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

Ernie Johannson: Thanks, Tayfun. Thanks for the question as well. The notion for us on our NIM is really around having a strong NIM performance, and I think we’ve had that over the course of this year. Our strong growth on deposits has been really key for us, and that’s been a focus. And you’ll see that continuing into next year. As Tayfun said, we’ll see NIM expansion in next year. It will be focused on, obviously, our core deposit growth as well as our term deposits. And then as Tayfun mentioned, we’re going to see that prime to be a moderate in fiscal 2023 and expect — as we expect the pace of interest rate increases to slow down. And that will support, obviously, our lending business as we go forward. We don’t see much taking place around our mortgage prepayments, which had a negative impact, obviously, to us this quarter.

And then as well, just that mix. Sometimes it’s lumpy quarter-to-quarter, but our commitment on strong core deposit growth is key. And we’ve been doing that this year. We’ve had record levels of customer acquisition and growth in the core portfolio overall. And I’ll talk about the personal business, in particular in Canada. What we’ve seen is a shift yet into our term products as customers migrate from either the equity markets out into our term business or they’re migrating from their everyday savings account into terms to maximize longer term earnings. But what we’re also seeing in our business is a full replacement of the shift. So what we have shifted out of our checking and savings account, we’ve actually replaced, and that’s very positive for us going forward to continue to sustain.

And we’ve had flat everyday banking growth. So I can use that terminology, which is important as you see the shift out to term. We’re replacing it with good quality deposits, not only from our existing customers but brand new customers from the street. So we’re encouraged about the growth going forward. And just a final comment on the year. We’ve got a strong performance in P&C Canada, and we see that momentum carrying forward into next year.

Doug Young: Very helpful. So just to clarify, Tayfun, you say double digit. Is that off Q4?

Tayfun Tuzun: Yes, it’s off Q4.

Doug Young: Good. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Gabriel Dechaine from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

Gabriel Dechaine: Good morning. Just to clarify, the timing of the Bank of the West close, you still expect Q2 of 2023? I didn’t come across any shift. Your peer kind of pushed it back a little bit?

Darryl White: Yeah. Gabe, I didn’t see what they had to say. I can only speak to ours. We’re saying first quarter of 2023. Is it first fiscal quarter or first calendar quarter, we don’t know, but that’s a pretty tight range. So as I think about it today, we’re rounding third base, and everything is occurring the way we thought it would occur. So I think you can think about it in that range. It’s pretty tight and pretty soon.

Gabriel Dechaine: Got it. Thanks. Now, for the capital position, and I look at the RWA inflation, and I thought with the loan growth, especially in commercial that you had, we would see a bigger number there. But four basis points of core Tier 1 consumption from RWAs. You’re usually 20 up into 40. Were you particularly active in the credit risk transfer transaction this quarter, or is there another explanation?