Customers Bancorp Inc (CUBI) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Customers Bancorp Inc. fourth quarter and full year 2023 conference call. (Operator Instructions) David Patti, Director of Communications.

早安.我叫羅布，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Customers Bancorp Inc. 2023 年第四季和全年電話會議。（操作員指示） 通訊主管大衛‧帕蒂 (David Patti)。

You may begin.

你可以開始了。

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the Customer Bancorp's earnings call for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. The presentation deck you will see during today's webcast has been posted on the investor's web page of the bank's website at customers, bank.com. You can scroll to Q4 23 results and click download presentation. You can also download a PDF of the full press release at this spot. Our investor presentation includes important details that we will walk through on this morning's webcast. I encourage you to download and use the document.

謝謝你，羅布，大家早安。感謝您參加 Customer Bancorp 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。您將在今天的網路廣播中看到的簡報已發佈在該銀行網站（即客戶網站 bank.com）的投資者網頁上。您可以捲動到 Q4 23 結果並點擊下載簡報。您也可以在此下載完整新聞稿的 PDF 版本。我們的投資者介紹包括一些重要細節，我們將在今天早上的網路廣播中詳細介紹。我鼓勵您下載並使用該文件。

Before we begin, we would like to remind you that some of the statements we make today may be considered forward looking These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual performance results to differ materially from what is currently anticipated. Please note that these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws, please refer to our SEC filings, including our Form 10 K and 10 Q for a more detailed description of the risk factors that may affect our results. Copies may be obtained from the SEC or by visiting the investor section of our website. At this time, it is my pleasure to introduce customers. Bancorp chair, Jay Sidhu.

在開始之前，我們想提醒您，我們今天做出的一些陳述可能被視為前瞻性的，這些前瞻性陳述受多種風險和不確定因素的影響，可能導致實際業績結果與當前預期有重大差異。請注意，這些前瞻性陳述僅代表本報告發布之日的觀點，我們不承擔根據新資訊或未來事件更新這些前瞻性聲明的義務。除適用證券法要求的範圍外，請參閱我們的 SEC 文件，包括我們的 10 K 表和 10 Q 表，以獲得可能影響我們結果的風險因素的更詳細描述。您可以從美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 或造訪我們網站的投資者部分取得副本。這時候我很高興向大家介紹客戶。Bancorp 董事長傑伊·西杜 (Jay Sidhu)。

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Customers Bancorp Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 earnings call. Joining me this morning are President and CEO of the bank center. Do Customers Bancorp CFO, Karla labeled customers, bank CFO, Phil Watkins. I will give you some introductory comments and then my colleagues will provide detail to the quarter and for the full year 2023 for you. While the banking industry has largely recovered following the events from last spring, there is still a lot of uncertainty and a lot of headwinds facing our industry. However, customers, banks differentiated strategy, bucked industry trends gaining strong momentum in 2023, and we expect that to continue into 2024. We continue to execute on our strategic priorities and are pleased to report that we are delivering another strong quarter for our shareholders. We are also very excited about the prospects and look forward to sharing our outlook for 2024 with you later on in this presentation as a forward-thinking bank with strong risk management, we believe we are creating tremendous franchise value across the bank through execution of our profitable customer-centric model. In addition, we have and will continue to capitalize on market disruption as an opportunity to create new and deeper existing client relationships resulting in stronger loan and deposit growth. As you know, we are reporting $1.90 of core EPS for Q4 2023 with continued deposit transformation, higher margin, no expense growth during the quarter, we generated EUR1.1 billion of core deposit growth in the quarter. We use these deposits to improve the overall quality of our funding base, including the planned exit of BMTX. deposits from our bank on December first as well as paying off about over 700 million of high rate wholesale CDs during Q4. Capital levels increased substantially again with our tangible common equity to tangible asset ratio now over 7%. And our CET. one, increasing to 12.2%. We are extraordinarily proud of our ability to meet and exceed our capital goals that we outlined to you earlier last year. Asset quality remains exceptional with our NPA ratio down in the quarter and reserve levels are robust at almost 500%. We have only about a 1% loan exposure to the office sector of commercial real estate and our average loan size to the offices is less than 4 million. We believe the office sector will continue to create challenges for the industry in the coming quarters. In addition to the future benefit from continued improvement in our deposit franchise as well as top quartile capital ratios, we are seeing attractive loan origination opportunities. These are primarily loans where we have a holistic and primary relationship with the client. We have ample liquidity and capital to support a 10% to 15% loan growth in 2024.

謝謝你，戴夫。歡迎參加客戶銀行 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。今天早上與我一起的還有銀行中心的總裁兼執行長。擔任客戶銀行財務長的 Karla 稱客戶銀行財務長為 Phil Watkins。我將為您提供一些介紹性評論，然後我的同事將為您提供本季和 2023 年全年的詳細資訊。雖然銀行業在經歷了去年春季的事件後已基本恢復，但我們的行業仍然面臨著許多不確定性和許多阻力。然而，客戶、銀行的差異化策略逆勢而上，在 2023 年獲得強勁發展勢頭，我們預計這種勢頭將持續到 2024 年。我們繼續執行我們的策略重點，並高興地報告我們為股東帶來了另一個強勁的季度。我們對前景也感到非常興奮，並期待在稍後的演講中與您分享我們對 2024 年的展望，作為一家具有強大風險管理能力的前瞻性銀行，我們相信透過執行有利可圖的以客戶為中心的模式，我們正在為整個銀行創造巨大的特許經營價值。此外，我們已經並將繼續利用市場混亂作為機會，建立新的和更深層的現有客戶關係，從而實現更強勁的貸款和存款成長。如您所知，我們報告 2023 年第四季的核心每股收益為 1.90 美元，隨著本季存款轉型持續、利潤率上升、費用沒有增長，我們在本季度實現了 11 億歐元的核心存款成長。我們使用這些存款來提高我們資金基礎的整體質量，包括 BMTX 的計劃退出。我們於 12 月 1 日從本行提取了 3,000 多萬筆存款，並在第四季度償還了約 7 億多張高利率批發存單。資本水準再次大幅提升，我們的有形普通股與有形資產的比率現已超過 7%。還有我們的 CET。一，增加到12.2%。我們能夠達到並超越去年年初向您概述的資本目標，對此我們感到非常自豪。資產品質依然出色，本季我們的不良資產比率下降，儲備水準強勁，接近 500%。我們對商業房地產辦公大樓領域的貸款僅佔約 1%，我們對辦公大樓的平均貸款規模不到 400 萬美元。我們相信，未來幾季辦公大樓產業將繼續為產業帶來挑戰。除了未來受益於存款特許經營權和上四分位資本比率的持續改善之外，我們還看到了誘人的貸款發放機會。這些主要是我們與客戶建立全面和主要關係的貸款。我們擁有充足的流動性和資本來支持 2024 年 10% 至 15% 的貸款成長。

Moving on to slide 4, I'd like to take a moment to reflect back on the promises we made going back to our 2018 Investor Day just about five years ago. Today, on the fifth anniversary of this Analyst Day. We are thrilled to say that we have delivered on all these promises, the promises that we made to you at that time here they go. We have let me share those with you.

接下來是第 4 張投影片，我想花點時間回顧我們在五年前的 2018 年投資者日所做的承諾。今天是分析師日五週年紀念日。我們非常高興地說，我們已經兌現了所有這些承諾，這些承諾是我們當時對你們所做的。我們讓我與你們分享這些。

Number one.

第一。

We are now, as I said earlier, 7% TCE ratio. And at that time, we were talking about perhaps getting to 7%. Number two, we delivered 15% average annual tangible book value growth. And at that time, we were shooting for just under 10%. We've achieved the name of three 31. And at that time, we were at two 40 M. We have a core ROA of one 22 and our goal was at least 1%. We are reporting a return on common equity of 18.3% and our goal was at least 10, and we delivered $7.72 of core EPS in 2023, surpassing our CAD6 EPS goal for 2025. So we are at least two years ahead. And most important is that we maintained a strong risk management culture throughout this period.

正如我之前所說，我們現在的 TCE 比率是 7%。當時，我們談論的是可能達到 7%。第二，我們實現了年均15%的有形帳面價值成長率。而當時，我們的目標是略低於 10%。我們已取得三個31的名號。當時，我們的資產負債表規模為 2,400 萬。我們報告的普通股回報率為 18.3%，我們的目標是至少 10，並且我們在 2023 年實現了 7.72 美元的核心每股收益，超過了我們 2025 年每股收益 6 加元的目標。因此我們至少領先兩年。最重要的是，我們在整個期間都保持了強大的風險管理文化。

Turning to slide 5, we again reiterate our priorities to you, which remain absolutely unchanged. They are moderating growth during these uncertain times while strengthening our balance sheet and having a strong risk management culture. We are so proud of what we've accomplished in 2023 in an extremely challenging environment for our industry. Our commitment to risk management and a client first mindset where clients say, wow, is positioning us well to navigate in this challenging environment. I want to salute and express our gratitude, and thanks to all our team members for their hard work and their continued dedication to serving our clients flawlessly.

翻到第 5 張投影片，我們再次向您重申我們的優先事項，這些優先事項絕對不會改變。他們在這些不確定的時期減緩成長，同時加強我們的資產負債表並擁有強大的風險管理文化。我們為 2023 年在業界極具挑戰性的環境中所取得的成就感到自豪。我們致力於風險管理，並秉承客戶至上的理念，讓客戶感嘆“哇”，這使我們能夠在充滿挑戰的環境中順利前進。我要向我們所有團隊成員的辛勤工作以及他們持續致力於為客戶提供完美服務的敬意和表達我們的感激之情。

Lastly, we want to recognize all our investors for their support and confidence in us. As you know, Customers Bancorp was the number one performing publicly traded bank stock in the United States in 2023 as measured by stockprice and total shareholder return. Clearly, the markets are recognizing the strength of our performance, and we commit to doing everything in the long run and the short term to serve our clients and provide solid returns to our investors.

最後，我們要感謝所有投資人對我們的支持和信任。如您所知，以股價和股東總回報率衡量，Customers Bancorp 是 2023 年美國表現第一的上市銀行股票。顯然，市場認可了我們業績的強勁表現，我們承諾竭盡全力，無論是長期還是短期，為客戶提供服務，並為投資者提供豐厚的回報。

Before I pass the call on to Sam, I want to welcome Howard goes to the call how joins the call from B. Riley Securities, very recently initiated coverage on Customers Bancorp. We want to thank all of the research analysts for their effort and the insights that they bring to the bank and to the investment community.

在我將電話轉給 Sam 之前，我想歡迎 Howard 參加電話會議，他加入了 B. Riley Securities 的電話會議，該公司最近開始對 Customers Bancorp 進行報道。我們要感謝所有研究分析師的努力以及他們為銀行和投資界帶來的見解。

With that, I'll turn it over to Sam to cover the key activity and results of the quarter in much more detail.

接下來，我將把主題交給 Sam，讓他更詳細地介紹本季的主要活動和結果。

Thanks, Jay, and good morning, everyone. We will provide more detailed guidance on 2024 at the end of the presentation, but we did want to flag our key areas of focus for the year in my initial comments, number one, continuing our deposit transformation remains a key priority which we will achieve through market share gains, supported by treasury management and transaction banking buildouts. We've made significant strides in 2023 positively remixing 15% of our deposits in just the last three quarters alone. Having said that, we're just getting started and continue to have a strong pipeline, which we're looking to bolster with deposit focus, talent and team number two. As Jay mentioned, we bucked the industry trend by expanding margin in 2023, and we'll look to sustain that momentum in 24 with continued improvement of our deposit franchise and also by remixing into higher yielding loans.

