PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ:PACW) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

William Black: Good morning.

Andrew Terrell: Hey, good morning. Hey, maybe just to start, I wanted to ask on the 30 to 89-day past due loans. I know those can specifically in Civic kind of bounce around a bit quarter-to-quarter. I guess since quarter end, have you seen those 30 to 89 past dues move lower? And if so, can you quantify the magnitude? And also whether or not you see any lost content there?

William Black: Yes. So the answer is yes. It was kind of a confluence of how the month ended there and some still over from December. That number has come down pretty sizably already in the month. And so no, we’re not worried about the €“ any particular fee or anything there. It’s just kind of an ebbs and flow and how the month ended, Andrew.

Paul Taylor: And growth in the quarter as well. But again, ebbs and flows, some noise as you get, especially near year-end.

Andrew Terrell: Yes. Okay. And then can you remind us the reserve you have against the Civic portfolio? I know it’s a bit shorter duration?

Paul Taylor: Yes. I don’t think we’ve disclosed the specific reserves by portfolio, but you’re right. For one of the products inside of Civic, it’s 12 months. Our overall loss experience in 2022 is 8 bps. So you would imagine with a very low loss experience and a short tenure, I kind of leave you were the CECL reserves come out.

Andrew Terrell: Yes. Okay. And then maybe just a bigger picture. It’s really good to see this plan announced and Paul, congrats on announcing in short order. So just maybe a bigger picture, can you help us understand how aligned you and the remainder of the management team is with kind of investors in terms of this plan, I guess, our incentive compensation targets aligned fully with this plan. Can you maybe just speak to that a bit?

Paul Taylor: Yes. So this plan was put together, I brought the executive team together and we came up with this plan together. So there should be 100% buy-in, so very close connection. And then also, I would tell you that some of our overall goal targets that we have announced are in our incentive for 2023.

Andrew Terrell: Okay. Thank you for taking the questions.

Paul Taylor: You’re welcome.

Operator: We’ll take our next question from David Long from Raymond James.

Paul Taylor: Good morning.

David Long: Good morning, everyone. Paul, in July, you talked about there be some holes in technology given the number of acquisitions that PacWest had put together. I want to see how the €“ this improving your technology platform coincides with your new decisions to improve overall operating efficiency?

Paul Taylor: Yes. So I mean, we’re still on the same plan for technology. It’s exactly €“ it’s everything we need to do to be a bank in 2023. And Mark Yung, who’s on the call, is in charge of that vision for new technology. Maybe Mark, you could give a quick rundown on that?

Mark Yung: Yes. I mean, our technology is very much centered around three values. One of them is cloud. Second one is really our digital banking API strategy. And our third one is our data stream. And those are fundamentally untouched. Obviously, we are focused here on operational efficiencies. So as Kevin mentioned, we’re looking and revisiting every project, revisiting milestones, et cetera. But fundamentally, very much committed to the movement forward on those three fronts.

David Long: Got it. Thanks guys. Appreciate it.

Paul Taylor: Sure.

Operator: Perfect. And our next question comes from Christopher Marinac from Janney Montgomery Scott.

Paul Taylor: Good morning, Chris.

Christopher Marinac: Thanks. Good morning. Hello. I just want to circle back on deposits from a big picture beyond just the venture that you and Mark had described. Can the pricing on deposits alleviate anytime this year? I presume it’s not this quarter, but just kind of want to compare the prices you have in paying the past two quarters and sort of what is possible as you continue to focus on the core deposit outlook?