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Signature Bank (SBNY)
Q3 2020 Earnings Call
Oct 20, 2020, 10:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Welcome to Signature Bank's 2020 Third Quarter Results Conference Call. Hosting the call today from Signature Bank are Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer and Eric R. Howell, Senior Executive Vice President, Corporate and Business Development. [Operator Instructions]
It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer. You may begin.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Stephanie. Good morning and thank you for joining us today for the Signature Bank 2020 third quarter results conference call. Before I begin my formal remarks, Susan Lewis will read the forward-looking disclaimer. Please go ahead, Susan.
Susan Turkell Lewis -- Media Contact
Thank you, Joe. This conference call and oral statements made from time to time by our representatives contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks and uncertainties. You should not place undue reliance on those statements because they are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties relating to our operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and maybe beyond our control.
Forward-looking statements include information concerning our future results, interest rates and the interest rate environment, loan and deposit growth, loan performance, operations, new private client team hires, new office openings, business strategy and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on each of the foregoing and on our business overall. As you consider forward-looking statements you should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors include those described in our quarterly and annual reports filed with the FDIC, which you should review carefully for further information. You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statements made by Signature Bank speak only as of the date on which they were made.
Now, I'd like to turn the call back to Joe.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Susan. I will provide some overview into the quarterly results and then, Eric Howell, our Senior Executive Vice President of Corporate and Business Development will review the Bank's financial performance in greater detail. Eric and I will address your questions at the end of our remarks.
Signature Bank continues to experience extraordinary growth during the country's protracted and challenging recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our business philosophy of a client-centric, single point-of-contact model led by experienced group directors continues to distinguish us particularly in times of distress. We've been through many challenging times, including the Great Recession and more challenges were expected to come, we did not know when or in what form, but we knew it was important to be better diversified. As expected, the performance of our established teams coupled with our new initiatives are performing remarkably well and will enable us to continue to deliver solid results during these unsettling times.
Deposit growth which was up $4.1 billion in the quarter was again robust and driven by all our deposit gathering initiatives. Also, we had another quarter of strong loan growth, which increased by $1 billion and the Bank's pre-tax, pre-provision earnings grew by $44 million or 21% compared with the 2019 third quarter. Additionally, we were able to dramatically reduce loans and deferrals from a peak of $11.1 billion or 25% of total loans to $2.3 billion or 5% total loans.
So now, let's take a look at earnings. Pre-tax, pre-provision earnings for the 2020 third quarter were $252.4 million compared with $208.4 million for 2013 -- 2019 third quarter, excuse me. The increase of $44 million or 21% was predominantly driven by substantial asset growth of $14.4 billion offset by the investments we made in business initiatives, including our West Coast expansion.
Net income for the 2020 third quarter was $138.6 million or $2.62 diluted earnings per share, compared with $148.1 million or $2.74 diluted earnings per share for last year's third quarter. The decrease in net income was driven by a third quarter provision for credit losses of $52.7 million, which was predominantly attributable to COVID-19.
Looking at deposits, the core of our philosophy. This was the second best quarter of deposit growth we ever reported, following last quarter's record performance. Deposits increased $4.1 billion or 8.2% to $54.3 billion this quarter, while average deposits grew by $4.2 billion. Moreover, this is now the fifth consecutive quarter exceeding $1 billion in both total and average deposit growth.
Non-interest bearing deposits of $50.3 billion [Phonetic] still represent a high 30% of total deposits. Since the third quarter of last year, deposit and loan growth coupled with earnings retention increased total assets by by $14.4 billion or over 29%.
Now let's take a look at our lending business. Loans during the 2020 third quarter increased $1 billion to $46.2 billion. For the prior 12 months, core loans or loans excluding PPP, grew $6.3 billion. The increase in loans this quarter was again driven primarily by new fund banking capital call facilities. This is the eight consecutive quarter where C&I outpaced CRE growth furthering the rapid transformation of the balance sheet to include more floating rate assets as we continue to diversify our portfolio.
Non-accrual loans are $81 million or 18 basis points compared with $47 million or 10 basis points for the 2020 second quarter. Our 30 to 89 day past due loans decreased to $148.8 million. It is important to note, $80 million of the 30 to 89 day past dues were caused by processing and documentation delays given COVID-19 circumstances and are now current. Adjusting for this, 30 to 89 day past dues were well within the normal range of $68.5 million. Our 90-day plus past due loans remain low at $10.6 million.
Net charge-offs for the 2020 third quarter were $10.5 million or 9 basis points, compared with $4.6 million for the 2020 second quarter. The provision for credit losses for 2020 third quarter was $52.7 million compared with $93 million for the 2020 second quarter. This brought the Bank's allowance for credit losses to 1.05% and the coverage ratio stands at a healthy percent 596%, nearly 6 times. As I mentioned earlier, the increase in the provision was predominantly attributable to COVID-19.
