Huntington Bancshares Q3 2023 Earnings Results & Report

Huntington Bancshares EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.36
• Consensus EPS: $0.32
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.04
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.39
• EPS Beat Rate: 5 of last 8 quarters

Huntington Bancshares Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $2.82 billion
• Expected Revenue: $1.82 billion
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$998.91 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Its principal subsidiary, The Huntington National Bank, provides banking and financial services to consumers, businesses, institutions and government entities.

The company’s offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential lending, credit cards, auto finance, mortgages, commercial loans, treasury management, investment and wealth management services, insurance, and other financial solutions. Huntington serves individuals and small businesses as well as middle-market and larger commercial customers.

Founded in 1866, Huntington has expanded through organic growth and acquisitions, including its 2021 merger with TCF Financial Corporation. The bank operates primarily across the Midwest, with a presence in states including Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Minnesota, along with selected neighboring markets.

Huntington Bancshares Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Huntington reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $0.36 and ROTCE of 20%, with average deposits up 1.8% and net interest margin rising by 9 basis points sequentially.
• The bank holds top‐quartile CET1 capital (inclusive of AOCI) and best‐in‐class liquidity covering 204% of uninsured deposits, positioning it to manage higher‐for‐longer rates.
• Guidance for Q4 net interest margin of 3.05–3.10% (5–10 bps higher than prior outlook) and 2024 NIM trending flat to higher, supporting full‐year net interest income growth.
• Proactive expense programs—including branch consolidations, staffing efficiencies and corporate real estate actions—drive baseline efficiency, with ~4% core expense growth expected in 2024 (vs 2.5% in 2023) alongside $10 million of Q4 one‐time costs.
• Credit quality remains strong with net charge‐offs at 24 bps, an allowance for credit losses of 1.96% (among the highest peer coverage) and only modest normalization in NPAs, mainly in commercial real estate.

Presentation

[Operator]

Greetings! Welcome to the Huntington Bancshares third quarter earnings call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star 0 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. At this time, I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Tim Sedabres, Director of Investor Relations.

[Tim Sedabres, Director of Investor Relations at Huntington Bancshares]

Thank you, operator. Welcome, everyone, and good morning. Copies of the slides we will be reviewing today can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website, www.huntington.com. As a reminder, this call is being recorded, and a replay will be available starting about one hour from the close of the call. Our presenters today are Steve Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO, and Zach Wasserman, Chief Financial Officer. Rich Pohle, Chief Credit Officer, and Brendan Lawlor, Deputy Chief Credit Officer, will join us for the Q&A. Earnings documents, which include our forward-looking statements disclaimer and non-GAAP information, are available on the Investor Relations section of our website. With that, let me now turn it over to Steve.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Thanks, Tim. Good morning, everyone, and welcome. Thank you for joining the call today. We're pleased to announce our third quarter results, which Zach will detail later. Our approach to both our colleagues and customers continues to be grounded in our purpose. Our colleagues again demonstrated that we make people's lives better, help businesses thrive, and strengthen the communities we serve. Now, on to Slide four. There are five key messages we want to leave you with today. First, Huntington is extraordinarily well-positioned to manage through the evolving landscape for banks. The near-term environment includes higher-for-longer interest rates and uncertain economic outlook, expected new capital regulations, as well as heightened regulatory requirements. Huntington operates in this dynamic period from a position of substantial strength. Our balance sheet and risk profile were intentionally built over more than a decade, explicitly for these times.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Our market position, digital leadership, and momentum in core growth strategies put us in the top of the peer set. We intend to lean into this position of strength to drive incremental growth through existing and new capabilities. Second, we've managed top quartile CET1, inclusive of AOCI. We will continue to drive additional capital expansion for the remainder of this year and over the course of 2024. Third, we benefit from a cultivated, granular deposit franchise and have delivered consistent core deposit growth. Our balanced deposit base forms the foundation of our robust liquidity framework and has been a driving factor in our well-managed beta over the rate cycle to date. Fourth, credit quality remains strong across our portfolios, driven by our disciplined customer selection, underwriting, and rigorous portfolio management.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

