You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: First, I'll begin by providing an update on how we are navigating our business through the COVID-19 pandemic, while supporting our employees, customers, communities and shareholders.
Secondly, I'd like to briefly comment on a few points about our first quarter financial performance and finally, I'd like to revisit several key strategic initiatives and programs.
Our company's existing pandemic preparedness plan and ongoing pandemic exercises enabled F.N.B to stay at the front of this escalating crisis.
Dating back to 2018, our management team went through a pandemic simulation and collaborated with our business continuity team to develop a formal pandemic response plan.
During this process, sustainability was thoroughly evaluated and ultimately formed the foundation of the comprehensive plan currently in place.
Additionally, our ongoing commitment to invest in our digital channels and technology played a critical role in our ability to provide convenient banking options for our customers, who were not able to leave their homes.
Our investments in technology also enabled us to build and establish an automated process to handle nearly 15,000 business applications for the SBA Paycheck Protection Program in just one week's time.
Our efforts resulted in approving and processing 75% of those applications in the first round of funding, representing $2.1 billion in loans.
We anticipate processing the remaining applications during the second round of funding.
As I mentioned, when Phase 1 of F.N.B's technology initiative called clicks-to-bricks began, we had previously introduced online appointment setting and we're able to quickly make specialized COVID-19 content and offerings available in our solution centers.
We tapped into the strength of our established communication channels for both customers and employees, keeping both audiences informed of any update.
Our employees' response to this crisis has been exceptional.
Their professional, compassionate, positive, and resilient attitudes have been a bright light in helping each other, our customers and our communities while navigating these unprecedented times.
Protecting the health, safety, and financial well-being of our employees remains critical as we find ways to address any impact to their health or the health of their families.
For example, F.N.B provided our team with up to 15 days paid leave and also expanded our existing paid caregiver leave program.
Additionally, to assist with any possible financial hardships resulting from the coronavirus, F.N.B provided a special assistance payment to essential employees working on the front line and in our operations areas, who ensure that our customers continue to receive vital financial services.
We also leveraged our IT infrastructure by making accommodations to give employees the ability to work remotely where appropriate.
To-date, we have approximately 2,200 colleagues working remotely, which represents about half of our workforce and largely non-retail position.
This capability also speaks to our investment in technology and IT infrastructure.
As we focus on our communities, the F.N.B Foundation committed to provide $1 million in relief in response to COVID-19, benefiting food banks and providing essential medical supplies.
Many of our employees began reaching out to our clients and our communities to provide support.
At our Pittsburgh headquarters, F.N.B's vendor management team has been using our vetting process to assist Allegheny County and quickly researching new vendors, offering medical supplies and services to combat COVID-19.
With respect to our retail branches, we have focused on drive-up services and closed our lobbies, reverting to appointment only practices, which are supported by the appointment setting capability within our clicks-to-bricks platform.
As you can imagine, the monumental commitment of our leadership team and employees to operate in this challenging environment required to sustain 24/7 effort.
I would like to commend our employees for the actions they've taken to execute and abide by our safety measures, while continuing operations.
With these key priorities and actions in place, let me pivot and comment briefly on our first quarter performance.
Given all that's happened in a noisy quarter, our underlying core performance remained solid.
Our philosophy is to maintain our approach to risk management through varying economic cycles and serve as the primary capital provider to our clients.
While F.N.B like many banks will be subject to a difficult economic environment, this philosophy and the actions we have taken to strengthen our balance sheet and reduce risk should position F.N.B well as we move through the current crisis.
Looking at the quarter's result, GAAP earnings per share of $0.14 included $0.15 of bottom line impact from significant items primarily related to COVID-19 and the adoption and implementation of CECL in the corresponding reserve build under these macro economic conditions.
Topline results were solid as revenue increased to more than $300 million, driven by strong loan and deposit growth and positive results across our fee-based businesses.
Average commercial loans grew $225 million or 6% as we saw activity pick-up in late March, particularly in C&I with growth of 17%.
I'll note there was limited impact to average balances from anticipated liquidity draws.
Compared to the first quarter of 2019, average deposits increased 5% with growth in non-interest-bearing deposits of 7%, leading to an improved funding mix.
The net interest margin expanded to 3.14%, supported by strong loan growth, a 7 basis point improvement in total cost of funds and higher accretion levels compared to the prior quarter.
The fundamental trends in non-interest income were strong with capital markets revenues of $11 million, setting another record in the first quarter.
Insurance and mortgage banking income also had strong underlying performance.
Due to the significant shift in the interest rate environment, our non-interest income includes $7.7 million of impairment on mortgage servicing rights.
Excluding changes in MSR valuation, mortgage banking income totaled $6.7 million, up more than 50% from the first quarter of 2019 with significant pipelines moving forward.
On a core basis, expenses remained stable compared to the fourth quarter and disciplined expense management will continue to be a top priority as we move beyond this crisis.
Vincent and Gary will provide more detail on the implementation of CECL and additional details on the financials in their remarks.
