Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Glacier Bancorp's Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Randy Chesler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Glacier Bancorp. Mr. Chesler, please begin.

All right. Thank you very much. Sorry for the technical difficulties. I think we're ready to go. So, good morning, and thank you for joining us today. With me here in Kalispell this morning is Ron Copher, our Chief Financial Officer; Angela Dose, our Chief Accounting Officer; Byron Pollan, our Treasurer; Tom Dolan, our Chief Credit Administrator, and Don Chery, our Chief Administrative Officer. I'd like to point out that the discussion today is subject to the same forward-looking considerations found on Page 14 of our press release, and we encourage you to take a careful review of this section. We released our fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings after the close of the market yesterday, and the Glacier Bancorp team wrapped up a challenging year with a very strong quarter. We achieved earnings per share of $0.49, which increased $0.02 per share from the prior quarter. Net income was $54.3 million for the current quarter, an increase of $1.9 million, or 4%, from the prior quarter. Interest income of $273 million in the current quarter increased $8.6 million, or 3%, over the prior quarter. Net interest margin on a tax-equivalent basis was 2.56% versus 2.58% in the prior quarter, our smallest quarterly decrease this year. Total non-interest expense of $132 million for the current quarter, including a one-time $6 million FDIC special assessment, increased only $2.6 million, or 2%, over the prior quarter. The portfolio loan yield of 5.34% increased seven basis points from the prior quarter. New loan production yields were 8.24%, up 32 basis points from the last quarter. Non-performing assets to bank assets decreased $16.7 million, or 39% from the prior quarter to 9% or nine basis points of assets. Net charge-offs to total loans ended the year at only six basis points. Provision expense for the quarter was $3 million, which was stable, compared to the prior quarter's provision expense of $3.5 million. The allowance for credit losses, as a percentage of total loans outstanding at year-end was 1.19%, flat to the prior quarter, and relatively unchanged compared to the 1.20% in the prior year fourth quarter. While the industry saw a significant outflow of deposits during the year, the company's core deposits and retail purchase agreements only decreased $108 million, or 50 basis points from the prior year-end. The company ended the year with $1.3 billion in cash, which was an increase of $952 million over the prior year-end. Stockholders' equity of $3 billion increased $146 million for the quarter, or 5%, and increased $177 million, or 6%, over the prior year-end. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 a share, and the company has declared 155 consecutive quarterly dividends, and has increased the dividend 49 times. We received all regulatory approvals for the acquisition of Wheatland Bank, a leading Eastern Washington community bank headquartered in Spokane, with total assets of $728 million as of the end of the year. This will be our 25th acquisition since 2000, and we will close the transaction on January 31. We welcome the Wheatland team to Glacier Bancorp. Despite the significant volatility in the banking industry in 2023, with two of the largest bank failures in history, depositors' fear of bank safety and historic interest rate increases, the Glacier team did an excellent job taking care of customers and communities across the West, and ended 2023 well-positioned for a strong 2024. So that ends my formal remarks, and I would now like Norma to open the line for any questions that our analysts may have.

Thank you. One moment for our first question, please. Our first question comes from the line of Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

Hi, good morning, guys.

Good morning, Matthew.

Starting on expenses, the run rate is well below the prior guidance of $132 million to $134 million. Can you speak to not only the run rate that you expect going forward, excluding Wheatland, but also maybe provide some color behind the staffing efficiencies that you gained? Just maybe speak to what exactly was done there?

