Stifel Financial Corp. (SF) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Stifel Financial Corporation. Today's meeting is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Ron Kruszewski, Chairman and CEO. Mr. Kruszewski, the floor is yours.

Thank you, operator. I now ask our Corporate Secretary, Mark Fisher, to provide an introduction to the technical details and rules of conduct for today's virtual-only meeting and to provide a quorum report.

Today's virtual-only meeting is a live audio webcast. Shareholders who have already voted and do not want to change their vote, do not need to take any further action. If you have not voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so at any time prior to 10:00 a.m. Central Time by clicking the Vote link at the upper right of your screen or by visiting the website, www.investorvote.com/sf. If you need a copy of the annual report or the proxy statement, links are provided at the Investor Relations page at stifel.com. If you have logged in using a control number, you may submit questions online. This function is not available if you logged in as a guest. Consistent with our bylaws, we have established rules of conduct for this meeting in the interest of a fair and orderly meeting. These rules are available under the documents tab at the upper right of your screen. Mr. Chairman, as to quorum, the tellers have submitted a certificate showing that at least 99,570,502 shares or 93.8% of total outstanding shares of common stock of the company are represented at this meeting. A quorum is present.

Thank you, Mr. Fisher. I now call the meeting to order and welcome our shareholders to this annual meeting. The officers and directors view our shareholders as partners, and we value shareholder input. The directors and officers of our company, in addition to myself, participating in today's meeting are: for the Directors; Kathleen Brown, Michael Brown, Lisa Carnoy, Robert Grady, James Kavanaugh and Maura Markus. Also participating our senior officers: Jim Zemlyak, Co-President; Victor Nesi, Co-President; Mark Fisher, General Counsel and Secretary; Jim Marischen, Chief Financial Officer; and David Sliney, Chief Operating Officer. Joining us today from Ernst & Young are Dan Tryniski and Bret Ryan. Ernst & Young is being recommended to you as our independent auditing firm for this fiscal year. We will now begin the formal business of the meeting. In accordance with the bylaws of the company, I'm acting as Chairman of the meeting, and Mark Fisher is acting as Secretary. And I'll appoint Jim Lashover and Michael Buckley as tellers to tabulate the votes at this meeting. An affidavit of mailing of the notice of this meeting to all shareholders of record on April 10, 2023, will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. The previous annual meeting of shareholders was held on June 13, 2022. The minutes for that meeting have been made available to you under the Documents tab at the upper right of your screen. I will deem these minutes accepted without objection, unless a shareholder or proxy objects by e-mail to Stifel Investor Relations at stifel.com on or before June 30, 2023. We will now proceed to the proposal of directors for election. Our company's Board of Directors has proposed to the company's shareholders that the following individuals be elected at this annual meeting as directors, each to serve as a Director of the company for a 1-year term or until a successor has been duly elected and qualified. The directors for election are Adam Berlew, Maryam Brown, Michael Brown, Lisa Carnoy, Robert Grady, James Kavanaugh, Ronald Kruszewski, Daniel Ludeman, Maura Markus, David Peacock, Tom Weisel and Michael Zimmerman. This proposal, Item 1, has been duly submitted to the shareholders for a vote. As reflected in the notice of the meeting, we have 4 additional proposals before you. Item 2 is approval of an advisory resolution on executive compensation, sometimes referred to as say on pay. The Board of Directors has recommended that shareholders approve this Item 2. Item 3 is an advisory vote that the frequency of say-on-pay votes be yearly or every 2 years or every 3 years, sometimes referred to as say on frequency. The Board of Directors has refrained from any recommendation on this Item 3. Item 4 is the Board of Directors' proposal that shareholders approve an amendment to the certificate of incorporation. This amendment would provide limited excavations from liability of certain officers of the company, similar to protections already available to Directors of the company as recently permitted by Delaware Corporate Law. The Board of Directors has recommended that shareholders approve this Item 4. Item 5 is the Board of Directors' proposal that shareholders ratify its selection of Ernst & Young as independent auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. The Board of Directors has recommended that shareholders approve this Item 5. Items 2, 3, 4 and 5 have each been duly submitted to our shareholders for a vote. I now recognize the representatives of Ernst & Young and invite them to address this meeting. Is there any statement you would wish to make at this time.

Not at this time.