We closed out the first quarter of 2020 with our credit portfolio remaining in a satisfactory position in the midst of the current global challenges that have come as a result of COVID-19.
The first quarter also marked the adoption of the CECL accounting standard, which as I communicated last quarter, brings additional changes to the reporting of credit quality metrics.
I will also review the steps we are taking to monitor the books and manage the emerging risks, while continuing to meet the credit needs of our borrowers and the communities in which we operate.
Let's now review our first quarter results.
The level of delinquency at March 31 totaled 1.13%, up 19 basis points over the prior quarter and included a temporary uptick in early stage, a majority of which has already been brought current NPLs and OREO totaled 64 basis points, a 9 basis point increase linked-quarter.
This increase does not reflect credit deterioration, but rather changes non-accrual reporting moving from the former PCI pool accounting to the new CECL standard.
Net charge-offs remained low at $5.7 million for the quarter or 10 basis points annualized.
Provision expense for the quarter totaled $48 million of which $38 million relates to a reserve build for adverse macroeconomic conditions tied to COVID-19.
The ending reserve stands at 1.44%, up 15 basis points compared to our day one CECL reserve of 1.29%, providing NPL coverage of 256% at quarter-end.
It's worth noting that inclusive of unamortized loan discounts, our period ending reserve represents 66% of our 2018 DFAST severely adverse scenario charge-offs.
Our teams have been working tirelessly over the last several weeks, meeting with borrowers, reviewing credits, tracking performance metrics and administering government-backed lending programs as part of our response to the COVID-19 crisis.
We entered the crisis with our credit portfolio in a position of strength due in large part to our core credit philosophies that I have discussed with you before, including consistent underwriting, proactive management of risk, attentive and aggressive work-out, and a balanced asset mix spanning our entire footprint.
We have taken many actions over the last several years to maintain a lower risk profile to position our book to withstand various economic cycles and adverse conditions, similar to those we are currently experiencing.
Over the last four years, we have sold approximately $700 million in loans to proactively de-risk the balance sheet, a large portion of which were higher risk acquired loans that we were able to move off the books at a financial benefit to the company.
We've also historically limited our exposure to highly sensitive industries like travel and leisure, food and accommodation and energy with exposure to these three industries remaining very low, totaling only 3.8% of our loan portfolio.
As it relates to relief programs, we were able to quickly mobilize our credit teams to review and approve payment deferral plans for qualified borrowers, which to-date totals approximately 6% of our loan portfolio.
As an SBA preferred lender, we have also been working diligently to support our small business borrowers in securing PPP financing that is fully backed by the SBA.
The volume and key performance metrics for these relief programs are monitored daily through a specialized set of reports developed in response to COVID-19.
Using our holistic credit systems, we have been tracking daily utilization rates, deferral activity, PPP loan volume and borrower impact assessments, which are broken down further to allow us to monitor our credit portfolio by line of business, loan product, geography, and industry.
In addition to expanded analytics, we have also leveraged our existing allowance and DFAST frameworks to conduct scenario analysis and stress testing including select loan portfolios.
All of the actions taken will help us manage through the challenging conditions faced by the industry today.
Above all, I would like to take a moment to recognize our team of bankers and credit support staff for all of their hard work and dedication to help meet the credit needs of our customers and communities during this challenging time.
We'll continue to draw on the leadership and experience of our credit and banking teams to manage through this challenging environment as we have in past cycles.
Today, I'll cover our results for the first quarter and provide an update on the current environment.
As noted on slide nine, first quarter GAAP earnings per share totaled $0.14, which includes $0.15 of significant items.
The TCE ratio ended March at 7.36%, reflecting 16 basis points of CECL adoption impact and another 15 basis points for the $48 million of after-tax items.
These significant items are listed in the reconciliation tables with the biggest piece being the COVID-19 related reserve build of $38 million during the first quarter.
We used a pandemic driven recessionary scenario in evaluating the macroeconomic projections.
Let's start with the review of the balance sheet on slide 14.
Linked-quarter average loan growth totaled $278 million or 5% annualized, attributable to commercial growth of 6% and consumer growth of 2%.
The average commercial growth includes less than 1 percentage point annualized for COVID-19 related increases in commercial line utilization that occurred in the month of March.
Continuing on the balance sheet slide, on a linked-quarter basis, average deposits were relatively flat as normal seasonal outflows impacted average balances.
On a year-over-year basis, average deposits were up $1.2 billion or 5.2%.
From an overall liquidity standpoint, we are comfortable with our current position, including the benefit of opportunistically accessing the debt capital markets to raise $300 million in holding company liquidity at very attractive spreads on February 20th.
We also executed a portion of our previously announced share repurchase program, buying back 2.4 million shares prior to March 12th, representing 0.7% of our total shares outstanding.
Turning to the income statement on slide 15, net interest income totaled $233 million, up $6.2 million or 2.7% from last quarter.