This approach is unwavering, starting with our tone at the top as we maintain our aggregate moderate to low risk appetite. Finally, we remain intently focused on our core strategy. We are executing with discipline while expanding with existing and new capabilities to support our long-term growth. Very importantly, we are remaining steadfast in our commitment to drive operating efficiency over time, with continued execution of proactive expense management programs. We expect the level of uncertainty in the near term and some level of higher expenses to manage through the realities of the current operating environment. However, these investments will also be accompanied by sustained revenue growth, and the net result will be a Huntington that continues to be a strong regional bank with significant growth opportunities ahead. I will move us on to Slide five to further illustrate our position of strength.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Our adjusted CET1 ratio is strong and near the top of the peer group. We intend to drive this ratio higher throughout this year and 2024. This plan extends our position of strength, supports continued execution of core growth strategies, and puts us well ahead of the proposed Basel III endgame and other requirements. Deposit growth has also outperformed our peers by nearly 10 percentage points since the end of 2021. We've built one of the most granular deposit bases with a leading insured deposit percentage, and we continue to drive the expansion of primary bank customer relationships. Our liquidity is best in class for coverage of uninsured deposits, representing nearly twice the level of peers, and we already meet the liquidity coverage ratio on an unmodified basis.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Credit metrics are also a differentiator for Huntington, with top-quartile net charge-offs compared to peers, and our credit reserves are top tier. Our management team has a long track record of disciplined execution. For example, we were recently named the number one SBA lender nationally for the sixth consecutive year, and we continue to expand the reach of this business and our support of access to capital for small businesses. Interest rates continue on a path towards the higher-for-longer scenario, which we've been anticipating for some time. As rates remain higher, the potential for economic activity to be negatively impacted has increased. However, thus far in the cycle, overall, our customers are effectively managing through it. We remain highly vigilant and are proactively managing all loan portfolios.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Our top-tier credit reserves and expanding capital support our approach to be front-footed to take advantage of opportunities to win new customers and grow our businesses. Zach, over to you to provide more detail on our financial performance.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Thanks, Steve. Good morning, everyone. Slide six provides highlights of our third quarter results. We reported GAAP earnings per common share of $0.35 and adjusted EPS of $0.36. The quarter included $15 million of notable items, which impacted EPS by $0.01 per common share. Return on tangible common equity, or ROTCE, came in at 19.5 for the quarter. Adjusted for notable items, ROTCE was 20%. Further adjusting for AOCI, underlying ROTCE was 15.3%.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Average deposits grew during the quarter, increasing by $2.6 billion or 1.8%. Loan balances decreased by $561 million, or 0.5% from Q2, driven both by seasonality and our continued optimization. Net interest income on a dollar basis expanded quarter-over-quarter, driven by a rising net interest margin. We continue to proactively manage expenses and have begun a new set of incremental actions in the third quarter, including branch consolidation, staffing efficiencies, and corporate real estate consolidations. These actions, coupled with our ongoing long-term efficiency programs, as well as the measures we implemented in Q1 of this year, will help us drive rigorous baseline expense efficiency while sustaining capacity for investments in the franchise.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Credit quality remains strong, with net charge-offs of 24 basis points and allowance for credit losses of 1.96%. Return on capital was robust, driving capital accretion, with reported CET1 now above 10%. Turning to slide 7. As I noted, average loan balances decreased 0.5% from Q2, driven primarily by lower commercial loan balances, which decreased by $1.2 billion or 1.7% from the prior quarter. On a year-over-year basis, average loans increased 3.3%, reflective of our intentional optimization efforts. Primary components of the commercial loan change included CRE balances, which declined by $387 million, driven by paydowns. Distribution finance decreased $434 million due to normal seasonality, with lower dealer inventory levels in the third quarter before the expected inventory build in the fourth quarter.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Asset finance decreased by $271 million. Auto floor plan increased by $122 million. All other commercial categories net decreased as we continue to drive optimization towards the highest returns. In consumer, growth was led by residential mortgage and RV Marine, while auto loan balances declined for the quarter. Turning to slide eight. As noted, we continued to deliver consistent deposit growth in the quarter. Average deposits increased by $2.6 billion or 1.8% from the prior quarter. Turning to slide nine. We saw sustained growth in deposit balances in the third quarter, including sequential increases during July, August, and September, continuing the trend we have seen previously. Importantly, core deposits represented the entirety of the deposit growth for the quarter, with broker deposits declining quarter-over-quarter. Turning to slide 10.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Non-interest-bearing mix shift continues to track closely to our forecast, with the deceleration of sequential changes that we would expect at this point in the rate cycle. The non-interest-bearing percentage decreased by 120 basis points from the second quarter, and we continue to expect this mix shift to moderate and stabilize during 2024. On to slide 11. For the quarter, net interest income increased by $22 million, or 1.6% to $1,379 million, driven by expanded net interest margin. We continued to benefit from our asset sensitivity and the expansion of margins that has occurred throughout this cycle, with net interest income growing at 9% CAGR over the past two years.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Reconciling the change in NIM from Q2, we saw an increase of nine basis points on a GAAP basis and an increase of 10 basis points on a core basis, excluding accretion. The drivers of the higher NIM quarter-over-quarter were higher spread net of free funds, lower Fed cash balances versus the prior quarter, and higher FHLB stock dividends in the quarter. Interest rates rose during the quarter, particularly at the longer end, and as we expected, that drove a net benefit to NIM. In addition, our optimization efforts across both loan growth and funding mix continued to perform very well. These factors resulted in the margin coming in better than we had expected when we shared our outlook in July. We continue to analyze multiple potential interest rate scenarios.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

The basis of our planning and guidance continues to be a central set of those scenarios that is bounded on the low end by the forward yield curve and at the high end by a scenario that projects rates stay higher for longer. The higher for longer scenario today assumes one additional rate increase in 2023, flat Fed funds through October of 2024, and ends 2024 approximately 75 basis points higher than the forward curve. With the move in rates higher, we now anticipate net interest margin for the fourth quarter to be around 305-310 basis points. This is 5 basis point-10 basis points higher than the level we shared previously. Looking further out, our modeling continues to indicate 2024 NIM trending flat to higher from the Q4 2023 endpoint. Turning to slide 12.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Our cumulative deposit beta through Q3 was 37%, up five percentage points from the prior quarter, tracking closely to our expectations. Sequential increases in beta are slowing quarter-over-quarter as we have forecasted, as the interest rate cycle nears or hits its peak. As we have noted in the past, where beta ultimately tops out will be a function of the end game for the rate cycle in terms of the level and timing of the peak, the duration of any extended pause before a decrease. Given the outlooks for possibly a higher peak and very likely a more extended pause than was the case three months ago, our current outlook for deposit beta is to trend a few percentage points higher than our prior guidance of 40%. We will have to see how the rate environment plays out into 2024 to know with certainty.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

What is critical, in our view, is to ensure we continue to manage both deposit and loan pricing exceptionally rigorously, drive asset yields higher, deliver solid incremental returns, and deliver a better overall NIM from the higher-for-longer rate environment as a result. Turning to Slide 13, and expanding on my point on loan yields. The construct of our balance sheet is approximately half fully variable rate, 10% indirect auto, which is a shorter, approximately two-year duration fixed product, 10% in ARMSs with a five-year duration, and the remainder of approximately 30% is longer-durated fixed. This mix contributes to the asset sensitivity of our overall balance sheet and has helped us to benefit significantly from the current rate cycle. We are seeing solid increases in fixed asset portfolio yields.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Given the higher-for-longer rate environment, we expect to continue to benefit from this fixed asset repricing going forward, supporting the higher NIM outlook. Turning to Slide 14. Our level of cash and securities was down slightly from the prior quarter as we lowered some of the elevated cash we've been holding in Q2. During Q3, we did not reinvest securities cash flows, and the securities balance moved modestly lower as proceeds were held in cash, given the attractive short-term rates. We're managing the duration of the portfolio lower, continuing our management approach since 2021. Turning to Slide 15. Our contingent and available liquidity continues to be robust at $91 billion and has grown quarter-over-quarter. At quarter end, this pool of available liquidity represented 204% of total uninsured deposits, a peer-leading coverage. Turning to Slide 16.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We continued to be dynamic in adding to our hedging program during the quarter. Our objectives remain twofold: to protect capital in up-rate scenarios and to protect NIM in down-rate scenarios. The most substantive increase was an addition to our forward-starting pay fixed swaption strategy, which increased by $5.9 billion during the quarter to $15.5 billion total. This program is intended to protect capital from tail risk in substantive up-rate scenarios and once again benefited us as rates moved higher in the quarter. We also added $2 billion in collars to support our NIM against longer-term down-rate scenarios. Moving on to slide 17. GAAP non-interest income increased by $14 million, or 2.8% to $509 million for the third quarter.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Excluding the mark-to-market on the pay fixed swaptions, fees were relatively stable quarter-over-quarter. On an underlying basis, compared to the second quarter, we saw increases in deposit service charges, including higher payment-related treasury management fees. This growth was largely offset by lower capital markets fees. Moving on to slide 18, we're seeing encouraging and sustained underlying trends across our three areas of strategic focus for fee revenue growth. Capital markets, which has grown by a 19% CAGR over the past six years, benefits from a broad set of capabilities bolstered by Capstone. While 2023 has certainly been a challenging environment for capital markets activities in both advisory and several credit-driven products, forward pipelines within advisory are solid, and we continue to foresee this as a primary contributor to fee revenue growth over the moderate term.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Our payments businesses represent one of the biggest opportunities for both relationship deepening and revenue growth across both treasury management and card categories. In wealth management, we see a great opportunity to increase the penetration of the offering across our customers, leveraging our number one ranking for trust as we grow advisory relationships and drive higher managed assets with recurring revenue streams. Moving on to slide 19, on expenses. GAAP non-interest expense increased by $40 million, and underlying core expenses increased by $25 million. As I mentioned, we incurred $15 million of notable item expenses related to the staffing efficiency program and corporate real estate consolidations. Excluding these items, core expense growth compared to the prior quarter was driven by higher personnel, occupancy, professional services, and a set of smaller items within all other expenses.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We have taken proactive actions throughout the year to support the low level of core underlying expense growth we have delivered. In the first half of the year, we executed on the voluntary retirement program, organizational realignment, moving from four revenue segments to two, and 31 branch consolidations. Now, in the third quarter, we're taking another set of incremental actions. We are accelerating the implementation of our business process offshoring program, and we're creating efficiencies throughout the organization with the goal of prioritizing resources toward the largest growth opportunities in the near term. We're also driving incremental saves in our corporate real estate footprint, as well as implementing another set of branch consolidations with 34 planned closures early next year. These actions demonstrate our commitment to disciplined expense management and will support the continued investment into critical areas of the company to drive long-term value.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

