The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (NYSE:NTB) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Michael Schrum: Yes. So I’ll kick off and then Craig can also chime in. Obviously, the exit run rates are a bit higher. If you look at the March, particularly on the term deposit side, it has really largely been due to the Channel Islands, where again we don’t have a significant enough market share to have an impact on the pricing in those markets. And we’re still trying to grow market share, obviously there. And it is just a more competitive environment. And our banks there are primarily mid-market commercial banks. And so again, there’s more price sensitivity in those markets. In terms of how we think about the betas in Bermuda and Cayman, that hasn’t really changed very much in terms of the deposit beta. So, I think for demand, we model something like a 30% beta, and I think, we’ve outperformed that across the cycles.

And in term deposits, we sort of model a 70%. Again, we want to have the opportunity to give customers a reasonable rate if they go on to term with us. And obviously there’s the money fund as well. So, those on a back testing basis are pretty conservative assumptions for those two markets, really. And then the Channel Islands, we’re obviously a little bit newer to the market, and so we’re modeling it at a little bit more aggressive deposit betas. These are through cycle. I think, we’re sort of peaking in terms of deposit betas right now, in Channel Islands, but they’ve been pretty close to a 100% actually.

Craig Bridgewater: I think, part of it is Alex in Channel Islands, it’s very much a — we are very much of a corporate bank today. We’ve launched our sort of mass affluent retail initiative recently. We have over 200 million sterling in mortgages now, and sort of over about a 100 million in deposits. So over time, I think the Channel Islands will become — funding will become somewhat less expensive as we grow the retail book. But today it’s very much a corporate book, but I think that will change over time. It’ll start to look a little bit more like Bermuda and Cayman, but it’ll take some time to get there.

Operator: Our next question comes from Timur Braziler with Wells Fargo Securities. Please go ahead.

Timur Braziler: On the buyback, I just want to make sure, I’m hearing you correctly. You’re re-upping it. You’re optimistic about the trajectory of TCE. I guess are you still waiting to get to that 6% level before you reengage, or are you starting to reengage already? And then, as a follow-up, if there’s still — I think it’s a 2 million share authorization remaining through the end of February. Could we actually see you guys tapping into that in addition to the 3 million shares, or is the 3 million shares kind of a little bit higher than the prior year to serve as a catch-up for kind of shares not purchased during €˜22?

Craig Bridgewater: Thanks, Timur. I guess probably a few points just to tee it up is, kind always said that, as we structure a pathway back into our range of 66.5%, we’ll give consideration to whether we go back into the market, and commence our share repurchases. And as you can see that we are kind of marching towards that. So, at the end of December, I think, we’re like a 5.6, and we’re kind of seeing positive conditions around that. And then secondly, we always like to have a program that’s authorized. So to your point, we do have the existing one that expires at the end of February. So, that’s available to us. And then, what we did announce yesterday is a renewal — or replacement program of 3 million shares to take us through to next February.