Alerus Financial Corp (ALRS) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. Welcome to the Alerus Financial Corporation earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

午安.歡迎參加 Alerus Financial Corporation 財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。

This call may include forward-looking statements and the company's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements are listed in the earnings release and the company's SEC filings.

本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述，本公司的實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述中所示的結果有重大差異。在收益報告和公司向 SEC 提交的文件中列出了可能導致實際結果與前瞻性聲明中所示結果有重大差異的重要因素。

I would now like to turn the conference over to the Alerus Financial Corporation President and CEO, Katie Lorenson. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給 Alerus Financial Corporation 總裁兼執行長 Katie Lorenson。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning and thank you for joining Alerus’ second quarter earnings conference call.

謝謝。早安，感謝您參加 Alerus 第二季財報電話會議。

Joining me on the call today is CFO, Al Villalon; our Chief Risk and Operating Officer, Karin Taylor; our Chief Banking and Revenue Officer, Jim Collins; and our Chief Retirement Services Officer, Forrest Wilson.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的是財務長 Al Villalon；我們的首席風險和營運長 Karin Taylor；我們的首席銀行和收入官吉姆·柯林斯 (Jim Collins)；以及我們的首席退休服務官福雷斯特威爾遜 (Forrest Wilson)。

I will kick off the call today with an overview of the results for the quarter, a recap of some strategic highlights, some additional color on credit during the quarter, and an update on our pending acquisition of HMN Financial.

我將在今天的電話會議上概述本季的業績，回顧一些策略亮點，本季信貸的一些額外內容，以及我們即將收購 HMN Financial 的最新情況。

For the quarter, we reported net income of $6.2 million or $0.31 of earnings per share. Operating results for the quarter generally exceeded expectations with continued improving trends across our diversified sources of revenue, driving impressive improvement in PPNR or pre-provision net revenue of 48% on a linked quarter basis.

本季度，我們報告淨利潤為 620 萬美元，即每股收益 0.31 美元。本季的營運表現普遍超出預期，我們多元化收入來源的趨勢持續改善，推動 PPNR 或撥備前淨收入環比顯著提高 48%。

The team we are building continues to excel in adding full client relationships across our commercial wealth and private banking segments. Notably, we exceeded expectations for deposits at the end of the quarter with our fifth straight quarter of deposit growth in a very difficult and competitive deposit environment.

我們正在建立的團隊在我們的商業財富和私人銀行業務部門建立完整的客戶關係方面繼續表現出色。值得注意的是，我們在季度末的存款超出了預期，在非常困難和競爭激烈的存款環境中連續第五個季度實現存款成長。

A huge shout out to our team members who have done a fantastic job again sourcing new core deposit relationships, retaining inflows and capturing liquidity event opportunities. This success allowed us to see deposit balances tick up and offset substantial seasonal outflows.

向我們的團隊成員致敬，他們再次出色地尋找新的核心存款關係、保留資金流入並抓住流動性事件機會。這一成功使我們看到存款餘額增加並抵消了季節性的大量資金外流。

Deposit wins were sourced from all markets and generally the result of our One Alerus approach to holistic opportunities to serve clients across the suite of commercial and private banking, treasury management and wealth advisory services. In addition, we continue to build balances across our synergistic deposits, including our health savings accounts and wealth management and retirement money market portfolio.

贏得的存款來自所有市場，通常是我們 One Alerus 方法的結果，為商業和私人銀行、財務管理和財富諮詢服務的客戶提供整體機會服務。此外，我們繼續在協同存款之間建立平衡，包括我們的健康儲蓄帳戶以及財富管理和退休貨幣市場投資組合。

Our loan-to-deposit ratio ended the quarter at 88% and continues to be a high quality deposit portfolio that is well diversified by size, geography and type. We saw some growth in our CD base, which notably has a low level of CD only clients and as emphasized in the previous quarters, we continue to operate and fund our loan growth with zero broker deposits.

本季末，我們的貸存比為 88%，並且仍然是一個高品質的存款組合，在規模、地理和類型上都實現了多元化。我們看到我們的 CD 基礎有所增長，特別是僅 CD 客戶的水平較低，並且正如前幾季度所強調的那樣，我們繼續以零經紀人存款來運營和資助我們的貸款增長。

For the quarter, we grew loans 4.2%. We remain highly selective and disciplined in both pricing and credit, and we continue to build a best-in-class team of bankers and risk management experts who have strong credit acumen and deep experience in betting opportunities and working with entrepreneurs, business banking and mid-market commercial clients.

本季度，我們的貸款成長了 4.2%。我們在定價和信貸方面保持高度選擇性和紀律性，並繼續建立一支由銀行家和風險管理專家組成的一流團隊，他們在博彩機會以及與企業家、商業銀行和中小型企業合作方面擁有強大的信用敏銳度和豐富的經驗。

Consistent with our efforts and focus on commercial banking, we added a team of veteran equipment finance professionals in our Arizona market to complement our strengths in C&I and to continue adding to our already well diversified loan portfolio. All these efforts resulted in an increase in net interest income of approximately 8% and adjusted net interest margin expansion of 13 basis points during the quarter.

與我們對商業銀行業務的努力和重點一致，我們在亞利桑那州市場增加了一支由經驗豐富的設備融資專業人士組成的團隊，以補充我們在商業和工業領域的優勢，並繼續增加我們已經多元化的貸款組合。所有這些努力導致本季淨利息收入增加約 8%，調整後淨利差擴大 13 個基點。

Moving on to fee income, which is the strategic differentiator for Alerus. It contributed to over 53% of total revenues and we ended the quarter at $43.6 billion of AUA and AUM. All core underlying business lines saw fundamental improvement with total fee income increasing 8.1% during the quarter.

接下來是費用收入，這是 Alerus 的策略差異化因素。它佔總收入的 53% 以上，本季末我們的 AUA 和 AUM 達到 436 億美元。所有核心基礎業務均出現根本性改善，本季總費用收入成長 8.1%。

Our retirement leader, Forrest Wilson, who joined us just a few months ago, has made an immediate impact, including assembling a talented retirement leadership team and addressing strategic opportunities, which we believe will continue to improve client retention, client acquisition and overall profitability of this highly valuable division. The retirement industry national rankings were recently published, with Alerus moving ahead for the first time to a top 25 or better in all categories measured, including assets, plans and participants.

