East West Bancorp Inc (EWBC) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the East West Bancorp First Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 East West Bancorp 2022 年第一季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Julianna Balicka, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係總監 Julianna Balicka。請繼續。

Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining us to review the financial results of East West Bancorp for the first quarter of 2022. With me on this conference call today are Dominic Ng, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Irene Oh, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，莎拉。早上好，感謝大家與我們一起回顧華美銀行 2022 年第一季度的財務業績。今天與我一起參加電話會議的有我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Dominic Ng；以及我們的首席財務官 Irene Oh。

We would like to caution you that during the course of the call, management may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding events or future financial performance of the company within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may differ materially from the actual results due to a number of risks and uncertainties.

我們想提醒您，在電話會議期間，管理層可能會根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款對公司的事件或未來財務業績做出預測或其他前瞻性陳述由於許多風險和不確定性，這些前瞻性陳述可能與實際結果存在重大差異。

For a more detailed description of risk factors that could affect the company's operating results, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. In addition, some of the numbers referenced on this call pertain to adjusted numbers. Please refer to the bank's regulatory filings, including our Form 8-K filed today for the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures. During the course of this call, we will be referencing a slide deck that is available as part of the webcast and on the Investor Relations site. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded and will also be available in replay format on our Investor Relations website.

有關可能影響公司經營業績的風險因素的更詳細描述，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括我們截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日的年度 10-K 表格年度報告。此外，一些本次電話會議中引用的號碼中有 一部分屬於調整後的號碼。請參閱該銀行的監管文件，包括我們今天提交的 8-K 表格，用於 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的調節。在本次電話會議期間，我們將參考作為網絡廣播和投資者關係網站的一部分提供的幻燈片。謹此提醒，今天的電話會議正在錄音，並將在我們的投資者關係網站上以重播格式提供。

I will now turn the call over to Dominic.

我現在將把電話轉給多米尼克。

Thank you, Julianna. Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining us for our earnings call. I will begin the review of our financial results with Slide 3 of our presentation. This morning, we reported net income of $238 million and earnings per share of $1.66 for the first quarter of 2022, both up by 37% annualized from the fourth quarter of 2021.

謝謝你，朱莉安娜。早上好，謝謝大家參加我們的財報電話會議。我將從演示文稿的幻燈片 3 開始回顧我們的財務業績。今天上午，我們公佈了 2022 年第一季度淨利潤 2.38 億美元，每股收益 1.66 美元，較 2021 年第四季度年化增長 37%。

The first quarter results were an excellent start to the year. Highlights include record loans and deposits and acceleration of both loan and revenue growth and expanding net interest income and positive operating leverage. All of these factors drove pretax pre-provision income growth of 28% linked quarter annualized and pretax provision profitability of 2.1% in the first quarter. We returned 1.6% on average assets, 16.5% on average equity and 18% on average tangible equity for the quarter.

第一季度的業績為今年開了個好頭。亮點包括創紀錄的貸款和存款、貸款和收入增長加速、淨利息收入擴大和積極的經營槓桿。所有這些因素推動第一季度稅前撥備前收入環比年化增長 28%，稅前撥備盈利能力增長 2.1%。本季度我們的平均資產回報率為 1.6%，平均股本回報率為 16.5%，平均有形股本回報率為 18%。

All of our profitability ratios expanded.

我們所有的盈利率都擴大了。

Our high returns reflect our strong financial performance and the strength of East West business model. Our loan portfolio is well diversified between the major loan categories of commercial real estate and residential mortgage. Our deposit base spans consumer, small business, and corporate commercial accounts.

我們的高回報反映了我們強勁的財務業績和東西方商業模式的優勢。我們的貸款組合在商業房地產和住宅抵押貸款等主要貸款類別之間實現了多元化。我們的存款基礎涵蓋消費者、小型企業和企業商業賬戶。

Looking forward, with robust pipelines, strong asset quality and a balance sheet that is well positioned for a rising interest rate environment -- we are confident in our ability to execute and deliver strong growth and earnings for the rest of the year.

展望未來，憑藉強勁的管道、強勁的資產質量以及能夠適應利率上升環境的資產負債表，我們對今年剩餘時間執行和實現強勁增長和盈利的能力充滿信心。

Slide 4 presents a summary of our balance sheet. As of March 31, 2022, total loans reached a record high of $43.5 billion, an increase of 17% annualized from December 31, 2021. Now excluding Paycheck Protection Program loans, total loans of $43.2 billion grew by $2 billion or 20% annualized.

幻燈片 4 展示了我們的資產負債表摘要。截至 2022 年 3 月 31 日，貸款總額達到 435 億美元的歷史新高，較 2021 年 12 月 31 日年化增長 17%。現在不包括薪資保護計劃貸款，432 億美元的貸款總額增長了 20 億美元，年化增長 20%。

Accordingly, based on our current pipeline and year-to-date results, we are updating our loan growth outlook for the full year to a range of 13% to 15%, up from 12% previously. All our major loan portfolios grew this quarter with the strongest growth from commercial loans, excluding PPP, followed by commercial real estate.

因此，根據我們目前的渠道和年初至今的業績，我們將全年貸款增長前景從之前的 12% 上調至 13% 至 15%。本季度我們所有主要貸款組合均出現增長，其中商業貸款（不包括 PPP）增長最為強勁，其次是商業房地產。

Total deposits reached a record high of $54.9 billion as of March 31, 2022, up by $1.6 billion or 12% annualized from December 31, 2021. Deposit growth this quarter was primarily driven by noninterest-bearing demand deposits which grew to a record $24.9 billion and made up 45% of total deposits as of March 31, 2022, up from 43% from December 31.

截至 2022 年 3 月 31 日，存款總額達到創紀錄的 549 億美元，較 2021 年 12 月 31 日增加 16 億美元，年化增長率為 12%。本季度存款增長主要由無息活期存款推動，無息活期存款增至創紀錄的 249 億美元截至 2022 年 3 月 31 日，佔存款總額的 45%，高於 12 月 31 日的 43%。

Turning to Slide 5. Quarter-over-quarter. Our book value per share declined by 2.5%, largely due to a negative change in the accumulated other comprehensive income. This change reflected the impact of rising interest rates on investment securities valuations and such fluctuations do not have an impact on our earnings or our regulatory capital ratios. In the exhibit on this slide, you can see our strong capital ratios. As of March 31, 2022, we had a common equity Tier 1 ratio of 12.6%, a total capital ratio of 13.9% and a tangible common equity ratio of 8.5%, which provides us with meaningful capacity for future growth. East West Board of Directors has declared second quarter 2022 dividends for the company's common stock.

轉向幻燈片 5。季度環比。我們的每股賬面價值下降了2.5%，主要是由於累計其他綜合收益的負變化。這一變化反映了利率上升對投資證券估值的影響，這種波動不會對我們的盈利或監管資本比率產生影響。在這張幻燈片的展示中，您可以看到我們強大的資本比率。截至2022年3月31日，我們的普通股一級資本比率為12.6%，總資本比率為13.9%，有形普通股比率為8.5%，這為我們的未來增長提供了有意義的能力。 East West 董事會已宣布派發公司普通股 2022 年第二季度股息。

The quarterly common stock dividend of $0.40 is payable on May 16, 2022 to stockholders of record on May 2, 2022. Moving on to a discussion of our loan portfolio, beginning with Slide 6. C&I loans outstanding, excluding PPP, were a record $14.5 billion as of March 31, 2022, an increase of 27% annualized from December 31, 2021.

0.40 美元的季度普通股股息將於 2022 年 5 月 16 日支付給 2022 年 5 月 2 日記錄在案的股東。繼續討論我們的貸款組合，從幻燈片 6 開始。未償還的工商業貸款（不包括 PPP）達到創紀錄的 14.5 美元截至2022年3月31日，資產規模達10億美元，較2021年12月31日年化增長27%。

Total C&I commitments were $20.7 billion as of March 31, sequentially up by 19% annualized. Our C&I loan utilization rate increased to 70% as of March 31, up from 69% Ass of December 31. This is a first quarter-over-quarter increase in our utilization rate since the first quarter of 2020 when the pandemic began.

截至 3 月 31 日，C&I 承諾總額為 207 億美元，年化環比增長 19%。截至 3 月 31 日，我們的工商業貸款利用率從 12 月 31 日的 69% 增至 70%。這是自 2020 年第一季度疫情爆發以來，我們的利用率首次出現環比增長。

Overall, first quarter C&I growth was well diversified across our lending teams, geographies and specialized verticals. All of our C&I industry segments grew in the first quarter, except the oil and gas. Going into the second quarter, we expect loan growth to be equally well diversified. Slide 7 and 8 show the details of our commercial real estate portfolio, which is well diversified by geography and property type and consists of low loan-to-value loans. Total commercial real estate loans were $17 billion as of March 31, 2022, up by 20% annualized from December 31.