Yes, Matthew, Ron here. So yes, what you recognize, we're proud to be recognized for that, but in terms of the staffing especially - so the guidance was $132 million to $134 million, and if you remove the FDIC's $6 million and some M&A of $500,000, you get down to roughly $126 million. Our compensation was down by about $6 million. And I want to normalize for that, because that included the performance-related, performance-based pay that totals about $6 million. So when you bring it all back, $132 million is basically what we came in at. When you look forward for Q1, excluding Wheatland, we would be at $138 million to $140 million. Then when you add in $6 million for Wheatland, the guidance for the full first quarter is $144 million to $146 million. That should be the high for each of the quarters in 2024. It's typical for the first quarter to run high. You get the full impact of the pay increases, the FICA tax, the employer portion kicks in. That reconciles there. The FTE count has continued to migrate down, particularly in the second and third quarters. The division, teams, and corporate departments all did an outstanding job continuing into the fourth quarter, with another 20 FTE reduction. Overall for the full year, there was a 96 FTE reduction, a lot of that attributable to the technologies that we've talked about on each of the calls. As we continue to implement those, think of the account opening process, cutting that in half, even doing better now. Instead of doing end-of-day closing, we've gone to real-time adjustments. That's greatly set up that process, but construction program we've built has been very, very good. Treasury management's making great strides. It's all very positive. We believe that we'll have some additional reductions in staffing. Probably not to the same degree. Remember, we're bringing on Wheatland and they’ve got 14 branches. We feel pretty good about what we’re able to achieve, certainly for the year, but especially in the fourth quarter.

Okay. That's great, thank you. Shifting gears to the margin, a three-part question there. If you had the spot rate on deposits at the end of the year, the average NIM in the month of December, and then what's your deposit beta assumption, on the way down with rate cuts at this stage?

Hi, Matthew, this is Byron. I can address that. The spot rate for total deposits in December, this is a December 31 total deposit spot rate, 1.30%. The margin for December was 2.59%. On the beta on the way down, I think what we'll likely see, as the Fed begins to cut rates, is an adjustment period. Maybe a lag in customer expectations as well, in the competitive deposit environment. For the first few cuts, we're expecting a lower beta on the way down, maybe less than 10%. I think we will see some near-term opportunities to reduce rates. Our first rate reduction opportunity will be with a higher cost CD that we've ramped up in recent quarters. I'm thinking of our CD specials that we have in place. We've kept our CD specials intentionally short. Almost 60% of our CDs mature in the first quarter. So that will afford us an opportunity to reprice those CDs as they mature, and as market rates are falling. That's our expectation. It will take a little bit of time for the down rate beta to gain some traction. For the first few cuts, we're thinking less than 10% on the way down.

Okay. Great. And then on the loan portfolio, particularly within residential construction and land lots and other construction that's come down the last couple of quarters, I assume those are just projects being completed. But maybe speak to the trend there. Is it being a little more cautious on that front, or is it just tough to find workers and get things done?

Yes Matt, this is Tom. Yes, the reduction in the Construction segments, you're absolutely right. That's a function of projects getting completed and moving into the perm functions, which is why you saw the one-to-four-family, multi-family, and some other CRE segments lift in the quarter. In terms of volume in the Construction segments, we're definitely seeing a reduction there, really across the board, residential and commercial construction. It's really twofold. We are being more selective and cautious than we normally are, even more so than our existing conservative underwriting standards. We've also seen customers waiting on the sidelines to get a little more clarity on what's going to happen. There definitely is some pent-up demand out there. With the current interest rate environment, especially on the commercial side, it takes certainly more cash equity to make a deal work according to our underwriting standards. All those things combined have muted the construction production a bit.

Okay. And then last one from me, bit of a two-part question around M&A. Great to see you guys getting the regulatory approvals here. Does this elongated approval process change your appetite in wanting to do deals? And if not, can you speak to kind of the incremental change in conversations you've had over the last quarter?

Sure. Well, we're 30 days longer than what we expected. I think we are very, very happy to get all the approvals and get it closed. No, I don't think this will change our appetite one bit. I think it will change our expectations that we set at the beginning of these and allow more time for the regulatory approval. In terms of activity, yes, the market has picked up. We are getting more inbound calls and a lot of very interesting opportunities. I think coming out of '23, there is just a little more of an increase in inquiries and interest, as well as different types of opportunities, be it whole banks, or branches, or just quite a bit more activity picking up. We'll see if it continues, Matthew, but at the start here, there's been an increase in the market.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. One moment for our next question, please. Our next question comes from the line of David Feaster with Raymond James. Your line is now open.

