Comerica Earnings Call Nuggets: End of Period Balances and Securities Portfolio

Comerica Inc (NYSE:CMA) recently reported its fourth quarter earnings and discussed the following topics in its earnings conference call.

End of Period Balances

John Pancari – Evercore Partners: Can you talk about the change in the end of period balances for the mortgage warehouse, how that trended in the quarter and then separately your outlook for that. In the near-term I know you expect that it could slow with refi but can you talk a little bit about the for next quarter where you think that could go?

Ralph W. Babb Jr. – Chairman and CEO, Comerica Incorporated and Comerica Bank: Lars do you want to?

Start 2013 better than ever by saving time and making money with your Limited Time Offer for our highly-acclaimed Stock Picker Newsletter. Click here for our fresh Feature Stock Pick now!

Lars C. Anderson – VC, The Business Bank: Yes, I’d be glad to. Hey, John, we did see a bit of a spike at the end of the year and frankly you may recall in prior quarters we typically do see kind of a run up in those balances. The average increase for the quarter was up nearly $100 million and of course the end of the period was up around $373 million, but that frankly is not that unusual at the end of the quarter. So, that’s the kind of the first part of your questions. Second part, on go forward basis the mortgage banking industry expects a 19% decline in mortgage loan apps in 2013, so as Karen made a couple of her comments as we look at next year, it would not be unlikely to see some of those balances in the overall Mortgage Banking Finance portfolio moderate assuming that occurs potentially offsetting that could be purchase volumes that a residential real estate market continues to strengthen nationally. So, it’s a great business. We got a great stable of customers. We have clearly added market share. This year have very high cross-sells into that portfolio. So, we are committed to it on all, John.

John Pancari – Evercore Partners: And then can you talk a little bit about the growth you’re seeing in Middle Market? It was encouraging to see that that book grew in the quarter, and I know you’re talking about the strong increase you saw in line utilization and commitment, so I’m assuming that bodes well, but can you give us a little bit more color about what you’re seeing changing there that’s starting to drive some good growth?