總體而言，第一季度 C&I 增長在我們的貸款團隊、地域和專業垂直領域實現了多元化。除石油和天然氣外，我們所有的工商業行業在第一季度都實現了增長。進入第二季度，我們預計貸款增長將同樣多元化。幻燈片 7 和 8 顯示了我們的商業房地產投資組合的詳細信息，該投資組合在地理位置和房地產類型方面非常多樣化，並且由低貸款價值比貸款組成。截至 2022 年 3 月 31 日，商業房地產貸款總額為 170 億美元，較 12 月 31 日年化增長 20%。

Growth was broad-based and all of our commercial real estate segments by geography and by property type, grew in the first quarter. We saw strongest net growth in industrial, commercial real estate and multifamily loans. In Slide 9, we provide details regarding our residential mortgage portfolio, which consists of single-family mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Residential mortgage loans were $11.6 billion as of March 31, 2022, growing by 11% annualized from December 31.

增長基礎廣泛，按地理位置和房地產類型劃分的所有商業房地產細分市場在第一季度均實現增長。我們看到工業、商業房地產和多戶住宅貸款的淨增長最為強勁。在幻燈片 9 中，我們提供了有關住宅抵押貸款組合的詳細信息，其中包括單戶抵押貸款和房屋淨值信貸額度。截至 2022 年 3 月 31 日，住宅抵押貸款為 116 億美元，自 12 月 31 日起年化增長 11%。

During the first quarter, we originated $1.1 billion of residential mortgage loans. This origination volume is up 9% quarter-over-quarter and unchanged year-over-year. I will now turn the call over to Irene for a more detailed discussion of our asset quality and income statement. Irene?

第一季度，我們發放了 11 億美元的住宅抵押貸款。這一發源量環比增長 9%，同比保持不變。我現在將把電話轉給艾琳，以便更詳細地討論我們的資產質量和損益表。艾琳？

Thank you, Dominic. I'll start with our asset quality metrics on Slide 10. I'm pleased to report that asset quality of the loan portfolio continued to be strong during first quarter. The total criticized loan ratio decreased by 8 basis points sequentially to 1.92% of loans held for investment. Criticized loans of $833 million were essentially unchanged from December 31. Quarter-over-quarter, nonperforming assets decreased by 9%, down to $94 million. The nonperforming asset ratio improved by 2 basis points, down to 15 basis points of total assets as of March 31.

謝謝你，多米尼克。我將從幻燈片 10 上的資產質量指標開始。我很高興地報告，第一季度貸款組合的資產質量繼續保持強勁。不良貸款總額佔投資性貸款的比例比上一季度下降8個基點至1.92%。不良貸款為 8.33 億美元，與 12 月 31 日相比基本沒有變化。不良資產環比下降 9%，降至 9,400 萬美元。截至3月31日，不良資產率改善2個基點，降至總資產的15個基點。

On Slide 11, we present the components of our allowance for loan losses. Our allowance totaled $546 million as of March 31 or 1.26% of loans, excluding PPP compared with $542 million or 1.32% as of December 31. The quarter-over-quarter increase in the allowance reflects loan growth, whereas the decrease in the coverage ratio reflects an improving forecast and improving asset quality. Quarter-over-quarter, net charge-offs declined and were $8 million, down from $10 million in the fourth quarter. The first quarter net charge-off ratio was 8 basis points of average loans annualized, an improvement from 10 basis points annualized for the fourth quarter. During the first quarter, we recorded a provision for credit losses of $8 million compared to a reversal of $10 million for the fourth quarter and no provision in the prior year quarter.

在幻燈片 11 中，我們介紹了貸款損失準備金的組成部分。截至 3 月 31 日，我們的準備金總額為 5.46 億美元，佔貸款的 1.26%（不包括 PPP），而截至 12 月 31 日，我們的準備金總額為 5.42 億美元，佔貸款的 1.32%。準備金的環比增長反映了貸款的增長，而覆蓋率的下降反映了預測的改善和資產質量的改善。與上一季度相比，淨沖銷額下降至 800 萬美元，低於第四季度的 1000 萬美元。第一季度淨沖銷率為年化平均貸款的 8 個基點，較第四季度年化 10 個基點有所改善。第一季度，我們計提了 800 萬美元的信貸損失撥備，而第四季度則撥備了 1000 萬美元，並且去年同期沒有撥備。

And now moving on to a discussion of our income statement on Slide 12. This slide summarizes the key line items of the income statement, which I'll discuss in more detail on the following slides. In noninterest income, as part of the interest rate contracts and other derivatives line item, our mark-to-market adjustment which were a positive $7.6 million in the first quarter compared with $300,000 in the fourth quarter of 2021. These primarily relate to favorable changes in the credit valuation adjustment for CVA.

現在繼續討論幻燈片 12 上的損益表。這張幻燈片總結了損益表的關鍵項目，我將在接下來的幻燈片中更詳細地討論這些項目。在非利息收入方面，作為利率合約和其他衍生品行項目的一部分，我們的按市價調整在第一季度為正 760 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為 30 萬美元。這些主要與有利的變化有關CVA 的信用估值調整。

On this slide, this [BCVA] marks are included in the other line items of noninterest income. Amortization of tax credit and other investments in the first quarter was $14 million compared with $32 million in the fourth quarter. Quarter-over-quarter variability in the amortization of tax credits partially reflects the impact of investments that closed in a given period. The effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2022 was 20% compared to 21% for the fourth quarter.

在此幻燈片上，此 [BCVA] 標記包含在非利息收入的其他行項目中。第一季度稅收抵免和其他投資的攤銷為 1,400 萬美元，而第四季度為 3,200 萬美元。稅收抵免攤銷的季度環比變化部分反映了特定時期內完成的投資的影響。 2022 年第一季度的有效稅率為 20%，而第四季度為 21%。

We currently expect that the 2022 full year effective tax rate will be in the range of 18% to 19%. The quarterly effective tax rates on a go-forth basis will decline as more tax credit investments close and projects go into service. Correspondingly, the tax credit amortization expense will increase over the course of the year. For the second quarter of 2022, we currently expect to book a tax credit amortization expense of approximately $37 million. I'll now review the key drivers of our net interest income and net interest margin, starting on Slide 13 through 16, and we'll start with the average balance sheet.

我們目前預計2022年全年有效稅率將在18%至19%範圍內。隨著更多稅收抵免投資的結束和項目的投入使用，季度有效稅率將會下降。相應地，稅收抵免攤銷費用將在年內增加。對於 2022 年第二季度，我們目前預計將計入約 3700 萬美元的稅收抵免攤銷費用。我現在將從幻燈片 13 到 16 開始回顧我們的淨利息收入和淨息差的主要驅動因素，我們將從平均資產負債表開始。

First quarter average loans of $42.1 billion, excluding PPP, grew by $1.8 billion or 19% annualized. The strong loan growth across all asset categories drove a favorable mix shift in average earning assets quarter-over-quarter. In the first quarter, average loans made up 72% of average earning assets compared with 69% in the prior quarter.

第一季度平均貸款為 421 億美元（不包括 PPP），增長了 18 億美元，年化增長率為 19%。所有資產類別的強勁貸款增長推動平均收益資產逐季出現有利的組合變化。第一季度，平均貸款占平均盈利資產的72%，而上一季度為69%。

First quarter average growth -- deposit growth of -- first quarter average deposits of $54 billion declined by $291 million or 2% linked quarter annualized, primarily due to a decrease in noninterest-bearing demand deposits partially offset by increases in average interest-bearing checking and savings deposits. Demand deposits made up 43% of our average deposits in the first quarter compared with 44% in the fourth quarter and 38% in the year ago quarter.

第一季度平均增長——存款增長——第一季度平均存款為 540 億美元，同比下降 2.91 億美元，即環比下降 2%，主要是由於無息活期存款的減少被平均計息支票的增加部分抵消和儲蓄存款。第一季度活期存款占我們平均存款的 43%，而第四季度為 44%，去年同期為 38%。

Turning to Slide 14. First quarter 2022 net interest income of $416 million was the highest quarterly net interest income in the history of East West growing by 10% linked quarter annualized. Excluding PPP, Net interest income grew by 15% annualized in the first quarter. Income related to PPP loans was $5 million in the quarter. The GAAP net interest margin of 2.87% expanded by 14 basis points quarter-over-quarter. As you can see from the waterfall chart on the slide, the net interest margin expansion in the first quarter was driven by strong loan [loss] which resulted in the favorable earning asset mix shift as well as higher yields on loans and other earning assets.

轉向幻燈片 14。2022 年第一季度淨利息收入為 4.16 億美元，是 East West 歷史上最高的季度淨利息收入，年化增長率為 10%。不計PPP，第一季度淨利息收入年化增長15%。該季度與 PPP 貸款相關的收入為 500 萬美元。 GAAP 淨息差為 2.87%，環比擴大 14 個基點。從幻燈片上的瀑布圖可以看出，第一季度的淨息差擴張是由強勁的貸款[損失]推動的，這導致了有利的盈利資產組合的轉變以及貸款和其他盈利資產的更高收益率。

Turning to Slide 15. The first quarter average loan yield was 3.63%, an increase of 4 basis points quarter-over-quarter. The average loan yield comprised an average coupon yield of 3.48%, plus yield adjustments, which contributed 15 basis points to the overall loan yield in the first quarter. As of March 31, the spot coupon rate on our total loans was 3.55%. The positive impact of rising interest rates on our portfolio will be more evident in the second quarter average loan yields as 33% of our loans are linked to the prime rate, which did not increase until mid-March.

