Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

So, we will continue with that and hope that we can keep this trend going, because it really just comes back to core fundamentals. And I do think right now there are a lot of folks that are probably more focused internally, which has given more — us more opportunity externally in terms of new relationships, and I think banks are doing a much better job of making sure that there’s an alignment between loans and deposits whereas in the past it was more transactional focused on the loan side, and then you’d ask for the deposits. Now, we ask for the deposits and we have the deposits, then we’ll consider doing the loans. And that’s a very different change in psychology and approach. And right now, in this environment, it seems to be working pretty well.

David Feaster: Okay, that’s great. And then maybe last one for me, just touching on capital priorities. You’ve got an extremely strong balance sheet. You’re accreting capital. You know, with kind of that slower loan growth and funding being the governor on loan growth, I’m just curious, is your capital priorities at this point — or is capital preservation just kind of the focus at this point?

Palmer Proctor: Yes, it’d be capital preservation. Clearly, we’ve got the buybacks in place if we choose to do so. But right now, I think at this point in the cycle, it’s more prudent, as we have been consistently saying to just keep accreting and preserving that capital.

David Feaster: Got it. All right. Thanks, everybody.

Palmer Proctor: You bet.

Nicole Stokes: Thank you.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Palmer Proctor for closing remarks.

Palmer Proctor: Thank you, Danielle. And we appreciate everybody’s participation today on the call. And we look forward to sharing our results with you next quarter. Thank you, again, for your time and your interest in Ameris Bank.

Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.