TCF Financial Corporation announced that it will discontinue all indirect auto loan originations, effective December 1, 2017. TCF will continue to service existing auto loans on its balance sheet and auto loans serviced for others. Concurrent with the discontinuation of indirect auto originations, TCF’s board of directors has approved the replacement of its previous share repurchase program with a new authorization to repurchase up to $150 million of TCF common stock. The shares are expected to be acquired from time to time subject to market conditions.
“After a thorough review of our businesses by our executive management team and board of directors, we determined that the financial outlook of the indirect auto loan origination business was less favorable compared to alternative uses of capital,” said Craig R. Dahl, chairman and chief executive officer. “As a result, we believe this is the appropriate time to discontinue originating indirect auto loans. While the business performed as expected under the new direction we set earlier in the year, we believe there are better opportunities to deploy our capital and earn a higher return for our shareholders.”
As a result of the decision to discontinue all indirect auto loan originations, TCF expects to recognize a one-time, after-tax charge in the fourth quarter of 2017 in two components; 1) an after-tax charge for goodwill and other intangibles of $73.4 million and 2) an after-tax restructuring charge between approximately $7.0 million and $12.0 million for items such as severance, asset impairment and lease termination write-offs. Actions to wind down operations that support indirect auto originations will begin immediately and the servicing operations will be adjusted over time to support business requirements, including the retention of the necessary staff. Additional costs may be incurred as the Company executes the plan.
“We are confident that the actions we are taking will meaningfully improve our return on capital and earnings per share in 2018,” added Dahl. “We remain committed to making decisions that will drive shareholder value moving forward.”