Webster Financial Corp (WBS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Welcome to the Webster Financial Corporation's Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Please note this conference is being recorded. I would now like to introduce Webster's Director of Investor Relations, Emlen Harmon to introduce the call. Mr. Harmon, please go ahead.

早安.歡迎參加韋伯斯特金融公司 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我想請韋伯斯特投資者關係總監 Emlen Harmon 介紹這次電話會議。哈蒙先生，請繼續。

Good morning. Before we begin our remarks, I want to remind you that the comments made by management may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to the safe harbor rules. Please review the forward-looking disclaimer and safe harbor language in today's press release and presentation for more information about risks and uncertainties, which may affect us.

早安.在我們開始發言之前，我想提醒您，管理層發表的評論可能包括 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述，並受到安全港規則的約束。請查看今天的新聞稿和簡報中的前瞻性免責聲明和安全港語言，以了解有關可能影響我們的風險和不確定性的更多資訊。

The presentation accompanying management's remarks can be found on the company's Investor Relations site at investors.websterbank.com.

管理層演講的簡報可在該公司的投資者關係網站 Investors.websterbank.com 上找到。

For the Q&A portion of the call, we ask that each participant ask just 1 question and 1 follow-up before returning to the queue. I will now turn the call over to Webster Financial's CEO, John Ciulla.

對於電話的問答部分，我們要求每位參與者在返回隊列之前僅提出 1 個問題和 1 項後續行動。我現在將把電話轉給韋伯斯特金融公司的執行長約翰·丘拉 (John Ciulla)。

Thanks a lot, Emlen. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Webster Financial Corporation's Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. We appreciate you joining us this morning. I'll provide remarks on our high-level results and operations before turning it over to Glenn to cover our financial results in greater detail.

非常感謝，埃姆倫。大家早安，歡迎參加韋伯斯特金融公司 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。我們感謝您今天早上加入我們。我將先對我們的高水準業績和營運情況進行評論，然後再將其轉交給格倫，以更詳細地介紹我們的財務業績。

The company continues to execute at a high level, and we are excited about the momentum we are carrying into 2024. With less distraction from our integration activities, and hopefully, the industry at large, we are well positioned to continue delivering financial outperformance as we deliver for our clients across business lines.

公司繼續保持高水準執行，我們對進入 2024 年的勢頭感到興奮。隨著我們的整合活動的干擾減少，希望整個行業，我們處於有利地位，能夠繼續提供出色的財務業績，因為我們為我們的跨業務線客戶提供服務。

I'm going to start to review today with our full year results for 2023. As I've stated throughout the year, we performed admirably throughout a difficult period for the banking industry. This performance illustrates the strength of our franchise, including a uniquely diverse and sound funding base, highly efficient operating model, and focus on non-commoditized businesses.

我今天將開始回顧 2023 年全年業績。正如我在全年中所說，我們在銀行業的困難時期表現出色。這項業績體現了我們的特許經營實力，包括獨特的多元化和健全的資金基礎、高效的營運模式以及對非商品業務的關注。

We grew our adjusted EPS to $5.99 from $5.62 in the prior year, generating record EPS for Webster. We reached a record tangible book value per share in the fourth quarter as well. Our return on assets was 1.43%, our return on tangible common equity was 20.5%, and we ended the year with a 42% efficiency ratio.

我們將調整後每股收益從前一年的 5.62 美元增加到 5.99 美元，為韋伯斯特創造了創紀錄的每股收益。我們在第四季也達到了創紀錄的每股有形帳面價值。我們的資產報酬率為 1.43%，有形普通股報酬率為 20.5%，年底效率率為 42%。

In addition to our strong financial performance, we realized several meaningful strategic accomplishments. We capably executed our core technology conversion and have completed substantially all of the work on our merger integration. We closed the interLINK acquisition and we announced the acquisition of Ametros. We grew core deposits through a highly competitive environment in the banking industry, illustrating our funding advantage and the strength of our relationship-oriented business model.

除了強勁的財務業績外，我們還取得了幾項有意義的策略成就。我們出色地完成了核心技術轉換，並已基本完成了併購整合的完整工作。我們完成了 interLINK 的收購，並宣布收購 Ametros。我們在銀行業競爭激烈的環境中增加了核心存款，反映了我們的資金優勢和關係型業務模式的優勢。

We also refined our mix of businesses, emphasizing and building those where we have a strategic advantage and the most promising risk/reward characteristics.

我們也完善了業務組合，強調並建立那些我們擁有策略優勢和最有前途的風險/回報特徵的業務。

On the next slide, our fourth quarter financial results remain solid. On an adjusted basis, we produced a return on tangible common equity of 19.8%, and a return on assets of nearly 1.4%. Our adjusted EPS was $1.46. We grew our deposits and loans each by roughly 1%, with loan growth focused in strategic commercial categories. We continue to exhibit solid expense control with an efficiency ratio of 43%.

在下一張投影片中，我們第四季的財務表現依然穩健。調整後，我們的有形普通股報酬率為 19.8%，資產報酬率接近 1.4%。我們調整後的每股收益為 1.46 美元。我們的存款和貸款分別成長了約 1%，其中貸款成長主要集中在策略商業類別。我們持續展現穩健的費用控制，效率高達 43%。

Our Common Equity Tier 1 capital and Tangible Common Equity remained strong at 11.12% and 7.73%, respectively. Our strong starting point and internal capital generation capability will provide us with a significant amount of operating flexibility over the long term.

我們的普通股一級資本和有形普通股保持強勁，分別為 11.12% 和 7.73%。我們強大的起點和內部資本產生能力將為我們提供長期的營運靈活性。

The timing of some of our fourth quarter accomplishments, including our solid loan growth, were backloaded, resulting in a period-end loan and securities balance that were more than $1 billion higher than the average balances. Our overall loan growth, coupled with a robust pipeline should provide us with a tailwind as we head into 2024.

我們在第四季度取得的一些成就（包括穩健的貸款成長）的時間安排被推遲，導致期末貸款和證券餘額比平均餘額高出 10 億美元以上。我們的整體貸款成長，加上強勁的管道，將為我們進入 2024 年提供助力。

Following slide illustrates our funding diversity, which highlights one of our key strategic advantages. We are confident that we are adding another unique funding vertical with our acquisition of Ametros, which we announced at the end of last year and expect to close shortly. We provide some detail on the business on the following slide.

下一張投影片說明了我們的資金多樣性，凸顯了我們的關鍵策略優勢之一。我們有信心透過收購 Ametros 來增加另一個獨特的融資垂直領域，我們在去年年底宣布了這項收購，預計很快就會完成。我們在下面的幻燈片中提供了有關該業務的一些詳細資訊。

Ametros is a particularly unique and exciting opportunity for Webster as it provides low-cost, fast growing deposits, which adds significant fee income. To describe the business in brief, Ametros administers recipients funds for medical claim settlements via a proprietary technology platform and service teams. A large majority of the claims Ametros administered are structured as annuities, whereby funds are replenished over the life of the recipient.

Ametros 對 Webster 來說是一個特別獨特且令人興奮的機會，因為它提供低成本、快速增長的存款，從而增加了可觀的費用收入。簡而言之，Ametros 透過專有技術平台和服務團隊管理接收者的醫療索賠資金。 Ametros 管理的大部分索賠都是年金形式，資金在受益人的一生中得到補充。

As of today, there are over [$2.5 billion] of contracted deposit inflows under this construct. Given this replenishment feature, the average deposit duration exceeds 20 years. The collection and retention of these funds is further enhanced by the value-added services Ametros provides, including payment management, access to discounted medical services, and government reporting. They have an ardent customer base as evidenced by a Net Promoter Score of 96, and are by far the market leader among professional administrators.

截至目前，在此架構下的合約存款流入量已超過 [25 億美元]。鑑於此補充特徵，平均存款期限超過20年。 Ametros 提供的加值服務進一步增強了這些資金的收集和保留，包括支付管理、獲得折扣醫療服務和政府報告。他們擁有熱情的客戶群，淨推薦值高達 96 分，是迄今為止專業管理員市場的領導者。

We expect deposits will grow at a 25% CAGR over the ensuing 5 years. Our projected growth trajectory assumes the growth of members and no changes to Ametros existing business constitution, including the addition of new relationships, new business verticals, medical inflation or synergies with Webster's existing businesses. For all of these, we see varying degrees of opportunity. We anticipate the transaction will be modestly accretive to 2024 earnings and 3% accretive to 2025 earnings. We look forward to officially welcoming our new colleagues in the near future.

我們預計未來 5 年存款將以 25% 的複合年增長率成長。我們預期的成長軌跡假設會員數量成長，且 Ametros 現有業務章程沒有變化，包括增加新關係、新垂直業務、醫療通膨或與 Webster 現有業務的協同效應。對於所有這些，我們都看到了不同程度的機會。我們預計該交易將小幅增加 2024 年的收益，並為 2025 年的收益增加 3%。我們期待在不久的將來正式歡迎我們的新同事。

Our overall credit profile and key credit metrics remain fairly unchanged from prior quarter as we continue to proactively manage our credit exposures across the bank. Glenn will provide more detail in his comments.

我們的整體信用狀況和關鍵信用指標與上一季相比基本保持不變，因為我們繼續積極管理整個銀行的信用風險。格倫將在他的評論中提供更多細節。

On the next slide, I'll quickly touch on the standard overview of our Office CRE portfolio. We continue to make solid progress on reducing the size of this portfolio, which is down another $120 million this quarter. The majority of the reduction came from either payoffs or properties being repositioned. Overall performance of the portfolio continues to be relatively consistent with solid support underlying the credits. We did see a tick up in classified loans to 7.7% from 5% last quarter, but delinquencies and non-accruals are non-existent.

在下一張投影片中，我將快速介紹 Office CRE 產品組合的標準概述。我們在縮小該投資組合規模方面繼續取得紮實進展，本季又減少了 1.2 億美元。大部分減少來自收益或資產重新定位。投資組合的整體表現仍與信貸的堅實支持相對一致。我們確實看到分類貸款從上季的 5% 上升至 7.7%，但拖欠和非應計費用並不存在。

Given we are getting to a much smaller absolute balance, we will likely move this slide to the appendix in future quarters. With that, I'll turn it over to Glenn to cover our financials in more detail.

鑑於我們的絕對餘額要小得多，我們可能會在未來幾季將這張投影片移至附錄。有了這個，我將把它交給格倫，以更詳細地介紹我們的財務狀況。

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I'll start on Slide 7 with our GAAP and adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter. We reported GAAP net income to common shareholders of $181 million with earnings per share of $1.05. On an adjusted basis, we reported net income to common shareholders of $250 million and EPS of $1.46. The largest component of the adjustments were a $47 million in FDIC special assessment, $31 million in merger-related expense, and securities repositioning loss of $17 million.

謝謝約翰，大家早安。我將從幻燈片 7 開始介紹我們的 GAAP 和第四季度調整後的收益。我們向普通股股東報告的 GAAP 淨利潤為 1.81 億美元，每股收益為 1.05 美元。在調整後的基礎上，我們向普通股股東報告的淨利潤為 2.5 億美元，每股收益為 1.46 美元。調整的最大組成部分是 4700 萬美元的 FDIC 特別評估、3100 萬美元的合併相關費用以及 1700 萬美元的證券重新定位損失。

Next, I'll review balance sheet trends beginning on Slide 8. Total assets were $75 billion at period end, up $1.8 billion from the third quarter. Our securities balances were up $1.5 billion from the third quarter, $400 million of the increase was attributed to value appreciation of our AFS portfolio while the remaining $1.1 billion reflects incremental action we took to reduce our asset sensitivity. Much of the securities growth occurred late in the fourth quarter with the associated net interest income benefit to be realized in the first quarter.

接下來，我將從投影片 8 開始回顧資產負債表趨勢。期末總資產為 750 億美元，比第三季增加 18 億美元。我們的證券餘額較第三季增加了15 億美元，其中4 億美元的成長歸因於我們的AFS 投資組合的價值升值，而剩餘的11 億美元則反映了我們為降低資產敏感性而採取的增量行動。大部分證券成長發生在第四季末，相關的淨利息收入收益將在第一季實現。

As I noted a moment ago, we also repositioned roughly $400 million of our securities portfolio with less than 1 year earn-back. This should result in a benefit of 3 basis points to our net interest margin in the first quarter.