謝謝，傑伊，大家早安。我們將在演示結束時提供有關 2024 年的更詳細指導，但我們確實想在我的初步評論中標記出我們今年關注的重點領域，第一，繼續我們的存款轉型仍然是我們的首要任務，我們將通過市場份額的增長來實現這一目標，並在資金管理和交易銀行建設的支持下。我們在 2023 年取得了重大進展，僅在過去三個季度就積極重新混合了 15% 的存款。話雖如此，我們才剛起步，並繼續擁有強大的管道，我們希望透過存款重點、人才和團隊來增強這一管道。正如傑伊所提到的，我們透過在 2023 年擴大利潤率來逆轉行業趨勢，並且我們希望在 24 年保持這一勢頭，繼續改善我們的存款特許經營權並重新混合為收益更高的貸款。

Number three, we're focused on driving profitability through our steadfast commitment to operational excellence and expanding fee income opportunities. The hard work in 23 to improve our technology and human capital infrastructure, we expect will pay huge dividends in 24 and beyond. Number four, we will maintain we will continue to maintain a strong capital base and liquidity while growing our loan portfolio. Number five, we will never deviate from our credit first principles. We will achieve this through ensuring the right client selection, where we have a fulsome two-way relationship. Number six, making our clients a while is what increases customer engagement and builds franchise value, especially given the void created by the recent market disruption Moving to slide 7, you can see our GAAP financial highlights for the fourth quarter and the full year 23. Turning to slide 8, I'll comment on our core results for the quarter and year. In the fourth quarter of 23, we produced extremely strong results across all profitability metrics, earning $1.90 in core EPS and net income of $61.6 million. For the full year of 23, we produced core EPS of $7.72 on net income of 248 million. 2023 was an exceptional year in which we delivered a record 687 million in net interest income. This record is all the more impressive given that prior years benefited significantly to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars from our efforts in PPP. Our core ROA for the fourth quarter was one 22 and our core ROE was 16.9%. For the full year 23. Our core ROA was also one 22, and our core ROE was 18.3%. We continued our margin momentum in the quarter. The combination of our strong deposit growth and interest-earning asset yield increase led to margin expansion of 11 basis points in the fourth quarter to 3.31%. This was up from 3.2% last quarter after adjusting for the outsized accretion from the portfolio we acquired from the FDIC. We continue to transform the quality of our deposit balances, which I'll provide more detail on shortly.

第三，我們致力於透過堅定不移地致力於卓越營運和擴大費用收入機會來提高獲利能力。我們預計，我們在 23 年努力改善技術和人力資本基礎設施，將在 24 年及以後獲得巨大的回報。第四，我們將繼續保持強大的資本基礎和流動性，同時擴大我們的貸款組合。第五，我們永遠不會偏離信用第一原則。我們將透過確保正確的客戶選擇來實現這一目標，在此過程中我們建立了充分的雙向關係。第六，讓客戶花點時間才能提高客戶參與度並建立特許經營價值，特別是考慮到最近的市場混亂造成的空白。轉到第 8 張投影片，我將對我們本季和本年度的核心業績進行評論。23年第四季度，我們在所有獲利指標上都取得了極其強勁的業績，核心每股收益1.90美元，淨收入6160萬美元。23 年全年，我們的核心每股收益為 7.72 美元，淨收入為 2.48 億美元。 2023 年是一個特殊的年份，我們實現了創紀錄的 6.87 億淨利息收入。考慮到前幾年我們在 PPP 方面的努力已經為我們帶來了數億美元的收益，這項紀錄就更加令人印象深刻了。我們第四季的核心 ROA 為 1.22，核心 ROE 為 16.9%。全年 23.我們的核心ROA也是1.22，核心ROE是18.3%。本季我們持續保持利潤成長動能。強勁的存款成長和生息資產收益率的提高，使得第四季利潤率擴大 11 個基點，至 3.31%。在調整我們從 FDIC 收購的投資組合的超額增值後，這一數字比上一季的 3.2% 有所上升。我們將繼續改善存款餘額的質量，我很快就會提供更多詳細資訊。

The modest decline in deposits in the quarter was driven by the planned outflows of service deposits that we previously disclosed as well as by the repayment of over 700 million of high rate wholesale CDs. This is a very strong base for us to grow off of in 24. Credit quality remains strong as evidenced by our NPA ratio of just 13 basis points and reserve levels remained robust at almost 500% of NPLs. While we do not see any signs of weakness in the portfolio.

本季存款略有下降，是由於我們先前揭露的服務存款計畫流出，以及償還超過 7 億張高利率批發存單。這對我們 24 年的發展來說是一個非常堅實的基礎。我們的不良資產比率僅為 13 個基點，且準備金水平仍保持在接近不良貸款 500% 的穩健水平，這表明信貸品質仍然強勁。同時，我們沒有看到投資組合有任何疲軟跡象。

We remain highly focused on portfolio management.

我們仍然高度關注投資組合管理。

Yes.

是的。

Turning to slide 9, I want to provide some additional color on the impact of the delivery of promises James discussed earlier, over the last five years alone, we have grown our balance sheet at up 17% compounded annual growth rate. But more importantly, we've also more than doubled our deposits over the same time period. We accomplished this growth without raising a single dollar of common equity capital. Our loan to deposit ratio is now 72% as compared to 120% at the end of 2018. And our liquidity position has increased about 10 times with our cash and short duration available-for-sale securities portfolio available to provide us ample liquidity to reinvest into loan growth in 24.

轉到幻燈片 9，我想對詹姆斯先前討論過的承諾兌現的影響提供一些額外的說明，僅在過去五年裡，我們的資產負債表就以 17% 的複合年增長率增長。但更重要的是，我們在同一時期內的存款也增加了一倍以上。我們在沒有籌集一分錢普通股本的情況下實現了這一增長。我們的貸存比率目前為 72%，而 2018 年底為 120%。我們的流動性狀況增加了約 10 倍，我們的現金和短期可供出售證券組合為我們提供了充足的流動性，可在 24 天內再投資於貸款成長。

Now let's turn to Slide 10 to discuss how this transformation has improved. Our core profitability over the same 5-year time period. We have increased net interest income by a 22% kegger and improved our net interest margin by more than 70 basis points. Diluted EPS is up by more than four times, and our return on equity has increased by more than 900 basis points.

現在我們翻到投影片 10，來討論一下這種轉變是如何得到改善的。我們在同一五年期間的核心獲利能力。我們的淨利息收入增加了22%，淨利差提高了70個基點以上。稀釋每股收益成長了四倍多，我們的股本回報率增加了 900 多個基點。

While we are very proud of the transformation we have accomplished, we believe the best days for Customers Bank are ahead of us. The investments in talent and technology that we made over the last several years are reflected in our best-in-class performance metrics in 23.

雖然我們對所完成的轉型感到非常自豪，但我們相信客戶銀行最好的日子還在後頭。我們過去幾年對人才和技術的投資反映在我們 23 項一流的績效指標中。

Looking ahead, there are still many strategic opportunities for us over the near term. We continue to see a large opportunity to capitalize on the once-in-a-generation dislocation in the banking industry, putting commercial clients and most importantly, deposit teams in motion, especially in verticals where we have existing deep expertise. If we capture a mere basis points of market share, it will have an immaterial impact on our franchise and anything in percentage point terms will be truly transformational.

展望未來，短期內我們仍面臨不少戰略機會。我們繼續看到一個巨大的機會，可以利用銀行業一代人以來的混亂，讓商業客戶、最重要的是存款團隊活躍起來，特別是在我們擁有深厚專業知識的垂直領域。如果我們佔據了僅僅一個基點的市場份額，它對我們的特許經營權的影響不會很大，而任何百分點的變化都將是真正的變革。

We have been extremely focused on operational excellence by improving our people, processes and technology and expect these continued efforts will pay dividends driving positive operating leverage. This operational excellence is evidenced by the doubling of our balance sheet since 2018, but our employee count is down by almost 20% over a similar time period, as Carla will provide more detail on later, starting late in 2022 and accelerated early in 23. We undertook efforts to exit nonstrategic relationships to materially increase our capital levels. These efforts are now bearing fruit as we have ample risk-weighted capital and liquidity to fund strategic franchise, enhancing loan growth we look forward to delivering for our clients and shareholders again in 24 and beyond.

我們一直非常注重透過改善人員、流程和技術來實現卓越運營，並期望這些持續的努力將帶來回報，從而推動積極的營運槓桿。這種卓越的營運表現在我們的資產負債表自 2018 年以來翻了一番，但我們的員工人數在同期下降了近 20%，Carla 將在稍後提供更多詳細信息，從 2022 年底開始，並在 23 年初加速。我們努力退出非策略關係，以大幅提高我們的資本水準。這些努力如今已取得成效，因為我們擁有充足的風險加權資本和流動性來為策略性特許經營提供資金，從而提高貸款成長，我們期待在 24 年及以後再次為我們的客戶和股東提供服務。

Turning to slide 11, the highlight of the franchise. We again generated strong core deposit growth of $1.1 billion in the quarter, and this represents our third consecutive $1 billion plus growth quarter and enabled us to repay 743 million in high cost wholesale CDs in the quarter. The $3.1 billion of deposit growth in just the past three quarters represents a 15% positive remix of our deposit franchise. It is worth noting that our non-interest bearing deposits increased by over about $1 billion over the same time period and $2.5 billion over the course of 2023. This is a huge testament to the power of our team in action. Similar to last quarter, I want to highlight not just the quantity, but also the quality and granularity of this deposit growth. The growth we achieved was a team effort across the franchise. Once again, more than 20 of our deposit channels saw growth in the quarter. More than 40% of these deposit channels experienced growth of 25 million or more, demonstrating the broad-based nature and quality of our deposit transformation. Total new commercial accounts opened in the quarter again was impressive and in excess of 500 as expected, our cost of deposits increased slightly by 15 basis points in the quarter due in large part to the planned non-interest bearing service deposit outflows. I notice I'd note that our interest expense continued to trend in the right direction, declining by 3 million in the quarter, positively impacting our net interest income. This is in contrast to all of the industry and driven by our deposit gathering success. We remain deeply focused on the quality and stability of our deposits and at the end of the quarter, 77% of our deposits were either insured or collateralized. Just metrics keeps us in a very strong position relative to regional bank peers, even after our success in the quarter. Our core deposit pipeline remains robust at approximately 1.5 billion as we continue to backfill the previous growth. We anticipate onboarding this pipeline over the next two to three quarters.

翻到第 11 張投影片，這是系列的亮點。本季度，我們的核心存款再次強勁增長，達到 11 億美元，這是我們連續第三個季度實現 10 億美元以上的增長，並使我們能夠在本季度償還 7.43 億筆高成本批發 CD。光是過去三個季度，存款就成長了 31 億美元，這意味著我們的存款業務成長了 15%。值得注意的是，我們的無息存款在同一時期增加了約 10 億美元，2023 年增加了 25 億美元。這充分證明了我們團隊的行動力量。與上一季類似，我不僅想強調存款成長的數量，還想強調存款成長的品質和粒度。我們所取得的成長是整個特許經營團隊共同努力的成果。本季度，我們有超過 20 個存款管道再次成長。其中，超過40%的存款通路成長2,500萬以上，反映了本行存款轉型的廣度與品質。本季新開設的商業帳戶總數再次令人印象深刻，如預期超過 500 個，我們的存款成本在本季度小幅上漲了 15 個基點，這在很大程度上是由於計劃中的無息服務存款流出。我注意到我們的利息支出繼續朝著正確的方向發展，本季下降了 300 萬美元，對我們的淨利息收入產生了積極影響。這與整個產業形成鮮明對比，其推動力來自於我們存款收集的成功。我們仍然高度關注存款的品質和穩定性，截至本季末，我們 77％ 的存款都已投保或有抵押。即使我們在本季取得了成功，但僅憑這些指標，我們相對於地區銀行同業仍然處於非常有利的地位。我們的核心存款管道仍然保持強勁，約 15 億，我們繼續填補​​先前的成長。我們預計將在未來兩到三個季度內啟動這條管道。

Turning to Slide 12. Here we highlight both the success we've had in gathering core deposits as well as in paying down wholesale funding 3 billion of inflows in the last couple of quarters has been used to pay down more than 2.3 billion of wholesale CDs and 850 million of FHLB advances. But there remains a significant and impactful opportunity ahead. Approximately 2 billion of wholesale CDs will come due in 2024, which provides a significant value creation opportunity as we look to convert our deposit pipeline over the next coming quarters. While this opportunity is meaningful, it is important to remind everyone that like most banks that will always be a place for some level of wholesale funding our balance sheet.

