Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Paul Nungester: Yes. Dave, we’re still — you’ll see the numbers in our K when that comes out, but we’re still in that liability-sensitive position today, not as much as we were in call it mid-point of ’23 there, from all the actions that we’ve taken, and our success in getting wholesale down and things like that, but still net-net we are a liability-sensitive. So, if they don’t cut, if it was flat for all of ’24, Gary is right, we’d have to come off that and recast it, but it shouldn’t be a material deviation because we’re not as sensitive to it as we were.

Gary Small: On the left side of the balance sheet, new money going out the door for loans is still going out with a high-7 or mid — to mid-8 on it, and we’re sort of holding fast on that. When things got interesting there in December, clients’ expectations thought perhaps the market would move on that, but I think we’ve all held pretty firm that we’re going to get paid for the risks in the market right now on the loan side.

David Long: Got it. Thanks for taking my questions, guys. I appreciate it.

Paul Nungester: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We have no further questions registered. And with that, I’ll hand back to Gary Small for final remarks.

Gary Small: Well, again, ’23 an interesting year that we’ll all remember. ’24 although certain aspects of numerically may feel similar, as I said, we can see over the horizon now, we can see the direction of the Fed. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when and the pacing and so forth. For us, there is as much to be gained on, obviously the recapture of margin coming out of that liability since then there is, that will be growth-driven and there will be a time when 6%, 7% growth is back to how we make the needle move over the next four quarters to eight quarters. I think it’s much more margin recapture, manage your Ps and Qs on the expense side, do smart things on the fee business side and we run a clean book from a credit perspective. So, when we come out of that cycle four to eight quarters going forward, we’ll be more nimble, we’ll be a stronger organization, and really well leveraged to grow going forward. And thanks for all your time this morning. Appreciate it.

Operator: Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.