Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call January 26, 2023 5:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Andrew Harmening - CEO

Derek Meyer - CFO

Pat Ahern - Chief Credit Officer

Conference Call Participants

Jared Shaw - Wells Fargo

Scott Siefers - Piper Sandler

Daniel Tamayo - Raymond James

Terry McEvoy - Stephens

Jon Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Associated Banc-Corp's Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Dough and I will be your operator today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be conducting a question-and-answer session at the end of this conference. Copies of the slides will be referenced during today's call are available on the company's website at investor.associatedbanc.com. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

As outlined on Slide 1, during the course of the discussion today, management may make statements that constitute, projections, expectations, beliefs or similar forward-looking statements. Associated's actual results could differ materially from the results anticipated or projected in any such forward-looking statements.

Additional detailed information concerning the important risk factors that could cause Associated's actual results to differ materially from the information discussed today is readily available on the SEC website in the Risk Factors section of Associated's most recent Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings. These factors are incorporated herein by reference.

For a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the GAAP financial measures mentioned in this conference call, please refer to Pages 24 and 25 of the slide presentation and to Page 10 of the press release financial tables. Following today's presentation instructions will be given for the question-and-answer session.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Andy Harmening, President and CEO for opening remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

Andrew Harmening

Well, thank you, Dough, and good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our year-end earnings call. I'm Andy Harmening, and I'm joined here today by Derek Meyer, our Chief Financial Officer; and Pat Ahern, our Chief Credit Officer. I'd like to start things off by sharing a few highlights from the quarter and then reflecting on 2022 as a whole. From there, Derek will walk through the update on margins, income statement trends and capital, and then Pat will provide an update on credit.

So no matter how you slice it 2022 was a statement year in Associated's 162-year history. It was driven by a relentless focus on customers and on our colleagues. We executed against our strategic plan with several milestones achieved in 2022. We staffed and ramped up new commercial and consumer verticals that have since met or exceeded their initial targets, given us a little bit more flexibility to drive balance loan and balance deposit growth for the bank.