First Horizon Corporation (FHN) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

and we improve balance sheet profitability through a better loan mix and pricing, disciplined control of deposit costs, and tighter integration of deposits within our client relationships. One example driving improved profitability is the year-over-year improved With more clarity around economic conditions and regulatory trends, we believe we can continue to return additional capital to our shareholders while continuing to invest in growth opportunities. As you will see in our slide presentation, we are optimistic about our ability to improve profitability and continue to grow earnings in 2026. I'll now hand the call over to Hope to walk through the results of the fourth quarter. in more detail and provide some closing comments at the end of the call. Thank you, Brian. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We ended the year with a strong fourth quarter that includes earnings per share of 52 cents, net interest margin of 3.51, and 2% loan growth. Starting on slide eight, we walked through some of the drivers of our approximately $2 million of net interest income growth. as well as our net interest margin performance. Our margin compressed by four basis points, but excluding the impact of the Main Street Lending Program accretion discussed last quarter, NIM expanded by two basis points, even with our slightly asset-sensitive balance sheet. The largest benefit to both NII and margin was deposit pricing, as our average interest-bearing cost declined by 25 basis points. Additionally, strong growth in loans to mortgage companies added to NII. On slide 9, we covered details around our deposit performance in the quarter. Period end balances increased by $2 billion compared to prior quarter. The average rate paid on interest-bearing deposits decreased to...