Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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George Gleason: Alright. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Timur Braziler of Wells Fargo.

Timur Braziler: Hi. Good morning. Thanks for the question. Of the $20 billion in remaining commitments from the 2022 and 2021 vintages in RESG, what portion of that $20 billion has yet to fund up?

George Gleason: If you look at the cadence chart here, Brannon, Tim.

Brannon Hamblen: Page 11.

George Gleason: Page 11. Yes. So, there is – the ‘21, there is $6.21 billion and ‘22 there is $13.74 billion. That is – no, that’s – I am sorry. You have to subtract. Jay, answer this, or Brannon, answer this.

Brannon Hamblen: Well, yes, that graph is focused on what remains. It hasn’t been repaid out of those vintages. George – Jay, I don’t think we have disclosed the unfunded by year of origination. So, I don’t believe we have that number.

Jay Staley: No, that’s…

George Gleason: Yes. My apologies, I took you to the wrong chart.

Timur Braziler: No, all good. But just using the prior comments of kind of 12 months to 18 months for these loans to fund up, it sounds like much of the 2022 originations are going to be funding up here in ‘24. Is that fair assessment?

George Gleason: Yes. Very fair.

Timur Braziler: Okay. And then maybe looking at the deposits side, so a little continued mix shift out of non-interest bearing into time deposits, I am assuming the funding, the strong fundings expected in ‘24, are going to be leaning on time deposits again. Just with 52% of the deposit base now being time, are there internal concentration limits for time deposits that you guys are monitoring? And where could we see that concentration maybe trend up to?

George Gleason: We have a variety of concentration limits on deposits, but there is not a limit on time, non-time. So, if that number continues to rise, that’s not a problem. Obviously, we are working hard every day to originate as much business as we can in the checking accounts, savings account, money market account areas, obviously, with rates higher and CD rates being high across the much of the industry. And other alternative investment rates being high, a lot of customers have – they have drained their excess liquidity out of their money market savings and checking accounts and put it to work at higher yields. The entire industry has seen that phenomenon. But we are continuing to add large numbers of new account holders every month, and we will continue to work hard on that effort. So, we feel good about that. But as we continue to have really good growth in the balance sheet, we will be somewhat more dependent upon time deposits as a percent of the total.

Timur Braziler: Understood. And then just two quick ones on credit. The three reappraisals that had the 25-point plus move in LTVs, can you provide the geography for those three loans?

George Gleason: Brannon, do you have that?

Brannon Hamblen: Yes, I actually do. So, a couple of those were in the Northwest, in the Seattle CBSA, and another was in the Minneapolis geography.

Timur Braziler: Okay. And then I guess just lastly, if we look at the allowance for funded loans versus allowance for unfunded loans, that gap seems to have widened throughout the course of the year with funded allowance up 27 basis points while unfunded up only 5 basis points. I guess can you maybe talk through the dynamic as to why higher allowance on the funded balance isn’t translating directly to a higher allowance for the unfunded component?

Tim Hicks: Yes. Timur, it’s just really about the mix. Our unfunded balance is a higher mix towards RESG. The funded balance is a higher mix to others. And obviously, it just depends on the models that it’s being run through. So, I mean there is a lot of factors that go into it, but certainly the mix of the makeup of those in the unfunded is a component of it. And obviously, everything in the unfunded is past rated credit as well. So, you obviously have some other ratings typically in the funded balance.

Timur Braziler: Great. Thank you for that color.

Operator: Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back to George Gleason for closing remarks. Sir?

George Gleason: Alright. Thank you, guys. We appreciate you joining the call today and appreciate all the questions. Have a great quarter and we will see you in about 91 days. Thanks so much. Have a great one. That concludes our call.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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