CASH - Meta Financial Group Inc.® Announces Results For 2021 Fiscal Third Quarter

SIOUX FALLS, S.D., July 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Meta Financial Group, Inc. ^® (Nasdaq: CASH) (“Meta” or the “Company”) reported net income of $38.7 million, or $1.21 per share, for the three months ended June 30, 2021, compared to net income of $18.2 million, or $0.53 per share, for the three months ended June 30, 2020.

“MetaBank performed well during the third quarter, more than doubling earnings per share, as various timing items including tax season delays, additional card fee income from government stimulus programs, and reduced provision helped enhance performance year-over-year. Our results demonstrate how MetaBank’s mission of financial inclusion for all® is creating value for all our stakeholders, including our customers, employees and shareholders,” said President and CEO Brad Hanson.

Business Development Highlights for the 2021 Fiscal Third Quarter

• Published our inaugural 2020 Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") Report, building on the Company's vision, culture, and mission of financial inclusion for all®. The Company's 2020 ESG report can be downloaded at https://www.metafinancialgroup.com/environmental-social-governance.
• Launched the Company's Community Impact Program, focused on financial inclusion, personal and family financial empowerment, educational support, and disaster relief. Concentrating on these four areas positions MetaBank to encourage long-lasting positive impact in our communities.
• Expanded our renewable energy investment tax credit financing, originating $72.0 million for the first nine months of the fiscal year 2021, resulting in $18.9 million in total net ITC.
• Entered into a new Banking as a Service ("BaaS") partnership with Clair, a social impact embedded fintech startup. The Company will act as both the issuing bank and bank services provider, offering digital banking services for users of Clair.

Financial Highlights for the 2021 Fiscal Third Quarter

• Total revenue for the third quarter was $130.9 million, an increase of $27.7 million compared to $103.2 million for the same quarter in fiscal 2020 primarily driven by a timing shift of refund transfer product fees and additional payments card fee income from government stimulus programs.
• Operating efficiency ratio improved 185 basis points to 61.75% at June 30, 2021 compared to 63.60% at June 30, 2020. See non-GAAP reconciliation table below.
• Net interest income for the third quarter was $68.5 million, an increase of $6.4 million compared to $62.1 million in the third quarter last year, reflecting a decrease in deposit interest expense.
• Net interest margin ("NIM") improved to 3.75% for the third quarter from 3.28% during the same period of last year, chiefly due to the decrease of cash associated with the Company's participation in the EIP program and an increase in national lending loans and leases.
• Total gross loans and leases at June 30, 2021 decreased $1.5 million, to $3.50 billion, compared to June 30, 2020 and decreased $152.8 million, or 4%, when compared to March 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily driven due to the seasonal nature of the taxpayer advance loans.
• Average deposits from the Payments businesses for the fiscal 2021 third quarter increased nearly 8% to $6.79 billion when compared to the prior year quarter largely driven by excess cash on consumer cards related to government stimulus programs.

Tax Season Recap
During the third quarter of the fiscal 2021, total tax services product revenue was $13.6 million compared to $4.6 million in the prior year quarter. The significant increase for the quarter was mostly related to delayed timing of refund-transfers income due to the extension of the tax filing deadline by the IRS. Total tax services product income, net of losses and direct product expenses, increased 19% when comparing the first nine months of fiscal 2021 to the prior year period. The 2021 tax season benefited by the addition of the H&R Block relationship and has been successful despite the challenges caused by an increase in consumer liquidity due to stimulus payments throughout the 2021 tax season.

Economic Impact Program ("EIP") Update
Of the 16.5 million prepaid cards issued in conjunction with the three EIP stimulus programs, totaling approximately $24.15 billion, $2.81 billion were outstanding as of June 30, 2021, of which only $98.1 million was on Meta’s balance sheet with the remainder being held at other banks.

Net Interest Income
Net interest income for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 was $68.5 million, an increase of 10% from the same quarter in fiscal 2020. The increase was primarily driven by a reduction in total interest expense, partially offset by lower overall yields realized on investments and loan and leases.

