“I expect loan volumes to probably be up mid-single digits for total ex markets loans”

In context

“I had a question for you on the NII outlook. Coming into this print, I think you were looking for a slowdown in NII growth from 2025 levels of 5.5%. But you actually increase the NII outlook to 5% to 6%. I know you mentioned also that you took some actions to reduce asset sensitivity. So, we could wrap this all up into what drove that better NII outlook? Mark Mason: Yeah. Look, it was the NII guidance that we gave last year, we came in a lot better than that in 2025, and that was in part due to the higher loan volumes that we saw, the higher deposit volumes that we saw throughout the year. In fact, that is what is informing the five to six percent ex market NII guidance that I've given for 2026. We'd expect the loan volume to continue. As I mentioned, you are correct what I said earlier. I expect loan volumes to probably be up mid-single digits for total ex markets loans, and, you know, that'll be a again, a combination of growth that we see in cards. We saw good volume growth in cards, you know, this year, particularly on the branded side. We had good purchase sale activity up 5% in the quarter. All signs of that we should see that continue. Good loan growth on the wealth side, particularly in security-based lending type activity, which is tied to some of the investment momentum. Then really impressive, you know, growth in deposits average deposits for TTS for the year, were up 6% and good operating deposit growth. They are a nice healthy balance between North America as well as internationally. The momentum that we've seen in cards, in loans, we expect to continue into 2026, and that's a big driver big factor in that NII momentum we're showing on the pa”