00:00Billy, thanks so much for being with us today. We really appreciate your time.
00:05Absolutely. Happy to be here. Thank you.
00:07I want to start with earnings. Your CEO said the integration of Cadence's systems that was done in June, the
00:15last major milestone.
00:17Now, the acquisition first announced last year, all Cadence banks now operating as Huntington.
00:22I'd like to know what the past nine months or so has been like.
00:27So it's been everybody's so excited to be part of this bigger platform.
00:35So, you know, the nine months has been let's get to this conversion, which was six weeks ago, as you
00:40mentioned.
00:41We want to get to it, get past it so we can take advantage of the scale and the product
00:47suite that this larger enterprise brings.
00:49So I would characterize it as one of internally excitement, externally, hey, what can you guys do for us now
00:56that you couldn't do before?
00:58We're ready to get there. So I'd say it's really been for our customers, for our colleagues.
01:04Everybody's been so ready for this to get here and we're glad we're past it.
01:09And now, you know, six weeks into being able to take advantage of it.
01:13You know, you just touched on this. Your clients are now going to banks with different names, obviously.
01:19But what changes have they felt and what will they feel moving forward?
01:23Yeah, I mean, short term, they had to go through a little bit of transition.
01:29Of course, when you move from one platform and system to another, there's a learning curve.
01:35But what they're really beginning to experience is the breadth of product suite, the scale of this business.
01:44We've got significant number of examples of ways that we've been able to help customers that we couldn't before,
01:51simply because we weren't as large or we didn't have a product suite.
01:55You know, it's really apparent in some of our larger businesses first,
02:00but it's also apparent through things like our small business, our SBA group.
02:04It's the largest in the country. We've got a bigger reach than we had before.
02:09You know, the company very open about Texas creating opportunities for Huntington,
02:14first buying Dallas-based Veritex in 2025, then Cadence in 2026.
02:19Now that you're through this quarter, what do you think is next for Huntington in Texas?
02:26You know, I think it's all about durable growth investment within the state.
02:32And, you know, let's be an organic growth player.
02:38We're making significant investment where we are.
02:42I mean, for example, we've made great hires across DFW, across Austin, and in Houston to supplement where we already
02:51had.
02:52But I think now it's let's take advantage of this platform, grow with the market.
02:58And actually, I think we can grow faster than the market because of our existing client base and the resources
03:03we now have at hand.
03:05You're now in 21 states, roughly 1,400 branches.
03:09Do you expect more M&A in the future?
03:13I'd say for now we're going to, you know, live with what we had.
03:17I would never say never.
03:19But we've got such a big franchise.
03:22We just absorbed these two big acquisitions.
03:25It's all about, you know, us going to market and growing organically at this point.
03:30When you talk about all the new resources and you're seeing such financial changes here in the state of Texas,
03:35curious about the competition in the loan environment right now.
03:40Yeah, so it's fierce in all of our markets.
03:44Texas clearly has been competitive since, you know, since I've been doing business in Texas.
03:52It is such an attractive market and the world knows it.
03:56So we're here.
03:57I mean, we're the eighth largest economy in the world.
04:01It has provided great infrastructure and business friendly environment.
04:06We've competed well.
04:08You know, just a year ago, Huntington had no branches, effectively no deposits, five client-facing employees.
04:17Now, after these two acquisitions, we've got 955 employees.
04:23We've got – we're top five in DFW and in Houston in deposits, top eight in the state, and it's
04:30just the beginning.
04:30I think we're positioned well to compete because we got to scale quick with these two partnerships and we're going
04:39to be able to really thrive on the environment that Texas provides.
04:45You know, you've been in Texas personally for a long time, long before it was being discussed like it now
04:50is as such a serious financial hub.
04:52I'm curious what you believe is the ceiling here.
04:56Well, there's no ceiling.
04:59You know, you and I are both from – or have roots in Louisiana, I know, but I've been here
05:04for a really long time at this point.
05:06It is where I've raised my kids.
05:08It has been such a great place to do business.
05:11I've seen it grow since the late 80s when I started my business career here, and, you know, with the
05:18resources, again, I'm being repetitive, but, you know, being a startup bank that I got to be part of at
05:24Cadence 15 years ago
05:26and seeing the advantages we were able to take advantage of at a small scale because of the economic environment,
05:34the can-do attitude, the pro-capitalist, you know, environment, regulatory, it's just – I don't see a ceiling.
05:44There's always macro factors at play.
05:47We've proven to be resilient through those as a state, as a business.
05:54And now with the heft of Huntington and the product suite that we can deliver to this client base we
06:02already have in the state, then I just don't – I don't see a ceiling.
06:07We're going to – we have very little market share in other markets.
06:12You know, I mentioned Dallas, DFW, and Houston, but in Central Texas, all throughout East Texas, we've got good market
06:21share, but we are beginning there.
06:22We've got lots of potential to grow in the state where we just scratched the surface.
06:28Thank you, of course, for pointing out my two-lane roots here.
06:32We've never really discussed that on this, so thank you for that.
06:35And, you know, before I let you go, as you incorporate systems, what role is AI playing in that process?
06:45So, we look at AI as – we still believe this is such a relationship-oriented business.
06:52Our mantra is to deliver locally with national expertise.
06:56AI is going to make us all significantly more efficient.
07:00We've invested – we started, you know, a couple of years ago investing internally for process improvement.
07:06Now we're beginning to invest for external benefits so our clients can utilize our tools with the benefit of AI.
07:16That's launching this year for us.
07:19It's going to start at small business and consumer level and continue to grow.
07:23So, I think it just creates a more efficient environment for the banking sector.
07:28We're going to be on – we're positioned to be on the front edge of that and think it can
07:35– everybody's got to compete there, and we're invested in it.
07:39Appreciate your time today.
07:40Thanks so much.
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