Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Ebrahim Poonawala: And then just one quick follow-up, Darryl. There’s a lot of chatter about interconnectedness between banks and non-banks. Any risk that you see particularly for the system or for BMO in terms of banks providing leverage to the non-bank entities?

Darryl White: Yes. It’s a perpetual question, isn’t it, Ebrahim? I wouldn’t say that I’m seeing that risk enhance the — if I heard you right. I apologize if I’ve missed the question. But as far as the interconnectedness, I think you said between the banks and the non-banks, I wouldn’t see — and I’ll turn to Piyush here, who studies this question pretty carefully himself, on both sides of the border. I wouldn’t say that in the current environment, there’s a pronounced difference. I don’t see an enhanced risk. We always monitor it. We look at the trends in the market. But I don’t see something today that’s concerning me a lot more than it did a quarter or two ago. Would you add anything, Piyush?

Piyush Agrawal: I mean, I would just say that the proof is in if you look at the last one or two quarters, there hasn’t been a shortage of events that have happened in the market, and we’ve all come out very well. So the interconnectedness, while it’s there, it’s well contained, Ebrahim. And I think banks like us, which have a very good risk discipline in how we manage our client exposure and which client comes in. So again, within this non-bank space, you’ve got a wide variety of clients, and I know some have been in the news. But we’ve actually come out very well. So I actually feel very good about the target market, the client base we have and the structures we have with them. So I wouldn’t highlight any area of concern in this space yet.

Ebrahim Poonawala: Makes sense. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Meny Grauman from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Meny Grauman: Hi, good morning. A question on capital. Tayfun, where do you see your CET1 ratio on deal close of Bank of the West, if you could give us an update on that?

Tayfun Tuzun: Yes, sure. I mean, our capital expectations, Meny, really have not changed since last year when we announced the transaction. We still expect to be at 11% or above in — starting Q2, post closing the transaction. So that picture has stayed the same for the past four quarters. And obviously, it will continue to build from there. And we feel pretty good about how we’ve been able to position ourselves for the closing.

Meny Grauman: And so, Darryl, would you feel comfortable being closer to 11% on deal close? Is that still something that is acceptable to you?

Darryl White: Yes, Meny. We’re very consistent in our positioning here. We believe today what we believe the last quarter when you asked this question that we’ll be in the range that Tayfun talked about. And the answer to your question is yes.

Meny Grauman: Okay. And then maybe just a follow-up in terms of how you’re managing capital and the lead up to this deal close. And just a question of €“ is there anything different in how you’re managing capital? And specifically, are there certain types of business that you’re saying no to because of consider — your RWA considerations that you would otherwise see as to?

Tayfun Tuzun: Yes. Look, I mean, we had very strong loan growth during the quarter. Obviously, that should be a proof that we’re still doing all the business with our clients that we have.