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Associated Banc-Corp (ASB)

Q3 2013 Earnings Call· Thu, Oct 17, 2013

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Transcript

Executives

Management

Philip B. Flynn - Chief Executive Officer, President, Director, Chairman of Corporate Development Committee, Chief Executive Officer of Associated Bank, President of Associated Bank and Director of Associated Bank Christopher J. Del Moral-Niles - Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Associated Bank and Executive Vice President of Associated Bank Scott S. Hickey - Chief Credit Officer, Executive Vice President, Chief Credit Officer of Associated Bank and Executive Vice President of Associated Bank

Analysts

Management

David Rochester - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division Ken A. Zerbe - Morgan Stanley, Research Division R. Scott Siefers - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division Christopher McGratty - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division Matthew T. Clark - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division Terence J. McEvoy - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division Emlen B. Harmon - Jefferies LLC, Research Division Peyton N. Green - Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., Research Division

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Associated Banc-Corp's Third Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Laura, and I will be your operator today. [Operator Instructions] Copies of the slides that will be referenced during today's call are available on the company's website at investor.associatedbank.com. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. During the course of the discussion today, Associated 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 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 any subsequent SEC filings. These factors are incorporated herein by reference. 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 Philip Flynn, President and CEO, for opening remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Thank you, Laura, and welcome to our Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today are Chris Niles, our CFO; and Scott Hickey, our Chief Credit Officer. Highlights for the third quarter are outlined on Slide 2. As expected, we saw a significant downturn in Mortgage Banking income. In addition, overall loan growth was flat, primarily as a result of the continued runoff in refinancing of our home equity portfolio. However, we largely made up for these shortfalls with stronger-than-expected credit outcomes and discipline around expenses. As a result, we reported net income to common shareholders of $44 million or $0.27 per share. We continue to deliver strong EPS and note that our year-to-date EPS is tracking up 11% over last year. Average deposits increased 3% from the second quarter to $17.6 billion adding only -- adding over $0.5 billion to our deposit base. Net interest income was up slightly from the second quarter, and net interest margin compressed 3 basis points to 313 basis points. Gross fee income of $71 million declined 16% from the second quarter driven by the decrease in mortgage banking income, although core non-interest income was up $3 million. Notably, non-interest expense of $164 million was down $6 million from the prior quarter. We repurchased another 1.8 million shares during the third quarter. In addition, on October 4, we executed an accelerated share repurchase of an additional 1.8 million shares. Our Tier 1 common equity ratio remains very strong at 11.64%. Now let me share some detail on the main drivers of third quarter earnings. Loans are highlighted on Slide 3. Despite 1% growth in Commercial Real Estate, C&I and Mortgage lending, average loan balances were flat to the second quarter. Most of the C&I growth came in our Oil & Gas and Power &…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question is from Dave Rochester of Deutsche Bank.

David Rochester - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

On expenses, you mentioned personnel expenses down and the FTE is down. I was just wondering how many positions were reduced net? And was any of that decline related to terming in the mortgage bank?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, so if you go back not too long ago, we had approximately 5,000 FTE in our company. We are down from that peak by, say, about 400 people. Those are just permanent employees of Associated. In addition, particularly in our Mortgage operation, we've had a number of contract workers and temporary workers. So we've meaningfully, over this past couple, 3 months, reduced the Mortgage operation, as well as of course other areas as well. So we continue on a path of looking to become more efficient and certainly recognized and have reacted to the decline in mortgage volumes.

David Rochester - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

Is it fair to say that we would see some of that -- those actions that you took spill into fourth quarter expense trends as well? [indiscernible]

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, that would be fair. Yes.

David Rochester - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

Okay, great. And then I was just wondering how much did the favorable resolution of litigation reduce the losses other than loans line? I know you said that the change of the line was $3 million. Was that a total impact or was it larger than that $3 million?

Christopher J. Del Moral-Niles

Analyst

No, the litigation's specific impact was $1.1 million of that change, and there were some other unfunded commitment reserves changes, et cetera. But the largest single component was $1.1 million favorable resolution on litigation.