Hi, good morning, everybody?

Good morning, David.

Maybe just starting on the deposit front, I'm curious about some of the dynamics that you're seeing there. If you could help us think about how much of the deposit flows that you saw in the quarter would you attribute to client activation, or perhaps some seasonality? Hoping you could quantify that and just kind of how you think about deposit growth going forward and really, I guess, the overall balance sheet size. Obviously, probably targeting core deposit growth, but would you expect the balance sheet to remain relatively stable and just remix the book?

Sure, David, this is Byron. I'll start with deposits. Our deposit flows in Q4 were primarily driven by our non-interest bearing decline. We also had some declines in our brokered CDs. We just let those mature and run off. In terms of our outlook for total deposits for '24, we do think we'll be reverting back to some typical seasonal patterns. I think we'll be down in the first quarter. But on the year, I think we'll be likely flat versus where we ended in '23. That's in terms of total deposits. Digging into the non-interest-bearing a little bit, the majority of our non-interest-bearing decline came from typical seasonal outflows. Another driver that we looked at, the bulk of the outflow of non-interest-bearing came from business accounts. We looked at what type of businesses saw balance decline. The top three categories were all related to the housing market. So title company balances were down, construction accounts, contractor accounts, and those kinds of things. No surprise there, given recent headlines, that housing activity is at a very low point. I think I've seen a 30-year low in some headlines. On the other hand, when we're talking about non-interest-bearing balances, the rate-motivated migration is slowing. That trend has been slowing in recent quarters. In Q4, it was half of what it was in Q3. There is still some rate-seeking migration there, but it's much slower than it has been in previous quarters. I think that trend will continue to slow. In terms of the outlook for non-interest-bearing, we could continue to see some outflow of non-interest-bearing balances, some remix there. This is where Wheatland will give us a real boost. They're very strong on non-interest-bearing balances with their total deposit base over 45% non-interest-bearing, which is very strong. There is some seasonality to that, influenced by the Ag cycle and what's going on there, but very encouraged by the strong deposit base that Wheatland is bringing to the balance sheet.

Okay. That's helpful. Then maybe just touching on the securities book; could you first remind us the cash flows that you're expecting off that book near term? I know you sold some securities again this quarter. Curious your thoughts on maybe being more active on managing that book, and at what point you'd maybe be interested in restructuring. And just to your point on Wheatland, whether there's any rates have come down since that deal was announced. Just curious if there's any additional opportunity for balance sheet optimization, inclusive of that deal?

Yes, Byron could comment on the investment portfolio. The gain there, David, was the sale of the Visa B shares. We've been holding on to those for quite a while, $1.7 million. We thought this was a good time based on a lot of factors to exit those shares. So that was the gain that you saw this quarter.

Sure, David, back to cash flow on the securities portfolio. We are expecting about $250 million a quarter in securities cash flow that's through the end of this year. In terms of restructuring, as Randy mentioned, we didn't sell anything in the fourth quarter. I don't think we'll be looking to sell anything out of our portfolio. When Wheatland does come to us, we are looking to sell those securities. The securities currently in their portfolio will be liquidated in February and will just become part of our overall liquidity.

Got it, perfect. And then maybe just touching on the loan growth side. Obviously, loan growth slowed and I know you're very conservative. You've done a great job pushing pricing. I'm curious, how much of that slowdown would you attribute to being strategic on your end and just less appetite for growth versus maybe weaker market demand, or just a less certain backdrop for the borrowers? Just any thoughts on how you think about loan growth going forward?

Please stand by. They just dropped. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on your line. The call will resume momentarily. Again, ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. Your call will resume momentarily. David, you might want to ask your question again.

