PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP - Quarter Report: 2021 March (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2021

OR

For the transition period from _____________ to _______________

Commission File Number: 0-26850

Premier Financial Corp.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (419) 782-5015

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.     Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).     Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).     Yes  ☐    No  ☒

As of April 30, 2021, the registrant had 37,303,971 shares of common stock, $.01 par value per share, outstanding.

PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP.

INDEX

1

PART I-FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements

PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP.

Consolidated Condensed Statements of Financial Condition

(UNAUDITED)

(Amounts in Thousands, except share and per share data)

(continued)

2

PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP.

Consolidated Condensed Statements of Financial Condition

(UNAUDITED)

(Amounts in Thousands, except share and per share data)

See accompanying notes.

3

PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP.

Consolidated Condensed Statements of Income

(UNAUDITED)

(Amounts in Thousands, except per share data)

See accompanying notes.

4

PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP.

Consolidated Condensed Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss)

(UNAUDITED)

(Amounts in Thousands)

See accompanying notes.

5

PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP.

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity

(UNAUDITED)

(Amounts in Thousands, except share and per share data)

See accompanying notes.

6

PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP.

Consolidated Condensed Statements of Cash Flows

(UNAUDITED)

(Amounts in Thousands)

See accompanying notes.

Refer to Note 17 – Business Combinations for non-cash activity.

7

PREMIER FINANCIAL CORP.

Notes to Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements (UNAUDITED)

March 31, 2021 and 2020

On June 19, 2020, First Defiance Financial Corp. changed its name to Premier Financial Corp. (“Premier” or the “Company”).  In connection with the name change, Premier’s stock continued to be traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, but under the new ticker PFC.  On this same date, First Federal Bank of the Midwest, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, changed its name to Premier Bank (the “Bank”).

Premier is a financial holding company that conducts business through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, the Bank, First Insurance Group of the Midwest, Inc. (“First Insurance”), First Defiance Risk Management Inc. (“First Defiance Risk Management”) and HSB Capital, LLC (“HSB Capital”). All significant intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation.

On January 31, 2020, Premier completed its previously announced acquisition of United Community Financial Corp., an Ohio corporation (“UCFC”), pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), dated as of September 9, 2019, by and between Premier and UCFC. At the effective time of the merger (the “Merger”), UCFC merged with and into Premier, with Premier surviving the Merger.  Simultaneously with the completion of the Merger, Premier converted from a unitary thrift holding company to a bank holding company, making an election to be a financial holding company.

Immediately following the Merger, the Bank acquired UCFC’s wholly-owned bank subsidiary, Home Savings Bank (“Home Savings”).  Immediately prior to the merger of the banks, the Bank converted from a federal thrift into an Ohio state-chartered bank. In addition, immediately following the merger of the banks, UCFC’s wholly-owned insurance subsidiaries, HSB Insurance, LLC, and United American Financial Services, Inc., each merged into First Insurance, with First Insurance surviving the mergers. Premier acquired two additional subsidiaries in the Merger, HSB Capital and HSB Insurance, Inc.  HSB Insurance, Inc. was dissolved in September 2020.

The Bank is primarily engaged in community banking. It attracts deposits from the general public through its offices and website, and uses those and other available sources of funds to originate residential real estate loans, commercial real estate loans, commercial loans, home improvement and home equity loans and consumer loans. In addition, the Bank invests in U.S. Treasury and federal government agency obligations, obligations of states and political subdivisions, mortgage-backed securities that are issued by federal agencies, collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMOs”), and corporate bonds. The Bank’s deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”). The Bank is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) System.

HSB Capital was formed as an Ohio limited liability company by UCFC in 2016 for the purpose of providing mezzanine funding for customers of Home Savings. Mezzanine loans are offered by HSB Capital to customers in the Company’s market area and are expected to be repaid from the cash flow from operations of the business.  

First Insurance is an insurance agency that conducts business throughout Premier’s markets. First Insurance offers property and casualty insurance, life insurance and group health insurance.

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First Defiance Risk Management is a wholly-owned insurance company subsidiary of the Company that insures the Company and its subsidiaries against certain risks unique to the operations of the Company and for which insurance may not be currently available or economically feasible in today’s insurance marketplace.  First Defiance Risk Management pools resources with several other similar insurance company subsidiaries of financial institutions to help minimize the risk allocable to each participating insurer.

The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to create extensive disruptions to the global economy and to the lives of individuals throughout the world.  Business and consumer customers of the Bank are experiencing varying degrees of financial distress, which is expected to continue over the coming months and will likely adversely affect their ability to pay interest and principal on their loans.  Further, value of the collateral securing their obligations may decline.  These uncertainties may negatively impact the Statement of Financial Condition, the Statement of Income and the Statement of Cash Flows of the Company.

