CENTRAL PACIFIC FINANCIAL ANNOUNCES RECORD EARNINGS AND LAUNCHES NEW BANKING-AS-A-SERVICE INITIATIVE TO DRIVE MAINLAND EXPANSION

HONOLULU, Jan. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE: CPF) (the "Company"), parent company of Central Pacific Bank (the "Bank"), today reported record net income for the fourth quarter and the 2021 year. Net income for the quarter was $22.3 million, or fully diluted earnings per share ("EPS") of $0.80, compared to net income in the fourth quarter of 2020 of $12.2 million, or EPS of $0.43, and net income in the third quarter of 2021 of $20.8 million, or EPS of $0.74. For the year, net income was $79.9 million, or EPS of $2.83, compared to net income of $37.3 million, or EPS of $1.32 for all of 2020. Pre-tax net income was $29.9 million and $105.7 million for the fourth quarter and the 2021 year, which represents the best pre-tax quarter and full year results since 2007.

The Company is also announcing the launch of a new Banking-as-a-Service ("BaaS") initiative with the goal of expanding the Company both in and beyond Hawaii by investing in or collaborating with leading fintech companies. The BaaS initiative is being developed based on the successful product development and launch strategies used in the Company's new Shaka digital product. Shaka, Hawaii's first all-digital checking account, was launched with a VIP waitlist campaign and the largest social media influencer campaign in Hawaii's history. Since the product launch on November 8, 2021, over 3,300 Shaka accounts have been opened.

Beginning in the first quarter of 2022, the Company will continue its BaaS initiatives with an equity investment in Swell, a new fintech company. Swell plans to launch a consumer banking app that combines checking, credit and more into one integrated account, and Central Pacific Bank will serve as the bank sponsor.  There will also be a collaboration between the Company, Swell and Elevate Credit (NYSE:ELVT), a leading provider of digital lending solutions. Swell is scheduled to launch its first product in mid-2022.

"We are very pleased with our record earnings and an extremely successful 2021," said Paul Yonamine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  "We will maintain our commitment to be a top community bank in Hawaii, combining the latest in digital convenience with our strong tradition of customer service.  Today's announcement of our BaaS initiatives, represents an exciting new chapter of our Company as we expand beyond the Hawaii market which we believe will drive revenue growth and create even more shareholder value."

On January 25, 2022, the Company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.26 per share on its outstanding common shares. This represents a 4.0% increase from the dividend paid of $0.25 per share in the fourth quarter of 2021. The dividend will be payable on March 15, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 28, 2022.

On January 25, 2022, the Company's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $30 million of its common stock from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, pursuant to a newly authorized share repurchase program (the "Repurchase Plan"). The Repurchase Plan replaces and supersedes in its entirety the share repurchase program previously approved by the Company's Board of Directors, which had $6.3 million in remaining repurchase authority as of December 31, 2021. During the fourth quarter of 2021, the Company repurchased 305,594 shares of common stock, at a total cost of $8.4 million, or an average cost per share of $27.64. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company returned $45.6 million in capital to its shareholders through cash dividends and share repurchases.

Earnings Highlights

Net interest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $53.1 million, compared to $51.5 million in the year-ago quarter and $56.1 million in the previous quarter. Net interest margin for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 3.08%, compared to 3.32% in the year-ago quarter and 3.31% in the previous quarter. The sequential quarter decrease in net interest income and net interest margin is primarily due to lower net interest income and loan fees on PPP loans, and lower yields on core loans, partially offset by higher average loan and investment security balances. Net interest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 included $4.7 million in net interest income and loan fees on PPP loans, compared to $8.6 million in the previous quarter. Net deferred fees on PPP loans totaled $3.5 million at December 31, 2021, compared to $7.9 million at September 30, 2021, respectively. Additional information on average balances, interest income and expenses and yields and rates is presented in Tables 4 and 5.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Company recorded a credit to the provision for credit losses of $7.7 million, compared to a provision of $4.9 million in the year-ago quarter and a credit to the provision of $2.6 million in the previous quarter. The credit to the provision for credit losses in the fourth quarter of 2021 was driven by continued improvements in the economic forecast, net recoveries during the current quarter and strong asset quality as the State of Hawaii continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other operating income for the fourth quarter of 2021 totaled $11.6 million, compared to $14.1 million in the year-ago quarter and $10.3 million in the previous quarter. The decrease from the year-ago quarter was primarily due to lower mortgage banking income of $3.5 million, partially offset by higher other service charges and fees of $1.3 million. The increase from the previous quarter was primarily due to higher mortgage banking income and bank-owned life insurance of $0.6 million and $0.4 million, respectively. Additional information on other operating income is presented in Table 3.

