Axos Financial Inc (AX) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Axos Financial third-quarter 2025 earnings call and webcast. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Axos Financial 2025 年第三季財報電話會議和網路廣播。（操作員指示）提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音。

It's now my pleasure to introduce your host, Johnny Lai, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Johnny.

現在我很高興向大家介紹主持人、企業發展和投資者關係資深副總裁 Johnny Lai。請繼續，強尼。

Thank you, Kevin. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us for today's third-quarter 2025 financial results conference call. Joining us today are the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Greg Garrabrants; and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Derrick Walsh. Greg and Derrick will review and comment on the financial and operating results for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2025, and we will be available to answer questions after the prepared remarks.

謝謝你，凱文。大家下午好，感謝您參加今天的 2025 年第三季財務業績電話會議。今天與我們一起出席的有該公司總裁兼執行長 Greg Garrabrants；以及執行副總裁兼財務長德里克沃爾什 (Derrick Walsh)。格雷格和德里克將審查並評論截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的三個月和九個月的財務和經營業績，我們將在準備好的評論後回答問題。

Before I begin, I would like to remind listeners that prepared remarks made on this call may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties and that management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. Please refer to the Safe Harbor statement found in today's earnings press release and in our Investor Presentation for additional details.

在我開始之前，我想提醒聽眾，本次電話會議中準備好的評論可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受風險和不確定性的影響，並且管理層可能會針對您的問題做出額外的前瞻性陳述。請參閱今天的收益新聞稿和我們的投資者介紹中的安全港聲明以了解更多詳細資訊。

This call is being webcast, and there will be an audio replay available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website located at axosfinancial.com for 30 days. Details for this call were provided on the conference call announcement and in today's earnings press release.

本次電話會議將進行網路直播，音訊回放將在公司網站 axosfinancial.com 的投資者關係部分提供 30 天。這次電話會議的詳細資訊已在電話會議公告和今天的收益新聞稿中提供。

Before I hand over the call to Greg, I'd like to remind listeners that in addition to the earnings press release, we also issued an earnings supplement and 8-K with additional information. All of these documents can be found on axosfinancial.com.

在我將電話交給格雷格之前，我想提醒聽眾，除了收益新聞稿之外，我們還發布了一份收益補充文件和 8-K 表格，其中包含更多資訊。所有這些文件都可以在 axosfinancial.com 上找到。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to you, Greg.

說到這裡，我想把電話交給你，格雷格。

Thank you, Johnny, and good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'd like to welcome everyone to Axos Financial's conference call for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 ended March 31, 2025. I thank you for your interest in Axos Financial.

謝謝你，約翰尼，大家下午好，謝謝你加入我們。歡迎大家參加 Axos Financial 截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的 2025 財年第三季電話會議。感謝您對 Axos Financial 的關注。

We delivered solid results this quarter, generating over $700 million of net loan growth linked quarter, stable net interest margins, and a 19% year-over-year increase in book value per share. We continue to generate high returns as evidenced by the 16% return on average common equity and a 1.8% return on average assets in the three months ended March 31, 2025.

本季我們取得了穩健的業績，季淨貸款成長超過 7 億美元，淨利差保持穩定，每股帳面價值年增 19%。我們持續獲得高回報，截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的三個月內，平均普通股回報率為 16%，平均資產回報率為 1.8%。

We deployed some of our excess capital to repurchase approximately $28 million of common stock in the quarter ended March 31, 2025, and an additional 517,000 shares of common stock for $30.3 million from April 1 to April 30 after the quarter end.

我們動用了部分過剩資本，在截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的季度回購了約 2800 萬美元的普通股，並在 4 月 1 日至季度結束後的 4 月 30 日期間以 3030 萬美元的價格回購了另外 517,000 股普通股。

Other highlights in the quarter include net interest income was $275 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, up 5.3% from the $262 million in the prior-year period. Net interest margin was 4.78% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, down 5 basis points from the 4.83% in the quarter ended March 31, 2024. We continue to benefit from a best-in-class net interest margin with and without the benefit of the accretion from loans purchased from the FDIC.

本季的其他亮點包括截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的三個月的淨利息收入為 2.75 億美元，較去年同期的 2.62 億美元增長 5.3%。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日止季度的淨利差為 4.78%，較截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日止季度的 4.83% 下降 5 個基點。無論有沒有從聯邦存款保險公司 (FDIC) 購買的貸款帶來的收益，我們都能繼續享受到一流的淨利差。

Total on-balance sheet deposits increased 5.4% year over year to $20.1 million. Our diverse and granular deposit base across consumer and commercial banking and our securities businesses continue to support our organic loan growth. We managed our operating expenses well this quarter, with total noninterest expense for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, up by only 0.6% from the prior quarter. Excluding the seasonal increase in FICA expenses and legal accrual reversals, net interest expense increased slightly quarter over quarter.