翻到幻燈片 12。在這裡，我們強調了我們在收集核心存款以及償還批發融資方面所取得的成功，過去幾個季度的 30 億流入已用於償還超過 23 億的批發 CD 和 8.5 億的 FHLB 預付款。但未來仍存在著重大而有影響力的機會。約有 20 億張批發 CD 將於 2024 年到期，這為我們希望在未來幾季轉換存款管道提供了重要的價值創造機會。雖然這個機會很有意義，但必須提醒大家，與大多數銀行一樣，它始終會成為我們資產負債表一定程度的批發融資場所。

Moving to Slide 13. Our net interest income was 173 million in the fourth quarter. This number is in line with our previous quarter. Adjusting for the outsized accretion, despite the modest reduction in interest-earning assets, our net interest margin in the quarter was three 31, which exceeded our three 2325 target guide for the quarter and represents 11 basis points of margin expansion on an apples-to-apples basis. We hope to continue this trend of funding mix and cost improvement in 24.

移至幻燈片 13。我們第四季的淨利息收入為1.73億。這個數字與我們上一季的數字一致。經過超額增值調整後，儘管生息資產略有減少，但本季度我們的淨息差為 3.31，超過了本季度我們 3.2325 的目標指導，且按同類基準計算，利潤率擴大了 11 個基點。我們希望在24年繼續維持這種融資組合和成本改善的趨勢。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Karla to provide additional detail.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給卡拉，提供更多細節。

But thank you, Sam, and good morning, everyone. On Slide 14, you can see the trends in our loan portfolio, the yield on loans and our loan to deposit ratio, we reduced our loan balances by about $600 million in the fourth quarter as we remain disciplined on loan pricing and selectively extending credit and using balance sheet capacity for holistic banking relationships.

不過謝謝你，山姆，大家早安。在投影片 14 上，您可以看到我們的貸款組合、貸款收益率和貸款與存款比率的趨勢，由於我們繼續嚴格遵守貸款定價規定、選擇性地延長信貸期限並利用資產負債表容量建立整體銀行關係，我們在第四季度減少了約 6 億美元的貸款餘額。

Consumer held-for-investment loan portfolio continued to decline given normal planned runoff, while our consumer held-for-sale loan strategy continues to gain momentum. In the fourth quarter, we achieved our $10 million annual run rate goal for fee and fee like income from our held for sale program we expect that to continue in 2024.

由於正常的計劃縮減，消費者持有投資貸款組合繼續下降，而我們的消費者持有待售貸款策略繼續獲得發展動力。在第四季度，我們實現了 1000 萬美元的年度費用和類似費用收入的運行率目標，這些收入來自我們的持有待售計劃，我們預計這一目標將持續到 2024 年。

As a reminder, fee like income comes with strong credit protection. We have completed our strategic loan portfolio remix and are excited about resuming loan growth. As you will hear from Sam in our 2024 guidance, we have strong conviction in our ability to resume loan growth across the bank and to do so at accretive yields, we will reinvest securities cash flows, excess cash balances and deposit growth this year into new loan originations. Today, our cash and securities are earning roughly the federal funds rate once deployed into loans, that liquidity will generate approximately 300 basis points of additional yield. Based on recent origination trends, we have an enviable loan to deposit ratio compared to our regional bank peers. Given the success and continued momentum of our core deposit generating initiatives, our strong liquidity position provides us the flexibility to generate holistic relationship-based loan growth without significantly increasing the overall size of the balance sheet.

提醒一下，費用類收入具有強而有力的信用保障。我們已經完成了策略貸款組合重組，並對恢復貸款成長感到興奮。正如您將從 Sam 的 2024 年指引中聽到的那樣，我們堅信我們有能力恢復全行的貸款增長，並以增值收益率實現這一目標，我們將把今年的證券現金流、超額現金餘額和存款增長再投資於新的貸款發放。今天，我們的現金和證券的收益率大致相當於聯邦基金利率，一旦投入貸款，這種流動性將產生約 300 個基點的額外收益。根據最近的發放趨勢，與地區銀行同業相比，我們的貸款與存款比率令人羨慕。鑑於我們的核心存款產生計劃的成功和持續的勢頭，我們強大的流動性狀況使我們能夠靈活地實現基於關係的整體貸款增長，而無需顯著增加資產負債表的整體規模。

Moving to slide 15, we are pleased to report another quarter of core noninterest expenses in line with our guidance like many banks our size and those much larger. We incurred a special assessment from the FDIC. as a result of the banking failures in early 2023, one-time expense associated with the special assessment was close to $4 million and was fully accrued in the fourth quarter. Core noninterest expense to average assets remains best-in-class at 1.67% core efficiency ratio also remained strong at 47%, which was in line with our quarter ratio. After adjusting for the outsized accretion in that period, we will discuss our forward expectations later in the presentation, but I want to provide a few points of commentary right now. We committed significant resources during 2023 to find expense optimization opportunities that we can redeploy to create customer satisfaction and shareholder value. Importantly, none of these expense reduction opportunities will take away from client facing positions. Risk management and compliance are critical technology investments in fact, these are the areas we plan to enhance even further by redeploying savings. Many of our anticipated expense savings will come from items like contract negotiation, vendor optimization and reduction and outside service utilization.

轉到第 15 頁，我們很高興地報告，另一個季度的核心非利息支出與我們的指導一致，就像許多與我們規模相當的銀行以及規模大得多的銀行一樣。我們受到聯邦存款保險公司 (FDIC) 的特別評估。由於 2023 年初的銀行倒閉，與特別評估相關的一次性費用接近 400 萬美元，並於第四季度全額提列。核心非利息支出與平均資產比率仍保持最佳水平，為 1.67%，核心效率比率也保持強勁，為 47%，與我們的季度比率一致。在調整了該時期的超額增長之後，我們將在稍後的演講中討論我們的前瞻性預期，但現在我想提供幾點評論。我們在 2023 年投入了大量資源來尋找可以重新部署的費用優化機會，以創造客戶滿意度和股東價值。重要的是，這些削減費用的機會都不會影響面向客戶的職位。事實上，風險管理和合規性是關鍵的技術投資，我們計劃透過重新部署儲蓄來進一步加強這些領域。我們預計的許多費用節省將來自合約談判、供應商優化和減少以及外部服務利用等方面。

On slide 16, we continue to operate with robust levels of liquidity, as evidenced by more than 200% of immediately available liquidity to uninsured deposits. Total overall liquidity remained strong at EUR11.4 billion at year end 2023. During the fourth quarter, we redeemed 340 million of callable Federal Home Loan Bank advances, which had a cost of close to 6%. We also sold 295 million of securities at roughly book value. The combination of these two actions had a positive impact on our capital levels, and we'll have a positive impact on margin going forward.

在投影片 16 上，我們繼續以強勁的流動性水平運營，這從無保險存款的即時可用流動性超過 200% 可以看出。截至 2023 年底，整體流動性依然強勁，達到 114 億歐元。第四季度，我們贖回了 3.4 億美元的可贖回聯邦房屋貸款銀行貸款，成本接近 6%。我們也以帳面價值出售了 2.95 億股證券。這兩項舉措的結合對我們的資本水準產生了積極的影響，並且將對未來的利潤率產生積極的影響。

On slide 17, we highlight a very important component of shareholder value growth in tangible book value per share. In 2023 alone, we grew tangible book value per share by an impressive 22% to $47 and $0.61. We also have $4 and $0.34 of AOCI marks that will be recovered into tangible book value per share. Going forward, we expect to recover about $1.50 of that in 2024. The 22% growth in tangible book book value per share in 2023 compares favorably to our regional bank peers that generated 13% longer term track record is even more differentiated. If you look over the past five years, we've generated a compounded annual growth rate of 15%. While our regional bank peers have generated only 4%. We believe we are among the best in the industry on this metric.

在投影片 17 上，我們重點介紹了股東價值成長的一個非常重要的組成部分，即每股有形帳面價值。光是 2023 年，我們的每股有形帳面價值就成長了 22%，達到 47 美元和 0.61 美元。我們還有 4 美元和 0.34 美元的 AOCI 標記，這些標記將恢復為每股有形帳面價值。展望未來，我們預計到 2024 年將收回其中的約 1.50 美元。2023 年每股有形帳面價值成長 22%，與我們地區銀行同業相比，後者的長期業績成長 13%，差異化更加明顯。回顧過去五年，我們的年複合成長率達到了 15%。而我們的地區性銀行同業僅實現了4%的收益。我們相信，以這項指標來看，我們在業界名列前茅。

Based on our current outlook for earnings and recovery of AOCI in 2024, we also expect to end 2024 with more than $55 of tangible book value per share. I'll also point out that our tangible book value and GAAP book value are virtually the same.

根據我們目前對 2024 年 AOCI 獲利和復甦的展望，我們也預計到 2024 年底每股有形帳面價值將超過 55 美元。我還要指出的是，我們的有形帳面價值和 GAAP 帳面價值實際上相同。

Turning to Slide 18. Our TCE ratio ended the fourth quarter at over 7%, which was an increase of 50 basis points in a single quarter. And over 100 basis points in the last two quarters. ALCI. continues to negatively impact this ratio by about 64 basis points. Our estimated CET. one ratio ended the fourth quarter at 12.2%, which was an increase of 260 basis points for 2023. Adjusted for ALCI. This ratio was 11.2%, which is top quartile among banks with an asset size between 10 and 100 billion. The improvement in our CET. one ratio of 260 basis points is among the top 5% of our publicly traded U.S. banks during 2023. In 2023, we executed successfully on our goals and significantly improved our capital levels. Given the continued uncertainty in the market, we feel it is prudent to continue to maintain higher levels of capital going forward.

翻到第 18 張投影片。我們的 TCE 比率在第四季末達到 7% 以上，單季成長了 50 個基點。過去兩個季度，漲幅超過 100 個基點。急性淋巴性白血病。繼續對此比率產生約 64 個基點的負面影響。我們預計的 CET。該比率在第四季末為 12.2%，比 2023 年增加了 260 個基點。已針對 ALCI 進行調整。這一比例為11.2%，在資產規模100億至1000億的銀行中處於前列。我們的大學英語四級考試 (CET) 有所提升。 260 個基點的比率在 2023 年期間位列美國上市銀行的前 5%。2023年，我們成功實現了目標，並顯著提高了資本水準。鑑於市場持續存在不確定性，我們認為未來繼續保持較高的資本水準是明智之舉。

On Slide 19, credit quality in our portfolio remained strong across all metrics. Nonperforming loans ended the fourth quarter at 27 million, and our nonperforming asset ratio was just 13 basis points. Net charge-offs overall came in line with our expectations. Commercial net charge-offs remain at very low levels, and consumer net charge-offs remain within our modeled expectations. Provision expense of $13.4 million came in well below expectations in the fourth quarter, primarily too due to the reduction in loan balances held for investment, which benefited provision expense by roughly 6 million. Absent this provision would have been in line with our previous estimate. Reserve level in dollars declined modestly quarter over quarter. Given the lower loan balances I just discussed, we feel we are well reserved at a coverage ratio of 114 basis points of total loans held for investment, which increased two basis points during the fourth quarter. We remain extremely well positioned for the potential challenges ahead for the commercial real estate market. The office and retail sectors of commercial real estate each only account for approximately 1% of our total loan portfolio and continue to perform well.

