Q1 2023 Regions Financial Corp Earnings Call
Speaker 1: The.
Speaker 1: I we J.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Region's Financial Corporation's quarterly earnings call.
Speaker 2: My name is Christine and I will be your operator for today's call.
Speaker 2: I would like to remind everyone that all participant phone lines have been placed on listen only. At the end of the call there will be a question and answer session.
Speaker 2: If you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad.
Speaker 2: I will now turn the call over to Dana Nolan to begin.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Christine. Welcome to Region's first quarter 2023 earnings call. John and David will provide high-level commentary regarding the quarter. Earnings documents, which include our forward-looking statement disclaimer and non-GAAP information, are available in the investor relations section of our website.
Speaker 3: These disclosures cover our presentation materials, prepared comments, and Q&A. I will now turn the call over to John . Thank you, Dana, and good morning to everyone. We appreciate you joining our call today.
Speaker 4: Once again, Regents delivered another solid quarter, underscoring our commitment to generating consistent, sustainable, long-term performance.
Speaker 4: We generated earnings of $588 million, resulting in earnings per share of 62 cents.
Speaker 4: Despite recent events in the banking industry, we remain focused on the fundamentals and things we can control. We've spent over a decade enhancing our interest rate risk, credit risk, capital and liquidity management frameworks.
Speaker 4: Our relationship-based banking approach, coupled with our favorable geographic footprint, uniquely positions us to weather an uncertain market backdrop.
Speaker 4: Further, balance and diversity on both sides of the balance sheet have been a key focus for years.
Speaker 4: As a result, we are well positioned to withstand an array of economic conditions.
Speaker 4: Approximately 70% of our deposits are retail deposits.
Speaker 4: These deposits tend to be granular and less rate sensitive.
Speaker 4: In fact, approximately 90% of these deposits are insured.
Speaker 4: Our strategy focuses on promisee and customer loyalty.
Speaker 4: We want to be our customers' primary banking relationship.
Speaker 4: This strategy is evident in the fact that over 90% of our consumer checking households include a high quality checking account and over 60% of consumer checking deposit balances are with customers that have been with regions for 10 years or more.
Speaker 4: Our wholesale or business services deposits are also highly diversified from an industry, size, and geography perspective.
Speaker 4: with approximately 75% of deposits that are either insured, operational in nature, or collateralized.
Speaker 4: In total, approximately 75% of our deposits across all business lines.
Speaker 4: are insured or collateralized by securities.
Speaker 4: And our deposits are with customers we know as over 97% reside within our 15 state footprint.
Speaker 4: Furnace supporting our high quality deposit franchise, we had access to total primary liquidity of approximately $41 billion at the end of the quarter.
Speaker 4: sufficient to cover uninsured retail and non-operational wholesale deposits.
Speaker 4: to cover uninsured retail and non-operational wholesale deposits by more than a two to one ratio.
Speaker 4: If you include access to the Federal Reserve's discount window, available liquidity increases to $54 billion or approximately 3 to 1 coverage. We have a strong team of bankers and the recent disruption has given us an opportunity to connect with our customers and top prospects.
Speaker 4: to answer questions and reassure them of our stability.
Speaker 4: We've experienced some deposit outflows as corporate treasurers looked to diversify and sought higher interest rates for their excess cash. However, we've also experienced deposit inflows from new and existing customers.
Speaker 4: Importantly, our total deposits at March 31 were roughly unchanged from what they were prior to the onset of liquidity concerns in the industry.
Speaker 4: A majority of the $3 billion deposit decrease this quarter was as expected.
Speaker 4: due primarily to further normalization in corporate deposits.
Speaker 4: which had dramatically increased during the pandemic.
Speaker 4: as well as a continuation of rate seeking behavior in certain wealth and higher balance consumer accounts.
Speaker 4: From a lending perspective, our focus on risk adjusted returns continues.
Speaker 4: Overall sentiment among our corporate customers remains positive.
Speaker 4: While most are forecasting strong performance in 2023, they are expecting modest declines from level seen in 2022.
Speaker 4: While current market conditions warrant heightened caution, we believe our strong liquidity profile provides an advantage in terms of supporting our customers' borrowing needs.
Speaker 4: In closing, despite all the industry turmoil, we feel very good about our balance sheet and strong liquidity positions.
Speaker 4: and through our proactive hedging strategies, we're positioned for success in any interest rate environment.
