Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

So, I wouldn’t extrapolate past this quarter on that one. And on the deposit front, we will continue to see benefits of rates. As I mentioned in my remarks, a large part of our client deposit base is non-interest bearing or low-cost, and we don’t pass on the benefits of rising rates to those deposits. I would say less than a quarter of the deposit margin expansion that we would see based on where rates are now, has yet €“ has made it into our deposits. And so there is a lot more to go to benefit from rising interest rates, by raising deposits and continuing to deploy that to support clients on the lending side.

Darko Mihelic: But to be clear, Hratch, the big deposit growth that I see by segment is in your capital markets business. And it’s up €“ it’s $112 billion versus $98 billion just last quarter and versus €“ so are those the high-quality deposits you are referencing? And what kind of deposits are those? So, maybe you can maybe flesh that out for us?

Hratch Panossian: Yes, certainly. So, one of the things I will say, and I will turn it to Harry in a second here, remember that that segment covers across a number of different areas. We have got our DFS business in that segment as well. There are deposits that cut across the corporate bank that we have got structured in those deposits. We have got deposits with clients across the board, and there is also FX. So, keep in mind the FX component, we do have deposits in there that are not Canadian dollar-denominated, and some of that can impact that. But I will pass it on to Harry, and he can speak to more specifics.

Harry Culham: Thanks Hratch and good morning. Both sides of the balance sheet are so important to our business, of course. And we have been very focused over the last I would say medium-term on driving our deposit growth across the product areas that Hratch just mentioned. And we are very focused, as you know, based on our Investor Day discussions around our growth in the U.S., which has gone well. We have actually doubled the size of that business over the last 5 years, as you will know. And so we are focused on both sides of the balance sheet in the U.S. These are core clients we are dealing with, that we are showing all of CIBC, and we are delivering all CIBC to those clients, and this is a need for our clients. So, we are going to continue to focus in that area really driving the funding side as well as the asset and liability side.

Victor Dodig: Darko, just strategically, I know you are kind of querying on this specific space. We have actually took a very leaned-in approach to offering our clients competitive deposit rates as they shifted their own mindset from equity markets and non-interest sensitive deposits to term deposits and that €“ if you look at the delta growth for us in that space, it’s been notable. I think that’s going to serve us well in terms of having franchise those clients as we come out of this and get into a more benign environment. It’s driven better Net Promoter Scores, a better client experience. And quite frankly, our clients are winning. Our job now is to make sure that our clients and our shareholders made it in a very balanced way going forward.

Darko Mihelic: Thanks Victor. I appreciate the color.

Victor Dodig: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. The following question is from Scott Chan from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.