UMB Financial Corp (UMBF) 2007 Q1 法說會逐字稿

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  • Operator

  • Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the UMB first quarter earnings conference call. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ms. Begonya Klumb, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.

  • Begonya Klumb - Director IR

  • Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us for our conference call and webcast regarding our 2007 first quarter financial results. Before we begin, let me remind you that our comments in this conference call contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in our statements made during this call.

  • Wall management of UMB believes our assumptions are reasonable, UMB cautions that material changes in interest rates, the equity markets, general economic conditions as they relate to the Company's loan and fee-based customers, competition in the financial services industry, the ability to integrate acquisitions, and other risks and uncertainties which are detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission may cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in this call.

  • UMB has no duty to update such statements, and undertakes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of new information, future events or otherwise.

  • By now we hope most of you on the call or listening to the webcast have had a chance to review our earnings release dated April 24. If not, you will find it in our website at UMB.com.

  • On the call today are Mariner Kemper, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Peter deSilva, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Michael Hagedorn, our Chief Financial Officer.

  • The agenda for today's call is as follows. First Mariner will highlight our results and strategies. Then Mike will review the details of our first quarter results. Peter will follow with a discussion of operating performance against our strategies. Following that we will be happy to answer your questions.

  • Now I will turn the call over to Mariner Kemper.

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us today. Following a solid performance in 2006 UMB delivered strong growth and financial performance in the first quarter of 2007. Net income totaled $17.3 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, a 30.8% increase from $13.2 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2006. This strong financial performance was driven by net interest income, loan and fee income growth. We achieved record loan balances, as well as record quarterly revenue and noninterest income. And as always, we maintained our high credit quality standards while achieving these results.

  • UMB handily outperformed the average net income growth of the publicly traded banks that have reported earnings as a group as of today. We believe our results are evidence that the strategies we put in place are working. With solid execution, our associates are translating those strategies directly into improved performance and returns.

  • As a reminder, our first strategy is to focus on yield enhancement. And we continue to make progress by optimizing the mix of our earning assets and liabilities, while growing our loan portfolio. During the first quarter of 2007 end of period loans increased 13.8% over the same period in 2006, outperforming the 9% growth reported by the Federal Reserve for the industry during the same period.

  • We ended the quarter with a record $3.9 billion in loan balances, with continued growth in commercial, credit card, real estate and home equity loans. This is the 15th consecutive quarter of year-over-year loan growth.

  • Our commercial loan portfolio continued to perform well in the first quarter, with more than 9% increase in balances over the prior year. Likewise, our credit card portfolio increased more than 9% year-over-year. With the addition of new talent and focus we expect credit card to continue to be a contributor for future growth.

  • Our home equity loans grew 64%, continuing a strong growth trend over the past several quarters. Our sales team is focused on selling this product, which remains very competitive in the marketplace. We're also supporting our associates' sales efforts with targeted marketing campaigns. As a result, application volume for the first quarter of 2007 was up 81% from the same period last year.

  • We continue to ramp up from a relatively small base, and have grown HELOC loans from 1.1% of our loan portfolio at the end of 2002 to 5.1% of our loan portfolio as of the end of the first quarter of 2007. This is still a relatively small market share and represents a continuing opportunity for growth by selling deeper to our existing customers, as well as acquiring new customer relationships. Additionally, we have grown our HELOC business while maintaining our historically high credit quality. Thus far we have not experienced a single credit loss in this portfolio.

  • Average deposits increased 3%, through the end of the period deposits were relatively flat reflecting -- excuse me, average deposits increased 3%, though the end of period deposits were relatively flat, reflecting a difficult deposit gathering environment.

  • We continue to see irrational pricing in many markets, which represents a challenge to the entire banking industry. Still we were able to add more than $200 million in new deposits during the first quarter of 2007 with our 'Grab-a-Great-Rate' marketing campaign. Non-interest-bearing deposits remained at a healthy 32% of our total deposits, above the industry average. We believe this is a competitive advantage for UMB.

  • The funding side of our balance sheet will be a challenge for us because of the inverted yield curve and increasingly competitive deposit gathering environment. That said, we're committed to growing both sides of the balance sheet to sustain UMB's long-term growth. We take a strategic approach to increasing deposits, and only go to the market with rational pricing. Core deposit gathering continues to be one of our top priorities for this year.