在投影片 19 上，我們投資組合的信用品質在各個指標上都保持強勁。第四季末，不良貸款餘額為 2,700 萬美元，不良資產率僅 13 個基點。淨沖銷總額符合我們的預期。商業淨沖銷額仍處於非常低的水平，消費者淨沖銷額仍處於我們的模型預期範圍內。第四季的撥備支出為 1,340 萬美元，遠低於預期，這主要也是由於投資持有的貸款餘額減少，這使撥備支出受益約 600 萬美元。如果沒有這項規定，一切將與我們先前的估計相符。美元儲備水準較上季略有下降。鑑於我剛才討論過的較低的貸款餘額，我們認為我們的儲備充足，投資貸款總額的覆蓋率為 114 個基點，第四季度增加了 2 個基點。我們仍然處於非常有利的位置來應對商業房地產市場未來可能面臨的挑戰。商業房地產的辦公和零售部門僅占我們總貸款組合的約 1%，並且持續表現良好。

With that, I'll pass the call back to Sam to discuss our outlook for 2024 and some concluding remarks.

說完這些，我將把電話轉回給 Sam，討論我們對 2024 年的展望和一些總結性發言。

Thank you, Karla.

謝謝你，卡拉。

Turning to slide 20, we wanted to provide you our outlook for 2024. We have broken our guidance into three categories. Firstly, our financial targets. These metrics included ROA, efficiency ratio and net interest margin you will note that as opposed to providing specific expense guidance, we will manage the business to an attractive efficiency ratio. We believe this provides us the flexibility to make investments if we see meaningful positive operating leverage.

翻到第 20 張投影片，我們想為您提供我們對 2024 年的展望。我們將指導分為三類。首先，我們的財務目標。這些指標包括 ROA、效率比率和淨利差，您會注意到，與提供具體的費用指導相反，我們將管理業務以實現有吸引力的效率比率。我們相信，如果我們看到有意義的正向經營槓桿，這將為我們提供投資的靈活性。

Secondly, from a growth outlook perspective, our deposit growth story in 24 will be focused on continuing and building off the success we achieved in 2023. Modest growth in overall balances with a focus on bringing in more high-quality book deposits will allow us to further reduce wholesale funding. We expect loan growth to resume in 2024. We're seeing attractive opportunities across our franchise, led by our national corporate businesses. The strength of our capital and liquidity position provides us the ability to book 10% to 15% loan growth. As we mentioned previously, we anticipate this will be funded with securities and cash in 24 as opposed to meaningfully increasing the overall size of our balance sheet. These efforts should allow us to generate PPNR growth between 10% to 15% in 24 after adjusting for the PPPNII. and Q. three outsized accretion income as number three operating assumptions. Our operating assumptions are consistent with what we disclosed with you over the course of the year. We will target a CET1 ratio of about 11.5% and a TCE ratio of about 7.5%. Our tax rate is expected to be between 22% and 24%. With that, I'd like to finish on Slide 21 with some concluding perspectives. This was another incredibly strong quarter and year that we're very proud of at Customers Bank. I'll mention again, we generated over 3 billion of core deposit growth in the last three quarters alone, significantly improving and transforming the quality of our deposit franchise.

其次，從成長前景的角度來看，我們 24 年的存款成長故事將集中在延續並鞏固我們在 2023 年的成功。整體餘額適度成長，重點在於引入更多優質帳面存款，將使我們能夠進一步減少批發融資。我們預計貸款將在 2024 年恢復成長。我們看到了整個特許經營領域中極具吸引力的機遇，以我們的全國性企業業務為首。我們雄厚的資本和流動性使我們有能力實現 10% 至 15% 的貸款成長。正如我們之前提到的，我們預計這將在 24 天內以證券和現金提供資金，而不是大幅增加我們資產負債表的整體規模。這些努力應該可以讓我們在調整 PPPNII 後，在 24 年內實現 PPNR 成長 10% 到 15% 之間。和 Q. 三個超額的增值收入作為第三個營運假設。我們的營運假設與我們全年向您揭露的內容一致。我們的目標是，CET1 比率達到約 11.5%，TCE 比率達到約 7.5%。我們的稅率預計在22%至24%之間。最後，我想在第 21 張投影片上總結我的觀點。這又是一個異常強勁的季度和年份，我們客戶銀行對此感到非常自豪。我再次提到，僅在過去三個季度，我們的核心存款就成長了 30 多億美元，顯著改善並改變了我們的存款業務品質。

Continuing to improve our deposit franchise remains our top priority in 24, and we are prepared to continue this march with our robust pipeline. Our net interest margin improved substantially over the course of the year and drove higher profitability on a more liquid and better capitalized balance sheet. Our industry is looking to reach an EM trough by the middle of this year. While we achieve that in 2022 and have increased. Since then, we attained our goal to build capital at an extraordinary pace due to strong organic earnings generation and a relatively flat and optimized balance sheet. Our credit quality remains exceptional, but we will stay vigilant in monitoring our portfolio. Our business model is highly focused on risk management and our ability to perform in all macroeconomic environments with our differentiated and now deposit led business model and the strategic opportunities ahead of us.

繼續改善我們的存款特許經營權仍然是我們 24 年以來的首要任務，我們準備好憑藉強大的管道繼續這一進程。我們的淨利差在一年內大幅提高，並在流動性更強、資本更充足的資產負債表上實現了更高的獲利能力。我們的產業預計將在今年年中觸及新興市場的低谷。雖然我們在 2022 年就實現了這一目標，並且還取得了進展。自那時起，憑藉著強勁的有機獲利能力和相對平穩、優化的資產負債表，我們以非凡的速度實現了資本累積的目標。我們的信用品質仍然卓越，但我們將保持警惕，監控我們的投資組合。我們的業務模式高度注重風險管理，並憑藉我們差異化的、現在以存款為主導的業務模式和擺在我們面前的戰略機遇，在所有宏觀經濟環境中展現出我們的能力。

We believe we are very well positioned for success in the years to come.

我們相信，我們已為未來幾年的成功做好了充分準備。

With that, I'd like to open the call to any questions you have you may have.

現在，我願意回答你們可能提出的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Hal Goetsch, B. Riley Securities.

（操作員指令）Hal Goetsch，B. Riley Securities。

Good morning, everyone, and congratulations on a terrific year. And quarter, the loan growth guidance is simply an outlier and pretty terrific in this environment. Can you give us a feel for the areas or industries that are contributing to this growth. And if I could ask one follow up on expense growth, it's been flat to the last three quarters. And what can we expect for expense growth in 2024 Thank you.

大家早安，恭喜你們度過了美好的一年。本季的貸款成長指引只是一個異常值，在目前的環境下相當出色。您能否向我們介紹一下對這一成長做出貢獻的地區或產業？如果我可以問一下費用成長狀況的話，過去三個季度費用成長一直持平。我們對 2024 年的費用成長有何預期？

Thanks, Hal. Really appreciate it, and welcome officially and formally. So firstly, to focus on on the loan growth in the loan portfolio, 2024 is going to be a year of a franchise enhancing loan growth as we replace the non-strategic assets we remove beginning in the in the first quarter, accelerated in the second quarter of the year with the capital call, nonstrategic land sales and then the runoff that we've targeted in the second half of the year, which has also helped us build our capital levels. So really bilateral and in many cases, deposit-rich customers, which include Venture Banking fund finance.

謝謝，哈爾。非常感謝，並正式表示歡迎。因此，首先，專注於貸款組合中的貸款成長，2024 年將是特許經營增強貸款成長的一年，因為我們將替換從第一季度開始移除的非戰略性資產，並透過資本調用、非策略性土地銷售在第二季度加速，然後是我們在下半年設定的流失，這也有助於我們建立資本水平。因此，實際上，這是雙邊的，而且在許多情況下，都是存款豐富的客戶，其中包括風險銀行基金融資。

We also are expecting contributions from now Community Bank C. and I. We also like our fixed rate equipment finance business. But all in all, we're remaining very selective. But with a 72% loan to deposit ratio, we have a tremendous amount of flexibility on our balance sheet. So 23 was a year of deposit transformation, 20 fours that's going to continue in 23, but 24 is really going to be rebuilding the loan book, frankly, to directionally close to levels that we started at the beginning of 2023. So the pipelines are strong and hopefully that answers your question on the growth part of it of your question so now making sure.

我們也期待現在的社區銀行 C. 和 I. 的貢獻。但總而言之，我們仍然非常謹慎。但由於貸款與存款比率高達 72%，我們的資產負債表具有極大的彈性。因此，23 年是存款轉型的一年，20 年的四年將在 23 年繼續，但 24 年實際上將重建貸款帳簿，坦白說，方向是接近我們在 2023 年初開始的水平。因此，管道很強大，希望這可以回答您關於問題的增長部分的問題，所以現在要確保。

The second question you had was, I believe, on noninterest expense. So I think we've done a really good job. Carla talked about a couple of things firstly, we've managed our quarterly number at about $89 million plus or minus of core noninterest expense over the last three quarters. And she also talked about some operational excellence initiatives with some detail. And really our focus, as you saw on the guidance slide is going to be managing to an efficiency ratio, and we will continue to focus on trying to drive savings in the core recurring expense space. Having said that, we'll continue to invest wherever we see opportunities. But you heard me talk about deposit teams and really we won't hold back on expenses and reinvesting those savings. However, we will always hold have the governor of that efficiency ratio. So long way of saying, we'll look to I think we're sort of at the high high 40s. Right now, we're going to get to the mid 40s in 24 and we'll look to at a minimum, you'd look to maintain directionally our core expense base, but really driving that revenue growth, which is going to help us get to that efficiency ratio.

我認為，您的第二個問題是關於非利息的支出。所以我認為我們做得非常好。卡拉首先談到了幾件事，過去三個季度，我們的季度數字保持在約 8,900 萬美元左右，核心非利息支出也在其中。她也詳細談到了一些卓越營運措施。正如您在指導幻燈片上看到的，我們的重點實際上是管理效率比率，我們將繼續致力於嘗試在核心經常性支出領域節省開支。話雖如此，我們會繼續在看到機會的地方進行投資。但是您聽我談到了存款團隊，實際上我們不會抑制開支並重新投資這些儲蓄。然而，我們將始終掌握這一效率比率的控制權。說了這麼多，我們來看看，我認為我們已經達到了 40 多歲了。現在，我們將在 24 年內達到 45% 左右的目標，並且我們至少會努力保持核心支出基礎的方向性，但真正推動收入成長，這將幫助我們達到效率比率。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Casey Haire, Jefferies.

凱西‧海爾 (Casey Haire)，傑富瑞 (Jefferies)。

Yes, thanks. Good morning, everyone. So apologies if I missed this, but can you guys your new guide of three 20 to 3 40, what what kind of Fed funds forecast is embedded within that? And and what kind of deposit beta Are you assuming if you do have cuts in their?

是的，謝謝。大家早安。所以如果我錯過了這一點，請原諒，但你們能否提供新的 3.20 到 3.40 指南，其中包含什麼樣的聯邦基金預測？如果您確實削減了存款貝塔係數，那麼您假設的存款貝塔係數是什麼樣的？

Good morning, Casey, I'm happy to take that. And Karla, you know, feel free to jump in with any clarification that I miss. So the new guidance is pretty wide. There's a lot of deposit remixing and loan remixing that's happening. You also heard me talk about the deposit side, the 2 billion plus or minus more of wholesale CDs that are maturing in 24. So really on the high end of the range, we would sort of assume some cuts that would be more in line with the Fed dot plot, but you could have faster loan originations that happened earlier in the year as opposed to middle to later part of the year. And it could assume a higher pace and faster pace of deposit inflows at lower costs and earlier in the year versus later, and then the inverse really on the lower end of the range. So the range to be clear is about three to six cuts dependent depending on the market and the Fed dot plot. So the lower end of the range would be higher and faster cuts. And really the inverse of what I just said Got you.