正如我剛才指出的，我們也重新配置了約 4 億美元的證券投資組合，獲利回收期不到 1 年。這將使我們第一季的淨利差提高 3 個基點。

Loans were up $640 million, driven by commercial categories. The majority of the growth occurred late in the quarter, resulting in a period-end balance that was higher than average by $375 million. Deposits grew by $450 million in the quarter, the net result of seasonal declines in public sector funds, offset by growth in CDs, interLINK, and interest-bearing checking. Our loan-to-deposit ratio was 83%, flat to last quarter. Our capital levels remain strong. Common Equity Tier 1 ratio was 11.12%, and our Tangible Common Equity ratio was 7.7%.

在商業類別的推動下，貸款增加了 6.4 億美元。大部分成長發生在本季末，導致期末餘額比平均高出 3.75 億美元。本季存款增加了 4.5 億美元，這是公共部門基金季節性下降的淨結果，但被 CD、interLINK 和計息支票的成長所抵消。我們的貸存比率為 83%，與上季持平。我們的資本水準依然強勁。一級普通股比率為 11.12%，有形普通股比率為 7.7%。

Tangible book value increased to $32.39 per share or just under 10% quarter-over-quarter, reflecting earnings and the improvement in AOCI. In a steady interest rate environment, we anticipate $75 million of unrealized security losses would accrete back into capital annually.

有形帳面價值增至每股 32.39 美元，環比增長略低於 10%，反映了盈利和 AOCI 的改善。在穩定的利率環境下，我們預計每年 7,500 萬美元的未實現安全損失將重新回到資本中。

Loan trends are highlighted on Slide 9. In total, loans were up roughly $650 million or 1.3% on a linked quarter basis. The Commercial Bank continues to drive loan trends where we grew the C&I and commercial real estate portfolios. On net, much of the growth was in low risk, lower-yielding portfolios. Growth in C&I was principally in fund banking and public sector finance as well as business banking. Commercial real estate growth was in stronger risk-rated portfolios, including multifamily.

幻燈片 9 突顯了貸款趨勢。總體而言，貸款增加了約 6.5 億美元，環比增加了 1.3%。商業銀行繼續推動貸款趨勢，我們擴大了工商業和商業房地產投資組合。從淨值來看，大部分成長來自於低風險、低收益的投資組合。 C&I 的成長主要集中在基金銀行業務、公共部門金融以及商業銀行業務。商業房地產的成長來自風險評級較高的投資組合，包括多戶住宅。

Notably, we ran off remaining balances in mortgage warehouse. The yield on the loan portfolio increased 4 basis points. And floating and periodic loans were 59% of total loans at quarter end.

值得注意的是，我們耗盡了抵押倉庫中的剩餘餘額。貸款組合收益率上升 4 個基點。截至季末，浮動貸款和定期貸款佔貸款總額的 59%。

We provide additional detail on deposits on Slide 10. With total deposits of $450 million from prior quarter or 0.7%. We saw growth in all major deposit product categories with the exception of demand and money market accounts, where seasonality in public funds drove declines.

我們在投影片 10 上提供了有關存款的更多詳細資訊。存款總額較上一季為 4.5 億美元，成長 0.7%。我們看到所有主要存款產品類別均出現成長，但需求帳戶和貨幣市場帳戶除外，公共基金的季節性導致了這些帳戶的下降。

Our total deposit costs were up 19 basis points to 215 basis points or cumulative cycle-to-date total deposit beta of 40%.

我們的總存款成本上升了 19 個基點，達到 215 個基點，即週期迄今的累積存款貝塔係數為 40%。

On Slide 11, we rolled forward our deposit beta assumptions to incorporate the first quarter during which we anticipate our beta to reach 41%.

在投影片 11 中，我們將存款貝塔值假設納入第一季度，預計我們的貝塔值將達到 41%。

Moving to Slide 12. We highlight our reported to adjusted income statement compared to our adjusted earnings for the prior period. Overall, adjusted net income was down $17 million relative to prior quarter. Net interest income was down $16 million as anticipated balance sheet growth was achieved later in the quarter, and we continue to run off nonstrategic loans. Adjusted noninterest income was down $10 million, largely driven by a noncash swing in our modeled credit valuation adjustment on customer derivatives.

轉到投影片 12。我們重點介紹了我們報告的調整後損益表與上一期間調整後收益的比較。整體而言，調整後淨利較上一季減少 1,700 萬美元。由於本季稍後實現了預期的資產負債表成長，淨利息收入下降了 1,600 萬美元，而且我們繼續擺脫非策略性貸款。調整後的非利息收入減少了 1000 萬美元，這主要是由於我們對客戶衍生性商品的信用估值調整模型中的非現金波動所致。

Partially offsetting these trends, expenses were down $1.6 million, and the provision was down $0.5 million. We also benefited from a lower tax rate, 19.5% this quarter, down from 20.1% in the third quarter as a result of state and local true-ups. Our efficiency ratio was 43%.

費用減少了 160 萬美元，撥備減少了 50 萬美元，部分抵消了這些趨勢。由於州和地方的調整，我們也受益於較低的稅率，本季稅率為 19.5%，低於第三季的 20.1%。我們的效率是 43%。

On Slide 13, we highlight net interest income, which declined $16 million linked quarter. This was driven by later than anticipated growth in our earning assets in addition to runoff of nonstrategic portfolios. Net interest margin decreased 7 basis points from the prior quarter to 3.42%. As a result of the timing of our fourth quarter earning asset growth and forecasted originations in Q1, we expect to grow both net interest income and NIM into the first quarter.

在投影片 13 中，我們重點介紹了淨利息收入，該季度相關季度下降了 1,600 萬美元。這是由於我們的獲利資產成長遲於預期以及非策略性投資組合的流失所致。淨利差較上季下降7個基點至3.42%。由於我們第四季獲利資產成長的時機和第一季的預測，我們預期第一季淨利息收入和淨利息收入都會成長。

Our yield on earning assets increased 5 basis points over prior quarter. The pace of deposit pricing moderated to 19 basis points while the cost of total interest-bearing liabilities was up 14 basis points. The increase is driven by a periodic change in deposit mix primarily due to the seasonality -- seasonal decline in public funds with offsetting growth coming in higher-yielding deposit categories and wholesale funding.

我們的生息資產收益率比上一季增加了 5 個基點。存款定價步伐放緩至 19 個基點，而總付息負債成本則上升 14 個基點。這一增長是由存款組合的周期性變化推動的，這主要是由於季節性——公共基金的季節性下降，抵消了高收益存款類別和批發融資的增長。

On Slide 14, we highlight noninterest income, which was down $10 million to prior quarter on an adjusted basis. $8 million of the decline was attributable to a noncash swing in modeled credit valuation adjustment on customer derivatives. This resulted in a $4 million charge this quarter relative to a $4 million benefit last quarter. We also experienced seasonal decline in HSA interchange fees, and transaction activity tied to commercial clients remained slow in the fourth quarter.

在投影片 14 中，我們重點介紹了非利息收入，經調整後該收入比上一季減少了 1,000 萬美元。其中 800 萬美元的下降歸因於客戶衍生性商品建模信用估值調整的非現金波動。這導致本季產生 400 萬美元的費用，而上季收益為 400 萬美元。我們也經歷了 HSA 交換費的季節性下降，與商業客戶相關的交易活動在第四季度仍然緩慢。

Noninterest expense is on Slide 15. We reported adjusted expenses of $299 million, down $2 million from the prior quarter. Reductions in reoccurring FDIC insurance and technology costs were partially offset by increased marketing and employee benefit costs.

非利息支出位於幻燈片 15 上。我們報告調整後支出為 2.99 億美元，比上一季減少 200 萬美元。經常性 FDIC 保險和技術成本的減少被行銷和員工福利成本的增加部分抵消。

Slide 16 details components of our allowance for credit losses, which was effectively flat relative to prior quarter. After recording $34 million in net charge-offs, we incurred a $34 million provision. $26 million of which was attributable to macro and credit factors and $8 million of which was attributable to loan growth. As a result, our allowance coverage to loans decreased modestly to 125 basis points from 127 basis points last quarter, in part reflecting the mix shift to loans with lower loss content.

投影片 16 詳細介紹了我們的信貸損失準備金的組成部分，該準備金實際上與上一季持平。在記錄了 3,400 萬美元的淨沖銷後，我們產生了 3,400 萬美元的撥備。其中2600萬美元歸因於宏觀和信貸因素，其中800萬美元歸因於貸款成長。因此，我們的貸款準備金覆蓋率從上季度的 127 個基點小幅下降至 125 個基點，部分反映了貸款組合轉向損失含量較低的貸款。

Slide 17 highlights our key asset quality metrics. On the upper left, nonperforming assets are flat to prior quarter and up slightly to prior year with nonperforming loans representing just 41 basis points of total loans. Commercial classifieds as a percent of commercial loans increased to 182 basis points from 174 basis points as classified loans increased by $44 million on an absolute basis.

投影片 17 重點介紹了我們的關鍵資產品質指標。在左上方，不良資產與上季持平，與去年同期相比略有上升，不良貸款僅佔貸款總額的 41 個基點。商業分類貸款佔商業貸款的百分比從 174 個基點增加到 182 個基點，分類貸款絕對值增加了 4,400 萬美元。

Net charge-offs on the upper right totaled $34 million or 27 basis points of average loans on an annualized basis. We divested another $51 million of commercial loans in the quarter and $21 million of residential loans. These divestitures resulted in $14 million of the $34 million in net charge-offs.

右上角的淨沖銷總額為 3,400 萬美元，相當於年化平均貸款的 27 個基點。本季我們又剝離了 5,100 萬美元的商業貸款和 2,100 萬美元的住宅貸款。這些資產剝離導致 3,400 萬美元的淨沖銷中的 1,400 萬美元。

On Slide 18, we maintained strong capital levels. All capital levels remain in excess of regulatory and internal targets. Our Common Equity Tier 1 ratio was 11.12%, and our Tangible Common Equity ratio was 7.7%, our tangible book value was $32.39 a share.

在幻燈片 18 中，我們保持了強勁的資本水準。所有資本水準仍然超過監管和內部目標。我們的一級普通股比率為 11.12%，有形普通股比率為 7.7%，有形帳面價值為每股 32.39 美元。

I'll wrap up my comments on Slide 19 with our outlook for 2024. The outlook includes the pro forma impact of Ametros, which directly impacts deposits, net interest income, fees, and expenses. We expect to grow -- we expect loans to grow in the range of 5% to 7%. Growth will continue to be driven by our commercial businesses. Likewise, we expect deposits to grow 5% to 7%. We expect net interest income of $2.4 billion to $2.45 billion on a non-FTE basis. For those modeling net interest income on an FTE basis, I would add roughly $75 million to the outlook.

我將用我們對 2024 年的展望來總結我對投影片 19 的評論。展望包括 Ametros 的預期影響，它直接影響存款、淨利息收入、費用和支出。我們預計貸款將成長 5% 至 7%。我們的商業業務將繼續推動成長。同樣，我們預計存款將成長 5% 至 7%。我們預計非 FTE 基礎上的淨利息收入為 24 億至 24.5 億美元。對於那些以 FTE 為基礎對淨利息收入進行建模的人，我會在展望中增加約 7500 萬美元。

Our net interest income outlook assumes 4 decreases in the Fed funds rate beginning in May. Noninterest income is forecasted to be in the range of $375 million to $400 million. This includes approximately $25 million in fees generated by Ametros. Expenses are expected to be in the $1.3 billion to $1.325 billion. This includes approximately $50 million due to the addition of Ametros, representing both operating costs and the estimated intangible amortization.