Other operating expense for the fourth quarter of 2021 totaled $42.4 million, compared to $44.7 million in the year-ago quarter and $41.3 million in the previous quarter. Other operating expense in the current quarter included $1.1 million in severance expense and $0.4 million in costs related to the consolidation of our Kapalama Branch on Oahu. The Company plans to consolidate three additional branches in 2022. The decrease in other operating expense from the year-ago quarter was primarily due to $3.9 million in nonrecurring expenses (included in other) in the year-ago quarter, which included: branch consolidation costs of $1.3 million, litigation settlements of $0.8 million, Federal Home Loan Bank advance prepayment fee of $0.7 million, loss on disposal of fixed assets of $0.6 million and other nonrecurring expenses totaling $0.5 million. The increase in other operating expense from the previous quarter is primarily due to branch consolidation costs, higher deferred compensation plan expenses and higher promotions expense of $0.4 million each. Additional information on other operating expense is presented in Table 3.

The efficiency ratio for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 65.61%, compared to 68.20% in the year-ago quarter and 62.32% in the previous quarter.

The effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 25.4%, compared to 23.7% in the year-ago quarter and 24.7% in the previous quarter.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Total assets at December 31, 2021 of $7.42 billion increased from $6.59 billion at December 31, 2020, and increased from $7.30 billion at September 30, 2021.

Total loans, net of deferred fees and costs, at December 31, 2021 of $5.10 billion increased from $4.96 billion at December 31, 2020, and increased from $5.05 billion at September 30, 2021. The sequential quarter increase in total loans included a net increase in core loans (or non-PPP loans) of $183.2 million led by residential mortgage loan growth of $127.3 million, offset by a decline in PPP loans of $127.3 million due to SBA forgiveness and payments. Loans on forbearance or deferral totaled $0.4 million, or less than 1% of total loans at December 31, 2021. Loans by geographic distribution are summarized in Table 6.

Total deposits at December 31, 2021 of $6.64 billion increased from $5.80 billion at December 31, 2020, and increased from $6.52 billion at September 30, 2021. Core deposits, which include demand deposits, savings and money market deposits and time deposits up to $250,000, totaled $6.16 billion at December 31, 2021, and increased by $66.0 million from September 30, 2021. Non-core deposits increased by $57.3 million from September 30, 2021. The Company's loan-to-deposit ratio was 76.8% at December 31, 2021, compared to 77.4% at September 30, 2021. Core deposit and total deposit balances are summarized in Table 7.

Asset Quality

Nonperforming assets at December 31, 2021 totaled $5.9 million, or 0.08% of total assets, compared to $6.2 million, or 0.09% of total assets at December 31, 2020, and $7.2 million, or 0.10% of total assets at September 30, 2021. Additional information on nonperforming assets, past due and restructured loans is presented in Table 8.

Net recoveries in the fourth quarter of 2021 totaled $0.9 million, compared to net charge-offs of $1.8 million in the year-ago quarter, and net charge-offs of $0.2 million in the previous quarter.

The allowance for credit losses, as a percentage of total loans at December 31, 2021 was 1.33%, compared to 1.68% at December 31, 2020 and 1.48% at September 30, 2021. Excluding PPP loans, the allowance for credit losses, as a percentage of core loans at December 31, 2021 was 1.36%, compared to 1.55% at September 30, 2021. Additional information on net charge-offs and recoveries and the allowance for credit losses is presented in Tables 9 and 10.

Capital

Total shareholders' equity was $558.2 million at December 31, 2021, compared to $546.7 million and $555.4 million at December 31, 2020 and September 30, 2021, respectively.

The Company maintained its strong capital position and its capital ratios continue to exceed the levels required to be considered a "well-capitalized" institution for regulatory purposes under Basel III. At December 31, 2021, the Company's leverage capital, tier 1 risk-based capital, total risk-based capital, and common equity tier 1 ratios were 8.5%, 12.2%, 14.5%, and 11.2%, respectively, compared to 8.5%, 12.2%, 14.6%, and 11.2%, respectively, at September 30, 2021.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains certain references to financial measures that have been adjusted to exclude certain expenses and other specified items. These financial measures differ from comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") in that they exclude unusual or non-recurring charges, losses, credits or gains. This press release identifies the specific items excluded from the comparable GAAP financial measure in the calculation of each non-GAAP financial measure. Management believes that financial presentations excluding the impact of these items provide useful supplemental information that is important to a proper understanding of the Company's core business results by investors. These presentations should not be viewed as a substitute for results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP financial measures presented by other companies.