轉向幻燈片 15。第一季度平均貸款收益率為 3.63%，環比上升 4 個基點。平均貸款收益率包括平均票面收益率3.48%，加上收益率調整，為一季度整體貸款收益率貢獻15個基點。截至3月31日，我們貸款總額的即期票面利率為3.55%。利率上升對我們投資組合的積極影響將在第二季度平均貸款收益率中更加明顯，因為我們的貸款中有 33% 與優惠利率掛鉤，而優惠利率直到 3 月中旬才增加。

In this slide, we also present the coupon spot rates for each major loan portfolio for the last 3 quarter end periods. 65% or $28 billion of our loan portfolio is variable rate, and most of these loans will be repricing on a monthly basis.

在這張幻燈片中，我們還展示了過去三個季度末每個主要貸款組合的息票即期利率。我們的貸款組合中有 65%（即 280 億美元）是浮動利率，其中大部分貸款將每月重新定價。

I'll also note that of our $28 billion in variable rate loans, $3.1 billion had fully indexed rates below floors as of March 31, of which $1.7 billion were 50 basis points or less from their floors and another $700 million -- billion -- $700 million, excuse me, were 50 to a 100 basis points from their floor rate.

我還要指出的是，截至 3 月 31 日，在我們 280 億美元的可變利率貸款中，有 31 億美元的完全指數利率低於下限，其中 17 億美元的利率與下限相差 50 個基點或更少，另外 7 億美元的利率低於下限。對不起，7 億美元比他們的底價低了 50 到 100 個基點。

Turning to Slide 16. Our average cost of deposits for the first quarter was 10 basis points, unchanged from the fourth quarter. The spot rate on total deposits was 11 basis points as of March 31, up by 2 basis points from December 31. We are starting a rising interest rate cycle from a position of strength with record level of demand deposits for East West Bank, strong liquidity, loan to deposit ratio of under 80%.

轉向幻燈片 16。第一季度我們的平均存款成本為 10 個基點，與第四季度持平。截至3月31日，存款總額即期利率為11個基點，較12月31日上升2個基點。華美銀行活期存款創歷史新高，流動性強勁，我們正處於強勢地位，開啟加息週期。 ，貸存比低於80%。

Turning to Slide 17. Total noninterest income in the first quarter was $80 million, up from $71.5 million in the fourth quarter. Customer-driven fee income and net gains on sales of loans were $65 million, an increase of 3% linked quarter or 11% annualized. Quarter-over-quarter, customer-driven interest rate contract revenue increased reflecting improved customer demand as interest rates rise, wealth management fees, net gains on sales of SBA loans and deposit account fees also increased quarter-over-quarter.

轉向幻燈片 17。第一季度的非利息總收入為 8,000 萬美元，高於第四季度的 7,150 萬美元。客戶驅動的費用收入和貸款銷售淨收益為 6500 萬美元，環比增長 3%，年化增長 11%。與上一季度相比，客戶驅動的利率合約收入有所增長，反映出隨著利率上升，客戶需求有所改善，財富管理費、SBA 貸款銷售淨收益和存款賬戶費用也環比增長。

Moving on to Slide 18. First quarter noninterest expense was $189 million, excluding amortization of tax credits, and core deposit intangible amortization, adjusted noninterest expense was $175 million in the first quarter, down $3 million or 1.5% sequentially.

繼續看幻燈片 18。第一季度非利息支出為 1.89 億美元，不包括稅收抵免攤銷和核心存款無形攤銷，第一季度調整後非利息支出為 1.75 億美元，環比下降 300 萬美元，即 1.5%。

During this quarter, decreases in legal expense and overall operating expenses more than offset increased competition, compensation and employee benefits, which is typically seasonally higher in the first quarter due to higher payroll taxes and related expenses. The first quarter adjusted efficiency ratio was 35% compared with 37% in the fourth quarter and 39% in the year ago quarter.

本季度，法律費用和總體運營費用的下降遠遠抵消了競爭、薪酬和員工福利的增加，由於工資稅和相關費用較高，第一季度的薪酬和員工福利通常會季節性較高。第一季度調整後效率為35%，而第四季度為37%，去年同期為39%。

And with that, I'll now review our updated outlook for the full year of 2022 on Slide 19. For the full year of 2022 compared to our full year 2021 actual results, we currently expect year-over-year loan growth, excluding PPP, of approximately 13% to 15%, reflecting year-to-date performance, current loan pipelines, which are very robust. Our updated outlook is an increase from our previous outlook of 12% loan growth. year-over-year net interest income growth, excluding PPP, in the range of 22% to 24%.

接下來，我將在幻燈片 19 上回顧我們對 2022 年全年的最新展望。與 2021 年全年實際結果相比，我們目前預計 2022 年全年貸款將同比增長，不包括 PPP約 13% 至 15%，反映了今年迄今的表現以及當前的貸款渠道，非常強勁。我們更新後的預期高於之前 12% 的貸款增長預期。淨利息收入同比增長（不包括購買力平價）在 22% 至 24% 之間。

This is an increase from our previous outlook of net interest income growth of 17% to 19%. Our updated outlook reflects loan growth as well as the impact of anticipated Fed funds rate increases on our asset-sensitive balance sheet. Underpinning our interest income assumptions is a forward interest rate curve as of March 31, 2022, with Fed funds expected to reach 2.50% by year-end. Adjusted noninterest expense growth, excluding tax credit amortization of 8% year-over-year, which narrows our previous outlook of expense growth in the range of 7% to 8%.

這高於我們之前對淨利息收入增長 17% 至 19% 的預期。我們更新的前景反映了貸款增長以及預期聯邦基金利率上升對我們資產敏感的資產負債表的影響。我們的利息收入假設的基礎是截至 2022 年 3 月 31 日的遠期利率曲線，預計聯邦基金利率到年底將達到 2.50%。調整後的非利息支出增長（不包括稅收抵免攤銷）同比增長 8%，這將我們之前的支出增長預期縮小在 7% 至 8% 的範圍內。

As our revenue grows from rising interest rates, we expect to reinvest a portion back into our business, investing in people and technology to support our strategic initiatives. We expect our revenue and expense outlook to result in positive operating leverage year-over-year. In terms of credit items, for 2022, we currently expect that the provision for credit losses will be in the range of $50 million to $60 million. This is higher compared with our previous outlook, which was for a provision for credit losses under $50 million.

隨著我們的收入因利率上升而增長，我們預計將一部分重新投資回我們的業務，投資於人員和技術以支持我們的戰略舉措。我們預計我們的收入和支出前景將帶來同比積極的運營槓桿。信貸項目方面，2022年，我們目前預計信貸損失撥備將在5000萬至6000萬美元範圍內。這比我們之前的預期要高，我們之前的預期是信貸損失準備金低於 5000 萬美元。

We continue to anticipate a modest year-over-year improvement in the full year net charge-off ratio which was 13 basis points of average loans into 2021. We now expect that the full year 2022 effective tax rate will be approximately 18% to 19%. This is higher compared with our previous outlook, which was for an effective tax rate of 17% to 18%. Our outlook includes the impact of tax credit investments and also factors in the increased income we now expect. There will be quarterly variability in the tax rate due to timing of tax credit investments placed into service.

我們繼續預計 2021 年全年淨沖銷率將同比小幅改善，即平均貸款的 13 個基點。我們現在預計 2022 年全年有效稅率將約為 18% 至 19% %。這高於我們之前的預期，即有效稅率為 17% 至 18%。我們的展望包括稅收抵免投資的影響以及我們現在預期的收入增加的因素。由於稅收抵免投資投入使用的時間安排，稅率將出現季度變化。

With that, I will now turn the call back to Dominic for closing remarks.

現在，我將把電話轉回給多米尼克，讓他發表結束語。

Thank you, Irene. When closing, we are off to an excellent start for the year and look forward to delivering strong financial results for our shareholders in 2022. Global volatility notwithstanding we are well positioned to navigate the current environment. Our credit quality is strong. Our balance sheet is asset sensitive. We have strong capital and ample liquidity to support growth, but most importantly, our associates are focused on providing superior banking service to our customers. I wish to thank them for their efforts and excellent results.

謝謝你，艾琳。交易完成後，我們將迎來今年的良好開端，並期待在 2022 年為股東帶來強勁的財務業績。儘管全球波動較大，但我們已做好應對當前環境的準備。我們的信用質量很強。我們的資產負債表對資產敏感。我們擁有雄厚的資本和充足的流動性來支持增長，但最重要的是，我們的員工致力於為客戶提供優質的銀行服務。我要感謝他們的努力和優異的成績。

I will now open the call to questions. Operator?

我現在開始提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Ebrahim Poonawala with Bank of America.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Ebrahim Poonawala。

Just first, I mean it sounds like you're entirely optimistic on the loan growth outlook. Would love to hear a little more detail around just how borrower demand played out during the course of the quarter? And have you seen incremental supply chain snags impact from customer sentiments since the war began at the end of Feb? And just in terms of when you think about loan growth from here, if you could give us a sense of CRE versus C&I versus residential, how you think that mix playing out?