我們的淨利息收入展望假設聯邦基金利率從 5 月開始下降 4 次。非利息收入預計在 3.75 億美元至 4 億美元之間。其中包括 Ametros 產生的約 2500 萬美元的費用。費用預計在 13 億至 13.25 億美元之間。其中包括因 Ametros 的加入而產生的約 5,000 萬美元，即營運成本和估計無形攤銷。

Our efficiency ratio is expected to be in the low to mid-40% range. We expect an effective tax rate of 21%. We'll continue to be prudent managers of capital and target a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of approximately 10.5%. With Ametros expected to close shortly, we anticipate revealing capital in the near term, after which we are committed to utilizing roughly 40% of our earnings for share repurchases and tuck-in acquisitions, similar to those that we have announced in the past couple of years. With that, I'll turn it back to John for closing remarks.

我們的效率比預計在 40% 的低至中範圍內。我們預計有效稅率為 21%。我們將繼續成為審慎的資本管理者，並將普通股一級資本比率的目標定為約 10.5%。由於 Ametros 預計將很快關閉，我們預計將在短期內揭露資本，之後我們承諾將約 40% 的收益用於股票回購和收購，類似於我們在過去幾年中宣布的那些年。說到這裡，我將把它轉回給約翰致結束語。

Thanks, Glenn. Despite continued industry headwinds, we remain optimistic about our prospects for 2024. Webster is in an advantageous position as we enter the year with good momentum. In a challenging year for the banking industry last year, we were able to add to our capabilities and grow the bank. Streamlining our technology will allow us to more efficiently improve our product and service offerings. We've also taken steps to reduce our earnings volatility.

謝謝，格倫。儘管行業逆風持續，我們對 2024 年的前景仍然樂觀。隨著我們以良好的勢頭進入今年，韋伯斯特處於有利地位。去年對銀行業來說是充滿挑戰的一年，我們能夠增強我們的能力並發展銀行。簡化我們的技術將使我們能夠更有效地改進我們的產品和服務。我們也採取措施減少獲利波動。

Our funding position and capital generation provides us with a great opportunity to grow the company in strategically compelling areas. We'll continue to invest in our people and technology, further enabling that opportunity. Given these dynamics and the starting point for our efficiency ratio, we will make these investments while maintaining peer-leading profitability and returns.

我們的資金狀況和資本生成為我們提供了在具有策略意義的領域發展公司的絕佳機會。我們將繼續投資我們的人員和技術，進一步實現這一機會。考慮到這些動態和我們效率比的起點，我們將在保持同業領先的獲利能力和回報的同時進行這些投資。

I'm going to conclude my remarks with a few acknowledgments of thanks. As we near the 2-year anniversary of the merger with Sterling, Jack Kopnisky will move out of his role as Executive Chairman of the company, and I will become Chair. Jack's counsel and partnership in building our company has been valuable over the past 2 years, and the company would not be where it is today without his vision and significant contributions.

我將以致謝來結束我的發言。在與 Sterling 合併兩週年之際，傑克·科普尼斯基 (Jack Kopnisky) 將不再擔任公司執行董事長，而我將擔任董事長。在過去的兩年裡，傑克為我們公司的建設提供的建議和合作夥伴關係非常寶貴，如果沒有他的遠見卓識和重大貢獻，公司就不會取得今天的成就。

As this is the last earnings call prior to the February 1 transition, I want to take this opportunity to publicly offer our collective thanks to Jack. Thank you to our colleagues for their efforts and on behalf of our shareholders and clients. 2023 was a challenging year in terms of industry turmoil and the work that went into completing our core conversion. Our colleagues put in a ton of work building our franchise and achieving our 2023 financial results. Thank you all for joining us on the call today. Operator, Glenn and I will open the line for questions.

由於這是 2 月 1 日過渡之前的最後一次財報電話會議，我想藉此機會公開向 Jack 表示集體感謝。感謝我們的同事並代表我們的股東和客戶所做的努力。就產業動盪和完成核心轉型的工作而言，2023 年是充滿挑戰的一年。我們的同事投入了大量工作來打造我們的特許經營權並實現 2023 年的財務表現。感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。接線員格倫和我將開通提問線。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Mark Fitzgibbon from Piper Sandler.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Mark Fitzgibbon。

First question I had, Glenn, based on where yields are today, do you plan to continue to grow and extend the security book in the first quarter to sort of further reduce asset sensitivity?

我的第一個問題是，格倫，根據今天的收益率，您是否計劃在第一季繼續成長和擴大證券帳戶，以進一步降低資產敏感性？

Yes, Mark, thanks. We did, as you probably saw, we did add about $1.1 billion in securities at the end of the fourth quarter. So I think that bodes well going into the next couple of quarters. And actually, we did it opportunistically at a high rate environment. So we feel good about that. But the real intent was to further minimize our asset sensitivity.

是的，馬克，謝謝。正如您可能看到的那樣，我們確實在第四季度末增加了約 11 億美元的證券。所以我認為這預示著接下來幾季的好兆頭。事實上，我們是在高利率環境下機會主義地做到了這一點。所以我們對此感覺良好。但真正的目的是進一步降低我們的資產敏感度。

But Glenn, do you plan to continue to do that in the first quarter?

但是格倫，你打算在第一季繼續這樣做嗎？

Yes. I mean it will be -- not to the extent that it's $1 billion, but it will be at a smaller level and reinvest. We have approximately $300 million coming off a quarter in our investment securities portfolio, which will be reinvested.

是的。我的意思是，不會達到 10 億美元的程度，但會是一個較小的水平並進行再投資。我們的投資證券投資組合每季大約有 3 億美元，將用於再投資。

Okay. And then just real quick, secondly, did you sell any office loans or loan notes in the quarter? And if so, where did you sell them relative to par?

好的。然後很快，其次，您在本季度出售了任何辦公室貸款或貸款票據嗎？如果是這樣，相對於面值，你在哪裡出售它們？

We did, Mark. I would say, and we've been talking about this -- the kind of progressive decline in the market values. I think mid-80s, but the loan sales were smaller this quarter and they weren't all office. So we did do some balance sheet repositioning, but not as robustly and not in bulk like we had in the last few quarters. As I noted, the $120 million decline in the quarter in office, this quarter, interestingly, was primarily from payoffs and refinances at market and par. So we didn't do a lot of office sales this quarter.

我們做到了，馬克。我想說，我們一直在談論這個——市場價值的逐步下降。我認為是 80 年代中期，但本季的貸款銷售量較小，而且並不都是辦公室。因此，我們確實進行了一些資產負債表重新定位，但不像過去幾季那樣強勁，也沒有大規模。正如我所指出的，有趣的是，本季在職季度減少了 1.2 億美元，主要來自以市場和麵額計算的支付和再融資。因此，本季我們沒有進行大量辦公室銷售。

Your next question comes from the line of Matt Breese from Stephens.

您的下一個問題來自史蒂芬斯的馬特布里斯（Matt Breese）。

I was hoping you could touch on loan yields. Expansion was a bit less than I was expecting this quarter, up 4 bps to 6 bps in ['24]. I was curious, one, what are incremental loan yields today, have they changed quarter-to-quarter? And then is the fact that we saw a slowdown in loan yield expansion tied to just the lack of Fed hikes? Or could you provide more color on that?

我希望你能談談貸款收益率。本季擴張略低於我的預期，['24]上升 4 個基點至 6 個基點。我很好奇，今天的增量貸款收益率是多少，它們是否按季度變化？那麼，我們看到貸款收益率擴張放緩是否與聯準會缺乏升息有關？或者你能提供更多的顏色嗎？

Yes. So let me -- I'll just hit the numbers at the beginning. So in the fourth quarter, our commercial loan yields were [760], for what was originated in the fourth quarter, and total loans was pretty much the same range, I think, [758] somewhere around there. And -- go ahead.

是的。所以讓我——我會從一開始就敲數字。因此，在第四季度，我們的商業貸款收益率為[760]，與第四季度的初始利率相同，我認為總貸款收益率幾乎在相同範圍內，[758]。並且——繼續吧。

Matt, so it's interesting, right? And obviously, we hit on it in the beginning. We had back-ended loan originations in the quarter, which hurt NII growth where -- and we also, if you look year-over-year, right, we have $650 million less in mortgage warehouse because we've exited that business. The other dynamic there is that the mix of business was high-quality, non-office commercial real estate fund banking, which has almost a full point of lower weighted average risk rating, but on the other side, also lower yield in.

馬特，這很有趣，對吧？顯然，我們一開始就想到了這一點。我們在本季有後端貸款發放，這損害了 NII 的成長，如果你逐年看的話，我們的抵押貸款倉庫減少了 6.5 億美元，因為我們已經退出了該業務。另一個動態是，業務組合是高品質的非辦公室商業房地產基金銀行業務，其加權平均風險評級幾乎降低了整整一個點，但另一方面，收益率也較低。

So we didn't see as much origination, I would say, given market conditions and given credit appetite in sponsor and specialty. And so a little bit of the mutation, if you will, in the expansion of yield had to do with the loan mix in the fourth quarter as much as anything.

因此，我想說，考慮到市場條件以及贊助商和專業領域的信貸偏好，我們沒有看到那麼多的起源。因此，如果你願意的話，收益率擴張中的一點變化與第四季度的貸款組合有關。

Got it. Okay. And then my second one, you had mentioned intangibles tied to Ametros. And I was curious what is the breakdown or the types of intangibles? And if it's CDI, what is the amortization methodology and time frame regarding that?

知道了。好的。然後是我的第二個問題，您提到了與 Ametros 相關的無形資產。我很好奇無形資產的細分或類型是什麼？如果是 CDI，攤銷方法和時間框架是怎麼樣的？

Yes, it's a great question. And when we're still working through the intangibles on that. We haven't closed on it yet, but it's a little different than the typical banking type of transaction in that these have a life somewhere in excess of 20 years. So you would expect the intangible amortization to be -- using in the bank space, it's the maximum of 10 years. But in this case, I think it would probably be further out than that.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。當我們仍在研究無形資產時。我們還沒有結束它，但它與典型的銀行交易類型有點不同，因為這些交易的壽命超過 20 年。所以你會期望無形攤銷——在銀行領域使用，最長為 10 年。但在這種情況下，我認為可能會比這更進一步。

But it's safe to assume it's a CDI versus goodwill?

但可以肯定地說這是 CDI 與商譽的比較嗎？

Yes. Primarily, yes.

是的。主要是，是的。

Your next question comes from the line of Chris McGratty from KBW.

您的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Chris McGratty。

Maybe a question on capital. I think you basically said that you're going to pause on the buybacks for a bit until you build a little bit more post Ametros. I guess 2-part question. What's your best estimate for pro forma CET1 for the deal? And then anything precluding you from resuming buybacks maybe Q2, Q3?

也許是關於資本的問題。我認為你基本上說過，你將暫停回購一段時間，直到你在 Ametros 後建立更多的股份。我想這個問題分成兩個部分。您對這筆交易的預估 CET1 的最佳估計是多少？然後有什麼阻止你恢復回購可能是第二、第三季嗎？

Yes. So thanks, Chris. And what I said was that in the near term. And so I think that you can think about common equity Tier 1 coming right about down to our target level of 10.5% in the first quarter and then we begin to build capital from that.

是的。所以謝謝，克里斯。我所說的是短期內的情況。因此，我認為您可以考慮第一季的普通股一級權益將降至我們 10.5% 的目標水平，然後我們開始從中累積資本。

Yes, that's exactly right. And I think we clearly have in our plan and expectations if there are no other productive uses of organic capital that we will look at dividend and repurchases in the latter half of the year, maybe the second, third, and fourth quarter over time. We generally repurchase shares to offset grants to employees as well. We'll continue to do that. So it's still part of our game plan. We're just being, I think, a little bit cautious and prudent as we look at our capital levels through the Ametros closing. We also potentially have opportunities in balance sheet and securities repositioning that could go into that bucket of decisions as well. But we anticipate returning capital to shareholders over the second half of the year.

是的，完全正確。我認為，如果有機資本沒有其他生產性用途，我們將在今年下半年（也許是第二、第三和第四季）考慮股息和回購，我們的計劃和預期中顯然有這一點。我們通常也會回購股票以抵銷對員工的補助。我們將繼續這樣做。所以這仍然是我們遊戲計劃的一部分。我認為，當我們透過 Ametros 關閉來審視我們的資本水準時，我們只是有點謹慎和謹慎。我們也可能有資產負債表和證券重新定位的機會，這些機會也可能納入這一類決策中。但我們預計將在今年下半年向股東返還資本。

Okay. Great. And then maybe one on the NII guide. I think you've got an outlook that looks more similar to ours, which has a little bit fewer cuts than the futures market. If we were to get the 5, 6 cuts by 2024, how would your NII outlook change from what you provided?