我們的退休領導者福雷斯特·威爾遜(Forrest Wilson) 幾個月前剛加入我們，他立即產生了影響，包括組建了一支才華橫溢的退休領導團隊並抓住了戰略機遇，我們相信這將持續提高客戶保留率、客戶獲取率和整體獲利能力。退休行業全國排名最近發布，Alerus 在所有衡量類別（包括資產、計劃和參與者）中首次躋身前 25 名或更好。

Our growing wealth management division delivered another solid quarter of results with continued momentum, driven by strong core business within the mass affluent and the high net worth client base. New revenue pipelines remain strong and synergistic opportunities are building. We delivered a solid quarter of managing expenses with expenses down slightly. While we continue to invest in talent, we remain committed to thoughtfully managing these investments through FTE count.

在大眾富裕階層和高淨值客戶群強大核心業務的推動下，我們不斷發展的財富管理部門又以持續的勢頭實現了穩健的季度業績。新的收入管道依然強勁，協同機會正在建立。我們實現了一個穩定的季度管理費用，費用略有下降。在我們繼續投資人才的同時，我們仍然致力於透過 FTE 計數來周密地管理這些投資。

These disciplined efforts focused on constant improvement, leveraging our technology platforms better and seeing higher production and revenue generation with a similar expense base are all part of our path to continued improvement in efficiency and profitability.

這些嚴格的努力著重於持續改進，更好地利用我們的技術平台，並在類似的費用基礎上實現更高的產量和創收，這些都是我們持續提高效率和盈利能力之路的一部分。

During the quarter, we recorded a $4.5 million provision expense, resulting from expected gradual credit normalization towards more historical levels from the past years of completely benign credit metrics. After 15 straight quarters of immaterial charge-offs or net recoveries, we had a charge-off of a non-accrual C&I loan that was nearly fully reserved for in previous quarters.

本季度，我們記錄了 450 萬美元的撥備費用，這是由於預期信貸正常化將逐步從過去幾年完全良性的信貸指標轉向歷史水平。在連續 15 個季度進行非實質沖銷或淨回收後，我們沖銷了前幾季幾乎完全保留的非應計商業和工業貸款。

Our allowance to loan losses remained at 1.31%, consistent with prior quarters as we replenished the balance to account for loan growth and the impairment of a previously identified problem loan, which was moved to nonaccrual during the quarter.

我們的貸款損失準備金保持在 1.31%，與前幾季度一致，因為我們補充了餘額以考慮貸款增長和先前發現的問題貸款的減值，該貸款在本季度轉為非應計項目。

This previously classified loan is a commercial real estate construction loan that has had missteps in the construction process. The market data supports the feasibility of the project and the borrower has injected additional capital into the project. They have additional levers to pull to keep this project moving forward through stabilization.

這筆先前分類的貸款是商業房地產建設貸款，在建設過程中出現了失誤。市場數據支持該項目的可行性，借款人已向該項目注入額外資金。他們還有額外的槓桿可以拉動，以保持該項目穩定地向前發展。

We continue and remain committed to prompt identification and movement in credits where there are challenges and given the additional time needed to execute these options for this particular credit, we determined it was prudent to place this credit on nonaccrual.

我們繼續並繼續致力於在存在挑戰的情況下及時識別和轉移信貸，並且考慮到執行該特定信貸的這些選項需要額外的時間，我們認為將此信貸設為非應計信貸是謹慎的做法。

We have reviewed our commercial real estate construction deals and all are performing as expected. The broader loan portfolio continues to perform well and overall classified loans trended down in the second quarter with material upgrades and payoffs.

我們已經審查了我們的商業房地產建設交易，所有交易均按預期進行。更廣泛的貸款組合繼續表現良好，第二季度總體分類貸款呈下降趨勢，並出現實質升級和回報。

Our priority and core focus continues to be building our commercial wealth bank and our loan mix will continue to trend to higher levels of C&I, which today accounts for approximately 30% of the portfolio, with another 30% consumer and residential, and the remainder in a granular and well diversified CRE portfolio.

我們的優先事項和核心重點仍然是建立我們的商業財富銀行，我們的貸款組合將繼續趨向於更高水平的 C&I，目前約佔投資組合的 30%，另外 30% 為消費者和住宅，其餘為精細且多元化的商業房地產投資組合。

Overall, investor CRE levels at 213% remain well within regulatory thresholds and well under most of our peer group. In addition to robust reserve levels at 1.31%, we remain well positioned with healthy capital levels with a CET1 of 11.7% and adjusted TCE of 7.91%. During the second quarter, we continued our long history and raised our dividend – of raising our dividend and raised it by another 5.3%.

總體而言，投資者 CRE 水準為 213%，仍遠低於監管門檻，且遠低於大多數同業。除了 1.31% 的強勁準備金水平外，我們還保持健康的資本水平，CET1 為 11.7%，調整後的 TCE 為 7.91%。第二季度，我們延續了長期的做法，提高了股息——將股息再提高了 5.3%。

Lastly, a quick update on the recently announced acquisition of HMN Financial. As a reminder, this is our 26 acquisition and the teams are working great together leveraging the experience and the expertise to seamlessly integrate our two great companies. We are also progressing on schedule through the regulatory and shareholder approval process and we continue to anticipate a closing in the fourth quarter of this year, as indicated previously.

最後，簡單介紹一下最近宣布收購 HMN Financial 的最新情況。謹此提醒，這是我們的第 26 次收購，各團隊正在緊密合作，利用豐富的經驗和專業知識，無縫整合我們兩家偉大的公司。我們也在按計劃完成監管和股東批准程序，我們繼續預計在今年第四季完成交易，如前所述。

I will now hand it over to Al Villalon, CFO for additional recap and guidance.

我現在將其交給財務長 Al Villalon，以獲取更多回顧和指導。

Thanks Katie. I'll start my commentary on Page 13 of our investor deck that is posted on the Investor Relations part of our website. Let’s start on our key revenue drivers.

謝謝凱蒂。我將從我們網站投資者關係部分發布的投資者資料庫的第 13 頁開始我的評論。讓我們從我們的主要收入驅動因素開始。

On a reported basis, both net interest income and fee income grew over 8% during the quarter. The increase in net interest income was driven primarily by strong organic loan growth, growth in non-interest bearing deposits, and continued expansion on core net interest margin.