首先，我的意思是，聽起來您對貸款增長前景完全樂觀。想了解有關本季度借款人需求如何發揮的更多細節嗎？自二月底戰爭爆發以來，您是否看到了客戶情緒對供應鏈的增量影響？當你考慮貸款增長時，如果你能讓我們了解商業地產、商業和工業與住宅的對比，你認為這種混合效果如何？

In terms of the loan growth, we are looking at our pipelines. A lot of -- if I look at the current pipelines, a lot of the C&I loans that we are working on, whether it's from the private equity or entertainment, technology and health care and other general manufacturing and consumer goods and so forth, all of these businesses that we've been working on with the clients. So it's all in the process of trying to make it happen in the second quarter. So we feel pretty good about what's coming and then how -- to what extent that business will or will not be affected by the external environment. We feel pretty good about a lot of the deals in the pipeline, really would not be having much impact. But for example, this Russia, Ukraine war, it's tragic from a humanitarian perspective, but there's really hardly any bearing to our customers' business that we are dealing with, and that's one for the C&I.

就貸款增長而言，我們正在關注我們的渠道。如果我看看目前的渠道，我們正在處理的很多工商業貸款，無論是來自私募股權還是娛樂、技術和醫療保健以及其他一般製造業和消費品等等，都我們一直在與客戶合作的這些業務。因此，一切都在努力使其在第二季度實現。因此，我們對即將發生的事情以及業務將或不會受到外部環境影響的程度感到非常滿意。我們對許多正在進行中的交易感覺很好，實際上不會產生太大影響。但例如，這場俄羅斯、烏克蘭戰爭，從人道主義角度來看是一場悲劇，但實際上對我們正在處理的客戶業務幾乎沒有任何影響，這對 C&I 來說是一個問題。

For the commercial real estate, again, we have clients that are in the midst of maybe closing deals that we are working with. And so those are the deals that we feel pretty certain again in the second quarter will be closing. Same thing for the single family mortgages. What's in our pipeline is something that we expected to be funded? It takes a certain period of time to get loans funded. So we feel pretty good about what we expect to be coming out in the second quarter.

對於商業房地產，我們的客戶可能正在與我們合作完成交易。因此，我們確信這些交易將在第二季度再次完成。單戶抵押貸款也是如此。我們正在醞釀的項目是我們期望獲得資助的項目嗎？獲得貸款需要一定的時間。因此，我們對第二季度的預期結果感到非常滿意。

Obviously, the longer the horizon, the harder for us to predict, you asked us about what would your fourth quarter loan growth would be like. Why, at this point, we don't have as much visibility as we have for the second quarter. Because second quarter, we see the numbers that we're working on, it looks very healthy. But how the, let's say, the third and fourth quarter will develop. I think that external environment will have a lot to do with it, and we'll see how it goes.

顯然，期限越長，我們就越難預測，您問我們第四季度的貸款增長會是什麼樣子。為什麼，在這一點上，我們的可見度不如第二季度。因為第二季度，我們看到了我們正在研究的數字，看起來非常健康。但是，比如說，第三季度和第四季度將如何發展。我認為外部環境有很大關係，我們會看看情況如何。

And just one bigger picture question, Dominic, if I may. There's a lot of chatter for a bank that has cross-border presence in China. There's been a fair amount of discussion on deglobalization, the potential for further deterioration in U.S.-China relationship. How do you handicap and protect the bank from a risk standpoint? Is the fact that that's created sentiment around the stock? So would love to hear how you think about managing risk if U.S. China relationships were to deteriorate further?

如果可以的話，多米尼克，我只想問一個更大的問題。對於一家在中國擁有跨境業務的銀行，人們議論紛紛。關於去全球化以及中美關係進一步惡化的可能性已有相當多的討論。從風險的角度來看，您如何限制和保護銀行？事實上，這是否引發了該股的情緒？那麼很想听聽您如何看待如果中美關係進一步惡化的話如何管理風險？

Well, we don't necessarily protect the bank from these challenges. We actually excel in these challenges. East West has always done extraordinary well whenever there is something that from a perception standpoint, looks bad. And in reality, we actually come out, way ahead of all our peer banks. But let me just address your concern maybe one by one. First and foremost, I've said it before, our Greater China, including China and Hong Kong, loan portfolio is only 5% of our total loans, and 95% of our loans are domestic in the U.S.

嗯，我們不一定能保護銀行免受這些挑戰。事實上，我們在應對這些挑戰方面表現出色。每當有一些從感知的角度來看看起來很糟糕的事情時，East West 總是做得非常出色。事實上，我們實際上遠遠領先於所有同行銀行。但讓我一一解決您的擔憂。首先，我之前說過，我們大中華區，包括中國大陸和香港，貸款組合只占我們總貸款的5%，而我們95%的貸款是在美國國內。

And that includes like commercial real estate, that's as local as you can get because this is real estate, you cannot move it, which is 39% of total loans and residential mortgage is 27% of our total loans. So our loan portfolio in China and Hong Kong also is very well diversified by industry, ranging from general manufacturing, consumer goods, technology, entertainment to digital media, et cetera.

這包括商業房地產，這是你能買到的盡可能本地的，因為這是房地產，你不能移動它，佔貸款總額的 39%，住宅抵押貸款占我們貸款總額的 27%。因此，我們在中國大陸和香港的貸款組合按行業也非常多元化，從一般製造業、消費品、技術、娛樂到數字媒體等。

And our credit profile of these customers also is excellent with strong balance sheet and high level of liquidity across all of our portfolio -- loan portfolio. So I would say that in both China and U.S., it all comes down diversification and granularity are the most important factor for us to manage risk. So I feel pretty good about you look at so much of our 95% of our total loan portfolio out of that are based in the U.S. and a majority of them are either residential or commercial real estate and then many of the domestic C&I loans, from entertainment, private equity, health care and digital media are all domestic in nature. So the exposure from China is very minimal as to begin with. And even within China, that 5%, a very, very strong credit quality business, and is also well diversified.

我們這些客戶的信用狀況也非常好，資產負債表強勁，我們所有的投資組合（貸款組合）都具有高流動性。所以我想說，無論是在中國還是美國，多元化和精細化是我們管理風險最重要的因素。所以我感覺很好，你看看我們總貸款組合中的 95% 都位於美國，其中大部分是住宅或商業房地產，然後是許多國內 C&I 貸款，來自娛樂、私募股權、醫療保健和數字媒體本質上都是國內的。因此，來自中國的風險一開始就非常小。即使在中國境內，這 5% 也是信用質量非常非常高的業務，而且也很多元化。

So from that perspective, we feel very, very comfortable where we are today. Now -- but going back to what I talked about, we don't necessarily looked at, we need to protect from the U.S.-China dynamic we actually sell is that when we looked at U.S.-China scenario, we actually always find opportunities when people shy away from it. And the fact that you have seen what we have done in the last 4 years, in fact, or I would say, 5.5 years. Now ever since the beginning of the Trump administration that U.S. declared trade war against China. And yes, there is clearly disruption to the international trade per se, but East West were able to find our niches and we continue to have pristine asset quality, that we didn't take any losses due to this sort of trade tariff that went on for a few years, and we continue to find a way to grow the business.

所以從這個角度來看，我們對今天的處境感到非常非常舒服。現在，但回到我所說的，我們不一定要考慮，我們需要保護自己免受中美動態的影響，我們實際上出售的是，當我們考慮中美關係時，我們實際上總是會在以下情況下找到機會：人們迴避它。事實上，你已經看到了我們在過去 4 年（事實上，或者我想說，5.5 年）所做的事情。自特朗普政府上台以來，美國就對中國發動了貿易戰。是的，國際貿易本身顯然受到了乾擾，但東西方能夠找到我們的利基市場，我們繼續擁有原始的資產質量，我們沒有因為這種貿易關稅而遭受任何損失幾年來，我們不斷尋找發展業務的方法。

So I looked at it is that when you look at where we are today, and then we can reflect back on maybe for the last 30 years, I've been involved with East West Bank. And in 1991, so we doubled our size during the savings and loan financial crisis. In 2009, we double our size during the global financial crisis. While today, we weren't able to just double our size in 1 year but since the Trump administration started taking on the rein in U.S. in 2017 to today, we doubled our size also. But we doubled we took a little bit longer, but we doubled our size organically. So all I'm trying to get at is that East West Bank always will find a way to grow our business. And we have history to demonstrate that in 30 years. And that's facts.

所以我認為，當你看看我們今天的處境時，我們可以回顧過去 30 年，我一直參與華美銀行。 1991 年，我們在儲蓄和貸款金融危機期間將規模擴大了一倍。 2009 年，我們在全球金融危機期間將規模擴大了一倍。雖然今天我們無法在一年內將我們的規模擴大一倍，但自從特朗普政府從 2017 年開始控制美國到今天，我們的規模也擴大了一倍。但是我們擴大了一倍，我們花了更長的時間，但我們有機地將規模擴大了一倍。所以我想說的是，華美銀行總能找到一種方法來發展我們的業務。 30 年來我們的歷史已經證明了這一點。這就是事實。

That's not rhetoric. And the other thing I wanted to point out is that going back to your concern about deglobalization or maybe decoupling between U.S. and China. If you talk to the expert in the business. From a -- by the way, I'm talking about even political expert. The U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai, Janet Yellen, who's Secretary of Treasury, Raimondo who is the Secretary of Commerce and each and every one of them have never once declared that U.S. wanted to decouple. In fact, they all continuously highlight that engagement.