好的。偉大的。然後也許是 NII 指南上的一篇。我認為你的前景看起來與我們的前景更加相似，我們的降價幅度比期貨市場少一些。如果我們到 2024 年實現 5、6 次削減，您的 NII 前景會與您提供的相比有何變化？

So I think if we got 6 cuts and we have 4 cuts in there now, it would probably -- it's not really that significant to us. We do have some hedges that would kick in, but I think it's probably in the range just to give you a ballpark of $15 million to $20 million downside. So it's not that significant.

所以我認為，如果我們削減了 6 名球員，而現在又削減了 4 名球員，那麼這對我們來說可能並沒有那麼重要。我們確實有一些可以發揮作用的對沖，但我認為它可能只是在給你 1500 萬至 2000 萬美元的下行空間的範圍內。所以這並沒有那麼重要。

Okay. And that $15 million to $20 million is for 2024, given the case...

好的。鑑於這種情況，1500 萬至 2000 萬美元是 2024 年的資金…

Yes, in 2024. So if you took our guidance at the low end and high end, you said we had 6 cuts, it would probably be in the range of you take out $15 million to $20 million on that.

是的，2024 年。因此，如果您按照我們在低端和高端的指導，您說我們有 6 次削減，那麼您可能會為此拿出 1500 萬至 2000 萬美元。

Your next question comes from the line of Casey Haire from Jefferies.

您的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Casey Haire。

Great. So Glenn, just following up on another one on the NII guide. So looking at Slide 11, giving us the cum beta in the first quarter to 41%. I was wondering if you could give us the progression throughout the year. Where does that cum beta peak in the tightening cycle? And then how does it progress after you get these 4 cuts beginning in May.

偉大的。格倫只是在跟進 NII 指南上的另一篇文章。看一下投影片 11，第一季的 cum beta 為 41%。我想知道您是否可以告訴我們全年的進展。緊縮週期中的 cum beta 峰值在哪裡？從 5 月開始進行這 4 次削減後，進展如何？

Yes. So I think it will be Casey, I think it will stay around that 41%, plus or minus. I think the dynamic there is going to be our deposit repricing. And so if you look at our book of $60 billion, about 20% or say $12 million of that book is what I would characterize as high beta no lag type of deposits. So those -- as the -- and think of Ametros is a perfect example, but almost $6 billion. I'm sorry, interLINK. I'm getting ahead of it. interLINK, $6 billion, right? So that would reprice one-on-one with Fed funds. And it would be immediate. So that's an example of a high beta no lag type of deposits.

是的。所以我認為會是凱西，我認為它會保持在 41% 左右，上下浮動。我認為動態將是我們的存款重新定價。因此，如果你看看我們 600 億美元的帳簿，大約 20% 或說 1200 萬美元就是我所說的高貝塔無滯後類型的存款。因此，Ametros 就是一個完美的例子，但價值近 60 億美元。對不起，interLINK。我已經領先了。 interLINK，60 億美元，對吧？因此，這將與聯邦基金一對一地重新定價。這將是立竿見影的。這是高貝塔無滯後類型存款的一個例子。

So I look at our deposit book, it's about 20%, sort of say, $12 billion, $13 billion or $60 billion. So that will be a benefit for us. So I think it will -- we'll probably end up around -- 41% plus or minus somewhere around there. The other factor you have is that our down deposit beta is probably going to run on a full year basis in the mid-20s, right? So that will help offset some of it as well.

所以我看看我們的存款簿，大約是 20%，比如說 120 億美元、130 億美元或 600 億美元。所以這對我們來說是有好處的。所以我認為，我們最終可能會達到大約 41% 左右的正負值。另一個因素是我們的首付測試版可能會在 20 多歲左右進行全年運行，對嗎？因此，這也將有助於抵消其中的一些影響。

And Ametros and just -- I did bring up Ametros, that will lower our data because obviously, we're bringing in $800 million at a few basis points, and that's expected to grow by 25% a year.

Ametros，我確實提到了 Ametros，這會降低我們的數據，因為顯然，我們在幾個基點上帶來了 8 億美元的收入，預計每年增長 25%。

Got you. Okay. And then just following up on sort of the fee and expense guide, implies a decent ramp from the current run rate. I know, obviously, Ametros is on the [come] here. Just wondering, can you break out what is what is organic or what is legacy Webster? And then what does Ametros add just so we can get a better feel for ramps?

明白你了。好的。然後，只要跟進某種費用和支出指南，就意味著當前的運作率會有一個不錯的成長。我知道，顯然，Ametros 正在[來到]這裡。只是想知道，你能分辨出什麼是有機的，什麼是遺留下來的韋伯斯特嗎？那麼 Ametros 增加了什麼才能讓我們更好地體驗坡道呢？

Yes. Let me take a run at it and then John can add some color. So core expenses were $1.2 billion, say, in 2023. And as you saw, the guidance, $1.3 billion to $1.325 billion in '24. So round numbers, that represents growth of like $100 million to $125 million. And if you peel that back, I would say, approximately $50 million is tied to Ametros. And so that includes operating costs, associated with 150 employees, the technology platform along with the intangible amortization.

是的。讓我試一下，然後約翰可以添加一些顏色。因此，2023 年的核心支出為 12 億美元。如您所看到的，2024 年的指引為 13 億美元至 13.25 億美元。如此四捨五入的數字，意味著 1 億至 1.25 億美元的成長。如果你把這一點剝離開來，我想說，大約有 5000 萬美元與 Ametros 有關。這包括與 150 名員工相關的營運成本、技術平台以及無形攤銷。

And about half of the remaining -- so that's $50 million and about half the remaining is tied to performance-based comp, right? So $20 million (inaudible) from performance-based comp, and then another $40 million tied to investments in revenue-generating type of business lines. So you got $40 million from performance-based comp, another -- or $20 million from performance-based comp, $40 million from investment in the business and then $50 million on Ametros in very broad numbers.

剩下的大約一半——也就是說 5000 萬美元，剩下的大約一半與基於績效的薪酬掛鉤，對吧？因此，2000 萬美元（聽不清楚）來自基於績效的補償，然後另外 4000 萬美元用於投資創收類型的業務線。因此，你從基於績效的補償中獲得了4000 萬美元，或者從基於績效的補償中獲得了2000 萬美元，從業務投資中獲得了4000 萬美元，然後從Ametros 獲得了5000 萬美元，數量非常廣泛。

And then the fees he asked.

然後是他要求的費用。

Okay. So on NII, so our -- yes, noninterest income, sorry. So core net interest income, $348 million for 2023. We're projecting $375 million to $400 million. So you got $25 million to $50 million in year-over-year growth, and about $25 million of that is tied to Ametros, right, which is a mix of account administration fees, pharmacy and other transactional sort of rebate type of fees. The remaining growth is sort of across a number of categories like HSA interchange up $4 million to $5 million, commercial lending fees, which includes swaps, syndication and transactional type of fees, $3 million to $5 million, trust and investment fees and some smaller in cash management fees. So that gives you the sort of geography of it.

好的。所以在 NII 上，我們的——是的，非利息收入，抱歉。因此，2023 年核心淨利息收入為 3.48 億美元。我們預計為 3.75 億至 4 億美元。因此，您獲得了 2500 萬至 5000 萬美元的同比增長，其中大約 2500 萬美元與 Ametros 相關，對吧，這是帳戶管理費、藥劑費和其他交易類回扣類型費用的組合。剩餘的成長涉及多個類別，例如HSA 互換費用增加400 萬至500 萬美元，商業貸款費用（包括掉期、銀團和交易類型費用）、300 萬至500 萬美元、信託和投資費用以及一些較小的費用。現金管理費。這給了你它的地理位置。

And Casey, to put a finer point on expenses, right? It looks like a high headline number, but to Glenn's point, half of the increase in the guided expenses really are related to Ametros acquisition of those expenses, as Glenn said, part of it is OpEx and part of it is the amortization of intangibles, and then you have performance-based compensation year-over-year, an increase in expectation, which most of the industry is seeing.

凱西，更詳細地說明支出，對吧？這看起來像是一個很高的標題數字，但在 Glenn 看來，指導費用增長的一半確實與 Ametros 收購這些費用有關，正如 Glenn 所說，其中一部分是營運支出，一部分是無形資產攤銷，然後你會得到基於績效的薪酬逐年增加，期望值增加，這是大多數行業所看到的。

If you then look down, the remaining increase in core expenses is about 4% or slightly under. And that has some investment in teams and people and projects and technology. Even if we execute all of those things, with our range of expectations, we're still going to be in the low to mid-40% from the efficiency perspective which I think is unique for us, giving us the opportunity to be on offense and to continue to invest into the kind of revenue tailwinds and the rate decline. So -- and obviously, we have opportunities should the tailwinds with respect to NII or fees get higher than we expect to curtail and time -- on the timing on some of those investments and lower expenses if we need to.

如果再往下看，核心費用的剩餘增幅約為 4% 或略低。這對團隊、人員、專案和技術進行了一些投資。即使我們執行了所有這些事情，按照我們的期望範圍，從效率角度來看，我們仍然會處於 40% 的中低水平，我認為這對我們來說是獨一無二的，讓我們有機會進攻並繼續投資於收入順風和利率下降。因此，顯然，如果國家資訊基礎設施或費用方面的順風車或費用高於我們預期的削減和時間，我們有機會確定其中一些投資的時機，並在需要時降低費用。

So I feel pretty good about where we are, ending up at those financial metrics we promised over time given the guidance we've given. And I think the headline number on the expenses really needs to kind of peel it back and realize that half of it is not organic. It's the acquisition and the rest of it is kind of performance-based and investment in new revenue opportunities.

因此，我對我們的現狀感到非常滿意，根據我們給予的指導，最終達到了我們承諾的財務指標。我認為支出的標題數字確實需要將其剝離並意識到其中一半不是有機的。這是收購，其餘部分是基於績效和對新收入機會的投資。

Your next question comes from the line of Manan Gosalia from Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Manan Gosalia。

Can you talk about the guidance for the 5% to 7% loan growth in 2024. Where do you see that growth coming from? And I guess, what do you view as a catalyst, right? Like how much help do you need from the environment to get to that high end of that range?

您能談談 2024 年 5% 至 7% 貸款成長的指導嗎？您認為這種成長來自哪裡？我想，您認為什麼是催化劑，對吧？例如您需要環境提供多少幫助才能達到該範圍的高端？

Yes, I think that's a great question. And obviously, we realize that the 5% to 7% guide is kind of on the top end of what you're seeing in the market. And the good news from our advantage point is we hope that we've got a good finger on the pulse of our pipeline and our clients and the markets and the sectors we serve. So what I would say is we're not projecting that with a hope and pray attitude that the market conditions improve. We're understanding our original assumptions going in were that we would have higher loan growth than that. And so I really do think we've got a lot of opportunity.

是的，我認為這是一個很好的問題。顯然，我們意識到 5% 到 7% 的指導值是您在市場上看到的最高值。從我們的優勢來看，好消息是我們希望能夠很好地掌握我們的管道、客戶、市場和我們服務的行業的脈動。所以我想說的是，我們並沒有抱著希望和祈禱市場狀況改善的態度來預測這一點。我們理解我們最初的假設是我們的貸款成長會高於這個數字。所以我確實認為我們有很多機會。

We've gone through our pipelines in commercial. The majority of the originations in the loan growth will come in those commercial categories, which will be non-office cree, commercial public sector finance, sponsor and specialty, general C&I end market and fund banking. Those are the areas we obviously have good equipment finance and ABL capabilities too. But I would say those core commercial categories where the growth is.

