New York Community Bancorp NYCB-N shares plunged 23 per cent on Friday after it found “material weaknesses” in internal controls related to its loan review, rattling investors already fretting over its commercial real estate(CRE) exposure.
The weaknesses were related to “ineffective oversight, risk assessment and monitoring activities,” but it would not impact its financial results for fiscal 2023, the bank said.
Internal controls are processes to ensure accuracy and reliability of a company’s financial reports.
NYCB said it will detail the remediation plan when it files its annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 15 days.
The bank has been under pressure since it posted a surprise fourth-quarter loss on Jan. 31 due to higher provisions tied to CRE loans and cut its dividend to deal with tough regulation.
Late on Thursday, the lender revised its quarterly loss to 10 times higher than what it had stated, citing a $2.4-billion goodwill impairment tied to transactions from 2007 and before.
“NYCB looks like a bank that is out of control and it seems likely that they will have to take even steeper charges for loan loss provisions,” said Octavio Marenzi, CEO of advisory and consulting firm Opimas LLC.
The lender’s market value was set to shed more than $900-million, if the current share losses hold through the session. It has already lost more than $4-billion since its earnings report.
Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz said the impairment should not be seen as a big surprise, but material weakness is a bigger issue.
“Significant changes will need to be made with respect to how they monitor credit risk, which we expect may lead to them being more pro-active on recognizing issues,” he said.
Compared to its peers, NYCB has the lowest concentration of uninsured deposits and has previously disclosed it has enough liquidity to offer its customers expanded deposit insurance.
“The company has strong liquidity and a solid deposit base, and I’m confident we will execute on our turnaround plan to deliver increased shareholder value,” DiNello said.
But Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, said he would be “very cautious” of the stock.
“Transparency is receding and a change in management could cause a loss of confidence from depositors,” he said.
The bank on Friday also named financial services veteran George Buchanan as its chief risk officer and Collen McCullum as its chief audit executive.
After the share slide due to its CRE exposure last month, the lender set out to beef up its top management, starting with the appointment of banking veteran Alessandro DiNello as executive chairman.
The former CEO of Flagstar Bank, which was acquired by NYCB in 2022, was on Thursday assigned the additional roles of president and CEO.
“The appointment will be viewed favourably given DiNello’s prior history of turning around Flagstar,” Raymond James analyst Steve Moss said.
Under his leadership, Flagstar got out of a consent order that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a banking regulator, had imposed on the lender.
With NYCB’s balance sheet exceeding the $100-billion regulatory threshold due to its acquisition of Flagstar and purchase of some assets of failed Signature Bank, it is subjected to stricter capital and liquidity norms.
Short sellers targeting its shares, which have fallen 53 per cent so far this year, had made about $150-million in paper profits through Thursday, according to data and analytics company Ortex.
“We continue to view the situation at NYCB as being very specific and not representative of pressure and uncertainty on regional banks,” J.P. Morgan analyst Steven Alexopoulos said.
Since NYCB’s quarterly report on Jan.31, the KBW Regional Banking index has lost nearly 9 per cent. It fell another 2.5 per cent on Friday.
Other banks, including Citizens Financial, Comerica and Regions Financial, dipped more than 1 per cent each.
Meanwhile, shares of B Riley Financial fell 15 per cent after the investment bank and brokerage late on Thursday cut its quarterly dividend by half.
Its Chairman and co-CEO Bryant Riley said the move was to focus on investment opportunities, including potentially repurchasing own debt at attractive prices.
The bank is also reviewing strategic options for its appraisal and valuation services and retail, wholesale and industrial solutions businesses, it said.