Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call April 19, 2024 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Mark DeFazio - President and CEO
Dan Dougherty - EVP and CFO
Conference Call Participants
Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler
Chris O'Connell - KBW
Alex Lau - JPMorgan
Operator
Good day and welcome to Metropolitan Commercial Bank's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. Hosting the call today from Metropolitan Commercial Bank are Mark DeFazio, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Dan Dougherty, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]
During today's presentation, references will be made to the company's earnings release and investor presentation, copies of which are available at mcbankny.com. Today's presentation may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to the company's notices regarding forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures that appear in the earnings release.
It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Mark DeFazio, President and Chief Executive Officer. You may begin.
Mark DeFazio
Thank you. Good morning and thank you for joining our first quarter earnings call.
The first quarter of 2024 was very productive for MCB. Our first quarter results were a strong start for the company. During the quarter, we carefully grew the balance sheet while maintaining our price discipline, credit standards, and with a continued sharp focus on liquidity and interest rate risk management. We were also able to grow core deposits well in excess of our loan growth.
Our two major initiatives planned for 2024, the wind down of the GPG business and the digital transformation project, have begun in earnest and are proceeding on time and on budget while we remained focused on the continuation and expansion of our profitable and disciplined commercial bank growth strategy.
In the first quarter, we reported an earnings per share with $1.46 which was reported by strong - I'm sorry, which was supported by strong growth in net interest income and continued excellent credit performance. In the meantime, the successful completion of our other initiatives remain a high priority.
The economy continues to display strong fundamentals and impressive resilience. This is evident - the evident strength of the economy provides us with an optimistic outlook for loan growth and credit performance. The outlook for monetary policy has changed dramatically over the last several months. Rather than expectations of significant easing throughout 2024, the market is now pricing in less than 50 basis points of easing in the back half of the year. I am pleased to report we saw a 4 basis points NIM expansion in the first quarter. Even with the change in the outlook of monetary policy, we continue to expect further margin expansion as the year progresses.