Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Matthew Breese: Yes. That’s great color. Do you have the early-stage delinquencies to 30 to 89 days past due for auto. And I wanted to get a sense for whether or not given the persistence of some of the challenges you cited, Marty, if we should expect this level of charge-off to continue for the time being?

Jack Plants: Matt, this is Jack. I’ll take that one. So I would expect that our third quarter charge-off experience to be representative of expectations for the next couple of quarters. The second quarter experience was exceptional because we had a significant amount of recoveries, but the third quarter looks like what I would expect to see come through in the — at least for the fourth and first quarters.

Matthew Breese: And do you have the early-stage delinquencies, the 30 to 89 days?

Martin Birmingham: Well, Matt, let us get back to you on that.

Matthew Breese: Okay. Last question for me. I don’t know if you have any, but I was just curious what the overall exposure to syndicated loans are? What the performance of that book looks like? And how much of it is out of market?

Martin Birmingham: That’s not something we’ve pursued in terms of shared national credits, Matt. We’ve done several club deals that we’ve initiated relative to some of our ongoing commercial exposure, CRE and C&I, but in terms of large syndicated credits, it’s been — it’s very limited. I would say it’s not material for our commercial book of business. And it would relate to companies that are headquartered in and around our franchise or that we know have professional relationships with the management team.

Matthew Breese: Got it. Okay. Last one for me. Just the overall tangible common equity to tangible asset ratio thoughts around capital adequacy and if this type of environment persists, what kind of position does this level of capital leaving in ’24 if we were to see an uptick in loan growth?

Martin Birmingham: So that’s relative to our 2024 planning, that’s where my earlier comment. Matt, we’re looking at several scenarios. And ultimately, our goal is to continue to drive and accrete capital through the performance and how we manage the balance sheet. And so generally, I think thematically, that equates to and translates to slower growth, moderating growth. And I think that’s one way we’re thinking about. We’re well aware of where our TCE ratio stands today. And we know from feedback and conversations like this, that it’s low, and that’s something that’s on the top of our management teams buying right now.

Matthew Breese: We’ve seen a couple of your larger peers go ahead and sell insurance companies or other — why just fee income businesses to help on the trapped AOCI and overall capital front? Is that something you’re considering?

Martin Birmingham: So we’re aware of that. Strategically, it’s been a good move for us relative to the diversification of revenues and the increase that it represents in terms of noninterest revenues in terms of what we’ve done with our wealth and our insurance business. But we’re open to any possibility from a capital efficient use of capital and allocation perspective for that line of business or any other line of business we have in terms of what you just said, unlocking value.

Matthew Breese: Got it. Okay. I know I went over where I said I would stop my last question. So I apologize and thank you for taking a couple of extras. I appreciate it.

Martin Birmingham: Thanks Matt for your questions.

Jack Plants: Thank you, Matt.

Operator: This concludes our Q&A. I’ll now hand back to Marty Birmingham, President and CEO, for closing remarks.

Martin Birmingham: I want to thank everybody. Thanks to our analysts and those that are participating on the call this morning. We look forward to talking with you again in January.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, today’s call has now concluded. We’d like to thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

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