Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 2 of 10

It really is — we don’t know where it’s going to end up in the quarter. We just keep trying to grow non-interest bearing and we’ll make sure that we have enough deposits to fund the growth that we see or make investments. I know that’s not a direct kind of specific answer to your question, but that’s how we talk about it internally. Lynn, I don’t know if you have anything to add there.

Lynn Hopkins: I think the only thing I would add is, I think you were looking at it relative to prior cycle and the trend of us being lower beta from the numbers that you provided is I think a result of the fact that our non-interest bearing deposits are a higher% of our deposit base or our funding base. So to that extent, when we look at a prior period versus now or prior interest cycle compared to now, I think our expectation is that it would generally be lower. And then to Jared’s point, the focus on non-interest bearing deposits and managing our core funding base, we expect that mix to continue and to have a positive impact on deposit beta as we move forward.

Matthew Clark: Okay, Great. Thanks for the color. And then last one for me. Just on capital. You started to accrete capital here again, 11.9% CET1 buybacks done. What are your thoughts on authorizing another share repurchase program at this point of cycle?

Jared Wolff: Well, we’ve got a — we haven’t made any announcement there. I mean, I think there’s a couple of things that we could do here. We’re going to be looking at and we have Board meetings coming up in early February. Looking at what are the investments we have planned for the company of the year, including the number of initiatives we have. And what’s the best use of capital going forward in terms of dividend, buyback and all those things. So we’re going to look at all that stuff. If our stock is trading at a low level, then obviously buying it back in many cases makes sense, and hopefully it won’t be there for very long.

Matthew Clark: Okay. And then actually if I could sneak one in, just a point of clarification. In your opening comments, I think you mentioned that you expect earnings to be up modestly in 2023 relative to 2022 on a core operating basis. I just want to make sure we’re using the right base. I assume that’s on a pre-provision basis since you had a big recovery last year

Jared Wolff: Yes, I was thinking about — Exactly. I was thinking about that — backing out that. That recovery was the thing I was thinking about when I made those comments. That was, obviously, one time and unusual. And so when you back out the unusual stuff, we would expect to be a little bit higher and have it built through the year. Where we sit now, that’s kind of how it looks.

Matthew Clark: Great. Thank you.

Operator: And our next question today comes from Timur Braziler with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Timur Braziler: Hi, good morning.

Jared Wolff: Good morning.

Timur Braziler: Maybe just following up on the last line of comments. So is that assuming that there’s essentially a zero provision for the year if kind of current asset growth projections play out and there’s no real change in the CECL methodology?

Page 2 of 10