Opus loses money again after recording another big provision

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., reported its second straight quarterly loss tied to credit issues.

The $7.9 billion-asset company reported Monday that it lost $19 million in the fourth quarter as it added nearly $70 million to its loan-loss reserve. Opus earned $59.9 million a year earlier.

Opus reported a $3 million loss in the third quarter after recording a $40 million loan-loss provision.

The company's shares were down more than 24% in midafternoon trading.

Despite widening losses, Opus has been given no indication any regulatory intervention is pending, Chairman and CEO Stephen Gordon said Monday during a conference call with analysts.

The company moved to shore up its capital levels, agreeing Sunday to sell $53 million of stock in a private placement. The sale should net Opus $50 million when it closes next month.

Characterizing fourth-quarter results as "deeply disappointing," Gordon, who is also Opus' president, said in a press release that he has taken "decisive action" to improve its credit infrastructure and to re-evaluate its loan portfolio.

Opus said last year that it had de-emphasized technology lending. It recorded $41.6 million in technology loan payoffs in the fourth quarter, reducing the size of its tech book to $190.5 million.

The company also said it had decided to put less emphasis on lending to health care practices.

In addition to hiring Brian Fitzmaurice, a veteran of City National Bank, as its senior chief credit officer, Opus also retained an outside firm to review its commercial portfolio, Gordon said. With the focus squarely on loan review, new loan funding fell 44% from a year earlier, to $429 million, in the fourth quarter.

The company's pipeline may not approach levels seen in past quarters, but the quality of new loans should be significantly better, Gordon said. "We're steadily rebuilding our pipeline with the right discipline, decisioning and quality," he told analysts.

Deposits were a bright spot, rising 26% to $6.7 billion.

Opus' net chargeoffs totaled $19.2 million in the fourth quarter, down from $39 million in the third quarter but up significantly from $676,000 a year earlier. About $12 million of Opus' fourth-quarter 2016 chargeoffs were tied to commercial and specialty lending portfolios.

Nonperforming assets totaled $95.1 million, or 1.21% of total assets, at Dec. 31, up from $24.3 million and 0.37% a year earlier.