(Bloomberg) — Truist Financial Corp. reported lower first-quarter lending profits than analysts expected, as it was forced to pay customers more for deposits as interest rates remained high, and the bank trimmed its revenue guidance for the rest of the year.
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The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender reported net interest income on a taxable equivalent basis of $3.43 billion, down from the prior quarter's level and missing the National Insurance Institute's average estimate of $3.47 billion by analysts, or what banks earn from loan payments. Minus what you pay. Deposit payment.
“Demand for loans has been weak and deposit costs remain under pressure,” CEO Bill Rogers said in a statement. NII is expected to bottom out in the second quarter and improve modestly through the rest of the year, executives said on a conference call with analysts on Monday.
Shares fell 0.8% to $36.52 at 9:37 a.m. in New York, and are down 0.9% this year.
Investors are closely monitoring the performance of banks as borrowing costs remain higher for longer, with the Federal Reserve reluctant to cut interest rates as inflation remains above the level targeted by policymakers. While higher rates allow banks to charge borrowers more, they also increase the cost of deposits, as customers demand more for their savings. Banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. It missed National Insurance estimates when it announced first-quarter results this month.
Read more: The bullish case for big banks to win more lending fails
At Truist, total revenue on a taxable equivalent basis was $4.87 billion from continuing operations for the first quarter.
Truist now expects tax-equivalent revenue to decline about 4% to 5% from $20.2 billion last year, with the new guidance based on continuing operations and excluding the impact of interest income earned from insurance unit sale proceeds and potential credits. – Change the position of the paper. The bank previously faced a revenue decline of 1% to 3% from $23.6 billion last year.
The company said it is in a position to resume share buybacks late this year, depending on factors including market conditions.
During the quarter, Truist announced a highly anticipated deal to sell the rest of Truist Insurance Holdings to a group led by Stone Point Capital and Clayton Dubilier & Rice. The deal valued the insurance brokerage unit at $15.5 billion, and Truist said it would consider a range of options to deploy capital. The sale is expected to be completed in the second quarter, executives said on the call.
Read more: Truist agrees to sell rest of insurance arm to Stone Point, CD&R
Last week, the company informed investment banking employees that they are expected to be in the office five days a week starting in June.
Read more: Truist calls for investment banking employees to work five days a week
Truist was formed through the merger of BB&T Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc. in 2019. Last year, it moved to trim its board of directors to bring itself more in line with industry peers. It has underperformed its peers in the past year, making it one of the worst-performing banks in the KBW Bank Index, with its shares down 14% in 2023.
(Updates with National Insurance forecasts, stocks and insurance deal details starting in third paragraph. An earlier version of this story was corrected to remove non-comparable analyst estimates for revenue.)
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