這不是修辭。我想指出的另一件事是，回到你對去全球化或中美脫鉤的擔憂。如果您與該行業的專家交談。順便說一句，我指的是政治專家。美國貿易代表戴凱瑟琳、財政部長耶倫、商務部長雷蒙多他們都沒有說過美國要脫鉤。事實上，他們都不斷強調這種參與。

But we do need to find a way to more effectively engage with China. Those are the kind of words coming out from these sort of experts in the area. There are other experts, obviously, that you will see it from the media they talk about, yes, U.S. China, we need to decouple and so forth and deglobalization, but those are the folks that are selling books and selling military weapons. So really are not the same like the one who actually need to run the business.

但我們確實需要找到一種更有效地與中國接觸的方法。這些話出自該領域的專家之口。顯然，還有其他專家，你會從他們談論的媒體中看到，是的，美國中國，我們需要脫鉤等等以及去全球化，但那些人是在賣書和銷售軍事武器。因此，他們與實際需要經營業務的人確實不一樣。

We at East West Bank, we are the expert in terms of managing our book of business. We understand U.S.-China relationship better than most everyone in the country. We're in the risk management business. So we feel very confident about where we are today in terms of the credit quality and the potential risk of the U.S.-China decoupling, which quite frankly, is extremely unlikely. And in addition to that, we also feel that besides the unlikelihood of decoupling, the deglobalization in the world is also extremely unlikely. It took about 40 years or so for the world to work together with China to create the supply chain infrastructure. It's not that easy to deglobalize it in 5, 10 or even 20 years. And it's something that once people really understand the nuances and exactly what it takes to build this supply chain and they will understand that -- it's never going to be that easy to have this decoupling.

在華美銀行，我們是管理業務的專家。我們比美國大多數人都更了解美中關係。我們從事風險管理業務。因此，我們對目前的信用質量和中美脫鉤的潛在風險非常有信心，坦率地說，這種脫鉤的可能性極小。除此之外，我們還覺得，除了脫鉤的可能性不大之外，世界去全球化的可能性也極小。世界與中國共同打造供應鏈基礎設施，用了大約40年左右的時間。 5年、10年甚至20年的時間去全球化並不是那麼容易的事。一旦人們真正理解了其中的細微差別以及構建這條供應鏈需要什麼，他們就會明白——這種脫鉤永遠不會那麼容易。

I think that U.S.-China will just have to continue to work through their differences and there are challenges in terms of philosophical differences, values and so forth. They're going to need to find a way to work it through. What we've noticed just recently, China, in fact, the Peoples Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on April 18 just issued 23 measures to help business impact by the pandemic and 6 of those measures directly related to easing of cross-border trade and payments. So those are kind of things that China has been working on to try to make sure they can get the economy going also.

我認為美中之間必須繼續努力解決分歧，並且在哲學差異、價值觀等方面存在挑戰。他們需要找到一種方法來解決這個問題。我們最近注意到，中國，事實上，中國人民銀行和國家外匯管理局在4月18日剛剛發布了23項幫助企業應對疫情影響的措施，其中有6項措施與放鬆交叉貨幣政策直接相關。 ——邊境貿易與支付。因此，這些都是中國一直在努力確保經濟也能發展的事情。

And every now and then when we see these kind of opportunities comes out, those are opportunities that East West also will be able to take advantage of. And the key thing for us when we get down to the end is that we are a bank that have very unique value proposition. We understand that business, and we have shown for many years and have proven for many years, we know how to navigate through this U.S.-China relationship and continue to be able to have sustainable growth.

時不時地，當我們看到此類機會出現時，East West 也能夠利用這些機會。對我們來說，最終的關鍵是我們是一家擁有非常獨特的價值主張的銀行。我們了解這一業務，多年來我們已經證明，我們知道如何駕馭中美關係並繼續實現可持續增長。

And we feel very confident that in the next many years, we'll continue to -- we'll be able to outperform our peer banks because of this unique value proposition.

我們非常有信心，在未來的許多年裡，我們將繼續——由於這種獨特的價值主張，我們將能夠超越我們的同行銀行。

Our next question comes from Chris McGratty with KBW.

我們的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Chris McGratty。

Dominic or Irene, I just wanted to dig into the guide a little bit. Really good outlook. I'm having a little trouble getting to your net interest income. I think my notes suggest it should be a little bit higher, given the growth in the margin set up. So I guess the question is, what are the assumptions embedded for deposit growth, deposit betas, maybe the missing component is the size of the balance sheet. But it feels like the guide is awfully conservative.

多米尼克或艾琳，我只是想深入研究一下指南。前景確實不錯。我在獲取您的淨利息收入方面遇到了一些麻煩。我認為我的筆記表明，考慮到利潤率的增長，它應該更高一點。所以我想問題是，存款增長、存款貝塔係數的假設是什麼，也許缺少的部分是資產負債表的規模。但感覺該指南非常保守。

Well, Chris, I'm glad to hear you say that. We're very -- I want to just start by saying we're very positive on the outlook and our ability to execute. As Dominic mentioned, the pipeline is very strong, particularly as we're going into the second quarter. With that said, though, I think we're also realistic of the increased kind of macro uncertainty with the war, rising rates as well, although we have no direct exposure to the war in Europe. So with that said, and when we're modeling out when we also use multi scenarios as far as looking at, we shared during the last call that we started this year when we thought rates were going to increase 100 basis points and the deposit beta assumption for the full year of 30%.

好吧，克里斯，我很高興聽到你這麼說。我們非常——我想說，我們對前景和執行能力非常樂觀。正如多米尼克提到的，渠道非常強大，特別是在我們即將進入第二季度的時候。儘管如此，我認為我們對戰爭帶來的宏觀不確定性增加以及利率上升也持現實態度，儘管我們沒有直接受到歐洲戰爭的影響。話雖如此，當我們進行建模時，我們也使用多種場景來觀察，我們在今年開始的最後一次電話會議中分享了這一點，當時我們認為利率將增加 100 個基點，存款貝塔值將增加假設全年為30%。

So we're definitely higher from that, Chris, as we're modeling for the full year, given rates are expected to increase a bit more than that. And also related to that, I would say that when we're looking on the asset side, I think we're trying to be conservative as far as we're positive about the loan growth. But in this type of rising rate environment without any credit issues, I think we're trying to be conservative about kind of any kind of spread pressure that might be there.

因此，克里斯，我們的預測肯定會更高，因為我們正在為全年建模，考慮到利率預計會比這個數字增加一點。與此相關的是，我想說，當我們著眼於資產方面時，我認為我們正在努力保持保守，因為我們對貸款增長持積極態度。但在這種沒有任何信貸問題的利率上升環境中，我認為我們正試圖對可能存在的任何利差壓力保持保守。

With that said, I just want to say we are starting this environment, a rising rate environment from a position of strength, best ever at East West, record DDAs, 43% of average deposits, 45% at period end. And then a loan deposit under 80%. And we've talked about it before, we have operated and we're comfortable operating up until low-90s.

話雖如此，我只想說，我們正在開始這種環境，一個利率上升的環境，從一個強勢地位開始，這是東西方有史以來最好的，創紀錄的 DDA，平均存款的 43%，期末為 45%。然後貸款押金低於80%。我們之前已經討論過這個問題，我們已經進行過操作，而且我們很舒服地操作到 90 歲左右。

Yes. One thing I want to point out also to add is that we normally -- East West Bank normally build momentum more like in the third and fourth quarter. And in the first quarter, normally, I wouldn't call it a struggle. First quarter normally is like a [soap]. But this year, I think we are in a much substantial, better position. We have a very strong quarter, and we feel that our pipeline in the second quarter looks pretty decent. And so once you get 2 strong quarters in a row, pretty much, we feel pretty good that for the rest of the year, it's hard to not have strong financial performance.

是的。我想指出並補充的一件事是，我們通常 - 華美銀行通常會像第三季度和第四季度那樣建立勢頭。在第一季度，通常情況下，我不會稱其為一場鬥爭。第一季度通常就像[肥皂劇]。但今年，我認為我們處於更實質性、更好的位置。我們有一個非常強勁的季度，我們認為第二季度的管道看起來相當不錯。因此，一旦連續兩個季度表現強勁，我們就感覺非常好，在今年剩下的時間裡，很難不擁有強勁的財務業績。

Great. I guess my follow-up would be that the beta helps, Irene, on the increase in betas. What are you assuming for deposit growth? Because we've seen some of your peers with commercial books have notable kind of chunkiness. This quarter, I was just wondering, but you guys had double-digit growth. I'm just trying to get a little bit more color on what you're assuming for just deposit flows.

偉大的。我想我的後續行動是，艾琳，貝塔有助於貝塔的增加。您對存款增長有何假設？因為我們看到一些商業書籍的同行有明顯的厚重感。這個季度，我只是想知道，但你們實現了兩位數的增長。我只是想對您對存款流量的假設有更多的了解。

Yes, we are not assuming the same level of deposit growth as we are on the loan side as we just talked about, realistically, we don't think we need it. And also, realistically, in this kind of environment, the kind of deposit growth that we had in 2021, 2020 probably not likely to occur. So we are expecting a lower level of deposit growth. But still, I would also comment that all our team leaders, all our [RMs] and our cash management sales team are all very busy bringing in core deposits, which we expect to continue to grow from retail and commercial customers.