根據報告，本季淨利息收入和手續費收入均成長超過 8%。淨利息收入的成長主要得益於強勁的有機貸款成長、無利息存款成長以及核心淨利差的持續擴張。

Growth in fee income was primarily driven by an increase in overall asset-based and non-market based fees within our wealth and retirement business lines, and a seasonal rebound in mortgage. Fee income continues to be a large component of overall revenues and a differentiator for Alerus. I’ll go into detail about each of our fee income segments in later slides.

費用收入的成長主要是由於我們的財富和退休業務線內基於資產和非市場的整體費用的增加，以及抵押貸款的季節性反彈。費用收入仍然是總收入的重要組成部分，也是 Alerus 的差異化因素。我將在後面的幻燈片中詳細介紹我們的每個費用收入部分。

Turning to Page 14, net interest income increased to over $24 million in the second quarter, primarily driven by improving loan yields and strong loan growth coupled with stable deposit levels. The Bank Term Funding Program arbitrage was also accretive to net interest income by $459,000. Within the quarter, we recognized approximately 10 basis points of total accretion from the 2022 Metro Phoenix Bank acquisition.

請參閱第 14 頁，第二季淨利息收入增至超過 2,400 萬美元，主要是由於貸款收益率提高、貸款強勁增長以及穩定的存款水準所推動。銀行定期融資計畫套利也使淨利息收入增加了 459,000 美元。在本季內，我們確認 2022 年收購 Metro Phoenix Bank 的總增值約為 10 個基點。

Excluding purchase accounting accretion from the Metro acquisition and the impact of the BTFP, core net interest margin still expanded 6 basis points to 2.46% from 2.4% in the prior quarter. In the upcoming quarter, we still expect our net interest margin on both a core and reported basis to improve a couple basis points.

排除Metro收購帶來的購買會計增量和BTFP的影響，核心淨利差仍從上一季的2.4%擴大6個基點至2.46%。在即將到來的季度，我們仍然預計我們的核心淨利差和報告基礎上的淨利差都會提高幾個基點。

Excluding the impact of MPB and our swaps, our ALM modeling shows our NII increasing mid-single digits should the Fed cut by 100 basis points. Based on Fed dot plots, we still see a path for our NIM to exceed 3% in 2026. Should the Fed cut more aggressively, we anticipate reaching 3% sooner.

排除 MPB 和互換的影響，我們的 ALM 模型顯示，如果聯準會降息 100 個基點，我們的 NII 將增加到個位數左右。根據聯準會點陣圖，我們仍然認為 2026 年淨利差將超過 3%。如果聯準會降息幅度更大，我們預期降息速度會更快達到 3%。

Let’s turn to Page 15 to talk about earning assets. Since the acquisition of Metro Phoenix Bank, we had our seventh consecutive quarter of loan growth. Over those seven quarters, we grew loans at an average unannualized rate of over 3% per quarter. Continue to let our investment portfolio run down as we remix low yielding securities into higher yielding loans. For the remainder of 2024, we continue to grow loans even with 6% of our loans contractually paying down in the second half of the year.

讓我們翻到第 15 頁來談談賺取資產。自從收購 Metro Phoenix Bank 以來，我們的貸款連續第七個季度成長。在這七個季度中，我們的貸款平均每季非年化成長率超過 3%。當我們將低收益證券重新混合為高收益貸款時，我們的投資組合將繼續縮減。在 2024 年剩餘時間內，我們將繼續增加貸款，即使我們的貸款中有 6% 按合約規定要在今年下半年償還。

Turning to Page 16, on a period ending basis, our deposits increased 0.4% from the prior quarter. While we saw our usual seasonal outflows from our public funds, we continued to drive organic deposit growth to offset these outflows.

翻到第 16 頁，以期末計算，我們的存款比上一季增加了 0.4%。雖然我們看到公共基金通常出現季節性資金外流，但我們繼續推動有機存款成長，以抵消這些資金外流。

Importantly, non-interest bearing deposits grew 1.3% in the quarter and remained stable at 21% of total deposits. During the quarter, our deposit activity was impressive as average account size wins were double the size of accounts lost during the quarter, and we continued to experience a net increase in overall accounts as well.

重要的是，本季無息存款成長 1.3%，並穩定在總存款的 21%。在本季度，我們的存款活動令人印象深刻，因為平均贏得的帳戶規模是本季損失帳戶規模的兩倍，而且我們的整體帳戶也持續出現淨成長。

Given the stable deposit levels, our loan-to-deposit ratio was well below our target level of 95%. For the third quarter 2024, we continue to expect a seasonal outflow of approximately $80 million to $100 million. While these outputs will pressure deposit balances in the upcoming quarter, we do expect deposit levels to be slightly higher from current levels at the end of the year.

鑑於存款水準穩定，我們的存貸比遠低於95%的目標水準。對於 2024 年第三季度，我們仍然預計季節性流出約為 8,000 萬至 1 億美元。雖然這些產出將對下一季的存款餘額構成壓力，但我們預計年底存款水準將略高於目前水準。

Turning to Page 17, I’ll now talk about our Banking segment, which also includes our mortgage business. I’ll focus on the fee income components now since I already covered net interest income. Overall non-interest income from Banking was up $1.4 million, or 39% from the prior quarter. Most of the increase was attributed to a seasonal rebound in our mortgage business.

轉向第 17 頁，我現在將討論我們的銀行業務部門，其中還包括我們的抵押貸款業務。我現在將專注於費用收入部分，因為我已經介紹了淨利息收入。銀行業整體非利息收入增加 140 萬美元，較上一季成長 39%。大部分成長歸因於我們抵押貸款業務的季節性反彈。

During the quarter, we also recognized $628,000 in swap fees as we continue to grow our mid market C&I banking business. As a reminder, this swap income is client driven, so it tends to be lumpy and unpredictable.

在本季度，隨著我們繼續發展中端市場 C&I 銀行業務，我們也確認了 628,000 美元的掉期費用。提醒一下，這種掉期收入是由客戶驅動的，因此往往是不穩定且不可預測的。

For the third quarter, we expect the overall level of non-interest income to decrease slightly from the second quarter levels as we expect mortgage revenues to slow another non-interest income to be closer to a normalized level of $1.5 million.

對於第三季度，我們預計非利息收入的總體水平將較第二季度的水平略有下降，因為我們預計抵押貸款收入將減緩另一項非利息收入接近 150 萬美元的正常水平。

On Page 18, I will provide some highlights of our retirement business. Total revenue from the business increased 2.7% from the prior quarter driven by both asset-based and non-market-based fees. End of quarter assets under management increased 2.3%, mainly due to improved equity in bond markets. Participants within retirement grew almost 1% during the quarter. For the third quarter, we do expect fee income from retirement business to be stable.