David Rochester - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

Great. And you mentioned that most of the BSA costs are behind you. Is there going to be any benefit that we'll see in 4Q from those stepping down? I was just wondering if you can kind of update us on whether you've had that final BSA exam and where you stand there?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, the big step down in BSA costs has been seen from the second to the third quarter. So we're not going to see a lot of change now because we didn't have many expenses in the third quarter. And I'm very reticent, in fact, I don't comment on what our regulators are doing at any point in time, but suffice it to say, we have spent significant time, energy, management attention and money to remediate and resolve our BSA/AML problems, and we believe we're in very good shape now.

David Rochester - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

Great. And one last one, I was just wondering if you can talk about how loan spreads are holding up, just given all your comments about the competitive landscape. And it sounds like there's more stretching of terms out there?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, loan yields overall declined by 5 basis points, second to third quarter. Within specific areas, there continues to be some movement. If we do some adjusting for CRE yields, for example, they were down about 4 basis points on that portfolio quarter-over-quarter, which is a significant move. I mean individual credits now are being competed for in the market at substantially lower spreads than they were a year ago. So CRE probably has declined 50 to 75 basis points. Commercial is probably down 25 basis points, and it wasn't all that exciting to start with. And even in some of our specialty areas, we've seen some margin compression. But on top of that, frankly, we are seeing even smaller banks committing to fixed-rate, 10-year terms, which defy any kind of logic, frankly. So to be perfectly honest, we run the bank with a view toward the long term. And when we extend credit, we extend credit in what we believe are prudent terms with a reasonable return.

Operator

Operator

And our next question is from Ken Zerbe of Morgan Stanley.

Ken A. Zerbe - Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Analyst

What gives you the confidence that loan growth could actually be up 1% next quarter? Because it sounds like everything that we're talking about with home equity portfolios running off, walking away from CRE, it just doesn't sound like a great environment right now.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, I don't want to give the impression we're walking away from CRE. In fact our pipeline for Commercial Real Estate has been building over this past 3 months or so. So the visibility that we have into loan growth gives us some reasonable comfort that we'll have 1% growth, and it wasn't too long ago that we had much more substantial growth than that. So I don't think it's a big stretch to think that we'll get some growth.

Ken A. Zerbe - Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then I just -- quick on the provision expense, it looks -- I presume that the 0 provision relates to the $8 million recovery that you had. So going forward, is it fair to assume that your expectation is for something a little more higher than 0 in terms of the provision line?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

The provision has been very low all year. Even with 1% loan growth, that's not going to attract a lot of reserves. We continue to have some recoveries in the offing, so we expect to have low loan loss provision again, certainly for this quarter. And when we get into January, we'll provide our thoughts on what next year looks like.

Ken A. Zerbe - Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Analyst

Okay, and then just one last question. In terms of Mortgage Banking, I think you mentioned that you had a negative mark in the portfolio. How much was that? And if we do back that out, is that new core number, is that a kind of sustainable number given the origination volumes that you're seeing right now?

Christopher J. Del Moral-Niles

Analyst

I think the amount of the mark net including MSR, FAS 133 and low comp adjustments was several million dollars, to the tune of $4 million, $5 million and on a net basis. And yes, I would believe that's more consistent with what we expect to be the run rate going forward, which would be a mid-single-digit number.

Operator

Operator

And the next question will come from Scott Siefers of Sandler O'Neill. R. Scott Siefers - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: I guess so maybe just given what's going on in the revenue side, could you talk a little bit about what additional opportunities you would have to take out some cost in addition to the stuff you articulated? In other words, if the revenue environment stays as challenging as it is, would you guys be open to doing something even more substantial?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Of course. I mean, I think I said awhile ago that I'm not a big believer in grandly named expense initiatives and announcing big bangs. We've been working hard all year to manage our expenses. We said that we would keep our expenses flat compared to last year; we've done that and a little more so far. And that's in the teeth of a company that's required significant investment into basic infrastructure of systems, physical facilities, et cetera. So we are constantly working in a number of areas to find efficiencies. A lot of our efforts are now turning to our back shops. So you've seen the action that we just took in La Crosse. And we continue to look for opportunities to get more efficient. The company is not efficient. The company underinvested in its past in technology solutions. And so we've been making a number of investments often using technology in order to become more efficient. And as time goes on, the benefits of those will become more apparent. So expense management in this environment is a very, very high priority for us. So yes, you can expect us to continue to work hard and see some results on the expense side. R. Scott Siefers - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: Okay. And then separately, I think I know the answer to this based on what you said about the fourth quarter share count. But the accelerated program you did earlier this month, is that basically in lieu of what you would have done normally throughout the fourth quarter? I think you had been targeting kind of 100% total earnings payout this year, so is that still what you're thinking, or is there a chance you would go kind of meaningfully over that?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