Interest expense during the third quarter decreased $3.8 million, and loan and lease interest income increased $2.4 million. The third quarter average outstanding balance of loans and leases decreased by $4.2 million compared to the prior year quarter, primarily due to the decrease in community bank and healthcare receivable loan portfolios offset by growth of the remaining commercial loan portfolios. The Company’s average interest-earning assets for the third quarter decreased by $291.8 million to $7.32 billion compared with the prior year quarter, primarily due to the decrease in cash and fed funds sold, total investments, and community bank loans offset by growth of the national lending loans and leases.

Fiscal 2021 third quarter NIM increased to 3.75% from 3.28% for the third quarter last year. The overall reported tax-equivalent yield (“TEY”) on average earning asset yields increased 26 basis points to 3.85% compared to the prior year quarter, primarily driven by a reduction in low-yielding cash held at the Federal Reserve. The TEY on the securities portfolio was 1.62% compared to 2.22% for the comparable period last year.

The Company's cost of funds for all deposits and borrowings averaged 0.09% during the fiscal 2021 third quarter, compared to 0.28% during the prior year quarter, primarily driven by a reduction in wholesale deposit balances. The Company's overall cost of deposits was 0.01% in the fiscal third quarter of 2021, compared to 0.17% in the same quarter last year.

Noninterest Income
Fiscal 2021 third quarter noninterest income increased to $62.5 million, compared to $41.0 million for the same period of the prior year. This increase was primarily related to card fee income and refund transfer fee income. Card fees benefited from increased card balances related to stimulus programs. Refund transfer fee income was higher compared to last year due to refund transfer volume shift from the second fiscal quarter because of the delay in the 2021 tax season.

Noninterest Expense
Noninterest expense increased 14% to $81.5 million for the fiscal 2021 third quarter, from $71.2 million for the same quarter last year, primarily driven by increases in compensation due to a return to more normalized incentive accruals in fiscal year 2021 and additional employees to support growth. Refund transfer product expense was also higher than the same quarter last year, due largely to a shift in volume into the fiscal 2021 third quarter as a result of the delayed IRS filing date.

Income Tax Expense
The Company recorded income tax expense of $4.9 million, representing an effective tax rate of 11.0%, for the fiscal 2021 third quarter, compared to an income tax benefit of $2.4 million, representing an effective tax rate of (14.4)%, for the third quarter last year. The increase in the recorded income tax expense reflected an increase in fiscal 2021 third quarter earnings, whereas the prior year’s income tax benefit was chiefly the result of adjustments needed for the ratably recognized investment tax credits and lower earnings forecast at that time due to COVID-19.

The Company originated $13.5 million in solar leases during the fiscal 2021 third quarter, compared to $1.3 million in last year's third quarter. Investment tax credits related to solar leases are recognized ratably based on income throughout each fiscal year. The timing and impact of future solar tax credits are expected to vary from period to period, and Meta intends to undertake only those tax credit opportunities that meet the Company's underwriting and return criteria.

Investments, Loans and Leases

The Company's investment security balances at June 30, 2021 totaled $1.98 billion, as compared to $1.55 billion at March 31, 2021 and $1.27 billion at June 30, 2020.

Total gross loans and leases totaled $3.50 billion at June 30, 2021, as compared to $3.65 billion at March 31, 2021 and $3.50 billion and as compared to June 30, 2020. The primary driver for the decrease on a linked quarter basis was the pay down of seasonal tax service loans.

At June 30, 2021, commercial finance loans, which comprised 74% of the Company's gross loan and lease portfolio, totaled $2.59 billion, reflecting growth of $80.6 million, or 3%, from March 31, 2021. The increase in commercial finance loans was primarily due to increases in insurance premium finance by $72.8 million and factoring by $43.0 million, partially offset by decreases in lease financing by $25.2 million and SBA/USDA loans by $68.2 million, respectively, along with slight increases spread across several of the other commercial finance categories.

As of June 30, 2021, the Company had 458 loans outstanding with total loan balances of $143.3 million originated as part of the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP"), compared with 576 loans outstanding with total loan balances of $208.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2021. In total, 53% of the PPP loan balances were forgiven through June 30, 2021.

