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Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference

Dec 9, 2025

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

All right. We're going to get started here. Up next, we're excited to have Truist joining us once again. Had another solid year posting best-in-class loan growth, maintained a tight hold on cost, which allowed it to generate strong operating leverage despite a challenging backdrop. Additionally, it recently provided a detailed path to achieving a 15% return target by 2027 through stronger revenue growth, higher operating leverage, and increased buybacks. Here to tell us more about the details on the road ahead is Chairman and CEO Bill Rogers. Welcome, Bill.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Great.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

We're going to have a fireside chat today. So, Bill, maybe to kick it off, it feels like 2025 was a year where Truist pivoted back to playing offense. As you think about next year, what do you see as the key drivers behind that business momentum, and how is it shaping your outlook as you head into next year?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah, thanks, Ryan. Thanks for having me. You know, I think the concept of shifting to offense, and we've always been in the offensive mode, but in terms of where we're able to devote our resources and time, clearly much more on the offense, meaning client and acceptance and client activities. If you think about all that, it was a setup for that. So we simplified our business model, we created more capital, we took a lot of expenses out of the company, created a lot more discipline, clear strategic alignment, really good focus, and an incredibly great team, not only from a leadership team, but a great team on the field. So, you know, I think the time we're spending now is, you know, we're looking out the windshield versus the rearview mirror. We're looking forward. Our clients are looking forward.

The discussion about anything about mergers sort of in the past, it's all about opportunity and where we're going forward. And you mentioned the loan growth as one of the examples, but we have client acquisition growth, net new clients. We've onboarded more middle-market clients at twice the level that we did last year. So we have this really good momentum headed into next year. Good support from our business lines. As I said before, really tight strategic alignment, incentive alignment, team alignment, teamwork. So, I mean, I feel really good about where we are. I mean, last year we were talking about the things that we could do, and now we're talking about the things that we have done. So that feels very different.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Absolutely. So, you know, at third-quarter earnings, you delivered more clarity around your mid-teens ROTCE, committing to 15% by 2027. Maybe just walk us through how you're going to get to 15 and your degree of confidence, and then maybe just talk about what do you see as the major risks to getting there.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Sure. So first, high degree of confidence, really good engagement with shareholders of wanting to put more definition and more timing around the return expectations, which I thought was totally appropriate and strong response. I think about it this way, maybe like at its highest level. Think about capital in terms of dollars as the denominator. That's going to be pretty stable through this environment. And then our job is just to put more velocity over the numerator, and particularly on things that have higher ROA as an opportunity. So think about the growth in our investment banking business. Feel really good about the opportunities there. We've had a consistently low double-digit CAGR for a long time in that business, marginally gaining market share, but against a tremendous opportunity.

Our payments business, I feel like, really over the last 18 t 24 months, now that engine's really firing, really good leadership there, good talent on the field, but also really incredibly good, strong product capability. So that's also growing at this low double-digit kind of basis. And then our wealth business has had a really good last couple of quarters. That engine's now starting to fire at a higher level. And so looking at businesses that have higher return characteristics or accretive to that ROTCE journey, I probably underestimated how powerful it was internally. I knew it was really important externally, but internally our teams have really rallied around, okay, we have a growth agenda, we're playing offense, but we have it against a return profile. And so everybody's got the strategies and alignment around accomplishing that.

So I feel very confident, and I think we're on a great flight path. And the impediments to it are probably more macro. If the business environment doesn't give us the opportunity to exercise all these skills and opportunities that we have, I think there's a little less internal. I think it's more macro environmental type things.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

I mean, tons of things for us to get into within those, which we will shortly, I guess. Maybe to just bring it back to the near term a little bit. So, Bill, you gave guidance for the fourth quarter. I think was revenues up 1-2%, NII up 2%, driven by loan growth, lower deposits, stable fees, handful of other things, stable expenses. Maybe just talk about how the quarter's progressing and share any updates to what you're seeing in the fourth quarter.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah, I mean, on track. This is the quickest summary as possible, but on track. But most importantly, with the comments that we started earlier, continuing that momentum going forward.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Gotcha. Okay. So maybe let's dig into loan growth a little bit. So 2025 has been a year where you had very strong loan growth at Truist. Maybe just talk about what is driving this, and more importantly, how are you feeling about your ability to continue this momentum into next year?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. So the loan growth engine started with really good strategic alignment. So what do we want to accomplish? Where do we want to grow? How do we grow profitably? How do we grow importantly, not just grow loans for growing loans? So are we on the commercial side? Are we lead? Are we at the front of the syndications versus the back? Are we providing the right advice on the consumer side? Are we creating net new accounts as part of that? So we're deepening those relationships as part of that. So it's been very strategic in terms of that growth and also very return-oriented and focused on a lot of net new clients to the franchise. As we head into next year, this year probably consumer was probably the early driver, and then wholesale was sort of coming on in the last couple of quarters.