For now, as we said, we have pulled forward what we have "normally done" to earlier in this quarter. And as the quarter goes on, we'll evaluate our options, but I wouldn't assume that we're doing anything else right now. R. Scott Siefers - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: Okay, and then finally, maybe, Chris, this is best for you, but you guys still have a lot of capital and I think some excess liquidity as well, would you -- given the trends -- the kind of slowing trends on the loan side, would you do anything in terms of maybe looking at beefing up the securities portfolio to just generate some additional NII? Is any stuff like that on the table?

Christopher J. Del Moral-Niles

Analyst

Clearly we're always looking at strategies to enhance the bottom line and add more value to shareholders. And yes, we are having an active dialogue as a management team and with our board on strategies to better leverage our capital or more efficiently deploy it and maybe both.

Operator

Operator

And the next question is from Chris McGratty of KBW. Christopher McGratty - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division: So on the loan growth commentary, does your decision to do smaller deals -- could you maybe revisit that and maybe look to do more larger deals or be more aggressive with the smaller deals since the organic growth is stalling a bit?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

I'm sorry. Help me with what you mean by smaller deals or larger deals. Are you talking about... Christopher McGratty - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division: Well, like in the past you said you're looking at acquisitions, couple of billion in assets, nothing transformational necessarily, in-market cost takeout plays. Does that strategy need to change at all if the organic slows?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Well, we haven't executed on any part of that strategy yet. Give us a chance and we'll get into next year and we'll see what we look at. Christopher McGratty - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division: Okay. And on the guidance, you gave some verbal comments about the fourth quarter, should we expect, once you do your budget, that we'll get the more detailed financial guidance in the slide deck like you've presented in the past?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Sure, yes. In the January call, we will provide an outlook of our drivers for what we think will happen in '14. That's our normal pattern.

Operator

Operator

And our next question is from Matthew Clark of Credit Suisse. Matthew T. Clark - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: On the Mortgage front, can you just give us a sense for the magnitude of expenses in terms of dollars that you pulled out of this quarter? And I guess what's left to do given, again, how much smaller that revenue contribution is?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, so let me give you a little bit of information on the pipeline first of all. So I don't want anyone to have the impression that the mortgage business has come to a complete standstill. It certainly hasn't. As of mid-month, we have a pipeline of almost $700 million in process. Now that's down in about 4 months by about half. We've reduced, as I said, expenses already, and we're looking at other things we can do. Now there's a certain amount of fixed cost in a mortgage operation and there's quite a bit of variable cost. So our Mortgage brokers, the originators, largely work on commission. So that's a self-adjusting expense, if you will. If there's lower volume and lower closings, then there's lower commission paid. Certainly, in the areas of underwriting and processing, we've reduced costs and we'll continue to look to do that to match it up to where the volumes are. But as you get into servicing and default services, there isn't a lot of cost takeout there because the volumes in that part of the shop don't really change. So as far as absolute dollars, I don't have that handy in front of me, but we've certainly seen a noticeable drop, which will continue and probably grow as we get into this quarter and next year. And at this point, we've -- I'm trying to recall, we've probably reduced personnel expense by more than 20% on a going forward run rate as I recall.

Christopher J. Del Moral-Niles

Analyst

In that group.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

In that group, yes. Matthew T. Clark - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Okay. Is it fair to assume that, that run rate, I guess, on an overall basis, after you adjust for the legal -- favorable legal settlement? I mean is it fair to assume that, that run rate can remain fairly steady if not begin to decline again before you remain in this tepid growth environment?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