Yes, sure. The question was just kind of on the loan growth side. Loan growth slowed in the quarter. I know you guys have a pretty conservative posture. You guys have done a great job pushing, improving loan yields. I'm curious how much of the slowdown in loan growth was strategic on your end and you having less appetite for growth versus weaker market demand and maybe a less certain economic backdrop as your clients are looking out, and just how you think about loan growth more broadly going forward?

Sure, yes David. This is Tom. I really think it's twofold. We have been more selective, especially around higher risk areas, especially in uncertain economic times. Speculative repayment cash-out refinancing based on market appreciation—those are things that we're even more conservative on now than we have been. I think that's a portion of it. The other side is, we do still have a lot of borrowers, a lot of developers waiting on the sidelines until they're comfortable with the market outlook. As Byron mentioned, the slowdown on the residential side, we’ve seen that our builder finance and subdivision finance is not a big business line for us. But we do make some very well-heeled multi-recession tested developers and they've proactively scaled down as well, just kind of seeing what was coming on the forefront. So, I really think it's twofold—us being more selective and borrowers being more cautious. In terms of the production yield that we saw, our bank division has done a phenomenal job getting strong pricing on our deals. That hasn't really slowed growth that much. I'm constantly talking to our bank divisions, and I'm not hearing that we're losing deals over pricing. It's generally just overall pipelines are muted from where they were back in the heyday, although they have been somewhat stable in the last couple of quarters. The tailwinds we saw in the first half of '23 with a lot of construction draws; as those deals have moved through to completion and into the permanent category, we're just not replacing the construction volume at the same pace that we were expecting. To answer your last question on our go-forward outlook for 2024, we're thinking low to mid-single digits for the year.

Perfect. Thanks everybody.

All right, thank you.

Thank you. One moment for our next question, please. Our next question comes from the line of Kelly Mota with KBW. Your line is now open.

Hi, good morning. Thanks for the question.

Good morning, Kelly.

I wanted to ask about the about $2.7 billion of BTFP that you guys have. Just wondering what your plans are there with replacing that amount and how we should be thinking about that in context of the balance sheet overall?

Sure, Kelly, this is Byron. We have $2.74 billion of BTFP balances, those mature in March. The rate curve in Q4 allowed us to lock in some forward-starting FHLB advances. We locked in $1.8 billion of forward-starting advances at a very similar rate as we have our BTFP borrowing rate. That's on a dividend-adjusted basis. Those forward-starting advances will begin in March, to coincide with the maturity of the BTFP borrowing. We ladder those maturities from 12 to 24 months. We spread the refinancing of that over five quarters. We locked in the $1.8 billion, which leaves us with $940 million left to refinance in March. We've got some flexibility and options there. We have a little bit of extra cash right now, and we could use some of that to pay down that $940 million. We'll look at what the overnight borrowing environment is then and what the curve looks like, in terms of term FHLB advances. We'll keep our options open and evaluate that last $940 million as we get closer to maturity.

Got it. That's super helpful, thank you. You alluded to the higher levels of liquidity you have. Can you remind us where you're comfortable running those cash balances for a more normalized level?

Sure. We could bring our cash down to somewhere in the $500 million to $750 million range. Somewhere in that zone is probably a more comfortable level.

Okay, super helpful. Just on the margin overall, it's really encouraging the future around about the spot rates and whatnot. It seems like we've somewhat reached the bottom. I was just wondering what you guys are expecting in terms of the glide path of NII this year and margins really, especially considering potential rate cuts may be given the forward curve?

Sure, yes. Q4 margin was down only two basis points. That was a significant improvement over the pace of decline that we have seen in prior quarters. So I'm very encouraged by that. We are seeing signs of stabilization. The biggest driver of that is the slowing increase of our deposit costs. In terms of our outlook, I think we do see Q1 continued stabilization. From there, we will likely see an inflection point, somewhere in the second quarter, and then we see growing NIM from there. We are also encouraged by, again, Wheatland and the list that they will help provide on the margin side. That will be helpful. To put a range on our expectations for the full year, I think we will come in somewhere in the range of $280 million to $290 million. That's given our current rate outlook that includes three cuts in '24, spread evenly throughout quarters two, three, and four later this year.

