David Turner: Well, the most important thing to remember is our hedging strategy is not meant to generate increases in NII. It is a risk reduction measure. It’s a hedge, is to protect us in low rates. When you have a deposit franchise like we do that has lower costs than our peers, and that’s the way it’s been historically. As rates come down, we don’t have a mechanism to protect our net interest margin because we can’t lower deposit costs much as low as our peers can. Therefore, we have to do it synthetically. And that’s what the hedge program does. And we set these up generally forward starting. So, we don’t have negative carry until they start — or the risk of negative carry until they start. And frankly, if we do at that time, that means rates are higher, and the rest of our book is earning that much more, and we’re okay with that.
What it means is, yes, it costs us a little bit in NII, but we have a leading margin. So, we’re okay. You can’t think of it as a trade as some people talk about it as being a trade. That’s not what it is. It’s a hedge to protect us in low rate.
Operator: Your final question comes from the line of Jennifer Demba with Truist Securities.
Jennifer Demba: A question on loan growth. I’m just curious how much competitive retrenchment you’re seeing from the banks you compete with most often? And how offensive are you willing to get for credits that look really attractive right now to you?
John Turner: Well, I would say, first of all, plenty of competition out there. And we don’t — while there are certain segments, particularly real estate, where there are some competitors who are not as active today for a variety of reasons, in general, the market is very competitive, whether it be large banks, regional banks, smaller banks that we compete with. And so, we’ve got to be actively calling on our customers and our prospects and being very diligent in our activities, making sure that we’re in the market in front of customers. When we’re doing that, we get opportunities. With respect to how aggressive we want to be, we don’t change our approach to how we think about credit risk management, how we think about pricing and structure. We want to win because we have expertise because we provide really good ideas and solutions to customers, and we think that that resonates, and as a result, has helped us continue to build on growth in our portfolio.
Jennifer Demba: Great. Thanks a lot.
John Turner: Okay. That’s all the calls, I think. I’d just end by saying we’re awfully proud of our 2022 results and the momentum that we’re carrying into 2023. We’ve worked hard over the last 10 years to remake our business and to build a balance sheet and income statement and importantly, a culture of risk management that will allow us to deliver consistent, sustainable performance. And we think we’re seeing that now. We’re going to continue to focus on organic growth and investing in our business, and we believe we’ll continue to deliver the kinds of results that you’ve seen in 2022. So, thank you for your interest in our company, and have a great weekend.
Operator: This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time.
