Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call January 24, 2023 2:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Clint Stein - President & Chief Executive Officer

Aaron Deer - Chief Financial Officer

Chris Merrywell - Chief Operating Officer

Conference Call Participants

David Feaster - Raymond James

Jeff Rulis - D.A. Davidson

Jon Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets

Chris McGratty - KBW

Andrew Terrell - Stephens

Matthew Clark - Piper Sandler

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Columbia Banking System's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we'll conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Clint Stein, President and Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Banking System. Please go ahead.

Clint Stein

Thank you, Justin. Welcome, and good morning. Thank you for joining us on today's call as we review our fourth quarter and full year 2022 results, which we released this morning before the market opens. The earnings release and accompanying investor presentation are available at columbiabank.com.

It was another exceptional year for Columbia. Our bankers entered 2022 with tremendous momentum on the heels of a record 2021, and they were successful in capitalizing on opportunities, winning new business and providing the necessary capital to allow our customers to grow and expand.

We extended our footprint into Utah and Arizona during the year, all the while nurturing our existing client base in an interested rate environment unseen in well over a decade. That weren't enough, teams across the bank were simultaneously involved in integration efforts for our merger with Umpqua. And during the first quarter of 2022, we completed the core conversion for our Bank of Commerce Holdings acquisition.

Notwithstanding these competing priorities, our bankers delivered outstanding full year results: annual net income exceeded $250 million for the first time in our history; full year EPS expanded by 15% to a new high; loans rose by 11% during the year, after adjusting for PPP runoff; and our operating efficiency ratio fell below 50% in the fourth quarter.

Although it took longer than initially expected, on January 9, we announced we had received approval from the FDIC clearing the last regulatory hurdle for our merger with Umpqua. I'm happy to report that we completed the first of the branch divestiture sales this past weekend, with the second scheduled in February. Consequently, we expect the merger with Umpqua to close February 28 and we are still planning for the systems conversion in March.