First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Matthew Clark: Okay. And then last one for me, just on the expense — the noninterest expense run rate probably, can exclude the customer service costs just to isolate or not up to deal that variable? Can you maybe quantify the savings from the recent layoffs and probably your thoughts are around kind of a core expense run rate going forward with any other initiatives you might have?

Scott Kavanaugh: I was hoping to avoid that answer, but the savings on this latest round, including some of the management is somewhere between $11.5 million and $12 million.

Matthew Clark: Okay. So that’s on — that’s kind of on an annualized basis out of the run rate this coming quarter, I assume? We haven’t seen any of those savings yet. .

Scott Kavanaugh: No — yes, you’re right. And no, we have not seen any — it would — all of this transpired this month. except for that you read about.

Operator: And we have another question from Gary Tenner from D.A. Davidson.

Gary Tenner: Just had a follow-up part of which was just answered in terms of the savings annually. But that annual savings number, so the fourth quarter kind of comp line of $23 million included the $4 million of reversals. So those savings should work off of more of a $27 million kind of gross up top line. Is that accurate? .

Scott Kavanaugh: Yes, yes. And by the way, nobody has brought up and I did that was a pretty significant reduction. That brings our total investment in that category I think, down to around $2.8 million. So there’s not much left in that space. And as you guys are aware, with the recent things that have been going on in the crypto industry, I believe we’re going to sit back and take a pause. That being said, our regulators, along with every other bank’s regulators, has put a letter out basically indicating that they want to put structure in place. What that means? I don’t know. But what I would tell you is that any initiative that we may have had on that front will not come to the forefront anytime soon until we clearly understand what the regulators will expect once they put those guidelines in place.

Gary Tenner: If I could just ask one more clarifying question in terms of the expense numbers. Joe, I think you mentioned — you kind of pointed us towards that non-GAAP table in your press release. So the $4.2 million reversal of incentive comp, that was net of severance? Or was that severance somewhere else?

Amy Djou: I would say those are debt of severance.

Gary Tenner: That was net of severance. So what was the almost $1 million of the professional service costs in the quarter that you called out there?

Scott Kavanaugh: We have been in discussions on a merger-related item. And it’s a charge-off related to those discussions.

Operator: This concludes our allotted time for today’s question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Scott Kavanaugh for closing remarks.

Scott Kavanaugh: Thank you again for participating in today’s call. I’m very proud of the results we reported, and I am pleased with the path that we are currently on in spite of difficult economic times. As a reminder, our earnings report and investor presentation can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. Thank you, and have a great day.

Operator: This does conclude today’s program. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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