You're talking about the run rate of non-... Matthew T. Clark - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Just the overall -- non-interest expense run rate, yes.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, I mean there's always a lot of ins and outs in there, so we do have -- we've had, in this past quarter and we will have this quarter, some elevated marketing costs as we roll out our branding campaign, but that will be offset by other stuff. So I don't know that this quarter multiplied by 4 is necessarily the run rate you want to assume going forward. We can give you more guidance on what we think next year, but certainly expenses are in downward trend overall and will continue that way. Matthew T. Clark - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: All right. And on the loan front, you guys trimmed your guidance intra-quarter, but things obviously changed since then. I guess when you talk to weaker demand and utilization being down and increased competition, can you give us a sense for the order of magnitude or the relative contribution of each of those things happening that transpired?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Well, I mean, for example, overall line usage at the end of the second quarter for Commercial, for example, was about 48%, and that dropped by a full percentage point. Our specialized group went from about 56% utilization to about 52%. So utilization came down pretty much across the board, and we are passing, as I've indicated, on more Commercial and more Commercial Real Estate transactions that just don't seem to make sense to us. And of course, Mortgage volumes are somewhat down. So it's a mixture of utilization and competition. And frankly, I think some of the effects of all the uncertainty in the economy between the Affordable Care Act, government shutdown, fear about hitting the debt ceiling, none of this stuff helps businesses be confident and want to make investments. We're locked into a market share game right now where the economy isn't feeding any opportunities for us or anybody else. So it's all a matter of taking business from somebody else today. And if people are willing to do that on what I view as overly aggressive terms where you're not getting paid for it, that doesn't make a lot of sense when you're running a bank over the long haul, not for the short run. Matthew T. Clark - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Okay. And then just maybe on the M&A front. You guys mentioned here again, looking at opportunities to deploy capital. Can you just give us a sense for any change in activity in terms of pitch books that you might be seeing or just any increased chatter or anything that you might be seeing?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Well, there is -- I mean there's clearly, over this past 6 months, there's been a pickup in activity and talk. You've seen a couple of transactions happen in the last couple of quarters, particularly at the very small end, but in even the medium size and a couple of transactions in the Midwest. So there is more activity. There's more stuff that we're seeing. And if something makes sense for us as we move forward over the next few quarters, you can certainly expect us to be active. We're certainly well positioned to do that. The bank is in very strong shape from a balance sheet point of view. We have a lot of capital. And we have a management team that's fully capable of managing a larger operation. So if something makes sense to us, we're well positioned to take advantage of it.

Operator

Operator

And the next question comes from Jon Arfstrom of RBC Capital Markets.

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Jon Arfstrom. Just not to slice and dice lending even more so, but just the national business cautiousness, obviously, not immune, but is there anything specific there or does it really just go to your general comments?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

When you say the national business, you mean like Oil & Gas and Power & Utilities?

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Yes.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes. They actually -- you saw that they had growth in the third quarter. We certainly expect those businesses to continue to grow. We are passing on a few more transactions than we probably would have 6 months ago. But we expect Commercial Real Estate, Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, our major specialty units, to continue to grow as they have been. General Commercial lending is slowing. There's a lot of competition there and not a lot of organic activity, if you will.

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Would you characterize it as newer competition?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

I don't -- it all becomes very anecdotal. I don't know if it's newer competition. I think more and more banks have put whatever problems they had behind them, and there's a fierce battle out there for market share and loan outstandings.

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then maybe a question for you or Chris, just -- and I'm not quite sure how to ask it, but when you go to these efficiency initiatives in a revenue environment like this, how do you draw the line or how do you determine what makes sense and what doesn't make sense, when we maybe have temporary pressures versus more a long-term view?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Well, that's the great question, and that's why we all get paid, to make difficult decisions. So the -- what we have to work very hard at is to figure out how to become more efficient, how to do more with less, how to make intelligent investments, particularly in the technology or facilities that will pay off in the long run for us without cutting into our ability to be successful in the long run. So I don't want to keep repeating it, and I'm sure you're tired of hearing it on the phone right now, everybody, but we think about this company in a long-term view. So for example, we are rolling out brand advertising this quarter and next -- this past quarter and this quarter. That's an expensive endeavor, but it's important for us for the long haul to do that. Likewise we continue on a very selective basis and in an increasingly efficient basis to upgrade our branches. We also continue to make investments in technology. So it's a difficult process to make sure that we are doing hard things like choosing to close an entire service center in La Crosse and be sure that the impact of that is being covered elsewhere and that we don't diminish customer service or our ability to get back to people on a timely basis. And all of that is being done with a long-term view of the company in mind.

