Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Christopher McGratty: Total deposit beta. Okay. Thank you. And then second, on costs. Obviously, the quarter was a touch heavy, but you said it was in line with kind of our expectations. Is there anything beyond what you’ve given us in your guidance that you’re considering if the environment – if the revenue environment stays like it is a little bit challenging? Anything you can pull on the expense lever in the back half or early next year?

Curtis Myers: Yes, Chris, it’s Curt. We are committed to managing expenses appropriately. As we see the back half of the year unfold with growth in revenue, we’ll take the appropriate cost actions that we need to. We’re committed to being within target range on expenses and we’ll manage those as we have in the past to make sure we have an appropriate cost structure.

Christopher McGratty: Got it. Thanks. Thank you very much.

Curtis Myers: Thanks.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question will come from the line of David Bishop from Hovde Group. Your line is open.

David Bishop: Yes. Good morning, gentlemen. Hey, Mark, I wasn’t sure if I heard you correct, but during the preamble. In terms of your outlook for maintaining cash and investments, I understand that you think cash has sort of reached a floor here. You’re looking to build the liquidity or just curious what our expectation should be for cash and equivalents and investments from here?

Mark McCollom: Yes. Yes. We had sat on some excess cash post March 8 for about a 2, 2.5-month stretch. And then as I think – as we felt like we had gotten past the liquidity crisis in the industry, we reverted back to our longer-term kind of cash targets. And with respect to the investment portfolio, we’ve always targeted that to be around 15% of assets. And so you’ll see that continue to grow in step with the total balance sheet growth.

David Bishop: Got it. And then I appreciate the disclosures on the office – the CRE portfolio. Just curious maybe turning the prism with interest rates rising here, are you seeing any sort of degradation yet on the consumer side of the house from a credit quality perspective?

Curtis Myers: Dave, we are not – credit metrics remain stable across the board. We’re doing a lot of work on interest rate sensitivity at a customer level. But we see pretty stable credit scores, delinquency is good. Those leading indicators continue to be positive.

David Bishop: Got it. And final question, I think you mentioned maintaining the risk adjusted pricing. Just curious maybe what you’re able to onboard new commercial loans at across your markets during the quarter? Thanks.

Mark McCollom: Sure. Yes, commercial loans will vary a little bit, obviously, by product. But in general, in the second quarter, new money came on generally between 7 – low to mid-7s.

David Bishop: Great. Appreciate the color.

Mark McCollom: You bet.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Feddie Strickland from Janney Montgomery. Your line is open.

Feddie Strickland: Thanks. Good morning.

Curtis Myers: Hey, Feddie.

Mark McCollom: Hey, Feddie.

Feddie Strickland: Just on expenses, it sounds like we should expect quarterly expenses to decline in the third and fourth quarter, just given your guidance. Can you walk us through some of the drivers and timing there just over the next couple of quarters?