Got it. That's super helpful. If we were to get more rate cuts more in line with the forward curve, just directionally, how would you anticipate that would impact that expectation?

I think it would be helpful. Our margin could improve even above the range that I mentioned previously.

Okay, awesome. That's really helpful. Last question I wanted to ask was on expenses. I think you had said inclusive of Wheatland's $144 million to $146 million in Q1. That was a little higher than where I was. Can you remind us, and that's a partial impact of Wheatland. Can you just remind us the dollar amount of cost that you anticipate expecting for Wheatland and overall core expenses? It seems like from the release and your commentary, you're looking to control. I'm just wondering what you're anticipating in terms of core expense outlook there?

Yes Kelly, Ron. Let me go back. I just want to make sure. The $144 million to $146 million guide that includes Wheatland. Just to go back to the core, ignoring Wheatland, we're going to go from $132 million in the fourth quarter. We'll go up to $138 million to $140 million, just on the divisions we already had. Then you add another $6 million, so the guide becomes $144 million to $146 million. On the expenses, we are in the model that we built, assuming a 20% reduction of their non-interest expense. That would be layered in 50% in '24 and then 100% in '25. We feel that's very, very achievable. I don't have the exact dollar amount. I just remember it's 20% based in 50% '24, 100% '25.

Got it. And if you're adding that $6 million that they're adding for the quarter, is that inclusive of any one-time, non-operating kind of just merger charges in that? And that's a 16-month contribution?

Yes, it's in there, but it's not a really big number. We're just giving the guide $144 million to $146 million.

Okay. And that's a two-month contribution from them?

Yes, two months, thank you.

Got it, awesome. Thank you so much. I really appreciate all the color today. I'll step back.

Thank you. One moment for our next question, please. Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson. Your line is now open.

Thanks, good morning.

Good morning, Jeff.

Hi, Randy. Not to chase down the margin too much, and I think you framed up really well, Byron, particularly that last piece. I just wanted to get sensitivity. You do screen fairly liability sensitive, so I just want to make sure if, in that three-cut scenario and kind of upward trending. You talked about kind of the beta on the way down on deposits. Would that extend into '25 then, some of that favorable kind of tailwind in a three-cut environment? Conversely, kind of margin expectations, should there be no cuts this year? Is there kind of a core lift, or is there not, trying to chase that down? Thanks.

Sure. I'll start with expectations if we don't see cuts. I think we could still see margin growth. The pace of that growth will be a lot slower, and the key to that is stabilization of our deposit costs. We're already seeing good signs there. We're kind of flattening out the curve of that deposit cost increase. I think that will happen even without cuts. It may push out that inflection point. I mentioned second quarter; it may push that inflection point out further in the year, but I still think we could see some growth, although more limited, even if the Fed doesn't cut rates this year.

Okay. I appreciate it, thank you. Randy, I appreciate the M&A just kind of appetite and conversation. The dividend rate has been flat for a little while now, and I know that's a Board discussion, but we read anything into that in terms of holding capital for maybe a more active M&A, or is that a separate channel that looking at the dividend, you can kind of do both, just more specifically asking about the dividend? Thanks.

Sure, we're comfortable where the dividend is. I don't see it changing, and I think this is still an environment where capital is king. We'll stay the course with the dividends in the foreseeable future. Again, that's up to the Board, but that's my expectation.

Okay. Maybe some of those hikes were post-pandemic, there were some moves there, I suppose. Anyway, I think you answered it, I appreciate it. The last one from me is just to check in on that tax rate, kind of where you see it settling in '24?

Yes, Ron here. The settle-in will range from 18% to 18.5% somewhere in that ballpark as we achieve the net interest income, the NIM, all of that occurring as well.