Consumer finance loans totaled $227.8 million as of June 30, 2021, a decrease compared to $235.7 million at March 31, 2021 and $241.6 million at June 30, 2020. This reduction was primarily driven by other consumer finance, which includes student loans and certain seasonal lending products for tax customers.

Tax services loans totaled $41.3 million as of June 30, 2021, a seasonal decrease as compared to $225.9 million for March 31, 2021 and an increase as compared to $19.2 million at June 30, 2020. Warehouse finance loans totaled $335.7 million at June 30, 2021, a 1% increase from March 31, 2021.

Community bank loans held for investment totaled $304.0 million as of June 30, 2021, decreasing as compared to $348.1 million at March 31, 2021 and $799.4 million at June 30, 2020. As of June 30, 2021, the Company had $18.1 million in community bank loans classified as held for sale.

Asset Quality
The Company’s allowance for credit losses totaled $91.2 million at June 30, 2021, a decrease compared to $98.9 million at March 31, 2021 and an increase compared to $65.7 million at June 30, 2020. The decrease in the allowance at June 30, 2021 when compared to March 31, 2021, was primarily due to the seasonal tax services loan portfolio, which decreased $4.8 million and consumer finance, which decreased $2.4 million during the fiscal 2021 third quarter.

The year-over-year increase in the allowance was primarily driven by a $16.0 million increase within the commercial finance portfolio, a $12.9 million increase in tax services, and a $4.4 million increase in the consumer finance portfolio. These increases were primarily driven by impacts from the pandemic, year-over-year loan growth and the adoption of the current expected credit losses ("CECL") accounting standard, which required a day one entry to increase the allowance for credit losses in the amount of $12.8 million effective October 1, 2020. The increases noted above were partially offset by a $7.2 million decrease within the retained community banking portfolio, which has decreased along with the reduction in year-over-year loan balances.

The following table presents the Company's allowance for credit losses as a percentage of its total loans and leases.

⁽¹⁾ Represents the Company's allowance coverage ratio upon the adoption of the Accounting Standards Update 2016-13 using September 30, 2020 loan and lease and allowance balances plus the CECL allowance adjustment.

The Company's allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans and leases decreased to 2.61% at June 30, 2021 from 2.71% at March 31, 2021. The decrease in the total loans and leases coverage ratio reflected a seasonal reduction in the allowance of the tax services loan portfolios. The coverage ratios for the other non-tax-related loan categories remained relatively similar to the March 31, 2021 quarter. The Company expects to continue to diligently monitor the allowance for credit losses and adjust as necessary in future periods to maintain an appropriate and supportable level.

Activity in the allowance for credit losses for the periods presented was as follows.

Provision for credit losses was $4.6 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, compared to $15.1 million for the comparable period in the prior fiscal year. The decrease in the overall provision compared to the prior year was due in large part to the increase in the allowance as part of the Company's response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic during the third quarter of fiscal 2020. Net charge-offs were $12.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, compared to $14.7 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. The majority of the net charge-offs for the quarter were attributable to seasonal tax-related loan products.

The Company's past due loans and leases were as follows for the periods presented.

The Company's nonperforming assets at June 30, 2021 were $45.1 million, representing 0.64% of total assets, compared to $46.7 million, or 0.48% of total assets at March 31, 2021 and $56.1 million, or 0.64% of total assets at June 30, 2020. The changes in the nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets at June 30, 2021 were driven in large part by a significant reduction in period-end total assets as the total nonperforming assets for June 30, 2021 decreased when compared to both the linked-quarter and the prior year.

The Company's nonperforming loans and leases at June 30, 2021, were $41.9 million, representing 1.17% of total gross loans and leases, compared to $43.5 million, or 1.17% of total gross loans and leases at March 31, 2021 and $39.3 million, or 1.10% of total gross loans and leases at June 30, 2020.

Loan and lease balances that were within their active deferment period decreased to $41.5 million at June 30, 2021 from $66.5 million at March 31, 2021.

Meta is now revising its credit administration policies and reviewing its loan portfolio to better align with OCC guidance for national banks, a process that began during the quarter ending June 30, 2021 and is expected to be completed by September 30, 2021. We expect these credit policy revisions will have an impact on our loan and lease risk ratings, resulting in downgrades of certain credits in several categories. Our loan and collateral management practices have proven effective in managing losses during previous economic cycles; and while we expect this process will result in setting a new baseline for portfolio metrics going forward, it does not indicate a deterioration in our portfolio's expected performance. Further, these changes do not reflect an increase in credit risk for past or future periods and thus we do not anticipate any increase in losses as a result of these one-time administrative adjustments to these credits' risk ratings.

The Company has various portfolios of consumer finance and tax services loans that present unique risks. Due to the unique risks associated with these portfolios, the Company monitors other credit quality indicators in their evaluation of the appropriateness of the allowance for credit losses on these portfolios, and as such, these loans are not included in the asset classification table below. The Company's loans and leases by asset classification were as follows for the periods presented.

Deposits, Borrowings and Other Liabilities
Total average deposits for the fiscal 2021 third quarter decreased by $240.7 million to $6.98 billion compared to the same period in fiscal 2020, due to a reduction in wholesale deposits partially offset by increases in all other non-maturity deposit categories. Average wholesale deposits decreased $731.1 million, or 89%, while noninterest-bearing deposits increased $323.1 million, or 5%, for the fiscal 2021 third quarter when compared to the same period in fiscal 2020. Average deposits from the Payments division increased nearly 8% to $6.79 billion for the fiscal 2021 third quarter when compared to the same period in fiscal 2020. Excluding the balances on the EIP cards, average payments deposits for the fiscal 2021 second quarter were $6.67 billion, representing an increase of 42% compared to the same period of the prior year, which continues to be largely driven by other stimulus-related dollars loaded on various partner cards.

The average balance of total deposits and interest-bearing liabilities was $7.08 billion for the three-month period ended June 30, 2021, compared to $7.49 billion for the same period in the prior fiscal year, representing a decrease of 6%.

Total end-of-period deposits decreased 22% to $5.89 billion at June 30, 2021, compared to $7.59 billion at June 30, 2020. The reduction in end-of-period deposits was primarily driven by decreases in noninterest-bearing deposits of $1.15 billion and wholesale deposits of $665.0 million. The decrease in noninterest-bearing deposits was driven by a $2.58 billion reduction in EIP program card balances from June 30, 2020 to June 30, 2021 as Meta was able to shift most of the remaining EIP program card balances from its balance sheet to other banks. That decrease in EIP balances was partially offset by growth in payments deposits that has been largely driven by excess cash on consumer cards related to government stimulus programs.

Regulatory Capital
The Company and MetaBank remained above the federal regulatory minimum capital requirements at June 30, 2021, continued to be classified as well-capitalized, and in good standing with the regulatory agencies. A temporary exemption was granted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency related to the financial impacts of distributing prepaid debit cards as part of the EIP program. Regulatory capital ratios of the Company and the Bank are stated in the table below.

The tables below include certain non-GAAP financial measures that are used by investors, analysts and bank regulatory agencies to assess the capital position of financial services companies. Management reviews these measures along with other measures of capital as part of its financial analysis.

⁽¹⁾ June 30, 2021 amounts are preliminary pending completion and filing of the Company's regulatory reports. Regulatory capital presented for periods in fiscal year 2021 reflect the Company's election of the five-year CECL transition for regulatory capital purposes.

The following table provides the non-GAAP financial measures used to compute certain of the ratios included in the table above, as well as a reconciliation of such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measure in accordance with GAAP:

⁽¹⁾ Capital ratios were determined using the Basel III capital rules that became effective on January 1, 2015. Basel III revised the definition of capital, increased minimum capital ratios, and introduced a minimum CET1 ratio; those changes are being fully phased in through the end of 2021.

The following table provides a reconciliation of tangible common equity and tangible common equity excluding accumulated other comprehensive income ("AOCI"), each of which is used in calculating tangible book value data, to Total Stockholders' Equity. Each of tangible common equity and tangible common equity excluding AOCI is a non-GAAP financial measure that is commonly used within the banking industry.

Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call and earnings webcast at 4:00 p.m. Central Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on Wednesday, July 28, 2021. The live webcast of the call can be accessed from Meta’s Investor Relations website at www.metafinancialgroup.com. Telephone participants may access the live conference call by dialing (844) 461-9934 beginning approximately 10 minutes prior to start time. Please ask to join the Meta Financial conference call, and provide conference ID 5084665 upon request. International callers should dial (636) 812-6634. A webcast replay will also be archived at www.metafinancialgroup.com for one year.

Upcoming Investor Events

• Raymond James U.S. Bank Conference, September 8, 2021 | Chicago, IL

Forward-Looking Statements
The Company and MetaBank may from time to time make written or oral “forward-looking statements,” including statements contained in this press release, the Company’s filings with the SEC, the Company’s reports to stockholders, and in other communications by the Company and MetaBank, which are made in good faith by the Company pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

You can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “may,” “hope,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “could,” “future,” or the negative of those terms, or other words of similar meaning or similar expressions. You should carefully read statements that contain these words because they discuss our future expectations or state other “forward-looking” information. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and assumptions about future events, and include statements with respect to the Company’s beliefs, expectations, estimates, and intentions, which are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various factors, some of which are beyond the Company’s control. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause our actual growth, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, performance and business prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Such statements address, among others, the following subjects: future operating results; expectations in connection with the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and related government actions on our business, our industry and the capital markets; customer retention; loan and other product demand; expectations concerning acquisitions and divestitures; new products and services, including those offered by Meta Payment Systems, Refund Advantage, EPS Financial and Specialty Consumer Services divisions; credit quality; the level of net charge-offs and the adequacy of the allowance for credit losses; technology; and the Company's employees. The following factors, among others, could cause the Company's financial performance and results of operations to differ materially from the expectations, estimates, and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements: maintaining our executive management team; expected growth opportunities may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected; the potential adverse effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and any governmental or societal responses thereto including the deployment and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, or other unusual and infrequently occurring events; actual changes in interest rates and the Fed Funds rate; additional changes in tax laws; the strength of the United States' economy, in general, and the strength of the local economies in which the Company operates; changes in trade, monetary, and fiscal policies and laws, including interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve; inflation, market, and monetary fluctuations; the timely and efficient development of, and acceptance of, new products and services offered by the Company or its strategic partners, as well as risks (including reputational and litigation) attendant thereto, and the perceived overall value of these products and services by users; the risks of dealing with or utilizing third parties, including, in connection with the Company’s refund advance business, the risk of reduced volume of refund advance loans as a result of reduced customer demand for or usage of Meta’s strategic partners’ refund advance products; our relationship with, and any actions which may be initiated by, our regulators; the impact of changes in financial services laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, laws and regulations relating to the tax refund industry and the insurance premium finance industry; technological changes, including, but not limited to, the protection of our electronic systems and information; the impact of acquisitions and divestitures; litigation risk; the growth of the Company’s business, as well as expenses related thereto; continued maintenance by MetaBank of its status as a well-capitalized institution; changes in consumer spending and saving habits; the impact of our participation as prepaid card issuer for the EIP program and similar programs in the future; losses from fraudulent or illegal activity; technological risks and developments and cyber threats, attacks, or events; and the success of the Company at maintaining its high quality asset level and managing and collecting assets of borrowers in default should problem assets increase.

The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. We caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this press release speak only as of the date hereof. Additional discussions of factors affecting the Company’s business and prospects are reflected under the caption “Risk Factors” and in other sections of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Company’s fiscal year ended September 30, 2020, and in other filings made with the SEC. The Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company or its subsidiaries, whether as a result of new information, changed circumstances, or future events or for any other reason.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition (Unaudited)

(Dollars in Thousands, Except Share Data)

Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited)

(Dollars in Thousands, Except Share and Per Share Data)

⁽¹⁾ Amounts presented are used in the two-class earnings per common share calculation.

Average Balances, Interest Rates and Yields

The following table presents, for the periods indicated, the total dollar amount of interest income from average interest-earning assets and the resulting yields, as well as the interest expense on average interest-bearing liabilities, expressed both in dollars and in rates. Only the yield/rate reflects tax-equivalent adjustments. Nonaccruing loans and leases have been included in the table as loans carrying a zero yield.