As we manage expenses, we're balancing both short-term investment and revenue growth with the longer-term opportunities we know are in front of us. Slide 20 recaps our capital position. Reported Common Equity Tier 1 increased to 10.1% and has increased sequentially for four quarters. OCI impacts to Common Equity Tier 1 resulted in an adjusted CET1 ratio of 8%. Our capital management strategy will result in expanding capital while maintaining our top priority to fund high-return loan growth. We're actively managing adjusted CET1, inclusive of AOCI, and expect to drive that ratio higher over the course of 2024. On Slide 21, credit quality continues to perform very well, with normalization of metrics consistent with our expectations.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

As mentioned, net charge-offs were 24 basis points for the quarter, and while higher than last quarter by eight basis points, are tracking to our guidance for full year net charge-offs between 20 and 30 basis points. This level continues to be at the low end of our target through the cycle range for net charge-offs of 25 basis points-45 basis points. As previously guided, given ongoing normalization, Non-Performing Assets increased from the previous quarter, and the Criticized Asset ratio increased, with risk rating changes within Commercial Real Estate being the largest component. Allowance for Credit Losses is higher by three basis points to 1.96% of total loans, and our ACL coverage ratio is amongst the highest in our peer group. Let's turn to our outlook for the fourth quarter on Slide 22.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We forecast loan growth of approximately 1% in the fourth quarter, which would put full-year loan growth at approximately 5%, matching the lower end of our prior range. Deposits are likewise expected to grow in the fourth quarter by approximately 1%. Core net interest income for the fourth quarter is expected to decline between 4% and 5% from Q3, before expanding throughout 2024 from that level. Non-interest income on a core underlying basis is expected to be relatively stable. Expenses are expected to increase between 4% and 5% into the fourth quarter, primarily driven by revenue-related expenses associated with the expected growth in capital markets, a seasonal increase in medical claims, and sustained investment in new and enhanced capabilities. We expect net charge-offs for the full year to be near the midpoint of the 20 basis points-30 basis points guidance range.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Finally, let me close on slide 23 with a few thoughts on our management priorities for 2024. We're still finalizing our budget for next year, and as always, we look to share more specific guidance during our January earnings call. First and foremost, we're committed to driving continued capital expansion while we continue to optimize lending growth to drive the highest returns. As Steve mentioned, we're playing from a position of strength, and we expect to maintain that position as we get ahead of proposed capital regulations and phase-in periods. Related to deposits, we're continuing to acquire and deepen primary bank customer relationships. This should result in continued growth of deposits into next year while supporting our disciplined management of deposit beta.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Given the expected higher-for-longer rate scenario, we will continue to position the balance sheet to remain modestly asset-sensitive, which will support the margin and we expect will deliver growth in net interest income dollars on a full-year basis. Non-interest income remains a critical focus for us, with sustained execution on three primary strategic areas for fee revenue growth: capital markets, payments, and wealth management. Over the medium term, we expect that non-interest income has the potential to grow at a rate more quickly than both loans and spread revenues, given the opportunities for these fee businesses. As I mentioned on expenses, we have taken considerable actions to hold baseline expense growth to a low level. This focused on sustained efficiencies, including Operation Accelerate, business process offshoring, and the other actions will yield multi-year benefits.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

These actions are necessary to allow for the continued investment into new and enhanced capabilities, which will set up growth over the course of the next few years. We expect the net result of these actions for 2024 will be an underlying growth rate of core expenses, somewhat higher than the level we saw in 2023. Our current working estimate is underlying expense growth of approximately 4% compared to the approximately 2.5% level we were running in 2023.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We believe this level of expense management is the right balance to position the company to operate within the current environment and sustain our momentum into 2025. We will also maintain our rigorous approach to credit management, consistent with our aggregate moderate-to-low risk appetite. Finally, to close, we believe we are exceptionally well-positioned to proactively stay ahead of the evolving environment. We will be dynamic and address these numerous topics head-on, and over time, we believe this will result in opportunities to benefit substantially in the coming years. With that, we will conclude our prepared remarks and move to Q&A. Tim, over to you.

[Tim Sedabres, Director of Investor Relations at Huntington Bancshares]

Thanks, Zach. Operator, we will now take questions. We ask that as a courtesy to your peers, each person ask only one question and one related follow-up, and then if that person has additional questions, he or she can add themselves back into the queue. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question today, please press star one on your telephone keypad, and a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question is from the line of Manan Gosalia with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question.

[Manan Gosalia, Head of U.S. Midcaps Banks Research at Morgan Stanley]

Hi, good morning.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Morning, Manan.

