Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Steve Alexopoulos - J.P. Morgan.
Steve Alexopoulos - J.P. Morgan
Are you setting the dividend to a new level that you expect to be able to pay it out of earnings here in 2009?
Russell Goldsmith
We traditionally set the dividend based upon the prior year's earnings. But at the same time, we do believe we can pay the dividend that we're announcing today out of earnings that are earned in 2009.
Steve Alexopoulos - J.P. Morgan
Also, your prepared comments seem to be a little bit more on the bearer side than I think we've heard in awhile, and when I look at the reserve build, it doesn't seem to fully reflect that level of bearishness. And if we look at some of the credit metrics, you know, a lower base but net chargeoffs doubling quarter to quarter, NPAs up 50% or so, around there, we don't see that big of an increase in the reserve. Could you balance that out, particularly with your view on the economy?
Russell Goldsmith
Well, you know, at one point 8% to total loans, plus the $23 million I mentioned for off balance sheet commitments, we think that the reserve is very strong and compares very, very favorably to industry standards. And even after chargeoffs in the quarter, you're seeing a net build in the reserve.
We have a pretty sophisticated, time-tested model for building our reserves and believe that by going to - as you saw, by making the provision somewhat higher in the fourth quarter and obviously we anticipate meaningful provisions in '09, that we're well reserved.
Steve Alexopoulos - J.P. Morgan
Finally, for Chris, when you look at the [inaudible] model, does the fourth quarter capture the full impact of falling rates in terms of impact on the margin or should pressure continue into the fourth quarter?
Christopher Carey
I think you should anticipate pressure will continue into the first quarter. I think it captures a lot of it. But I think it also - the low rate levels also impact our wealth management business and some of the money market funds.
Operator
Your next question comes from Brian Klock - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
Brian Klock - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
I guess maybe you can add a little bit more color - and I jumped on late, so I apologize if you did this in the prepared comments - it looked like demand deposit growth was very strong. Can you give us a little idea what you're seeing there and any geography color on where you're getting that strong deposit growth?
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