BB&T's CEO Kelly King Thinks Underwriting Standards Are Loosening Up Too Fast

BB&T BBT CEO and chairman Kelly King appeared for an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box Thursday morning after beating out analysts' estimates for Q2 by $0.03 a share, coming in at $0.77 EPS over $0.74 estimates. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.5 billion over estimates of $2.459 billion. According to King, in the short run, having a steeper yield curve hasn't had a "material impact" on BB&T, though it has impacted the mortgage business. "As the rate, the yield curve begins to steeping long-term on a permanent basis, you'll see all of the rates rise, and that'll be good for us because we're asset sensitive, which means we have more assists to price upward as rates go up than liabilities," said King. "So right now, it's somewhat muted except in regards to mortgage, and then in the long-term it'll be positive." Related: Should You Refinance Your Mortgage? King also framed underwriting standards as loosing up too fast, saying that they're quickly pushing back to the softer standards of the Great Recession. "I would say that we're probably about halfway back to where we were, which to be honest...is pretty surprising to me. I've been doing this for 41 years now, and you know, usually we go in about a ten-year cycle of bankers' memories from the bad times to the 'Forget all the bad loans, and start making bad loans again,' " said King.