I think that trend will continue in the sense that I think wholesale, commercial side will probably take a little more of the front seat in terms of the loan growth. And then the commercial side, as we think about things like indirect auto and we think about things like mortgage, they probably have a little less component of this. And again, that's back to that return orientation. So the overall engine firing and continuing sort of on the same kind of pace we were this year, but a little bit of a mix in terms of higher return, more accretive growth as we move forward.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Maybe just to dig into that a little further. So you talked about wholesale taking on a bigger piece. Maybe just talk about what gives you the confidence in that. What are you hearing from clients about overall sentiment, and what do you think that means for the wholesale lending environment into 2026?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. You know, clients are from the looking forward and looking back component, not talking as much about tariffs. I mean, we started the year, obviously, lots of discussion, lots of uncertainty around tariffs. Companies were a little more reticent to the landscape. That's not really in the dialogue so much now. Either I've reoriented my supply chain to accommodate, I've priced some of that through, I've improved margins in my company. So tariff is a little bit in the backdrop in terms of looking forward. And now it's a little more about what are the strategic decisions in my business. And so the activity we've seen is more strategic. How do I invest to take advantage of a competitive situation? Do I need a warehouse? Do I need trucks? Do I need a fleet? What are the things I need to do to grow our business?

We're starting to see some of that get unleashed. Whereas in the beginning of the year, it was more planning, and now that's starting to get a little more unleashed. Back to my earlier comment, that has a dependency on confidence, confidence in the economy and confidence in where we're going. We'll see in the first quarter of the year, we'll see some of those tax incentives. That comes in, that really hasn't come in yet. That's potential for a little bit of tailwind. Then in fairness, just where we're positioned. A lot of this is disproportionate to our investments and the things that we've done and the specialization that we've created in our company. The people that we've brought on, our existing team is really strong and really great, but 25% of our commercial middle-market teammate base, they're new last year.

So they're also just getting ramped up and learning the tools and the skills and expanding their portfolio. So we've created a little bit of our own tailwind as it relates to that.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

That makes a ton of sense, and you touched on the consumer was obviously a big driver this year. You obviously have some interesting specialty businesses, LightStream, Sheffield, Service Finance. And like I said, those have experienced strong growth. Obviously, there's been some concerns around the consumer. Maybe just talk about the health of the consumer across your portfolio, and what is your lending strategy in consumer as you look ahead and where are the pockets of growth that you still feel good about into next year?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah, a couple of things. So you mentioned our specialty businesses. I mean, we made a conscious choice about where we want to invest on the consumer side. And we really want to invest where the consumer makes the decision. So we think being in these point-of-sale businesses and being in these digital businesses position us really great where the consumer makes the decision. We want to be sort of right at that important fulcrum point. And then remember, as you know, I mean, those are higher FICO score businesses. So those consumers generally are doing fairly well and continue to engage in the activities that those businesses support. So think about home improvement, think about HVAC, think about power sports and the businesses that those support. So we have good confidence in those businesses. On the lower-income consumer, I mean, they're feeling more stress. I mean, we see that.

I think it goes back to sort of a little bit of pre-COVID or pre-stimulus. They sort of look more like that. That we made a lot of decisions in 2022 and 2023 to sort of change some of the criteria in terms of how we think about that portfolio and how we thought about some of the inflated FICO scores and some of the things that came out of that environment from all that stimulus, and that overall portfolio is a pretty small part of our overall business, so I think there's certainly reasons to be focused on the consumer, but overall, the places that we're positioned, we feel good about, and the consumer's still in the game. Consumers still buy. Consumers still spending.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

