Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Timur Braziler: Okay. That’s helpful. And then last for me, just on the expenses. Any color you can provide on the profit sharing component pretty big quarter relative to Street expectations. And I know Street is kind of the proxy that you have used in the past for determining whether or not we’re going to have profit sharing contribution. But your comments on hoping to come in better than that 1.87. I’m just wondering what the outlook is for profit sharing in relation to that comment.

Carlos Vazquez: At this point in time, there is no consideration of profit sharing in our numbers.

Timur Braziler: Okay. Got it. I will step back.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Brody Preston from UBS. Brody, your line is now open. Please proceed with your questions.

Broderick Preston: Hey. Good morning everyone. I wanted just to ask on the FTE adjustment, I guess I was a little bit perplexed this quarter, the FTE adjustment keeps moving a bit lower, but the tax rate was kind of flattish and it looks like you kind of narrowed the guidance range a little bit. I guess, can you maybe explain again, the dynamics between what’s happening with the FTE adjustment and the tax rate at this point?

Jorge Garcia: Hi. This is Jorge Garcia. Good morning. It is a complicated question. I don’t blame you. The first thing, I would say is that the disallowance of our interest expense, which is really what drives the FTE adjustment is increasing given that the cost of deposits are increasing. So that’s the first impact that you’re seeing. Essentially, our tax-free income is becoming less. Your other question is why isn’t – why aren’t we seeing a change necessarily in our effective tax rate. And that has to do with GAAP accounting where you try to anticipate changes in that effective tax rate throughout the year and you make adjustments for that on a quarter-by-quarter basis. So you normalize it.

Broderick Preston: Okay. Okay. Maybe just shifting to deposit costs. I think you provided the betas, the cumulative betas for the interest-bearing portions cycle to date for the retail, commercial and public deposits. I know the public is going to be 100% with a lag. But just on the commercial and retail side. Just wanted to get your thoughts, if you have any on where you thought those betas would end the year by the fourth quarter of this year.

Carlos Vazquez: Yes. Well, it depends in part on what the Fed does today and what the Fed does the rest of the year, frankly. I think the trends are trends that can be expected to continue, meaning that our betas in Puerto Rico will continue to be lower in our retail and commercial businesses. Commercial slightly higher and retail a lot lower than the market betas. And then we’ll have a beta that’s slightly higher or closer to market averages in our bank in the U.S. So I think those trends will probably continue. So to the extent that the Fed is done, this afternoon then – that will affect how it looks for the rest of the year.

Broderick Preston: Okay. And then just last one for me for right now is just on the securities book. I’m sorry if you already touched on it and I missed it. Just wanted to get your thoughts on how that’s going to ebb and flow and uses of securities cash flows at this point for the remainder of the year. You had negative growth in the first two quarters of this year. Just wondering if we’re going to continue to use that as a source of liquidity going forward?