Thank you. One moment for our next question, please. Our next question comes from the line of Brandon King with Truist. Your line is now open.

Hi, good morning.

Good morning, Brandon.

So could you quantify the amount of loans, fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans you expect to reprice in 2024 and what the runoff yields are?

The answer is, we're going to have to check on that for you, Brandon.

Okay.

So let us get back to you with the exact numbers. That was one thing I was going to add to the margin discussion. We do continue to get some lift with portfolio repricing. It's a lag repricing, and so there is some lift there and it is accelerating into '25, but we'll get to the actual numbers.

Okay. And then on the CDs, if I remember correctly, was what I heard, 60% mature in the first quarter. I wanted to know what rates those CDs are coming off that, and what you're looking to reprice those CDs at?

Sure, those CDs are priced at a little under 4.5%. It will depend on the rate environment when those CDs come up for maturity. We're already starting to test, kind of peeling back those renewal rates a little bit, and we're having good success there. I would expect the renewal of those CDs to come in just a little bit below where they are.

Okay. That's helpful. And then lastly, with the CFPB proposal and overdraft fees, are you considering any proactive changes to your overdraft policy?

No, we're watching that carefully and looking at it. At this point in time, we don't anticipate any changes. I think it's still early. There's a lot of discussion to be had about that. If you read the full report, it's pretty extensive. The industry has a very strong point of view. At this point, we're watching the discussion, and it's too early to really anticipate any changes.

Okay. That's all I had. Thanks for taking my questions.

Welcome.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Andrew Terrell with Stephens. Your line is now open.

Hi, good morning.

Good morning, Andrew.

Maybe just to start, Byron, I appreciate all the commentary you gave earlier on the deposit side. It was helpful. I just want to clarify, when you discuss kind of year-on-year, '24 versus '23 deposit balances kind of flat on the year. Is that inclusive or exclusive of Wheatland?

That is exclusive of Wheatland. So that would be the organic trajectory of our deposit base.

Yes. Okay. I thought so, just wanted to make sure there. Then if I could clarify, Ron, on the just to go back to the core expense guide. Before the Wheatland deal, you were talking about a $138 million to $140 million core expense in 1Q. So call it even a pretty significant build from the 4Q, even if you normalize for the $6 million that sounds like a true-up benefit this quarter. I guess I'm struggling to figure out how you get from what I call like a $132 million core in 4Q up to $138 million to $140 million on a core basis in the first quarter. Just given some of the expense commentary, it sounds pretty positive. You had some FTE reductions in the fourth quarter. It sounds like a lot of expense management focus. I guess I'm just struggling to figure out how we get from $132 million to $138 million to $140 million?

Yes, certainly a good chunk of that is the mere increase in talent costs. So, layered in a 5% increase. We're still seeing higher inflation out there. So just being conservative, but still very comfortable with the $138 million to $140 million. The team, the colleagues, everybody's looking at it, but we continue to have to negotiate and see 5% could absolutely happen, no doubt about it.

Yes. Okay. Got it. And then if I could just clarify one point on the margin guidance that you guys provided, that the $280 million to $290 million range for the full year, inclusive of, it sounds like, three cuts in the last three quarters of the year. I guess if the margin, the commentary for the NIM into 1Q is a pretty stable level versus the fourth quarter, and then maybe some inflection in 2Q, but then building in the back half of the year as you get the benefit of those cuts, it kind of implies you’ve got to move to like a 3% plus NIM exiting the year. Is that kind of a fair assessment, or would you walk that back a little bit?

That's a fair assessment.

Okay. Well, thanks for taking the questions this morning. I appreciate it.

You're welcome.

Thank you. And I'm currently showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the conference back to Mr. Randy Chesler for closing remarks.

Right, well, thank you, Norma. Thank you everyone for joining us this morning. That concludes our call. We appreciate everyone taking time out of your busy day to listen in. Have a great Friday and a great weekend.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference. You may now disconnect. Everyone have a wonderful day.