Glacier Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:GBCI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

So, the division did a pretty good job, as they have done all year, doing more with less. Just year-over-year, we’re down 46 FTE and we’ve been able to manage through that. So that’s been a remarkable thing, and I want to point that out. So, then, on the guide, just the $133 million to $135 million, we would estimate that, that would then go up, say, 2.5% to 3% over the course of the year. So, the math is the math. The thing I would tell you is the — there’s still economic uncertainty. The higher inflation is still out there, I’d say, high. It may be moderating, but it’s still coming higher. So, Q1 is seasonally higher. So, I would say, if you took the 2.5% guide, you’d be at $138 million for the first quarter — $136 million to $138 million, and then it will slowly migrate up from there as we make investments back in our company.

Kelly Motta: Thanks. Appreciate that. If I could turn a little back to the margin. You guys have been obviously really well controlling your deposit costs. I think, it was Byron mentioned potentially running some CD specials. Just given the premium on liquidity that we have now, what are you guys now assuming for cycle today — betas? — cycle betas?

Byron Pollan: Sure. Kelly, this is Byron. We previously mentioned mid-teens, and I think we’re still there. I think mid-teens is still the right guide for our full-cycle beta on our deposit.

Kelly Motta: Got it. So, just thinking through the pieces, it seems like it’s — the balance sheet is a bit smaller than we had perhaps thought with the deposit runoff. But as you remix into higher-yielding assets from the — what you’ve given us on the security side and start to roll off FHLB, do you see this as a bottom for your margin?

Byron Pollan: In terms of margin, we do see a very modest lift this year. The asset momentum that we’ve previously described is still in place. You mentioned the securities runoff, that cash flow coming off at 1.5 into loan, that’s providing a lot of help to the margin. We’ve got some loan repricing into this higher rate environment. We’re seeing meaningful lift from new production rates. And we feel those loan yields will carry momentum beyond the top of the Fed’s rate cycle. Now, the near-term headwinds, of course, include the wholesale funding costs that we’ve talked about, deposit cost increases as we are getting more aggressive in our deposit pricing. However, on balance, we do think the asset momentum will be enough to more than offset the funding costs through the end of the year, with that momentum providing ample capacity to compete for deposits and grow margins.

Kelly Motta: Thanks for the color. Last area for me is just credit. Obviously, metrics are really pristine, but we are starting to get into a more challenging environment. Just wondering, I mean, it feels like there’s no direction but up, but what are you anticipating as a normalized level of charge-offs? Are there any areas to where the risk-adjusted returns aren’t looking as attractive at this point or maybe areas that you think we could see more softness here in this upcoming year?

Tom Dolan: Kelly, it’s Tom. There’s no one specific industry or specific geographic location within the footprint that has an outsized area of concern. We’re really not seeing any early warning signs than anywhere in the loan portfolio, which is encouraging, especially living through inflation now for the past several quarters at that pace to not really see any early warning signs yet is encouraging. That being said, I think there are certainly a lot of economic headwinds, certainly the inflation and the pressure on consumers and how that will cascade in the commercial borrowers is left to be seen. On the other side of that, I feel our borrowers are coming into this time of uncertainty probably from a position of strength, greater than they’ve had, certainly, greater than they’ve had during the last recession.