Speaker 4: Our granular deposit-based and relationship-based banking model continues to serve us well, and we're proud to continue supporting our customers' banking needs.
Speaker 4: Now, they will provide some highlights regarding the quarter.
Speaker 4: Thank you, John . Let's start with the balance sheet.
Speaker 4: Average loans increased 2% sequentially. Average business loans increased 2% compared to the prior quarter, reflecting high-quality, broad-based growth across the utilities, retail trade, and financial services industries.
Speaker 4: Approximately 87% of this growth was again driven by existing clients accessing and expanding their credit lines to rebuild inventories and expand their businesses.
Speaker 4: Average consumer loans increased 1% as growth in mortgage and interbank was partially offset by continued pay downs in home equity and run off exit portfolios. Looking forward we continue to expect 2023 ending loan growth of approximately 4%.
Speaker 4: From a deposit standpoint, our deposit base remains a strength and competitive advantage, with balances continuing to largely perform as expected.
Speaker 4: Previously, we indicated the combination of rapidly rising interest rates and normalization of surge deposits would likely lead to $3 to $5 billion of deposit declines by mid-year before we would begin to generate net deposit growth.
Speaker 4: While the events in March created turmoil in the banking industry, we continue to believe that range is appropriate. However, we may be at the higher end of the range as we approach mid-year.
Speaker 4: The preponderance of deposit outflows this quarter occurred prior to early March and were in line with our expectations.
Speaker 4: Approximately two of the three billion dollar outflow came from corporate deposits reflecting normal seasonal activity.
The other billion dollars came from a continuation of rate-seeking behavior among certain wealth and higher-balance consumer clients.
The same characteristics that contribute to our deposit advantage in a rising rate environment are also helpful in a time of systemic volatility. As John noted, our focus on attracting and retaining a diverse and granular deposit base with high primacy drives loyalty and trust.
and instills funding stability.
So let's shift to net interest income and margin.
Net interest income continued to expand with market interest rates in the first quarter, reflecting our asset-sensitive profile and funding stability.
Net interest income grew 1% link quarter to a record $1.4 billion, and net interest margin increased 23 basis points to 4.22%. As the Federal Reserve nears the end of its tightening cycle, net interest income is supported by elevated floating rate loans and cash yields.
at higher market interest rates and fixed rate asset turnover from the maturity of low-yielding loans and securities generated through the pandemic.
At this stage in the rate cycle, we expect accelerating deposit costs through repricing and remixing.
Importantly, recent trends remain within our expectation.
The cycle to date deposit beta is 19%, and our guidance for 2023 has unchanged a 35% full cycle beta by year end.
We remain confident that our deposit composition will provide a meaningful competitive advantage for regions when compared to the broader industry.
Net interest income is projected to grow between 12 and 14 percent in 2023 when compared to 2022.
The midpoint of the range is supported by the March 31st Market Forward yield curve, which projects nearly 75 basis points of rate cuts in 2023. A stable Fed Funds level would push net interest income to the upper end of the range.
The balance sheet hedging program is an important source of our ending stability in today's uncertain environment. This added to date created a well protected net interest margin profile through 2025.
forward-starting, receive-fix swaps will become effective in the latter half of 2023 and 2024 and generally have a term of three years.
Activity in the first quarter focused on extending that protection beyond 2025. In addition to forward starting swaps, we added a $1.5 billion collar strategy.
selling rate caps to pay for rate floors to limit exposure to extreme market rate movements.
The resulting balance sheet is constructed to support a net interest margin range of 3.6 to 4 percent over the coming years, even if interest rates move back towards 1 percent.
If rates remain elevated, our net interest margin is projected to remain above the high end of the range until deposits fully reprice.
So let's take a look at fee revenue and expense. Adjusted non-interest income declined 3% from the prior quarter as modest increases in service charges and wealth management income were offset by declines in other categories, primarily capital markets and card and ATM fees. Service charges increased slightly.
as seasonally higher treasury management fees offset declines in overdraft fees.
Excluding the impact of CBA and DBA, capital markets increased 4% sequentially, as growth in real estate capital markets, loan syndications, and debt and securities underwriting more than offset declines in M&A fees and commercial swaps.
We did have a negative $33 million CBA and DBA adjustment reflecting lower long-term interest rates.
volatility and credit spreads, as well as a refinement in our valuation methodology.
Card and ATM fees were negatively impacted by a $5 million increase in reserves driven by higher reward redemption rates.
With respect to our outlook and incorporating first quarter results, we expect full year 2023 adjusted total revenue to be up 6-8% compared to 2022.