  • Even though our cost of funds have increased, we're offsetting this effect at the asset side of our balance sheet by increasing our earning asset yields. Part of this strategy includes growing higher yielding assets, such as commercial loans, credit card and HELOC portfolios, all of which are driving yield and asset growth. We also improved earning asset yields by extending the average life of our core investment portfolio to 35 months at the end of the first quarter compared to 31 months a year ago. We don't see any significant change in the average life of our portfolio for the remainder of the year.

  • With stable rates, continued loan growth, improved yield, and a strong [free fund] contribution, we expect net interest income to continue to be a driver of profitability in 2007.

  • Our second strategy is to grow our fee-based businesses, which represents approximately 54% of total revenue at the end of the first quarter of 2007. Noninterest income grew 12.7% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2006. Trust and card services income continue to be a major driver of growth in fee income. Peter will cover the results in more detail later in his comments.

  • Our third strategy is to optimize our distribution network, including continued investment in our retail business. As a part of this strategy, we will make investment in targeted markets where we have identified demographic and business trends that set our strategy for growth and returns. Consistent with this strategy, during the first quarter we announced the opening of a new branch in North Scottsdale, Arizona to strengthen our presence in the high-growth market. We expect to open this branch later this summer.

  • Currently our branch network stands at 138 branches, reflecting a net effect of closing two branches and opening one during the first quarter. We do not see much change in the number branches in the near term. And continue to evaluate branch performance to ensure long-term returns are in line with the market opportunities.

  • Our focus on retail franchise development is showing results, with primary retail customers growing by 4.3% since the quarter of 2006. Contributing to this growth was our 'Grab-a-Great-Rate' campaign, which resulted in more than 3000 accounts. During this campaign we not only gained more than 1000 new retail customers, but we also significantly improved the cross-sell ratio with 75% of the total accounts having multiple service relationships.

  • Our fourth strategy is to strengthen our asset management business. During the first quarter trusts and securities processing income increased 20.4% to $27.3 million, from $22.7 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily driven by higher management fees related to the growth in the UMB Scout Fund, assets under management. Peter will discuss those results in his comments.

  • Finally, our fifth strategy is to focus on capital management. We continue to believe that the best way to implement this strategy is to use a combination of approaches. These include investing in organic growth, and acquisitions that makes sense strategically, financially and operationally and culturally, as well as returning capital to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividend payments.

  • To this end in the first quarter we repurchased approximately 260,000 shares at an average price of $0.3732 per share, for a total cost of $9.7 million. Also yesterday the Board of Directors approved an annual authorization to repurchase up to 2 million shares through April of 2008. The Board also declared the quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share. This equates to a 34% dividend payout.

  • Finally, in the first quarter, NASDAQ recognized UMB Financial Corporation by adding us to its Dividend Achievers Index. This index is comprised of 99 companies that consistently increased their dividends over the past ten years, and have strong cash reserves, solid balance sheet, and proven records of earnings growth. This recognition by NASDAQ is evidence of our long-term commitment to provide competitive returns to our shareholders.

  • These five strategies, along with our focus on efficiency, risk management, and having associates engaged and accountable for delivering results continue to be our roadmap to drive performance in 2007 and beyond. With safety and soundness at our core, we remain committed to grow our revenue while maintaining strong expense controls and prudent credit quality standards.

  • Now I will turn it over to Mike Hagedorn, our CFO, for further comments.

  • Mike Hagedorn - CFO

  • Welcome everyone. As Mariner indicated, we reported solid quarterly earnings of $17.3 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, for the first quarter, up 30.8% from $13.2 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, the same period last year. Higher net interest income that reflected increased loan balances and securities interest income and higher noninterest income primarily from our fee-based businesses drove those results.

  • Net interest income for the quarter increased $4.7 million, or 9%, over the same period in 2006, mainly due to higher average earning assets and improved net interest margin. Net interest margin increased 9 basis points to 3.32% for the first quarter from 3.23% in the first quarter of 2006. This improvement was due to higher earning asset yields and our [free finance] contribution. The year-over-year yield improvement in our investment portfolio was 70 basis points, finishing the period at 4.79%.

  • The yield on our loan portfolio also increased 59 basis points to finish at 6.94% for the period. The [free fund's] contribution for margin increased to 92 basis points during the first quarter of 2007 compared to 79 basis points in the same period last year.