Turning to loan deferrals. Loan deferrals peaked at $11.1 billion. As of October 15, we had $2.3 billion in deferrals or 5% of loan book. So we've made a dramatic improvement on this front. We fully anticipate that we will have increased non-accrual loans and charge-offs in the coming quarters due to the effect of COVID, but given the level of our allowance for loan losses, where we have added $235 million due to the adoption of CECL and our strong earnings power, we are adequately covered for what may come.
Now onto the team front, In the 2020 third quarter, the Bank on-boarded three private client banking teams. One team in New York and two in the Greater Los Angeles marketplace. Together with our San Francisco office, the Bank now has a total of 22 private client banking teams on the West Coast.
At this point, I'll turn the call over to Eric, and he will be the quarter's financial results in greater detail.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you, Joe, and good morning everyone. I'll start by reviewing net interest income and margin. Net interest income for the third quarter reached $389 million, up $61 million or 19% when compared with the 2019 third quarter and an increase of $1.6 million from the 2020 second quarter.
Net interest margin for the quarter was 2.55% compared to 2.77% for the 2020 second quarter. The net interest margin for this quarter was primarily affected by two items. First, prepayment penalty income was down $5.9 million, causing 4 basis points of margin compression, and second, excess cash from the significant deposit flows impacted margin by 21 basis points.
Now, let's look at asset yields and funding costs for a moment. Interest earning asset yields decreased 78 basis points from a year ago and 28 basis points from the linked-quarter to 3.16%. The decrease in overall asset yields was driven by lower reinvestment rates in all of our asset classes. Additionally, excess cash and PPP loans continue to significantly affect average yields. Yields on the securities portfolio decreased 19 basis points linked-quarter to 2.59%, given a much lower market for reinvestment, compressed spreads and elevated CPR speeds. The portfolio duration remained low at 2.4 years given market pressures.
Turning to our loan portfolio, yields on average commercial loans and commercial mortgages declined 25 basis points to 3.66% compared with the 2020 second quarter. Excluding prepayment penalties from both quarters, yields decreased 18 basis points. Prepayment penalties for the 2020 third quarter were $5.8 million, down $5.9 million compared to 2020 second quarter as the decline in the level of transactions in the market led to lower prepayment activity.
Now, looking at liabilities. Our overall deposit cost this quarter decreased by 5 basis points from 56 basis points to 51 basis points due to the low interest rate environment. We anticipate that we will continue to meaningfully reduce our deposit costs in coming quarters.
During the quarter, borrowings decreased $1 billion to $3 billion or 4.7% of our balance sheet. The entire decrease was due to prepayment of borrowings, which resulted in a penalty expense of $6.8 million. The average borrowing cost increased 5 basis points from the prior quarter to 2.22%. The increase was due to the pay down of lower cost borrowings. And overall, the cost of funds for the linked-quarter decreased 7 basis points to 66 basis points.
And now, I will turn to non-interest income and expense. Non-interest income for the 2020 third quarter was $24.2 million, an increase of $9.5 million or 64.5% when compared with the 2019 third quarter. The growth was primarily due to increases in fees and service charges and gains on sales of securities and loans.
Non-interest expense for the 2020 third quarter was $160.6 million versus $134.3 million for the same period a year ago. The $26 million or 19.6% increase was due to the significant hiring of private client banking teams on the West Coast, where we have hired 17 teams thus far in the year. Additionally, we incurred $6.8 million in prepayment penalty fees on the $1 billion in borrowings that we prepaid. Excluding the penalty fees, the expense increase would have been 14.5% when compared with the period a year ago. And despite the significant hiring for the West Coast and the drag on margin from excess cash, the Bank's efficiency ratio remained low at 38.9% for the 2020 third quarter versus 38% for the 2020 second quarter and 39.2% for the 2019 third quarter.
Turning to capital. In the third quarter of 2020, the Bank paid a cash dividend of $0.56 per share. The dividend had a minor effect on capital ratios, which all remained well in excess of regulatory requirements and augment the relatively low risk profile of the balance sheet, as evidenced by a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 8.56% and total risk-based ratio of 11.98% as of the 2020 third quarter. And on October 6, 2020, the Bank completed a public offering of $375 million in subordinated debt which qualifies as Tier 2 capital.
And now, I'll turn the call back to Joe. Thank you.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Eric. I'd like to thank my colleagues who have demonstrated their dedication to our clients and their needs during this pandemic. Times like these our clients truly value the level of care and advice that my colleagues provide and our year-to-date performance reflects their extraordinary efforts and the strength of our franchise as we continue to execute on many fronts.
Thus far in 2020, one, we've added 18 teams, including 17 teams as part of our West Coast expansion. Two, we delivered unbelievable deposit growth of $14 billion. Three, robust core loan growth of $5.1 billion. Four, the Bank's pre-tax, pre-provision earnings grew by $91 million or 15% in the first nine months of the year. Five, we had a strong ROE of 10%, in spite of the heavy amount of provisions. Lastly, number six, we have been able to dramatically reduce loans and deferrals from a high of $11.1 billion or 25% of total loans to $2.3 billion or 5% as of October 15.