早安，凱西，我很樂意接受這個採訪。卡拉，你知道，如果我有什麼遺漏的地方，歡迎隨時提出澄清。因此，新指南的範圍相當廣泛。大量存款混合和貸款混合正在發生。您也聽我談論了存款方面，即 24 年間到期的批發存單金額約 20 億美元。因此，實際上，在該範圍的高端，我們會假設一些降息幅度更符合聯準會點圖，但你可以在年初而不是年中或年末更快地發放貸款。並且可以假設存款流入的速度更快、成本更低，並且在年初而不是年末時流入的速度更快，然後在範圍的低端則相反。因此，需要明確的是，降息幅度約為三至六次，取決於市場和聯準會點圖。因此，範圍的下端將會更高且更快的削減。而實際上我剛才說的正好相反。

Okay. So it's three six cuts, six cuts would I would assume gets you to that three, 23 would be the higher end of three 40. And then just one And underneath that, what kind of like apologies of the deposit beta It sure, looks like on the first.

好的。因此，它是三次六次削減，我假設六次削減將使您達到那三次，23 將是三次 40 中的較高者。然後就一個，在這下面，是什麼樣的存款測試版的道歉，它肯定看起來像第一個。

So yes, it's embedded. It's really embedded in the guidance. The way to think about deposit betas on the way up. We had a high deposit beta, which really impacted us in 22, but really tapered off in 23. And in fact, we peaked in the first quarter of last year. High deposit beta, high cost of funds have benefits you on the way down, and we expect to have a high beta on the way down.

是的，它是嵌入式的。它確實嵌入在指導之中。思考存款貝塔值上升的方式。我們的存款貝塔值很高，這在 22 年對我們影響很大，但在 23 年卻逐漸減弱。事實上，我們在去年第一季達到了頂峰。高存款貝塔值、高資金成本會在下跌過程中為您帶來好處，我們預期在下跌過程中貝塔值也會很高。

Got you. Okay. And just lastly on your you'll see the deposit Remec, so 2.2 billion of wholesale CDs maturing this year from first up, what is the what is the rate on those maturities? And then if I'm doing the math correctly, it looks like you've got core deposits up to 1.5 to $2 billion and if all end deposits are growing low single digits, if there's going to be some rollover of that 2.2 billion, I just wanted to make sure that's Yes, Casey, good, good question.

明白了。好的。最後，您會看到存款 Remec，從今年開始，有 22 億批發 CD 到期，這些到期的利率是多少？然後，如果我的計算正確的話，看起來您的核心存款高達 15 億到 20 億美元，並且如果所有最終存款都以低個位數增長，那麼這 22 億美元是否會有一些展期，我只是想確保這是正確的，凱西，好問題。

So overall, we'll look to we'll look to remix most, if not all of that into with core deposit growth. It really depends on the overall pipeline and mix the cost of that this year is actually pretty close to 5%. So there's a tremendous opportunity from a cost of funds perspective. So hopefully, one of the things I did mention is that we're down to about 18% of wholesale CDs from our peak a couple of quarters ago. Our business model is branch-light. So there's always going to be a place for some portion of wholesale funding in our balance sheet, and we'll look to be thoughtful about recasting any small portion of that over the course of the year. But again, most. If not all of that, we'd look to remix through the course of the year with core deposits.

因此總的來說，我們將考慮將大部分（如果不是全部的話）資金重新融入核心存款成長中。這實際上取決於整體管道和混合成本，今年的成本實際上非常接近 5%。因此，從資金成本的角度來看，這是一個巨大的機會。所以，我希望提到的一件事是，我們的批發 CD 份額已從幾個季度前的峰值下降到約 18%。我們的商業模式是輕分支。因此，我們的資產負債表中總會有一部分批發融資，我們會在一年內仔細考慮重新調整其中的任何一小部分。但同樣，大多數。如果不是全部的話，我們希望在全年內重新混合核心存款。

Very good. Thanks, guys.

非常好。謝謝大家。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Peter Winter, D.A. Davidson.

彼得溫特（Peter Winter），地方檢察官戴維森。

Good morning. Tom, I wanted to ask about the balance sheet sensitivity. I mean the as of 3Q, the balance sheet is fairly asset sensitive. So I'm just wondering, were you able to reduce any of that sensitivity in the fourth quarter? And what's the plan on trying to reduce some of that in 24 sharp and absolutely, good morning, Peter.

早安.湯姆，我想問資產負債表的敏感度。我的意思是，截至第三季度，資產負債表對資產相當敏感。所以我只是想知道，你是否能夠在第四季降低這種敏感度？有什麼計劃可以在 24 點之前減少這些數字，早上好，彼得。

So a high rate environment should be most challenging for a bank like like us, given that we don't have the retail network however, we knew that with the deposit trends and really the positive mix shift into non-interest bearing lower cost deposits over the course of last year, the downgrade is going to be beneficial to us from an asset sensitivity perspective. As you know, there are limitations from a shock perspective and a spot perspective in the sense that our K is going to be out in a couple of weeks. But even if you look at that net our September 30th numbers, non-interest bearing deposit growth, increases your asset sensitivity, however, rolling off of fixed rate wholesale CDs into floating rate deposits, decreases your asset sensitivity. So we're very prepared for declining rates. And while we're moderately slightly asset-sensitive today, the shock that you'll sort of see in those types of financials is not necessarily representative of how we will actually operate in a gradually declining rate environment, which is what we in the market overall, expect directionally, whether it's three or six, you know, to be determined.

因此，高利率環境對於我們這樣的銀行來說是最具挑戰性的，考慮到我們沒有零售網絡，然而，我們知道，隨著存款趨勢和去年向無息低成本存款的積極組合轉變，從資產敏感性的角度來看，降級將對我們有利。如您所知，從衝擊角度和現貨角度來看，存在局限性，因為我們的 K 將在幾週內公佈。但即使你看一下 9 月 30 日的淨數字，無息存款增長也會增加你的資產敏感度，但是，將固定利率批發 CD 轉為浮動利率存款會降低你的資產敏感度。因此，我們已經對利率下降做好了充分準備。雖然我們今天對資產稍微敏感一些，但你在這類財務數據中看到的衝擊並不一定代表我們在利率逐步下降的環境下的實際運作方式，這也是我們在整個市場中預期的方向，無論是三年還是六年，都有待確定。

Okay. And then just how do we think about average earning assets from fourth quarter level? I mean we have a positive outlook on the loans, but funded with excess cash and securities cash flows. Just how do we think about the average earning assets growth rate?

好的。那我們如何看待第四季的平均收益資產水準呢？我的意思是我們對貸款持樂觀態度，但用多餘的現金和證券現金流提供資金。我們究竟該如何看待平均生息資產成長率呢？

So I think I talked about the that 10% to 15% growth rate. If you if you take the midpoint of that range, really you can sort of directionally see you're getting back to 1231, 22 in terms of our directional loan balances, that term earning asset mix shift is really going to be coming from cash and securities as opposed to any changes in the balance sheet as you sort of think of the average earning assets as moderately flattish. And I'd also mention that I think we've disclosed our securities portfolio is somewhere in the low to mid 5% range on a blended basis. Our cash, as you can probably appreciate, is generating something directionally similar. And our incoming loan yields are typically especially for some of our national corporate businesses, which is where greater than 50% of the expected growth is planned to come from sort of gives you an extra 300 basis points plus or minus spread above what those earning assets are currently yielding? Kind of.

所以我想我談論的是 10% 到 15% 的成長率。如果您取該範圍的中點，實際上您可以定向看到您將回到 1231,22，就我們的方向性貸款餘額而言，長期收益資產組合轉變實際上將來自現金和證券，而不是資產負債表中的任何變化，因為您可以認為平均收益資產適度持平。我還要提到，我認為我們已經披露過，我們的證券投資組合在混合基礎上處於 5% 到 5% 的低位到中位數範圍內。您可能已經意識到，我們的現金正在產生類似的方向性的東西。我們的貸款收益率通常主要針對一些全國性企業，這些企業計劃實現 50% 以上的預期增長，這會給您帶來比這些盈利資產目前的收益率高出或低出 300 個基點的利差？有點兒。

Just my last question, you guys are in some of these businesses of the failed banks last year and then you, of course, bought Signature's venture capital banking portfolio from the FKC., are you seeing a lot of opportunities to add more bankers to the platform?

我的最後一個問題是，去年你們涉足了一些破產銀行的業務，然後你們又從 FKC 購買了 Signature 的創投銀行投資組合，你是否看到了很多為該平台增加更多銀行家的機會？

Yes, Peter, that's a great question. And I think you sort of heard me talk about market share gains and hundreds of billions of impacted customer deposits and loans from the failed institutions. And I think that what's important about our businesses. We haven't added new any new business lines or new business verticals. We happen to have a lot of high quality, low risk, high-growth opportunity, commercial verticals at our bank existing today from a lending perspective, we have very strong lenders across the franchise. From a deposit perspective, I think you're absolutely right. There will be opportunities for us to find teams and individual performers in motion because clients are motion, clients have already changed banks once or twice in the past 12 months, and folks are looking to find high-quality commercial oriented platforms like ourselves to be able to important.

是的，彼得，這是一個很好的問題。我想你們可能已經聽到我談論市場份額的成長，以及破產機構造成的數千億美元客戶存款和貸款的受影響。我認為這對我們的業務很重要。我們沒有增加任何新的業務線或新的垂直業務。我們銀行目前擁有大量高品質、低風險、高成長機會和商業垂直業務，從貸款角度來看，我們在整個特許經營領域擁有非常強大的貸款人。從存款的角度來看，我認為你完全正確。我們將有機會找到活躍的團隊和個人表演者，因為客戶是活躍的，客戶在過去 12 個月中已經更換過一兩次銀行，並且人們正在尋找像我們這樣重要的高品質商業導向平台。

Thanks now.

現在謝謝了。

Absolutely.

絕對地。

Michael Perito, KBW.

邁克爾·佩里托（Michael Perito），KBW。

Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. So obviously, the guide for 2014 pretty sorry. I just had a couple of high-level questions. I'd love some color on if that's all right. Number one is just you guys were pretty clear and laid out the remixing opportunities for 24. But I was wondering if you could go a layer deeper just on the mindset around balance sheet growth. Like what are what are the pieces of the equation when that comes back into consideration in more earnest? Is it a certain capital level? Is it a certain amount of liquidity remixing our deposit mix. When you guys will start to consider growing the balance sheet, you realize it's not 24 consideration. But just as we look out to 25 and maybe even 26 in the next quarter or two? Just trying to get a better sense of your thought process around when balance sheet growth might and could resume.

嘿，大家好。早安.感謝您回答我的問題。顯然，2014 年的指引相當遺憾。我剛才有幾個高級問題。如果可以的話，我想要一些顏色。首先，你們非常清楚並列出了 24 的混音機會。但我想知道您是否可以更深入探討資產負債表成長的思維模式。例如，當我們更認真地考慮這個問題時，等式的各部分是什麼？是否需要一定的資本水準？這是否是一定程度的流動性重新混合了我們的存款組合。當你們開始考慮擴大資產負債表時，你們就會意識到，這不是 24 小時的考量。但是，我們是否會在未來一、兩個季度內展望 25 甚至 26 個呢？只是想更了解您對資產負債表成長何時可能恢復的思考過程。

Thanks, Mike. Yes, absolutely. So firstly, starting from a capital perspective, we hit our minimum target of 7% by the end of the year, which was really important to us. We expect in the first half of the year, we would hope to achieve at least a 7.5% TC. And I think from a from a regulatory capital perspective, we've more than cleared and gotten to top quartile levels. We think it's important to be at that 7.5% type range, focusing on the inside of the balance sheet for a time period. And I'll address the latter part of your question sort of a bit more of a medium to longer term cast from a loan growth perspective, I think we've pretty much covered that from sort of a transfer of cash and securities to loans within the asset side of the balance sheet. From a deposit perspective, we are while we're top quartile or top decile and all the other most important profitability and balance sheet metrics, I think from a self-awareness perspective, from a deposit side, we're still on the higher end, and we'd like to continue to improve the mix and reduce the cost and the cost sensitivity of those deposit customers over the course of the coming quarters and years and that's really what our focus is going to be on.

