Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Kevin Blair: So, Brody, let me take the competition, I will let Jamie talk about the betas. So it was interesting when we go back and look at our competitive data in the second quarter, what we saw was for the first time that we have been tracking this, that we had multiple banks that had CD promotions that were higher than the brokered rates and I won’t mention the names, you know who they are. o that did drive up the cost of promotional CD production. Number two, when you look at the change in the standard rates for just money market, both on the consumer and on the commercial side, we saw on average about a 90-basis-point to 95-basis-point increase in standard rates in the second quarter. If you compare that to the first quarter, where we actually saw more rate hikes, it was only up about 45 basis points.

So what we saw in the competitive landscape was a 2x movement on standard rates in the second quarter and I think that’s what’s driving a lot of the deposit beta discussion, but I will let Jamie talk about our forecast, a big piece of that is the NIB remix.

Jamie Gregory: That’s right. That’s right. I mean as we think about deposit cost movements from the month of June that you see in our presentation to the end of the year, we do expect to see a fairly steady just monthly step down in the rate of increase of total deposit costs. And so that’s how we think it will play out and you will just see that steadily decline start to approach zero at the end of the year. And Brody, to your prior question, I will point back to an answer I gave earlier about the — on the fixed rate loans. That’s the $250 million that we have each month that is maturing or paying down this repricing.

Brody Preston: Got it. Thank you very much, guys. I really appreciate it.

Kevin Blair: Yeah.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Kevin Blair for any closing remarks.

Kevin Blair: Thank you. As we close today’s call, let me thank everyone for their attendance, and obviously, your interest in our company. I am pleased with our bank’s performance and it remains very strong despite the challenges posed by the slowing economic environment, higher cost of funding and the tighter liquidity market. I think we have demonstrated resilience and adaptability in the face of these headwinds and we are proactively adjusting and fine-tuning our activities to navigate the evolving landscape. To ensure we have sustained growth, we have undertaken some short-term balance sheet optimization measures, reduced our expenses and grown our capital levels, all of which will enable us to return to our strong growth story over the long run.

We also continue to show the health and strength of our borrower base as our credit performance to-date and our view into the future reinforces my belief that our diversification, our prudent underwriting and our strong footprint will differentiate us in the cycle. While we acknowledge the current marketing conditions and the subsequent contraction in our margin, we want to emphasize that the underlying growth story of our bank has not changed. We firmly believe in the long-term potential and value that this institution offers not only to our customers, but also to our clients and our shareholders. We understand that our team members are driving force behind our success and their dedication and enthusiasm are crucial to delivering our exceptional service to our clients.

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