U.S. Bancorp (USB) UBS 2025 Financial Services Conference (Transcript)

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) UBS 2025 Financial Services Conference February 11, 2025 10:30 AM ET

Company Participants

John Stern - Senior EVP and CFO
Gunjan Kedia - President

Conference Call Participants

Erika Najarian - UBS

Erika Najarian

Good morning, everybody. So, everybody's been excited about this fireside chat. No pressure both of you. Super psyched to have the President and Incoming CEO of U.S. Bancorp, Gunjan Kedia, and of course, Trustee, CFO, John Stern and welcome.

John Stern

Thank you.

Gunjan Kedia

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Erika Najarian

Absolutely. So, firstly, Gunjan, congratulations on being named the new CEO. So, the company has done a very good job at telegraphing the transition. Could you share with us why the board thought that now was the right time for this handoff?

Gunjan Kedia

Thank you, Erica. I'm very excited to be leading a wonderful company to the future. So, in your question of timing, it was the board's decision based on a very disciplined and measured succession process that went over multiple years. And of course, informed by Andy's personal and professional preferences for his timing. He has spoken about our company being at an inflection point. He looks back over the last two years, and we have done a very decisive and attractive acquisition, which we've integrated efficiently. We build back capital after the banking crisis, and last year have really flattened our expense curve. And now our attention is on organic growth. And so that's the inflection point. And one year after I stepped into my role as the President felt like the right time for the transition.

Question-and-Answer Session

Q - Erika Najarian

And in September, we did hear from you extensively. The company laid out medium term financial targets, including a high teens ROTCE or return intangible