謝謝，麥克。是的，絕對是如此。首先，從資本角度開始，我們在年底前達到了 7% 的最低目標，這對我們來說非常重要。我們預計，今年上半年，我們希望達到至少7.5%的TC。我認為從監管資本的角度來看，我們已經超過了監管資本，並達到了最高四分位數水準。我們認為，保持在 7.5% 的範圍內並專注於一段時間內的資產負債表內部情況非常重要。我將從貸款成長的角度來回答你問題的後半部分，這更偏向於中長期預測，我想我們基本上已經涵蓋了從資產負債表資產方的現金和證券向貸款的轉移。從存款的角度來看，雖然我們處於前四分位或前十分位，並且所有其他最重要的盈利能力和資產負債表指標也都處於領先地位，但我認為從自我意識的角度來看，從存款方面來看，我們仍然處於較高端，我們希望在未來幾個季度和幾年內繼續改善組合，降低這些存款客戶的成本和成本敏感性，這才是我們真正關注的重點。

You heard me talk about deposit lead growth. I think the real differentiator for for customers bank today is the of the customers and the teams that are in motion that it's going to really help us enter 2025 and beyond are going to help us build deposits first, internally and then deposit led growth in 25 and beyond, maintaining our current capital goals, which we hope to achieve pretty quickly.

您聽我談論了存款引導成長。我認為，當今銀行對客戶的真正區別在於客戶和正在運作的團隊，這將真正幫助我們進入2025年及以後，將幫助我們首先在內部建立存款，然後在2025年及以後以存款為主導的增長，保持我們目前的資本目標，我們希望能夠很快實現這一目標。

That's helpful color, Sam, thanks. And then just you mentioned the expense guide kind of shifting to the efficiency ratio to give you guys flexibility to invest where you see opportunities. Just wondering if you could maybe spend a minute now that you guys own it anymore because you've obviously been very busy and done very well. But put it what initiatives or what does that mean? Like what are you going to look to invest in? Is it new business lines? Is it just adding more people in the business lines you've added over the last two years?

這很有幫助的顏色，山姆，謝謝。然後您提到費用指南轉向效率比率，以便您可以靈活地在看到機會的地方進行投資。只是想知道你們現在是否可以花一點時間，因為你們顯然非常忙，而且做得很好。但提出什麼措施或意味著什麼呢？例如，您打算投資什麼？這是新的業務線嗎？是不是只是在過去兩年新增的業務線上增加了更多的人員？

I'm just would love another layer deeper on that as we think once again about the kind of forward outlook and growth opportunities, Sharp and absolutely our reinvestment for the near to medium term is really going to be focused on continuing to build out the infrastructure from you heard about sort of treasury management marketing, a lot of the support functions that allow us to have the breadth of products and services, generate fee income, enhance the customer experience. And this could also sort of broad bleed into sort of technology and other AI type initiatives, which will help enhance the customer experience and customer service. But the real focus from a true material sort of noninterest expense perspective is going to be on people that help us service and acquire new customers really focus on those deposit customers.

我只是希望在我們再次思考前瞻性展望和成長機會時，能對此有更深的理解，夏普，我們近期到中期的再投資將真正集中在繼續建設基礎設施上，正如你所聽到的，財務管理營銷，以及許多支持功能，這些功能使我們能夠提供廣泛的產品和服務，產生費用收入，增強客戶體驗。這也可能廣泛滲透到技術和其他人工智慧類型的計劃中，這將有助於提升客戶體驗和客戶服務。但從真正的物質非利息支出角度來看，真正的重點是那些幫助我們服務和獲取新客戶的人，真正專注於那些存款客戶。

So you think the biggest areas for investment will probably be, yes. Growth facing people as you guys continue to scale.

所以您認為最大的投資領域可能是？隨著你們規模的不斷擴大，人們面臨成長。

Infrastructure wouldn't absolutely right. Yes, there's a lot of folks that have had logos on their business cards changed in the past nine months. And there's a lot of folks that have elected to change the logos and their business cards who are now looking to change again.

基礎設施並不絕對正確。是的，過去九個月裡有很多人的名片上的標誌都改變了。許多人已經選擇更改標識和名片，現在又想再次更改。

Great. And then just one last one for me on just would love a minute on kind of where you guys are at on the technology roadmap. I mean, any kind of internal investments in your core other capabilities? Just not really kind of an earnings impactful question necessarily. I'm sure it's baked into your budget and efficiency ratio guide. But just would love any flavor you can give on where you guys are spending some money on the technology and infrastructure side?

偉大的。最後一個問題，我想花一分鐘了解你們在技術路線圖方面的進展。我的意思是，您對其他核心能力有任何形式的內部投資嗎？這不一定是一個對獲利有影響的問題。我相信它已經融入您的預算和效率比率指南中。但您是否能介紹一下您在技術和基礎設施方面花費了哪些資金？

Yes, sure, Mike. Happy happy to also take that. So I think that we're always looking to streamline and improve the effectiveness of our technology platform. We were one of the first banks going back seven or eight years ago to invest in middleware that sits on top of our legacy core. We are probably in the third iteration of that today and continue to enhance that. We're also in the midst of again, this is not something that has required a ton of investment because we have the people at our institution. We have developers, we have and API developers. We have been a lot of experts who have come from both big and small institutions who can help us continue to enhance our technology platform. But we're really looking to rewire and re-architect things that said, even above and below the middleware. And we're happy to share some more information on that over time. Again, it's not requiring investment, but it's really going to enhance and streamline the way that we look to support it and add new technology providers and also how we currently service our customers. So that's that's one, you know, again, similarly on on some of the now, I guess, more legacy type software providers like a Salesforce or and you know, we're multiple years into probably second or third contract negotiations and whenever those those come up, which come up in the next sort of 12 months or so, we typically look to pivot and reset and we use that as an opportunity to redesign and think about what we've learned over the past couple of years, think about sort of the new business lines. And in many cases, what's really interesting is some of the new team members that we bring on have have different ways of doing things that we can sort of export to the rest of our organization in a very positive way so hopefully that gives you a bit of flavor. I touched on on AI. as well, and these are the types of things that are very, very low stakes test cases that we continue to expand upon exploring across the organization. But again, these are all things to enhance the customer experience and to streamline operations. Nothing that's requiring a tremendous amount of investment. But what's important is that we truly are at the cutting-edge of thinking about these types investments and initiatives.

是的，當然，麥克。很高興也很開心能接受這一點。所以我認為我們一直在尋求簡化和提高我們的技術平台的有效性。我們是七、八年前首批投資於位於我們傳統核心之上的中間件的銀行之一。今天我們可能已經處於第三次迭代中，並將繼續增強。我們也再次處於這個階段，但這並不需要大量投資，因為我們機構裡已經有人才了。我們有開發人員，我們有 API 開發人員。我們有許多來自大型和小型機構的專家，他們可以幫助我們不斷加強我們的技術平台。但我們真正希望的是重新連結和重新建構上述內容，甚至是中間件之上和之下的內容。我們很高興能隨著時間的推移分享更多有關此方面的資訊。再說一次，它不需要投資，但它確實會增強和簡化我們支援它的方式以及增加新的技術提供者的方式以及我們目前為客戶提供服務的方式。所以這就是一方面，你知道，同樣地，對於現在的一些更傳統的軟體供應商，例如 Salesforce，你知道，我們可能已經進行了多年的第二或第三次合約談判，每當這些合約出現時，也就是在未來 12 個月左右出現時，我們通常都會尋求轉變和重置，我們利用這個機會重新設計並思考我們在過去幾年學到的東西，思考新的業務線。在很多情況下，真正有趣的是，我們引入的一些新團隊成員有不同的做事方式，我們可以以非常積極的方式將這些方式輸出給我們組織的其他成員，所以希望這能給你帶來一些啟發。我談到了人工智慧。這些都是非常低風險的測試案例，我們會在整個組織內繼續擴展探索。但同樣，這些都是為了增強客戶體驗和簡化營運。沒有什麼事情需要大量投資。但重要的是，我們確實處於思考此類投資和舉措的前沿。

Great. No, definitely helpful. Thanks, Sam, for taking my questions. Appreciate and have a good weekend.

偉大的。不，絕對有幫助。謝謝 Sam 回答我的問題。非常感謝，祝您週末愉快。

You took.

你拿了。

Steve Moss, Raymond James.

史蒂夫莫斯、雷蒙詹姆斯。

Good morning, Tim, on the deposit pipeline here, just curious if you could give a little color on the underlying mix and whether there's a mix shift or this quarter here? And just also what you're thinking of roughly the average cost of deposits as I expect to come on.

早安，提姆，關於這裡的存款管道，我只是好奇你是否可以稍微介紹一下底層組合，以及本季是否存在組合轉變？而且您也大致考慮了我預計的存款平均成本。

Sure, absolutely. Good morning, Steve. So just to sort of recap, I think I mentioned this earlier, it was broad based across the franchise. This is the 1.1 billion of core deposit growth, not dissimilar at all to last quarter, we had almost 2020 of our deposit channels that saw good growth in the these channels had a growth of 25 million or more individually, which really sort of helps put a pin in the broad-based nature and the quality of this of the growth about a third, to put it more with more specificity came from private client groups in New York, about a third came from our financial institutions group and the balance was more broadly spread across the organization. So it's a little bit of a shift from towards more of our private client groups versus last quarter, which was more focused on the Venture Banking Group because of the migration of the portfolio at the end of the second quarter that really and broaden those customers in the third quarter. But I think what's more relevant is to just zoom out and focus on the $3 billion over the past couple of quarters for many quarters for a second because I think that really puts it puts color on the total transformation.

當然，絕對是如此。早安，史蒂夫。所以，只是為了回顧一下，我想我之前提到過這一點，它在整個系列中具有廣泛的基礎。這是 11 億美元的核心存款成長，與上一季的情況沒有什麼不同，我們幾乎在 2020 年的存款管道中都實現了良好的增長，這些管道分別增長了 2500 萬或更多，這確實有助於確定這種增長的廣泛性和質量。因此，與上一季相比，我們的重點從私人客戶群略有轉變，上一季更加專注於風險銀行集團，因為第二季末投資組合的遷移確實擴大了第三季的客戶範圍。但我認為更重要的是，將目光縮小，集中在過去幾季的 30 億美元，因為我認為這才真正為整體轉型增添色彩。

So about a quarter of that came from our private client groups. 15% to 20% came from the Venture Banking Group, 20% from our financial institutions group.

其中約四分之一來自我們的私人客戶群。 15%至20%來自風險銀行集團，20%來自我們的金融機構集團。

And the balance was spread across the organization like fund finance, commercial real estate and equipment, finance, consumer and others.

其餘則分佈在基金金融、商業房地產及設備、金融、消費者等組織領域。

So it's also worth mentioning as we added 3 billion of core deposits. We also increased our non-interest bearing deposits by about 1 billion over the same time, same time period. So hopefully, that gives you color on mean known where the deposit growth came from the pipeline is very similar. So I don't need to sort of rehash it. But I think on the venture side, the team was more on transitioning customers in the third quarter. Fourth quarter was outgoing business development, and we're going to start to see the customer growth. And after a foundational quarter and sort of the first first half of this year. I think you also asked about rate.

