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Clint Stein

Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, COLUMBIA BANKING SYSTEM INC

Search every verified Clint Stein interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Clint Stein, chair, president, and CEO of Columbia Banking System, discussed the company's fourth quarter 2025 results, highlighting the completion of its acquisition of Pacific Premier Bank, which he described as completing the company's western footprint. He stated that the company remains undervalued despite a rise in its share price and expressed a continued preference for share repurchases over mergers and acquisitions, calling buybacks the best investment the company can make. Stein also noted that roughly 70–80% of fixed-to-floating rate assets are rolling into the bank at higher coupons, with the company retaining 75–80% of that business, and that about 85% of construction loans exiting the bank are being permanently financed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. In earlier calls, Stein addressed the company's approach to portfolio management and capital discipline. During the second quarter 2025 call, he said that selling certain portfolios would not create the most shareholder value due to a roughly ten-year earnback period, favoring a two-to-three-year workout and wind-down instead. He also indicated that balance sheet growth could remain muted or even contract slightly, but that the result would be a more profitable institution, emphasizing a commitment to discipline over growth for its own sake. In 2023, he reiterated the company's long-term capital targets, including maintaining total risk-based capital at 12%, and in 2020 he noted the company's record pre-tax pre-provision income of over $270 million despite pandemic-related credit loss provisions.

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