Valley National Bancorp CEO Discusses Q2 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

The strength in Valley’s residential mortgage banking division has consistently generated positive returns for the organization and we anticipate continued benefits. During the second quarter, Valley closed nearly $0.5 billion of new residential mortgage loans. For the year, total closed residential loans exceeded $1.0 billion and we are on pace to surpass all of 2011’s actual volume by the end of this month.

We anticipate significant increases in mortgage banking revenue for the remainder of 2012, as we intend to sell a larger percentage of originations into the secondary market. For the first six months of 2012, Valley earned approximately $6.3 million in gains on sale of loans into the secondary market.

We expect to recognize a significantly greater amount in the third quarter than we generated in the entire first six month period. In spite of our recent success in expanding our mortgage activity we still hold only a tiny market share in New Jersey, New York City, Long Island and eastern Pennsylvania. Presently, approximately 73% of Valley’s residential mortgage refinance applications are coming from non-valley customers.

This not only presents a cross sell opportunity, but provides management with an indication as to the potential products acceptance when we began to expand the geography in which we market these loans. We emphasized the fact that we have no plans to lower our strict underwriting guidelines in this endeavor.

As we like to say, we plan to fish in a bigger pond, not deeper in our existing pond. For over 15 years, Valley has actively sold loans to both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We have the infrastructure and experience presently in place to conduct this enhanced mortgage banking effort. Historically, Valley has witnessed minimal repurchase requests from the agency which is a testament to the strict underwriting and processes employed in this area.

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