During the fourth quarter, we're deploying the excess cash in securities and loans. And we're continuing to decrease deposit interest rates. We should be in the low 40 basis points for high 30 basis point by the end of the year.
Now, we are happy to answer any questions you might have. Stephanie, I'll turn it back to you.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
The floor is now open for questions. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. Our first question comes from Mark Fitzgibbon with Piper Sandler.
Mark Fitzgibbon -- Piper Sandler & Co. -- Analyst
Hey guys, good morning.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Mark.
Mark Fitzgibbon -- Piper Sandler & Co. -- Analyst
Hey, Joe. I wonder if you could share with us what the split of the $4 billion of deposits that you had this quarter between sort of the East Coast and West Coast, what was the mix of that? And also if you could share with us total loan and deposit balances out west?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
I can tell you we -- the deposits were broken down somewhat. The teams in New York, we had nine teams -- these are the teams that have been around for quite a bit. Nine teams grew more than $75 million, and of the nine, seven of the nine teams grew more than $110 million. We had the more -- specialized mortgage servicing team that grew about a $0.5 billion. We had Venture Capital, nearly $200 million. Fund Banking nearly a $100 million. The West Coast nearly a $100 million, and digital was over $1 billion. So, really across the Board.
Mark Fitzgibbon -- Piper Sandler & Co. -- Analyst
Fair enough. And then secondly, I guess I'm curious, I know that you've mentioned you have quite a few teams in the pipeline, mostly out west. From a practical standpoint, how many of those do you think you could bring on maybe in the fourth quarter and all of next year?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
It's unlikely we'll bring on any teams in the fourth quarter, because when -- the timing of when they'll get their bonuses. But, are actually planning right now for 2021. So, it's hard to say how many teams that we can bring on, but it could be a wide range of teams in terms of numbers.
Mark Fitzgibbon -- Piper Sandler & Co. -- Analyst
Okay. And then, I wondered if you could help us think about your outlook for the net interest margin in 4Q?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
I'll let Eric take this easy question.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Yeah, thanks, Joe. Appreciate that. I mean at this point, the NIM is pretty impossible to predict, Mark. We feel unbelievably comfortable that we're going to drive net interest income significantly higher this quarter. We had a lot of loan growth that came on at the end of the third quarter, in fact, most of our loan growth came on at the end of the third quarter. So that will flow in nicely into the fourth quarter. We have some nice loan growth already in the fourth quarter, which will be beneficial. We are investing in the securities portfolio, although, we continue to be selective given the elections that are coming up and the potential for a spike in rates there. So we're being a little selective until after the elections on the securities portfolio. But we're putting a lot of cash to use right now. So, we feel very comfortable about driving NII up.
As it relates to the NIM, it's really hard to predict, because we continue to have very robust deposit flows. And we've had some significant DDA deposits come in that we know will leave in short order, but the normal deposit growth continues already into this quarter. So, we've got even more cash to put to use. But we feel very good about NII growth.
Mark Fitzgibbon -- Piper Sandler & Co. -- Analyst
Okay, great. And then last question, based on the growth that you see, do you anticipate needing to raise equity capital over say the next several quarters?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
God, no. With our earnings -- earnings power plus more normalized provision, our balance sheet to grow with the earnings $6 billion to $8 billion annually, we don't expect a $14 billion growth as we've had the first nine months of this year, although the fourth quarter, as Eric mentioned has been pretty substantial. So with our earnings power, we could grow $6 billion to $8 billion. We don't anticipate that the flow to deposits that we have will continue. Our earnings are going to be accretive to growth. We're comfortable with the capital ratios. We don't plan on any time soon doing any equity capital raise at all.
Mark Fitzgibbon -- Piper Sandler & Co. -- Analyst
Thank you.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Mark.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you, Mark.
Operator
Your next question comes from Dave Rochester with Compass Point.
David Rochester -- Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC -- Analyst
Hey, good morning guys.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Good morning, David.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Hey, David. Good morning.
David Rochester -- Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC -- Analyst
It was good to see those deferrals continue to move lower, and the credit metrics there were a nice add to the release as well. I was just wondering if you could give an update on how you're thinking about the loss content in those buckets at this point, given you've had more time to work with these guys. And then if you have any updated trends on the collections for any of those buckets, that would be great.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Sure, David. I mean, in talking to our clients very broadly, they are continuing to work with us. All right. We are trying to find solutions for them to meet the challenges that they have. Our conversations have been positive. They want to hold onto their properties. They want to run their properties. They want to run their businesses. They want to own their pieces of equipment that generate revenues. So given all of that, we feel quite comfortable that we are more than adequately [Indecipherable] to come. All right. And as Joe talked about, our earnings power is significant and we feel that between our provisions and our earnings power that we're -- we'll be able to fight through this environment. We do not see a significant loss content coming out of these loans, but there will be losses. So let's not kid ourselves. And we will have non-accruals go up, but we feel it will be at a level that we can easily fight through.