是的，我們並沒有假設存款增長水平與我們剛才談到的貸款增長水平相同，實際上，我們認為我們不需要它。而且，實際上，在這種環境下，我們在 2021 年、2020 年的存款增長可能不太可能發生。因此，我們預計存款增長水平較低。但我還要評論說，我們所有的團隊領導、我們所有的 [RM] 和我們的現金管理銷售團隊都非常忙於引入核心存款，我們預計零售和商業客戶的核心存款將繼續增長。

Yes. Let me just also highlight that we are not deemphasized deposit growth despite the fact that we have this kind of loan-to-deposit ratio, but we are getting all our frontline people to focus on growing core deposit. Core deposits, we want every time any day. But what I'm looking at is that if you look at the deposit growth last year, in fact, the last 2 years, we actually accommodate our clients' excess liquidity quite a bit. We really did not need that kind of deposit growth for the last 2 years, but these are good clients. They have tremendous excess liquidity, and we are more than happy to accommodate them. But I just don't see that our clients will continue to have this kind of excess liquidity. So we do expect that the deposit growth will taper quite a bit, from last year.

是的。我還要強調的是，儘管我們有這樣的貸存比，但我們並沒有淡化存款增長，而是讓所有一線人員專注於核心存款的增長。核心存款，我們每時每刻都想要。但我關注的是，如果你看看去年的存款增長，事實上，過去兩年，我們實際上在很大程度上容納了客戶的過剩流動性。過去兩年我們確實不需要這種存款增長，但這些都是很好的客戶。他們擁有巨大的過剩流動性，我們非常樂意容納他們。但我只是不認為我們的客戶會繼續擁有這種過剩的流動性。因此，我們確實預計存款增長將較去年大幅放緩。

Our next question comes from Dave Rochester with Compass Point.

我們的下一個問題來自 Compass Point 的 Dave Rochester。

Nice quarter. Just wonder if you could just dig into the noninterest-bearing deposit growth for the quarter. That was exceptional. And you guys have noted previously, I guess, Chris noted previously that not many of your competitors were able to put up numbers like that this quarter on that trend. So just wondering, is that primarily the treasury management guys efforts that are driving that? Or is there anything else that's driving that growth? And then how are you thinking about that going forward? And then I have a follow-up after that.

不錯的季度。只是想知道您是否可以深入研究本季度的無息存款增長。那真是太棒了。我想你們之前已經註意到，克里斯之前指出，沒有多少競爭對手能夠在本季度按照這一趨勢提供這樣的數字。所以我想知道，這主要是財務管理人員的努力推動的嗎？或者還有其他什麼因素可以推動這種增長嗎？那麼您如何看待未來的發展？之後我會進行跟進。

Yes, Dave, there wasn't anything really unusual as far as the nature of the deposit growth. Some of our customers with the activity they have, honestly and their businesses, balances were up, especially compared to the average for the quarter, point-to-point, nothing unusual or no industries or anything specific. But as I mentioned, the teams are hard at work bringing in core deposits. So that's something we expect to continue.

是的，戴夫，就存款增長的性質而言，並沒有什麼異常之處。我們的一些客戶的活動，老實說，他們的業務，餘額有所增加，特別是與本季度的平均水平相比，點對點，沒有什麼異常或沒有行業或任何特定的情況。但正如我所提到的，這些團隊正在努力引入核心存款。所以這是我們期望繼續下去的事情。

Okay. So you're expecting to continue to see that noninterest-bearing growth remain pretty healthy here nearer term?

好的。因此，您預計短期內無息增長將保持相當健康？

We -- maybe I'll clarify. I definitely expect we will be bringing on more core deposits, core deposits, operating accounts and with that growing DDA balances. With that said, there is a certain amount of liquidity that with the rising rate environment, may -- there may be disintermediation into other asset classes, other deposits. And I think we're realistic about that. But overall growing core deposits, customers, that's something we're very positive about.

我們——也許我會澄清一下。我絕對預計我們將帶來更多的核心存款、核心存款、運營賬戶以及不斷增長的 DDA 餘額。話雖如此，隨著利率環境上升，一定數量的流動性可能會脫媒到其他資產類別、其他存款中。我認為我們對此很現實。但核心存款和客戶的整體增長是我們非常樂觀的。

How are you guys thinking about using the earnings credit rate from here to keep that growth going in noninterest bearing?

你們如何考慮使用這裡的收益信貸利率來保持無息增長？

Yes. Certainly, that's a factor for some of our clients. Dave. The way that we look at it, we're very practical at East West, whether you pay out an interest expense or noninterest expense, we view it the same way. So we don't look at that in a different way. We look at the economics of that.

是的。當然，這對我們的一些客戶來說是一個因素。戴夫.我們看待這個問題的方式是，我們在東西方非常務實，無論你支付利息費用還是非利息費用，我們都以同樣的方式看待它。所以我們不會以不同的方式看待這個問題。我們看看它的經濟學。

Our next question comes from Jared Shaw with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的賈里德·肖。

Maybe shifting over to fee income. Some really good strength there in interest rate contracts and derivatives as well as just sort of overall, how should we be thinking about that? Was there anything unusual this quarter that is unlikely to go and I guess it would be a good base going forward on that?

也許會轉向費用收入。利率合約和衍生品以及總體而言都有一些非常好的優勢，我們應該如何考慮這一點？本季度是否有什麼不尋常的事情不太可能發生，我想這將是一個良好的基礎？

Yes, that's a great question. Overall, there wasn't anything unusual. I'll draw your attention to Slide 17 of our deck where we break out the mark-to-market. Now that's not unusual, but it fluctuates quarter-over-quarter, (inaudible) deposit mark-to-market was higher for the CVA adjustment. But aside from that, from a core fee income perspective, FX, wealth management, the IRC and the deposit accounts we expect to continue to grow that year-over-year.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。總體來說，並沒有什麼異常的地方。我將提請您注意幻燈片 17，我們在其中列出了按市價計價的情況。現在這並不罕見，但它會逐季度波動，（聽不清）存款按市價計價因 CVA 調整而較高。但除此之外，從核心費用收入的角度來看，我們預計外匯、財富管理、IRC 和存款賬戶將繼續同比增長。

Okay. And then on the securities portfolio, it looks like was that a reclass of securities into health maturity? Or were you actually buying a different product class to start building that out? And how should we be thinking about the breakdown of securities and the growth of that going forward?

好的。然後在證券投資組合上，看起來是將證券重新分類為健康成熟度？或者您實際上購買了不同的產品類別來開始構建它？我們應該如何考慮證券的細分及其未來的增長？

Yes. Great question. During the quarter, in fact, effective February 1, we transferred $3 billion of our AFS securities into HTM on a go-forward basis. And just depending on the duration, there may be new securities we purchased into held to maturity. Quarter-to-date for the second quarter, there's been a little bit but not significant. So that mix, I don't think it will change dramatically at the pace of what we'll buy into that, depending on rates and depending on kind of our expectation around what's happening with that in our portfolio. We'll buy more, but probably at a lower level.

是的。很好的問題。事實上，自 2 月 1 日起，我們在本季度將 30 億美元的 AFS 證券轉移至 HTM。根據期限，我們可能會購買新的證券並持有至到期。到目前為止，第二季度的情況有所改善，但並不顯著。因此，我認為這種組合不會以我們購買的速度發生巨大變化，這取決於利率以及我們對投資組合中發生的情況的預期。我們會購買更多，但可能會降低水平。

Our next question comes from Casey Haire with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Casey Haire。

Irene, maybe just following up on that question on the securities book. Is there an appetite to maybe run that securities portfolio lower as a percentage of earning assets and potentially fund some of this loan growth going forward from there?

艾琳，也許只是在跟進證券書籍上的那個問題。是否有興趣降低證券投資組合佔盈利資產的比例，並可能為未來的部分貸款增長提供資金？

Yes, absolutely. I think that is something we would evaluate just kind of depending on kind of what the spreads that we're earning and what makes sense as far as our overall balance sheet. As you know, we generally look at the securities book really to make sure that we have enough liquidity, and we're not necessarily trying to balloon that out. But certainly, with the rising rate environment, this is something that we're having more discussions with our ALCO Committee as well as far as what the right mix is.

是的，一點沒錯。我認為我們會根據我們賺取的利差以及對我們整體資產負債表的意義來評估這一點。如您所知，我們通常會查看證券賬簿，以確保我們擁有足夠的流動性，並且我們不一定會試圖增加流動性。但當然，隨著利率上升的環境，我們正在與 ALCO 委員會進行更多討論，以及討論什麼是正確的組合。

Okay. Very good. And just following up on the loan growth. You guys are off to a very strong start, 20% linked quarter annualized with C&I commitments up 20%, which is very positive leading indicator on the potential growth near term. I know there's obviously we allow a lot of visibility into the fourth quarter. But just wondering why the loan growth guide isn't a little bit stronger than that mid-teens level? Is it just general conservatism? Or do you see something more substantial to slow down the loan growth going forward?