  • Net interest margin declined on a linked quarter basis. This was a normal pattern for us, as approximately $1 billion of tax payment driven public fund balances gradually ran off our balance sheet during the first quarter of 2007. These balances are seasonal, typically increasing in December, and inflating our deposit and [repo] balances during the fourth and first quarters.

  • As expected, and similar to last year, almost all the seasonal balances were gone from the balance sheet by the end of the first quarter. The impact of the seasonal public funds on the margin is usually more dramatic in the first quarter than in the fourth quarter. As a result our margin declined to 3.32% present in the first quarter from 3.41% in the fourth quarter of 2006.

  • In the first quarter $169 million in core portfolio securities rolled off at an average yield of 3.76%. In turn, we purchased $174 million of securities at an average yield of 5.15%. Also, our margin should continue to benefit from the planned reinvestment of $558 million of core investments with an average roll off yield of 4.19% for the remainder of 2007. In addition, margins should benefit as well from 59% of our loan portfolio expected to reprice during the remainder of 2007.

  • Noninterest income increased $7.6 million, or 12.7%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 compared with the same period in 2006, due to higher trust and securities processing income, bank card fees and deposit service charges. Trust and securities processing fees were up 20.4%, primarily due to an increase of $811 million in total assets under management for the UMB Scout Funds since the first quarter of 2006.

  • Bank card fees were up $1.2 million, or 13.4%, in the first quarter of 2007 as greater card activity drove increased interchange fee income. Deposit service charges increased 7.3%, primarily due to consumer pricing changes implemented in the first quarter.

  • Noninterest expense increased $7.1 million, or 7.8%, for the first quarter compared with the same period in 2006, with the most significant increases in salaries, equipment, occupancy and amortization of other intangibles. Salaries and benefits increased $4 million, or 8.4%, as a result of higher commissions and bonuses, as well as equity-based compensation and employee benefit costs.

  • Higher software and related equipment amortization and maintenance costs increased our equipment expense by $2.2 million or 20.2%. The higher occupancy expense is due mostly to an increase in rental income through a decrease in rental income.

  • Additionally, the acquisition of Mountain States Bank in the third quarter of 2006 increased the amortization of other intangibles by almost $446,000 during the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same period last year.

  • Credit quality ratios in the first quarter of 2007 reflected UMB's continuing strong commitment to high-quality lending. Nonperforming loans as of March 31, 2007 were $7.6 million, or 0.2% of loans, compared to $6.4 million, or 0.19%, in the same period last year. Net loan charge-offs continue to show a positive trend, totaling $1.7 million for the first quarter, or 0.04% of average loans, compared with $3.3 million, or 0.10%, of average loans during the same period last year.

  • Our credit quality not only remained strong relative to the pass several years, but also compared to the industry. While competition is fierce for loans we remained focused on quality over quantity. up

  • Now turning to the balance sheet, our solid financial performance for the quarter was driven primarily by loan growth. At the end of March loan balances were $3.9 billion compared with $3.4 billion a year ago. Total end of period loans grew by 13.8%, primarily driven by a 9.2% increase in commercial loans, a 64.4% increase in home equity loans and a 9% increase in credit card balances. The 37.9% increase in the overall real estate category reflects the growth in HELOC balances, as well as our acquisition of Mountain States Bank in the third quarter of 2006.

  • End of period consumer balances experienced a slight decrease, mostly attributable to our indirect auto loan portfolio. This decrease was partly a reflection of the weak activity both at the regional and national level due to seasonality and domestic automaker struggles. Currently our overall loan pipeline looks good despite a highly competitive environment.

  • During the first quarter of 2007 average total deposits were $5.7 billion compared with $5.6 billion a year ago, a 3% increase. The majority of the deposit increase is attributable to our 'Grab-a-Great-Rate' campaigns, which also play to our retail customer acquisition strategy.

  • The average loan to deposit ratio continued to increase to 68.2% in the first quarter of 2007 from 61.8% the previous year. Our ratio of average loans as a percent of earning assets also continued to increase to 52.9% for the quarter from 49.3% last year.

  • Return on average equity and return on average assets during the first quarter of 2007 improved significantly to 8.19% and 0.86%, respectively, from 6.42% and 0.7% for the same period in 2006.

  • Capital ratios remained strong during the first quarter of the year, with Tier 1 total capital and leverage ratios at 14.08%, 14.93%, and 9.4%, respectively.