As for collections, we continue to see, I'd say broadly positive trends there. The ranges on the collections are still in the same range that we've seen before, but most are coming in at the higher end of the range. We feel good that our clients, you know, now it's been many months into this, have been able to work with their tenants in getting the collections up. So, that continues to trend positively.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
And if I may add, utilizing the CARES Act, we're taking appropriate actions to keep clients in their businesses. That is the main goal. That was the goal of those CARES Act, and that's the goal for us, to keep clients in the businesses that they're in and hopefully the timing issue of more stimulus and vaccine will let them survive.
David Rochester -- Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC -- Analyst
All right. Great, thanks. And then just switching to the NIM. I appreciate the color on where the deposit costs can go and how soon. I was just wondering how much more flexibility you have to retire more of those borrowings near-term, given you've got a lot of deposit growth continuing to come in here. If you can just keep chipping away at those like you did this quarter.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Yeah, we'll continue to do that. We're looking at about $250 million in borrowings now to see if it makes sense for us to prepay those, we probably will give the amount of cash that we're sitting on. It will most likely cost us a similar amount to what we saw this quarter, that's $6 million to $7 million range in prepayment expense.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
We have a pretty substantial deposit, I'm sorry, a pretty substantial loan pipeline, particularly in Fund Banking, the fourth quarter is usually their best quarter. So we could see well over $1 billion in growth there. Signature Financial, equipment financing and leasing, their best quarter is usually the fourth quarter. So the pipeline is pretty significant. And we'll be buying -- we will step up the buying of securities once the election is over and we get a sense of where the yield curve will be.
David Rochester -- Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC -- Analyst
Yeah, no, I think it'll definitely change at that point. I was just curious where you're seeing those yields today, if there is still like in the low ones range for what you're buying?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Correct. They're in the low ones.
David Rochester -- Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC -- Analyst
And then what was Securities premium amortization expense this quarter versus last quarter? I was just trying to figure what the impact was there?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
It was up pretty significantly. It was up $2.4 million this quarter compared to the prior quarter.
David Rochester -- Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC -- Analyst
Okay. And then maybe just switching to new loan yields. I think you are at sort of mid-twos on capital call lines previously, and then if we can just get an update on the multifamily commercial real estate for which you guys are refinancing there, that would be great.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Multifamily to five-year fixed is about 3.5%. That's what we've been sticking with. And the capital call loans, mid-twos, some loans threes, but primarily mid-twos.
David Rochester -- Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC -- Analyst
Great. All right, thanks guys. Appreciate it.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you, David.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, David.
Operator
Your next question is from Matthew Breese with Stephens Inc.
Matthew Breese -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Hey, good morning.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Good morning, Matthew.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Matt.
Matthew Breese -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Sure. You mentioned a normalized or getting to a more normalized provision, you also mentioned that you feel like you're pretty adequately reserved. With these comments in mind, could you just talk a little bit about the provision outlook over the next few quarters or the cadence of provision, perhaps provide a range.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
It's really hard to predict with CECL modelings, Matt, where it's going to go. I don't think we're going to get back to a truly normalized provision level where it's $5 million to $10 million. So it will probably be elevated from there for a little while. But we have to see what the Moody's models come out with over the next few quarters and that's difficult for us to predict.
Matthew Breese -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Okay. And then just thinking about total asset growth over the last year has been way beyond what -- any was thought a year ago. As you think about the next 12 months is that $6 billion to $8 billion? Is that a good range of where you expect the balance sheet to grow by or could you provide some outlook there?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
We're trying to stay with the $3 billion to $5 billion. We've had $14 billion thus far in nine months. I'm almost afraid to say how much of the growth has been so far in the fourth quarter. It's been robust. Although half the growth is due to escrow accounts from transactions that will be leaving over a period of a few weeks. We don't see that happening in 2021. All the initiatives are kicking in, but with some of the clients, we tell them that we capped at a certain dollar level with a pretty substantial and some of them will go off balance sheet then.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
And we have to see where the where the yield curve goes and that could bring alternative investments back into the mix. I mean, let's face it, everybody has been moving from off balance sheet onto the balance sheets of banks. We've certainly been benefiting from that, no question. So if we see rates rise, we could certainly see the opposite happen, where the deposits will move to off-balance sheet investments.
Matthew Breese -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Could you just give us some sense for the kind of liquidity you might hold on the balance sheet over the next six months? And how much of that 21 basis point drag is recoverable back to the top line NIM?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Well, we are probably going to keep the liquidity under normal circumstances at about $2 billion. And I don't see us going below that, as we've got large.
Matthew Breese -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
So, is that to say the $6 billion in cash you have this quarter can go to $2 billion next quarter and you can get the majority of that 21 basis point drag back?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
That's what we would hope it, but we doubt it. We have, although, the loan pipeline is very strong. Our treasurer is already tied to his for 24 hours. We don't let him out. It's by investments, but he's holding off somewhat because of the election.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
But realistically, it will take us several quarters to deploy that amount of cash, Matt.