在第 18 頁，我將提供我們退休業務的一些亮點。在基於資產和非市場費用的推動下，該業務總收入較上一季成長 2.7%。季末管理資產成長 2.3%，主要是因為債券市場權益改善。本季退休參與者成長了近 1%。對於第三季度，我們預期退休業務的費用收入將保持穩定。

Turning to Page 19, you can see the highlights of our wealth management business. On a linked quarter basis, revenues increased 4% while end of quarter assets under management decreased 1.7%, mainly due to an outfall for one custody client in the quarter where we charge minimal basis points. For the third quarter, excluding any market impact, we expect fee income from our wealth business to be up slightly given the continued improvement in the markets.

翻到第19頁，您可以看到我們財富管理業務的亮點。按季度計算，收入增長 4%，而季末管理資產下降 1.7%，這主要是由於我們收取最低基點的本季度一個託管客戶的支出。對於第三季度，排除任何市場影響，鑑於市場持續改善，我們預期財富業務的費用收入將小幅成長。

Page 20, provides an overview of our non-interest expense. During the quarter, non-interest expense decreased 0.7%. During the quarter, we also incurred $563,000 in one-time merger related expenses related to the pending acquisition of HMN Financial.

第 20 頁概述了我們的非利息支出。本季非利息支出下降 0.7%。本季度，我們也因即將收購 HMN Financial 相關的一次性合併相關費用而產生了 563,000 美元。

Excluding these merger expenses, core non-interest expense decreased 2.1%. We now expect total expenses for 2024 to grow mid-single digits when compared to 2023 on a reported basis as further merger related expenses will be incurred.

剔除這些合併費用，核心非利息費用下降 2.1%。我們現在預計，與 2023 年報告的基礎上相比，2024 年的總費用將成長中個位數，因為將產生進一步的合併相關費用。

Turning to Page 21, you can see our core – our credit metrics. We had net charge-offs to average loans of 36 basis points in the quarter, primarily related to a non-performing loan, which already had an individual reserve allocated in the prior quarters.

翻到第 21 頁，您可以看到我們的核心—我們的信用指標。本季我們對平均貸款的淨沖銷為 36 個基點，主要與不良貸款有關，該貸款已在前幾個季度分配了單獨的準備金。

Our non-performing assets to total assets percentage was 63 basis points compared to 17 basis points in the prior quarter. This is still below the industry average for regional banks of approximately 73 basis points over the past decade. As Katie mentioned, the increase was here was related to one previously identified construction loan that was moved to non-accrual status.

我們的不良資產佔總資產的百分比為 63 個基點，而上一季為 17 個基點。這仍然低於過去十年區域銀行約 73 個基點的行業平均值。正如凱蒂所提到的，此處的增加與先前確定的一項建築貸款有關，該貸款已轉為非應計狀態。

I will discuss our capital and liquidity on Page 22. We continue to remain very well capitalized as our common equity Tier 1 to risk-weighted assets is 11.7%. We also maintain our status as a dividend aristocrat. We increased our dividend consistently over the last 20 years.

我將在第 22 頁討論我們的資本和流動性。我們繼續保持良好的資本狀況，因為我們的普通股一級風險加權資產的比例為 11.7%。我們也保持了股息貴族的地位。過去 20 年來，我們不斷增加股利。

On the bottom right, you will see the breakdown in the sources of over $2.5 billion potential liquidity. Overall, we continue to remain well-positioned from both liquidity and capital standpoint to support future growth or weather any economic uncertainty.

在右下角，您將看到超過 25 億美元的潛在流動性來源的詳細資訊。總體而言，從流動性和資本角度來看，我們繼續保持有利地位，以支持未來成長或應對任何經濟不確定性。

To summarize on Page 23, we had robust second quarter as pre-provision net revenue improved over 48% from the prior quarter. We continue to see strong organic loan growth and strong deposit growth that offset any seasonal outflows.

總結第 23 頁，我們第二季表現強勁，撥備前淨收入比上一季成長了 48% 以上。我們繼續看到強勁的有機貸款成長和強勁的存款成長抵消了任何季節性資金外流。

Our net interest margin continued to improve as we continue to see a path where margin could improve to over 3% even if the Fed remains on pause. Our fee businesses also drove an improved returns which continue to differentiate us in the industry.

我們的淨利差繼續改善，因為我們繼續看到，即使聯準會繼續按兵不動，息差也可能改善至 3% 以上。我們的收費業務也帶來了更高的回報，這繼續使我們在行業中脫穎而出。

We remain focused on driving revenue growth and managing expenses, leading to positive operating leverage improvement during the quarter. Both our reserve and capital levels remain strong to weather any economic uncertainty.

我們仍然專注於推動收入成長和管理費用，從而在本季度實現積極的營運槓桿改善。我們的儲備和資本水準仍然強勁，可以應對任何經濟不確定性。

And with that, I will now open up for Q&A.

接下來，我將開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Brendan Nosal, Hovde Group.

（操作員說明） Brendan Nosal，Hovde Group。

Hey, good morning folks. Hope you're doing well.

嘿，大家早安。希望你一切都好。

Just want to start off on the construction credit that migrated. Just looking for a couple of additional color points here. Just kind of curious what the reserve is against it at this point. How far through the construction phase is the project and what your evaluation of default risk is at this point?

只是想從遷移的建築信貸開始。只是在這裡尋找一些額外的色點。只是有點好奇此時儲備金反對什麼。此專案的建設階段進行到了什麼程度？

Hi, Brendan. This is Karin. We have about 25% reserved on that particular credit. The project is 80% complete and at this point we believe that they have very feasible options to deliver the remaining equity needed to complete the project. However, we learned about this fairly late in the quarter, in fact, shortly after the quarter ended and so we've got some more work to do to assess those options.

嗨，布倫丹。這是卡琳。我們對該特定信用額保留了大約 25%。該專案已完成 80%，此時我們相信他們有非常可行的選擇來交付完成專案所需的剩餘股權。然而，我們是在本季相當晚的時候了解到這一點的，事實上，是在季度結束後不久，所以我們還有更多的工作要做來評估這些選擇。

Okay, fantastic. Thanks for the color there. And then I'll just turning to the margin commentary you gave. Just want to make sure I understood the outlook properly. Is it correct that you expect a few basis points of expansion next quarter off of that [357] core number?

