“And all of that sets the stage for what we expect will be more of a return to normal, the unlocking of our core earnings power and, frankly, a much simpler financial story in the quarters and years ahead, but one featuring strong growth in revenue and earnings in the back half of 2024 and over the next several years.”

In context

“eing with regard to our clients' transactional cash, and I'll share an updated scenario for 2024. The important point is that we are proceeding through what we've described previously, and what Walt talked about at the outset, as a transitional year. But frankly, at a slightly faster pace than we had anticipated just six months ago, with our organic growth rebounding towards historical levels, a continued moderation of client cash realignment activity despite seasonal pressures and the impact of very high investor engagement, sequential growth in our net interest margin, continued expense discipline with adjusted expenses basically flat year-over-year excluding some unusual items, and finally, a steady increase in our capital levels, both our regulatory levels and those inclusive of AOCI. And all of that sets the stage for what we expect will be more of a return to normal, the unlocking of our core earnings power and, frankly, a much simpler financial story in the quarters and years ahead, but one featuring strong growth in revenue and earnings in the back half of 2024 and over the next several years. As Walt mentioned, the first half of the year has been characterized by strong equity markets, increased client engagement and solid organic growth. We saw that reflected in external benchmarks such as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, as well as key drivers of our business performance, including margin balances up 15% from the end of 2023, trading activity up slightly from the first six months of last year, and as Rick mentioned, a real surge in interest among clients for our advisory solutions. Our clients' transactional cash balances are typically pressured in the first half of the year by engagement in the markets in January and February and then tax season in April and early May. And that was no different in 2024. But even so, we continue to see a moderation of the rate-driven client cash real”