Operator

Operator

And our next question is from Terry McEvoy of Oppenheimer. Terence J. McEvoy - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: With 1% loan growth and additional pressure on asset yields, do you think you can grow net interest income again quarter-over-quarter in the fourth quarter?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes. Terence J. McEvoy - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Okay. And, Phil, you and your team work really hard strengthening the balance sheet. Now you're rightsizing the branch network, restructured the loan portfolio. You've been growing the portfolio up until recently. But my question is what's next in terms of strategy and finding growth opportunities? Is there a new area of lending that you have experience that you'd like to get into, or are you just happy with the current platform and really being patient in waiting for this macro environment to turn in your favor?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, we're not seriously looking at any meaningful new lending endeavor. I think we have a solid portfolio of businesses that we understand that we can continue to invest in and grow. This is the first quarter that we've had flat loan growth in a very long time. So I'm not inclined to dramatically shift what we do on the lending front. We do need to grow the company organically, but we also need to look for some opportunities to do other transactions. And I think, as I've said, that those will become apparent as time goes on. The macro environment is such that I believe there are going to be a lot of banks that are going to be looking to sell themselves in the future. It's a difficult environment. I find it difficult. I got to believe people who don't have the balance sheet we do find it even more difficult. In the meantime, we continue to manage capital very prudently, and we have effectively returned 100% of our earnings to our shareholders so far this year.

Operator

Operator

And the next question is from Len Harmon of Jefferies.

Emlen B. Harmon - Jefferies LLC, Research Division

Analyst

It's Emlen. Just going back to loan growth next year, I know we're going to get your explicit expectations next quarter. But I mean is there anything that would lead you to believe that loan growth was meaningfully different from kind of what you expect to see in the fourth quarter in terms of a run rate?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

I think it's a little early to say yet. I don't really want to try to provide guidance for next year's loan growth right now until we have a little more visibility as we finish all of our budgeting, which we're still in the midst of. So in the past, we've had double-digit loan growth in '11 and '12. We're going to have mid-ish loan growth this year, mid-single-digit loan growth this year. We'll certainly be able to do that next year, but I can fine-tune that for you when we get to January.

Emlen B. Harmon - Jefferies LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Okay, fair enough. And then the one spec thin area that you don't break out for us in the deck is just health care lending. I was hoping you could give us an update on just kind of what the progress of that business has been?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Sure. Scott Hickey is here and he's got a...

Scott S. Hickey

Analyst

Yes, the health care book hasn't grown dramatically year-over-year. It's up roughly 10%, 12%. So it's not been a meaningful growth over the last year.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

As compared to some of our other higher-growing specialties.

Scott S. Hickey

Analyst

Correct.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes. But it's also the newest, too.

Scott S. Hickey

Analyst

Correct.

Emlen B. Harmon - Jefferies LLC, Research Division

Analyst

And I guess -- so I mean any -- when you think about the opportunities there, I mean, is that a book where you haven't necessarily ramped up fully on personnel or there are other just kind of opportunities in terms of properties you'd be looking at? I guess how should we think about opportunities in that business given that it is one of the smaller divisions there still?

Scott S. Hickey

Analyst

Yes, this is Scott. We have got the personnel in place. We've moved a lot of our health care that was in the company to them. Now they're kind of in the position where they're beginning to go out and be more aggressive from a marketing perspective. So yes, we would expect more growth from that group prospectively.

Emlen B. Harmon - Jefferies LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Got you. Okay. One quick last one. I guess maybe this would be for Chris. Could you just quantify how much of the comp decline quarter-over-quarter came from Mortgage? I know we talked about a number of the components between kind of commissions and paring back on some of the temporary staff, but I would just be interested to know how much of that decline was specifically related to Mortgage.

Christopher J. Del Moral-Niles

Analyst

Yes, I don't have that number specifically for you in detail, but I think it's important, as was commented on earlier, that some of those costs -- declining costs also come in the form of contractors, and they're not necessarily only therefore in the comp line. So I think there's some costs sprinkled about. So I think you're going to see overall cost decline, I think, as Phil mentioned, between commissions, reductions, operational shifts. I think we've said publicly we expect at least a 30% decline plus in dollars of revenue, at least 30% variable with each dollar of revenue decline, although there's no offset directly for valuation marks. So both the MSR writeups didn't have an offset and FAS 133 adjustments don't have offsets. But on a pure business side it's, call it, 70% fixed, 30% variable until we restructure or rescale.