好吧，太棒了。感謝那裡的顏色。然後我將轉向您給出的邊際評論。只是想確保我正確地理解了前景。您預計下個季度 [357] 核心數量會出現幾個基點的擴張，這是否正確？

Not 357, 257 off the core and reported numbers.

不是 357，而是 257 偏離核心和報告的數字。

These are, yes. Okay. Yes. And then how does the $400 million of swaps rolling off kind of impact things next quarter?

這些是，是的。好的。是的。那麼 4 億美元的掉期交易對下個季度的情況有何影響？

Yes. So we had $400 million swaps roll off in July, and we have another $200 million rolling off in January of 2025. What we're seeing right now is that you're going to see us return to slightly asset sensitive -- liability sensitive, correct that from being asset sensitive. So as rates come down, you'll see us again, probably have our NII improve about mid single digits should the cut -- Fed cut by 100 basis points.

是的。因此，我們在 7 月發放了 4 億美元的掉期合約，並在 2025 年 1 月又發放了 2 億美元的掉期合約。我們現在看到的是，你將看到我們回到稍微資產敏感的狀態——負債敏感，糾正資產敏感的情況。因此，隨著利率下降，你會再次看到我們，如果聯準會降息 100 個基點，我們的 NII 可能會提高到個位數左右。

Understood. All right. Thanks for taking the questions.

明白了。好的。感謝您提出問題。

Thanks for the question, Brendan.

謝謝你的提問，布倫丹。

David Feaster, Raymond James.

大衛‧菲斯特，雷蒙德‧詹姆斯。

Hi. Good morning, everybody. Maybe just staying on the margin topic, I appreciate your commentary about getting to a 3% margin, even the X cuts, because, I mean, there's obviously huge repricing power. I just wanted to maybe get a sense of whether there was a timeframe that we could talk about getting there. And does that include the HMNF deal as well?

你好。大家早安。也許只是停留在保證金主題上，我很欣賞您關於達到 3% 利潤率的評論，甚至是 X 削減，因為，我的意思是，顯然存在巨大的重新定價能力。我只是想了解我們是否可以討論實現這一目標的時間表。這也包括 HMNF 交易嗎？

Yes. So, David, thanks for the question there. So the timeframe we're talking about is getting to 3% in 2026 on an average for the full year 2026. So if you think about that, we should be in the low 3s for the full year 2026. So you can get that ramp up between now and then. And we're looking right now on basically on our ALM modeling on a static balance sheet, basically.

是的。所以，大衛，謝謝你的提問。因此，我們討論的時間範圍是 2026 年全年平均成長 3%。因此，如果你考慮一下這一點，我們在 2026 年全年的業績應該會處於 3 分以下的水平。所以你可以從現在到那時加速。我們現在基本上正在研究靜態資產負債表上的 ALM 模型。

So just a remixing of what we're doing today and then putting on the stuff we're on at the current rates today. So just remixing. And this does not include HMN. This is just our balance sheet today. So with HMN coming on, we'll give guidance to that later, but there – we're probably going to get there 3%. That's not going to change our outlook.

因此，只需重新混合我們今天正在做的事情，然後以當前的速度添加我們正​​在做的東西。所以只是重新混音。這還不包括 HMN。這只是我們今天的資產負債表。因此，隨著 HMN 的推出，我們稍後會對此提供指導，但我們可能會達到 3%。這不會改變我們的看法。

Okay. But HMNF should be accretive to the margin?

好的。但 HMNF 應該會增加利潤嗎？

Yes, that's correct.

是的，這是正確的。

Okay, perfect. Okay. I just want to make sure I understood that. Okay, terrific. And then I want to touch on, it was great to see the equipment finance team that you guys added. I guess, how quickly do you think this team can start adding to growth? What are some of the cross sell opportunities that you might see or other synergies? And do you think there's an opportunity to drive deposit growth potential from that group as well?

好的，完美。好的。我只是想確保我理解這一點。好吧，太棒了。然後我想談談，很高興看到你們添加的設備財務團隊。我想，您認為這個團隊需要多快才能開始促進成長？您可能會看到哪些交叉銷售機會或其他綜效？您是否認為也有機會推動該群體的存款成長潛力？

Yeah. David, this is Jim. The business strategy for bringing them on is that that's the key segue product into mid-market companies that are with other banks. So we'll use that as a wedge product to get into those mid-market companies and take over the full relationship.

是的。大衛，這是吉姆。吸引他們的業務策略是，這是將產品引入與其他銀行合作的中階市場公司的關鍵產品。因此，我們將使用它作為楔子產品來進入那些中型市場公司並接管完整的關係。

Typically there would be an ask of 30% of the equipment note in deposits. That's our goal when we're just doing a straight up equipment piece. Now, obviously we're going for the full relationship. So this team is building that out the rest of this year.

通常要求押金為設備票據的 30%。當我們只是做一個直接的設備時，這就是我們的目標。現在，顯然我們要建立完整的關係。所以這個團隊正在今年剩餘的時間裡進行建造。

We'll have some activity this year, but the full activity will start next year. We're integrating them with our existing C&I sales force, specifically the commercial group that's doing C&I in the mid-market. So the cross sell opportunities go along with our full commercial wealth business model where we want them to get us into the full C&I relationship for that company.

今年我們將進行一些活動，但完整的活動將於明年開始。我們正在將他們與我們現有的 C&I 銷售隊伍整合，特別是在中端市場從事 C&I 的商業團隊。因此，交叉銷售機會與我們完整的商業財富業務模式結合，我們希望它們能讓我們與該公司建立完整的 C&I 關係。

And then we want to bring in private banking, treasury management and wealth services and then tack on our [401K] group. So the business plan is the same. This is just a better segue into some of the markets where we don't have firm mid-market C&I activity.

然後我們希望引入私人銀行、財務管理和財富服務，然後增加我們的 [401K] 集團。所以商業計劃是一樣的。這只是更好地進入一些我們沒有堅定的中端市場 C&I 活動的市場。

Okay, that's great. And then just curious, maybe given the move in rates, has your thoughts on balance sheet optimization changed at all? I mean, it seems like it might give you some more flexibility, especially with the HMNF deal. I'm curious, just gives you some more flexibility. Has your thoughts on optimization or any strategies in the intermediate term changed at all?