Let's move on to non-interest expense.
Adjusted non-interest expenses increased 1% compared to the prior quarter.
Salaries and benefits increased 2%, primarily due to merit and a seasonal increase in payroll taxes.
FDIC insurance assessment reflects the previously announced industry-wide increase in the assessment rate schedules.
In contrast to the prior two years, we expect first-half 2023 adjusted expenses to be higher than the second half of the year.
And we continue to expect full year 2023 adjusted non-interest expenses to be up 4.5 to 5.5 percent.
We now expect to generate positive adjusted operating leverage of approximately 2%.
From an asset quality standpoint, overall credit performance continues to normalize as expected.
Net charge off for 35 basis points in the quarter.
Non-performing loans and business services criticized loans increased, while total delinquencies decreased.
Provision expense was $135 million, while the allowance for credit loss ratio remained unchanged at 1.63%.
The amount of the allowance increased due primarily to economic changes.
and normalizing credit from historically low levels.
partially offset by a reduction associated with the elimination of the accounting for troubled debt restructured loans. It is worth noting the outcome of the most recent Shared National Credit Exam is reflected in our results.
I want to take a few minutes to speak to our commercial real estate portfolio. Since 2008, we have deliberately limited our exposure to this space.
At quarter end, our exposure totaled 15% of loans, excluding owner-occupied, and it is highly diverse.
This total includes $8.4 billion of investor real estate and $6.7 billion of unsecured exposure of which the vast majority is within real estate investment trusts.
Our rate clients generally have low leverage and strong access to liquidity, with 68% classified as investment grade.
Importantly,
Total office represents just 1.8% of total loans at $1.8 billion. Of note, 83% consist of Class A properties, with 62% located within the Sunbelt.
The office portfolio was originated with an approximate weighted average loaned value of 58%.
And we have stressed the portfolio to include a 25% discount.
using the Green Street Commercial Property Price Index with the weighted average resulting loan to value of the book approximating 77%.
It is also noteworthy that 37% of our secured office portfolio is single-tenant.
While we are carefully monitoring conditions, we believe our portfolio will be able to weather the weakness in the industry.
Including first quarter results, we now expect our full year 2023 net charge off ratio to be approximately 35 basis points.
Given the recent economic uncertainty and market volatility, we may see a pickup in the pace of normalization towards our through the cycle annual charge-off range of 35 to 45 basis points over time.
From a capital standpoint, we ended the quarter with a common equity tier one ratio at an estimated 9.8% reflecting solid capital generation through earnings.
partially offset by continued loan growth, and approximately $100 billion, or seven basis points, related to the phase-in of CECL into regulatory capital. Given current macroeconomic conditions and regulatory uncertainty, the CECL is currently in the top 10.
We anticipate managing capital levels at or modestly above 10% over the near term.
So in closing, we delivered solid results in the first quarter despite volatile conditions.
We have balance and diversity on both sides of the balance sheet and are well positioned to withstand an array of economic conditions.
We are in some of the strongest markets in the country, and while we remain vigilant to indicators of potential market contraction, we will continue to be a source of stability to our customers.
Freetax pre-provision income remains strong, expenses are well controlled, credit remains broadly stable, and capital and liquidity levels remain robust.
With that, we'll move to the Q&A portion of the call.
Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. You may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue.
Please hold while we compile the Q&A roster.
Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Ryan Nash with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question. Hey, good morning, guys. Our first question comes from the line of Ryan Nash with Goldman Sachs.
Good morning, Ryan. David, maybe a question on betas and deposit balances. So, you know, you guys are one of the few that isn't increasing your deposit beta guidance, given that you're at 19 and I think expectations are for 35.
Can you maybe just talk about where you expect the pressure to come from? I think you noted in the remarks, re-pricing and re-mixing, how much will each of these contribute? Are you expecting more to be in retail given the push for insured deposits or is it on the commercial side? And then second, you noted that you do expect to see stabilization or growth imbalances later in the year. Can you maybe just talk about what you see driving that as we move through the year? Thanks. Thank you.
Sure. So, as we've mentioned before, we had $41 billion worth of surge deposits. We didn't think those would stay with us as long as they actually have stayed with us. And we furthermore said as rates continue to increase, that people would be seeking higher returns than we were offering at the time.
And so you can see our cumulative beta, as you mentioned, at 19%, well below everybody else. We do understand that we're going to end up, you know, there's going to be a shift of deposits into CDs, more expensive deposits.