  • Finally, management has decided not to early adopt FAS 159 in 2007, as we believe it is likely to add volatility to our quarterly results.

  • With that, I will turn it over to Peter for some additional comments on our operating performance.

  • Peter deSilva - President, COO

  • Good morning everyone. I would like to spend a few minutes providing some additional details on our growth and operational strategy. Starting with our strategy to grow our key business, which is essential to our continued growth.

  • UMB gained momentum in healthcare services where we are among the top 10 national HSA providers based on assets. We're committed to maintaining our leadership position. And we believe that rapid account acquisition is crucial to achieving this goal. The number of accounts grew 181% in the first quarter, with deposits and assets increasing 57% when compared with the same period last year. At the end of the quarter we had more than $82 million in deposits and assets, and more than 510,000 HSA and FSA cardholder accounts.

  • Our credit card business is also a key part of our key business strategy, and it is significantly contributed to fee income growth during the quarter. Driving this growth is our commercial credit card program, with cardholder volume increasing 15.9% over the same period a year ago.

  • In the commercial card space, UMB was ranked the 13th largest purchasing card issuer, and the 25th largest corporate card issuer according to the 2006 Milton Report. The opportunity for growth continues to be encouraging, as our commercial cardholder volume posted a monthly record in March with over $45 million in sales. This represents a 24% increase over the same period last year.

  • The consumer credit card segment is also performing well, with an activation rate of 60%. With strong leadership, as well as marketing and distribution focus, we believe the opportunity for growth in the consumer segment can be significant, as we currently only have a 45% penetration rate into our existing retail customer base. In fact, during the first quarter we successfully ran several campaigns aimed at our existing customer base, which resulted in increased accounts and balances.

  • Our payment and technology solutions business continues to be a very important area of focus. We remain positioned at the forefront of the transition, from pay for payment methods to electronic solutions. According to the most recent report on 2006 ACH payments from NACHA, the Electronic Payments Association, we ranked 27th among the top 50 ACH originators, and among the top 50 ACH receivers in the nation. Both rankings were an improvement from our rankings the year before.

  • We also continue to strengthen our asset management business. Total assets under management increased 11.8% to %10.1 billion from $9.1 billion in the first quarter of 2006. Leading this growth is our proprietary family of mutual funds, which continues to play a key role in this strategy.

  • Total assets in our UMB Scout Funds grew from $4.3 billion last year to $5.1 billion in the first quarter of 2007. Also, last year we successfully integrated our wealth management teams, portfolio management, brokerage and private banking. Our private banking division generated $19.4 million in new loan commitments, and $31.2 million in new deposits during the first quarter of 2007 alone.

  • A very important area within our asset management division is corporate trust. This division delivered solid performance during the first quarter of '07, contributing more than $1 million to fee income growth. We're encouraged with the opportunities for growth in this division. We were ranked by Thomson financial as the fourth largest U.S. municipal bond trustee, by number of new municipal bond deals, and the fourth largest U.S. paying agent by transaction volume during the first quarter.

  • With regard to enhancing our operating efficiencies we continue to focus on cost-saving efforts. Our disciplined approach to improving operating efficiency has led to a reduction in the number of full-time equivalent employees by 36 to 3400 at the end of the first quarter of 2007, down from 3436 at the end of the first quarter of 2006. This is despite adding 57 positions related to the acquisition of Mountain States Bank in the third quarter of '06. Clearly the focus on accountability we put in place is beginning to pay off.

  • We also continue to see an improvements in productivity metrics. For example, loans per FTE and revenue per FTE increased 15% and 12.2%, respectively, from the same period a year ago. Our efficiency ratio also improved to 77.2% in the first quarter compared to 79.3% in the same period in 2006. We have instilled a sell funding approach to growth throughout the organization that we expect will support continued improvement in our efficiency ratio.

  • Another area of operational focus is risk management. We're executing on our plan to have a best in class solution to risk and compliance management. During the first quarter UMB received the Archer Excellence Award for innovation and risk management best practices in protecting customer data, minimizing corporate risk and improving efficiency, while strengthening compliance management. UMB was selected along with Citigroup and Morgan Stanley for this honor.

  • With that I would like to turn the call back to Mariner for some concluding remarks.

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • As we look forward at the remainder of 2007 our goal continues to be improving value for our shareholders. We're focused on driving growth while maintaining our standards for underwriting and financial strength. And as always, we continue to evaluate the economic conditions and respond to any unexpected changes as they occur.

