A：The key financial results for the quarter included strong earnings per share growth of approximately 14% year over year on an adjusted basis, a 3.3% year over year increase in net interest income supported by strong consumer deposit growth, and fee revenue growth of 7.6% year over year with broad-based strength across most fee businesses.

A：The company plans to make strategic investments in technology, sales, and marketing in 2026, with the expectation that revenue growth will be a stronger driver of continued positive operating leverage for the year.

A：The acquisition of BTIG is expected to contribute approximately $175 to $200 million of fee revenue per quarter, which is anticipated to be a significant factor in driving the company's revenue growth.

A：The strategic reasons for acquiring BTIG include a 10-year partnership with a record of 350 deals, and client feedback indicating confidence in the cultural fit between the two organizations. The acquisition is expected to enhance the company's capital markets franchise, enabling support for a broader array of client needs.

A：The Global Fund Services (GFS) business has generated strong fee revenue growth for the company, represented 42% of total net revenues, and grew 6.7% year over year. Its highly diversified mix of fee revenue businesses, coupled with organic growth strategies and interconnected product solutions, contributes to the company's fee growth.

A：The focus of the payments transformation initiative is to engage with clients early and frequently, especially the Gen Z demographic, and to embed interconnected payments capabilities. For 2026, the company expects to sustain momentum in this transformation and to add a focus on the small business segment for both cards and merchants.

A：Net interest income and margin are improving, with record consumer deposits reported in the quarter. The performance is attributed to effective product offerings like Bank Smartly, and investments in branches. The balance sheet is being utilized for continued NII growth, with plans to deepen client relationships through commercial and credit card loans and improve funding mix with consumer and operational deposits.

A：The details regarding earnings and performance include earnings per common share of $1.26 and record net revenue of $7.4 billion. Key performance metrics such as return on tangible common equity, return on average assets, and efficiency ratio were all positive year over year. The balance sheet showed total average deposits growth, non-interest bearing deposit increases, and stable non-interest bearing to total deposit ratios.

A：The guidance provided for the full year 2026 is a total net revenue growth range of 4 to 6% compared to the prior year and positive operating leverage of 200 basis points or more. For the first quarter of 2026, the guidance includes the exclusion of the BTIG acquisition impact.

A：We expect total noninterest expense growth of approximately Ed compared to the first quarter of 2022.

A：The banking industry is expected to see meaningful shifts in capital supervision, with a focus on digital assets, AI, and novel banks in the coming years.

A：The company intends to grow its share repurchase amount in a gradual way starting this quarter, likely increasing from around 100 million to 200 million, with a commitment to glide into a 75% payout target over time.

A：The company estimates that 90% plus of clients will see a detrimental impact if there was a 10% rate cap on credit cards, with 50% facing a significant impact. The conversation around the rate cap has shifted productively to options for customers to help them in the short term. They are also considering ways to increase communication and financial education to make people aware of their options. The Credit Card Competition Act is being observed but is not a meaningful planning consideration at this point.

A：The projected revenue growth for 2026 is 4 to 6%. Net interest income is expected to strengthen over time, with growth supported by an increase in loan pipelines and NIM expansion. Fee revenue is expected to have a more consistent approach and performance throughout the year, with key businesses like trust, capital markets, impact finance, and payments driving the growth.

A：The company is managing expenses and investments to achieve positive operating leverage in 2026 by heavily investing in digital capabilities and AI, which is creating a lot of productivity. They are confident in expense management and have aggressive plans to invest back in the business, especially in revenue-generating areas like capital markets and payments. They have the ability to flex expenses if needed in the macroeconomic environment.

A：The outlook for balance sheet growth in 2026 is for stronger loan growth, led by commercial and car loans, with some growth expected in commercial real estate. Deposits are also expected to continue to grow, being roughly one-for-one with loans. The investment portfolio will likely adjust based on the pace of loan growth, with a focus on maintaining a balanced mix of assets. This balance is expected to improve throughout the year, which is also expected to contribute to NIM expansion.

A：The growth in consumer deposits is being driven by a shift towards a more consumer-centric mix, which is considered accretive and is particularly beneficial due to the addition of new, younger, and more affluent accounts. This is especially notable in the bank's smartly product, which combines savings and a card, leading to very good success and making the clients stickier over time.

A：On the commercial side, efforts are focused on reducing CD (Commercial Deposits) counts, with a reduction of $6 billion in this quarter. This puts the company at the lowest point in CD usage in the last few quarters, which is expected to positively impact the mix and the wholesale and institutional balances going forward.

A：The Digital Assets organization, which is led by a seasoned payments executive, has been established to take the company seriously in response to the industry shock of digital assets. Progress has been seen in capital markets with investment opportunities around cryptocurrency and the introduction of a stable coin custody offering. Revenue models are emerging from these areas, with significant interest shown from clients and partners, although demand specifically from clients for revenue generating use cases is not yet strong.