好的。非常好。並且只是跟進貸款增長。你們有了一個非常強勁的開端，年化增長率為 20%，C&I 承諾增長了 20%，這是近期潛在增長的非常積極的領先指標。我知道我們顯然對第四季度有很多了解。但只是想知道為什麼貸款增長指南沒有比十幾歲左右的水平強一點點？這只是普遍的保守主義嗎？或者您認為有什麼更實質性的措施可以減緩未來的貸款增長？

Well, I think as we said earlier, we looked at where we are today. We are very pleased that the fourth quarter momentum continued spillover in the first quarter and then looking at second quarter still got a lot of legs going. I mean -- so that's all good. And then what I like most about it is that is coming from all different sectors. So this whole thing that we worked so hard for the last 10 years to get more granular to more diversified portfolio is working exactly what we planned almost a decade ago. And so multiple engines are all producing. And then we always look at it and one particular period of time, maybe a few of them would do better than the others. And then everything is kind of even out. But what it just happened that the last 2 or 3 quarters in a row that we actually have multiple units all going strong.

嗯，我想正如我們之前所說，我們審視了我們今天的處境。我們非常高興第四季度的勢頭繼續延續到第一季度，然後看第二季度仍然有很大的進展。我的意思是——所以這一切都很好。我最喜歡的是來自各個不同領域的人。因此，我們在過去 10 年里為獲得更細粒度、更多元化的投資組合而付出的努力，正在完全按照我們大約十年前的計劃進行。因此多個引擎都在生產。然後我們總是看著它，在一個特定的時期，也許他們中的一些人會比其他人做得更好。然後一切就變得平衡了。但剛剛發生的事情是，在過去的兩三個季度裡，我們實際上有多個單位都表現強勁。

Now that said, as I said earlier, we have inflation today that is at somewhat of an unprecedented situation for the last decade or 2. And then we also have this war going on between Russia and Ukraine, which while I said that we have no bearing to East West Bank business. The fact is it is clearly affect the macroeconomic environment. And so when we start looking at all these different things and the pandemic is not over yet. We do need to have to be realistic about -- to what extent, how would the interest rate spike by the Fed would have -- would affect, for example, the residential market. And to that extent, when at some point of time, the rate get high enough that make it not likely for people to do transactions.

話雖如此，正如我之前所說，我們今天的通貨膨脹在過去十年或兩年來是前所未有的。然後俄羅斯和烏克蘭之間也正在進行這場戰爭，雖然我說過我們沒有承載華美銀行業務。事實是，這顯然會影響宏觀經濟環境。因此，當我們開始關注所有這些不同的事情時，大流行還沒有結束。我們確實需要現實地認識到美聯儲加息將在多大程度上影響住宅市場等問題。在某種程度上，當在某個時間點，利率變得足夠高，使得人們不太可能進行交易。

So we look -- we take that into effect. And I would say that I don't want to get too overly excited about what just because this momentum is going so strong now that maybe by the fourth quarter, we're still seeing that kind of momentum.

所以我們看看——我們將其付諸實施。我想說，我不想對此過於興奮，因為這種勢頭現在如此強勁，也許到第四季度，我們仍然可以看到這種勢頭。

Now I do have -- one way to look at it from a positive note is that when there is maybe less mortgage origination for single-family. There is less pay down, too. So net-net, the growth rate may not be that negatively impacted even with the rate hike. Same thing for commercial real estate. We're not going to originate as many CRE, I would think, in the second half of this year. However, there will be less paydown. So net-net, our loan growth may still be very strong.

現在我確實有——從積極的角度看待它的一種方法是，單戶家庭的抵押貸款發放可能會減少。首付也更少。因此，即使加息，增長率也可能不會受到太大的負面影響。商業地產也是如此。我認為，今年下半年我們不會推出那麼多的商業地產。然而，支付的金額將會減少。因此，淨淨來看，我們的貸款增長可能仍然非常強勁。

But that -- what we hope the direction is going to be, but without having a lot of clarity about the interest rate spike impact of how exactly this Russia-Ukraine situation would develop. And to what extent affect the overall global supply chain and how pandemic would actually continue to have new variants coming up. All of that, if we start looking at it, I do feel that we wanted to make sure we're being prudent to project the second half of the year.

但這是我們希望的方向，但對俄羅斯-烏克蘭局勢究竟如何發展所帶來的利率飆升影響還不太清楚。以及在多大程度上影響整個全球供應鏈以及大流行實際上將如何繼續出現新的變體。所有這些，如果我們開始考慮的話，我確實覺得我們希望確保謹慎地預測今年下半年的情況。

Our next question comes from Brandon King with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Brandon King。

I had a few questions on loan growth. Some of the answers may have been implied in some previous answers. But with C&I utilization increasing in the first quarter, what is implied in the guidance as far as where that utilization level stays in the near term?

我對貸款增長有一些疑問。之前的一些答案可能已經暗示了一些答案。但隨著第一季度工商業利用率的增加，就近期利用率水平而言，指導意見中暗示了什麼？

We assume the utilization stays around the same. We have not sort of like put any additional growth in the utilization rate to get the assumption of our -- of our outlook.

我們假設利用率保持不變。我們並沒有通過提高利用率來獲得我們的前景假設。

We're excited about the 1% growth, Brandon, but it is also just 1%.

布蘭登，我們對 1% 的增長感到興奮，但也只是 1%。

Yes. 1% is 1%.

是的。 1%就是1%。

Yes. A lot of other banks are saying utilization growth. So I just wonder if there's any potential upside there.

是的。許多其他銀行都表示利用率有所增長。所以我只是想知道那裡是否有任何潛在的好處。

I think that's also the power of (inaudible) . We're going to be able to grow without utilization increases, and that's reflected in our guidance.

我認為這也是（聽不清）的力量。我們將能夠在不增加利用率的情況下實現增長，這反映在我們的指導中。

Yes.

是的。

Got it. Got it. And then for CRE, that was strong as well. I wanted to know how much of the growth in the first quarter, how much of that would attribute to slower pay downs?

知道了。知道了。對於 CRE 來說，這也很強勁。我想知道第一季度的增長有多少，其中有多少是由於減薪放緩？

There definitely was a decrease in pay downs in the first quarter, especially compared to if you look at like the back half of last year. But I would also say we had increased originations. So the combination of both, Brandon.

第一季度的首付肯定有所減少，特別是與去年下半年相比。但我還要說我們的起源有所增加。所以兩者的結合，布蘭登。

Our next question comes from Brock Vandervliet with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的布洛克·范德弗利特 (Brock Vandervliet)。

It's Vilas Abraham for Brock. I just wanted to dig into resi mortgage for a minute. I get that your business model is a bit different than most. But even given that the origination volume seems pretty resilient here just from flat year-over-year when most competitors are down. Is there a share gain happening there? Is there any other color you can offer around that?

這是布洛克的維拉斯·亞伯拉罕。我只是想深入了解一下 Resi 抵押貸款。我知道你們的商業模式與大多數人有點不同。但即使考慮到大多數競爭對手都在下滑的情況下，這裡的發起量似乎仍具有相當的彈性，僅與去年同期持平。那裡有股票上漲嗎？您還能提供其他顏色嗎？

Well, actually, relatively speaking, I mean if you recall, going back to our earnings release for the last few years, residential mortgage always the leading category in terms of our loan growth, always outgrew CRE or C&I for the last few years. And actually, at 2 quarters in a row, residential mortgage are falling behind compared to the other 2, relatively speaking, which is obviously, by nature, if you look at the external environment, we expect that residential mortgage growth will continue to be more challenging. As you look at it, we used to have like 20-plus percent growth a couple of years ago.

嗯，實際上，相對而言，我的意思是，如果你還記得的話，回到我們過去幾年的收益發布，住宅抵押貸款始終是我們貸款增長的領先類別，過去幾年的增長總是超過商業房地產或商業和工業。事實上，相對而言，住宅抵押貸款連續兩個季度落後於其他兩個季度，這顯然是本質上的，如果你看外部環境，我們預計住宅抵押貸款增長將繼續更多具有挑戰性的。正如你所看到的，幾年前我們的增長率大約是 20% 以上。

We're down to 11% in the first quarter. I would expect that, the second quarter may be down even a little bit more. And then I would expect that even by the fourth quarter, maybe down to single digit. So the way I look at it is that the external environment and make the refinancing very challenging, and it may also discourage home buyers to purchase home when rates spiked to over 5%.

第一季度我們的增長率下降至 11%。我預計第二季度可能會進一步下降。然後我預計即使到第四季度，也可能會降至個位數。所以我的看法是，外部環境使再融資變得非常具有挑戰性，而且當利率飆升至5%以上時，也可能會阻礙購房者購房。

Well, it's already over 5%. It will be like when I get to even 6% or something, it's going to be very discouraging for home buyers to buy homes. So the likelihood that we do a lot of resi refi or purchases is low. Now that said, as I just said earlier, pay down will drop substantially because for the last few years, we just churn a lot of loans like we originated in high volume, we also have pay down in a high volume simply because many of our existing customers is refinancing the mortgages for a lower rate.

