Frank Schiraldi: Okay. All right. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Art Bacci: Thanks, Frank.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Manuel Navas with D.A. Davidson. Your line is open.
Manuel Navas: Hey, good afternoon. Does the fee guidance include any acquisitions? And would any — I think you have some interest there. So, would any acquisitions be on fee side be — would all be additive, correct?
Art Bacci: Yeah, Manuel, this is Art. Any M&A would be additive. We have not baked in anything into our guidance for M&A.
Manuel Navas: And what’s your appetite on the fee side?
Art Bacci: We continue to look at opportunities, namely across our fee businesses, and we did do the transaction in 2023 and we have a couple of other things we’re looking at, but we’re just looking at it, nothing definitive, right now.
Manuel Navas: Okay. And there was a little bit of elevated paydown activity in the commercial. Do you have any view on how that continues? And can you just talk about loan growth across the year?
Steve Clark: Yeah, Manuel, Steve Clark again. So last year, year-over-year, we grew loans across all segments, about 7%. We believe mid-single digit for 2024 is attainable, again across all segments, C&I, CRE, consumer with our Spring EQ partnership, and residential mortgage as we made a strategic decision to hold more on the balance sheet. The focus certainly is still C&I, both in the commercial bank and our small business bank. Elevated payoffs in that C&I segment in the fourth quarter really revolve around three transactions. Totaled, almost $80 million in the hospitality space, two of our sponsors sold their assets and the third refinanced, and that resulted in some unplanned significant reductions in C&I. The rest of the reduction was line activity at year-end with companies clearing out their line of credit balances in preparation for year-end.
Manuel Navas: Thank you. I appreciate that.
Operator: Your next question is a follow-up from Feddie Strickland with Janney Montgomery Scott. Your line is open.
Feddie Strickland: Hey, thanks. Just, sorry, I had one quick follow-up. Just wanted to ask about the growth of the balance sheet and earning assets relative to loans. I think it’s been — if my math is right, it’s been relatively low, even down a little bit over the last couple of quarters. I mean, should we see the balance sheet continue to stay overall relatively flat or does that start to grow a bit with some of the loan growth?
Art Bacci: Feddie, this is Art. I would say that the balance sheet would probably remain flat — generally flat. Remember, we have about $500 million a year, roughly of cash flow coming off the mortgage-backed securities and investment portfolio, which would fund about a 3.5% growth in the loan portfolio. So, the loans would have to really grow significantly in order for us to start to grow the balance sheet.
Feddie Strickland: Got it. Thanks, Art. That’s it from me.
Operator: Thank you. And with no further questions in queue, I would like to turn the conference back over to Art Bacci.
Art Bacci: Thank you for joining the call today. If you have any specific follow-up questions, please feel free to reach out to Andrew or myself. Also, Rodger and I will be attending conferences and investor meetings throughout the quarter, and we look forward to meeting with many of you. Have a nice weekend.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. We thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.
