Trustmark Corporation (NASDAQ:TRMK) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Tom Owens: And Kevin, I would just add one other point, again, and I just – I’m going to try and reemphasize this point. In this environment, it is such an unprecedented environment, we have a team internally that we meet every morning at eight o’clock, and we’re looking at reports on yesterday’s activity in terms of deposits and how we’re doing in terms of our promotional deposit activity, both in terms of volume and cost, and the extent to which we’re attracting new funds versus repricing the back book. And so, today is January 25th. We’re obviously early in the quarter. We’re early in the year. We’re going to continue to evaluate and recalibrate as we go. And I just want to bring it back to the point that Barry just made, right?

I mean, we’re obviously considering the marginal cost of growing the deposit base versus the returns of continuing to grow the loan book at a robust pace. And we’re evaluating that in real time and will adjust, and I’ll just reemphasize, the guidance that we’re giving you today, reflects our best estimates today. What I emphasize to that team every morning is the need to be nimble and to recalibrate accordingly. So, I just want to make that point again.

Kevin Fitzsimmons: All that’s great and very appreciated. Thanks very much, guys.

Operator: . The next question is from Dave Bishop from Hovde Group. Please go ahead.

Dave Bishop: Hey, good morning, gentlemen. Turning to credit for the guidance there, just curious, I know a lot of it is data-dependent in terms of the macroeconomic forecast, but when we talk about the – or you talk about the provision for loan losses, should we think about that just in terms of as it relates to loans held for investment, or inclusive of trends in terms of unfunded commitments? Just some clarification in terms of how that guidance, what that incorporates.

Barry Harvey: And Dave, this is Barry. Yes, definitely both, because this quarter’s a good example. We had a lot of good production on our CRE side. And so, within that commercial construction bucket, there’s a variety of obviously types of projects we have there. But nonetheless, within that commercial construction bucket, as we put on those new opportunities, we do reserve for them fully based upon the eventual – based upon exposure. So, with that in mind, there is an impact immediately to those projects going on the books. And as we are able to continue with a nice solid level of production, we’ll continue to have both a need for reserving, obviously, on the funded, as well as the unfunding funded aspect of it. I mentioned earlier loan growth, the macroeconomic environment, portfolio mix in terms of the types of credits we’re putting on the books, the level of unfunded commitments, and the length of maturities.

As the speeds pick up – as the speeds diminish or pick up, obviously that has an impact on the provisioning as well. So, all those different aspects will, in fact, impact not only the provisioning for the funded book, but for the unfunded book as well.

Dave Bishop: Okay, great. Appreciate that clarification. And then in terms of the outlook for securities, it sounds like those are going to be down a bit. Just curious what you’re thinking of in terms of quarterly cash flows, and maybe how small that becomes as a percent of overall asset base. Thanks.