Thank you. Later in the meeting, I will recognize anyone wishing to ask questions of the representatives of Ernst & Young. As already stated, shareholders who have already voted and do not want to change their votes do not need to take any further action. If you have not voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so at any time prior to 10:00 a.m. Central Time by clicking on the Vote link at the upper right of your screen or by visiting the website, www.investorvote.com/sf. Before hearing the results of the balloting, I will deliver remarks on the company and allow our vote tabulators to count the vote. With this, we do have some slides for those of you that are online. So at Stifel, we strive to be a place where success meets success. In fact, it was the cover of this year's annual report. Our goal is threefold: to be adviser of choice for the most successful and ambitious clients, firm of choice for the brightest minds in the business and investment of choice for the most visionary investors in the market. Our execution has always started with our clients, families, companies, municipalities, schools and more to whom we've provided exceptional service and advice for more than 130 years. We connect them with entrepreneurial talented individuals, collaborating as teams who have chosen Stifel as the firm of choice. The cover of this year's report celebrates the many successful firms that have joined Stifel as it has grown, creating a balanced and efficient investment management and global investment banking company. Through organic hires and accretive mergers, Stifel has become a mosaic of successful teams and entrepreneurs, a company where success meets success. I'm often asked for the formula that allows for the successful integration of so many different firms in the Stifel. While there are many ingredients, by far the most potent is an attitude of respect for the people and capabilities of the firms that join us. At Stifel, we recognize that every firm we acquire is comprised of talented entrepreneurial associates equipped with ideas, products and technology, which if properly nurtured would only serve to make Stifel a better firm with more relevance to our clients. We understand that we must learn from and adapt to the new associates and the firms we acquire. There is no better illustration of this formula than the 16 CEOs who joined Stifel and major acquisitions and remain my partners to this day. Stifel is the place where success meets success, but it's also a place where success finds a home. When you look at 2022 as the year marked by significant geopolitical turmoil and 40-year highs in U.S. inflation, which precipitated rapid Central Bank tightening. In turn, these events put pressure on equity valuations, illustrated by the 19% decline in the S&P 500 during 2022. Taken together, these factors had a chilling effect on capital raising and related strategic activity, impacting our institutional business worldwide. Amidst this difficult environment and marking Stifel's 132nd year in business, 2022 represented our second best annual results as our balanced business model delivered return on tangible equity of 22%. Stifel's revenues totaled $4.6 billion and on a non-GAAP basis, net earnings were $675 million or about $5.74 per share. In addition, we increased our book value by 6% and our tangible book value by 9%. A clear benefit of our strong financial metrics is the generation of significant cash flow. In 2022, Stifel increased our capital by approximately $500 million. We remain focused on maximizing risk-adjusted returns when deploying our capital, yet as a growth company, we believe that investing in our business to enhance our relevance to our clients is essential. In pursuit of this objective, in 2022, we grew our loan portfolio by 23%, completed a strategic acquisition and entered into another while still repurchasing $106 million in common stock and paying common stock and preferred dividends of approximately $171 million. In addition, given our outlook for 2023, the increased reach and breadth of our business and our ability to generate significant excess capital after continued and anticipated investments in our franchise, we announced a 20% increase to our annual common dividend to $1.44 per share from $1.20 per share. Within our operating segments, Global Wealth Management achieved record revenue of $2.8 billion, an increase of 9% over 2021. In 2022, our adviser recruiting and growth in interest-earning assets fueled record results for our Global Wealth Management segment. Our Private Client Group now consists of more than 2,300 financial advisers who serve clients for more than 400 offices across the United States. We had a strong year for financial adviser recruiting, adding 152 advisers with total 12-month trailing production of $70 million. Among that figure, we're 23 advisers who joined our renewed independent broker-dealer subsidy at which we branded SIA in 2021. Our new recruits typically bring substantial client assets to our platform and generate a large percentage of their revenue in advisory fees. This, combined with our increasing net interest income contribution has increased our percentage of recurring revenue, which adds greater stability and predictability of results. Our recurring revenue reached 76% for the year, which surpassed our previous full year high by 1,000 basis points. At the end of 2022, we managed approximately $390 billion in client assets. Our fee-based assets totaled $145 billion, and while transactional revenues due primarily to market conditions, declined about 13%. Asset management revenues increased 5% from 2021 to a record $1.3 billion. Stifel Bancorp ended the year with $29 billion in assets while maintaining a conservative risk profile. Highlighting the year for Stile Bank was a record $866 million in net interest income, a 71% increase from 2021. Strong demand for our mortgage loans, security-based lending and fund banking helped us grow our loan portfolio by 23% to $20.6 billion. Worth highlighting is our high-yield savings account, Stifel Smart rate, which has enabled us to increase client deposits over the past few quarters, while many firms in our industry have been dealing with the impact of cash sorted by clients looking for higher yields on their cash. Stifel is a growth company and will continue to reinvest in our business as it has been instrumental in our long history of consistent profitable growth. Our focus on long-term growth is a key factor in reaching our strategic objectives. Over the past 25 years, Stifel has grown from a small regional wealth manager to a premier global wealth management investment bank. As I look to the future, we'll continue to grow both our business segments: Wealth Management, Institutional Services by redeploying our substantial excess capital with the goal of generating as always, the best risk-adjusted returns. For our Wealth Management franchises means continuing