Matthew Breese -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Okay.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Matt, to give you an idea. This quarter we're up $7 billion, and we're only into the 20th day. Now $3.5 billion of that is going to leave rather quickly, it's in DDA, so let's call it $3.5 billion. That's $3.5 billion more in cash that we have to deploy. So it is going to take us several quarters.
Matthew Breese -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Great. That's all I had. I appreciate taking my questions. Thank you.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you, Matt.
Operator
Your next question is from Casey Haire with Jefferies.
Casey Haire -- Jefferies & Co. -- Analyst
Yeah, thanks. Good morning, guys.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Casey.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Good morning, Casey.
Casey Haire -- Jefferies & Co. -- Analyst
So question on the timing of charge-offs as well as the deferral strategy into 2021, with the deferrals of 5% right now, the CARES Act does allow you to take those into 2021 if you so choose. Can you just talk us through how you guys are thinking about that? And how that might impact charge-offs and the trajectory there?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Well, we've identified a series of loans. First of all, the loans that are part of the deferrals. We are now between -- now and the end of the year, there is just a few options, one, they come off the deferrals and start paying back P&I. They come off the deferrals and they start just paying interest only or they come off the deferrals for -- no, then they go on to -- then there is the ones that stay on deferrals, they will be on deferrals for six months and then 12 months interest only. So there is a few different options that we can do. But the one thing I will tell you is, they have to have a sense of collection that will -- that the loan after it it comes off deferral and interest only, that it's a collectible loan, that it could start paying principal and interest.
If that's not the case, we will try to do off the piece of it, and try to negotiate from there to sell the loan. will do that immediately in the fourth quarter for those loans that under the CARES Act will not make it. If we believe that the cash flow is there for the loan to make it, then we will extend it anywhere from six to really 12 to 18 months, if not longer. The goal is to take the actions to keep the clients in their businesses. A good example would be Broadway. Broadway they said is not opening up until the first weekend in June. That's -- incredibly optimistic, more likely after Labor Day, the NAFTA Memorial Day. And then we still don't know, in New York State, they still haven't given an idea of what number of seats that they could allow people to sit in. A good example is the Beacon Theatre has 2,800 seats. They can't sign a contract because they can't tell you whether you have 2,100, 2,800 or 1,400. So that's an example of it. The Beacon Theatre, they're not a client, but if they were a client of ours, we would have to give them a long period of time. So again, the goal is to keep the clients in their businesses. There'll be charge-offs in the fourth quarter, there will be charge-offs, probably from the first quarter to the fourth quarter of 2021. But I think the key aspect is that we feel very comfortable with our provisioning and our allowance, where we are today for the portfolio that we have.
Casey Haire -- Jefferies & Co. -- Analyst
Okay, understood.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Given all the discussions that we're having with our clients as well, we just don't see a meaningfully high level of charge-offs at this point.
Casey Haire -- Jefferies & Co. -- Analyst
Okay. And you're -- in the release you guys put out the conservative underwriting, a lot of LTVs under 60%, and I know it's tough given the lack of transactions to see where that is today. But given your confidence in the reserve build, where it is today, what kind of price degradation are you guys baking into your forecasts? And then on the debt service coverage ratio front, presumably you should have some visibility into that, where are those -- where is the debt service coverage on multifamily, office, retail at these collection rates?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
I'd say on the multifamily, it's a little north of one time debt service coverage now. But it's really property dependent, and all over the board. As we get into retail, we probably slipped under one time, but again it's a broad range there as well, and same for the office.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
The operators of the properties, the multi-generational, mulit-million dollar families, I'm not saying that they're going to rescue any of the properties that ultimately have to be charged off, but they are stepping up on the properties where there is some decent cash flow and they have to fill the differential because they want to keep the properties. We are certainly see that. As long as we make a -- negotiate instead fairly and they negotiate fairly, they can get an interest only for a period of time that will allow them to get through this pandemic.
Casey Haire -- Jefferies & Co. -- Analyst
Great, thank you.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you, Casey.
Operator
Your next question is from Ken Zerbe with Morgan Stanley.
Ken A. Zerbe -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Great, thanks. Just in terms of loan yields. Obviously, you just see that, a really big drop, it was down 25 basis points sequentially. Is that all due to the capital calls coming on a much lower yields or is there sort of any -- I know you said there wasn't really a lot of acceleration or prepays on the multifamily side, I'm just trying to get my head around why loan yields fell as much as they did, and is that something we should continue to expect?
Mark Fitzgibbon -- Piper Sandler & Co. -- Analyst
I mean, some of it is, certainly we're seeing credits come on at lower yields, right, given the interest rate environment. We also have PPP in there for a full quarter. So on average $2 billion for the third quarter was $1.2 billion for the second quarter. So, that was about 8 basis points of the compression as well. But generally, we are seeing all of our asset classes come in at lower at lower yields.