因此，值得一提的是，我們增加了 30 億核心存款。在同一時期，我們還增加了約 10 億無息存款。所以希望，這能給你已知的礦藏成長來源與管道非常相似的資訊。所以我不需要重複談論它。但我認為從創投來看，該團隊在第三季更注重客戶轉型。第四季是外向業務發展，我們將開始看到客戶成長。經過一個基礎季度和今年上半年。我想您也問過利率問題。

So all in rates when accounting for the non-interest bearing balances are coming in, not so dissimilar to last quarter into that mid 3% range right now. And so I think that where we're optimistic, we're getting close to an inflection point in interest rate hike cycle. So hopefully this where things will continue, having said, but I think it's very important to note, we're not going to miss, yes, market share opportunities by standing on ceremony, especially given all of this dislocation here so if we need to bring in a true primary customer relationships and have a portion of those deposits be at market rates, we won't shy away from that.

因此，當計算非利息餘額時，所有利率與上一季的 3% 中間水準相差不大。因此我認為，我們樂觀地認為，我們正接近升息週期的轉折點。所以希望這種情況能夠繼續下去，但我認為需要注意的是，我們不會因為拘泥於形式而錯過市場份額機會，特別是考慮到目前存在的所有這些混亂，如果我們需要建立真正的主要客戶關係並讓其中一部分存款按市場利率計算，我們不會迴避這一點。

Okay, great. Appreciate all that color there. And then a similar question on on the loan growth side here, you mentioned the VC fund finance. Can you bank C&I and equipment, those drivers, loan growth just kind of curious, what do you view like fund financed and Community Bank as the primary drivers relative to these income financial? Just how do we kind of think about that mix and the opportunities you see?

好的，太好了。欣賞那裡的所有色彩。然後關於貸款成長方面的一個類似的問題，您提到了創投基金融資。您能否為 C&I 和設備提供銀行服務，這些驅動因素，貸款成長，只是有點好奇，您認為基金融資和社區銀行是這些收入金融的主要驅動力嗎？我們究竟該如何看待這種組合以及您所看到的機會？

Sure. So in terms of originations, I think you hit the nail on the head. It's really it's fund finance, Venture Banking, equipment, finance, healthcare, on the corporate side. And then Community Banking really will be on the sort of the more traditional C&I and nothing really to report on on on on CRE, what's worth noting on Venture Banking. As you can appreciate, these lines are typically not like say, a fund finance line where their average typically average outstandings are hovering in it within a tight range. You have a sense of what a commitment leads to in terms of outstanding. These are typically slow draws, so we may have originations and that also helps be the catalyst to bring over deposit relationships, but we don't expect draws in outstandings really the first half of the year.

當然。因此，就起源而言，我認為您說到了點子上。從企業方面來說，它實際上是基金融資、風險銀行、設備融資、醫療保健。然後，社區銀行實際上將成為更傳統的 C&I，而在 CRE 方面沒有什麼值得報告的，值得注意的是風險銀行。正如您所看到的，這些線通常不像基金財務線那樣，其平均未償還餘額在一個狹窄的範圍內徘徊。您知道承諾會帶來什麼樣的卓越成果。這些通常都是緩慢的提取，所以我們可能會有發起，這也有助於成為建立存款關係的催化劑，但我們預計上半年不會真正提取未償還款項。

Okay. Great. Appreciate all the color. Most of my questions asked and answered next quarter.

好的。偉大的。欣賞所有的色彩。我的大部分問題都會在下個季度提出並得到答案。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Frank Schiraldi, Piper Sandler.

法蘭克希拉爾迪、派柏桑德勒。

Morning, Tom, just as you talked about maintaining higher levels of capital here in the near term? And you mentioned, I think, 11.5% CT. one four assume for 2024. Just curious if from what you think the right level for the bank is longer term. Is the TC. ratio a bit of a governor on that or any sort of targets maybe when things calm down a bit and a little more certainty in the marketplace on where you think the right level of capital is?

早安，湯姆，正如你所說，短期內要維持較高的資本水準嗎？我認為您提到的 CT 是 11.5%。四分之一假設為2024年。我只是好奇，您是否認為銀行的長期正確水平是怎樣的。是TC。當市場稍微平靜下來並且更加確定時，您認為適當的資本水平在哪裡？

Sure, Frank. I appreciate the question. So from a CET. perspective, I think we had set an ambitious goal at the beginning of the year of 11.5%, which we crossed and really got to top quartile from regulatory capital perspective in the third quarter. PTCE., as you rightfully noted, is has really been our governing constraining capital level, which we've gotten to sort of what I would call a minimum of a target range and expect in the near term in the next quarter or two to be at that 7.5% plus type range. And that gives us flexibility if we do feel that deposit growth is a deposit mix is more or less complete and deposit growth could potentially lead to balance sheet growth. But that's not something we expect in the next couple of quarters. So I think 7.5% feels like the right target for us, but TCE. perspective. So as we think about going off of there, and sort of casting a bit a bit more of a longer-term range. And I think we've always talked about a broad range of seven to eight. I think now that we're talking about a minimum level of wanting to get to that 7.5%. I feel like that is going to be our more medium term target. Our organic capital generation has really ramped up, and we expect to it continue to operate within that sort of minimum range.

當然，弗蘭克。我很感謝你提出這個問題。從 CET 開始。從監管資本角度來看，我認為我們在年初設定了一個雄心勃勃的目標，即 11.5%，我們在第三季度就超越了這個目標，並真正達到了監管資本角度的最高水平。正如您正確指出的那樣，PTCE 確實一直是我們的管理約束資本水平，我們已經達到了我所說的最低目標範圍，並預計在短期內或未來兩個季度將達到 7.5% 以上的範圍。如果我們確實認為存款成長是一種存款組合或多或少完整的情況，而存款成長可能導致資產負債表成長，那麼這為我們提供了靈活性。但我們預計未來幾季不會出現這種情況。因此我認為 7.5% 對我們來說是正確的目標，但 TCE 卻不是。看法。因此，當我們考慮從那裡出發時，我們會進行一些更長期的規劃。我認為我們一直在談論七到八的廣泛範圍。我認為現在我們談論的是希望達到 7.5% 的最低水平。我覺得這將是我們的中期目標。我們的有機資本產生確實已經增加，我們預計它將繼續在這種最低範圍內運作。

Okay. And then I believe you're just under 20% total brokered at this point on deposits and sounds like given maturities over the next 12 months, that probably should fall below 10%. Just curious if there's and it's sort of a hard line in terms of where you want to get below on. You mentioned, you know, brokered or wholesale is part of the mix for a bank going forward. So just curious on that front a good question, Frank.

好的。然後我相信您目前的總存款額略低於 20%，聽起來考慮到未來 12 個月的到期日，這一比例可能應該會降至 10% 以下。我只是好奇，是否存在一條關於你想要達到的目標的硬線。您曾提過，經紀或批發是銀行未來業務組合的一部分。所以我只是對這個問題很好奇，弗蘭克。

And yes, we're at 17% today or as of 1231 and declining even further. So I think we're more or less at the at that level where we would have targeted that we wanted to get to. I think even getting building off further from here is really going to be dependent on core deposit growth. So I do think that we'll continue to make significant headway as the year progresses.

是的，今天或截至 1231 時，該比例已達到 17%，並且還在進一步下降。因此我認為我們或多或少已經達到了我們想要達到的目標水準。我認為，即使從現在開始進一步發展也將真正依賴核心存款的成長。因此我確實認為，隨著時間的推移，我們將繼續取得重大進展。

Getting closer to that 10% plus or minus range. There's no immediate target. There are benefits and I think that the bias and stigma for any bank for some portion of wholesale contractual insured CDs as part of an overall funding base and funding strategy, especially for a commercial oriented or non-retail branch-based bank makes sense. It's something we'll continue to evaluate over time. I don't have a specific number for you in mind, but we do feel that we're going to continue to significantly reduce even from the 17% we have today.

越來越接近正負 10% 的範圍。沒有近期目標。這樣的做法有其好處，而且我認為，任何銀行將部分批發合約保險存單作為整體融資基礎和融資策略的一部分，尤其是對於商業銀行或非零售分行的銀行來說，存在偏見和偏見是有道理的。我們會隨著時間的推移持續評估這一點。我心裡沒有一個具體的數字，但我們確實覺得，即使從目前的 17% 來看，我們也將繼續大幅減少。

Okay. And then just on the I'm sorry if I missed it, but on C-BASS deposits in the past you've talked, I think about it a 15% on Max sort of, you know, from a standpoint of concentration. Is that kind of where these are sitting now? And then as you think about core deposit generation, how do you think about is this still core? I mean, obviously, if we get some some rate contraction that could become a little less attractive in the near term unless unless you move to a fee model. So just curious where those are and how you're thinking about that business longer term.

好的。然後，如果我錯過了，我很抱歉，但關於您過去談到的 C-BASS 礦藏，我認為從集中度的角度來看，Max 的比例為 15%。這些都是現在的位置嗎？然後，當您考慮核心存款產生時，您如何看待這仍然是核心？我的意思是，顯然，如果我們進行一些利率收縮，那麼在短期內利率可能會變得沒那麼有吸引力，除非你轉向收費模式。所以我很好奇這些在哪裡以及您對這項業務的長期看法。

Sure. Absolutely. So so the answer to your first question is yes, we have and continue to and frankly, it's been very, very stable. So 2.2 billion plus or minus again in the quarter. So sort of caught up on an average deposit perspective. So that's constant for three quarters in a row. So we're managing it very well and also managing it well with our customers and holding those in cash in a longer-term basis. We'll continue to evaluate as rates evolve. We're in discussions with customers. We are providing business critical services to customers and holding operating accounts and where were those customers cannot necessarily fully operate without the technology we're providing. So I think we feel very privileged to be in that type of position. Our customers are very privileged to be working with us over time as rates decline will, we're still at a significant at today's rates. And so there's a several hundred basis points before that would necessarily be below our RNIM. average. And there are different things that we're exploring and including fees over time that will continue to evaluate that. But we're not really holding any excess funds there. These are truly sort of payment services and operating accounts at current levels.

當然。絕對地。所以，對於你的第一個問題，答案是肯定的，我們已經並且將繼續這樣做，而且坦白說，它一直非常非常穩定。因此本季的漲幅再次達到或減去了 22 億美元。因此，從平均存款角度來看，情況大致是如此。連續三個季度都是如此。因此，我們管理得非常好，也與客戶管理得很好，並且長期持有現金。隨著利率的演變，我們將繼續評估。我們正在與客戶進行討論。我們為客戶提供關鍵業務服務並持有營運帳戶，如果沒有我們提供的技術，這些客戶就無法完全運作。因此我認為我們非常榮幸能夠處於這樣的位置。我們的客戶非常榮幸能夠與我們長期合作，儘管利率會下降，但以今天的利率來看，我們仍然處於相當重要的地位。因此，在此之前有幾百個基點必然低於我們的 RNIM。平均的。我們正在探索不同的事情，包括隨著時間的推移收取的費用，並將繼續對其進行評估。但我們實際上並沒有在那裡持有任何多餘的資金。這些確實是當前水準的支付服務和營運帳戶。

Great. Okay. I appreciate all the color. Thanks.

偉大的。好的。我欣賞這一切的色彩。謝謝。

Matthew Breese, Stephens, Inc.

馬修‧布里斯（Matthew Breese），史蒂芬斯公司（Stephens, Inc.）

And good morning, everybody. And just looking at loan growth guidance for the year, it implies kind of a rough figure 1.6 billion. I know you talked about coming from cash and securities. Could you break down for us how much you expect to come from cash and how much from Securities.