我們已經完成了商業方面的準備工作。貸款成長的大部分來源將來自商業類別，其中包括非辦公室信貸、商業公共部門金融、贊助商和專業、一般商業與工業終端市場和基金銀行業務。在這些領域，我們顯然也擁有良好的設備融資和 ABL 能力。但我想說的是那些成長所在的核心商業類別。

And the other finer point in talking to our Head of Commercial Banking and looking at our pipeline going forward and the momentum we had at the end of the quarter in terms of booking is that you're seeing -- while you may not see overall loan demand starting to flourish, obviously, it's still a bit muted. In some of the transactional areas, we're starting to see more trading of assets and more transactional activity. And for us, for Webster, in our unique businesses, that means real estate investors, private equity sponsors who are starting to see more activity in terms of buying and selling assets or buying and selling companies and that's why we've seen our pipeline grow significantly as we head into the first quarter.

與我們的商業銀行主管交談並查看我們未來的管道以及我們在季度末在預訂方面的勢頭的另一個要點是，您所看到的 - 雖然您可能看不到總體貸款需求開始蓬勃發展，顯然，它仍然有點低迷。在一些交易領域，我們開始看到更多的資產交易和更多的交易活動。對我們來說，對於韋伯斯特來說，在我們獨特的業務中，這意味著房地產投資者、私募股權贊助商開始看到更多在買賣資產或買賣公司方面的活動，這就是我們看到我們的管道成長的原因當我們進入第一季時，這一點顯著增加。

We'll obviously keep people updated as we go quarter-to-quarter. But right now, we've got a good level of confidence that, that 5% bogey on the low end of the range is something that's attainable without taking too much risk and continuing to execute kind of within our underwriting boxes and with our existing strategies around segments and geography.

顯然，我們會按季度向人們通報最新情況。但現在，我們有很大的信心，在範圍低端的 5% 柏忌是可以實現的，無需承擔太多風險，並繼續在我們的承保範圍內和我們現有的策略中執行圍繞細分市場和地理位置。

Very helpful. And then if you could speak a little bit about the credit side, especially on commercial credit. I know there was a smaller increase this quarter on the commercial classified loan bucket. But if you can expand on what you're seeing there? And if you could dig in a little bit on what you're seeing in non-office CRE?

很有幫助。然後您能否談談信用方面，尤其是商業信用。我知道本季商業分類貸款的增幅較小。但如果你能擴展你在那裡看到的內容呢？您能否深入了解您在非辦公室 CRE 中看到的情況？

Sure. We're not really seeing any degradation in -- I'll start with your last question, in non-office and we seem to be managing maturities well and sponsors and owners seem to be connected to their loans. So I wouldn't note any significant deterioration there at all. I think the way I characterize the quarter from a credit perspective as being relatively unchanged from prior quarter is pretty accurate. We had a few loans in C&I go into classified. We also reduced our nonperformers modestly. So we kind of had some offsets there. And the overall credit profile remains stable.

當然。我們並沒有真正看到任何退化——我將從你的最後一個問題開始，在非辦公室，我們似乎很好地管理了到期日，贊助商和所有者似乎與他們的貸款有關。所以我根本不會注意到那裡有任何明顯的惡化。我認為我從信貸角度描述本季與上一季相比相對不變的方式是相當準確的。我們在工商業領域有一些貸款被分類。我們也適度減少了表現不佳的員工。所以我們在那裡有一些補償。整體信用狀況保持穩定。

We're not seeing any -- and again, I haven't dealt with you a lot, but many know that I was the Chief Credit Risk Officer during the great recession and thereafter. I have been surprised like many of us that there's been no capitulation in certain areas, right? And we're still seeing significant resiliency in the consumer. We have no issues at all in our home equity and mortgage loans with respect to delinquencies or issues. And in C&I, people have been pretty resilient, and we're seeing some level of investment.

我們沒有看到任何 - 再說一次，我沒有和你們打交道很多，但很多人都知道我在大衰退期間及之後擔任首席信用風險官。像我們許多人一樣，我對某些領域沒有投降感到驚訝，對吧？我們仍然看到消費者俱有顯著的彈性。我們的房屋淨值和抵押貸款完全不存在拖欠或問題。在工商業領域，人們的適應力相當強，我們看到了一定程度的投資。

The areas that we still focus on, I would say, in sponsor and specialty health care services, those are sort of secular pressures, contracting, which generally is cyclical, but we've done a good job proactively either avoiding certain sectors and certain opportunities or being able to remediate things quickly. And then obviously, you've seen us reduce our office exposure (inaudible) by almost $700 million over the course of the last 5 or 6 quarters without material loss.

我想說，我們仍然關注的領域是贊助商和專業醫療保健服務，這些領域是長期壓力、合同，通常是周期性的，但我們已經做得很好，要么避開某些部門和某些機會或能夠快速修正問題。顯然，您已經看到我們在過去 5 或 6 個季度中將辦公室風險敞口（聽不清楚）減少了近 7 億美元，而沒有造成重大損失。

So I think the overall net risk rating migration in the portfolio continues to be modestly to the downside. But with proactive risk management and working through things, we're not seeing any material areas of stress in the portfolio. Even if you look at the charge-off numbers, I think for the year, we ended up at about 22 basis points. Interestingly, that's kind of the same as the 5-year average pre-pandemic. So you really -- that gives you a perspective of where credit performance is now even to pre-pandemic levels. And within that 22 basis points, 10 basis points of the 22 basis points is related to proactive balance sheet management and loan sales. So we really haven't seen kind of the credit wave that I think people have been expecting for time, but we continue to monitor pretty aggressively.

因此，我認為投資組合中的整體淨風險評級遷移繼續適度下行。但透過積極主動的風險管理和解決問題，我們在投資組合中沒有看到任何重大壓力領域。即使你看一下沖銷數據，我認為今年我們的利率最終約為 22 個基點。有趣的是，這與大流行前 5 年的平均值相似。所以你真的——這讓你了解信用表現現在甚至達到了大流行前的水平。在這 22 個基點中，22 個基點中有 10 個基點與主動資產負債表管理和貸款銷售有關。因此，我們確實沒有看到人們期待已久的信貸浪潮，但我們將繼續積極監控。

Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Tamayo from Raymond James.

您的下一個問題來自雷蒙德詹姆斯 (Raymond James) 的丹尼爾塔馬約 (Daniel Tamayo)。

Just a quick one, almost all my questions have been asked at this point. But just I guess to put a finer point on the intent amortization discussion around the Ametros expenses in 2024, did you have a number that is baked into your forecast that we could just pull out the operating of Ametros from?

簡單說一下，此時我幾乎所有的問題都已被問到。但我想對圍繞 2024 年 Ametros 費用的意向攤銷討論進行更詳細的討論，您的預測中是否包含了一個數字，表明我們可以從中撤出 Ametros 的運營？

So what I would say is we said expenses would be up $50 million, and I would say about half of that is going to be intangible amortization.

所以我想說的是，我們說費用將增加 5000 萬美元，我想說其中大約一半將是無形攤銷。

Your next question comes from the line of Steven Alexopoulos from JP Morgan.

您的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Steven Alexopoulos。

I want to go back to the margin for you, Glenn. So the NIM at 3.42% is fairly strong, right? Many of your peers are in the 2% club. As we think about the potential for Fed cuts, right, which is a short-term negative, given an asset-sensitive balance sheet, the long-term positive, given the potential for a steeper curve, put this together for us, like how do you think the NIM? Does the NIM trend up in early part of '24 and then down once we start getting those cuts. And then once we do get a normal curve, how do you think about a normal NIM versus where you are in 4Q?

我想為你回到邊緣，格倫。所以 3.42% 的淨利差相當強勁，對嗎？您的許多同行都屬於 2% 俱樂部。當我們考慮聯準會降息的可能性時（右），考慮到對資產敏感的資產負債表，這是短期的負面影響；考慮到曲線可能更陡峭，這是長期的正面影響，把這些放在一起，就像如何你認為NIM嗎？ NIM 趨勢是否在 24 年初上升，然後在我們開始削減之後下降？一旦我們確實得到了正常曲線，您如何看待正常的淨利差與第四季度的情況？

Yes. Thanks, Steve. So I think the 3.42% is sort of more of an anomaly for us given the originations that occurred. John, I think, highlighted in his remarks, over $1 billion of loan origination, securities originations at the end of the quarter. So we'll get the full benefit of that as we get into the first quarter. And then if you add things like a Ametros and you just think of it like mathematically, $800 million is coming in. At a minimum, we're going to pay down FHLB borrowings that are 5%, 5.25%, right? So you get the immediate benefit of that. And that will carry out for the whole year, so that will support our NIM.

是的。謝謝，史蒂夫。因此，考慮到所發生的起源，我認為 3.42% 對我們來說更像是一種反常現象。我認為約翰在他的演講中強調了本季末超過 10 億美元的貸款發放和證券發放。因此，當我們進入第一季時，我們將充分受益。然後，如果你加上像 Ametros 這樣的東西，你只要從數學角度思考一下，就會有 8 億美元進來。至少，我們要償還 FHLB 的借款，利率為 5%、5.25%，對嗎？所以你會立即受益。這將持續一整年，這將支持我們的 NIM。

The other thing, and I know we've talked about this in the past is we continue to have this dynamic, as I think all due, that fixed rate loans are repricing. So for us, it's like $1 billion to $1.2 billion in some quarters of fixed rate loans that are repricing. And to the extent they reprice into fixed rate loans, you're picking up 200 basis points. So that's added to NIM as well.

另一件事，我知道我們過去已經討論過這一點，我們繼續保持這種動態，我認為一切都應如此，固定利率貸款正在重新定價。因此，對我們來說，某些季度的固定利率貸款重新定價約為 10 億至 12 億美元。如果它們重新定價為固定利率貸款，您將獲得 200 個基點。所以這也被加到 NIM 中。

The securities purchases, like we talked about at the end of the quarter, you get the full year benefit of that. When you think about the restructuring we did on $400 million, we probably picked up about 400 basis points on that. These are all additive to NIM. And I think what's the dynamic here is that you'll see NIM support it in the first couple of quarters, and that will carry out through the year, you'll see -- we are asset sensitive. So in the back half of the year, as the Fed starts to cut, you'll see NIM -- you'll see deposit costs begin to -- which will initially be a lag, will begin to reprice down as well.

證券購買，就像我們在季度末談到的那樣，您可以獲得全年的收益。當你想到我們用 4 億美元進行的重組時，我們可能會在此基礎上獲得約 400 個基點。這些都是NIM的補充。我認為這裡的動態是，你會看到 NIM 在前幾季支持它，並且這將貫穿全年，你會看到 - 我們對資產敏感。因此，在今年下半年，當聯準會開始降息時，你會看到淨利差（NIM）——你會看到存款成本開始——這最初將是一個滯後，也將開始重新定價。

So all that ins and outs and there's a lot of moving pieces as I'm sure you can appreciate. I would expect that the NIM would be in the range of 3% to 3.45% with some potential upside, depending on how the balance sheet rolls out.

所以，所有的細節以及很多令人感動的部分，我相信你會欣賞的。我預計淨利差將在 3% 至 3.45% 的範圍內，並有一些潛在的上行空間，具體取決於資產負債表的展開方式。

Yes. And Steve, I think you have the dynamic right, right? We get some opportunity in the near term, a little more pressure in the long term this year when they start cutting. But as Glenn said, we feel pretty confident given the moves we've made that we can keep that NIM relatively stable at a rate better than most of the industry.

是的。史蒂夫，我認為你有動力，對嗎？我們在短期內獲得了一些機會，但從長期來看，當今年他們開始削減開支時，我們將面臨更大的壓力。但正如格倫所說，鑑於我們已經採取的舉措，我們非常有信心能夠以比大多數行業更好的速度保持淨息差相對穩定。

Got it. Okay. And then I had a question on HSA Bank, which had a decent year overall for 2023. So as you guys know, there was quite a bit of speculation since the last earnings call in terms of your appetite to retain the business. John, could you frame for us how you look at HSA Bank today, right? I look at the Slide 4 and I say, "Well, maybe it's not as important as it used to be to the franchise". And do you feel that the value of HSA Bank is being held back by being inside of Webster. Can you give me an update there?