嗯，已經超過5%了。就好像當我達到 6% 左右的時候，購房者就會非常沮喪地買房。因此，我們進行大量 Resi Refi 或購買的可能性很低。話雖如此，正如我剛才所說，首付將大幅下降，因為在過去的幾年裡，我們只是大量地發放貸款，我們也有大量的首付，因為我們的許多貸款現有客戶正在以較低的利率進行抵押貸款再融資。

And we just do a bunch of work for the same net number. So I looked at it in 2022, particularly the latter half of the year, I would say that the origination volumes should drop substantially. However, the paydown also would drop substantially. Hopefully, we'll still have some net growth, but we will pretty much expect that in 2022, the majority of the loan growth will be coming from C&I and CRE and less so from single-family mortgages.

我們只是為同一個網絡號碼做一堆工作。所以我看2022年，特別是下半年，我想說起始量應該會大幅下降。然而，支付也將大幅下降。希望我們仍然會有一些淨增長，但我們幾乎預計到 2022 年，大部分貸款增長將來自商業和商業地產和商業房地產，而來自單戶抵押貸款的貸款增長則較少。

That's very helpful. And just as my follow-up, and maybe a slightly bigger picture question. So this rate hike cycle is barely started and the efficiency ratio at East West is already -- looks already below where it was when the last hike cycle was well underway. So just wanted to see if you could help us understand just what may have changed in the profile here that's helping you guys achieve such stellar efficiency. And maybe even a sense of how low it could reasonably go over time.

這非常有幫助。正如我的後續問題，也許是一個更大的問題。因此，本次加息週期才剛剛開始，而東西方的效率比率已經低於上一次加息週期順利進行時的水平。所以只是想看看您是否可以幫助我們了解此處的個人資料中可能發生了哪些變化，從而幫助你們實現瞭如此出色的效率。甚至可能會感覺到隨著時間的推移它會合理地降到多低。

Well, we never managed the bank to the efficiency ratio. I think that's something that we made clear on these calls. And that certainly isn't something that's in any of our metrics or our drivers. But with that said, and also related to that, we have continued to make the investments that we think are appropriate for the bank, for our clients, for our strategy. And I think those continued investments, successful investments are part of the reason our efficiency is low if you look at it. The other side of it really is, if you look at our balance sheet and the composition, simply, we're well positioned right now for a rising rate environment.

嗯，我們從來沒有按照效率比率來管理銀行。我認為我們在這些電話會議中已經明確表達了這一點。這當然不屬於我們的任何指標或驅動因素。但話雖如此，也與此相關，我們繼續進行我們認為適合銀行、我們的客戶和我們的戰略的投資。如果你仔細觀察的話，我認為這些持續的投資、成功的投資是我們效率低下的部分原因。另一方面，如果你看看我們的資產負債表和構成，就會發現，我們現在已經為利率上升的環境做好了準備。

Credit is also very benign, although obviously not factoring to the efficiency ratio. But nonetheless, the additional kind of operating costs related to a credit cycle if they're not here. So I think it's the combination of all these factors. But certainly, that's something that will be very important for us as we go forward. We continue to make the investments that we think are appropriate and then also reap the reward on the revenue side.

信貸也非常良性，儘管顯然沒有考慮效率比率。但儘管如此，額外的運營成本與信貸週期相關，如果它們不存在的話。所以我認為這是所有這些因素的結合。但當然，這對我們前進來說非常重要。我們繼續進行我們認為合適的投資，然後也在收入方面獲得回報。

Our next question comes from Gary Tenner with D.A. Davidson.

我們的下一個問題來自 D.A. 的加里·坦納 (Gary Tenner)。戴維森。

My questions have largely been asked and answered. But just regarding the guide on the provision expense, is that increase purely a function of the higher loan growth guide for the full year? Or any other factors? Any changes to the CECL model that are driving that number any higher?

我的問題大部分已被提出並得到解答。但僅就撥備支出指導而言，這種增長純粹是全年貸款增長指導較高的結果嗎？還是有其他因素？ CECL 模型有何變化導致該數字更高？

Yes, great question. It is largely a function of the higher loan growth, Gary. I think also as you know we run multi scenarios as far as for our CECL calculation. So just evaluating that with a little bit of the uncertainty for the future. With that said, I think I said in our prepared remarks, credit quality is very benign, continues to be, and that's our expectation for the full year.

是的，很好的問題。加里，這在很大程度上是貸款增長較高的結果。我想您也知道，就 CECL 計算而言，我們運行了多種場景。因此，只需對未來的一些不確定性進行評估即可。話雖如此，我想我在我們準備好的發言中說過，信貸質量非常良好，而且將繼續如此，這是我們對全年的預期。

Our next question comes from Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自馬修·克拉克和派珀·桑德勒。

First question, just on the trade finance portfolio. Can you just remind us how big that portfolio is at the end of the first quarter? And how that portfolio has performed from a growth perspective with the supply chain disruption freeing up to some degree?

第一個問題，關於貿易融資組合。您能否提醒我們第一季度末的投資組合有多大？從增長的角度來看，隨著供應鏈中斷在一定程度上得到緩解，該投資組合的表現如何？

Well, in terms of that portfolio, I think that it's going fine. I mean, we have not had much -- for the last 4 years, we have not had much growth in that portfolio. I mean naturally so. From a trade finance perspective, I mean, there's a couple of reasons. One is that what the trade tariff plus the pandemic that affect the supply chain. And also, we have to recognize that the international trade finance business is really something, I would say, is more or less like an older business model with the advance in technology. We have less and less of that, that require a traditional international trade finance that from banks, a lot of the payments, today done electronically are much easier and faster.

嗯，就該投資組合而言，我認為進展順利。我的意思是，我們並沒有太多——在過去的四年裡，我們的投資組合沒有太大的增長。我的意思是自然如此。我的意思是，從貿易融資的角度來看，有幾個原因。一是貿易關稅加上疫情對供應鏈的影響。而且，我們必須認識到，我想說，國際貿易融資業務實際上或多或少類似於技術進步的舊商業模式。我們需要傳統的國際貿易融資的方式越來越少，銀行的很多付款現在都以電子方式完成，變得更加容易和快捷。

So we at East West Bank, actually, while we are actively involved with the cross-border banking business. A lot of our cross-border banking business actually are involved with some e-commerce and then to digital media and entertainment business and private equity business. And then most of those business that they are cross-border elements, but not necessarily require us to provide letter of credit support and so forth. So that's what we are. But the business is still going solid. And I don't know, Irene, do you have any numbers that you wanted to share?

所以我們華美銀行實際上在積極參與跨境銀行業務。我們很多跨境銀行業務實際上涉及到一些電子商務，然後涉及到數字媒體和娛樂業務以及私募股權業務。然後這些業務大部分都是跨境元素，但是不一定需要我們提供信用證等等支持。這就是我們。但生意依然穩健。我不知道，艾琳，你有什麼想要分享的數字嗎？

Yes. Quarter-over-quarter, we are up in trade finance. That's partially, I think, seasonal with the year, about $500 million.

是的。與上一季度相比，我們的貿易融資有所上升。我認為這部分是季節性的，大約 5 億美元。

Balance of the portfolio is about $500 million. We're not up about $500 million.

投資組合餘額約為5億美元。我們的資金還不到 5 億美元。

That's clarify, yes, we're up about 24%, balance was $500. Thank you, Julianna.

澄清一下，是的，我們上漲了約 24%，餘額為 500 美元。謝謝你，朱莉安娜。

Okay. And then just a housekeeping item. I think you gave us the amortization expense for the upcoming quarter of $37 million. How should we model that for the full year.

好的。然後只是一個家務用品。我認為您向我們提供了下個季度 3700 萬美元的攤銷費用。我們應該如何為全年建模？

Matt, for the second quarter, we gave you the $37 million. And then if you look in our slide deck on the outlook slide, we also provide for you our expectations for the full year amortization expense in the range of $110 million to $125 million. And it's a range because it kind of depends on when projects close and go into service and kind of the mix of the projects. So what I would say is that picked up second half of the year and at this point, probably split it evenly between the 2 quarters.

馬特，第二季度我們給了你 3700 萬美元。然後，如果您查看展望幻燈片上的幻燈片，我們還會為您提供對 1.1 億至 1.25 億美元範圍內的全年攤銷費用的預期。這是一個範圍，因為它在某種程度上取決於項目何時結束並投入使用以及項目的組合類型。所以我想說的是，今年下半年有所回升，此時，可能會平均分配到兩個季度。

Our next question is a follow-up from Chris McGratty with KBW.

我們的下一個問題是 KBW 的 Chris McGratty 的後續問題。

Irene, I just wanted to go back a little bit to the efficiency question before. And I'm not sure if it's a matter of operating leverage spread to revenue. But is there a floor where you would be uncomfortable running the efficiency ratio?

艾琳，我只是想回到之前的效率問題。我不確定這是否是經營槓桿影響收入的問題。但是是否有一個下限讓您在運行效率比時感到不舒服？

We don't have a floor.

我們沒有地板。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dominic for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給多米尼克發表閉幕詞。

Well, thank you all for joining our call, and I'm looking forward to speaking to all of you again in July. Thank you.

好的，感謝大家加入我們的電話會議，我期待著七月份再次與大家交談。謝謝。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。