[Manan Gosalia, Head of U.S. Midcaps Banks Research at Morgan Stanley]

Can you talk about the puts and takes in that 4% expense growth number for next year? You know, what sort of revenue environment is that bake in? What are the areas that are pushing up expenses and maybe also where you have flexibility to manage more if the revenue environment is weaker?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yep, great question, and this is Zach. I'll take that one. Just to preface it and set a framework for the answer, let me reiterate what I said in the prepared remarks just a minute ago, which is driving efficiency in our core expenses is a key priority for us.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We're one of the most efficient banks in the regional banking space, and that's been a product of years of efforts. What we're trying to do right now is strike a balance of the short term and the medium term. In the short term, managing expenses to a low level of growth, given the overall revenue environment. Also in the medium term, we see significant growth opportunities over time for Huntington, and we want to make sure that we can maintain the momentum in our key strategies and, in fact, capture the higher revenue outlook that we just shared. Even as we quickly get ahead, and I stress that word quickly, get ahead of the new and expanded risk management capabilities that we'll need to operate.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

You know, if you take a step back, it was just over a year ago that we were fully delivering of over $500 million of annual expense saves from the TCF merger. Over the last year since then, we felt underlying core expenses to 2.4%, and we did that with all the programs I've just talked about in my remarks. The long-term efficiency programs, the proactive actions we took in the first quarter of this year, and now a new set of actions that we're implementing in the third quarter, including another tranche of branch route optimization, accelerating the business process, offshoring, driving efficiencies across the bank, and finding efficiencies in our corporate real estate portfolio.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

You know, as we look at 2024, to your question, we're seeing the opportunity for incremental revenue upside, particularly in the really strong performance we've seen in our NIM management program, which is higher than our prior outlook, and good momentum in the fee businesses as we look forward. We want to quickly address the lessons learned from the last few years' environment, address the new regulations coming around Basel, CCAR, resolution planning, and ultimately enhance our risk management so we can operate in, you know, from a position of strength, just as we are right now, going forward, which will require investment. The kind of things that are driving that roughly 1.5 higher run rate are investment into teams like treasury, risk management, technology. It's with a focus on enhancing data, underlying process capabilities and automation.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

The goal, in the end, if I take a step back, is to get ahead of these requirements to quickly move through this period. We expect to see around a year's worth of this higher expected run rate of expenses, again, around 1.5 higher. That expense growth rate will come back down again as we exit 2024, and we'll see the underlying core expense management come through. It all goes back to the goal of maintaining our vibrancy, our momentum, and really ensuring that Huntington continues to be in a position of strength to go forward.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

This is Steve. Just to sort of come in over the top of that, we think this is a time to be dynamic, to play offense, to be front-footed in terms of a number of our businesses, and we intend to do that, and that will require investment. We'll have more colleagues, more talent, if you will. We'll have some new capabilities, all of which are in the plan and the numbers Zach shared with you.

[Manan Gosalia, Head of U.S. Midcaps Banks Research at Morgan Stanley]

Got it. Just putting it together, because you mentioned you're modeling NII trends higher as you go through 2024, there's more upside to fees. How does that play into operating leverage for next year? Do you still think you can drive positive operating leverage?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

You know, it's a little early to give you precise guidance on that, but, you know, driving toward operating leverage over time is a key element of our goals. You'll remember that it's one of the three major financial targets we've set for ourselves. We do see, you know, solid opportunity for revenue growth next year on both spread and fees. You know, but I would stress, again, coming back, you know, what's critical for us is managing for the medium term at this point, and we want to make sure that we can maintain those critical investments, even as we're driving the efficiencies in the underlying expense growth rate. Talk about operating leverage over time will absolutely be part of the plan, and we'll obviously, the precise outlook for 2024 before I'm able to quantify that more specifically.

[Manan Gosalia, Head of U.S. Midcaps Banks Research at Morgan Stanley]

add a space after "."? No.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yeah.

[Operator]

Our next question is from the line of John Pancari with Evercore ISI. This is you with your question.

[John Pancari, Senior Managing Director and Lead Regional Banks and Consumer Finance Senior Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Morning.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Morning, John.

[John Pancari, Senior Managing Director and Lead Regional Banks and Consumer Finance Senior Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Just on the net interest income front, I know you indicated that you expect a trough in the fourth quarter and then expanding through 2024. Maybe can you help us frame the magnitude of growth that you think is achievable under the current curve assumption as you look at the NII upside? I guess the same question would be for your commentary around the margin in terms of expansion through the year. Maybe if you can help us size that up in terms of what's a fair assumption based on what you're looking at.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yeah, that's a great question. This is Zach. I'll take that one. You know, I think just taking a step back, we saw in the third quarter, really highlighted the effectiveness of our overall asset sensitivity management program, where we saw NIM expand and the benefits of asset repricing really coming through into a stronger NIM. You know, what we saw in the third quarter was about 10 basis points increase in NIM from the second quarter. Around half of that, I will note, are items that were temporary in nature. Reducing Fed cash in Q3 from Q2 drove around 3 basis points. We've got some elevated levels of dividend from the FHLB stock. That was a function of Q2 FHLB borrowing. Those items won't recur.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

However, we did see a positive 4 basis point move in underlying trend in the third quarter, as I noted. As we think about Q4, our expectation is to have to see a NIM of between 305 and 310 basis points, which is around 5 or 10 basis points better than I would have thought this time last quarter. It's really driven by the benefits we're seeing coming through from the higher-for-longer rate scenario, which, as we've noted, we expect to be accretive to overall NIM, and that is bearing fruit.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Based on, you know, the trends we're seeing in earning assets, I expect dollars of NII in Q4 down around 4%-5% from Q3 and forming a trough, both in NIM ratio and in NIM, net interest income dollars in the fourth quarter, then trending higher from there. You know, the NIM outlook for 2024, I expect to be flat to rising, as I noted, and I think the things you're going to see are a continued, really solid progress on the fixed asset repricing. Major asset categories on the fixed side, this quarter, we're seeing, again, sequential increases in Q3, and we'll expect to see that continuing on, particularly in the higher for longer scenario. Even as we do see data continuing to trend as well, it'll be accretive to overall spread throughout the course of next year, we think.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We'll also benefit, as we've noted before, during 2024, from a gradual reduction in the negative carry from the Receive Fixed Swap hedge portfolio. We estimate roughly five basis points throughout the course of next year on that benefit, but mainly in the second half of the year. I would say, I would couple that flat to rising NIM with growth in loans, growth in earning assets that, as I noted, will drive overall NII dollars higher. We'll get more precise with guidance as we get into January, but those are the major drivers that we're seeing at this point.