大家早安。光是看今年的貸款成長指引，它就大致是一個 16 億的數字。我知道您談到了現金和證券。您能否為我們分出預計有多少來自現金，有多少是來自證券。

Sure, Tom, I'll give you sort of rough directional numbers, Matt, just sort of based on maturity schedules and cash flow amortization, that's typically going to be in that range of 6 to 800 million that's going to come from the securities book on the balance would come from cash, and we're at a 72% loan-to-deposit ratio today, even with the sort of thinking about the high end of the range would still be seven a seven handle below 80% or below from a loan-to-deposit ratio. So hopefully that gives you some governors and some framework to think about that.

當然，湯姆，我會給你一個粗略的方向性數字，馬特，只是基於到期時間表和現金流攤銷，這通常在 600 萬到 8 億之間，這些資金將來自證券賬簿，餘額將來自現金，而我們今天的貸存比率為 72%，即使考慮到範圍的高端，貸存比率仍將低於 80% 或以下。所以希望這能給你一些指導方針和一些框架來思考這個問題。

That's great. That's what I mean there. And then going to the NIM., it sounds like the pipeline's blended yield is in that kind of three 50 range. It's not too dissimilar from where we are now. Is that three 50 a good proxy for where we might see peak deposit costs in 24 and when do you expect that to occur?

那太棒了。這就是我的意思。然後轉到 NIM，聽起來管道的混合產量就在 3.5% 的範圍內。這與我們現在的情況並不太相似。這 3.50 是否是一個很好的代表，表明我們可能在 24 年看到存款成本的峰值，您預計什麼時候會發生這種情況？

So it is I think you sort of heard me reference, we're sort of at that overall inflection point from a deposit perspective, we also talked about the the wholesale CDs continuing to decline. I think it's worth it's worth mentioning that from some from a growth perspective, you also heard me say that we're not going to be imprudent about taking taking market share our interest expense and I can and should continue to decline even before rate cuts. So yes, while the output of our cost of interest-bearing deposits may change. The deposit mix is really going to be the main driver of ups and downs. Interest expense should be maintained and ideally it should it should trend downwards on the sort of flattish type deposit base. So we feel privileged to be in this type of a trend, and we feel confident in sort of our deposits pipeline and backlog.

所以我想你聽到我提到，從存款的角度來看，我們正處於整體轉折點，我們也談到了批發 CD 的持續下降。我認為值得一提的是，從成長的角度來看，你們也聽到我說過，我們不會輕率地佔據市場份額，我們的利息支出甚至可以在降息之前繼續下降。所以是的，而我們的計息存款的成本產出可能會改變。存款組合確實會成為波動的主要驅動因素。利息支出應該保持不變，理想情況下，它應該在較為平穩的存款基礎上呈下降趨勢。因此，我們很榮幸能處於這種趨勢中，並且我們對我們的存款管道和積壓訂單充滿信心。

Okay. And then two other quick ones. The first one is just in regards to the specialty lending balances were down around 400 million this quarter. I was curious, what was the drivers that what happened there and expectations for that kind of line item for 2024?

好的。然後還有另外兩個簡短的。第一個是關於本季專業貸款餘額下降了約 4 億。我很好奇，那裡發生的事情的驅動因素是什麼？

As I mentioned before, it was sort of targeted these were lower margin, slightly below 300 basis points to 50 plus or minus type spread from that particular business line from the specialty as it was within our fund finance business, specifically focused on our lender finance business. These these loans were really rolled off in late December. We sort of plan for them and did an update and elected not to not to renew. So non-strategic from a business line as well as a customer relationship perspective, nonstrategic from a deposit perspective and non-strategic from a primacy but relationship perspective. So hopefully that gives you some color, and we'll look to that gives us sort of more more opportunity to refill that with more strategic loan growth in the in the unlisted.

正如我之前提到的，它的目標是降低利潤率，略低於 300 個基點至 50 個基點的上下差價，因為它屬於我們的基金融資業務，特別專注於我們的貸方融資業務。這些貸款實際上是在 12 月底到期的。我們為他們做了一些計劃，並進行了更新，並選擇不再續約。因此，從業務線和客戶關係角度來看它是非策略性的，從存款角度來看它是非策略性的，從首要關係角度來看它是非策略性的。所以希望這能給你一些啟發，我們希望這能給我們更多的機會，透過非上市領域更具策略性的貸款成長來補充這個機會。

Okay. And then the last one was just appreciating that credit credit metrics were solid. Npas were basically flat at 14 bps or 13 bps. I did see that substandard loans increased about 20% quarter over quarter. And I was curious what happened what happened there and is there anything worth mentioning?

好的。最後一個就是欣賞信貸指標的穩健性。不良資產利率基本上持平於 14 個基點或 13 個基點。我確實看到次級貸款環比增加了約 20%。我很好奇那裡發生了什麼，有什麼值得一提的嗎？

Yes. Hey, Matt, good morning. So yes, the substandards did increase by that. It's actually really related to a single credit that migrated in the portfolio. And it's worth noting on that that we actually have 100% coverage of the loan amount and in cash from the borrower at the bank. And so it's a bit of a unique situation. And since the quarter, there's actually been some some positive developments on that credit as well. So we wouldn't be surprised to see that re upgrade during the quarter. So really not not anything that we're worried about.

是的。嘿，馬特，早安。是的，不合格品確實增加了。它實際上與投資組合中遷移的單一信貸有關。值得注意的是，我們實際上已經從借款人銀行獲得了 100％ 的貸款金額和現金保障。所以這是一個比較特殊的情況。自本季以來，信貸方面實際上也取得了一些積極進展。因此，如果本季看到再次升級，我們不會感到驚訝。所以其實這並不是我們擔心的事情。

Okay. Just curious what was the on the loan tied to in terms of commercial real estate consumer, there was something our commercial finance and equipment finance business.

好的。只是好奇，就商業房地產消費者而言，貸款與什麼有關，有我們的商業金融設備融資業務。

So again, it's a large large loan, large relationships, 60 million plus. I don't have the exact number and 100% backed by cash.

所以再說一次，這是一筆大額貸款，需要很大的關係，6000多萬。我沒有確切的數字，但有 100％ 現金支持。

Got. Okay. That's all I had. Thanks for taking my questions, sir.

得到。好的。這就是我所擁有的一切。謝謝您回答我的問題，先生。

Bill Dezellem, Tieton Capital Management.

Bill Dezellem，Tieton Capital Management 的負責人。

Thank you and nice quarter. So relative to your guidance about loan demand, given that that's a bit unusual for the industry right now, would you talk to us about what you've seen in terms of loan demand changes or trends over the last four months or so, please?

謝謝你，祝你過得愉快。因此，相對於您對貸款需求的指導，考慮到目前的行業情況有點不尋常，您能否向我們談談過去四個月左右您看到的貸款需求變化或趨勢？

Sure, Tom. Thanks for the question, Bill. So up to two major things to highlight that I haven't already covered up to on the call today. Firstly, is that our our lending teams have been sitting on their hands for the past 12 to 15 months, really. And I think that there's a lot of pent-up demand from existing customer relationships, even when not taking into account new opportunities. And that's amplified by there being now fewer competitors in many of our national corporate verticals, which I've sort of highlighted what the components of those are early on the call. So the combination of the pent-up demand plus fewer competition and our sort of focus on these national low credit risk verticals. It's a it's not a stretch for us and because we were targeted and reducing our nonstrategic assets. It's really just getting our portfolio back to where it was 12 months ago. So it's a it's not a it's not a stretch and it's all relative to the to our size and the business lines that that we're focused on.

當然，湯姆。謝謝你的提問，比爾。因此，有兩件重要的事情需要強調，我在今天的電話會議上還沒有談到。首先，我們的貸款團隊在過去的 12 到 15 個月裡一直無所事事。我認為，即使不考慮新的機會，現有的客戶關係中仍存在著大量被壓抑的需求。現在，我們許多國家企業垂直領域的競爭對手越來越少，這進一步加劇了這個問題，我在電話會議開始時已經強調了這些競爭對手的組成。因此，被壓抑的需求加上較少的競爭，以及我們對這些國家低信用風險垂直產業的關注。這對我們來說不是什麼難事，因為我們的目標是減少我們的非戰略資產。這實際上只是讓我們的投資組合恢復到 12 個月前的水平。所以這並不是誇大其詞，這一切都與我們的規模和我們關注的業務線有關。

Thank you, Sam. And then have you seen that loan demand change and get stronger over the last four months or basically the demand has been there. You just have your bankers have just been in a holding pattern?

謝謝你，山姆。那麼，您是否發現貸款需求在過去四個月中發生了變化並且變得更加強勁，或者基本上需求一直存在。您的銀行家只是處於等待狀態嗎？

Yes, over the last three to four months, it's really hasn't changed much. It's just been that our discipline has been on on on making sure we focused on on capital and having a very strong base to build off of. So I haven't seen a material change. And I think what's also important to note is we're not I'm CRE dependent like many of our peers, and I think that's really helping to benefit us in the sense that we have a broader and more C&I commercial oriented base that's helping to source this INPUT.

是的，在過去的三到四個月裡，它確實沒有太大的變化。我們的紀律一直是確保我們專注於資本，並擁有非常堅實的基礎。所以我沒有看到實質的改變。我認為同樣值得注意的是，我們並不像許多同行那樣依賴 CRE，我認為這確實有助於我們受益，因為我們擁有更廣泛、更以 C&I 商業為導向的基礎，這有助於獲得這種輸入。

That's very helpful. And I know we're running a little long here. But one final question. Long term, not in 2024 but beyond, how are you thinking about the loan to deposit ratio? We're what's the range that you find as a comfortable place to settle into short

這非常有幫助。我知道我們在這裡討論的時間有點長了。最後一個問題。長期來看，不是 2024 年，而是更久以後，您如何看待貸存比？我們是您找到的舒適居住地

So I think I talked about between sort of where we are at 80% plus or minus for a for this year, likely sort of staying in sort of the mid to high 70s. Longer term, we've been sitting on very prudent cash balances. And a part of that is by nature, the events of March of last year, longer term, where we used to be at 120% in 2018, mostly driven by some of our focus on in our mortgage warehouse business. Which we felt comfortable in sort of given the short duration and liquid nature of that portfolio and going to the higher end of the overall peer group, we feel probably more in the mid 80 range feels like a more medium term, but it's something we'll continue to communicate about in the coming years 12 to 24 months.

所以我想我談論的是今年我們的成長率在 80% 左右，很可能會保持在 75% 左右。從長遠來看，我們一直持有非常謹慎的現金餘額。其中一部分原因是自然的，例如去年 3 月發生的事件，從長遠來看，我們在 2018 年的比例曾達到 120%，這主要是由於我們對抵押倉庫業務的部分關注。考慮到該投資組合的短期和流動性，以及在整個同行群體中處於較高水平，我們對此感到放心，我們認為 80 中間範圍可能更接近於中期，但我們會在未來 12 到 24 個月內繼續就此進行溝通。

Great. Thank you. And thank you again for the questions and congratulations on the solid solid results.

偉大的。謝謝。再次感謝大家的提問，並恭喜我們取得的堅實成績。

Thanks, Bill. Appreciate it.

謝謝，比爾。非常感謝。

There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Sam Sidhu, I turn the call back over to you for some final closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。薩姆·西杜先生，我現在把電話轉回給您，請您做最後的總結發言。

Thanks so much, everyone. We really appreciate your continued interest in and support of Customers Bank. We look forward to speaking with you next quarter. Thanks so much and have a great day and a great weekend.

非常感謝大家。我們非常感謝您對客戶銀行的持續關注與支持。我們期待下個季度與您交談。非常感謝，祝您有個愉快的一天和週末。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。