And so we do also expect some continued runoff. We have given you the guide of $3 billion to $5 billion. We're down 3-3. We expect to be at the upper end of that by the end of the second quarter. And a lot of that is putting money to work in businesses, but also some seeking higher rates.
And so, you know, the combination of where we are relative to our deposit costs relative to the peers would imply that we would be increasing some of that over time. And that's going to drive our beta, and we still believe 35 is the right number by the end of the cycle, which we're calling the end of this year.
Got it. And, you know, maybe as a follow-up, so you guys are now expecting losses at the high end of your previous guidance. It looks like the increase this quarter was driven by CNI. And I think, David, I think you just noted, you know, you could see a pickup in the pace of normalization. Can you maybe just talk about, one, what is driving the incremental pressure?
And what are you expecting to be the higher driver of charges both for the rest of this year and then the pace of normalization that we could see? Thanks.
Well, so as we have really stated many times, the charge off level is below normal. And if we said it would be normalizing over time, we further bore said our normalized loss rate based on the risk profile. We maintain its 35 to 45. As we get through this end of this year, we're trying to give you the message that that could...
kind of leads you into a run rate towards that 35 to 45 by the end of the year. We're already at 35 this quarter, which would imply we expect a reduction in charge-offs in the second and or third quarter. And all in, we still think we're going to be at 35 basis points, which is below normal.
So, we have a lot of confidence in that. You know, we had certain things that happened in the first quarter we don't think will repeat. So, you know, I think our 35 is a pretty good number.
Yeah, Ron, I'd just add to the question about where we're seeing the stress. We've identified a couple of areas on previous calls where we are experiencing some stress in the portfolio. That would be healthcare, where we're seeing rising cost and pressure on labor, transportation, particularly on the smaller end of the transportation sector where customers are competing.
which is a sector that we believe is improving but still not returned to occupancy levels that we experienced prior to the pandemic and again it's a sector where labor is a factor in the operations of those businesses and driving costs up so those are all areas where
we are seeing more pressure than in the rest of the portfolio. And I would finally comment, I think we'll see some additional, quote, movement toward normalization, but our
We've probably gotten there a little faster than I think we thought we would, so we don't expect a whole lot of additional deterioration as we move toward normalization. Got it. Thanks for the color, John . David. Thanks for the color, John .
Our next question comes from the line of Erica DeGerian with UBS. Please proceed with your question. Hi, good morning. Hey, good morning.
My first question is for David. You continue to have that line about a long-term name of 3624%. I think investors are starting to think about rates.
in 2024, and I'm loathe to always ask about 2024, but I think investors are thinking about how inexpensive bank stocks are really by trying to evaluate them on what could be trough earnings next year. So if the Fed cuts, can you still stay within that range?
And I think nobody's expecting a cut to zero, but perhaps walk us through the scenario of that range. And I think nobody's expecting a cut to zero, but perhaps walk us through the scenario of
in the scenario of like a 200 basis point cut over one year? Yeah, so the bottom line answer is yes, we do feel comfortable under any scenario, as we mentioned, that we would operate in that 360 to 4% range. Clearly, our guidance is based on the March 31st.
We have some received fixed swaps that actually come on board in the second half of the year to protect us from lower rates
You know, we're not saying that the rates will be cut. That's what the market says
I personally don't see that that will happen at that pace, but we wanted to be able to center the discussion on what the market's saying, and that's why we gave you that, and then we gave you some sensitivity around it. So we feel very good about the range. Here we are in the range, there are a whole lot of factors.
the pace, the timing of cuts that would take us down, even if we had a couple hundred basis points of cuts, and then 24, we're still in the range.
Is that what gets you what you wanted? Yes. And as we think about perhaps a more measured pace of cuts, how would you anticipate being able to informalize your deposit costs in that backdrop?
Say that again, how would we...say it again, Erica. Yeah, how quickly could you lower deposit costs in an environment where the set is cutting in a measured pace? I'm just trying to think about the other side as I think about your long-term NIMS target range.
Yeah, well so you can see our deposit cost relative to our peers is 19% beta or lagging. And so the ability to cut, we have to be competitive, we have to offer a fair price to our customer base.
And I think to the extent you start seeing a pause and or cuts coming from the Fed, the beta that we just mentioned could change and may not be as severe. What happens is the increase in deposit costs lag the last increase that the Fed's going to have. So it'll take some time for that to manifest itself. So......