知道了。好的。然後我有一個關於 HSA 銀行的問題，該銀行 2023 年總體表現不錯。正如你們所知，自上次財報電話會議以來，關於您保留該業務的意願有很多猜測。約翰，您能為我們介紹一下您現在如何看待 HSA 銀行嗎？我看著幻燈片 4，然後說：「好吧，也許它對特許經營權來說並不像以前那麼重要了」。您是否認為 HSA 銀行的價值因位於韋伯斯特內部而受到阻礙？你能給我更新一下嗎？

Sure. I don't. So I'll answer the question kind of short term. And it's every bit as important to us as it's been. Obviously, it's from a pure financial contribution perspective, given the size of the organization now, it's a slightly smaller contributor. But nonetheless, hugely important to us from a revenue and fee and obviously, low-cost, long-duration deposit perspective.

當然。我不。所以我會短期回答這個問題。它對我們來說一如既往地重要。顯然，這是從純粹的財務貢獻角度來看，考慮到現在組織的規模，它的貢獻者略小。但儘管如此，從收入和費用以及低成本、長期存款的角度來看，這對我們來說非常重要。

I can clarify on this call because I knew there was a lot of activity and speculation after our last phone call. I answered that question the way I had answered it every single quarter when asked. What happened, Steve, was that no one asked the question for about 6 quarters. So people thought because I gave an answer that there was a new perspective. No, we are not a seller of HSA.

我可以就這通通話進行澄清，因為我知道在我們上次通話之後有很多活動和猜測。我回答這個問題的方式與每季被問到時的方式相同。史蒂夫，發生的事情是大約六個季度沒有人問這個問題。所以人們認為因為我給了一個答案，所以有一個新的視角。不，我們不是 HSA 的賣家。

We are a true believer particularly with the acquisition of Ametros in our ability, unique ability as a bank to have diversified funding sources that grow fees at a good clip, and I think we'll be able to -- and not included in our forecast, as I mentioned, are opportunities for us to have cross synergies in some of these really unique businesses, even throw interLINK in there as well.

我們是真正的相信者，特別是在收購Ametros 後，我們相信我們的能力，作為一家銀行擁有多元化融資來源的獨特能力，可以大幅提高費用，我認為我們將能夠——而且不包括在我們的預測中正如我所提到的，我們有機會在其中一些真正獨特的業務中產生交叉協同效應，甚至可以將 interLINK 加入其中。

But I also do say very carefully every time that we're a steward of our shareholders' capital. And so we continually have to evaluate all of our business lines, how we can maximize economic profit in those business lines and whether or not that happens as a wholly owned activity or as a joint venture activity or as a sold activity and so our premise is we're not a seller of HSA. But obviously, we're always doing diligence to make sure that we're not missing an opportunity to achieve the best value for our shareholders as we allocate capital and make those decisions.

但每次我都會非常謹慎地說我們是股東資本的管家。因此，我們必須不斷評估我們所有的業務線，我們如何才能最大限度地提高這些業務線的經濟利潤，以及這是否作為全資活動、合資活動或出售活動發生，因此我們的前提是我們不是HSA 的賣家。但顯然，我們一直在盡職盡責，以確保在分配資本和做出這些決策時不會錯過為股東實現最佳價值的機會。

Got it. That's helpful color. John, if I could squeeze 1 more in and violate your 2-question rule. So just regarding this $100 billion potential threshold. So you guys ended the year at $75 billion, and when we look at some of your peers in the similar asset range, a lot of them are on an RWA diet, right? But when you look at your 2024 guidance, you guys seem to want to be at the buffet. So when you look in that, do you see no reason to slow growth, like you feel like you're very prepared, you know those rules could change, but that's no reason to slow your growth in terms of trying to manage the time line to get there? Just what gives you so much more confidence than some of your peers?

知道了。這是有用的顏色。約翰，如果我能再擠進 1 個問題，就違反了你的 2 個問題規則。就這個 1000 億美元的潛在門檻而言。所以你們今年的資產達到了 750 億美元，當我們看看你們的一些類似資產範圍的同行時，他們中的很多人都在實行 RWA，對嗎？但當你看到 2024 年指導時，你們似乎想吃自助餐。因此，當您審視這一點時，您是否認為沒有理由放慢增長速度，就像您覺得自己已經做好充分準備一樣，您知道這些規則可能會改變，但這並不是在嘗試管理時間線方面放慢增長的理由到那裡？到底是什麼讓您比一些同齡人更有信心？

Yes. That's a loaded question. I mean, I think that -- look, I think we have a ways to go before we hit the threshold. As you can imagine, we're spending a lot of time looking at our 3- and 5-year plans making sure that we're prepared from a compliance and risk management perspective, making sure we understand the full impact of the rules if they ultimately are enacted on capital, on liquidity, on the makeup of our balance sheet.

是的。這是一個有內涵的問題。我的意思是，我認為——看，我認為在達到門檻之前我們還有很長的路要走。正如您可以想像的那樣，我們花了大量時間來研究我們的3 年和5 年計劃，以確保我們從合規和風險管理的角度做好準備，並確保我們了解這些規則的全部影響（如果它們）最終是根據資本、流動性和資產負債表的組成來制定的。

Steve, I think we've got enough flexibility in the asset classes that we grow, we can make economic moves to divest or to slow growth quickly. And we're not up against the gun with respect to looking at this over the next 18 to 24 months. I think we still have some running room to service customers, to take care of our existing clients and continue to plan for the eventuality of $100 billion. And so we don't think that it's time to pull back and slow growth now. But every move we're making and everything we're doing strategically, we obviously have an eye toward what's that mean when you overlay the $100 billion requirement.

史蒂夫，我認為我們在成長的資產類別上有足夠的靈活性，我們可以採取經濟措施來撤資或快速減緩成長。在接下來的 18 到 24 個月內，我們不會面臨槍砲的威脅。我認為我們仍然有一些運行空間來服務客戶、照顧我們現有的客戶並繼續為 1000 億美元的可能性做好計劃。因此，我們認為現在還不是收縮和放緩成長的時候。但我們正在採取的每一步行動以及我們在戰略上所做的一切，我們顯然都在關注當您疊加 1000 億美元的要求時意味著什麼。

So I know that may not be a satisfying answer, but know that we're thinking about it. We're thinking about what it means for our future view on M&A. Do you want to crawl over $100 billion? Do you want to avoid it? Do you want to jump well over $100 billion? Those are the discussions we're having. And we're positioning ourselves, quite frankly, because of the uncertainty in the market to be able to take advantage of any one of those strategies if it's the right strategy at the time.

所以我知道這可能不是一個令人滿意的答案，但我知道我們正在考慮它。我們正在思考這對我們未來的併購觀點意味著什麼。你想爬過1000億美元嗎？你想避免它嗎？您想突破 1000 億美元嗎？這些就是我們正在討論的內容。坦白說，我們正在對自己進行定位，因為市場存在不確定性，如果當時的策略是正確的，我們是否能夠利用其中任何一種策略。

So I don't think we're putting ourselves in a trapped position by continuing to use our differentiated funding base and origination channels to continue to grow at this pace. I don't think we are.

因此，我不認為我們繼續利用我們差異化的融資基礎和發起管道繼續以這種速度成長，從而使自己陷入困境。我不認為我們是。

Your next question comes from the line of Brody Preston from UBS.

您的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的布羅迪普雷斯頓 (Brody Preston)。

Glenn, I just wanted to follow up on the securities purchases and restructure with a couple of questions. The purchase yield was 6.79% this quarter. So one, what are you buying? And then two, just given the end of quarter purchases, the restructurings, what was the spot rate -- spot yield for securities at the end of the quarter?

格倫，我只是想跟進證券購買和重組的幾個問題。本季購買收益率為6.79%。那麼一問，你買什麼？然後第二個問題，考慮到季度末的購買、重組，即期利率是多少——季度末證券的現貨收益率是多少？

Sure. So first on the question, we sold, like I said, $408 million. I think the yield on that was like 128 basis points. And most of what we bought really during the quarter was MBS and with it, say, a 3.8-year duration and a book yield of say 580, 585. Does that answer that part?

當然。首先，正如我所說，我們出售了 4.08 億美元。我認為其收益率約為 128 個基點。我們在本季真正購買的大部分是 MBS，其期限為 3.8 年，帳面收益率為 580、585。這能回答這個問題嗎？

Yes, it does. It does.

是的，它確實。確實如此。

Okay. And then the securities yield, I think (inaudible) is 3.46%, quarter end.

好的。然後，季度末的證券收益率（聽不清楚）為 3.46%。

Okay. And so you continue to plan to purchase securities if I heard your response to Mark correctly, in the first quarter. So I'm assuming that you're going to continue purchasing at similar yields that you did.

好的。因此，如果我正確地聽到你在第一季對馬克的回應，你將繼續計劃購買證券。因此，我假設您將繼續以與之前類似的收益率購買。

Yes, reinvesting. Like if you think of our securities (inaudible) spins off about $300 million a quarter, we would reinvest that and roll it.

是的，再投資。就像如果你認為我們的證券（聽不清楚）每季剝離約 3 億美元，我們會將其再投資並滾動。

Okay. Got it. And then just for my follow-up, I just wanted to touch on Ametros again. Thank you for kind of talking about the CDI expense. But I wanted to ask just the 25% CAGR on the surface, it seems like a pretty aggressive kind of growth target just given we're bank analysts. But I was hoping maybe you could discuss maybe setting the synergies aside, why you think that's the appropriate kind of growth target? And where are there areas of conservatism within that guidance where you could kind of outperform it organically even without synergies?

好的。知道了。接下來，我想再來談談 Ametros。感謝您談論 CDI 費用。但我想問的是表面上 25% 的複合年增長率，考慮到我們是銀行分析師，這似乎是一個相當積極的成長目標。但我希望您可以討論一下，也許將協同效應放在一邊，為什麼您認為這是合適的成長目標？在該指南中哪些領域存在保守主義，即使沒有協同效應，您也可以有機地超越它？

Yes. Remember, it's off a pretty small base, and we've got historic data, and there's a great management team there and a great team and they've demonstrated the ability to do it. As I noted, there really is a pretty strong pipeline. You can see the natural growth.

是的。請記住，它的基礎相當小，我們有歷史數據，並且有一個優秀的管理團隊和一個優秀的團隊，他們已經證明了做到這一點的能力。正如我所指出的，確實有一個相當強大的管道。你可以看到自然生長。

It's kind of HSA, it's very predictable. And it's also like HSA a little bit, and they have great relationships with both their account holders and the insurance companies that they do work for. And so we've got pretty good line of sight to growth off a relatively small base going forward.

這是一種 HSA，非常可預測。它也有點像 HSA，他們與帳戶持有人和他們工作的保險公司都有良好的關係。因此，我們有很好的視野，可以在相對較小的基礎上繼續發展。

And you've got kind of -- a bunch of that is contracted future payments. So you kind of know what's coming in. So I think we feel pretty comfortable that, that's kind of a reasonable range. Where we see the upside, I mentioned it in my comments. We don't factor in right now any other expansion into different product sets with similar characteristics.

而且你已經得到了一些——其中一大堆是合約中的未來付款。所以你知道會發生什麼。所以我認為我們感到很舒服，這是一個合理的範圍。我在評論中提到了我們看到的好處。我們現在不考慮任何其他擴展到具有相似特徵的不同產品集的情況。

And I know the CEO there, who's really talented, has good line of sight with capital investment behind him to be able to expand the markets that they serve. We don't factor in any synergies between account holders in some of our other businesses and cross-sell opportunities. So the upside is really our opportunity to figure out new ways for them to do it. But in terms of our baseline, 25% CAGR growth, we feel very confident that, that's kind of a very predictable, strong line of sight to that growth over the next 5 years.

我知道那裡的執行長非常有才華，擁有良好的視野和背後的資本投資，能夠擴大他們所服務的市場。我們沒有考慮我們其他一些業務的帳戶持有人之間的任何協同效應和交叉銷售機會。因此，好處是我們有機會為他們找到新的方法。但就我們的基線而言，即 25% 的複合年增長率，我們非常有信心，這是對未來 5 年增長的非常可預測的、強烈的預期。

Got it. If I could sneak one more in. Just given the strength of the business on a stand-alone basis, I know it's smaller for you guys, but just given the pipeline, given the growth outlook, why did Longridge think it was the right time for them to sell just because it seems like there's going to be a lot of strength in that business line going forward.

