Cullen/Frost sees FY25 net interest income growth of 4%-6%

Discussing guidance for full year 2025 on the company’s Q4 call, Cullen/Frost (CFR) said its current outlook includes two 25-basis-point cuts for the Fed funds rate in 2025, with a cut in June and September. “Given that, we expect net interest income growth for the full year in the range of 4% to 6%. For net interest margin, we expect an improvement around 10 basis points compared to our net interest margin of 3.53% for 2024. Looking at loans and deposits, we expect full year average loan growth to be in the mid-high single digits and expect full year average deposits to be up between 2% and 3%. Based on current projections, we are projecting growth in noninterest income in the range of 1% to 2% and noninterest expense to be in the high-single digits. Regarding net charge-offs, we expect full year 2025 to be similar to 2024 and in the range of 20 to 25 basis points of average loans. Regarding taxes, we currently expect the full year 2025 to come in between 15% and 16%,” the company stated on the call, according to a transcript.