You know, if you look at the retail side, the retail side is very slow to react, but on the commercial side it's almost instantaneous. As treasurers look to lock in the best yield that they can, we have some index deposits that move with changes in Fed funds, so that will react pretty quickly.
which I think is a benefit to us in that scenario.
benefit to us in that scenario. Got it. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of John Pancari with Evercore. Please proceed with your question.
In terms of your maintaining the cumulative or through cycle beta at 35% you know I hear you where you're trending out 19% in your confidence but you know I'm just curious how the liquidity crisis
through March and how it really impacted that outlook. We saw a number of other banks increase their deposit data expectations given the intensifying pressure around deposit costs as well as broader funding costs. So how has the liquidity crisis impacted your view and how...
How does that not influence an increase in how you're thinking about the through cycle data? If you could just walk us through that. In the next one we can switch gears.
Yeah, John , so our, you know, this is our competitive advantage is our deposit base, and so we haven't had to react at the pace at others. So if you look at the incremental beta of our core peer group, that was some 73% this quarter, and ours was 40%, 41%.
So we just haven't had to move at the pace, and I still think, you know, based on how we fund ourselves, the core retail, 70% of our deposits being retail, really has helped us from being able to keep that beta where it is at 35. So, um...
You know, as we think about some of the larger customers that are seeking rates, seeking returns, that's where there's been more competitive pressure. And we saw some of that being put to work in the first quarter. And we called for some of that. That's part of the $3 to $5 billion that we're talking about. As a matter of fact, there are.
in our beta assumption we had all that coming out of non-interest bearing. That wasn't quite what we saw but we gave it, we assumed non-interest bearing because that was more conservative to give you the guidance. And so if you take all that into consideration I think that's why you didn't see us change.
our cumulative beta to the 35. And being at 19, there's a long way to go from 19 to 35. We understand that, but if we miss it, maybe it's a tad underneath that, which is why we gave you also some guidance on our slide number seven that would show you if beta...
was a little bit better than 35, how much it might mean. Got it. Thanks, David. That's helpful. And then separately on the capital front, I know you increased your target to 10 percent, and you know, to just the or 10 percent or just above, I believe you said.
If you could maybe give us a little bit more of a color in terms of the rationale and then could that allow for buybacks at some point? How are you thinking about deployment and the pace of where you're the timing going to get to around that 10% range?
Sure, so you saw our common equity tier one increase from 9.6 to 9.8 percent. That's after absorbing about seven basis points due to the CECL impact for the first quarter. So, you know, we're generating 20 to 30 basis points worth of CET1 every quarter. After loan growth, we first and foremost want to...
to be here as a source of strength for our customers and be able to make all creditworthy loans we can make. And we're open for business and ready to do that. That's what our job is. We want to make sure we pay our shareholders a fair dividend, 35 to 45 percent of our earnings in the form of a dividend, and we have been at the lower end of that.
But, and then we've used our capital for other non-bank acquisitions and mortgage servicing right acquisitions which we'd like to continue.
and then to optimize our capital, we'll buy stock back from time to time. Given the uncertainty that's in the market, obviously there's a lot of review going on to what happened in the month of March and there's going to be some reports coming out from our regulatory supervisors on what may change and we just want to be prepared for that and we think it would be inappropriate at this time.
Until the extent things settle down, then we'll optimize capital and we'll use share repurchases as a mechanism to do so.
Thanks, David. Our next question comes from the line of Matt O'Connor with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your question. Morning, Matt. Hey, Matt. How are you thinking about managing liquidity going forward? Obviously, with a very strong deposit base, you've been less reliant on wholesale borrows for $50 to write on investor payments.
the moving rates, but what's the outlook on both the funding and asset side? Thanks. Yeah, so we still believe in growing customer relationships, core checking accounts and operating accounts of businesses. It's the basis of our whole business and we'll continue to do that to help us from a liquidity standpoint.
You know, clearly some things have changed. We've given you a list of our total primary liquidity and also the liquidity at the discount window should we need it. What we've learned, I think, over this is that it can move much quicker than we all have anticipated. The world has changed a bit.
And so we've had one of the largest cash balances of anybody in the peer group, the lower securities book, and we did that intentionally because we were not clear on the surge deposits, on the pace that they would move out. So we'll probably maintain a bit more cash than we historically have been.
