U.S. Bancorp Q1 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

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2008-04-15 11:51:09.0

Tags: U.S. Bancorp, Call Transcript, Earnings, RBC Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking, Operational Accounting, Investment, Finance, Financial Services, Seeking Alpha

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Jon Arfstrom of RBC Capital Markets.

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets

Good morning.

Richard Davis

Hi, Jon.

Andy Cecere

Good morning, Jon.

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets

Richard used the term "incremental provision" in terms of the large increase sequentially, and you guided to some modestly higher losses in the future. And I guess the question is: How much of that is truly incremental, and do you think that the provision will fall back to that $200 million-type quarterly run rate?

Bill Parker

This is Bill Parker. The incremental provision Richard referred to was, you know, to increase the allowance, so that was the $192 million. The core run rates [inaudible] for the quarter were 293, but we do anticipate those levels of losses to continue to increase during the balance of the year.

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets

Okay.

Richard Davis

So, Jon, we - you know, this company is going to be adequately protected over the long course, so you can count on the fact that - I said this last time, and I'll say it again - we can see pretty clearly 30 days out, we can see marginally 90 days out, and after that we really can't see what's going to happen in credit any further than that because there's just too much volatility and there's a lot of seasonality as well.

So we felt very good about being able to add that $192 million to bulk up our provision to be as strong, in fact, even stronger than before, and we will watch each quarter to see that we are adequately reserved. And should we need to add to reserves, we will. But at this point in time, we don't see that.

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets

Okay. Just two other quick questions.

Richard Davis

Yeah.

Jon G. Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets

In light of the Mellon 1st Business Bank acquisition - it's obviously a hot topic - but can you talk about what does and what does not make sense in terms of M&A for your company?

Richard Davis

Sure. In M&A, I'll start by saying we will always take a look at anything that comes in front of us to be opportunistic and to make sure we don't pass on opportunities that might otherwise not at first glance look attractive. But we will do due diligence at a very thorough level, and in many cases find that it doesn't pass our test, which in our minds, it needs to be accretive, it needs to be focused on revenue growth not on expense benefits, and it needs to be relevant to our long-term future growth, where we're trying to build a wonderfully balanced diversification of revenue based on a core in-footprint banking business, a national wholesale business, and an international payments business.

 

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