  • I'll turn the call back to Steve for closing remarks.

  • - Chairman, President & CEO

  • So, thank you.

  • The second quarter built upon a solid foundation we laid the first quarter.

  • The performance continues to be solid, delivering revenue growth despite challenging headwinds.

  • And, our fundamentals remain solid and we are well-positioned to continue to deliver through the remainder of the year.

  • You've heard me say this before and it remains true: our strategies are working and our execution remains focused and strong.

  • We expect to continue to gain market share and improved share of wallet.

  • We expect to generate annual revenue growth consistent with our long-term financial goals and manage our continued investments in our businesses, consistent with the revenue environment and our long-term financial goal of positive operating leverage annually.

  • We expect modest growth in our economic footprint and continue the gradual transition to more normalized credit metrics, which will be effectively managed.

  • We've made significant progress, significant progress in our integration planning for the FirstMerit acquisition, and we look forward to completing the acquisition later this quarter, following receipt of all regulatory approvals and our customary closing conditions.

  • Finally, I want to close by reiterating that our Board and this Management Team are all long-term shareholders.

  • Our top priorities include increasing primary relationships across our business segments, managing risks, reducing volatility, and driving solid, consistent long-term performance.

  • So, thank you for your interest in Huntington, we appreciate joining us today.

  • Have a great day.

  • Operator

  • This concludes today's conference.

  • You may now disconnect.