SEC Filings

First Citizens Profit Slips To $606 Million As BMO Branches Lift Deposits $11.84 Billion

The Raleigh bank also bought back $600 million of stock, prepaid $8.0 billion of its FDIC note and authorized $1.2 billion of buybacks for 2027.

Matteo Parrino Jonathan Ponciano

Matteo Parrino, Jonathan Ponciano

— 2 min read
Share
First Citizens Profit Slips To $606 Million As BMO Branches Lift Deposits $11.84 Billion

First Citizens BancShares earned $606 million in the third quarter, down from $672 million in the second, even as loans and deposits grew sharply, the bank said in an 8-K filed Friday. Its board also authorized up to $1.2 billion of Class A share repurchases in 2027.

Earnings per share fall from the second quarter

Net income available to common stockholders was $577 million, or $51.23 a share, against $640 million, or $55.52, in the second quarter. On an adjusted basis, which strips out items management treats as notable, earnings were $55.37 a share, versus $57.09.

Net interest income, the gap between what the bank earns on loans and securities and what it pays for funding, rose $43 million to $1.70 billion. Net interest margin slipped 3 basis points to 3.07%. Provision for credit losses was $55 million, compared with a $10 million benefit a quarter earlier.

Net charge-offs, loans written off as uncollectible, were $103 million, or 0.27% of average loans, versus $108 million, or 0.29%.

Fund banking and BMO branches drive growth

First Citizens, the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust, closed its purchase of 138 BMO Bank branches on September 4. It took on about $4.9 billion of deposits and about $650 million of loans.

Loans rose $6.16 billion, or 4.1%, to $157.19 billion at September 30, mostly in the Commercial Bank's fund banking business. Deposits climbed $11.84 billion, or 6.8%, to $185.26 billion, helped by the BMO deposits and growth in its direct bank and brokered funding.

Buybacks and the FDIC note

The bank repurchased 278,828 Class A shares for $600 million in the quarter and prepaid another $8.0 billion of the Purchase Money Note it owes the FDIC. The balance stood at $20.45 billion at September 30, down from $35.85 billion a year earlier.

CEO Frank B. Holding, Jr. said the quarter "exceeded our expectations." The investor presentation shows another $1.5 billion was prepaid in October, bringing total prepayments to $17 billion since they began in the fourth quarter of 2025.

For the fourth quarter, management projects net interest income of $1.70 billion to $1.77 billion and period-end loans of $158 billion to $161 billion. It expects the full note to be repaid by year-end 2027, at $3.5 billion to $4 billion a quarter.

As of September 30, $711 million remained under the 2025 repurchase plan, and the full $1.2 billion new authorization is untouched.

Sources

Read more