Operator

Operator

And the next question is from Peyton Green of Sterne Agee. Peyton N. Green - Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., Research Division: I was just -- most of my questions have been asked and answered, but I was just wondering maybe, Phil, if you could talk a little bit about what is acceptable from a valuation perspective in terms of what you might incur from a tangible book value dilution in an M&A transaction.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Go ahead, Chris.

Christopher J. Del Moral-Niles

Analyst

Yes, this is Chris. What we've said publicly is we are focused on transactions where we're confident that through cost takeouts we can see tangible value earn-back within 5 years. Probably not likely there'll be too many solid franchises that will get -- we'll see tangible value in less than 3 years, but we're sort of focused on things where we think we can see that value in less than 5. Obviously, we'd need it accretive as well. Peyton N. Green - Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., Research Division: Okay, and then maybe, Phil, I guess just -- this would probably be more anecdotal than anything else, but I mean in your dialogue with the customers, did you get any sense that their behavior has changed any in the last 30 days as all the, I guess, headline stuff out of Washington occurred? Or I guess it's been pushed 90 days forward, I mean what's your sense of the degree of change? Is it slight? Is it something that's measurable or still hard to tell?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Well, people weren't thrilled about the environment 6 months ago coming up to all of this government by crisis. And I think the general sentiment of folks that I've talked to is just complete -- I mean, people are just incredulous about what they've just witnessed. And all we've done now is kick the can down the road and appointed another group which we've had in the past, which wasn't any more successful than what we've just seen. So I just don't think that business owners are getting much positive out of all the stuff that's going on in D.C. and it's not helping the economy and it's not helping people want to make investments. Peyton N. Green - Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., Research Division: Okay. I mean I guess is it more of a break or is it more of just an impediment from keeping people to really do things that they would have done otherwise?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Like you said, this is all anecdotal, and now I'm just talking. But people need confidence in order to make business investments, and this environment is not one that breeds confidence. At least that's what people tell me, and it's hard to argue with that. Peyton N. Green - Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., Research Division: Okay. And if that weren't there, I mean generally though, I mean if you look from a credit perspective, I mean the underlying credit trends would suggest your customers are in better shape. Is that still true?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Absolutely, yes. I mean corporate balance sheets are -- corporate and middle market and small businesses even are much improved than where they were, absolutely. There's a lot of liquidity out there.

Operator

Operator

Next, we have a follow-up question from Scott Siefers of Sandler O'Neill. R. Scott Siefers - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: I just wanted to go back to this notion of kind of distribution optimization. And just given some of the things that you're looking at, like strategic fit, return on capital, et cetera, I wonder about some of these markets that you have. In other words, would you look at potentially getting out of some places where you are, like -- places like Central Illinois and St. Louis, which I imagine are profitable, but you may not have the same bang for the buck with -- like marketing, stuff like that. Would you look at doing kind of more, larger distribution refinements, in other words, getting out of markets versus sort of the individual branch things that you've done so far?

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Yes, that's not really something we're looking at. We continue mostly to fine-tune the branch network to make sure that when we have opportunities for close-by branches. Or in fact in this last round, there are some very small communities that we were consolidating branches out of. But as far as entire geographies, no, we're not looking at that right now. We're constantly evaluating the return that we get from all of our businesses, including the various geographies we operate in. If something at some point didn't make sense to us, we wouldn't hesitate to take action.

Operator

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Phil Flynn for any closing remarks.

Philip B. Flynn

Analyst

Thanks, Laura, and thanks, everybody, for joining us today. In closing, I'd like to let everyone know of an important promotion that we made during the third quarter. As you may have noted, our Controller, Bryan McKeag, resigned to become the CFO at a smaller Midwestern bank. So Tammy Stadler has been appointed our new Controller. Tammy has been with Associated since 1996, when she joined us as our Corporate Tax Director. In conclusion, this quarter's performance was solid despite the headwinds of large Mortgage Banking, income declines and flat loan growth. We grew net interest income, we grew core fees, and we showed expense discipline. Even though the dynamics of the current banking environment are challenging, we're committed to our long-term strategies, which are based on building deeper relationships with our consumer and business customers through sound value-added solutions. So we look forward to talking with you again next quarter. And if you have any question in the meantime, please give us a call. Thanks again for your interest in Associated.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the Associated Banc-Corp third quarter 2013 conference call. You may now disconnect your lines.