  • Our core deposit structure continues to provide UMB with competitive advantage in the marketplace. We will remain focused on growing both sides of our balance sheet, and executing against our five strategies. And most of all, we will continue creating and delivering high-value solutions that benefit our customers.

  • Finally, we remain true to our 94 year history of solid values. And we continue our tradition of high-quality credit, liquidity and long-term relationships with our customers. Those relationships are the very core of what we are and what we do uniquely, we believe, in delivering the Count on More experience to our customers.

  • Thank you all for being on the call with us today. With that, I will turn it back to the conference call operator to open the session for your questions. Thanks again.

  • Operator

  • (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Troy Ward, A.G. Edwards.

  • Troy Ward - Analyst

  • I'm going to apologize right in advance. I just hopped on a little bit late. I was on a different call, so I apologize if you went through some of this. Could you just talk quickly on the big jump in trust and securities processing, what drove that, and is it sustainable?

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • Peter, why don't you take that.

  • Peter deSilva - President, COO

  • Sure. We saw very strong increases in the balance in our Scout Funds, principally over $800 million on a year-over-year basis. And obviously the asset-based fees associated with that are what is driving it.

  • Can we sustain it? Well, we certainly hope so. We continue to have a very, very strong emphasis on sales throughout both the bank channel, as well as our [RRA] channel and the institutional channel just generally. Our performance continues to be good, and we're very focused on driving those assets.

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • Also, to add to that, product development is important here. We launched some MidCap fund in the fourth quarter, and expect great things from that through the remainder of the year as well.

  • Troy Ward - Analyst

  • Okay. Then a quick question on the tax rate, it looks like you were higher in the effective tax rate in the quarter. Can you comment on that? And again what would you expect going forward?

  • Mike Hagedorn - CFO

  • Sure. It is Mike. We should see that be a little more normalized as we go forward. What you are seeing now is a more normalized tax rate for the Corporation. In the past we have had some tax credits, and those don't exist anymore.

  • Troy Ward - Analyst

  • So Q1 is going to be of what we will see going forward.

  • Mike Hagedorn - CFO

  • Correct.

  • Troy Ward - Analyst

  • Great. One final one, Mariner, if you could just comment a little bit -- obviously I'm housed here in St. Louis. If you could comment a little bit what you are seeing in the St. Louis market? And again to prioritize a little bit the markets in your strategy and where St. Louis may fit in to that.

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • I would say St. Louis fits right at the top. We have a long history in St. Louis, 34 years. We've got great leadership with the Pete Genovese, who actually happens to happens to be in the room with us today. And we are looking to St. Louis actually for quite a bit of our future growth. And we have a tremendous deposit base, a wonderful branch network. Pete actually has been very focused on hiring some top-flight talent. Recently we have a new gentleman who has been recently hired to run our Commercial Lending Group and Business Development Group. And we're very active in trying to higher talent in St. Louis.

  • As you have heard me talk before, it all starts with people. And one of our focuses is right now is looking very hard to add to our team in St. Louis. And I would say from my vantage point, my time and energy, we are -- and Peter's and Pete's -- we're very focused on St. Louis. I think there's a lot of potential for us. We've got a great foundation and a ton of opportunities. You'll see more from us as it relates to hiring talent and focused energy.

  • Operator

  • Peyton Green, FTN Midwest Securities.

  • Peyton Green - Analyst

  • Peter, I was wondering if you could comment. You all saw a particularly good leverage out of the trust business and also the credit card business in terms of the revenue (inaudible) and marginal growth on the revenue side versus the marginal expense associated with those. I was just wondering can we expect more of that going forward, if you are able to get the revenue growth?

  • Peter deSilva - President, COO

  • I think on the trust side, again, it was driven largely by our mutual fund family, and our trust business just generally, and also our corporate trust business, which is gaining some nice momentum here in the Midwest. I do believe those are sustainable. I think you'll continue to see that growth largely because they both are scaled businesses. We're not adding lots of people as we get that growth, and lots of expenses other than commissions and such to bring in that incremental revenue. Yes, I think that both of those are going to continue to grow, or should continue to grow nicely.