表內存款總額年增 5.4% 至 2,010 萬美元。我們在消費者和商業銀行以及證券業務中多樣化和精細的存款基礎繼續支持我們的有機貸款成長。本季我們很好地管理了營運費用，截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的季度總非利息支出僅比上一季增加 0.6%。不計入聯邦保險捐款法 (FICA) 費用和法定應計逆轉的季節性增長，淨利息支出環比略有增加。

Net annualized charge-offs to average loans were 9 basis points in the three months ended March 31 compared to 7 basis points in the corresponding period last year. Excluding the auto loans covered by insurance, net annualized charge-offs to average loans were 8 basis points in our fiscal third quarter of 2025. We remain well reserved relative to our low current and historic net credit losses.

截至 3 月 31 日的三個月內，平均貸款的年度淨沖銷額為 9 個基點，而去年同期為 7 個基點。不包括保險承保的汽車貸款，2025 財年第三季的平均貸款淨年化沖銷額為 8 個基點。相對於我們目前和歷史上較低的淨信貸損失，我們仍然保持著良好的儲備。

Total nonaccrual loans declined by $66.5 million linked quarter, resulting in our nonaccrual loans to total loan ratio improving from 1.26% in the quarter ended December 31, 2024, to 89 basis points in the quarter ended March 31, 2025. Net income was approximately $105.2 million in the quarter ended March 31 compared to $104.7 million in the December quarter. Diluted EPS was $1.81 for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to $1.80 in the prior quarter.

本季非應計貸款總額減少了 6,650 萬美元，導致我們的非應計貸款與總貸款比率從截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日當季的 1.26% 改善至截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日當季的 89 個基點。截至 3 月 31 日的季度淨收入約為 1.052 億美元，而 12 月季度的淨收入為 1.047 億美元。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的季度，稀釋每股收益為 1.81 美元，而上一季為 1.80 美元。

Net growth in non-purchased loans for investment was $700 million for the month ended -- the quarter ended March 31, an increase of 3.6% linked quarter or 14.5% annualized.

截至 3 月 31 日當季，非購買投資貸款淨成長 7 億美元，季增 3.6%，年化成長 14.5%。

Fund finance, equipment leasing, and lender finance had strong originations and net loan growth this quarter. Headwinds from high levels of repayment of the jumbo single-family and multifamily mortgage business improved significantly with net declines of only $36 million in those two loan categories combined in this quarter compared with a $384 million decline in the December quarter. While the interest rate and competitive environment remained unstable, we feel good about keeping our jumbo single-family and multifamily loan balances flat to down $100 million per quarter first, the prior $200 million to $400 million quarterly headwind we experienced since the Fed started raising rates in 2023.

本季度，基金融資、設備租賃和貸款人融資的發放量和淨貸款增長強勁。巨額獨戶住宅和多戶住宅抵押貸款業務的高額還款額所帶來的不利因素已顯著改善，本季這兩類貸款的淨下降總額僅為 3,600 萬美元，而去年 12 月季度則為 3.84 億美元。儘管利率和競爭環境仍然不穩定，但我們對將巨額單戶住宅和多戶住宅貸款餘額保持在每季度下降 1 億美元感到滿意，這是自 2023 年美聯儲開始加息以來我們經歷的每季度 2 億至 4 億美元的逆風。

Average loan yields for three months ended March 31, 2025, was 7.99%, down from 8.37% in the prior quarter. Average loan yields for non-purchased loans was 7.66% and average yields for purchased loans were 14.32%, which includes the accretion of our purchase price discount. The FDIC purchase loans continue to perform well and all loans in that portfolio remain current.

截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的三個月平均貸款收益率為 7.99%，低於上一季的 8.37%。非購買貸款的平均貸款收益率為 7.66%，購買貸款的平均收益率為 14.32%，其中包括我們的購買價格折扣的累積。FDIC 購買貸款繼續表現良好，且該投資組合中的所有貸款均保持當前狀態。

New loan interest rates were the following: SFR mortgages, 7.5%; multifamily, 7.3%, C&I 7.6%, and auto 8.5%.

新的貸款利率如下：SFR抵押貸款，7.5%；多戶住宅 7.3%，商業與工業 7.6%，汽車 8.5%。

Ending deposit balances were $20.1 billion or up 1% linked quarter and up 5.4% year over year. Demand, money market and savings accounts represent 96% of total deposits at December 31, 2024, increasing by 6.9% year over year. We have a diverse mix of funding across a variety of business verticals with consumer and small business representing 58% of total deposits, commercial cash, treasury management and institutional representing 23%; commercial specialty representing 9%, Axos fiduciary services representing 6% and Axos Securities, which is our custody and clearing business combined, representing 4%. Noninterest-bearing deposits were approximately $3 billion at the end of the quarter, roughly the same as the prior quarter.