好的，太好了。然後只是好奇，也許考慮到利率的變化，您對資產負債表優化的想法是否發生了變化？我的意思是，它似乎可能會為你帶來更多靈活性，尤其是在 HMNF 交易方面。我很好奇，只是給你更多的彈性。您對優化或任何中期策略的想法是否改變了？

I'll kick us off and then Al, you can come in after me. We are constantly assessing balance sheet restructuring optimization opportunities. And we do believe with the addition of HMN that is going to give us additional opportunities to evaluate.

我會把我們踢出去，然後艾爾，你可以跟著我進來。我們不斷評估資產負債表重組優化機會。我們確實相信 HMN 的加入將為我們提供更多的評估機會。

And the only thing I’d add on there on what Katie said too, I mean, as you could – with HMN, that acquisition with equipment leasing team coming on, with the impressive deposit growth we’ve had, we’re constantly looking at ways to optimize our balance sheet. And it’s not just for the short-term, it’s for long-term, because as we want to think about our balance sheet positioning, we aren’t right now liability sensitive.

我唯一要補充的是凱蒂也說過的話，我的意思是，正如你可以的那樣，對於 HMN，設備租賃團隊的收購正在進行，隨著我們的存款增長令人印象深刻，我們不斷尋找優化資產負債表的方法。這不僅是短期的，也是長期的，因為當我們想要考慮我們的資產負債表定位時，我們現在對責任並不敏感。

But over the long-term, we want to get to be slightly asset sensitive because we have an inherent liability sensitivity on our fee income businesses. When interest rates go up, typically that slows the markets down, which will hit AUM in both the retirement and wealth businesses and also slows down mortgage.

但從長遠來看，我們希望對資產稍微敏感，因為我們對費用收入業務具有固有的負債敏感度。當利率上升時，通常會導致市場放緩，這將影響退休和財富業務的資產管理規模，同時也減緩抵押貸款的速度。

So we’d like to see that spread income business for us to be just a tiny bit asset sensitive, again, to provide that seesaw. So we’re constantly evaluating opportunities to optimize and get our balance sheet to that position.

因此，我們希望看到我們的利差收入業務對資產有一點點敏感，再次提供這種蹺蹺板。因此，我們不斷評估優化機會並使我們的資產負債表達到這一水平。

Okay. That’s great. If I could just squeeze one more in. Great to hear the commentary about the new account – the new deposit account growth. That’s extremely encouraging. I guess, where are you having the most success and kind of just your thoughts on continuing to drive that account growth and ultimately translate into core deposit growth going forward?

好的。那太好了。如果我能再擠一個進去就好了。很高興聽到有關新帳戶的評論——新存款帳戶的增長。這非常令人鼓舞。我想，您在哪裡取得了最大的成功，以及您對繼續推動帳戶成長並最終轉化為未來核心存款成長的想法？

Dave, most of our success to this point is in that mid-market C&I and government non-profit vertical. Again, bringing on the talent that we brought on in the last year and a half, having them focused on their long-term relationships and their long-term reputations, and segueing those relationships into fuller relationships over here at Alerus is really where we found most of the success. And it’s been broad.

戴夫，到目前為止，我們的大部分成功是在中端市場 C&I 和政府非營利垂直領域。再次強調，我們在 Alerus 發現了我們在過去一年半中引進的人才，讓他們專注於長期關係和長期聲譽，並將這些關係轉變為更全面的關係。而且範圍很廣。

It’s been all over in different industries in mid-market and different segments in government, non-profit. But also, I would say our retail team has done a fantastic job just sitting down with customers and gravitating more of the cash that they might have at other institutions into our institutions.

它遍佈於中端市場的不同產業以及政府、非營利組織的不同領域。而且，我想說，我們的零售團隊做得非常出色，只是與客戶坐下來，將他們可能在其他機構擁有的更多現金吸引到我們的機構。

So it’s really broad based across all of our revenue streams. But the focus is and will continue to be in that mid-market C&I deposit, large depositors and verticals that will add a lot more deposits as to supplement our loan growth.

因此，它在我們所有的收入來源中都具有廣泛的基礎。但重點是並將繼續放在中端市場的 C&I 存款、大儲戶和垂直行業，它們將增加更多存款以補充我們的貸款成長。

That’s great. Thanks, everybody for all the color. Appreciate it.

那太好了。謝謝大家的顏色。欣賞它。

Thanks, David.

謝謝，大衛。

Nathan Race, Piper Sandler.

內森·雷斯，派珀·桑德勒。

Yeah. Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my question.

是的。大家好。感謝您提出我的問題。

I apologize I jumped on a little late, but we’re just curious if you could provide additional color on the construction loan that moved to non-accrual this quarter, in terms of when it was originated, the underlying property type and so forth?

很抱歉我有點晚了，但我們只是好奇您是否可以提供有關本季度轉為非應計利息的建築貸款的更多信息，包括其起源時間、基礎財產類型等？

And any potential loss content expectations associated with this. And then also just curious to hear some background on the C&I loan as well. That seems like it was reserved for going into the quarter in terms of when this loan was originated and any reasons behind why it deteriorated in the quarter?

以及與此相關的任何潛在損失內容預期。然後我也很想聽聽有關 C&I 貸款的一些背景。就這筆貸款何時發起以及該季度惡化背後的任何原因而言，這似乎是為進入本季而保留的？

Sure. Nate, this is Karin. We’ll start on the construction loan. It is a multifamily loan. It was originated in August of 2022. The issues with it are around construction management. The fundamentals in the market for multifamily remain very strong. And this is a well-positioned project in terms of location to amenities, public transportation, major employers. And so the borrower has stepped up and injected equity at this point to cover the cost overruns.

當然。內特，這是卡琳。我們將從建築貸款開始。這是多戶家庭貸款。它起源於2022年8月。其問題在於施工管理。多戶住宅市場的基本面仍然非常強勁。就便利設施、公共交通和主要雇主而言，這是一個地理位置優越的項目。因此，借款人此時已加緊注入股本，以彌補成本超支。

They continue to have those options available, but there’s been a delay in terms of when we expected this next injection, which is why we moved it to non-accrual when we did. That said, they do continue to have feasible options to bring equity in.

他們仍然有這些選擇，但我們預計下一次注入的時間會有所延遲，這就是為什麼我們在這樣做時將其轉為非應計利息。也就是說，他們確實仍然有可行的選擇來引入股權。

I mentioned in response to an earlier question, our reserve on it at this point is about 25%. It happened late in the quarter, in fact, actually early third quarter, just after quarter end. And so we’re still working on assessing those options being presented by the borrower.