  • With respect to credit cards, the card business is being driven by a couple of different things. The commercial segment for sure. We are very, very focused right now on ensuring that all of our commercial borrowers use and have our credit card. We recently rewon the states of Missouri and Kansas. So their purchasing card program, while that wasn't new business, it was important retention business for us. And those programs continue to grow in size and scale. On the consumer credit card side, we do continue with new product energy and new sales emphasis to see some growth there as well. So I think we're all very optimistic.

  • The other piece that we haven't yet seen the leverage out of is the 511,000 on health care cards that we have in the marketplace for FSA and HSA usage. Those have minimal usage today. But over the next few months, or more importantly the next few years, those will have significant usage as folks use those cards to draw down their health care savings. And of course we will earn a percentage of the interchange on those cards. So in that particular case we have the issuance cost today. We're building up a long-term annuity stream for us in the future.

  • Peyton Green - Analyst

  • That is one. Okay. And then in terms of the equipment expense, I know that you all had a lot of technology expenses that you needed to run through last year. How does that pipeline for that kind of activity look this year? Is that sort of the high watermark or do you have more growth in that line?

  • Mike Hagedorn - CFO

  • It is Mike. There is still activity in our equipment area. And several projects that will eventually come out of work in process and go onto the balance sheet and be amortized over time. There is additional work that we are going to do here. So while you're seeing us kind of ramp up, there is probably a little more to go, but we're getting there.

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • And as long as -- there is going to be a certain level that on an ongoing basis, as long as we have the focus on fee-based businesses at the percentage -- you know, 54% in total revenue that we do -- you will find that we're going to have to continually invest in our technology.

  • Peyton Green - Analyst

  • Great. Then lastly from the health side of things, as you look at the year-over-year increase in personal, excluding some states, how much of the increase in personnel was really related to bonus and incentive comp that was earned from production efforts?

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • Mike, do you want to touch on that?

  • Mike Hagedorn - CFO

  • Sure. The bulk of that increase, when you look at it, is due to salary and commission increases year-over-year to bring in that additional business. We have modest increases in health care costs. And obviously the adoption of 123R year-over-year drive some of that increase as well. That increase is about $700,000 just for 123R alone. The salary and benefit increase, or the salary increase I should say, is closer to $1.8 million.

  • Operator

  • (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Peyton Green.

  • Peyton Green - Analyst

  • One more follow-up on the loan growth side. How do you all see the pipeline now versus 90 or 180 days ago? Are you more optimistic? Are you (inaudible) gaining more momentum? And also how would you characterize customer willingness to borrow money?

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • It is Mariner. Within our customer base, our customers -- the demand seems to be relatively strong. They all seem to be doing relatively well. We remain cautious about the economy. But demand within the customer base seem strong. And our pipeline seems to have picked up here towards the end of the first quarter. After checking in with our group, things seem to look pretty good. I wouldn't say this is going to be one of -- a big year for loan production, for anybody I would think, with the economy looking the way it does. But we feel optimistic about the rest of the year.

  • Mike Hagedorn - CFO

  • I would just add a couple of thoughts to that. We look at it two different ways. One is the new pipeline, new business, new customers. And I agree with Mariner 100%, it looks good. But we also look at our existing customers and what their behaviors are. And in particular in the agriculture sector right now, with corn prices doing what they are doing, and wheat prices doing what they are doing, we are seeing an awful lot of utilization of lines that historically probably weren't utilized quite as much. The price of corn has risen and inventory levels are rising. So we're benefiting from that some currently as well.

  • Mariner Kemper - Chairman, CEO

  • But it is coming from -- and the loan growth is coming from all parts of our Company, which is nice. Not led by any one particular area. We see nice growth in our consumer area, nice growth in our credit card, nice growth in our commercial. It is nice to see it coming across all of our earning asset categories.

  • Operator

  • Management, at this time we have no additional questions in the queue, and we will turn the conference back to you for any closing remarks.

  • Begonya Klumb - Director IR

  • Thank you very much for your interest in UMB. The call can be accessed via replay at our website beginning in about two hours. And it will run through May 9. As always, you can contact me at UMB Investor Relations with any follow-up questions by calling 816-860-7906. Again, we appreciate your interest and time.

  • Operator

  • This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. Again, if you would like to listen to a replay of today's teleconference in its entirety, you can also do so by dialing 303-590-3000 or 1-800-405-2236, using the access code of 11087560 pound. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Thank you for using AT&T Teleconferencing. You may now disconnect. And please have a pleasant day.