Conference Call

The Company's management will host a conference call today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Hawaii Time) to discuss the quarterly results. Individuals are encouraged to listen to the live webcast of the presentation by visiting the investor relations page of the Company's website at http://ir.cpb.bank. Alternatively, investors may participate in the live call by dialing 1-844-200-6205 (access code: 319900). A playback of the call will be available through February 25, 2022 by dialing 1-866-813-9403 (access code: 961340) and on the Company's website. Information which may be discussed in the conference call is provided in an earnings supplement presentation on the Company's website at http://ir.cpb.bank.

About Central Pacific Financial Corp.

Central Pacific Financial Corp. is a Hawaii-based bank holding company with approximately $7.4 billion in assets as of December 31, 2021. Central Pacific Bank, its primary subsidiary, operates 30 branches and 69 ATMs in the state of Hawaii. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.cpb.bank.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements concerning: projections of revenues, expenses, income or loss, earnings or loss per share, capital expenditures, the payment or nonpayment of dividends, capital position, credit losses, net interest margin or other financial items; statements of plans, objectives and expectations of Central Pacific Financial Corp. or its management or Board of Directors, including those relating to business plans, use of capital resources, products or services and regulatory developments and regulatory actions; statements of future economic performance including anticipated performance results from our business initiatives; or any statements of the assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing. Words such as "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "forecasts," "hopes," "targeting," "continue," "remain," "will," "should," "estimates," "may" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements.

While we believe that our forward-looking statements and the assumptions underlying them are reasonably based, such statements and assumptions are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties, and thus could later prove to be inaccurate or incorrect. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially from those statements or projections for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to: the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic virus on local, national and international economies, including, but not limited to, the adverse impact on tourism and construction in the State of Hawaii, our borrowers, customers, third-party contractors, vendors and employees as well as the effects of government programs and initiatives in response to COVID-19; the impact of our participation in the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") and fulfillment of government guarantees on our PPP loans; our ability to successfully implement our Banking-as-a-Service initiatives, including adoption of the initiatives by customers and risks faced by any of our bank collaborations including reputational and regulatory risk; the increase in inventory or adverse conditions in the real estate market and deterioration in the construction industry; adverse changes in the financial performance and/or condition of our borrowers and, as a result, increased loan delinquency rates, deterioration in asset quality, and losses in our loan portfolio; our ability to successfully implement our business initiatives; the impact of local, national, and international economies and events (including natural disasters such as wildfires, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tsunamis, storms, earthquakes and pandemic viruses and diseases, including COVID-19) on the Company's business and operations and on tourism, the military, and other major industries operating within the Hawaii market and any other markets in which the Company does business; deterioration or malaise in domestic economic conditions, including any destabilization in the financial industry and deterioration of the real estate market, as well as the impact of declining levels of consumer and business confidence in the state of the economy in general and in financial institutions in particular; changes in estimates of future reserve requirements based upon the periodic review thereof under relevant regulatory and accounting requirements; the impact of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act"), changes in capital standards, other regulatory reform and federal and state legislation, including but not limited to regulations promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the "CFPB"), government-sponsored enterprise reform, and any related rules and regulations which affect our business operations and competitiveness; the costs and effects of legal and regulatory developments, including legal proceedings or regulatory or other governmental inquiries and proceedings and the resolution thereof, the results of regulatory examinations or reviews and the effect of, and our ability to comply with, any regulatory orders or actions we are or may become subject to; ability to successfully implement our initiatives to lower our efficiency ratio; the effects of and changes in trade, monetary and fiscal policies and laws, including the interest rate policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the "FRB" or the "Federal Reserve"); inflation, interest rate, securities market and monetary fluctuations, including the anticipated replacement of the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") Index and the impact on our loans and debt which are tied to that index; negative trends in our market capitalization and adverse changes in the price of the Company's common stock; political instability; acts of war or terrorism;  pandemic virus and disease, including COVID-19; changes in consumer spending, borrowings and savings habits; failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures; cybersecurity and data privacy breaches and the consequence therefrom; the ability to address deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures; technological changes and developments; changes in the competitive environment among financial holding companies and other financial service providers; the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the regulatory agencies, as well as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") and other accounting standard setters and the cost and resources required to implement such changes; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; changes in our personnel, organization, compensation and benefit plans; and our success at managing the risks involved in the foregoing items.

For further information with respect to factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from the expectations or projections stated in the forward-looking statements, please see the Company's publicly available Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the Company's Form 10-K for the last fiscal year and, in particular, the discussion of "Risk Factors" set forth therein. We urge investors to consider all of these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 8-K. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statements are made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events except as required by law.

SOURCE Central Pacific Financial Corp.