期末存款餘額為 201 億美元，季增 1%，年增 5.4%。截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日，活期、貨幣市場和儲蓄帳戶佔總存款的 96%，年增 6.9%。我們的融資結構多元化，涵蓋多個垂直行業，其中消費者和小型企業存款佔總存款的 58%，商業現金、資金管理和機構存款佔 23%；商業專業服務佔 9%，Axos 信託服務佔 6%，而 Axos 證券（我們的託管和清算業務合計）佔 4%。本季末無息存款約 30 億美元，與上一季大致相同。

Client cash sorting deposit balances have been volatile, increasing to over $1.2 billion during the peak of the market sell-off in March 2025 before ending the quarter around $900 million as advisers made tactical changes throughout the quarter in a turbulent market.

客戶現金分類存款餘額一直波動，在 2025 年 3 月市場拋售高峰期間增至 12 億美元以上，而由於顧問在動蕩的市場中在整個季度進行了策略調整，本季度末餘額約為 9 億美元。

We're focused on adding net new assets from existing and new advisers to grow our assets under custody and cash balances. In addition to our Axos Securities deposits on our balance sheet, we had approximately $450 million of deposits off balance sheet at partner banks.

我們專注於從現有和新顧問那裡增加淨新資產，以增加我們的託管資產和現金餘額。除了我們資產負債表上的 Axos Securities 存款外，我們在合作銀行的資產負債表外還有約 4.5 億美元的存款。

Our consolidated net interest margin was 4.78% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to 4.83% in the quarter ended December 31, 2024. Even though we deployed some of our excess liquidity and organic loan growth this quarter, we still have more deposits than we typically carry on our balance sheet. The excess liquidity was a 13-basis-point drag on our net interest margin in the quarter ended March 31, 2025, down from 18 basis points last quarter.

截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日止季度，我們的合併淨利差為 4.78%，截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日止季度為 4.83%。儘管我們本季部署了部分過剩流動性和有機貸款成長，但我們的存款仍然比資產負債表上通常的存款要多。過剩流動性導致我們截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日當季的淨利差下降了 13 個基點，低於上一季的 18 個基點。

Our net interest margin remains above the high end of our target with and without the benefits of the FDIC loan purchases, largely because we've been able to offset the gradual decline in our earning asset yields with corresponding decreases in our funding cost.

無論有沒有 FDIC 貸款購買的好處，我們的淨利差仍然高於目標的高端，這主要是因為我們能夠透過相應降低融資成本來抵消生息資產收益率的逐步下降。

Total interest-bearing demand and savings deposit costs were 3.59% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, down 36 basis points from the prior quarter. We're seeing strong growth in account and balances from our Axos ONE consumer bundled deposit product, which includes a checking and savings account. Growth in Axos ONE and other deposit businesses has allowed us to reduce our high -- our cost consumer high-yield savings and wholesale funding.

截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的季度，總計息活期和儲蓄存款成本為 3.59%，比上一季下降 36 個基點。我們看到 Axos ONE 消費者捆綁存款產品（包括支票帳戶和儲蓄帳戶）的帳戶和餘額強勁增長。Axos ONE 和其他存款業務的成長使我們能夠降低高成本的消費者高收益儲蓄和批發融資。

We continue to grow our lower-cost deposits in our commercial cash treasury management of specialty businesses. We're also making good progress cross-selling deposits across selected lending businesses such as fund finance and multifamily lending.

我們繼續在專業業務的商業現金財務管理中增加低成本存款。我們在基金融資和多戶型貸款等特定貸款業務的存款交叉銷售方面也取得了良好進展。

Continued strong net new asset growth and normalizing and cash sorting will be a tailwind in our ability to grow lower cost deposit balances going forward. We expect our consolidated net interest margin ex FDIC loan purchase accretion to stay at the high end of our 4.25% to 4.35% range we have targeted over the past year. Despite increased competition from banks and nonbanks driving new loan yields lower in many lending categories we compete in, we continue to win our share of new lending opportunities.

持續強勁的淨新資產成長以及正常化和現金分類將成為我們未來增加低成本存款餘額的順風。我們預計，扣除 FDIC 貸款購買增量後的綜合淨利差將保持在過去一年中我們設定的 4.25% 至 4.35% 區間的高端。儘管來自銀行和非銀行機構的競爭日益激烈，導致我們所參與的許多貸款類別的新貸款收益率下降，但我們仍在不斷贏得新的貸款機會。

Our loan pipelines have improved meaningfully in our auto and multifamily lending businesses over the past few quarters as a result of strategic actions we have taken. Better execution in expanding our distribution channels across certain commercial lending categories, including equipment leasing, have contributed to improved loan growth and pipelines.