to recruit high-quality financial advisers that choose to make Stifel their firm of choice due to our adviser-friendly culture, expansive product suite, excellent technology and industry-leading yet simple and fair compensation plans. Stifel is an adviser-focused firm that offers a platform and a culture that enable financial advisers to grow their business without the bureaucracy that plagues many firms. To help our advisers strengthen their client relationships, we continually seek their feedback on how we can improve the service we provide and capabilities we offer them and our clients. The ongoing improvements and investments we continue to make in our wealth management business not only help keep our advisers satisfied, but they also help us recruit high-quality advisers looking to get more from their careers. As we look forward, we believe we can reach $1 trillion in total client assets through a combination of strong recruiting, net new asset growth and market appreciation. This growth will not only help us grow our private client asset base that increases our deposit base at our bank and further expand our bank balance sheet, which has been a significant contributor to our top and bottom line growth. Despite a difficult market environment and challenging economic condition, we leverage the investments we've made in people, products and technology, combined with organic growth and strategic acquisition to help our institutional group achieve revenues of $1.5 billion in 2022, our third highest annual revenue. Our institutional group has grown from essentially 0 a little less than 20 years ago into a global business that has generated average total revenue in the past 3 years of $1.75 billion. This was accomplished through both organic as well as a number of strategic acquisitions. To underscore our growth, we have increased our ranks of managing directors to nearly 850 at the end of 2022, more than 3x the number we had in 2012. As I've stated numerous times, our growth is focused on increasing relevancy to our clients. Stifel is always eager to embrace the opportunities presented by new technology. This year, developments in artificial intelligence, specifically deep learning and large language models like ChatGPT have demonstrated a remarkable potential for changing the way people interact with unfastenably large data sets, such as entire corpus of text on the Internet. Greater use of AI tools is among the most significant potential improvements to our digital capabilities of the firm, allowing clients and associates to better leverage their data on Stifel's expanding digital deployment. However, the use of AI comes with the critical responsibility for the security and privacy of our data and that of our clients, associates and other partners. This responsibility is always foremost in our mind as we evaluate the new technological opportunities. While market conditions have weighed on our investment banking business, our increased scale enables us to generate $971 million of investment banking revenue in 2022, which was the second strongest year in our storied history. We are pleased to be named Investment Bank of the Year by global M&A network and the #1 virtual roadshow broker in North American IR Magazine's global roadshow report. Our advisory practice recorded revenue of $715 million, our second highest full year total. Stifel and Miller Buckfire won the M&A Advisers Distressed M&A Deal and Divestiture of the Year awards for advising on the restructuring and asset sale for Sequential Brands Group and Restructuring Deal of the year for advising on Sable Permian Resources, Finance's Chapter 11 restructuring. In addition, Miller Buckfire was named restructuring Investment Bank of the Year by Global M&A Network. We bolstered our capabilities with the acquisition of ACXIT Capital Partners, a leading independent corporate financial advisory firm serving European middle market clients and entrepreneurs and Torreya Partners, a leading independent M&A and private capital advisory firm serving the global life sciences industry. With respect to capital raising, revenues totaled $237 million. Equity capital raising revenue totaled $103 million and fixed income capital raising revenue totaled $134 million. Once again, our public finance group was the nation's leading municipal bond underwriter, increasing our market share in the number of negotiated transactions to 15.3%. In addition, we partnered with Korea Investment Securities Limited, a leading Korean financial services firm to form SF Credit Partners, an innovative leverage lending joint venture that has extended the reach of each firm into new markets, is increasing both firms' relevance to their existing clients. Our institutional sales and trading businesses posted revenue of $571 million in 2022, our third highest total. That figure comprises $201 million in equities and $370 million of fixed income, a 3% increase fueled by our acquisition of Vining Sparks, which closed in late 2021. In addition, in our equities business, our electronic trading platform saw record activity in 2022, driven by growth in algo trading, and we increased market share in U.S. transactional volume in both high- and low-touch trading. We remain one of the largest and most respected providers of research coverage in North America and Europe. Among our achievements in 2022, Stifel is placed fifth in institutional investors U.S. Global Fixed Income Research survey with Stifel and our KBW subsidiary combining to rank a runner up in 5 equity research categories, and KBW ranked #1 in 4 categories in the 2022 Coalition Greenwich Study. Turning to environmental, social and governance, at Stifel, we seek to create a company that reflects the diverse communities that we serve by creating and nurturing an environment where all associates feel they belong and are respected. As such, we continue to integrate ESG considerations into our business practices. To us, it's not just good for business. It's the right thing to do. We are committed to acting and increasing our transparency on issues such as diversity and inclusion, ethics and integrity, risk management and sustainable finance. I'm proud of the significant strides we've made in our ESG initiatives in the last few years, and I invite our shareholders to learn more about them by reading our environmental, social and governance report, which is available at stifel.com. Look, I'd like to take a moment just to talk about the recent banking turmoil in the first quarter of 2023. The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank are, in my opinion, examples of classic run in the bank crises. In this case, the banks operated under very accommodated fiscal policy financed by an expansion of the Federal Reserve balance sheet. Easy money policies in conjunction with unprecedented fiscal stimulus resulted in a substantial increase in bank deposits without a corresponding increase in loan demand. Ironically, these