Ken A. Zerbe -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Okay, got it.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
I just want to add, with the capital call loans, we made a decision, couple of years ago that we needed to transform the balance sheet to have floating rate, and it was important for us to have a floating rate generation of loans. And that's what's happening with the capital call facilities. Another thing is that the reserve is such that, if we didn't count the capital call facilities in the reserve, it would be what 1.34?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Yeah.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
It would be 1.34 as opposed to 1.05. And that's pretty significant, because it's fairly stable and fairly, highly credit rated loans. So we are sacrificing a little bit to have floating rate loans in the era of what would be 15 basis points. But it does transform our balance sheet to something that's a little bit more neutral than where we were with fixed rate loans dominating the whole balance sheet several years ago.
Ken A. Zerbe -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Got it. Understood. And then in terms of the 5% loans that are still on deferral, how many of those were actually six months deferrals to start with versus, basically asking for a second round deferral?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
They're all 90-day second round deferrals.
Ken A. Zerbe -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Got it, OK. And then I guess just last question, in terms of the debt prepayment that you guys did, how much of the benefit is in this quarter versus anything that may come in fourth quarter, that's not being recognized yet?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
I'd be guessing at that number. I want to say it's about $1.5 million per quarter. No, it's about $1 million per month, actually, so it's about $3 million per quarter. It will be paid back in five to six months.
Ken A. Zerbe -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Okay, all right. Great, thanks.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question is from Ebrahim Poonawala with Bank of America.
Ebrahim H. Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Hey, good morning guys.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Good morning.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Ebrahim.
Ebrahim H. Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
I just wanted follow-up on credit, I mean the stock is where it is, it's because of credit, right. I don't think growth in NII is the issue here. Like when we think about the deferrals of the overall CRE book added to your point, I understand the CECL challenge in terms of forecasting provisioning. But is it safe to assume that unless something drastically goes wrong -- from a macro perspective, you would expect provisions to be at or below 3Q levels. If we look forward, based on the analysis you're done on this loan book?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
That seems reasonable.
Ebrahim H. Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Got it. And when we think about the next update on this deferred book, the $2.3 billion, maybe it's December, maybe it's Jan. What is your expectation around the percentage of this book that actually goes into the 12 month extended deferral versus that comes back to paying? I'm assuming you have a good sense of which borrowers like Joe mentioned some of the Broadway customers may need that additional time. What's your expectation? And just level of confidence around knowing what percentage of this book needs that extra help?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Yeah, I mean it's still a little early to predict that. Certainly, that there will be a percentage that will go back to paying. We think the majority will go to paying interest only. And then we'll have a smaller amount that will need six month further P&I deferral and then go to interest only. And when we do that, we're looking to get enhancements to the credit. Ultimately, though we think that the vast majority will get back to a position where they're paying us something.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Eric said something very key there, where he said credit enhancement, because for the longer term situations we're trying to get 12 months of cash, 12 months of interest, I mean, prudent account -- personal guarantee something that we should get to giving them a longer period of time to get back to where they need to be.
Ebrahim H. Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Got it. And just one last question to that, Joe. How worried are you about the New York City economy? Right, a lot of this is just driven on people's perspective of what New York City will look like three, six, nine months or 12 months out. Given your sense of talking to business owners, landlords, what is your expectation where the New York City economy will be three, six months out, as we look into next year?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Well, not only is our portfolio resilient, New York City is -- New York City and the metropolitan area is incredibly resilient. If you take the population of the area, if you take the economy of the area, it was a country, it's been top -- be more than 50% bigger -- than all the countries in the world. It's got Broadway. Chicago, London, Los Angeles, they are placed, but they are not Broadway. You want to see Broadway, you have to come to New York. You want to see Museums, you come to New York. You want to see Central Park, you have to come to New York. St. Patrick's Cathedral, I mean there is just so many things here. It's very resilient. The fact that people temporarily had moved away, if they own the deployment they haven't given up there upon. Maybe they found out that the suburbs were nice, but there is nothing that compares to New York City. So we're very, very bullish on the New York City. We really do believe it's a timing issue. Whether it's January of 2020 or January of 2021, there is going to be a vaccine or whether the Democrat or Republican doing the government, it's going to be stimulus. We're very bullish on the city, and we're very bullish on our portfolio.