[John Pancari, Senior Managing Director and Lead Regional Banks and Consumer Finance Senior Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Very helpful, Zach. Thank you for that. Separately, on credit, criticized loans up 17% linked-quarter, it looks like, and I believe you alluded to it in your comments. A lot of that was commercial real estate. I know you added to your reserve and commercial real estate non-performers are also up pretty sharply. Was there a dedicated effort to scrub the portfolio that you were working through your exposures there that drove a lumpier move here? Or is this the deterioration that's starting to take shape, as we all expect in this sector?

[Rich Pohle, Chief Credit Officer at Huntington Bancshares]

Hey, John, it is Rich. Let me start with that, and then I can turn it over to Brendan to give you a little bit more color on what happened in the third quarter. If you think back to Q2, our NPA level was at 46 basis points, which was the lowest level we've had since the GFC, and we've had eight consecutive quarters of declines totaling over $450 million, you know, since then. The Q3 level that we're at today, 52 basis points, is right around where we were this time last year. You know, to me, it's not at a level that's concerning. To your point around being proactive, we have been. A lot of the adds to nonaccrual that we had in the quarter were discretionary.

[Rich Pohle, Chief Credit Officer at Huntington Bancshares]

About two-thirds of our commercial NPLs are current on their principal and interest. The crit class is a similar story. We had reductions in, you know, five of the six previous quarters, and as you talk about credit normalizing, you would expect to see an increase in crit class on front of that. You know, I wouldn't categorize the movements as, you know, huge jumps. I think it's just, you know, a normalization off very low levels for us. Brendan, why don't you give a little bit of insight into the Q3 specifics?

[Brendan Lawlor, Deputy Chief Credit Officer at Huntington Bancshares]

Sure. Thanks, Rich. To provide just a little bit more color, for crit class, approximately 60% of the increase was focused in commercial real estate and our ABL group, which are two places you'd expect to see higher levels. On the NPA side, it was split more equally between commercial real estate and C&I. For both NPA and crit class, as you noted, the real estate exposure was focused mostly in office. On the C&I side, beyond the ABL concentration I mentioned, there really weren't material concentrations. I think what you're seeing in the numbers, as Rich said, is just a bounce off a very low bottom.

[John Pancari, Senior Managing Director and Lead Regional Banks and Consumer Finance Senior Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Okay, thank you. Appreciate the detail.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Ebrahim Poonawala with Bank of America. This is yours for your questions.

[Ebrahim Poonawala, Managing Director and Head of American Banks Research at Bank of America]

Hey, good morning.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Good morning, Ebrahim.

[Ebrahim Poonawala, Managing Director and Head of American Banks Research at Bank of America]

I just, maybe a question for you, Steve. I think, I mean, you all have talked about being front-footed. There are banks that are talking about coming back to loan growth next year. I'm just wondering if there's going to be a ton of loan demand to speak of for banks to lend into. Just give us a sense of what you're seeing across your footprint, where that loan demand is coming from, or are you seeing customers get increasingly cautious?

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Ebrahim, great question. Thank you. I believe there's a growing cautiousness of, you know, what's going on in Israel and the Middle East, what's going on in Washington. We've got a UAW strike that does not have an apparent resolution. I think businesses are reacting to that. Now, you know, 99% of our customer base is privately owned companies. Rates are up. They're using their liquidity, but the uncertain economic outlook and where rates are going, all sort of are headwinds to the next round of growth. Having said that, our businesses are doing well. We'll have good growth. We'll be within guidance that we gave you, that Zach gave you earlier in the year.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

We'll be up about 5% year-over-year, and we'll continue to see growth next year, I believe, in a couple of areas in particular. Our distribution finance is a powerful engine. It's seasonally reduced this quarter. It will be up. That in the fourth quarter, and we expect to continue to grow that by winning new business. We are a significant equipment finance lender, and more and more onshoring, more automation. There'll be continued demand, albeit probably not at the levels we saw in 2022 and before. That will play well. We're a top-10 asset-based lender, so all of those asset-related finance activities should do well in this environment. As you know, we are a huge small business bank, and small businesses will need more support, and we'll be there for them, and those will be sources of growth.There's an overall more cautious outlook within our customer base. Just that will have some moderate impact on, I think, on overall loan demand next year.

[Ebrahim Poonawala, Managing Director and Head of American Banks Research at Bank of America]

Got it. That's helpful. I guess a follow-up. Zach, you mentioned solid increases in fixed asset portfolio yields as they reprice. Just talk to us in terms of when these are coming up for repricing. Is it just kind of playing out contractually? Is there some negotiation in terms of the spreads narrowing at the time of repricing of these fixed-rate loans? Is that kind of impacting credit trends? Are some of these borrowers looking a bit worse in terms of their ability to service the debt post-repricing?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yeah, great, great questions. Let me address those. You know, what I would say is, in terms of the trajectory on asset yield, to take it back over 200 basis points through the cycle to date, it's really been a couple things. Most notably, an intentional outcome that we've had in terms of how we're incrementally driving new loan production into and really driving for higher returns, which also is often higher NIM. We're seeing that come through in a lot of the areas where we're actively modulating and optimizing. You know, indirect auto, for example, is a great example of that, with yields up tremendously on the book over the course of the cycle. It's also, though, just a natural outcome of the structure of the balance sheet.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

One of the reasons why we added the slide we did this quarter in terms of detail there was to just provide more transparency into that. We're around 50% fully variable, so you're seeing the benefits of higher rates come through on that portfolio. Another roughly 10% in shorter-duration fixed indirect auto. As I just noted, we're seeing really sizable increases in portfolio yield there. Another 10% in ARMSs with a five-year duration, which we're gradually seeing that come through. You know, in the higher-for-longer scenario, every one of those fixed asset categories, including the longer-duration remaining third of the portfolio, are really seeing the benefit.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We've seen, you know, just in Q3, 50 basis points increase in coupon yields across the portfolio, greater than 20 basis point increase in back book portfolio yields. I do think that will continue to trend here and be one of the key drivers for NIM stability and growth as we go into 2024. You know, we're not seeing any substantive portfolio-wide, credit-driven yield repricing of substance. Really, it's much more fundamentally driven as I noted.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Just to add, even though we've got a very diversified portfolio, we've been very disciplined with our aggregate moderate to low risk appetite over the years. You've seen us report quarterly since 2010 on the consumer book, which is super prime and prime on auto and resi, et cetera. We're sitting in a position we feel with strength. We have a confidence in the portfolio and our ability to manage through even in a tougher cycle. As we've said to our customer base, we've got a relationship orientation. We're here to support them, and we're in a position to do that with our reserves, our capital, our robust liquidity, and that leads us to this stance of playing offense and to.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Moving share during these next couple years.

