First Foundation Inc. (NYSE:FFWM) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call January 25, 2024 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Conference Call Participants
Operator
Greetings, and welcome to the First Foundation's Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. Speaking today will be Scott Kavanaugh, First Foundation's President and Chief Executive Officer; James Britton, First Foundation's Chief Financial Officer; and Chris Naghibi, Chief Operating Officer.
Before I hand the call over to Scott, please note that management will make certain predictive statements during today's call that reflect their current views and expectations about the Company's performance and financial results. These forward-looking statements are made subject to the safe harbor statement included in today's earnings release.
In addition, some of the discussion may include non-GAAP financial measures. For a more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures, please see the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
And now, I would like to turn the call over to President and CEO, Scott Kavanaugh. Please go ahead.
Scott Kavanaugh
Good morning, and welcome. Thank you for joining us for today's fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. Although the entire banking industry faced substantial headwinds throughout 2023, I am extremely proud of the herculean efforts our entire First Foundation team put forth to work together and make the Company stronger. As I look forward into 2024, I am optimistic that the efforts put forth will continue to improve the loan-to-deposit ratio, increase the overall loan yield and improve the sensitivity of the loan portfolio to changing rates.
Our teams at both the RIA and trust departments were also able to weather a very uncertain outlook in both the stock market and real estate markets. Balance remained strong at both divisions with strong pipelines. The interest rate environment appears to have pivoted with the Fed's fight against inflation nearing its end.
While the rates stay higher for longer or short-end interest rates start to decline, we believe First Foundation is well positioned with our liability-sensitive balance sheet. Most of our fixed-rate loans are short duration and continue to ride the curve down with each passing quarter. We still believe the third quarter was a troughing quarter as we continue to reposition the balance sheet. Multi-family remains particularly strong as an asset class, and it is showing no signs of weakness.