You know, obviously, there's a... Currently, there's a new term, a bank facility that the Fed created that's temporary. I hope there's some thinking about how to maybe keep that in place, but we did not use that, as you can tell from our disclosures. But we tested it, you know, after a quarter end just to make sure that...
at quarter end, a couple billion dollars. And so just having access to multiple levels, if we learned anything, it's diversification. And you need to make sure your funding side is diverse, and within your deposit base, it needs to be diverse. So if you end up with a concentration, you end up with a problem. So I think that's a big lesson learned for everybody.
and staying as diverse as we can. A little more cash on hand, I think, is in order. And then specifically on the securities book, how would you think about that relative to assets, kind of near and long term with the current framework?
You know, we've historically been in that 20% range of earning assets and we don't see that changing dramatically. You know, I think we need to be careful. There's been a lot of discussion about shortening up maturities and things of that nature and we need to be real careful because there are...
implications to the economy. So we're going to be careful of that. We'll see what the policymakers come up with and we'll adapt and overcome as we see fit. But right now I think having a book about where we've been, which is a little lower than others, I think is the right spot for us based on our, again, our funding profile. Okay. I understand. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from a line of Gerard Cassidy with RBC. Please proceed with your question. Good morning John . Good morning David. Hey, good morning Gerard. John or David, both of you, obviously Region says de-risked its balance sheet dramatically from the 08-09 time period.
And so I think you guys are in a good position to maybe handle this question, especially specifically for commercial real estate. Can you guys share with us the differences that you are seeing in the, you know, the current commercial real estate market in your portfolio versus what it was like in an 08-09? Now, granted, I know you've lowered the exposure, so that's a major difference, but in terms of, you know,
time frame recognizing that it's very much a specialized business. And so we built it around professional real estate bankers who are working
with professional real estate developers. Generally they're either regional or national developers. They have strong capital positions, good access to liquidity, strong track records. They're operating in some of the primary markets across the U.S. We rebuilt our business with a focus on concentration risk management. So it's...
well distributed portfolio is across different segments of the industry as well as across geographies. We have built the business, I think very conservatively from a structural standpoint requiring good equity in projects and and we're constantly stressing our exposure.
It's a relationship business for us. We're transacting with customers who maintain deposit relationships with us, who use our capital markets capabilities. We're very close to those customers and as a consequence, we have a very good handle on the exposure that we have across the business.
And we have the benefit of operating in some of the best markets in the country as well. You look at markets like Dallas and Houston, Orlando, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Nashville, where we're doing business and where the majority of our portfolio resides. We have a good underpinning economy to help support the projects as well.
And maybe David, on a technical question regarding the commercial real estate, how does the elimination of TDRs now help or hinder your guys working out with some of your customers that may inevitably have an issue with their property? Well, we're not going to let an accounting change what we're going to do for our customers.
I'll go one for you, David. Can you just remind us about the CECL being, you know, phased into capital, just the time range, and how that may, you know, affect your capital ratios going forward? Yeah, it's roughly the same number you just saw. It's almost a straight-line number over, I think it's four periods. So we've got three more of these coming. It's 100 million.
helpful. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Peter Winter with DA Davidson. Please proceed with your questions.
Good morning. You guys had pretty solid average loan growth this quarter and did maintain the period and outlook. Can you just talk about loan demand and then secondly if there's any areas maybe where you're tightening underwriting standards or being more selective at this stage?
Yeah, so, you know, we obviously in this economy we want to be thoughtful about any new relationships that we acquire and any new credit that we book. I think, I would like to think that we're not changing our underwriting standards, that we are consistent... Yeah.
across all economic cycles, but at the same time, when you think about allocation of capital and lending into this environment, we want to be thoughtful and prudent. We want to make sure that any new business we get is a result of calling activity that's been ongoing for some time. We understand the relationship potential and opportunity that we have a good plan.
The bulk of the loan growth that we've experienced in the wholesale business has been loans to existing customers. And in the last quarter, a good bit of the growth was in our industry verticals, particularly in power and utilities, energy and the industrial space. We're also seeing a little growth within our recent business capital.
business, asset-based lending business during this period of time. And then on the consumer side, mortgage grew and interbank grew as a result of putting mortgage because we're generating some arms during a period, on balance sheet arms in a period like this. I think loan growth clearly, or loan pipelines I should say on the...
view of the future and known projects that are either underway or will get underway. There is, we have an opportunity to grow loans, I think we're guiding to about 4% between now and the end of the year and should see growth in the same categories that I just described.
