CVB FINANCIAL CORP

Financial Performance

Return on Average Tangible Common Equity Reconciliation (Non-GAAP)

The return on average tangible common equity is a non-GAAP disclosure. The Company uses certain non-GAAP financial measures to provide supplemental information regarding the Company's performance. The following is a reconciliation of net income, adjusted for tax-effected amortization of intangibles, to net income computed in accordance with GAAP; a reconciliation of average tangible common equity to the Company's average stockholders' equity computed in accordance with GAAP; as well as a calculation of return on average tangible common equity.

(1)

Tax effected at respective statutory rates.

(2)

Annualized where applicable.

Net Interest Income

The principal component of our earnings is net interest income, which is the difference between the interest and fees earned on loans and investments (interest-earning assets) and the interest paid on deposits and borrowed funds (interest-bearing liabilities). Net interest margin is net interest income as a percentage of average interest-earning assets for the period. The level of interest rates and the volume and mix of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities impact net interest income and net interest margin. The net interest spread is the yield on average interest-earning assets minus the cost of average interest-bearing liabilities. Net interest margin and net interest spread are included on a tax equivalent (TE) basis by adjusting interest income utilizing the federal statutory tax rates of 21% in effect for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024. Our net interest income, interest spread, and net interest margin are sensitive to general business and economic conditions. These conditions include short-term and long-term interest rates, inflation, monetary supply, and the strength of the international, national and state economies, in general, and more specifically, the local economies in which we conduct business. Our ability to manage net interest income during changing interest rate environments will have a significant impact on our overall performance. We manage net interest income through affecting changes in the mix of interest-earning assets as well as the mix of interest-bearing liabilities, changes in the level of interest-bearing liabilities in proportion to interest-earning assets, and in the growth and maturity of earning assets. See Item 2 –Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Asset/Liability and Market Risk Management – Interest Rate Sensitivity Management included herein.

The tables below present the interest rate spread, net interest margin and the composition of average interest-earning assets and average interest-bearing liabilities by category for the periods indicated, including the changes in average balance, composition, and average yield/rate between these respective periods.

(1)

Includes tax equivalent (TE) adjustments utilizing federal statutory rates of 21% in effect for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2024. The non TE rates for total investment securities were 2.59% and 2.60% for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2024, respectively.

(2)

Includes loan fees of $700,000 and $706,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2024, respectively. Prepayment penalty fees of $931,000 and $630,000 are included in interest income for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2024, respectively.

(3)

Includes interest-bearing demand and money market accounts.

The following table presents a comparison of interest income and interest expense resulting from changes in the volumes and rates on average interest-earning assets and average interest-bearing liabilities for the periods indicated. Changes in interest income or expense attributable to volume changes are calculated by multiplying the change in volume by the initial average interest rate. The change in interest income or expense attributable to changes in interest rates is calculated by multiplying the change in interest rate by the initial volume. The changes attributable to interest rate and volume changes are calculated by multiplying the change in rate times the change in volume and reflect an adjustment for the number of days as appropriate.

Rate and Volume Analysis for Changes in Interest Income, Interest Expense and Net Interest Income

Net interest income, before provision for credit losses, of $110.4 million for the first quarter of 2025 decreased by $2.02 million, or 1.79%, from the first quarter of 2024. The decline in net interest income compared to the first quarter of 2024 was the net result of a $1.09 billion decline in earning assets and a 21 basis point increase in net interest margin. The expansion of the net interest margin was the result of an 27 basis point decrease in funding costs, which offset a 6 basis point decrease in the earning asset yield. The decrease in funding costs includes interest expense from borrowings, which decreased by approximately $17.1 million compared to the first quarter of 2024, as average borrowings declined by approximately $1.5 billion.

Total interest income of $143.0 million decreased by $14.7 million, or 9.31%, when compared to the first quarter of 2024. This decrease was primarily due to a $1.09 billion decline in earning assets. Average loan balances declined by $357.1 million, while total investment securities declined by an average of $449 million and funds held at the Federal Reserve declined by $272.0 million on average. Earning asset yields decreased from 4.34% in the first quarter of 2024 to 4.28% in the first quarter of 2025. Loan yields declined from 5.30% for the first quarter of 2024 to 5.22% for the first quarter of 2025, as the Federal Reserve decreased the federal funds rate by 100 basis points during the second half of 2024. The yield on investment securities increased by 17 basis points from the prior year quarter, as certain low yielding AFS securities were sold during the second half of 2024 and new higher yielding investments were purchased during the fourth quarter of 2024.

Total interest income and fees on loans for the first quarter of 2025 was $109.1 million, a decrease of $7.3 million, or 6.26%, from the first quarter of 2024. This decrease in income was primarily due to $357.1 million decrease in average loans outstanding, as well as an 8 basis point decline in loan yields. Loan yields decreased from 5.30% in the first quarter of 2024 to 5.22% in the first quarter of 2025, as declining short term interest rates, such as the Prime rate impacted variable indexed loans.

Interest income from investment securities was $31.8 million, a decrease of $3.1 million, or 8.88%, from the first quarter of 2024. The decrease includes a $2.6 million decrease in the positive carry from pay-fixed swaps that are fair value hedges of our AFS investment portfolio. This decrease was due to both a reduction in the positive carry between the fixed rate on the swaps and daily SOFR and a decrease in the notional value of the swaps from $1 billion during the first quarter of 2024 to $700 million in the first quarter of 2025, after a $300 million swap was terminated at the end of 2024. Excluding the fair value hedges, the yield on investment securities increased by 17 basis points when compared to the first quarter of 2024. The increase in the investment yields was offset by a $449 million year over year decline in average investments.

