The Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TBBK) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

I think we came into this. When we started this process, we were more like 55% variable and that’s — with the growth of those variable rate businesses, it went up and we didn’t buy any fixed rate exposure. So now we just have to turn that around. And the good thing is, as rates drop, of course, balances will go up in things like the IBLOC, SBLOC area. So we run those models. We’re going to soften the impact of those interest rate changes. And we’re in a really great position because we’ve got plenty of room to do that. So we’re forecasting that and we’ll be able to lock in, I think, an increasing amount of fixed rate exposure. One thing to note, our financials today do not account for bond purchases. So one thing to note that we haven’t even built that fixed rate exposure on the bond side into the 320 earnings per share estimates.

Frank Schiraldi: Okay, all right. That’s helpful. And just as you’re thinking about fixed rate exposure in the loan book, can you talk about what sort of products are you looking at? Or are you thinking about permanent financing on the multifamily side?

Damian Kozlowski: Not perm but there is a market because of — for the fixed rate side and the CRE transitional loans. So especially at lower dollar numbers because interest rate caps have become very expensive. So we require interest rate caps on our loans to protect against the volatility in interest rate and usually have reserves. So we’ve — there’s not a lot of programs out there on the fixed rate side for these transitional loans. So it’s been — we’ve already done over $50 million and we just launched it just recently. So that will give you a 3-year cushion. And I’d also remind you that we have floors on all our — one of the great things about our portfolio, it’s variable on the upside but a lot of it is not variable on the downside. So we have floors in all the loans on the CRE side. So even if we do get a significant downdraft on the Fed side, those rates won’t be significantly affected.

Operator: Your next question comes from Michael Perito with KBW.

Michael Perito: I wanted to follow up on that kind of margin line of questioning a little bit and maybe drill down on the liquidity position a bit more specifically. Damian, I know you mentioned some high-level stuff. But so would you guys say it’s fair for us to assume that over the next 6 months or so, the excess cash position you guys will probably start putting to work a bit more on the bond book side? I mean I think it’s been what, like 3 years since you bought a bond which obviously looks really good now. But just curious kind of functionally how we should think about the investment portfolio? Does it kind of trough out here in the next quarter or two and then start growing? Or what you guys are thinking there?

Damian Kozlowski: Yes. Well, we — we’re really — it’s almost a daily thing. We’re watching everything, the yield curves, everything. We have so much flexibility in our balance sheet because we have plenty of ways to get deposits and we have plenty of room up to the Durbin limit. So we really are deciding exactly how much fixed rate exposure we’re going to take and when we’re going to take it to lock in. We might give up a little margin but we’re not going to give up a lot. And we also have, like I said, floors on all the CRE loans which protect us for 3 years. So we’re really dealing with that SBLOC portfolio which is the one without floors that really adjusts very quickly with interest rates. And those are — if you recall, those are all demand loans on top of it.