知道了。如果我能再偷偷進去一次的話。考慮到該業務的獨立實力，我知道對你們來說規模較小，但考慮到管道，考慮到增長前景，為什麼朗里奇認為這是正確的時間讓他們出售只是因為該業務線未來似乎會有很大的優勢。

Yes, there's no story there at all. It's just a natural private equity investment, and it was time for them to divest. We knew the company through our relationships with sponsor and specialty, and I -- it wasn't an auction process. We were able to convince the team and the sellers that we were the right buyer and it was a very smooth transaction. So there's no story there, and that's it.

是的，那裡根本沒有故事。這只是自然的私募股權投資，現在是他們撤資的時候了。我們透過與贊助商和專業人士的關係了解了這家公司，而我——這不是一個拍賣過程。我們能夠讓團隊和賣家相信我們是合適的買家，這是一個非常順利的交易。所以那裡沒有故事，僅此而已。

Your next question comes from the line of Jon Arfstrom from RBC Capital Markets.

您的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Jon Arfstrom。

Just a couple of cleanup questions. On the loan trajectory, just dissecting that, what drove the late quarter growth? And just talk a little bit about what changed and what the drivers were.

只是幾個清理問題。在貸款軌跡上，仔細分析一下，是什麼推動了季度末的成長？簡單談談發生了什麼變化以及驅動因素是什麼。

Yes. Most of the originations were driven in the quarter by core C&I, but in particular, fund banking, very low risk and lower yielding, quite frankly, but obviously, we believe still economically profitable loan growth along with some high-quality multifamily and some public sector finance, which is kind of our national government banking.

是的。本季大部分發放都是由核心C&I 推動的，但坦白說，特別是基金銀行業務，風險非常低，收益率也較低，但顯然，我們相信經濟上有利可圖的貸款成長以及一些高品質的多戶住宅和一些公共貸款部門金融，這是我們國家政府銀行業務的一種。

Again, all of those assets, higher quality than the overall portfolio on a risk-weighted basis, slightly lower yielding, which was why we gave the answer to the question earlier about lower-than-expected yield expansion in the quarter. And again, particularly in the fund banking side, much of that closed by year-end. And so we were kind of working through our pipeline, and that's why things closed in December as opposed to closing earlier in the quarter.

同樣，所有這些資產的品質高於風險加權基礎上的整體投資組合，但收益率略低，這就是為什麼我們早些時候回答了有關本季收益率擴張低於預期的問題。同樣，尤其是在基金銀行業務方面，其中大部分在年底前就已經關閉。因此，我們正在努力完成我們的管道，這就是為什麼事情在 12 月結束，而不是在本季早些時候結束。

Okay. So no real story, just given......

好的。所以沒有真實的故事，只是給...

Yes, just timing, and it happens quarter-to-quarter.

是的，只是時間安排，而且每個季度都會發生。

Okay. Okay. Just second question, bigger picture, John. It seems like the Sterling merger has gone well. It seems like you and Jack have been on the same page. But any new priorities for you as Chairman, I'm assuming it's business as usual, but thought I would ask as long as you mentioned it.

好的。好的。只是第二個問題，更大的前景，約翰。看來斯特林的合併進展順利。看來你和傑克意見一致。但對於您作為主席的任何新的優先事項，我假設一切照常，但我想只要您提到我就會問。

No, we are -- we're completely aligned and will continue to be. And obviously, I'll continue to seek out his counsel even after he left the organization. But no, there's no pivot at all. We spent a lot of time, the entire team, management team and Board, making sure that kind of we knew what the North Star was and what we were trying to build and we're still on that journey. We still have opportunities. We think we've got good line of sight to continue to deliver a 20%-ish ROATCE, a 1.4-ish ROA, and a leading efficiency ratio to give us flexibility to grow and I think all the things we're doing are the things we thought we would do.

不，我們是——我們完全一致，並將繼續如此。顯然，即使在他離開組織後，我也會繼續尋求他的建議。但不，根本沒有支點。我們整個團隊、管理團隊和董事會花了很多時間，確保我們知道北極星是什麼以及我們正在努力打造什麼，並且我們仍然在這個旅程中。我們還有機會。我們認為我們有良好的視野，可以繼續提供 20% 左右的 ROATCE、1.4 左右的 ROA 和領先的效率比，為我們提供增長的靈活性，我認為我們正在做的所有事情都是我們認為我們會做的事情。

Obviously, the environment has been a little bit volatile over time, but there'll be no pivot in culture strategy or other things. You'll see us continue to try and execute at a high level.

顯然，隨著時間的推移，環境有點不穩定，但文化策略或其他方面不會有任何變化。您將看到我們繼續嘗試並以高水平執行。

Your next question comes from the line of Bernard Von Gizycki from Deutsche Bank.

您的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Bernard Von Gizycki。

Maybe just staying on Sterling. With integration now past you, there's been discussions with the opportunities to enhance some of the areas in fee income across commercial, consumer, HSA. You talked about treasury cash management, card, FX as areas of growth. But can you provide any size timing of these opportunities, if possible? What could be implied in your guide for '24?

也許只是留在英鎊。隨著整合的過去，人們正在討論增強商業、消費者、HSA 某些領域費用收入的機會。您談到國庫現金管理、信用卡、外匯是成長領域。但如果可能的話，您能否提供這些機會的任意大小的時間安排？您的 '24 指南中可能暗示什麼？

Yes. I mean, as you know, on the cash management, card, FX and some of the other ancillary businesses, we do have built in, as Glenn mentioned, into our increase in fees relatively good, double-digit growth in those off of a relatively small base compared to our NII. And the truth of the matter is those activities are not going to materially change the outcome of our steady growth, right? So that's -- we're working on those things. We've already rolled out new capabilities for our clients.

是的。我的意思是，正如你所知，在現金管理、卡、外匯和其他一些輔助業務方面，正如格倫提到的那樣，我們確實在費用增長中融入了相對較好的費用，在那些來自非銀行的費用中實現了兩位數的成長。與我們的 NII 相比，基數相對較小。事實是，這些活動不會對我們穩定成長的結果產生實質改變，對嗎？所以，我們正在研究這些事情。我們已經為客戶推出了新功能。

Things like Ametros moved the needle a little bit in terms of -- Glenn talked to you about the contribution in expected fees in the year. And so that's going to be good. We keep looking at interesting opportunities and not built into our forecast and definitely too early to talk about, but opportunities around capital markets, around syndicating around securitization, like are there opportunities given our strong origination capabilities to generate fee income and further have other options to manage the balance sheet.

像 Ametros 這樣的事情在方面有所推動——格倫向您談到了今年預期費用的貢獻。所以這會很好。我們一直在尋找有趣的機會，這些機會沒有納入我們的預測，而且談論起來肯定為時過早，但圍繞資本市場、圍繞證券化的銀團的機會，例如考慮到我們強大的發起能力來產生費用收入，並進一步有其他選擇，是否有機會管理資產負債表。

But those are things we think about to drive fee income over the long term, but nothing in our plans right now and nothing that I would be comfortable giving you guidance on.

但從長遠來看，這些是我們考慮推動費用收入的事情，但目前我們的計劃中沒有任何內容，我也不願意為您提供任何指導。

Understood. I think last quarter, maybe just talking about the expenses. The expense opportunities that still remain. I think you talked about consolidation of some other back-office processes and call center consolidation. Maybe could you help frame any of the remaining opportunity on this front?

明白了。我想上個季度，也許只是談論費用。支出機會仍然存在。我想您談到了其他一些後台流程的整合和呼叫中心的整合。也許您可以幫助建立這方面剩餘的機會嗎？

Yes. I think Glenn, my comment, but I think that's sort of built into our overall net expense view. Some of the stuff that's a little stickier than others. We've made progress on consolidation of the call centers. We have opportunity there. We still need to decommission some old non-core technology that in the transition stays. But I would say it's an offset to the investments that we think we're going to make in future technology. And so I don't know if you (inaudible) estimate for what you think the full run rate of some of those opportunities.

是的。我認為格倫是我的評論，但我認為這已經融入了我們的整體淨支出觀點。有些東西比其他東西有點黏。我們在呼叫中心整合方面取得了進展。我們在那裡有機會。我們仍然需要淘汰一些在轉型過程中保留的舊的非核心技術。但我想說，這是對我們認為將對未來技術進行的投資的抵消。因此，我不知道您是否（聽不清楚）對其中一些機會的全部運行率進行了估計。

Yes. But I would just come back to mid- to low 40% efficiency ratio, and that's where we expect to be. And so what that implies is it gives us, first of all, optionality to the extent there's more market headwinds. So we have some optionality there. But I also think that the more important point is that we are still getting -- I know as the CFO, in my world, we are still consolidating ledgers and there's implications down to reconciliations and stuff like that, but that gives us an opportunity to reinvest in the business as well.

是的。但我只想回到 40% 的中低效率，這就是我們期望的水平。因此，這意味著，首先，它為我們提供了更多的市場逆風的選擇。所以我們有一些選擇。但我也認為更重要的一點是，我們仍然得到——我知道，作為首席財務官，在我的世界裡，我們仍在整合帳本，並且對調節和類似的事情有影響，但這給了我們一個機會也對業務進行再投資。

So I think we like to think of it as we're best-in-class at 45 to low 40s -- low to mid-40s on the efficiency ratio. And so I would just -- if you're thinking of modeling it, that's what I would use as a guide.

因此，我認為我們喜歡將其視為同類最佳，效率比為 45 至 40 左右，即 40 左右左右。所以我只是 - 如果你正在考慮對其進行建模，這就是我將用作指南的內容。

Your next question comes from the line of Ben Gerlinger from Citigroup.

您的下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Ben Gerlinger。

Think about just the deposit franchise in general. I think Casey asked the question, you gave some deposit beta assumptions on your different niches. I was just curious if you -- if the forward curve is correct, or even just 4 cut assumption. Are there any flow differences or what you might see in a deposit mix in general? I get that it's down 100 basis points in a non-recessionary environment is kind of unprecedented. But just kind of just your thoughts on what that deposit mix might look like, how flows might change over the course of those 100 bps going forward?

只考慮一般的存款特許經營權。我認為凱西問了這個問題，你對不同的利基市場給了一些存款貝塔假設。我只是好奇遠期曲線是否正確，甚至只是 4 割假設。是否有任何流量差異或您在一般存款組合中可能會看到的情況？我知道在非衰退環境下下跌 100 個基點是史無前例的。但您對存款組合可能會是什麼樣子的想法，在未來 100 個基點的過程中流量可能會如何變化？

Yes, it's a good question. So there's a couple of things that I think are unique to us. And obviously, we talked a lot about Ametros. We do have the benefit of HSA as well, where we get the enrollment period in the first quarter, and then we continue to get those accounts funded during the year.

是的，這是一個好問題。所以我認為有一些事情對我們來說是獨一無二的。顯然，我們談論了很多關於 Ametros 的事情。我們也確實享有 HSA 的好處，我們在第一季獲得註冊期，然後我們在這一年中繼續為這些帳戶提供資金。

We have interLINK, which gives us optionality from the ability to increase core deposits or to the extent we have -- we're satisfied with our loan-to-deposit ratio to (inaudible), so that gives us optionality as well. I think the thing that we're watching is as far as the flow of deposits, we do have maturities on CDs coming due about $2 billion in the first quarter, another -- just under that in the second quarter. So that's something that we're keeping a close eye on how that rolls over. And we're also keeping an eye on things like demand or pure DDA, which has come down a little bit. So we're basically -- we've been hovering around that $11 billion mark.

我們有 interLINK，它為我們提供了增加核心存款的能力的選擇權，或者我們對貸存比感到滿意的程度（聽不清楚），因此這也為我們提供了選擇權。我認為我們正在關注的事情是就存款流量而言，第一季我們確實有約 20 億美元的 CD 到期，而第二季則略低於這個數字。因此，我們正在密切關注這一情況的發展。我們也密切關注需求或純 DDA 等因素，該指標有所下降。所以我們基本上 - 我們一直徘徊在 110 億美元大關附近。

We think that probably has potential to grow about $200 million over the course of the year. So those are the sort of things that we're thinking. I don't see anything significant. I think you'll still see a little bit more of deposits flow from low interest-bearing type of money market and savings accounts into CDs to the extent people or our clients think that rates are going to drop. They might want to go a little longer on their investments and things like that. We have to continue to see that. But I think that's -- those are very basic dynamics.