[Ebrahim Poonawala, Managing Director and Head of American Banks Research at Bank of America]

Got it. Thank you.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Our next questions are from the line of Scott Siefers with Piper Sandler. Please proceed with your questions.

[Scott Siefers, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the call.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Hi, Scott.

[Scott Siefers, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Hey, Zach, I guess wanted to clarify if I heard correctly just on the NII. Are we expecting it to grow full-year 2023, pardon me, full-year 2024 over 2023, or just positively off the fourth quarter base?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Both. Scott, great question. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify both. Expect to see trajectory of growth throughout the year and on a net basis, full-year growth as well, which is going to be a function of, again, flat to rising NIMs and pretty comparable overall full-year NIM year-on-year, as well as growth in earning assets and loans.

[Scott Siefers, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Okay, perfect. Thank you for that. Wanted to kind of revisit the cost equation a bit. Maybe on the initiatives that you began in the third quarter, maybe just some thoughts on how substantial they are. I guess ultimately, the question becomes, we'll have about 4% expense growth despite these initiatives, sort of begs, you know, what cost growth might have been without them. Just any sort of further thoughts on exactly where we're investing, what these will ultimately end up driving, et cetera?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yeah, terrific question. Let us appreciate the chance to expand on that. You know, if I think about the equation that we were managing in 2023, you know, we've been seeing around 2%-2.5% underlying expense growth. That's with, you know, the benefit of significant efficiencies that were generated this year. You know, I estimate that around 1% benefit in expenses in 2023 from these cumulative initiatives we've been running for the last six, eight, 18 months and self-funding underlying investments.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We've talked about this model before, driving efficiencies in the core, keeping the underlying core at a low level through the funnel, an outsized level of investment and expense growth into key investment areas like tech, marketing, new additions of personnel and to support new strategies. You know, those underlying investments are up almost 20% in 2023, which is what fueled all of the competitive capabilities that we've got. As we go into, you know, that model is what drove the overall roughly 2.5% growth that you saw in 2023.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

If I think about where we're investing, and just to touch on this briefly, you know, continue to focus on core strategy investments, delivering the TCF revenue synergies, growing our commercial bank through vertical specialty, specialized specialties, expertise, digital and product development in our consumer banking and business banking division. Continue to drive the fee revenue strategies and capital markets, payments and wealth. On top of that, clearly dealing with these additional areas around Basel III, CCAR, liquidity and interest rate risk management, resolution planning and data and automation.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

You'll also see, Scott and Steve, just to add on, you'll also see several new initiatives that are also included in that number of 4% that we'll be announcing Q4 and Q1.

[Scott Siefers, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Okay, perfect. I guess just one final piggyback question. The fourth quarter cost increase, will that include any unusual charges the way we saw it this quarter?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We saw around $15 million of one-time costs this quarter. Some portion of the one-time costs that we expect to arise as a result of the new initiatives that are taking place were not able to be accounted for within the third quarter. I'm expecting roughly $10 million additional one-time expenses in the fourth quarter related to those same initiatives. That's not included in the guidance that I gave earlier, relatively de minimis in the grand scheme of things. The total one-timers related to those actions, I expect to be approximately $25 million in total, of which, again, we've taken $15 million, and it'll be announced Q3.

[Scott Siefers, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Okay. All right. Perfect. Thank you all very much.

[Operator]

Our next question is from the line of Matt O'Connor with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your question.

[Matt O'Connor, Managing Director and US Banks Equity Research at Deutsche Bank]

Good morning.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Hi, Matt.

[Matt O'Connor, Managing Director and US Banks Equity Research at Deutsche Bank]

Just circling back on capital, obviously strong, really, any ratio you look at and, you know, including AOCI. I understand the logic of building capital from here, given uncertain macro, and you're trying to lean in the business. Is there a level that you're like, you know, once we get here, it's just more than we need under almost any scenario, and you'd look to, you know, deploy it more aggressively?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yes, it's a great question. Let me take a minute to expand on that. You know, as you noted, driving capital higher from here is a key focus. You know, we have fully transitioned within the company to managing the primary metric of adjusted CET1, inclusive of AOCI. On that basis, we're at 8% in the third quarter. Our operating range for CET1 is between 9% and 10%, and so we want to drive that 8% ratio up into that operating range of between 9% and 10%, and that's the key goal. You know, I think that by the time we get there, I expect that we will with significant confidence in being able to do that, by the way, over time.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

By the time we get there, presumably, we'll have clarity around the final Basel III requirements, any other implications to capital coming out of the new regulatory environment. We'll be able to also reassess where the macro environment is and where the lending trajectories are, a little to the question you asked earlier. Hard to peg sort of exactly where within that range we will want to go, but my expectation is once we get into that range, there'll be an opportunity to get back to a more normalized capital distribution model, support elevated and longer-term run rate levels of loan growth than we've seen in the past and move through it.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

You know, I'll just tack on, you know, our current working hypothesis and modeling estimate around the Basel III proposal, if it was adopted exactly as was proposed, is roughly 5% increase in RWA. You know, based on the phase-in schedule that was proposed as part of the NPR, that wouldn't be phased in until 2027 and would represent about 40 basis points of CET1 in 2027, again, as that proposal is written. Part of this is just quickly get ahead of that, even as far out in time as that really is, and allow us to really move forward on our front foot, you know, starting in 2025 and beyond from an accelerated loan growth perspective.

[Matt O'Connor, Managing Director and US Banks Equity Research at Deutsche Bank]

Got it. That was helpful. Just quickly squeeze in the mark-to-market impact of the pay fixed swaption. Maybe it's a silly question, but do we just kind of put in some gains when rates go up, and then if rates go the other way, is it mark-to-market on the negative side, or how should we think about modeling that and the drivers?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yeah, let me expand on that, and I'll put a strategic context on it, and then I'll answer this just a modeling question. Just the strategy of those instruments was to protect capital against really substantive up-rate scenarios. When we purchased them, they were roughly 200 basis points out of the money. They've got about a nine to 10 to 12-month sort of forward life. And they would be designed to protect, you know, a third to maybe as much as 45% of the security's value at risk in those really substantive, about 200 basis point-300 basis point shock scenarios. I think we put a lot of them on early in the second quarter. We added to that portfolio earlier in the third quarter, and we've seen...