banks were encouraged to own government securities because of the low credit risk, high liquidity and low capital requirements. In addition, many thought it inconceivable that short-term rates would increase nearly 500 basis points in a year. As many have commented, this significant interest rate risk will "Hiding in Plain Sight," the risk management controls that both banks fail to recognize it, along with the new speed at which depositors can move to withdraw their money. The follow-on risk to our banking system, in my opinion, is a regulatory overreaction to the failure of a few banks with mostly idiosyncratic risk. The real damage of the system is the potential loss of confidence in regional midsize and community banks primarily as to the perceived safety of uninsured deposits. Meanwhile, one can argue that the larger globally systemic banks benefited from this crisis. But no further than the resolution of Credit Suisse to see that certain institutions are treated as too big to fail. As a result, such institutions have implied deposit insurance covering all their deposits regardless of size, which explains why the largest banks saw significant increases to their deposit balances during the crisis. This market dynamic simply must change. United States' financial system benefits from the local knowledge and community relationships that regional midsize and community banks provide. Those benefits will be lost if we continue down the path of a de facto 2-tier system where uninsured deposits are viewed as either at risk, which is the case of smaller banks or essentially insured at the "too big to fail" institutions. This is not an indictment of our large global banks as these institutions are equally important to the United States and the world in terms of competitive global markets. But we must acknowledge the unintended consequences of tilting the playing field so that uninsured deposits flow in the direction of too-big-to-fail institutions. While I'm generally opposed to government intervention in markets, the fact is that by treating banks as too big to fail, the government has already intervened. To level the playing field, I believe that all business deposits should be FDIC insured. The largest bank should pay their fair share premiums for this FDIC insurance instead of paying nothing for the implicitly unlimited insurance they have for being too big to fail. Why business deposits? Because the vast majority of uninsured deposits are essentially business deposits. They are the foundation for many smaller banks and provides the funding for local development, ensuring all business deposits will provide a robust market environment in which competition will be based on local dynamics, service and competitive rates and not by the perception that deposits are essentially government guaranteed at the largest banks. I believe this policy would foster a more stable foundation for our banking system. Sometimes a solution to problems is also Hiding in Plain Sight. Let's talk a little bit about partnering with success. As part of our efforts to be the firm where success meet success. This year, we announced our latest means of supporting up-and-coming talent on their road to success. In the first case, our partnership with U.S. Ski and Snowboard. It's a relationship that continues to grow and evolve. It began in October when we became title sponsor of the U.S. Alpine Team, marking the biggest sponsorship in our firm's history. We then expanded our partnership to include sponsorship of a number of elite level and development events collectively known as the Stifel U.S. Alpine series and later broaden our sponsorships to include all ski teams under the U.S. Ski and Snowboard brand, adding title sponsorships to the cross-country team, the free style and the free ski teams. In addition, Stifel and U.S. Ski and Snowboard are collaborating on career and financial education programs designed to help athletes save, invest and plan their financial futures. Turning next to the St. Louis Cardinals. This is our newest partnership. We're excited to announce that we've entered into a deal to become the first ever Jersey pass sponsor of the St. Louis Cardinals. In addition to supporting our hometown team, this partnership provides Stifel with valuable brand exposure to baseball fans across the country whenever their favorite team plays the Cardinals. As the firm where success meets success, we're thrilled to be aligned with one of baseball's most story franchises. In terms of soccer, soccer phenoms, Alyssa, who's 18; and Gisele, 17; sisters are shaping the future of women's soccer. Out of high school, Alyssa was the #1 overall pick drafted by the National Women's Soccer League's Angel City FC, making her the youngest draft pick in women's soccer history. Gisele currently competes for the U.S. under women's 20 national team, and she plays on the -- an MLS Next team. Both Thompson sisters are the first high school athletes to sign NIL deals with Nike and now with Stifel. We are excited to see what the future holds for Alyssa and Gisele and are pleased that they're partnering with Stifel. Finally, the Cardinal is not the only professional team whose jersey bears the Stifel logo. In April, we entered an agreement to be the Jersey sponsor of the National Hockey League, St. Louis Blues steepening a relationship that goes back over 2 decades. Giving back to the community is also important at Stifel. We give back to the communities in which we live and work, and this is essential to our philanthropic endeavors. From formal programs to associate-led volunteers, we strive to make a positive impact on those around us. So looking forward, predicting the future economic landscape is difficult as is forecasting interest rates. However, the convergence of inflation, higher rates and quantitative tightening represents financial conditions that have not been experienced for years, in fact, decades. Despite my reservation about predictions, I do believe that inflation is likely to be persistent and the market anticipation of rate cuts later this year, somewhat optimistic. That said, Stifel is well positioned through our strategy and culture to continue our long-term success and growth. Finally, I would like to thank Kathleen Brown as she retires from our Board of Directors for her years of service, including recently as Lead Independent Director. Kathleen has been a reliably fair, thoughtful and decisive voice. She has helped guide Stifel's continued growth and has been a partner to me and our fellow directors. I and our shareholders will miss her wise counsel. So in conclusion, I do want to thank our shareholders and clients for their support as well as our over 9,000 associates for their commitment to excellence and success at Stifel. That concludes my formal remarks for the meeting. And I will now ask the secretary to read any questions that have been asked of me or representative of Ernst & Young.

Thank you, Ron. Mr. Chairman, there are no questions properly before this meeting. Other questions received will be responded to directly.

Thank you, Mark. I now ask the secretary to report on balloting and to state whether any business is properly before this meeting.

Mr. Chairman, each of the following has received the majority of votes cast to serve as a director of the company for a 1-year term or until a successor has been duly elected and qualified. Adam Berlew, Maryam Brown, Michael Brown, Lisa Carnoy, Robert Grady, James Kavanaugh, Ronald Kruszewski, Daniel Ludeman, Maura Markus, David Peacock, Tom Weisel and Michael Zimmerman. The proposal contained in Item 2, which approves the advisory resolution on executive compensation, sometimes referred to as say on pay, has received the majority of the votes cast and has been approved. Item 3, which advises on the frequency of say-on-pay votes sometimes referred to as say on frequency, has received a majority of the votes advising an annual frequency. The proposal contained in Item 4, which approves an amendment to the certificate of incorporation that provides limited expectations from liabilities to certain officers of the company, similar to protections already available to directors of the company as recently permitted by Delaware Corporate Law has also received a majority of the votes relative to all shares outstanding and has been approved. Finally, the proposal contained in Item 5, the resolution ratifying the appointment of Ernst & Young as our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2023, has received the majority of votes cast and has been approved. Mr. Chairman, I'm aware of no other business properly before this meeting and no reason why this meeting may not now be duly adjourned.

Mr. Fisher, thank you. That being so, I declare the meeting adjourned. Thank you.

This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect, and have a pleasant day.