Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Mike Achary: Yes. I think the answer to the question is obviously an NII, Catherine. This is Mike. And I would say it’s probably a little bit more dependent right now as we see it on what happens with the balance sheet and specifically deposits over the course of €˜23 than really the resulting NIM. I mean, certainly, those things impacted NIM. But I think it’s really what happens with our balance sheet, whether we’re able to grow loans, as John mentioned before, a little bit faster clip than maybe what the guidance is suggesting. And that will be very dependent upon our ability to retain and even grow deposits. And certainly, as we mentioned a little bit earlier, some of the change in terms of how we’re thinking about managing the balance sheet is the introduction of using cash flows from the bond portfolio to fund loan growth.

And if — as we go through the year, we have better — we have a better experience with growing deposits, then it’s certainly likely that we could kind of scale back on relying on the bond portfolio as much. So, I think it’s very dynamic. It has a lot of different moving pieces and parts. And we try to be very thoughtful around establishing ranges on all the components of our earnings going forward. And again, I think to kind of close the loop, the missing piece is really on net interest income and kind of how we think that might happen in trail in terms of how we go through next year. So, hopefully, that was helpful. Gave you a little bit of color I think.

Catherine Mealor: Yes. And then on your loan betas, last quarter you were talking about over the cycle kind of 50%, 52% cumulative loan beta. Has anything changed to date with how you’re seeing loan pricing? It seems like your new loan yields are coming up significantly higher. So, any kind of update on that would be helpful.

Mike Achary: Yes. As of right now, where we stand, really no change in the overall guidance around both, our deposit and loan betas in terms of how we think we’ll end up on a cumulative basis for this cycle. So, that’s probably no worse than about 25% or so on deposits. And then, as far as loans somewhere in the low-50s. So really no change in that regard.

Catherine Mealor: Great. And then, lastly, on your CSO goals, thank you for updating that and having the updated rate environment included in those goals. I found it interesting that you — in this assumption, it looks like you’re saying Fed funds have cut in €˜24 and €˜25, and even in that scenario, you could still have an ROA above 1.55% and an ROE over 18%. So just kind of curious kind of your thoughts on there and just overall profitability strategies to kind of hit those goals even if rates pull back to the 3% level as you indicated on your slide?

Mike Achary: Yes. Again, as a reminder, the goals are really kind of fashioned to be three-year goals. So we’re looking at the fourth quarter of €˜25. And certainly, while we see some challenges in €˜23, I think the way we’re looking at €˜24, and €˜24 right now is a little bit more optimistically. And so, while we may be in a lower rate environment, we think that we may be in an environment that may be more conducive to us growing the balance sheet, more in those two years than in €˜23. So again, it’s — some of this is crystal ball kind of work. But it really is the goals that we’ve established for ourselves. And this is the way that we’re managing the Company and holding ourselves accountable.

John Hairston: And Catherine, this is John…

Catherine Mealor: And would it be fair to assume in that scenario — go ahead.

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