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

We've spent roughly $30 million in premium to do so. It's, in our view, a pretty small insurance policy for a very significant benefit, you know, in those shock scenarios. What we've seen thus far is gains. We saw $18 million of gain in Q2, $33 million of gain in Q3. That's a $51 million cumulative gain. You know, I'll tell you, if you were to strike them, you know, right now, you'd see another gain in the fourth quarter, but clearly, they get marked at the very end of the quarter. The answer is yes, in the near term, if rates rise, you would see a gain in them. If rates fall, you would see a loss in them.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

You know, the key thought process for us is how critical is that insurance policy to continue to maintain? Versus the gain in them, if we continue to hold them, I would expect that over time, they would expire unused and out of the money, and you would see that gain run back through as a negative through the income if they weren't closed out. We will be dynamic in continuing to watch the interest rate outlook with a primary focus on protection of capital at this point. Again, pretty de minimis cash outlay for a really strong insurance policy.

[Matt O'Connor, Managing Director and US Banks Equity Research at Deutsche Bank]

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the details.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yep.

[Operator]

Our next questions are from the line of Ken Usdin from Jefferies. Please proceed with your questions.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Ken, great question. Auto has performed very, very well for us. We have a confidence in its credit, and spreads are very attractive now. You know, it's a cyclical product, and in the past, when spreads have widened, we've chosen to do a bit more. We'll be dynamic as we look at this, as the interest rate environment clarifies. It's a short, you know, it's a relatively short asset. It's roughly a two-year average duration. We like this asset class a lot, and we certainly like it countercyclically, and, you know, that'll be something we'll be looking at closely as we go to 2024 and 2025.

[Ken Usdin, Managing Director of Equity Research at Jefferies]

Okay, great. Last thing, Zach, just looking at, you know, what you moved around a little bit on the swaps portfolios, can you just kind of walk us through some of your decision trees with regards to, you know, this quarter's terminations and locking in here, and any anticipated, you know, future activity you're thinking about in terms of just the book as it stands and going forward? Thank you.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, I will tell you, this is a very dynamic and active discussion. It's a weekly, pretty rigorous and rigorous analysis process that we do, and it's always focused on 2 key strategies: protecting capital against upgrade scenarios and protecting NIM against downgrade scenarios. As I noted in the prior question around the pay fixed swaptions, we did add during the quarter to that, anticipating that rates had the strong potential of moving higher and wanted to protect capital against that. We did, and rates, in fact, moved higher, as you saw, clearly, and so that benefited us there.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

What's interesting as well is as the curve has steepened and as the long end has come up as much as it has, the opportunity to optimize and take incremental down rate hedging opportunities in a more efficient manner with less upfront negative carry is increasing. I would say, as it relates to that, our view is still legging into it, no big bets, and we're seeing, you know, very significant benefits just come through in the base asset sensitivity, clearly. Over the longer term, think out into 2025, 2026, 2027, we certainly want to protect those revenue streams, and, you know, we'll be seeking opportunities to increase down rate hedging here, if the environment continues to be what it is. In the meantime, it's more of an optimization, I would say.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

You saw us exit some Receive Fixed Swaps in Q3. Those were mainly shorter duration, just less efficient structures. By exiting them, we increased the capacity to re-up for longer structures. We entered into some collars, which would give us the option for down-rate hedging. You know, if rates are attractive out into the future. I do suspect that there'll be more of that down-rate hedging opportunity as I noted just a second ago, as we go through our Q4 and into the early part of next year if the curve continues to be the way it's shaped now.

[Ken Usdin, Managing Director of Equity Research at Jefferies]

Okay. Is there a way of kind of just putting all that together in terms of, like, the net impact of the swaps book, you know, on your net NII? Does that, is that getting better going forward or worse? Can you just kind of help us put it in context, so if you can?

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Yes, absolutely. That's a great question. Just zooming into 2024 for a second, based on the swaps we've got in the portfolio today, I do expect we're seeing roughly a 15-17 basis point drag in the current NIM. It was 15 in Q3, expect to be roughly 17 basis points of drag in Q4 of 2023 from the overall swaps coming through NIM. As I noted, one of the earlier questions in this hour, by 2024, I expect that to reduce by about 5 basis points, particularly out into the second half of the year when the curve starts to fall, you know, in the forecast. Yeah, so that's probably the best way to answer your question. You know, in the end, the goal is to call it, and then really just to support it in this type of range for the year as we can.

[Ken Usdin, Managing Director of Equity Research at Jefferies]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Our next question is from the line of Erika Najarian with UBS. Please receive your question.

[Erika Najarian, Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst of Large-Cap Banks and Consumer Finance at UBS]

Hi. Good morning. My questions have been asked and answered. Thank you.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Thanks, Erika.

[Operator]

Our next question is from the line of Jon Arfstrom with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

[Jon Arfstrom, Managing Director and Associate Director of US Research at RBC Capital Markets]

Hey, thanks. Good morning.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Good morning, Jon.

[Jon Arfstrom, Managing Director and Associate Director of US Research at RBC Capital Markets]

Hey, Rich or Brendan, what's the message you want to send us on the outlook for provision and reserves? I mean, it feels like you feel fine on credit, but I'm curious if you feel you need to build reserves and how you want us to think about provision.

[Rich Pohle, Chief Credit Officer at Huntington Bancshares]

Yeah, let me just start with, you know, kind of where we are in the quarter. We bumped up by three basis points. Our coverage ratio was really a 1% dollar increase. We went up $26 million. We put most of that into the commercial real estate reserve, just given the uncertainty that we've got there. You know, where we go from here, I mean, we don't give specific guidance around the coverage ratio or particularly around the provision, but, you know, it's going to depend on where a lot of the economy goes. To the extent that we see further weakening, you know, we'll reevaluate it. I would imagine that any builds from here would be similar to what you would see in the third quarter, fairly nominal from a dollar standpoint.

[Rich Pohle, Chief Credit Officer at Huntington Bancshares]

We might be moving some things around, but in general, you know, we feel really good about where the reserve is right now. You know, as we get to the other side of this and the economic outlook starts to improve, you know, you can see us bringing the coverage ratio back down into that 160 range over time. We'll look at it every quarter, Jon, but we feel good about the 196 right now.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Well

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

This is us being intentional, positioning the company to play offense, and we think we're in that position. We are confident on our credit. We've got good and growing capital on both a gross and an adjusted basis. Liquidity is exceptional. The deposit growth continues. As you saw in 2010, for those who were around in that period of time, there are moments to take advantage. That's when we launched Fair Play, that's when we did a number of things in commercial bank and really opened up SBA lending, et cetera. We think this coming year is one of those moments, and we intend to play offense.

