Huntington Bancshares Inc at Barclays Global Financial Services Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Thanks, guys. Pretty informative. Maybe we just start big picture. You mentioned kind of this unique model you have. Just maybe talk to kind of what's different about your model that allows you to outgrow peers. I mean you showed that loan growth chart. Clearly, you've outpaced the industry. And at the same time, your credit quality metrics have been probably better than the industry. So maybe just talk to that, and I guess, how comfortable can we be that you're putting on this loan growth, and we're not going to see degradation looking out?

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : I guess, Brant, you touched on it in your presentation, but last year at this conference, you guys had kind of announced for the first time your expansion to the Carolinas with branches. Just maybe update us further on your progress there. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 08, 2025 / 1:00PM, HBAN.OQ - Huntington Bancshares Inc at Barclays Global Financial Services Conference

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Maybe we put up the next ARS question. Is just thoughts on -- the audience's thoughts on the Veritex acquisition. And Brant, maybe just to ask you, just how just is that deal kind of fit into the broader picture of Huntington's kind of growth strategy. Does it prohibit you from doing additional deals? Kind of what's your thought on strategy? And then is there an early 4Q close toll on the table?

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : And then, I guess, 4Q close seemed, I guess, one of the -- an announcement seemed kind of quick relative to what maybe we saw another administration, just good thoughts around that.

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Sounds good. I guess you mentioned marketing in your kind of other answer and maybe a couple of weeks ago, Huntington put an announcement basically a brand relaunch, so to speak. Just how does that fit into the strategy? How do you measure that? Any kind of early signs of success? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 08, 2025 / 1:00PM, HBAN.OQ - Huntington Bancshares Inc at Barclays Global Financial Services Conference

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : All right, Zach. Now we have to get into the financials. Maybe I'll usually don't start here. I'm going to start with expenses just because more recently, that's kind of been a big topic on investors' finds. And we talked about branch expansion. We talked about rebranding organic growth. Obviously, all that does require expenses. Maybe talk about how you intend to kind of further scale organic investments. You've talked about positive operating leverage a bit at Investor Day and others -- other forums and just how you're thinking about that, particularly as we enter kind of the 2026 budgeting season.

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : And I guess you talked about in July, 5% to 6% expense growth for this year?

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : All right. And then we talked about loan growth a bit. You saw a certainly good average loan growth quarter to date. I guess, better than the guidance you gave last quarter. I think we were thinking 1% growth. You talked to for third quarter now, it's closer to 2%. Maybe just talk about kind of your expectations in the back half of the year into 2026 on loan growth.

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Interesting because your guidance, I guess, for loan growth for the full year in July was 6% to 8%. You've already done 7%. I just take through August, and you're looking for more growth into the fourth quarter.

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : And I guess when you look at kind of the loan growth relative to the guidance, I guess any particular pockets of surprising strengths? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 08, 2025 / 1:00PM, HBAN.OQ - Huntington Bancshares Inc at Barclays Global Financial Services Conference

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Maybe shift gears to NIM. Zach, you mentioned, I think, 3.10% for the third quarter when we last spoke in July, you were saying 3.08% to 3.10%, so a little bit better than that. Maybe just talk to how you're thinking about funding costs, deposit betas, the Fed, I'm told going to cut next week, and just kind of where you see the NIM playing out?

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Got it. We just skip to the fourth ARS question and then after a little bit, you could put up the answer. I guess shifting gears -- maybe not shift, let's stay here. We talked about loan growth, we talked about deposit growth or we talked interest margin. Obviously, bringing that all together, we get to net interest income. Maybe just help us kind of frame it. I did some quick math, but I'd love to get your just how do you see NII shaping up in the second half of the year and just maybe elaborate a bit. I don't know if the Fed goes 25 basis points next week, someone had told me 50. Just how the rate environment influences that.

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : So I guess on the earnings call in July, you mentioned flat NII in Q3, and now we're saying up NII in Q3, up again in Q4. I think at one point, you're talking about 8% to 9% for the year. You kind of keep on raising that --

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Thanks. And then fee income. Obviously, it's been a lot -- a big focus of Huntington for the last several years. Just maybe how you think about fee income growth from here? I'd love you to touch on payments, wealth management, capital markets, that certainly you put a lot of investments there.

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : So fees up 4% to 6% for the year, feel good about that? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 08, 2025 / 1:00PM, HBAN.OQ - Huntington Bancshares Inc at Barclays Global Financial Services Conference

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Maybe to touch on credit quality for a second. You talked about it earlier, but just -- as you look out, any particular areas of concern that your consumer data has maybe been a little bit soft. There's this tariff impact starting to or affect the commercial side. Could you maybe kind of talk to what you're seeing hearing from your customers?

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Got it. And maybe capital. Just, I guess, how do we think about trajectory of capital ratios maybe going forward? You talked about loan growth, talked about organic expansion. And just Huntington has not bought back stock in quite a while, just how do you think about potential share repurchase in the future?

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : So early 2026 would maybe be a good guess?

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Makes sense. Makes sense. I guess on Veritex, I think when it was announced that people understood the strategic rationale of it with any dealers, obviously, integration risk and other risks. But the financial impact seemed I guess, very little, at least on the surface. As you spend a bit more time going through it and just kind of any updated thoughts in terms of accretion dilution, expense save opportunities, revenue synergies and just maybe update us a few more months in.

Question: Jason Goldberg - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Any questions from the audience, here in the front row? Can you just shout it out, I'll repeat it. Unidentified Participant (inaudible - microphone inaccessible)