我在回答先前的問題時提到，我們目前的儲備金約為 25%。它發生在本季末，事實上，實際上是第三季初，就在季度末之後。因此，我們仍在努力評估借款人提出的這些選擇。

With regard to the loan where we took a charge off, it is a C&I credit. It was originated back in 2020, shortly before the pandemic. When the loan was originated, it was part of a business repositioning, and unfortunately it was impacted substantially by COVID.

至於我們扣除的貸款，它是 C&I 信貸。它起源於 2020 年，即大流行前不久。發放貸款時，它是業務重新定位的一部分，不幸的是，它受到了新冠疫情的嚴重影響。

Understood. That’s very helpful. Thank you, Karin. And just curious, as you look out over the next couple of quarters, what your expectations are just in terms of charge off levels. I imagine this quarter will prove to be fairly idiosyncratic. But just any thoughts on kind of what you’re seeing in terms of a normalized level of charge offs in the current environment?

明白了。這非常有幫助。謝謝你，卡琳。只是好奇，當您展望未來幾個季度時，您對收費水平的期望是什麼。我想這個季度將被證明是相當特殊的。但是，您對當前環境下正常化的沖銷水平有何想法？

Sure. Just generally speaking, in terms of credit outlook, we’ve seen normalization. So this construction deal aside, our migration appears very typical to what it was prior to COVID. And as Katie mentioned in her comments, we actually had net upgrades which reduced our overall levels of criticized compared to the first quarter.

當然。總的來說，就信用前景而言，我們已經看到了正常化。因此，撇開這筆建設交易不談，我們的遷移看起來與新冠疫情之前的情況非常典型。正如凱蒂在評論中提到的，我們實際上進行了淨升級，與第一季相比，我們的整體批評水平有所降低。

With regard to charge offs, the one bit of uncertainty, I would say, for this next quarter is just as this company that we took the charge off on this quarter moves into liquidation, we’re going to be getting updated valuations so we could see some further adjustments there. Remaining balance on that loan is about $2.5 million.

關於沖銷，我想說，下個季度的一點不確定性是，就像我們在本季度沖銷的這家公司進入清算階段一樣，我們將獲得更新的估值，因此我們可能會看到一些進一步的調整。該貸款的剩餘餘額約為 250 萬美元。

Okay, great. Maybe changing gears. All, I apologize if you touched on it, but just is the expectation still that the BTFP will remain on balance sheet at least through the end of 2024?

好的，太好了。也許要換檔了。總而言之，如果您觸及這個問題，我深表歉意，但 BTFP 至少到 2024 年底仍將保留在資產負債表上的預期是否仍然存在？

Yes, that is correct, Nate. We expect that to, to maintain it through the end of the year.

是的，這是正確的，內特。我們預計這種情況將維持到今年年底。

Okay, got it. Expenses were really well controlled in the quarter. Any thoughts on how we should think about the run rate in 3Q and 4Q?

好的，明白了。本季的費用確實得到了很好的控制。關於我們應該如何考慮第三季和第四季的運行率有什麼想法嗎？

Yes, we do -- I did -- I gave a little bit of guidance saying that overall 2024 expenses should be up mid-single digits now when you include merger related expenses. So when you compare on a reported basis to 2023, we’ll have a little seasonal uptick here in terms of some tech spending we have that was -- it just typically hits us in the second half of the year. Also to incentive comp as things are going well for us to [inaudible] pick up there. But overall, we’re looking -- we continue to look at ways to manage expenses prudently, and we’re still looking at somewhere in mid-single digits on a reported basis.

是的，我們確實 - 我確實 - 我給了一些指導，說如果包括合併相關費用，2024 年的總體費用現在應該會上升到個位數中位數。因此，當您將報告的基礎與 2023 年進行比較時，我們的一些技術支出將會出現一些季節性上升，這通常會在下半年發生。還有激勵補償，因為我們[聽不清楚]那裡的情況進展順利。但總體而言，我們正在繼續尋找審慎管理費用的方法，而且我們仍在尋找報告中個位數中位數的費用。

And that includes HMNF potentially closing fourth quarter or no.

這包括 HMNF 可能關閉第四季度或不關閉。

That is including HMNF closing in the fourth quarter, correct.

這包括 HMNF 在第四季度關閉的情況，正確。

Okay. Yes. And on that front, just curious if you could provide any other update in terms of how that integration is going, what the reception has been in Rochester among both clients and employees at HMNF, and kind of how you’re progressing on the approval front end, kind of when you guys expect to close the acquisition in the fourth quarter.

好的。是的。在這方面，我只是好奇您是否可以提供任何其他最新信息，包括整合進展情況、HMNF 客戶和員工在羅徹斯特的接待情況以及您在審批方面的進展情況前端，你們預計在第四季度完成收購。

I will jump in real quick on the employees and the customer standpoint. Everything’s going, I would say, extremely well. The employees are very engaged in looking forward to rolling into our balance sheet and our product set.

我將很快從員工和客戶的角度切入。我想說，一切都進展得非常順利。員工們非常積極地期待進入我們的資產負債表和產品組合。

The customer feedback has been, again, very positive, going with a local community bank with a lot of ties into Minnesota and the northern, upper midwest, and looking forward to having a little bit better product mix and a little bit better reach. So very positive.

客戶的回饋再次非常積極，與與明尼蘇達州和北部、中西部北部有很多聯繫的當地社區銀行合作，並期待擁有更好的產品組合和更好的覆蓋範圍。所以非常積極。

Yeah. I would add, just on the customer front, a number of their clients very familiar with Alerus, so they are retirement benefit clients already and so that was a positive. From an integration standpoint, the teams are working very well together.

是的。我想補充一點，就客戶而言，他們的一些客戶非常熟悉 Alerus，所以他們已經是退休福利客戶，所以這是一個積極的方面。從整合的角度來看，這些團隊合作得很好。

Obviously, as this is our 26 acquisition, we have a lot of experience and have learned a lot and are progressing very well in that regard. We are targeting a close end conversion for the fourth quarter, and it appears at this point, from a regulatory standpoint that things are progressing well in terms of hitting those dates.