I think Peter I'll add to that that part of the growth outlook is because of the markets that we operate in. We've been the recipient of a lot of migration of people and businesses into where we operate. And so our economy here is a bit different than certain other economies around the country. And I think that's the reason why we're here.
that's given us some confidence that our 4% loan growth is reasonable. Got it. Very helpful.
If I could ask about the guidance on the deposit service charges, still $550 million. Question is, how should we think about the second half of the year from the impact of that grace period? Will it step down to, I guess, around $120 million and could you offset some of that with just account growth and cross-selling treasury management services?
Yeah, so you can see that our, if you annualize where we ended up in the first quarter, we would be above the 550 and that's an acknowledgement that our last change of 24 hour grace actually goes in the beginning of the second, of the third quarter. And so you're going to see that step down more so in the third and fourth quarter than you have seen because we hadn't made the change.
You know, one of the things that we've been the recipients of is our Treasury management investments we've made on people and technology have really helped offset, to some degree at least, the decline we're seeing from the consumer service charges, and we expect that to continue.
So we're up some 8% there in TM. And if this continues at that pace, we might have a better answer for you next earnings call, but right now we're calling for $550, with a step down in the second half of the year.
We're up some 8% there in TM. And if this continues at that pace, we might have a better answer for you next earnings call. But right now, we're calling for 550 with a step down in the second half of the year. OK.
Thanks, David. Our next question comes from a line of 10 used in with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question. Yeah, hey, guys. Good afternoon. Good morning. Just a follow-up also on the fee side. I know obviously it's been a tough start to the year in capital markets, and you're reiterating that 60 to 80 percent of the total
expect this to pick up in the second half of the year. It's still.
I would say modestly improving, but the second quarter will probably look a lot like the first is our guess. A good bit of our business is built around real estate capital markets and our real estate customers, and that business has just been really, really slow. If you look at the component parts of our business, generally speaking, whether it's syndications or revenue.
revenue generated from fixed income placement or derivative sales. It's been pretty good over the course of the first quarter, but the real estate capital markets have been very soft. M&A was pretty good in the first quarter. We expect that to be true through the balance of the year. So I think we're guiding to pick up in the second half of the year, and we believe that's very possible. And just for clarification, make sure, Ken, that when John said you've...
As far as the outlook goes, when you think about just the combination of either your supply of credit and the demand of credit and this changing environment that we're in, just what's happening on the lending side of things in terms of...
How the environment's changing that are you guys tightening up at all is it more about the end client that's changing their demand functions Well you know naturally in a Softening economy if you will we are going to probably be a little more conservative even though I would say that we like to as I said a few minutes ago. We like to think that our underwriting
the time, probably even more so during periods like this. We want to support our existing customers and
Some 90, almost 85% in round numbers of loan growth we've experienced in the last quarter was to existing customers. So we are acquiring some new customers but being very thoughtful about that. And then separately, while our economies are good and we do see some opportunity, pipelines are down because...
of, I think, customer caution related to still difficulty acquiring labor. There are two open jobs in the southeast for every one person looking for a job, so the labor market is still tight. And cost while moderating.
have risen fairly significantly, including interest costs, obviously which puts pressure on projects. So I think for the balance of the year we'll probably see pipelines will have moderated and stayed fairly muted. But we believe we can deliver the long growth.
that we're projecting despite that. Okay, got it, thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Betsy Grasek with Morgan Stanley , please proceed with your question. Hi, good morning.
we're projecting despite that. Okay, got it. Thank you. Our next question comes from Betsy Grasek with Morgan Stanley . Please proceed with your question. Hi, good morning. Good morning.
In the past, you've talked a little bit about the fact that you're not going to need debt financing for several quarters. And I just wanted to see if you could give us an update on how you're thinking about that, especially as, even though your size doesn't come into the current TLAC, how you're thinking about how you're thinking about the current TLAC.
expectations, there's, you know, the potential for that to happen over time and wanted to hear how you're thinking about that. Thanks. Yeah, so from a debt financing standpoint, we borrowed a little bit from the FHLB as you saw, but you know, the larger term financing we said we'd push out probably till the second half of the year. We don't know what the regime is going to be, if there will be any change.
The changes that are at least being batted around right now, you can't move too fast because we all can't go out there and raise a bunch of debt at the same time. It'd be tough for the market to absorb. I think any change that might be coming relative to that would be overtime.
I still think there's going to be some tailoring, what that looks like, what that means. We'll have to find out and see what our regulatory supervisors and policymakers decide. But you know, outside of something like that, we have a little bit of term death we need to get done and that's really pointed towards the back half of this year.