The consolidated condensed statement of financial condition at December 31, 2020, was derived from the audited financial statements at that date, which were included in Premier’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 (the “2020 Form 10-K”).

The accompanying consolidated condensed financial statements as of March 31, 2021, and for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 have been prepared by the Company without audit and do not include information or footnotes necessary for the complete presentation of financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). These consolidated condensed financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes thereto included in the 2020 Form 10-K. However, in the opinion of management, all adjustments, consisting of only normal recurring items, necessary for the fair presentation of the financial statements have been made. The results for the three month period ended March 31, 2021, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the entire year.

Accounting Standards Update

ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments: Issued in June 2016, ASU 2016-13 will add FASB ASC Topic 326, “Financial Instruments-Credit Losses” and finalizes amendments to FASB ASC Subtopic 825-15, “Financial Instruments-Credit Losses.” The amendments of ASU 2016-13 are intended to provide financial statement users with more decision-useful information related to expected credit losses on financial instruments and other commitments to extend credit by replacing the current incurred loss impairment methodology with a methodology that reflects expected credit losses and requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to determine credit loss estimates. The amendments of ASU 2016-13 eliminate the probable initial recognition threshold and, in turn, reflect an entity’s current estimate of all expected credit losses. ASU 2016-13 does not specify the method for measuring expected credit losses, and an entity is allowed to apply methods that reasonably reflect its expectations of the credit loss estimate. The amendments of ASU 2016-13, and all subsequent ASUs issued by FASB to provide additional guidance and clarification related to this Topic, became effective for the Company on January 1, 2020.

9

As a result of adopting the amendments of ASU 2016-13, the Company recorded an increase to its allowance for credit losses of $2.4 million and an increase to its allowance for credit losses on off-balance sheet credit exposures of $0.9 million resulting in a one-time cumulative effect adjustment through retained earnings of $2.6 million net of $0.7 million tax at the date of adoption. This adjustment included a qualitative adjustment to the allowance for credit losses related to loans and an allowance on off-balance sheet credit exposures. The Company estimates losses over an approximate one-year forecast period using Moody’s baseline economic forecasts, and then reverts to longer term historical loss experience over a three-year period.

Accounting Standards not yet adopted:

ASU No. 2020-04: Reference Rate Reform – Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting (Topic 848): This guidance provides temporary options to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform. It is intended to help stakeholders during the global market-wide reference rate transition period. The guidance is effective as of March 12, 2021, through December 31, 2022. The Company anticipates being fully prepared to implement a replacement for the reference rate and has determined that any change will not have a material impact to the consolidated financial statements.

FASB ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurements, defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in an orderly transaction between market participants. A fair value measurement assumes that the transaction to sell the asset or transfer the liability occurs in the principal market for the asset or liability or, in the absence of a principal market, the most advantageous market for the asset or liability. The price in the principal (or most advantageous) market used to measure the fair value of the asset or liability shall not be adjusted for transaction costs. An orderly transaction is a transaction that assumes exposure to the market for a period prior to the measurement date to allow for marketing activities that are usual and customary for transactions involving such assets and liabilities; it is not a forced transaction. Market participants are buyers and sellers in the principal market that are (i) independent, (ii) knowledgeable, (iii) able to transact and (iv) willing to transact.

FASB ASC Topic 820 requires the use of valuation techniques that are consistent with the market approach, the income approach and/or the cost approach. The market approach uses prices and other relevant information generated by market transactions involving identical or comparable assets and liabilities. The income approach uses valuation techniques to convert future amounts, such as cash flows or earnings, to a single present amount on a discounted basis. The cost approach is based on the amount that currently would be required to replace the service capacity of an asset (replacement cost). Valuation techniques should be consistently applied. Inputs to valuation techniques refer to the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. Inputs may be observable, meaning those that reflect the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on the best information available. In that regard, FASB ASC Topic 820 established a fair value hierarchy for valuation inputs that gives the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs. The fair value hierarchy is as follows:

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A description of the valuation methodologies used for instruments measured at fair value, as well as the general classification of such instruments pursuant to the valuation hierarchy, is set forth below.  

Available-for-sale securities - Securities classified as available for sale are generally reported at fair value utilizing Level 2 inputs where the Company obtains fair value measurements from an independent pricing service that uses matrix pricing, which is a mathematical technique widely used in the industry to value debt securities without relying exclusively on quoted prices for the specific securities but rather by relying on the securities’ relationship to other benchmark quoted securities (Level 2 inputs). The fair value measurements consider observable data that may include dealer quotes, market spreads, cash flows and the bonds’ terms and conditions, among other things. Securities in Level 2 include U.S. federal government agencies, mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, corporate bonds and municipal securities.

Equity securities – These securities are reported at fair value utilizing Level 1 inputs where the Company obtains fair value measurements from a broker.

