Western Alliance Bancorp (NYSE:WAL) Q3 2019 Earnings Conference Call - Final Transcript

Good day, everyone. Welcome to the Earnings Call for Western Alliance Bancorporation for the Third Quarter of 2019. Our speakers today are Ken Vecchione, Chief Executive Officer; Dale Gibbons, Chief Financial Officer; and Robert Sarver, Executive Chairman. You may also view the presentation today via webcast through the company's website at www.westernalliancebancorporation.com. The call will be recorded and made available for replay after 2:00 PM Eastern Time, October 18, 2019 through November 18, 2019 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time by dialing 1(877)-344-7529, passcode 10134684.

The discussion during this call may contain forward-looking statements that relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. The forward-looking statements contained herein reflect our current views about the current events and financial performance, and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes in circumstances that may cause our actual results to differ significantly from historical results and those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical or expected results include those listed in the filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Now for the opening remarks, I would now like to turn the call over to Ken Vecchione. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome to Western Alliance's third quarter earnings call. Joining me on the call today are Dale and Robert, I will provide an overview of the quarterly results and Dale will walk you through the bank's financial performance in greater detail, and then afterwards, we'll open up the line and Robert, Dale and I will take your questions.

During the third quarter, we continued advancing our key strategic objectives which include leveraging our brand [Indecipherable] business model to drive disciplined and thoughtful loan and deposit growth, carefully managing our balance sheet with regards to asset sensitivity, pursuing accretive capital allocation policies and de-risking our loan composition, all while being unique in our ability to drive industry-leading growth and efficiency across changing market environments.

Western Alliance produced another record quarter with robust loan and deposit growth, which generated continued increases in net interest income and earnings per share. Our combination of regional banking and national business line lending drove loan growth of 19% on a linked-quarter annualized basis, as we saw a wide-ranging broad participation across our businesses. We achieved annualized net interest income growth of 18%, with total revenue growth of 22%-plus as we produced positive operating leverage, all while de-risking our balance sheet and improving asset sensitivity. This was achieved against the headwind of a challenging yield curve.

As discussed on our prior earnings call, we expect ongoing loan origination volume to offset net interest margin compression and produce continued increases in net interest income. So let me go through a few of the key highlights. Net income during the quarter rose 3.6% to a record $127.4 million