So let's turn to talk about deposits. Obviously, this is a big focus at dinner last night. Obviously, things have been competitive in that market. Maybe just talk about your strategy to grow both consumer and commercial deposits into next year. And maybe just talk about the opportunities that you see in the Premier Banking segment. And then touch upon treasury management and how this is contributing to commercial balances. And obviously, a lot of things in there, but curious to see where you think we are in terms of the J-curve relative to where we were on lending coming into this year.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. And to your point, everything sort of has a J-curve. And clearly, the lending J-curve was sort of ahead of the deposit J-curve for us. And you saw that in some of the wholesale funding. But that's catching up. In that last couple of quarters, that's catching up. We see that continuing. We see that continuing into next year. We see the products and capabilities we're doing on the deposit side. We see the focus, as you mentioned, on Premier, the deposit production. Those numbers are up actually really quite significantly. So we see that engine being built on that side in terms of continued focus. And then on the wholesale side, a lot of that's driven by the payments business. So we talked about earlier the growth in our payments business. We see this double-digit kind of growth.

We see the new accounts have about a 60% penetration in the payments product, and in some cases, that hasn't even been funded yet. So that's a new piece of business that's going to be funded months and quarters from now. So good momentum and capability on that side. It is very competitive. So I actually just don't want to diminish that, but it's competitive in all markets. So that's not only competitive in our markets, but we've also seen disproportionate, really good deposit growth in places where we have smaller market share and we've had a lot of growth. Think about for us, think about Texas. For us, think about Philadelphia. We've seen really good deposit side on that, and on the wholesale side, I mean, we've now built out full middle-market commercial teams in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.

So we'll see some of the benefit of those activities in terms of the wholesale deposit growth.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Then you obviously talked a couple of times about it being competitive. I think your repricing of deposits has been a little bit slower than peers. You've been in the high 30s. Peers have been in the mid to high 40s. I know that you are expecting it to improve over time. Can you maybe just talk about what has driven that? And more importantly, what are your expectations to drive repricing over the rest of the cycle? And what is going to change the underperformance to be back in line with peers?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. Yeah. Part of that beta disproportion that you noted is because we've had a little more wholesale funding, so part of it is decreased that wholesale funding, which we see, so why top-line deposits might not grow at the same pace. Client deposits are what will grow, and that'll lessen that wholesale funding, and then that is the beta contributor, so that's the fuel that really changes the beta, and then overall, I mean, the opportunity to reprice just comes from better client service, better advice, deposits tied to payments products and those type things, and then we've got to see a lower rate environment, so we have to see that opportunity, so hopefully this week we'll get a start, and then we see that opportunity to get on that curve, so I think over time, our beta will catch up for two different reasons.

One is sort of get on the same curve in terms of repricing, but also reduce that level of wholesale funding.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

So just to sort of rehash, you expect the beta is going to improve over time and client deposit growth should look more like loan growth that you've experienced this year. But yet we should then see overall deposit growth won't be as robust just because you'll be bringing down wholesale deposits.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Exactly.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

But the mix will be improving in some of the quarters.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Exactly, and client deposit growth is what's the laser focus for us.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Got it. No, that sounds great. Maybe just thinking about revenue growth into 2026. So I think on the call, you said more than double this year, which was 2%. So it should be greater than 4%. And I think you alluded to maybe fees growing a little bit faster. High level, can you maybe just talk about your confidence in this and what are some of the key variables for achieving this over time?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. It's back to how we started this conversation, momentum. So we've got the momentum that's been building every quarter and is continuing. So that's the big driver. So NII growth, NIM expansion, and then disproportionate fee growth as it relates to that. So that not only drives the overall top line, but improves the return.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

So, Bill, maybe to dig into some of the pieces. I think expectations, as we said, were for NII to grow 2%. The fourth quarter, you talked about things being on track. I think you guys have alluded to NII being somewhat similar to the recent path. Maybe just talk a little bit about your expectations for NII. What are some of the key considerations that could affect the trajectory into next year? And how are you managing the sensitivity given the evolving rate environment?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. So we manage the overall sensitivity to have a neutral type exposure. We have added a lot in the swap side to make sure that we're accommodating and understanding sort of what's going to happen from rate activity over the course of the rest of this year and into next year. And then just overall core growth is what has to drive it. So it's not only sort of the spread and components, but it's just overall growth and loans. And then the funding component. I mean, the real driver on NII for us is to grow that deposit side, grow that cheap, less expensive funding source. And in the last quarter, our loan and deposit funding was more matched. So we sort of see that momentum continuing.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

So maybe to dig into some of the components of revenue growth, let's talk a little bit about your investment banking and trading business. Obviously, capital markets and M&A activity were slow in the first half. You had a strong third quarter. Maybe just talk about how you think about expectations for 2026 and really where are you positioned to gain share. And then are there any products or verticals that you're most focused on that you think could be areas of strength for Truist?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. I mean, as you know, this has been a traditionally strong business for us. And it's been a strong business because we tie it to the franchise. So we tie the specialty businesses all the way through the franchise. So not only investment banking, but our middle-market business, our corporate banking business, and down to our commercial business. So that's the key focus is to have that vertically go all the way through the company. That creates more sustainability in that income. It creates a better pipeline of that income. The particular verticals that we've been strong in historically have done really well. Things like the FIG business, things you've seen the investments we've made there, things like energy business. We've just announced a lot of additional researchers. So the healthcare side has been really strong as part of our commitment.

Tech will build as part of that. The subsectors of those will build as part of that. And just continuing to add talent to the platform. But more importantly, think about what I said earlier about the 25% that are new to our platform. They're just understanding the capabilities and the products and the opportunities that we have to clients. So I think we're really well-positioned, strong, consistent leadership, great alignment with Kristin all the way through the pipelines to make sure that we're leveraging that capability across more than just a slim client base all the way deep.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Look, you mentioned it before. Obviously, payments has been another big area in your fee income that continues to be a focus. I was intrigued by the stat that you said 60% penetration on new business. I think when we were talking about it last night, you were saying that the backbook is much lower, 20 or 25%. Clearly, that looks like it's going to present a huge opportunity. Maybe just expand a little bit on this progress that you're seeing and help us frame the remaining revenue growth opportunity and how this fits into the overall strategy.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. The payments landscape, this is a really fun time to be investing and growing in this business. So if I think about my past history, that used to be in the payments business. It was big infrastructure, mainframe infrastructure, third-party dependencies. You had to create all these big systems. It took a long time to implement and deploy. And today, it's just much faster. So the ability to deploy APIs, to do embedded finance, the ability to be in the client's ERP system and create systems and capabilities, you can just do that at a higher rate of speed. And we've got a really good technology team in our payments business. We have a really good leadership team from the sales side in our payments business.

And as you noted, so I look at the framework of the best way to tell we're relevant is are we relevant with new clients? Because it's a clean slate. So that 60% penetration with new clients, the payment side says to me, one, we have relevant products and capabilities. Our teams can do a really good job on the sales side. So they're understanding that client's needs, understanding the unique cash flow opportunities for those clients, helping them invest and improve their working capital. And then the opportunity to deploy that against the existing base, which has a lower penetration. That client base has been loyal, has stuck with us. And now we get to go back and say, "Wait, we've got all these new products, capabilities. We have this team that really understands your business.

We have an understanding not only of your business, but your specialty, the unique nature of your ERP system. And how do we connect to it? How do we let you increase your capacity to generate more clients, create efficiency in your supply chain?" That's the confidence in the building of that component.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

And maybe just to round up the fee discussion, the third area that you highlighted that could be a high single-digit growth over time is wealth. Maybe just talk about where you are now in terms of the penetration. Obviously, Premier Banking and the like are all factoring in. What are you doing to grow it? And how are you feeling about your ability to take market share?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. And on the wealth side, I mean, we've made a really conscious strategic decision that we really want our wealth business focused on our franchise. So we don't want a separate and distinct wealth business. We want a wealth business that's unique and focused on Truist and focused on our clients. So the first thing we did was build a lot of capabilities for our advisors. So there's, I think, more than table stakes of providing really good advisor networks and really good advisor tools and capabilities. And then creating the systems to leverage the existing franchise. So having wealth be under a wholesale business was very intentional. So Kristin now can sort of look at the total lineup of the third-generation client who's recapitalizing their company, bringing in private equity, selling their company. We're having that discussion with them. We've been at the forefront.

We have a specialization in their industry, well, that's the opportunity to capture that wealth, and we've been covering them for a while. We're not covering them at the point of sale. We've been covering them for a while. We've been having that discussion. We've been helping with their family planning. We've been helping with their succession activity, and so the right to win that activity is we're at the pinnacle of that, and then the other side of that, and you mentioned on the Premier side, the investment in our Premier business, in our consumer business, and this is where our consumer and wealth businesses partner really well, is that referral network from that Premier business is quite significant. We want our advisors focused on that.

So we've created tools and capability using technology, using AI to help rationalize and prioritize the prospecting in that capability that used to have a lot of one-to-one dependencies. Ryan, I'm going to refer to you. Now we have a system that works between us that says, "Here's the highest priorities. Here's what the portfolio looks like. These have the highest propensity for activity. Let's prioritize those." I come in in the morning. I know exactly what I'm going to focus on the premier side. I know exactly what I'm going to focus on the advisor side. We're connected and aligned. And that creates the momentum and the flywheel for that business.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

So to kind of bring that all together, when I think about your tenure as CEO at both the Truist and Predecessor Institutions, operating leverage has sort of been the hallmark of yours. You're on track to deliver positive operating leverage this year. You've talked about incrementally more next year. We just spent a lot of time talking about the pieces on the revenue side, more than double, greater than 4% into next year with faster fees. So sort of a two-part question. One, how are you thinking about the investment of expenses growth into 2026? How are you finding ways to invest in the business and find cost savings? And broadly speaking, how are you thinking about operating leverage into next year?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. I mean, operating leverage is a key focus. I mean, we have to run the business in a way that has a really positive contribution. That's part of that ROTCE return, right? So you've got to create that stable denominator. That's part of that numerator velocity on that top side. As you know, I mean, we took an opportunity to take a lot of expenses out of the company. We came out of the merger with a chassis that was too big relative to the opportunity. And so we took sort of a stair step down. But that also created the momentum, the muscle memory to actually rationalize that. Simplifying our business has really made this much more attainable so we can look at businesses as they come across the system.

So we have a really, really clear view of sort of the next step in terms of investment and the next step in terms of expense save. And we're able to sort of look at that as a portfolio and say, "Okay, we want to achieve this kind of growth. We want to achieve this kind of client penetration. We want to achieve this kind of return. What is the perfect cocktail in terms of those investments to make that work?" And our team has created a really good system and capability to make those decisions. So I think the discipline sits in there. And today, for every expense dollar we're saving, we see a really good opportunity to invest to increase the propensity to achieve the return on the other side.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Gotcha. So obviously, there's been a huge focus across the industry on AI. A lot of it focused on achieving efficiencies. How are you thinking about the role of AI at Truist in terms of either cost efficiencies, managing the expense base, or things like agentic AI to generate revenue growth? Maybe just talk a little bit about where you're at.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yes, yes, and yes is the answer. I mean, I think I view AI as the propellant to everything that we talked about. It's not a separate thing. It's not a different thing. We don't stop and say, "Hey, let's do some AI." AI is the propellant. It's the powered by in terms of the things that we're trying to accomplish. So we've got dozens and dozens of different AI activities going on in our company at any particular time. And they're focused in all those different areas. I think it's too easy to just say, "Oh, it's an efficiency play," because I just gave an example. It's also a huge revenue play in terms of the opportunities. We've added a lot of talent in this area you've seen into our company that's going to help us sort of take this to the next level.

So I view it as, again, a propellant and an adjunct and a key component of everything we've talked about from a strategic framework. All of our leaders have a strategy to deploy AI to help achieve their strategic objectives.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Gotcha. No, super helpful. Let's shift gears a little bit and talk about credit quality. Obviously, asset quality has been at the forefront of the industry following certain high-profile frauds and the associated bank balance sheet exposure. You guys had a small exposure to First Brands. Maybe just talk about what are some of the areas that you're most closely on your radar and how are you expecting to see credit losses evolve in your portfolio over time?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. I would say everything's on our radar. So sort of start with that framework. I mean, we have a great history of a really strong credit culture at our company. So everything's on our radar all the time from that standpoint. So there's not one thing that pops up idiosyncratically. So, "Oh my gosh, let's all go gravitate to that." We've got to look at the entire portfolio. We've got to make sure that we're consistently underwriting really well and that we're sort of double-checking our underwriting and then also making sure that we're monitoring credit really well. I mean, that's also got to be a really, really key component of this. But as you noted, I mean, we're in a cyclical, very low loss rate on our wholesale portfolio.

So we're going to have a credit cycle somewhere, and we're going to have things that pop up along the way as an industry, and we're going to see those. But it's not like one thing. It's really looking at the entire portfolio and making sure that we've got the right diligence side on that. And then on the consumer side, I think we've talked a little bit about that already in terms of what we see on the consumer side. Not high focus on the areas where we've already done some tweaking and some calibration to make sure that we're underwriting really well for the long run and making sure that we've got the right cycles and they reflect the risk profile of the company that we have.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

So I thought maybe in the last couple of minutes, we'd shift gears and talk a little bit about capital. You referenced it earlier. I think as part of your 2027 ROTCE target, you're expecting CET1 to, I think, around 10% at the end of the year, which should result in elevated buybacks. I think you talked about $3 billion-$4 billion. So first, maybe just talk a little bit about the capital priorities within the next few years and how does that fit into the ROTCE framework, and do you think you can maintain this pace of buyback even if we do see stronger loan growth over time?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. So the first question is the last question. The number one focus on the utilization of our capital is growing our business. I mean, anytime we have a capital discussion with our board, they say, "Bring out the chart." We want to make sure that we have ample capital to support the growth in our business, not only what we anticipate today, but what if the economy really takes off? Are we going to be positioned? Are we going to be at the top of that wave and be able to ride that wave and be in the position to take advantage of our markets and our opportunities and the investments that we've made? So that's actually just like number one, two, and three in fairness. And then the second is our dividend. I mean, we've been a really good dividend, I think, proposition.

We want to continue to support the dividend. And then the third is buybacks. And where does that fit in the formula? So to answer your question, I mean, we're entering this with a lot of optimism. We're entering this with a lot of momentum. So I mean, I think we're going to start the year at the high end of that range because I think we can support, I mean, we feel confident that we can support the loan growth and the RWA growth that we need in our business while optimizing RWA against a backdrop of returning capital to our shareholders. I think we'll start at the top end of that range, and I have confidence that we'll sort of stay on that track.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

I think what was noticeable in your response to that last question was no discussion of M&A. And obviously, we've seen several high-profile bank deals in and around your markets. You've been pretty adamant that the only M&A that you've been doing is Truist, and you've obviously been buying back a lot of stock. Maybe just talk about how M&A, if at all, fits into your long-term strategy. Why not? And what would cause you to change course in terms of wanting to engage in strategic activity?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Yeah. I mean, I think you noted. I mean, one, we think Truist is the best opportunity. So the best place we can invest is Truist. I mean, we're in the right markets. We've got great momentum. We've got a really good team on the field. We're clear-eyed about strategy. And the best place to invest is in our company and our teams and our opportunities. And you've seen that. You've seen, I mean, our branch expansion is a small M&A activity, but it's organic. It's within our company. And as you also mentioned, we think our shares are undervalued relative to that opportunity. So we want to invest in the company. We want to create value for the Truist shareholder. We think that's actually the best place we can focus. We're going to spend all our time and energy doing that.

Once we've achieved that, maybe something happens after that point. But that's the focus. That's where we've got to stay focused right now. And so short-term, medium-term, our focus is on Truist. And we're not really thinking about any large-scale M&A outside of what's in front of us. What people are buying is what we have. And so, I mean, that's what we want to make sure that we're continuing to invest in and create great opportunity for our existing shareholders.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

So we're getting deep in the shot clock. So maybe have time for one last question. You've obviously done a ton of things to improve the standing of the company. Seems like we have a really high sense of urgency around targets and growing the business and a lot of these strategic initiatives. So maybe just in conclusion, as you look ahead to 2026, what do you foresee as being the biggest things that have changed your positioning into next year relative to your positioning coming into this year?

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

I think it's, Ryan, it's the things that we've talked about. It's creating the platform for growth, creating the clarity. I mean, we really have clear strategic intent. I mean, if you walk into our company and you ask somebody, "Are you focused on deposits?" The answer's going to be yes. If you ask about ROTCE, they can probably spell that acronym all the way down into the company. So it's this clarity of intent and open field running. So the meetings that they're in are all about growth. The meetings they're in are all about return. The meetings, they're looking forward. And I think that's what gives me the confidence. And you can feel that momentum every day and that excitement in our company.

Ryan Nash
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Awesome. Well, we're out of time, but please join me in thanking Bill.

Bill Rogers
Chairman and CEO, Truist

Thank you.

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