Valley National Grows Auto Portfolio With Boost From Florida
Valley National Bank grew its auto loan portfolio by 9% year over year in the fourth quarter, due in large part to an expansion in Florida, according to the company’s earnings report.
The New Jersey-based bank’s auto portfolio totaled $1.2 billion at the end of the quarter, up from $1.1 billion during the same period the year prior.
In particular, Florida dealers in Valley National’s network boosted originations during the quarter. Total originations climbed 11% during the fourth quarter compared to the prior quarter — driven by $34 million originated out of the sunshine state. The Florida market represented 21% of the bank’s total production for the period, up from 17% in the third quarter.
The company did not change its underwriting strategy to improve its originations, rather the increase is “largely due to solid indirect auto application activity” during the second half of 2017, the company reported in earnings.
“I think more emphasis into the Florida market is going to be a big positive for us; we definitely expanded it from the business lines that we were in, and there’s definitely much more of a focus here on growing the overall portfolio,” Alan Eskow, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, said during the company’s earnings call regarding the whole consumer loan business, not just auto. “[We want to extend] some of the relationships that we have with our customers [who have] the ability and capacity to generate some larger loans in Florida.”
Valley National doesn’t report auto delinquencies and charge-offs, but its auto credit loss provisions did increase 9% to $4.5 million. As a percentage of the total portfolio, Valley National set aside enough to cover losses to 0.23% of its portfolio, up from 0.21% during the same period the year prior. Valley National did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
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