Full Transcript: First BanCorp Q2 2026 Earnings Call

First BanCorp (NYSE: FBP ) released second-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Wednesday. Read the complete transcript below. This content is powered APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit Access the full call at Summary First BanCorp reported strong financial performance for Q2 2026, with net income of $96 million, up 24% year-over-year, and pre-tax, pre-provision income reaching a record high of $138 million.

Loan growth accelerated, particularly in commercial activity in Puerto Rico, with total loan originations increasing by 21% year-over-year, and total deposits growing by $274 million. 20 per share dividend, while ending the quarter with a CET1 ratio of 17%. Strategic initiatives included investments in technology for customer experience enhancement, leveraging AI for process automation, and expanding presence in Florida. Future outlook remains positive with sustained loan growth guidance of 3-5% for 2026, stable economic conditions supporting business activity, and continued focus on organic growth and potential strategic opportunities.

Full Transcript OPERATOR Good morning and welcome to the First BanCorp second quarter 2026 financial results conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. To ask a question at this time, you will need to press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad.

As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Ramon Rodriguez, First BanCorp's Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations Officer. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Ramon Rodriguez, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations Officer Thank you, Julianne. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining First BanCorp's conference call and webcast to discuss the Company's financial results for the second quarter of 2026. I'm here with Aurelio Aleman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Sayed Ortiz, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin today's call, it is my responsibility to inform you that this call may involve certain forward-looking statements such as projections of revenue, earnings, and capital structure, as well as statements on the plans and objectives of the Company's business. The Company's actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements made due to the important factors described in the Company's SEC filings. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during the call. com.

At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to our CEO, Aurelio Aleman. Aurelio Aleman, President and CEO Thank you, Ramon. Good morning to everyone and thanks for joining our earnings call again. We concluded the first half of the year with another quarter of strong core performance, delivering growth across the franchise and generating very attractive returns for our shareholders.

We earned 96 million in net income, or 62 cents per share. That is up 24% when compared to the same quarter last year. Underlying revenue trends, I have to say, remain very strong during the quarter, with pre-tax, pre-provision income reaching an all-time high of 138 million, which is actually up 11% from a year ago. 5%, continuing the strongest and most consistent period of financial performance in our history.

Moving to the balance sheet. 3 billion in total loans; that is up 5% on a linked-quarter annualized basis. 7 billion during the quarter, reflecting a 21% year-over-year increase. Given what we see in our pipelines, we do expect this level of activity to continue for the remainder of the year.

This actually reinforces our path to achieve our full-year growth objective for 2026. Total deposits grew by 274 million during the quarter, primarily driven by an increase in government deposits, but also we have a slight increase in core customer deposits. Credit performance remains sound with lower net charge-offs, and non-performing assets remaining near historical lows. That said, early-stage delinquency came up during the quarter, but essentially, when we look at it over the same period last year, it was flat to prior-year June and was actually below December 2025.

So we continue to monitor early-stage delinquency trends and broader consumer market conditions. Regarding capital deployment, consistent with prior quarters, we completed our 50 million of share buybacks and we paid a 20 cents per share dividend. Even after these actions, we ended the quarter with a very strong CET1 of 17%, which leaves ample room to continue investing strategically in our franchise, technology to enhance competitiveness, and improve the customer experience, which is our primary objective. Moving to slide five.

Happy to see that in spite of the global noise and war, we continue to see an environment that is positive and stable, supportive of the loan activity that we see. 6%, which is pretty good for our market considering trends. Reconstruction activity continues to provide economic support, and the island continues to benefit from encouraging reshoring and manufacturing investments—announcements that represent future benefit. While, on the other hand, industry sales continue to reflect the impact of tariffs.

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