SouthState Corporation (NASDAQ:SSB) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call January 27, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Jeremy Lucas - SVP, Director of IR

John Corbett - CEO and Director

Will Matthews - CFO

Steven Young - Chief Strategy Officer

Conference Call Participants

Stephen Scouten - Piper Sandler

Catherine Mealor - KBW

Michael Rose - Raymond James

David Bishop - Hovde Group

Operator

Hello, and welcome to SouthState Corporation Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator instructions]

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Will Matthews, CFO. Please go ahead.

Will Matthews

Good morning, and welcome to SouthState's fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. This is Will Matthews, and I am here with John Corbett, Steve Young and Jeremy Lucas. John and I will make a few prepared remarks and then we'll open it up for questions. As always, a copy of the earnings release and the presentation slides are located on our website on the Investor Relations tab.

Before we begin our remarks, I want to remind you that comments we make may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws and regulations. Any such forward-looking statements we may make are subject to the Safe Harbor rules. Please review the forward-looking disclaimer and Safe Harbor language in the press release and presentation for more information about our forward-looking statements and risks and uncertainties, which may affect us.

Now I will turn the call over to John Corbett, our CEO.

John Corbett

Thank you, Will. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining our call. We're really proud of our team and the momentum that's been building throughout 2022. I think that 2021 is a year that we were taking the time to plant the seeds for the future, and 2022 was a year where those seeds began to take root and to grow, and that growth is reflected in the results that we announced last night.

During the fourth quarter, PPNR per share increased 11% over the third quarter. That took us to a PPNR return on assets over 2% and a return on tangible equity of 20%. We set aside $47 million in reserves, but incurred less than $1 million in charge-offs. So credit quality metrics continue to be excellent and Will can walk you through the impacts of the Moody's economic forecast later in the call.

Total loans grew 19% annualized in the quarter, and over the last few years, we've recruited some of the best middle market bankers in the Southeast and that team is doing a great job as C&I loans specifically grew at 27% annualized.