我們認為這一年可能會成長約 2 億美元。這些就是我們正在考慮的事情。我沒有看到任何重要的事情。我認為你仍然會看到更多的存款從低息貨幣市場和儲蓄帳戶流入定期存單，以至於人們或我們的客戶認為利率將會下降。他們可能想在投資和類似的事情上花更長的時間。我們必須繼續看到這一點。但我認為這是非常基本的動力。

Yes, I would agree with Glenn. And I think -- I hope we're answering the question you're asking, which is the first 100 points down. I don't think it changes necessarily behaviors by customers and depositors or kind of overall bank, nonbank deposit flows.

是的，我同意格倫的觀點。我想——我希望我們能回答你提出的問題，也就是前 100 點的下降。我認為這不一定會改變客戶和儲戶的行為或整體銀行、非銀行存款流。

Got you. That's really helpful. And then just from a follow-up, just to play a little bit of devil's advocate here. I know that you said that the forward curve is correct, there's kind of the 6-ish cuts. You probably have a little bit of downside relative to that NII range, which is the reality, you probably [quit] your revenue at the floor, maybe a little bit below the combined range today?

明白你了。這真的很有幫助。然後只是後續行動，只是在這裡扮演一點魔鬼代言人的角色。我知道你說過遠期曲線是正確的，有 6 個左右的削減。相對於 NII 範圍，您可能有一點下行空間，這是現實，您可能會在底線（可能比今天的綜合範圍略低一點）[退出]您的收入？

And I know you said you had flexibility on expenses. Could you also put expenses overall below the $1.3 billion? Or is that kind of the floor in terms of investment. And we just expect a slightly higher efficiency ratio for the year?

我知道你說過你在開支上有彈性。您能否將整體支出控制在 13 億美元以下？或者說就投資而言就是這樣的底線。我們只是預計今年的效率會稍微高一點？

Well, interesting question. I mean I think we always have optionality, right, because some of it is project-based and investment-based and if the market conditions change and are more dramatic than the projected performance-based incentive comp, cut in the line comes down naturally. So that -- there's -- we can clearly go below the $1.3 billion if the overall environment demanded us to do that.

嗯，有趣的問題。我的意思是，我認為我們總是有選擇權，對吧，因為其中一些是基於項目和投資的，如果市場條件發生變化並且比預計的基於績效的激勵補償更加劇烈，那麼削減自然會減少。因此，如果整體環境要求我們這樣做，我們顯然可以低於 13 億美元。

But I would say, again, kind of dramatically that we believe we have the opportunity to invest. And even at those expense levels, we'll still have the most efficient operating model in the top banks. And so yes, we do have flexibility. There are some variable costs in there and some project-based investments that we could either delay or cancel or pull back on if we had to.

但我想再次戲劇性地說，我們相信我們有投資機會。即使在這些費用水平上，我們仍然擁有頂級銀行中最高效的營運模式。所以，是的，我們確實有彈性。其中有一些可變成本和一些基於專案的投資，如果必要的話，我們可以推遲、取消或撤回。

Your next question comes from the line of Laurie Hunsicker from Seaport Research Partners.

您的下一個問題來自 Seaport Research Partners 的 Laurie Hunsicker。

Just going back to Ametros here, can you help us think what the pro forma intangibles will look like? And also just maybe fine-tune a little bit when the closing date is expected in this first quarter?

回到 Ametros，您能幫我們想想預計無形資產會是什麼樣子嗎？當預計第一季的截止日期時，也許還可以稍微調整一下？

So on the pro forma, I think you can think of it as bringing an $800 million immediately in deposits and the immediate action would be to pay down FHLP and so call that 5% to 5.25% rate on those. And then it would eventually quickly move into funding loans, which you heard me say earlier are more in the range of like 7.5%. I talked about the fee income being $25 million, and I talked about the expenses in the range of $50 million, with half of that being CDI. So I think you can build the P&L pretty quickly.

因此，在形式上，我認為您可以將其視為立即帶來 8 億美元的存款，而立即採取的行動將是償還 FHLP，因此將其稱為 5% 至 5.25% 的利率。然後它最終會很快進入融資貸款，你剛剛聽我說過，貸款利率大約在 7.5% 左右。我談到了費用收入是2500萬美元，我談到了費用在5000萬美元左右，其中一半是CDI。所以我認為你可以很快地建立損益表。

The thing I would point out, as John and we talked earlier, is that this is a business that's going to grow at 25% CAGR every year. So we're bringing in $800 million, good chance we'll be closer to the $1 billion range by the end of this year. So -- and that will continue based on contractual relationships and everything that we see in the market. So that should allow you to build your sort of P&L.

我要指出的是，正如約翰和我們之前討論的那樣，這是一項每年以 25% 複合年增長率增長的業務。因此，我們將帶來 8 億美元的收入，很有可能到今年年底我們將接近 10 億美元的範圍。因此，這將根據合約關係和我們在市場上看到的一切繼續下去。這樣您就可以建立自己的損益表。

Closing date...

截止日期...

Pro forma intangibles.

預計無形資產。

So yes, of the intangibles side -- of the $50 million expense, I think it's about half of that and then -- relatively soon.

所以，是的，在無形資產方面——5000萬美元的支出，我認為大約是其中的一半，然後——相對較快。

End of January is the estimate, plus or minus.

一月底是估計值，加減。

So just on the pro forma intangibles, so your $2.835 billion growth by about $25 million. That's it. Did I hear that right?

僅就預計無形資產而言，您的 28.35 億美元增長了約 2500 萬美元。就是這樣。我沒聽錯吧？

I'm not sure, say that again.

我不確定，你再說一次。

So your $2.835 billion that you have in total intangibles on your balance sheet, your goodwill and other intangible assets. That grows by $25 million with this acquisition?

因此，您的資產負債表上總共有 28.35 億美元的無形資產、商譽和其他無形資產。此次收購增加了 2500 萬美元？

No, the intangible amortization is about $25 million in the year.

不，當年的無形攤銷約為2500萬美元。

Got it. Okay. So what is the dollar amount of the...

知道了。好的。那麼這個金額是多少美元...

So the intangibles were probably close to like $300 million.

因此，無形資產可能接近 3 億美元。

$300 million, great. That was the number I was looking for.

3億美元，太棒了。這就是我要找的號碼。

We are not complete on that. I'm estimating that right now.

我們對此還沒有完成。我現在就這麼估計。

Got you. Makes sense. And then just going back to office. What were the office charge-offs in the fourth quarter? And if you have it, what were the office charge-offs for your full year 2022?

明白你了。說得通。然後就回到辦公室。第四季的辦公室沖銷是多少？如果您有的話，您 2022 年全年的辦公室沖銷是多少？

Let me see if I can get that for you, Laurie. It was... they weren't meaningful in this quarter. I think charges, including all the proactive note sales were roughly in the $25 million to $30 million range for the entire year. And that includes all of, as I said, the proactive note sales, so not sort of fully mature charge-offs. I mean their losses, nonetheless. And I think it wasn't particularly a meaningful contribution to this quarter's charge-offs. I'm still looking for the number, I apologize. But as I said, we're getting to the point where that book, we feel pretty confident around kind of what's left and the credit support we have underlying it. And we feel really good about how aggressively we brought down that exposure.

讓我看看能否給你拿到那個，勞裡。這是......他們在這個季度沒有意義。我認為全年的費用（包括所有主動票據銷售）大約在 2500 萬至 3000 萬美元之間。正如我所說，這包括所有主動票據銷售，因此並不是完全成熟的沖銷。儘管如此，我指的是他們的損失。我認為這對本季的沖銷並不是特別有意義的貢獻。我還在找號碼，抱歉。但正如我所說，我們已經到了這本書的地步，我們對剩下的內容和我們為其提供的信貸支持非常有信心。我們對我們如此積極地降低這種曝光率感到非常滿意。

Your next question comes from the line of Timur Braziler from Wells Fargo.

您的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Timur Braziler。

Maybe circling back on Ametros, just one more there. What's the total addressable market for that space? And I guess as that business grows, what's the risk of new competition coming in and maybe eating away of some of that 25% expected CAGR?

也許再繞一圈回到阿梅特羅斯，那裡就再有一個。該領域的總目標市場是多少？我想隨著業務的成長，新競爭的出現以及可能蠶食 25% 預期複合年增長率的風險是什麼？

Yes. It's obviously -- they are the market leader, but there's a huge untapped. I think that's $12 billion in total claims in their space right now. So there's a lot of running room. It's early days, and their value proposition, I think, is starting to be realized by more of the insurers and more account holders in the industry. So it's very low penetrated from a professional administrator perspective, which is one of the things that we think is so exciting about the business.

是的。很明顯，他們是市場領導者，但還有巨大的未開發空間。我認為目前該領域的索賠總額為 120 億美元。所以有很大的運行空間。現在還處於早期階段，我認為他們的價值主張正開始被行業內更多的保險公司和更多的帳戶持有人所認識到。因此，從專業管理員的角度來看，它的滲透率非常低，這是我們認為這項業務如此令人興奮的事情之一。

And is there a risk that maybe some of that competition eats into your growth rate?

是否存在某些競爭會侵蝕您的成長率的風險？

I don't -- again, given the total addressable market and the good penetration that these guys have with respect to customer base, I think a lot of it is contractual. And so I think at least in terms of our projections now, we don't see any risk from cannibalization from competitors. And it's our opportunity, I think, to be a first mover across the industry and to continue to expand.

我不認為——再說一次，考慮到整個潛在市場以及這些人在客戶群方面的良好滲透率，我認為其中很多都是合約性的。因此，我認為至少就我們現在的預測而言，我們沒有看到競爭對手蠶食的任何風險。我認為，這是我們成為整個行業先行者並繼續擴張的機會。

Great. And then my follow-up, just looking at New York City multifamily. Can you give us the breakdown of rent regulated versus market rate properties? And to the extent you have any exposure to pre-2019 HSTPA rule change?

偉大的。然後我的後續行動，只是關注紐約市的多戶住宅。您能否向我們提供受租金管制的房產與市場價格房產的詳細情況？您對 2019 年之前的 HSTPA 規則變更有任何了解嗎？

Yes, very little exposure to pre-2019, I would say about, let's see, after the -- more than half of our loans are booked after the regulation. Multifamily was $1.35 billion in 4Q of regulated multifamily, down from the 3rd Q level of $1.4 billion. This is an interesting stat for you that the portfolio is obviously diversified, but the average commitment is $3.2 million. We only have 7 loans with exposures over $15 million there. So a very granular and non-chunky portfolio with no tall trees which I think makes us feel pretty comfortable and criticized classified loans are kind of below the overall credit stats of the rest of the commercial book. And so there's only one delinquent loan right now in that $1.35 billion. So we don't see any credit story there right now.

是的，2019 年之前的風險敞口非常小，我想說的是，讓我們看看，之後——我們一半以上的貸款是在監管之後登記的。受監管多戶住宅第四季的多戶住宅規模為 13.5 億美元，低於第三季的 14 億美元。這對您來說是一個有趣的統計數據，投資組合顯然是多元化的，但平均承諾金額為 320 萬美元。我們只有 7 筆貸款的風險敞口超過 1500 萬美元。因此，一個非常細粒度且不笨重的投資組合，沒有高大的樹木，我認為這讓我們感覺很舒服，但受到批評的分類貸款有點低於商業書籍其餘部分的整體信用統計數據。因此，目前這 13.5 億美元中只有一筆拖欠貸款。所以我們現在沒有看到任何信用故事。

We have no further questions in our queue at this time. I will now turn the call back over to John Ciulla for closing remarks.

目前我們的隊列中沒有其他問題。現在，我將把電話轉回給約翰·丘拉 (John Ciulla)，他將發表結束語。

Thank you. Really appreciate everybody staying on the call and your engagement with the company. Have a great day.

謝謝。非常感謝大家參與通話以及與公司的互動。祝你有美好的一天。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。