Cambridge Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Mark Fitzgibbon: Okay. And then, I guess I was curious, sort of a more strategic question. You’ve had a fair number of senior executives retire recently. I’m curious, does that signal any changes in strategy or incremental focus on any particular lines of business?

Denis Sheahan: No, no, I mean, retirements happened, and we’re prepared for that we’re very pleased with the succession plan and succession planning we had in place in the commercial banking division with two of our teams step up into the Chief Commercial Banking Officer role and the Chief Credit Officer role, so that’s really terrific the succession planning there. We are initiating a search process for a new head of wealth management. So that will be an important, position for us to fill here in the first half of this year. And we feel optimistic about our ability to do so. But it doesn’t signal anything other than people retire every so often.

Michael Carotenuto: Thank you.

Operator: The next question comes from Steve Moss with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Thomas Reid: Hey, guys. This is Thomas Reid, Steve’s RA. Can you offer us some insight on where new loan yields are today?

Michael Carotenuto: Yes, I can give you a little bit there. So on the residential side of the house for 30 year, we’re in the sixes, seven one arms or around five and an eighth today. On the commercial side the house for fixed rate, it’s in the high fives, low sixes.

Thomas Reid: Okay, great. I’m also wondering, can you give us an update on sort of, how you’re feeling about deposit pricing and beta going into 2023?

Denis Sheahan: Sure. So through the cycle thus far, our cumulative beta, our cost of deposits, excluding wholesale is about 7%. When you look at the last cycle, our beta was around 26%. This cycle, we expect it to be a little bit higher. So we’re assuming about a 30% through the cycle beta.

Thomas Reid: Okay, that’s helpful.

Denis Sheahan: Okay, that’s it for me. Thanks, guys.

Operator: Our next question comes from Chris O’Connell with KBW. Please go ahead.

Michael Carotenuto: Good Morning.

Denis Sheahan: Good Morning, Chris.

Chris O’Connell: Yes, just wanted to follow-up on the prior question as far as the betas, Do you see, like, yes good organic deposit growth this past quarter, looking for net growth over 2023 as well. Do you think that beta ramps up in the first quarter and then slows? Or do you think it’s going to be fairly consistent throughout 2023?

Michael Carotenuto: Yes, I mean, Chris, it’s certainly hard to tell when it’s difficult to predict consumer and business behavior in this environment. But if you look at what’s happened, you’ve seen an increase in deposit costs since Q4 of last year. We expect deposit costs that continue to increase consistent with that guidance I talked about in terms of beta, but the timing of it, it’s difficult to tell.

Denis Sheahan: And just also to be careful there, Mike on. I think Chris mentioned growth in Q4, can you correct?

Michael Carotenuto: Yes, Chris. So when you look at deposits, just when you exclude the impact of the merger, we actually had a slight decline in core deposits during the fourth quarter. Okay, got it. Okay. So when you look at deposits, just when you exclude the impact of the merger, we actually had a slight decline in core deposits during the fourth quarter.

Michael Carotenuto: Okay, got it. Okay. And then, as far as the securities run off, the 150 million I think you mentioned for 2023. Is the material schedule for that fairly consistent over the course of the year? Or is there any big chunks come in at one point or the other?