Synovus Financial Corp at Barclays Global Financial Services Conference Transcript

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

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : Great. Maybe on the growth side -- the loan growth side, for the last few quarters, you've seen a little bit of a decline in the 0% to 3% growth range. I think it caught some people off guard early on, just given the strength of your markets and the growth in the markets. Can you talk a little bit about some of the puts and takes of what's behind that, where you're seeing some pressure? And I think maybe the payoff-paydown activity levels as well?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : What would you say -- once you have those headwinds behind you, what's a good sort of long-term growth target for a company your size in your markets?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : On the utilization rates, it's interesting that that keeps coming down. From talking to your clients, what's holding them back -- the existing clients, what's holding them back from using more? Is it the rate environment, the economic uncertainty, political uncertainty, and what needs to change to get that?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : The Southeast is a strong geography overall. What other pockets that are better for you that you're seeing better opportunities? And how is the competitive dynamic changing in the market?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : At the Investor Day a few years ago, you laid out several key initiatives as future earnings growth drivers. Now that we're 2.5 years or so away from those initial projections, which continue to drive the most excitement for you, and which should become maybe a little less of a focus?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : Maybe drilling down on a couple of those, it seems like the regulatory uncertainty around banking as a service has -- the scrutiny has certainly increased this year. How has that changed your view more specifically around MAAST?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : You mentioned the success in CIB and the growth you've seen there. Is there an opportunity for that to expand beyond the initial targeted industries? And how do you see that integrating more with the rest of the bank as that matures?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : Similarly, on the treasury side, you've expanded with Accelerate Pay and integrated payments. How has that changed your expectations with some of the goals you have in treasury?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : I guess along those lines, capital markets had a strong second quarter. With the update in the slides, it seems like third quarter may be a little bit weaker from there. How should we be thinking about sort of a good run rate longer term in capital markets?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : Great. Let's go to the questions for the audience. And also, we'd love to open it up to Q&A. So if anyone has any questions after we go through these four, I'll ask you to raise your hand. So first question we've asked everybody is, what's your current position in the shares of Synovus: overweight, market weight, underweight, or not involved? You can use your BlackBerry and click the right answer.

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : We'll see. There's still few more coming in. So it looks like this is a theme we've seen at all the mid-cap bank so far is not involved. It feels like there's a lot of potential and opportunity with investors that are starting to look at the space or reengaging in the space. 24% overweight, 14% equal weight, and 10% underweight. Second question, which segment of the bank will help Synovus differentiate itself the most over the next five years: the core middle market C&I, the specialty C&I, treasury and payment solutions that we were just speaking about, CIB, or MAAST? You can answer that. All right. Let's see. Core middle market C&I, I guess, taking advantage of the strong geographies and the strength of the relationships. Treasury and payment solutions are number two. Third question, net charge-offs are expected to be lower in the second half versus first half. Where do '25 -- 2025 net charge-offs end up: less than 20 basis points, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, or greater than 50? Maybe you can answer if you want. Almost 30 to 40; 20 to 30, number two; and then greater than 50, number three. And the last question, which would have the most impact on improving Synovus's valuation: above-peer loan growth, better relative margin performance, stronger fee growth, better expense control, credit quality outperformance, more active share repurchase, or an accretive bank acquisition? Better relative margin performance, credit quality outperformance, and accretive acquisition is number three, and zero for buybacks. Great.

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : Yes, there you go. Any questions, let's see what the audience has? Raise your hand, and we can give you a microphone. No? Shy audience today. All right. Well, we can jump into that. I guess with the discussion around margin outperformance, maybe for you, Jamie, if we end up seeing a 50-basis-point cut first versus the 25, how does that change your expectations around sort of the dynamic of margin in NII in the near term?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : Despite the securities restructuring and the step up in yields you expected this quarter, it looks like overall asset yields will still be mostly flat. You talked about the dynamics there and if there's any sort of specific headwinds that we should be paying attention to besides just the interest rate pressure overall?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : This quarter going in, and yes, then through the rest of the year.

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : Okay. Great. Maybe shifting on to the deposit side, it's been a tough environment for deposits and liquidity over the past 18 months. What have you learned about your deposit base over this time? And how is that informing the strategy going forward?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : On that point, when you look out over the next year or two years, where do you see the most core deposits coming from, I guess, at this point, sort of the incremental new dollar?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : And maybe shifting over to credit, on the slide update, there was an overall improvement in sort of the credit expectation. Where are you seeing the most surprised benefit? And where are you still focused as an area of concern?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : And maybe just a final question as you wrap up here, capital management. You've been buying back some stock. You still have an existing authorization. How are you looking at that in response to the audience answer doing an accretive acquisition? What is the -- what's your appetite for M&A? What do you think the regulatory environment is right now for even presenting a deal, if there was one?

Question: Jared Shaw - Barclays Bank PLC - Analyst : Great. Well, thanks very much. Please join me in thanking the team from Synovus for presenting today. And I hope you have a great rest of the day.