Interest expense of $32.6 million for the first quarter of 2025, decreased $12.7 million, compared to the first quarter of 2024. Total cost of funds of 1.04% for the first quarter of 2025 decreased from 1.31% for the year ago quarter. This 27 basis point decrease in cost of funds was the result of a $1.5 billion decline in average borrowings that had a cost of 4.76% on average in the first quarter of 2024 and an average cost of 4.61% in the first quarter of 2025. The cost of total deposit and customer repurchase agreements increased from .73% in the first quarter of 2024 to .87% in the first quarter of 2025. Average noninterest-bearing deposits were 59.01% of total deposits for the first quarter of 2025, compared to 61.72% for the first quarter of 2024.

Provision for (Recapture of) Credit Losses

The provision for (recapture of) credit losses is a charge to earnings to maintain the allowance for credit losses at a level consistent with management’s assessment of expected lifetime losses in the loan portfolio as of the balance sheet date.

There was $2.0 million recapture of credit losses in the first quarter of 2025, compared to no provision in the first quarter of 2024. Projected loss rates were 0.94% at March 31, 2025, compared to 0.94% at March 31, 2024. Refer to the discussion of “Allowance for Credit Losses” in Item 2 –Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contained herein for discussion concerning observed changes in the credit quality of various components of our loan portfolio as well as changes and refinements to our methodology.

No assurance can be given that economic conditions which affect the Company’s service areas or other circumstances will or will not be reflected in future changes in the level of our allowance for credit losses and the resulting provision or recapture of provision for credit losses. The process to estimate the allowance for credit losses requires considerable judgment and our economic forecasts may continue to vary due to the uncertainty of the future impact from the recent rise in interest rates, geopolitical events in Europe, and global inflation will have on future interest rates, unemployment, the overall economy and resulting impact on our customers. See “Allowance for Credit Losses” under Analysis of Financial Condition herein.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income includes income derived from financial services offered to our customers, such as CitizensTrust, merchant processing and card services, international banking, and other business services. Also included in noninterest income are service charges and fees, primarily from deposit accounts, gains (net of losses) from the disposition of investment securities, loans, other real estate owned, and fixed assets, and other revenues not included as interest on earning assets.

The following table sets forth the various components of noninterest income for the periods presented.

The $2.1 million increase in noninterest income included a $2.2 million gain on sale of OREO. CRA investment income increased by approximately $450,000, due to changes in the net asset value of certain equity investments.

Trust and Investment Services represents our CitizensTrust group. The CitizensTrust group is made up of wealth management and investment services. They provide a variety of services, which include asset management, financial planning, estate planning, retirement planning, private and corporate trustee services, and probate services. Investment Services provides self-directed brokerage, 401(k) plans, mutual funds, insurance and other non-insured investment products. At March 31, 2025, CitizensTrust had approximately $4.7 billion in assets under management and administration, including $3.38 billion in assets under management. CitizensTrust generated fees of $3.4 million for the first quarter of 2025, compared to $3.2 million for the first quarter of 2024.

The Bank’s investment in BOLI includes life insurance policies generally acquired through acquisitions or the purchase of life insurance by the Bank on a select group of employees to fund deferred compensation plans. The Bank is the owner and beneficiary of these policies. BOLI is recorded as an asset at its cash surrender value. Increases in the cash value of these policies, as well as insurance proceeds received, are recorded in noninterest income and are not subject to income tax, as long as they are held for the life of the covered parties. The $762,000 decrease in BOLI income was primarily due to receiving in the first quarter of 2024 $531,000 in death benefits that exceeded the asset value on certain policies.

Noninterest Expense

The following table summarizes the various components of noninterest expense for the periods presented.

(1)

Noninterest expense divided by net interest income before provision for credit losses plus noninterest income.

Our ability to control noninterest expenses in relation to asset growth can be measured in terms of total noninterest expenses as a percentage of average assets. Noninterest expense as a percentage of average assets was 1.58% for the first quarter of 2025, compared to 1.48% for the first quarter of 2024. This ratio was impacted by the deleveraging strategy that culminated at the end of 2024 and resulted in a $1.04 billion decrease in average assets between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

Our ability to control noninterest expenses in relation to the level of total revenue (net interest income before provision for credit losses plus noninterest income) can be measured by the efficiency ratio and indicates the percentage of net revenue that is used to cover expenses. The efficiency ratio for the first quarter of 2025 was 46.69%, compared to 47.22% for the first quarter of 2024.

Noninterest expense of $59.1 million for the first quarter of 2025 was $627,000, or 1.05%, lower than the first quarter of 2024. Noninterest expense in the first quarter of 2024 included an additional accrual of $2.3 million for the FDIC special assessment resulting from a 25% increase in the FDIC's initial loss estimate, which was $9.2 million as reflected in the fourth quarter of 2023. Year-over-year expense growth included a $500,000 provision for unfunded loan commitments in the first quarter of 2025, in addition to approximately $700,000 higher software expense and a $433,000 increase in occupancy and equipment expense. There was no provision for unfunded loan commitments in the first quarter of 2024. The increase in occupancy expense included the higher rent expense for the four buildings that were sold and leased back during the second half of 2024.

Income Taxes

The Company’s effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2025 was 26.50%, compared to 27.25% for the three months ended March 31, 2024, respectively. The decrease in the effective tax rate was a result of increased investments in tax credits during 2024 and 2025. Our estimated annual effective tax rate also varies depending upon the level of tax-advantaged income from municipal securities and BOLI, as well as available tax credits.

The Company’s effective tax rates are below the nominal combined Federal and State tax rate primarily as a result of tax-advantaged income from certain municipal security investments, municipal loans and leases and BOLI, as well as available tax credits for each period.