Loans held for sale, carried at fair value – The Company elected the fair value option for all conventional residential one-to four-family loans held for sale and all permanent construction loans held for sale that were acquired from UCFC in the Merger.  In addition, the Company has elected the fair value option for all loans held for sale originated after January 31, 2020.

The fair value of conventional loans held for sale is determined using the current 15 day forward contract price for either 15 or 30 year conventional mortgages (Level 2). The fair value of permanent construction loans held for sale is determined using the current 60 day forward contract price for 15 or 30 years conventional mortgages which is then adjusted for unobservable market data such as estimated fall out rates and estimated time from origination to completion of construction (Level 3).

Collateral dependent loans - Fair values for individually analyzed collateral dependent loans are generally based on appraisals obtained from licensed real estate appraisers and in certain circumstances consideration of offers obtained to purchase properties prior to foreclosure.  Appraisals for commercial real estate generally use three methods to derive value: cost, sales or market comparison and income approach.  The cost method bases value on the cost to replace the current property.  Value of market comparison approach evaluates the sales price of similar properties in the same market area.  The income approach considers net operating income generated by the property and an investor’s required return.  Adjustments are routinely made in the appraisal process by the independent appraisers to adjust for differences between the comparable sales and income data available.  Comparable sales adjustments are based on known sales prices of similar type and similar use properties and duration of time that the property has been on the market to sell.  Such adjustments made in the appraisal process are typically significant and result in a Level 3 classification of the inputs for determining fair value.

11

Real estate held for sale - Assets acquired through or instead of loan foreclosure are initially recorded at fair value less costs to sell when acquired, establishing a new cost basis.  These assets are then reviewed monthly by members of the asset review committee for valuation changes and are accounted for at lower of cost or fair value less estimated costs to sell.  Fair value is commonly based on recent real estate appraisals which may utilize a single valuation approach or a combination of approaches including cost, comparable sales and the income approach.  Adjustments are routinely made in the appraisal process by the independent appraisers to adjust for differences between the comparable sales and income data available.  Such adjustments may be significant and typically result in a Level 3 classification of the inputs for determining fair value.

Appraisals for both individually analyzed collateral-dependent loans and other real estate owned are performed by certified general appraisers (for commercial properties) or certified residential appraisers (for residential properties) whose qualifications and licenses have been reviewed and verified by the Company.  Once received, a member of the Company’s asset quality or collections department reviews the assumptions and approaches utilized in the appraisal.  Appraisal values are discounted from 0% to 30% to account for other factors that may impact the value of collateral. In determining the value of individually analyzed collateral dependent loans and other real estate owned, significant unobservable inputs may be used, which include but are not limited to:  physical condition of comparable properties sold, net operating income generated by the property and investor rates of return.

Mortgage servicing rights - On a quarterly basis, mortgage servicing rights are evaluated for impairment based upon the fair value of the rights as compared to the carrying amount.  If the carrying amount of an individual tranche exceeds fair value, impairment is recorded on that tranche so that the servicing asset is carried at fair value.  Fair value is determined at a tranche level based on a model that calculates the present value of estimated future net servicing income.  The valuation model utilizes assumptions that market participants would use in estimating future net servicing income and are validated against available market data (Level 2).

Mortgage banking derivative - The fair value of mortgage banking derivatives are evaluated monthly based on derivative valuation models using quoted prices for similar assets adjusted for specific attributes of the commitments and other observable market data at the valuation date (Level 2).    

Purchased and written certificate of deposit option – The Company acquired purchased and written certificate of deposit options in its Merger with UCFC.  These written and purchased options are mirror derivative instruments that are carried at fair value on the statement of financial condition.  The Company uses an independent third party to perform a market valuation analysis for purchased and written certificate of deposit options  (Level 2).

Interest rate swaps – The Company periodically enters into interest rate swap agreements with its commercial customers who desire a fixed rate loan term that is longer than the Company is willing to extend.  The Company then enters into a reciprocal swap agreement with a third party that offsets the interest rate risk from the interest rate swap extended to the customer.  The interest rate swaps are derivative instruments which are carried at fair value on the statement of financial condition.  The Company uses an independent third party to perform a market valuation analysis for both swap positions (Level 2).

The following table summarizes the financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis segregated by the level of the valuation inputs within the fair value hierarchy utilized to measure fair value:

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Assets and Liabilities Measured on a Recurring Basis

The tables below present a reconciliation of all assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) for the three month periods ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.

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For Level 3 assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis, the significant unobservable inputs used in the fair value measurements were as follows:

The following table summarizes the financial assets measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis segregated by the level of the valuation inputs within the fair value hierarchy utilized to measure fair value:

Assets and Liabilities Measured on a Non-Recurring Basis

14

For Level 3 assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis as of March 31, 2021, the significant unobservable inputs used in the fair value measurements were as follows:

For Level 3 assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis as of December 31, 2020, the significant unobservable inputs used in the fair value measurements were as follows: