RBB Bancorp Reports Second Quarter Earnings for 2022

Conference Call and Webcast Scheduled for Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time/2:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Second Quarter 2022 Highlights

• Net income of $15.5 million, or $0.80 diluted earnings per share, increased $860,000, or 5.9%, from the prior quarter and increased $2.1 million, or 15.7%, from the second quarter of 2021
• Loans grew by $35.9 million, or 4.8% annualized, from the end of the prior quarter
• Declared $0.14 per share quarterly dividend

RBB Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBB) and its subsidiaries, Royal Business Bank (“the Bank”) and RBB Asset Management Company (“RAM”), collectively referred to herein as “the Company,” announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2022.

The Company reported net income of $15.5 million, or $0.80 diluted earnings per share, for the three months ended June 30, 2022, compared to net income of $14.6 million, or $0.74 diluted earnings per share, and $13.4 million, or $ 0.67 diluted earnings per share, for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and June 30, 2021, respectively.

“Our performance in the second quarter demonstrated the strength of our differentiated business model as the Bank delivered strong earnings, improving margins, and loan growth,” said David Morris, Interim President and CEO of RBB Bancorp. “Expenses were higher than expected due to the ongoing costs related to the Board of Directors investigation, which we expect to wind down in the third quarter. We were pleased to announce several new hires and re-hires during the quarter and look forward to working with our new colleagues to build shareholder value.”

"The excellent second quarter results demonstrate the value of Royal Business Bank," said Dr. James Kao, Chairman of RBB Bancorp. “The Bank is well-positioned to continue to generate attractive returns and shareholder value.”

Key Performance Ratios

Net income of $15.5 million for the second quarter of 2022 produced an annualized return on average assets ("ROA") of 1.60%, an annualized return on average tangible common shareholders' equity ("ROTCE") of 15.89%, and an annualized return on average shareholders' equity ("ROE") of 13.30%. This compares to an annualized ROA of 1.39%, an annualized ROTCE of 14.91%, and an annualized ROE of 12.59% for the first quarter of 2022. The efficiency ratio for the second quarter of 2022 was 43.47%, compared to 42.90% for the prior quarter.

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Net interest income, before provision for loan losses, was $37.1 million for the second quarter of 2022, compared to $34.5 million for the first quarter of 2022. The $2.6 million increase was primarily attributable to 1.25% increase in interest rate by Federal Reserve Bank in the second quarter of 2022. Accretion of purchase discounts from prior acquisitions contributed $75,000 to net interest income in the second quarter of 2022, compared to $246,000 in the first quarter of 2022.

Compared to the second quarter of 2021, net interest income, before provision for loan losses, increased $7.0 million from $30.1 million. The increase was primarily attributable to a $289.3 million increase in average loans and a 1.25% increase in interest rate by the Federal Reserve Bank in the second quarter of 2022. The increases in average earning assets were primarily due to increased loan originations.

Net interest margin was 4.08% for the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 59 basis points from 3.49% in the first quarter of 2022. Loan discount accretion contributed 1 basis point to the net interest margin in the second quarter of 2022, compared to 2 basis points in the first quarter of 2022.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income was $3.4 million for the second quarter of 2022, an increase of $478,000 from $2.9 million in the first quarter of 2022. The increase was primarily driven by a $757,000 increase in gain on sale of corporate real estate, a $272,000 decrease in loss on derivatives and a $94,000 increase in recoveries on purchased loans, partially offset by an $830,000 decrease in gain on sale of loans during the quarter.

The Company sold $12.6 million in FNMA qualified mortgage loans for a net gain of $284,000 during the second quarter of 2022 compared to $26.9 million in FNMA qualified mortgage loans sold for a net gain of $711,000 during the first quarter of 2022. The Company sold $1.1 million in SBA loans during the second quarter of 2022 for a net gain of $60,000, compared to $8.3 million SBA loans sold for a net gain of $463,000 during the first quarter of 2022.

Compared to the second quarter of 2021, noninterest income decreased by $749,000 from $4.2 million. The decrease was primarily attributable to a $2.2 million decrease in gain on sale of loans, partially offset by a $757,000 increase in gain on corporate real estate, a $354,000 increase in loan servicing fees, an $113,000 increase in income from bank owned life insurance and a $93,000 increase in recoveries on purchased loans.

Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense for the second quarter of 2022 was $17.6 million, compared to $16.1 million for the first quarter of 2022. The $1.6 million increase was primarily attributable to a $1.2 million increase in legal and professional expenses due to a Board of Director special investigation and a $259,000 increase in salaries and employee benefits expense due to additional new hires and salary adjustments to reflect economic inflation.

Noninterest expense increased from $14.7 million in the second quarter of 2021. The $2.9 million increase was primarily due to a $1.7 million increase in legal and professional expenses due to a Board of Director special investigation, an $886,000 increase in salaries and employee benefits expenses and a $270,000 increase in business promotion and CRA donation expenses.

Income Taxes

The effective tax rate was 29.6% for the second quarter of 2022, 30.4% for the first quarter of 2022, and 29.3% for the second quarter of 2021. The Company recognized a tax benefit from stock option exercises of $279,000, $23,000 and $68,000 for the second quarter of 2022, the first quarter of 2022, and the second quarter of 2021, respectively.

Loan and Securities Portfolio

Loans held for investment, net of deferred fees and discounts, totaled $3.05 billion as of June 30, 2022, an increase of $39.5 million from March 31, 2022, and an increase of $336.7 million from June 30, 2021. The increase from the prior quarter was primarily due to a $141.2 million increase in single-family residential mortgage loans and a $10.0 million increase in construction & land development loans, partially offset by a $57.6 million decrease in commercial real estate loans and a $42.8 million decrease in commercial and industrial loans. The increase from June 30, 2021 was primarily due to a $221.4 million increase in single-family residential mortgages and a $119.8 million increase in construction & land development loans.

During the second quarter of 2022, single-family residential mortgage production was $216.9 million while net payoffs and paydowns were $66.8 million. During the first quarter of 2022, single-family residential mortgage production was $132.6 million while payoffs and paydowns were $48.1 million.

There were no mortgage loans held for sale as of June 30, 2022 compared to $3.6 million as of March 31, 2022 and $9.2 million as of June 30, 2021. The Company originated approximately $1.2 million in FNMA mortgage loans for sale for the second quarter of 2022, compared with $23.4 million during the prior quarter.

In the second quarter of 2022, SBA loan production was $1.4 million and total SBA loan sales were $1.1 million compared to SBA loan production of $11.9 million and total SBA loan sales of $8.3 million in the first quarter of 2022.

As of June 30, 2022, the Bank’s total Available-for-Sale securities maturing in over 12 months were $249.2 million, and the Bank recorded an unrealized loss of $20.2 million under the Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (AOCI) since January 1, 2022.

Deposits

Deposits were $3.0 billion at June 30, 2022, which was a decrease of $140.7 million compared to March 31, 2022. During the second quarter of 2022, noninterest-bearing deposits decreased by $114.7 million, interest-bearing non-maturity deposits decreased by $16.7 million, and time deposits decreased by $9.3 million. As of June 30, 2022, there were $50.0 million in brokered CDs, as compared to no brokered CDs as of March 31, 2022 and $17.4 million brokered CDs as of June 30, 2021. Compared to June 30, 2021, total deposits decreased by $42.4 million primarily due to a $157.0 million decrease in time deposits, partially offset by a $105.0 million increase in noninterest-bearing demand deposits.

Asset Quality

Nonperforming assets totaled $14.2 million, or 0.36% of total assets at June 30, 2022, compared to $21.0 million, or 0.52% of total assets at March 31, 2022. The decrease in nonperforming assets was due to the pay-off of certain nonperforming loans in the second quarter. Nonperforming assets consist of other real estate owned, loans modified under troubled debt restructurings (“TDR”), non-accrual loans, and loans past due 90 days or more and still accruing interest.

In the second quarter of 2022, there were $53,000 in net charge-offs, compared to net recoveries of $14,000 in the first quarter of 2022 and net charge-offs of $71,000 in the second quarter of 2021.

The Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $915,000 for the second quarter of 2022 which was primarily attributable to loan growth and was an increase from $366,000 in the prior quarter. Allowance for loan losses continue to include $599,000 of reserves taken as a precaution against COVID-19 losses in 2020 and 2021.

The allowance for loan losses totaled $34.2 million, or 1.12% of loans held for investment at June 30, 2022, compared with $33.3 million, or 1.11%, of total loans at March 31, 2022.

During the second quarter of 2022, the Company repurchased 525,754 common shares at a weighted average price of $21.10.

Corporate Overview

RBB Bancorp is a community-based financial holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. As of June 30, 2022, the company had total assets of $4.0 billion. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Bank is a full service commercial bank, which provides business banking services to the Chinese-American communities in Los Angeles County, Orange County, and Ventura County in California, in Las Vegas, Nevada, in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan in New York, in Edison, New Jersey, in the Chicago neighborhoods of Chinatown and Bridgeport, Illinois, and on Oahu, Hawaii. Bank services include remote deposit, E-banking, mobile banking, commercial and investor real estate loans, business loans and lines of credit, commercial and industrial loans, SBA 7A and 504 loans, 1-4 single family residential loans, automobile lending, trade finance, a full range of depository account products and wealth management services. The Bank has nine branches in Los Angeles County, two branches in Ventura County, one branch in Orange County, California, one branch in Las Vegas, Nevada, three branches and one loan operation center in Brooklyn, three branches in Queens, one branch in Manhattan in New York, one branch in Edison, New Jersey, two branches in Chicago, Illinois, and one branch in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Company's administrative and lending center is located at 1055 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90017, and its finance and operations center is located at 7025 Orangethorpe Ave., Buena Park, California 90621. The Company's website address is www.royalbusinessbankusa.com.

Conference Call

Management will hold a conference call at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time/2:00 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow, July 26, 2022, to discuss the Company’s second quarter 2022 financial results.

To listen to the conference call, please dial 1-866-459-5346 or 1-203-518-9544, conference ID RBBQ222. A replay of the call will be made available at 1-877-274-8334 or 1-402-220-2326 (no passcode required) approximately one hour after the conclusion of the call and will remain available through August 2, 2022.

The conference call will also be simultaneously webcast over the Internet; please visit our Royal Business Bank website at www.royalbusinessbankusa.com and click on the “Investors” tab to access the call from the site. This webcast will be recorded and available for replay on our website approximately two hours after the conclusion of the conference call.

Disclosure

This press release contains certain non-GAAP financial disclosures for tangible common equity and tangible assets and adjusted earnings. The Company uses certain non- GAAP financial measures to provide meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company’s operational performance and to enhance investors’ overall understanding of such financial performance. Please refer to the tables at the end of this release for a presentation of performance ratios in accordance with GAAP and a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the GAAP financial measures.

Safe Harbor

Certain matters set forth herein (including the exhibits hereto) constitute forward-looking statements relating to the Company’s current business plans and expectations and our future financial position and operating results. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and/or achievements to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, local, regional, national and international economic and market conditions and events and the impact they may have on us, our customers and our assets and liabilities; our ability to attract deposits and other sources of funding or liquidity; supply and demand for real estate and periodic deterioration in real estate prices and/or values in California or other states where we lend, including both residential and commercial real estate; a prolonged slowdown or decline in real estate construction, sales or leasing activities; changes in the financial performance and/or condition of our borrowers, depositors or key vendors or counterparties; changes in our levels of delinquent loans, nonperforming assets, allowance for loan losses and charge-offs; expectations regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the costs or effects of acquisitions or dispositions we may make, whether we are able to obtain any required governmental or shareholder approvals in connection with any such acquisitions or dispositions, and/or our ability to realize the contemplated financial or business benefits associated with any such acquisitions or dispositions; the effect of changes in laws, regulations and applicable judicial decisions (including laws, regulations and judicial decisions concerning financial reforms, taxes, banking capital levels, consumer, commercial or secured lending, securities and securities trading and hedging, compliance, employment, executive compensation, insurance, vendor management and information security) with which we and our subsidiaries must comply or believe we should comply; changes in estimates of future reserve requirements and minimum capital requirements based upon the periodic review thereof under relevant regulatory and accounting requirements, including changes in the Basel Committee framework establishing capital standards for credit, operations and market risk; inflation, interest rate, securities market and monetary fluctuations; changes in government interest rates or monetary policies; changes in the amount and availability of deposit insurance; cyber-security threats, including loss of system functionality or theft or loss of Company or customer data or money; political instability; acts of war or terrorism, or natural disasters, such as earthquakes, drought, or the effects of pandemic diseases; the timely development and acceptance of new banking products and services and the perceived overall value of these products and services by our customers and potential customers; the Company’s relationships with and reliance upon vendors with respect to the operation of certain of the Company’s key internal and external systems and applications; changes in commercial or consumer spending, borrowing and savings preferences or behaviors; technological changes and the expanding use of technology in banking (including the adoption of mobile banking and funds transfer applications); the ability to retain and increase market share, retain and grow customers and control expenses; changes in the competitive and regulatory environment among financial and bank holding companies, banks and other financial service providers; volatility in the credit and equity markets and its effect on the general economy or local or regional business conditions; fluctuations in the price of the Company’s common stock or other securities; and the resulting impact on the Company’s ability to raise capital or make acquisitions, the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted from time-to-time by our regulatory agencies, as well as by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and other accounting standard-setters, including ASU 2016-13 (Topic 326), “Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments”, commonly referenced as the Current Expected Credit Loss (“CECL”) model, which will change how we estimate credit losses and may increase the required level of our allowance for credit losses after adoption; changes in our organization, management, compensation and benefit plans, and our ability to retain or expand our workforce, management team and/or our board of directors; the costs and effects of legal, compliance and regulatory actions, changes and developments, including the initiation and resolution of legal proceedings (such as securities, consumer or employee class action litigation), regulatory or other governmental inquiries or investigations, and/or the results of regulatory examinations or reviews; our ongoing relations with our various federal and state regulators, including the SEC, FDIC, FRB and California DFPI (formerly DBO); our success at managing the risks involved in the foregoing items and all other factors set forth in the Company’s public reports, including its Annual Report as filed under Form 10-K/A and Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and particularly the discussion of risk factors within that document. The Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements except as required by law. Any statements about future operating results, such as those concerning accretion and dilution to the Company’s earnings or shareholders, are for illustrative purposes only, are not forecasts, and actual results may differ.