Fifth Third Bancorp Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Good morning. I guess maybe, Tim, just thinking about capital allocation. I heard Bryan talk about the buyback appetite for the back half of the year. But just talk to us around how you're thinking about deployment of capital. Clearly, we saw one of your competitors announce a bank deal earlier this week. Any sense of strategically, even if you think about bank M&A picking up, are there characteristics that (inaudible) these markets of a bank that we should be thinking about as shareholders of (inaudible)? Any perspective would be helpful. Thank you.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : That's good color. Thank you. And I guess maybe just a separate question. Obviously, your charge-offs range narrowed, but as we think about the impact of the tax bill on the residential solar panel industry, just give us how you are handicapping any potential (inaudible) your exposure? And the business strategy from here going forward and dividend? Thank you.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Very comprehensive. Thank you, both.

Question: Scott Siefers - Piper Sandler Companies - Analyst : Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Bryan, I wanted to ask, on the margin improvement, even if we adjust for the benefit of the NPA that you discussed in your prepared remarks, much better than you had articulated might be the case earlier this year. I think we can see on slide 5 kind of what's happening between quarters. But I guess just in your view, what's coming in better than you might have anticipated earlier this year? And what are we thinking about the pace of improvement opportunity looking ahead? And then I guess the follow-up, I was hoping you might be able to in your response to sort of address what you see as competitive dynamics on both the loan and deposit side, rational, irrational, et cetera?

Question: Scott Siefers - Piper Sandler Companies - Analyst : Perfect. All right. Good. Thanks very much, Bryan.

Question: Ryan Nash - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Hey. Good morning, everyone.

Question: Ryan Nash - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Is this a sports radio talk?

Question: Ryan Nash - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Tim, maybe outside of the movement in utilization. We're obviously some signs of loan growth improving. You talked about investments to support loan growth, the lenders up 11%, outlook sounds (inaudible). Maybe you can just talk more specifically about your expectations for loan growth. And as you're out talking to corporates, do you feel they've gotten confident enough to start making big investment decisions and borrowing more? Thank you and I have a follow-up. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JULY 17, 2025 / 1:00PM, FITB.OQ - Q2 2025 Fifth Third Bancorp Earnings Call

Question: Ryan Nash - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Got it. And given your comments from before, you talked about identifying 80% of the locations in the Southeast, 150 to 200 basis points of operating leverage, I guess, given the success that you're seeing in your business plus the success in the Southeast, does it make sense to accelerate your efforts here from some inorganic perspective? And just how are you thinking about the pacing of your growth initiatives from here? Thank you.

Question: Ryan Nash - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Got it. Thanks for taking the questions. Thank you.

Question: Erika Najarian - UBS Equities - Analyst : Hi. Good morning. Bryan, I had a few questions just on balance sheet mix from here and I'm looking at third of the period end data. The period end date looked a little bit soft for commercial and very strong for consumer. Now given, Tim, in your comments about commercial clients' inactivity levels for the second half of the year, should we expect that mix of growth to change? Or is there a dynamic where you can continue to see strong consumer growth in the back half of the year in addition to a pickup in C&I growth? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JULY 17, 2025 / 1:00PM, FITB.OQ - Q2 2025 Fifth Third Bancorp Earnings Call

Question: Erika Najarian - UBS Equities - Analyst : And to that end, if the consumers are still solid and you're seeing that acceleration based on the pipeline, I'm wondering about your deposit strategy, funding strategy in the second half of the year. Clearly, your demand deposit momentum is strong. Total deposits were down (inaudible) or flat. I guess, as we think about the second half of the year, how are you balancing optimizing your mix versus gathering more deposits for funding? Or do you have enough cash, I think it's $13 billion at period end, that can help fund that incremental loan growth? Sorry for the compound question. (inaudible) positions for on deposit costs in the second half of the year?

Question: Erika Najarian - UBS Equities - Analyst : Got it. Thank you.

Question: Mike Mayo - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Hey. I'm going to stick with the metaverse analogy here and this time, a little bit different. I'm not really sure which (inaudible) and I hear what you're saying, but is commercial loan growth back to the industry or is it not back? I'll let you choose column A or column B here. If you look at the biggest banks, it's back, that's more capital markets. You guide 5% loan growth for the year. That's pretty high. The middle market pipelines up 50%, as you said. But then the not-back column, you talked about the less commercial loan growth for the second quarter, others talk about being temporary due to tariffs, that relationship banking is muted, just-in-time borrowing. You mentioned the utilization down, I guess, 50 basis points core extra growth in commitments. And your guidance for the year does not imply much gross luck. So you're talking, hey, things are back. But then your guide, you're close to that guidance for the year (inaudible) don't grow much more. So is loan growth back or is it not? Or is it still TBD? Thanks. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JULY 17, 2025 / 1:00PM, FITB.OQ - Q2 2025 Fifth Third Bancorp Earnings Call

Question: Mike Mayo - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : I guess that goes to your point about changes to complex systems and difficulty in predicting.

Question: Mike Mayo - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Got it. All right. Thank you so much.

Question: Steven Alexopoulos - TD Cowen - Analyst : Hi, everybody. Hey, Tim, I wanted to I want to go back to your comments about some of the stable. Got quite a bit here is what does it mean to fifth or your customers or a strike who's talking about adopting their own stable point potentially? What does it means for business from residues in as relevant to a company like that, if they have their own stablecoin, could you unpack that for us?

Question: Steven Alexopoulos - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. Those are my questions.