Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ron Nicolas: Yeah.

Matthew Clark: …or on the swaps.

Ron Nicolas: Yeah. On the swaps, Matt. Yeah. The swaps we entered the quarter with about $1 billion. It contributed just under $10 million in interest that was in the 20 — high 28 basis points, 29 basis points. We have got about a third of that book that’s going to be maturing, although the bulk of it is late in the quarter. The good news is, as we move into 2024, the silver lining on that maturity is it’s only about 20 — a little over 20% of the interest that it’s generating today or that we saw in this quarter. So we are still going to be pretty with $900 million entering next year, we will still be in a pretty good position as far as a pretty good impact with that and that’s at the current level of SOFR assuming no moves by the Fed.

Matthew Clark: Okay. Thanks. And then just on expenses, headcount down 2%, but the run rate remaining relatively flat in 4Q. I guess what’s masking the potential savings there in comp?

Steve Gardner: Yeah. That’s predominant. We may see some additional attrition there, but we are going to be truing things up for the full year. We will see how that plays itself out in terms of comp. And then the primary driver is the deposit expense and in the earnings credit that we saw ratchet up pretty good here in the third quarter and we are anticipating maybe not as much, but still an increase nonetheless and that’s going to impact the fourth quarter.

Matthew Clark: Okay. And then last one for me. Just on the SNC portfolio. Steve, a little surprised you kept that portfolio after bought Opus because we all know that you don’t — I am sure you don’t like that type of business. So I guess why might not unwind that earlier or is there something about that you like?

Steve Gardner: No. We had been — we had been unwinding it. It is — it has performed well to adjustable rate credit and up to this point, we were fine with it. As we said, we have reduced it from where we were and we are comfortable with the portfolio where it stands at just 1.5% of the loan portfolio, and in particular, given the declines in contraction in the overall loan portfolio that we have seen over the last year.

Matthew Clark: Okay. Make sense. Thanks.

Operator: Our next question comes from Chris McGratty with KBW. Please go ahead. Chris?

Steve Gardner: Chris, are you there?

Chris McGratty: Yeah. There we go. There’s a mute button. Steve, if we stay in this higher for longer environment, as you described, I am interested in what you might be able to do on the expenses beyond what you have done? I mean, do you feel like you have to do more on the expenses to protect profitability?

Steve Gardner: I’d say, yes. I think that, historically, we have always managed expenses well and as the environment as evolved and our outlook is what it is, I think, there’s room for us to take a look at expenses across the Board, but that is frankly nothing new.

Chris McGratty: Okay. And then maybe, Ron, coming back to comments on the margin. I am looking at, I guess, slide 12, just looks at the repricing schedule. I saw the dip in the loan yields in the quarter and I know part of that was the interest reversal. But I guess how should we think about the back book repricing in this environment, if the Fed is done, I guess, more trying to get at when you think trough NII might happen?