顯然，由於這是我們的第 26 次收購，我們擁有很多經驗，學到了很多東西，並且在這方面進展得很好。我們的目標是在第四季度進行封閉式轉換，從監管的角度來看，目前看來，在實現這些日期方面進展順利。

Okay, great. And then one last one for Katie. Just any update in terms of with the new chief retirement officer on board, how things are progressing in terms of discussions with potential partners that you guys can potentially come to an acquisition arrangement within retirements?

好的，太好了。最後一張是給凱蒂的。關於新任首席退休官的任何最新情況，與潛在合作夥伴的討論進展如何，你們可能會在退休後達成收購安排？

Yeah. Hi, Nat. This is Forrest Wilson. Thanks for the question. Yeah, so we’ve been fairly quickly able to establish a fairly experienced team. Myself and a number of others do have quite a bit of acquisition experience and also contacts within the industry.

是的。嗨，納特。這是福雷斯特·威爾遜。謝謝你的提問。是的，所以我們很快就建立了一支經驗豐富的團隊。我自己和其他一些人確實擁有相當多的收購經驗，並且在行業內也有聯繫。

So our goal is growth, as you know, and we have kind of used these contacts to put feelers out and so forth. Our goal is to look at as many acquisitions as we can. Experience has taught me and our team that we need to be very, very selective because they can send you in the wrong direction as quickly as they can help you grow.

所以我們的目標是成長，正如你所知，我們已經利用這些接觸來進行試探等等。我們的目標是盡可能多地進行收購。經驗告訴我和我們的團隊，我們需要非常非常有選擇性，因為他們可能會在幫助您成長的同時將您引向錯誤的方向。

So you want to be very selective. So excited about kind of the start. We’re off to, on this front, we’re looking at a few right now. I would say that nothing is imminent, but we are actively looking and intend to be that way for some time and partnering with Katie and Al and others to execute here.

所以你要非常有選擇性。對這樣的開始感到非常興奮。在這方面，我們現在正在研究一些。我想說，沒有什麼是迫在眉睫的，但我們正在積極尋找並打算在一段時間內保持這種狀態，並與凱蒂和阿爾以及其他人合作在這裡執行。

That’s great color. I appreciate that, Forrest, and all the other color in answering my questions. Thank you, everyone.

那是很棒的顏色。我很欣賞阿甘，以及所有其他顏色都回答我的問題。謝謝大家。

Matt Renck, KBW.

馬特·倫克，KBW。

Hey, everybody. Hope everybody’s having a good day. My first question, Matt, I will follow up, to the balance sheet optimization questions. How high are you comfortable letting the loan to deposit ratio get to before maybe you pump the brakes on growth a bit? Or is that not necessarily the way you’re looking at it?

嘿，大家。希望每個人都有美好的一天。我的第一個問題，馬特，我將跟進資產負債表優化問題。在稍微踩一下增長煞車之前，您願意讓貸存比達到多高？或者這不一定是您看待問題的方式？

I mean, right now we’ve told a lot of what we have a target for is, and what I said earlier in the call is we’re looking at a 95% boom of deposit ratio. That’s kind of our internal target right now, but we’re seeing really good activity right now. So there’s nothing leading us to cause us to think about pumping the brakes at the moment.

我的意思是，現在我們已經說了很多我們的目標，我之前在電話會議中說過，我們正在考慮將存款比率提高到 95%。這是我們目前的內部目標，但我們現在看到的活動非常好。因此，目前沒有任何理由讓我們考慮踩煞車。

Okay, got it. And then just one question on deposits. I know you guys said you were focused on kind of the middle market commercial deposits, but with synergistic deposits up 17% year-over-year, I was just curious how rate cuts might have impact the growth rate of that deposit line item?

好的，明白了。然後只有一個關於存款的問題。我知道你們說你們專注於中間市場商業存款，但隨著協同存款年增 17%，我只是好奇降息可能會如何影響該存款項目的成長率？

So we don’t see material impact there, because a lot of those clients has earned just the synergistic side. They come from our wealth and retirement businesses. And those customers, we did a deposit study, and those are very long tenured clients of ours.

因此，我們在那裡看不到實質影響，因為許多客戶只獲得了協同效應。他們來自我們的財富和退休業務。我們對這些客戶進行了存款研究，他們是我們的長期客戶。

So unless there’s a rebate remixing in the portfolio mix, and we don’t see a big shift in that. And typically what we’ve seen over time is that as people continue to save for more retirement, we see those balances actually increasing. So hence why you’ve seen that consistency in synergistic deposit growth over the last several years for us.

因此，除非投資組合中存在回扣重新混合，否則我們不會看到這方面發生重大轉變。通常我們隨著時間的推移看到的是，隨著人們繼續為更多的退休儲蓄，我們看到這些餘額實際上正在增​​加。這就是為什麼您在過去幾年中看到我們存款協同成長的一致性。

Okay. Got it. I’ll step back now. Thank you.

好的。知道了。我現在退後一步。謝謝。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) This will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Katie Lorenson for any closing remarks.

謝謝。（操作員說明）我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回凱蒂·洛倫森 (Katie Lorenson) 發表閉幕詞。

Thank you. And thank you all for joining our call today. We appreciate your questions. We appreciate your feedback. Overall, a very solid quarter from a fundamental operating standpoint. From a credit and lending standpoint, we will remain proactive, we will remain disciplined in our underwriting and committed to constant reviews, stress testing and timely identification of issues utilizing both internal and external resources.

謝謝。感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。我們感謝您的提問。我們感謝您的回饋。總體而言，從基本營運角度來看，這是一個非常穩健的季度。從信貸的角度來看，我們將保持積極主動，在核保方面保持紀律，並致力於利用內部和外部資源進行不斷的審查、壓力測試和及時發現問題。

We believe we have turned the corner with NIM expansion and solid revenue growth across our differentiated business model and we look forward to continued progress towards the approval and closing of our HMNF deal.

我們相信，透過淨利差擴張和差異化業務模式的穩健收入成長，我們已經渡過難關，我們期待在 HMNF 交易的批准和完成方面繼續取得進展。

We are positioned for sustainable growth and increasing profitability over time, which will lead to book and shareholder value creation. Thank you to all of our talented team members for your continuous hard work and making Alerus better every day for our clients, our communities and our shareholders.

我們的定位是隨著時間的推移實現永續成長和不斷提高獲利能力，這將創造帳面價值和股東價值。感謝我們所有才華橫溢的團隊成員的持續辛勤工作，讓 Alerus 為我們的客戶、社區和股東每天變得更好。

Thank you, everyone.

謝謝大家。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。