Ebrahim H. Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Got it. Thanks for taking my questions.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question is from Steven Alexopoulos with JP Morgan.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
Hey, good morning everybody.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Hey, Steve.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Good morning, Steve.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
So, first regarding the commentary that you expect to see increased non-accruals and net charge-offs in coming quarters, which portfolio do you see driving your nearer term charge-offs?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Yeah, I'd say the area that we are mostly focused is on the retail and it's really the destination of retail, where we really need the New York City and Manhattan in particular to open up. So we've got about $250 million that we've circled, that we're keeping a close eye on, that's in those destination areas of Manhattan, that I'd say would be the focal point, Steve.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
Okay, that's helpful. And then you both said actually a couple of times that you felt adequately covered for the credit challenge ahead, but do you mean from an existing reserve standpoint or do you mean from a pre-tax, pre-provision you can add more to the reserve standpoint?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
We mean, both really, I mean from existing, we obviously feel adequately reserved. But what gives us a higher level of comfort is the fact that we generate a significant amount of earnings. And we had 11% ROE, while providing $50 million in provisions. There is not many banks that have that level of earnings power that we have. We talked about our net interest income, we expect it to go up significantly this quarter. So we've got a lot of earnings power in front of us. And that should allow us to overcome any of the challenges that we have coming ahead, any of the, let's say, unforeseen challenges.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Large part of what gives us the confidence is we have both, we can work both -- liability and the asset side. We can bring down liability costs from where they are today, it's 51 [Phonetic] to the low fours, low-40s, high-30s. And then Eric talked about all the cash we have that we can deploy. So we're fairly, I shouldn't say fairly confident, very confident on the increase that will happen in the fourth quarter.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
Okay. That's helpful. And then, I mean outside of maybe some NIM pressure this quarter, clearly the biggest overhang on the stock is the New York City commercial real estate exposure. And most investors I talked to, they're pretty comfortable with the multifamily, its the remaining $10 billion that investors are concerned with. Can you guys talk about what stress testing have you done on that $10 billion and what segments do you see as most risk of seeing losses?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
I mean, we talked about it. It's really the retail, the destination retail and SoHo and Times Square, that's mostly what we're focused on, right now. And what's good about the retail portfolio, what we've seen from it is the neighborhood retail as the outer boroughs have opened up and the economies have opened up in Westchester and Long Island and elsewhere, we've seen that neighborhood retail really spring back pretty rapidly. So we need New York to open up. We need Manhattan to open up. And I think we'll be in good shape there. But that's really the area that we're most focused on is, destination retail.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
Yeah, which I would assume would be in the mixed use of the $1.1 billion.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Yeah.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
So, Eric, what are the specific reserves now in that portfolio?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Bear with me one second here, Steve. Sorry.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
Okay.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
So on the CRE, we have 1.7% in reserves with another 6% on their ADC loans and 76 basis points on our multifamily.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
Okay. You don't have the retail, the part you're most concerned about, you don't have that by chance, do you?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
I don't have it broken out of the CRE, but it's retail and office.
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
Yeah, OK. Okay, very good. Thanks for all the color.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you, Steve.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Steve.
Operator
Your next question is from Brock Vandervliet with UBS.
Brock Vandervliet -- UBS -- Analyst
Thanks. Just kind of a variant on some of the other somatic questions since most of the, in the weeds stuff has been asked. It seems like we get one day of pretty positive credit results and outlook from you guys, and this endless stream of negative news on New York and New York real estate from various news and wire services and it's very hard to separate the fundamentals from that overhang, which may also be fundamental. When you when you think about New York and you think about your portfolio, what is it that makes you more confident than some of these more macro stories which make good points about how potentially severe the situation is? Just to try to give investors more comfort.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Well they wouldn't invite the story if it wasn't -- if they couldn't say something terribly wrong with the situations. They are not writing really good stories, because people are not attracted to that. But having said that, we're not on Madison Avenue, we are not on 57th Street. We are in the high [Phonetic] buildings and on the street's 90 Avenues. We are -- we have some destination retail, but most of the retail is neighborhood retail, whether it's on Fordham Road in The Bronx or Westchester Avenue in The Bronx, or Northern Boulevard in Queens, those are the places that we have some of the retail. And we are very confident having worked and lived in the city, that it's -- how robust it is. And we're also confident in the clients themselves. I think that's important. We always say one of our former colleagues used to say bet on the jockey, not on the horse. And we bet on the jockey here. And we've had clients step up because they are multi-generational, millionaire, well experienced handlers of real estate and that gives us a lot of comfort. We believe it's a timing issue. When I say timing issue, if we can keep some of these clients in their businesses, New York will come back. I don't think it's a death sentence, what's going on. I think if the Mayor and the Governor are cooperating with each other, we would be in a better situation. And we're very much looking forward in this institution that I'm sitting at right now, Signature Bank, for there to be a change in the administration of New York City. So that's -- those -- these are positives. I know there are a number of negatives, but we believe the positives outweigh the negatives. And I think one of the things that drives us is the fact that the type of clients that we have.
Brock Vandervliet -- UBS -- Analyst
Got it, OK. Thank you.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Chris McGratty with KBW.
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
Great. Good morning.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Chris.