The net interest margin expanded 7 basis points to 3.14%, driven by solid average loan growth, lower cost of funds, and higher discount accretion levels now that we are in a CECL environment.
During the first quarter, the higher discount accretion offset the pressure on variable rate loan yields, given the significant decline in the short end of the curve.
On the funding side, the total cost of funds decreased 7 points to 1.01% from 1.08%, reflecting lower borrowing costs as well as the shift in funding mix and a 10 basis point reduction in the cost of interest bearing deposits.
Slide 16 and 17 provide details for non-interest income and expense.
There continues to be strong performance in capital markets, mortgage banking, insurance and trust as well as for operating non-interest income as a whole.
As Vince noted earlier, we are consistently receiving positive contributions from our fee-based businesses, which diversifies our revenue base and helps to mitigate the impact of a volatile interest rate environment.
Looking at the first quarter, non-interest income totaled $68.5 million, a 7.4% decrease from last quarter, due mainly to the impact from the $7.7 million MSR impairment, given the moving down in interest rates.
Excluding the impairment, non-interest income increased $2.2 million or 3% with capital markets posting a record of $11.1 million, increasing 29% from the fourth quarter, driven by strong origination volume.
Turning to slide 17, non-interest expense on a run rate basis remained stable compared to fourth quarter levels.
This excludes $2 million of expenses associated with COVID-19, $8.3 million of branch consolidation costs, and $5.6 million of expense related to changes in retirement provisions for new grants under our long-term incentive program that do not affect the total cost of the grants, but do affect the expense recognition timing.
Bank shares and franchise taxes increased $1.7 million, reflecting the recognition of a $1.2 million state tax credit in the prior quarter and higher year-end 2019 bank capital levels while other increases and decreases essentially offset each other.
The efficiency ratio equaled 59% compared to 56% as the other unusual or outsized items increased current quarter's efficiency ratio by over 3 percentage points.
Regarding guidance, the outlook we shared in January is no longer relevant, given the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall economy and the uncertainty around the length of time it takes to recover.
However, in the spirit of transparency into our short-term forecasts, we are providing our current directional outlook for the second quarter of 2020 on slide 18 based on what we know today, which is subject to change, given the very fluid situation we are all managing through.
We expect second quarter net interest income to decline mid-single digits from first quarter levels as the net interest margin reflects a full quarter's impact of the current interest rate levels.
We expect average loan balances to be up mid-to-high single-digits, reflecting higher March 31 spot balances and $2.1 billion of PPP loans from the initial phase of the program that are expected to fund during the quarter.
The second phase of the program would be additive to these figures as we strive to accommodate all of our customers that want to participate.
We expect expenses to be flat from the core level of $178 million this quarter.
We expect our core fee trends to continue from solid levels in the first quarter with service charges expected to decline due to COVID-19 impacts on certain products and services.
We expect the effective tax rate to be around 20%.
I'd like to touch on several initiatives that stand out as we move forward.
In January, we launched our new interactive website designed with enhanced functionality that creates a one-stop shopping and interactive digital experience.
Online appointment setting, a streamlined account opening process and deploying interactive teller machines throughout our footprint are just a few of the functionalities that our clicks-to-bricks digital strategy affords us.
Combined with our network of nearly 40 ITMs and 550 ATMs and our robust award winning mobile applications, we are well positioned to continue to provide service to our customers through multiple channels and meet their needs during this time of social distancing and economic challenges.
We've invested heavily in our mobile and online platform, which is critical during a time of limited operations in the physical channels.
Mobile deposits are up more than 40% in the last two weeks of March compared to the year ago period and pre-COVID-19 first quarter levels.
F.N.B will continue to build-out our digital capabilities as previously planned.
To protect our customers and communities from economic disruption, F.N.B was one of the first banks to develop a structured deferral program and announced several measures to support customers who may be enduring financial hardships and were directly impacted by COVID-19.
Furthermore, we instituted an outreach program and activated an outbound calling initiative to contact thousands of customers across all business units during the crisis, ensuring their needs were being met.
We also continue to participate in the previously mentioned Paycheck Protection Program and evaluate other COVID-19 related federal government relief programs to determine their suitability for our customers and communities.
Regarding our outlook, liquidity and overall capital position, we consistently run stress test for a variety of economic situations, including severely adverse scenarios that have economic conditions like current conditions.
Under these scenarios, our regulatory capital ratios remain above the thresholds and we are able to maintain appropriate liquidity levels, demonstrating our ability to continue to support all of our constituencies under stressful financial conditions.
As we gain more clarity on this evolving health pandemic and the resulting challenging economic environment, we will continue to update you on key business drivers and expectations.
In closing, I'd like to express how proud I am of our team's efforts during this very difficult time to identify new and creative ways to connect with those in need.
This is an unprecedented time for our nation and our industry.
Our mission has always been to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve.
Now more than ever, we must work together to support those impacted by this public health crisis.

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compname reports q1 earnings per share $0.14.
q1 earnings per share $0.14.

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