And that's included in our guidance. Right, and that was something that you had been talking about for a while. Just wondering if it's feasible to give us a sense as to, you know, size if that's reasonable or not. No, we haven't done that yet. So we're still working out what that needs to look like and precise timing to. But we don't expect it this first.
that you could point us to in terms of opportunities for efficiency improvement from here. Thanks.
Yeah, it's a great question. We tried to, not tried, we gave guidance that our first quarter was going to be a high watermark. I'm not sure that made it into everybody's expectations but it is what it is. We're now giving you guidance again that we think the first half of the year will be higher.
in the second half of the year. We had some things that we knew were coming the first half, including we moved our merit increase up a month from April to March. So you've seen that in our first quarter. And in any event, I think when you look at the way to work on expenses, the first thing are our salaries and benefits and making sure that you've got the right amount of time to work on expenses.
I do think return to work is still trying to find its way, but we likely have more square footage than we need, whether it be in the branch space or the office space. And so we have a team constantly working on square footage, which is our second highest cost.
You know, from a technology standpoint, we're having to make room to go through our transformation we're working on right now. And so those costs are going up and we're able to have cuts in other places to pay for it. Vendor spend is another area where we really make sure that we limit our use of consultants.
or contracts with vendors. We just make sure we get the best deal we can. And we have a team working on that. So there is a cost pool in this company and it's not gonna go through some type of challenge during this year because you don't have a tailwind in 20 years.
Thank you. Thank you. Our final question comes from a line of Steven Scouten with Piper Sandler. Please proceed with your question.
Yeah good morning thanks. I just wanted to ask a little bit about the adjusted revenue guidance. Obviously can appreciate that would be down a little bit given the funding pressures industry-wide but as I look at your results from this quarter it kind of feels like they were within guidance from last quarter and the NIM was
exceptionally high. So, you know, it just feels like you might be ahead of schedule versus having to pare that guidance back. So I wonder if you can walk me through the main drivers of that reduction. Well, there are two primary drivers. The first is we used in our guidance the March 31st Ford curve that had 75 basis points worth of cuts in the year with one increase. So you're down into the 450 range by the end of the year. So we then tried to sensitize that. We told you if that
wasn't quite there, how much that may mean, and you can see that on page seven of the deck. So that was number one. Number two, we just had, you know, our capital markets was down quite a bit in the first quarter, primarily driven by, or at least a good portion of it, driven by the CVA-DVA adjustment. We don't think that will repeat at that level, but nonetheless, it's in the number.
And so you're already down that. So we didn't carve that out as an adjusted item. That's in our core number. Some people adjust it, some people don't. What we do is provide that and let you do what you want with it. But when we're giving you guidance, it's in our number, in our core number. And so those are the two big drivers.
We've already given you guidance that our service charge number is likely to go down because we're going to offer up 24-hour grace. And we're not exactly sure what that will mean, but we've taken an estimate and we've given you the $550 million for service charges. We'll update as we learn.
But those are probably the big three. Okay, very helpful David. And then I guess just one maybe high level kind of question. I mean it feels like your business model has really proven itself out right now. I mean you're in just a phenomenal position from a deposit perspective and you've diversified your loan book so much over the last few years. I guess as you look at the environment today, is there anything you would have done to help you get through this?
deposit base, we've said that for many, many years, even when rates were zero, virtually zero, and you didn't see the benefit of that. Rising rates and of course having liquidity challenges all proves the business model out. So we certainly wouldn't change that. We wouldn't change our focus on
thinking of a customer on the right side of the balance sheet in the form of a checking account or an operating account. That's really worked well for us. We brought on some really talented people in our company, in particular our technology area. We brought on some very good people in the revenue areas that are doing a great job for us.
And so I just think, you know, sticking to fundamentals of banking is what we've done. That's what John's asked us to do. You know, we're not trying to take big bets on anything. We're just trying to keep it down the fairway. And to me, steady as she goes has been the way. And it may not be flashy, but it seems to be paying off for us. And I think if we just stay on that, soundness, profitability, and growth, those are the three words John asked us to use.
that order and if we stick to that we're going to have a pretty good franchise it's going to be less volatile than many of our peers and certainly less volatile than we used to be pre-crisis. So I don't see a lot of change we need to get better and leverage technology in some areas where we're using human capital.
your interest in regions will end the call. Thanks very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation and have a wonderful day.