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
Eric, I want to make sure I heard the expense comment, you talked, I think 14.5% year-on-year, excluding the charge this quarter. Could you just repeat kind of expectations for Q4? And then I think on prior calls, you've said, hey, that number is going to glide down to low-double digits. I just want to see if that's still the case depending on the pace of investments.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Yeah, it's, well, I would have expected that we'd see expense growth in the fourth quarter be around 14%, but we did again talk about the potential for pre-paying some borrowings. So that might pop that back up to an 18%, 19% range. So, ex the prepayment borrowings, we should be at around 14%. But, as Joe alluded to earlier, we have significant opportunities on the West Coast still. We're not sure which opportunities we're going to capture, but there is a lot of them out there. So, we could see expenses pop back up in the first quarter, but it's a little too early to tell, Chris.
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
Okay, OK. And last one, obviously there's a lot with the stimulus being proposed with tax increases. I know you guys have a little bit of noise with the fee income in the tax line. Anything differently, structurally with your tax strategies that have the similar math from after the '16 election wouldn't be the opposite and to similar magnitude this time around, if we get tax increases?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, we believe that if there is a change in administration our taxes are going to go up. The Bank's taxes, clearly.
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
But in terms of the sensitivity, I think what's being proposed is going into 28 from 21. I mean is the math, is the proportional math the same as though when you guys received the benefit after '16 [Phonetic] with taxes.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
It should be. It should be, Chris. I mean there's a lot of moving pieces when calculating that.
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
Yup, OK.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
It should be similar.
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
Got it. All right, thank you.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
This quarter we have a lot of actual -- we file our actual taxes in September. So we have tax to accrue differences that we have the true up. So ex any change in administration and change in the tax rates and tax code, we should be at that 24% -- 28%, sorry, tax rate moving forward.
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
Understood.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
We're pretty confident, the new administration says that their signing it in January, at the day after the inauguration.
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
Got it. Okay, thank you.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Jared Shaw with Wells Fargo.
Jared Shaw -- Wells Fargo Securities LLC -- Analyst
Hi, good morning.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Good morning, Jared.
Jared Shaw -- Wells Fargo Securities LLC -- Analyst
Maybe, just asking the credit on a different level. It sounds like we should then expect maybe this quarter as the high watermark for the ACL as a percentage of loans, just given future growth coming from that capital call business and the comfort that you reserved for the worst of the credit, is that a good way to look at it?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Barring any macroeconomic change, that's a fair way to look at it.
Jared Shaw -- Wells Fargo Securities LLC -- Analyst
Okay, great. And then, Joe, you had mentioned $1 billion of digital deposit growth, can you give a little color on that? And is that tied in at all to Signet at all or any update there?
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I would say in part it's because of Signet and some of the enhancements we've made to Signet and some of the clients that we are bringing on board, we were probably hesitant a couple of years ago, they wanted to see that we were in the business,. we were going to stay in business and now we have the capabilities and as a result we're doing of quite a bit of business now. The OCC is talking about Banks holding the dollars to support stable coins and let's just say, we are starting to do that. And that's going to drive some of the deposit growth in the digital world.
Jared Shaw -- Wells Fargo Securities LLC -- Analyst
Great, thanks.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question is from Christopher Keith with D.A. Davidson.
Christopher Keith -- D.A. Davidson & Co. -- Analyst
Hi guys. So I was just looking at the average yield on loans. The commercial loans was 3.66%. You are putting multifamily loans on at 3.50%. Can you just give me a sense of the amount of CRE and multifamily loans that are set to reprice maybe in 4Q '20. And then maybe over the course of '21?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Yeah, we have approximately $1 billion per quarter that's repricing.
Christopher Keith -- D.A. Davidson & Co. -- Analyst
Okay. And then, great. And then, just, I guess, assuming a modestly steepening curve getting to maybe the 90 basis point range by 2021, can you just talk a bit on the impact on both your commercial and then residential mortgage yields with that assumption?
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
I don't think that will meaningfully change our commercial mortgage yields, we'll still be in that mid 3.50%, 3.75% range. We're not a resi lender, that will also -- does -- nothing there.
Christopher Keith -- D.A. Davidson & Co. -- Analyst
Got it. Okay, thanks guys.
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Thank you.
Operator
This concludes our allotted time for today's teleconference. If you'd like to listen to a replay of today's conference, please dial 800-585-8367 and refer to conference ID 7186596. A webcast archive of this call can also be found at www.signatureny.com. Please disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.
Duration: 59 minutes
Call participants:
Joseph J. DePaolo -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Susan Turkell Lewis -- Media Contact
Eric R. Howell -- Senior Executive Vice President-Corporate and Business Development
Mark Fitzgibbon -- Piper Sandler & Co. -- Analyst
David Rochester -- Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC -- Analyst
Matthew Breese -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Casey Haire -- Jefferies & Co. -- Analyst
Ken A. Zerbe -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Ebrahim H. Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Steven Alexopoulos -- JP Morgan -- Analyst
Brock Vandervliet -- UBS -- Analyst
Christopher McGratty -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. -- Analyst
Jared Shaw -- Wells Fargo Securities LLC -- Analyst
Christopher Keith -- D.A. Davidson & Co. -- Analyst