A：The acquisition of BTIG is not expected to impact the buyback strategy, as there is no change to the share repurchase program. Instead, the company plans to increase its share repurchases to $200 million from $100 million this quarter and align with the previously mentioned target of 75% share repurchase ratio. The acquisition is expected to have a negligible impact on the CET1 ratio and any potential revenue from the deal is expected to be offset by merger-related costs in the current year. However, in the following year, the impact on earnings per share is expected to shift and become positive. The acquisition is seen as a strategic move to expand the company's capital markets business, which is aligned with their balance sheet and is expected to leverage their existing commercial and corporate client relationships without requiring significant additional balance sheet usage.

A：The company is investing heavily in organic growth, which includes making larger deals that come with more upfront costs to support the fee business growth.

A：The revenue model for payments involves acquired but not installed business, and sales pipelines with revenue expected 12 to 18 months after the business is sold. The company is prepared for this kind of expense inflection and believes it can create productivity while investing for organic growth and delivering positive operating leverage.

A：The payments business is expected to contribute to the mid single-digit growth on the fee side overall. The company anticipates mid single-digit growth in the card business due to the Smartly program and other cards introduced. The merchant business is also expected to grow in the mid single digits, and while corporate payments have shown improvement, they are still experiencing negative growth which is expected to strengthen as the year progresses. Overall, mid single-digit growth is anticipated for the payments business next year.

A：The charge off rate for the credit card portfolio is expected to be higher in the first half of the year due to seasonality, but overall, based on current knowledge, the company expects stability in the charge off rate compared to the previous year.

A：The company has seen growth in the commercial real estate portfolio for the first time in 11 quarters, driven by pipeline building in multifamily and industrial sectors, and a decrease in paydowns. Growth in the CNI portfolio is broad-based and includes areas like subscription lines, supply chain, M&A activity, and strong performance in business banking and SBA lending. This growth is expected to persist into 2026.

A：The economic outlook for 2026 is broadly constructive. Consumers performed well through the holiday cycle, delinquencies are coming down, employment is strong, and the impact of recent regulatory changes is yet to be seen. The corporate sentiment is moving towards M&A and real CapEx. The company is focusing on unexpected policy changes, particularly in front of them are discussions around the stableco bank industry novel charters. They are not seeing any impact from geopolitical risks as of now.

A：The capital requirements for BTG BTij are expected to be self-funded and not significantly impact the company's balance sheet. The focus will be on growing the business in a manner that aligns with the company's risk management framework and overall growth strategy within the capital market space.

A：The merger with ABP is not expected to be accretive to earnings immediately; merger-related costs will occur in the next quarter or two, during which time earnings will be neutral. After these costs are absorbed, margin expansion is anticipated, which will lead to accretive impacts on earnings by the end of the year and into 2027.

A：The speaker believes that adding equity businesses to the bank makes sense because it aligns with the bank's risk management strategy and the needs expressed by clients for the bank to participate more in their financings and broader activities. Additionally, the bank has a track record of growing the fixed income book, which sets a solid foundation for further growth in the capital markets.

A：The growth in Global Fund Services has been attributed to both organic efforts and market tailwinds. The bank anticipates a sustainable growth rate that aligns with the mid single-digit guidance provided at the firm level, indicating a continued organic growth and market share gains even though performance may vary with market conditions.

A：The bank views its competitive position in Global Fund Services as strong, given its niche-specific products and its ability to serve highly complex, small boutique firms in private capital and private credit markets. It sees a very sustainable competitive path for this business and expects it to be an engine of growth as the overall investment world grows.

A：The bank plans to focus on growing its consumer business and fee-revenue enhancing areas like treasury management and institutional businesses. In terms of deposit mix, it expects a mix of interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing deposits to contribute to growth, with a similar proportion to the current mix.

A：The bank's strategy for its branch network is to close small servicing units and build multi-client hubs with a variety of products. It has invested over $200 million in branches, which are considered an effective channel for service delivery. The goal is to achieve top-tier market share in the locations it serves and to modernize and interconnect branches in those areas.

A：The bank needs to invest more in the consumer side of the market, particularly in areas such as Denver, Nashville, Arizona, and California, where it has been making investments in hub locations and acquiring branches through recent acquisitions. These investments are aimed at refurbishing and building branches in areas with high consumer growth potential.

A：The bank views consumer checking account growth positively and is encouraged by the fact that consumer amounts were up significantly over the past year. The bank has developed a range of products to meet different client needs and has leveraged pricing tools and digital capabilities to strengthen its position in the competitive market. These factors contribute to the bank's confidence that consumer growth will continue.