Synovus Financial Corp at Bank of America Financial Services Conference Summary

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

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : <_ALACRA_META_ABSTRACT>Maybe I guess just continuing on the conversation we were having. I think let's start with the macro outlook and how you view the world differently today versus a year ago and there are lots of macro cost currents, but just give us a sense of optimism that you have for your business and for Synovus and what you're hearing from your clients. Kevin Blair - Synovus Financial Corp - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer Well, I think let's deal with facts because as we were talking about, there's a lot of question marks and uncertainty that exists with the political environment, with the economic environment, interest rates, get on the list, facts, when we were exiting 2024, our fourth quarter committed production, so that doesn't mean it was funded, but the line. And commitments. It was the highest level of C&I and CRE production we'd had in eight quarters. You couple that with the fact that we do a quarterly survey with our clients and the level of optimism was the highest it's been in several years. The number one concern out of that survey was more around the Continued stability of consumer spending. So what's been removed from the table, people have generally been able to overcome the inflationary pressures they were seeing. They worry about the labor markets. They worry about the election. Well, some of those things were behind them. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 5:10PM, SNV.N - Synovus Financial Corp at Bank of America Financial Services Conference So now they're saying if the consumer stays strong, we think that our prospects over the next 12 months will improve, and that's what we saw in the survey. You correlate that to our pipelines. Our pipelines were also up 20% year over year. So what gives us confidence is the facts of our business see increased production, increased pipelines, increased consumer and commercial sentiment. That's what drove our belief that 2025 would be a stronger year for loan production. Coupled with that in 204 and 23 we were optimizing the balance sheet. We sold a medical office building portfolio $1.2 billion. We ran off syndicated national accounts where we didn't have relationships. We ran off an aviation business. We downsized our third party consumer. All of those things provided headwinds to growth. In addition, we saw some of the lowest utilization on our lines we've had in some time below 45%. That number generally works in the 50% range. So. And then lastly, in the fourth quarter we saw payoff activities in commercial and CRE at $1.6 billion. We averaged only $1 billion, a quarter prior to that, so it felt like a lot of things that were providing headwinds and as we entered 2025, we felt like some of those would turn into tailwinds. But to our discussion of a lot of those things are rooted in fact, but it really comes down to the demand from our clients. And so when you see things like tariffs being introduced, causing inflationary pressures on our clients, could that have an impact on demand? Sure, it could actually accelerate demand in the short run where people are trying to build their inventories prior to having to take on the incremental costs, but the things we can control. And the things we see give us a great deal of certainty that we'll be able to increase our growth this year and be able to do it in a way that's with a with a similar backdrop on the NIM side because going into last year we we felt that NIM was going to be fairly stable. Jamie's talked about seeing NIM accretion from this point because of the fixed rate repricing. So for all those reasons we feel pretty bullish about being able to grow.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : So I guess maybe let's talk about. What all of this means for growth, right, so very strong markets. You just talked about it. Pipelines are strong. I mean I think the loan growth guidance was 3% to 6% relatively wide as we think about what gets 3% to 6% versus 3%, just give us remind us of the puts and takes.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And just going back to the macro and you mentioned the tariffs earlier. Again, early days in terms of 2025, but when you think about those pipelines actually translating into growth, is the macro do we have enough policy certainty where your customers are borrowing, or are we still in wait and watch mode?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And I guess maybe sticking with loan growth and spread revenue, you talked about net and margin expanding from your Remind us the positioning of the balance sheet. It seems that the Fed may be on pause for the rest of the year. What that means in terms of the margin outlook, if the Fed doesn't do anything, is that a good or a bad thing? And then I'll follow up with the next one if.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And I guess the one side of the equation there is deposit bearers. Remind us how that's played out relative to your expectations and how much more runway do we have in terms of flexing deposit costs lower.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And just maybe talk a little bit about what the market looks like. Are there certain geography where competition like you're a market where there are a lot of new entrants. Like what does that mean for synovas? Does it impacting and influencing how you're pricing deposits in order to defend stuff?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Maybe just switching gears back to Synovus's go. I think you talked about it. Yes sir, you've done a good job in terms of some of these initiatives over the years under your leadership. Just talk maybe Kevin, Synovus go, why now is the right time and what are we looking to achieve with it?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : I just sticking with winning, I guess talk to us around the hiring of talent or pitching for business like what sets slows apart from either the large national banks or another regional bank that's coming into your market, what that means from a practical standpoint.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And he talked about investments means. You've been on an efficiency drive, I would think for as long as I can remember now. Just when you think about the expense growth outlook, all the hiring, are there still opportunities at the bank in terms of extracting efficiencies and like how does that offset organic growth?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : It looks like that gives you enough flex over the next few years to manage expenses without having a big negative sort of surprise. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 5:10PM, SNV.N - Synovus Financial Corp at Bank of America Financial Services Conference

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : But we hit upon like two or three different growth initiatives. One, just from a market standpoint, remind us in terms of your outlook for the Florida franchise. With the banking wealth, like where does that stand, and are there other markets within the geography that you're particularly excited about?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : But I guess the other area where you've focused on has been the CIB capital markets business. Maybe Give us a status check on where that stands. What's how what's your outlook for that and.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Any other fee categories where you're particularly excited treasury management mortgage. I'm just wondering.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And this, if you don't mind spending some time on the green sky relationship, I mean, generally what we've seen over the last few years is banks are optimizing their balance sheets, how they use what a big focus on deposit relationships or having a holistic relationship with customers. Just tell us how GreenSky fits in. Within that framework.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Just talking about partnering, I think the others. The other thing that you're discussing or it's coming up a lot in terms of banks' origination capabilities married with private credit, direct lender, so one, I think, are they a serious competitive sort of threat to your business from a day to day standpoint, and are they partnering opportunities where you originating and passing on an asset that may not belong on the balance sheet?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And you mention regulations. Obviously, there's a fair amount of optimism around a return to a more balanced, predictable regulatory backdrop for the banks. Do you share that view, number one, and second, in what aspects can synovas actually see tangible relief? Yeah, either the regulations or supervisory.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : But maybe just spend some time on capital management, I think the $400 million buyback authorization. You grew capital last year despite buying backs stock. Just remind us capital deployment priorities, where you're managing capital to, and how quickly can you do you plan to execute on those buybacks.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And I guess one last question just around. You shared an interesting anecdote at a conference you were on bank M&A, but give us a sense of you've done one deal in the last several years on banks, which is meaningful in size. So in a world where the regulatory backdrop is a little more conducive to get deals approved, et cetera. Like how attractive is that as a strategic option for Synovus?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : It's a good way to think about it. Jamie, Kevin, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 5:10PM, SNV.N - Synovus Financial Corp at Bank of America Financial Services Conference