[Jon Arfstrom, Managing Director and Associate Director of US Research at RBC Capital Markets]

Okay. That's good. I had to ask it, Steve. I'm getting asked that question, but I just needed to know if you're optimistic or pessimistic for 2024, and it sounds like you're.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

We are optimistic about 2024 and beyond. And beyond, Jon.

[Jon Arfstrom, Managing Director and Associate Director of US Research at RBC Capital Markets]

All right. All right

[Jon Arfstrom, Managing Director and Associate Director of US Research at RBC Capital Markets]

Yep, thank you.

[Zach Wasserman, CFO at Huntington Bancshares]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Our final question is from the line of Steven Alexopoulos with JP Morgan. Please proceed with your questions.

[Steven Alexopoulos, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Hey, good morning, everyone.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Hi, Steve.

[Steven Alexopoulos, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Steve, I've heard all the commentary for the past hour on expenses, and I guess what I still don't understand is the step up in expense growth in 2024, is that tied to you seeing a better revenue environment to absorb a higher level of spend? Or is something going on that's going to require you to spend more in 2024, agnostic to the revenue environment?

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

We're gearing the company to manage a growth dynamic that we expect will be in place in 2024 and beyond. We also are accelerating certain multi-year investments into 2024, so that we're in an even better position with data, and it's principally data, to manage the company, right? We're at a different scale now, post TCF. We saw a lot of unique activity in March around Silicon Valley. Things moved very quickly. We want, you know, I want, and the board wants better data, better access to information that we have and make, you know, pushing a button to get it. We've been on a multi-year journey.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

We're going to pull that forward and position the company to be even stronger. We've been managing market risk as you've seen with us hedging about half of our AFS portfolio since 2019. Our processes have not been as automated as we would like them to be, given the speed at which things can change. We said we would take advantage of lessons learned out of Silicon Valley and others in this most recent episode, and that has resulted in us making a number of adjustments in our treasury and ALCO policies that I think will prove to further bolster our aggregate moderate to low risk appetite.These investments in data and some other areas, in addition to the revenue area investments, will also position us to more effectively manage the company on a real-time basis.

[Steven Alexopoulos, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Will this step-up pace of investment, is that a 2024 story, or is this a 2024 and beyond story?

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Well, we're trying to pull things forward into 2024, as Zach said, and then as we think about 2025 and beyond, we'll be back to a more normalized. Again, this was an election on our part, part of an overall view of trying to take advantage of the, you know, the environment that we see in 2024 and beyond, and position the bank for growth.

[Steven Alexopoulos, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

It seems like.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

I liken it to what we did in 2007-2011.

[Steven Alexopoulos, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Yeah. Well, it sounds like it's partially opportunistic and partially you need to invest in systems, right? Sounds like that's a portion of this, too.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

We had multi-year plans that we're accelerating. That's choice.

[Steven Alexopoulos, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Yeah. Okay. If I could ask you one last question. I don't know if you caught Bryan of Horizon recently was asked about crossing $100 billion, said, "Well, you really don't want to cross organically, right? You'd want to be $101 billion." You guys, at $186 billion today, how do you see this with these proposed changes coming? You think you're at a good spot at this asset level, or do you think you need to boost size and scale too, to see what this potentially comes? Thanks.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

We own the risk at risk management. We're going to maintain this aggregate moderate to low risk appetite. We've done things well in the past. We'll continue to do them in the future. I think the size of the business is not the only determinant. I think the business model itself is very, very important. Part of the strategy over time is to be deep in certain markets for our consumer and regional bank, giving us brand awareness and other attributes that let us continue to grow the core. We've invested selectively in a variety of commercial businesses.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Our, you know, our asset finance, equipment finance, ABL, distribution finance, a number of these businesses and beyond, especially businesses that are national in nature, complemented by things that we've added on the payments space last year. You know, the acquisition on the investment banking side, all of which give us more product and capabilities to bring to our customer base. We, you know, we're going to continue that. We've alluded to additional talent and capabilities in the near term, and we expect to be in a position to start talking about that. All of that's in that 4% guidance for you for next year.

[Steven Alexopoulos, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Okay. Thanks. Thank you for my questions.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

Thank you.

[Rich Pohle, Chief Credit Officer at Huntington Bancshares]

Great question.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

We're grateful for you joining us today. I just want to compliment Rich Pohle one more time, who did this last year, who's got a retirement coming at the end of the year. Rich has just been a terrific leader, and we've greatly benefited from your experiences, Rich, and you've positioned us well, as you've heard on the call. Thank you very much. In closing, we're pleased with the third quarter results as we dynamically manage through this environment. We believe we're very well positioned for times such as these, with strong credit quality, improving capital ratios and robust liquidity, and it's supported by consistent efforts from our 20,000 colleagues across the bank to deliver these results.

[Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO at Huntington Bancshares]

We are a team, you know this, of disciplined operators, and we're executing on our strategy that we outlined last year at Investor Day, and we're driving shareholder value. We're optimistic we're going to continue to do that in the years to come. As a reminder, we're all aligned. The Board executives and our colleagues are a top 10 shareholder collectively, and we feel the pain of this market pullback. We're very focused on driving consistent, strong performance. Thank you for your support and interest in Huntington, and have a great day.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Participants

Executives

• Tim Sedabres, Director of Investor Relations
• Stephen Steinour, Chairman, President, and CEO
• Zach Wasserman, CFO
• Rich Pohle, Chief Credit Officer
• Brendan Lawlor, Deputy Chief Credit Officer

Analysts

• Manan Gosalia, Head of U.S. Midcaps Banks Research at Morgan Stanley
• John Pancari, Senior Managing Director and Lead Regional Banks and Consumer Finance Senior Analyst at Evercore ISI
• Ebrahim Poonawala, Managing Director and Head of American Banks Research at Bank of America
• Scott Siefers, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler
• Matt O'Connor, Managing Director and US Banks Equity Research at Deutsche Bank
• Ken Usdin, Managing Director of Equity Research at Jefferies
• Erika Najarian, Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst of Large-Cap Banks and Consumer Finance at UBS
• Jon Arfstrom, Managing Director and Associate Director of US Research at RBC Capital Markets
• Steven Alexopoulos, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan