First Citizens BancShares, Inc.

Strong quarter / key performance metrics (what’s good) - Adjusted net income: $652m; Adjusted EPS: $55.37 - ROE: 12.24%; ROA: 1.08% - Top-line: Adjusted net revenue +1.4% sequentially with positive operating leverage - Margin: NIM 3.07% (headline); NIM ex-accretion 2.99%—management describes margin as stable and within the expected band.

Loan + deposit momentum (the growth engine) - Loans: +$6.2B linked-quarter (+4.1%) to period-end, driven by fund banking and broader commercial/general bank growth. - Fund banking loans: +$4.4B (+11% seq); quarter-end $10.1B in innovation banking loans (+6.6%). - BMO acquisition impact: added about $650m loans. - Deposits: +$11.8B period-end (+6.8% seq); +$8.0B average. - BMO deposits: about $4.9B of the deposit growth. - Management highlights granular, heavily insured direct retail deposit inflows and active use of brokered deposits opportunistically to support liquidity/prepayment needs.

Balance sheet optimization + capital returns (buybacks + FDIC note paydown) - Share repurchases: $600m in the quarter; CET1 at 10.24% at quarter-end. - Capital allocation: expects buyback pace to moderate now that CET1 is within target range (moving from “deploying excess capital” to a sustainable run-rate). - FDIC Purchase Money Note prepayment (big strategic item): - Prepaid $8B in Q3 and another $1.5B in October - Total since program start: ~47% of original balance retired (~$17B debt reduction in ~1 year) - Forecast: consistent quarterly prepayments of ~$3.5B–$4.0B through end of 2027; aims to extinguish remaining balance by full-year 2027. - Surprising/important detail for investors: prepayment forecast assumes net deposit growth outpacing loan growth as the main funding engine.