Byline Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BY) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Mark Fucinato: Yes, I’d say the sponsor finance portfolios, who’s performing pretty well. We review that portfolio every single month. So keep in good touch with our sponsors our companies. And so we know what they’re going through. The rates have not been a problem for them so far in terms of managing. We have to keep an eye on some of the macro effects that are going on in their particular niche. But I’m satisfied with what they’re doing. And again, we keep a very close eye on that portfolio given our, the nature of our reviews with them every month.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Nathan Race with Piper Sandler.

Nathan Race: Thanks for taking the questions. And good morning, everyone. Maybe just two kinds of think about the trajectory of the margins in the first half of this year, I know there’s a number of dynamics at play, including continuing accelerate upward deposit costs, pressures and perhaps slowing loan growth as well. But Tom, is it fair to expect that the margin, pace of expansion is going to slow as you alluded to, but we can still maybe expect the margin to get north of 460, maybe 465 by 2Q?

Tom Bell : Yes, thanks for the question, Nate. I think yes, you’ll see margin expansion. But remember, as Alberto pointed out in my comments, we are still in the top quartile for margin, our margin relative to peers. So we don’t give guidance on actual margins. Sorry about that. But I think in general, you’d expect some growth in the margin, again, subject to rates, subject to competition in the marketplace.

Alberto Paracchini: I think just to add a little bit to Tom’s caller, I think what Tom is saying is, look, we have a pretty healthy margin, we’re likely to see some additional expansion here, given the outlook on rates and the factors now with deposit costs certainly I think, everybody in the market waking up to the fact that rates are much higher with liquidity draining, I think you’ve seen all the other banks now realizing that we can only hold back deposit pricing only so much. I think that’s now I think you’re seeing kind of more normal competitive dynamics relative to what you had seen in the past. And we’re likely to see the margin here expand during the first half. But I think we’re giving you our best guess at this point given the outlook and obviously, given what we think is likely to happen here with deposit pricing.

Nathan Race: Got it, it’s helpful. And if we kind of think about the back half margin, assuming the Fed is on pause, do you see that as maybe resulting in more of a static or stable margin assuming funding costs continue to creep higher. But you also have some lagging asset repricing as well, which I imagine would be a tailwind to loan yields even under that scenario.

Alberto Paracchini: Hopefully, the one caveat is, and you heard it in our comments, sentiment certainly for some type of slowdown, potentially a recession latter, kind of second half of the year seems to be the consensus. So with that caveat, I think your comments are accurate, I mean, at some point, we’ll expect to see some stability in the margin, hopefully a little bit higher than where it is today. And then even in situations where we would see a decline in the margin, two things, one, the margin is still very, very healthy, and two, hopefully, we can push continue to push net interest income higher as a result of higher growth in earning assets.

Nathan Race: Okay, got it. And, Tom, can you just remind us how much cash flow you have coming off the securities book, each quarter over the course of 2023 sale for loan growth?