Trustmark Corporation (NASDAQ:TRMK) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Tom Owens: Yes, and I think I’ve said this before, and I’ll make this point again. I think it’s really important. I talked about the last time the Fed Funds Rate was at 5% in €˜06. I mean, I can argue both sides of it, right? If you look back then when the Fed Funds Rate was 5%, it was a much longer cycle, and it took longer to get to 5%. And so, when you think about it this way, this is a much shorter cycle. You could certainly argue that, well, hey, don’t you think your effective beta is going to be less? And I think that’s a legitimate argument. The flip side is, the what now 16 years that have passed since the last time the Fed Funds Rate was at 5%, and the changes in technology that we all hold in the palm of our hands, and the ability to frictionlessly and you could do it quickly, you could do it cost effectively, essentially moving your funds around in search of higher yield, and when I think about that, that argues for a higher realized beta.

So, to me, you put those two things together, and I think that our estimates are reasonable. But again, I’d emphasize, those are our best estimates at this point in time.

Catherine Mealor: Got it. That’s all really helpful. And then maybe just one other question on service charges. I was surprised that your guidance for service charges is to be stable year-over-year. I was expecting more of a decline just with the NSF fee changes. Any – so I just want to clarify that kind of stable over the full year 2022 level of service charges.

Duane Dewey: No, I think, I think you accurately reflected the NSF changes and do minimis change, reflects about 3-ish million, maybe a little more than that. And what we’re seeing, if you’d note in the fourth quarter, we were stable to down slightly, but feel with increased activities and what we’re seeing economically, we’re still fairly positive on a stable outlook, Catherine.

Catherine Mealor: Okay, great. Very helpful. All right. Thank you.

Operator: And the next question will be from Kevin Fitzsimmons with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

Kevin Fitzsimmons: Hey, good morning, everyone. I was hoping to – on the expense guide for mid-single digit growth, I was hoping, number one, to just clarify what the base for that is. Is it – would I look at this adjusted non-interest expense for full year €˜22 of about $498 million? And then digging into a little bit, because it sounds like other than the $100 million settlement, it seems like there was some lumpiness this quarter, which maybe we don’t pull out and flag when we’re talking about core, but maybe is not going to be run rate going forward. So, I’m just trying to look at expenses from both of those angles. Thanks.

Tom Chambers: So, Kevin, this is Tom Chambers. If you look at what we’re expecting going forward, yes, you’re right, we had had a little lumpiness in the fourth quarter. Our core or our adjusted non-interest expense, we typically pull out significant non-recurring, non-routine items, which obviously was the litigation settlement this quarter and ORE and some amortization of intangibles. So, what we feel next year is mid-single digits with continued investment in technology and salary and benefits, that we have a competitive environment with, and those type of line items going forward.