由於我們採取了策略行動，過去幾季我們的汽車和多戶型貸款業務的貸款管道得到了顯著改善。我們在擴大某些商業貸款類別（包括設備租賃）分銷管道方面執行得更好，有助於改善貸款成長和通路。

We expect loan growth to come in somewhere between the high-single digit and low-teens range on an annual basis that we have targeted for the past several years. We may have more variance from quarter to quarter due to uncertainty regarding the pace and timing of payoffs and the potential impact of tariffs and interest rates on loan demand.

我們預計，貸款成長率將達到我們過去幾年所設定的目標，即年增長率在高個位數和低十位數之間。由於還款速度和時間的不確定性以及關稅和利率對貸款需求的潛在影響，我們每季之間的差異可能會更大。

The credit quality of our loan book continues to be solid, and our historical and current net charge-offs remain low. Total nonperforming assets declined by $63.3 million linked quarter, representing 79 basis points of total assets compared to 1.06% in the quarter ended December 31. The sequential decrease in nonaccrual loans was broad-based, declining by $26 million in our single-family mortgage and warehouse businesses by $15 million in our multifamily and commercial mortgage business and by $25.7 million in our commercial real estate lending business.

我們的貸款信用品質持續保持穩健，歷史和當前的淨沖銷額仍然很低。本季不良資產總額下降了 6,330 萬美元，佔總資產的 79 個基點，而截至 12 月 31 日的季度為 1.06%。非應計貸款的環比下降是普遍性的，我們的單戶住宅抵押貸款和倉庫業務減少了 2600 萬美元，多戶住宅和商業抵押貸款業務減少了 1500 萬美元，商業房地產貸款業務減少了 2570 萬美元。

We did not anticipate a material loss from loans currently classified as nonperforming in our single-family, multifamily, or commercial real estate loan portfolios. Our commercial real estate specialty portfolio continues to perform very well and in line with our expectations. Nonaccrual loan balances in our C&I lending portfolio were roughly flat linked quarter at $71.2 million. All C&I loans classified as nonaccrual at March 31, 2025, but three, totaling $12.2 million continue to make contractual interest, principal and curtailment payments.

我們預計，目前在我們的單戶住宅、多戶住宅或商業房地產貸款組合中被歸類為不良貸款的貸款不會造成重大損失。我們的商業房地產專業投資組合持續表現良好並符合我們的預期。我們的商業和工業貸款組合中的非應計貸款餘額與上一季基本持平，為 7,120 萬美元。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，所有 C&I 貸款均被歸類為不計息貸款，但三筆總額為 1,220 萬美元的貸款繼續按合約支付利息、本金和縮減款項。

We continue to monitor the credit trends across all loan portfolios and have not seen any broad-based deterioration in any individual lending category. We don't have significant exposure to any specific industry that is expected to have an outsized negative impact from proposed or enacted tariffs.

我們持續監測所有貸款組合的信貸趨勢，並未發現任何單一貸款類別普遍惡化。我們並未對任何預計會受到擬議或頒布的關稅巨大負面影響的特定行業持有重大投資。

Axos Clearing, which includes our corresponding clearing and RA custody businesses, had a good quarter. Total deposits at Axos Clearing were $134 million at the end of the quarter, roughly consistent with where they were in the prior quarter. Of the $1.34 billion of deposits from Axos Clearing, approximately $900 million was on our balance sheet and $450 million were held at partner banks.

Axos Clearing（包括我們相應的清算和 RA 託管業務）本季表現良好。截至本季末，Axos Clearing 的總存款為 1.34 億美元，與上一季的水平大致相當。在 Axos Clearing 的 13.4 億美元存款中，約有 9 億美元在我們的資產負債表上，4.5 億美元存放在合作銀行。

Client margin balances grew by 2.9%, up from $274.5 million at December 31 to $282.4 million at March 31, 2025. Net new assets for our custody business were $289 million in the March quarter, extending the positive net asset momentum we had experienced in the past several quarters. Despite a turbulent first few months of 2025, many of our legacy and new RIA clients have increased their AUM. The pipeline for new custody clients remains healthy, and we expect continued organic net new asset growth in Axos advisory services.

客戶保證金餘額成長 2.9%，從 12 月 31 日的 2.745 億美元增至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的 2.824 億美元。3 月份季度，我們託管業務的淨新增資產為 2.89 億美元，延續了過去幾季我們經歷的淨資產積極勢頭。儘管 2025 年頭幾個月經歷了動盪，但我們的許多傳統和新 RIA 客戶都增加了他們的 AUM。新託管客戶的管道依然健康，我們預計 Axos 諮詢服務將持續實現有機淨新資產成長。

Pretax income for the securities business segment increased by 23.6% year over year to $9.1 million due primarily to better operating expense control.

證券業務部門的稅前收入年增23.6%至910萬美元，主要得益於更好的營運費用控制。

From a product perspective, we continue to identify ways to generate incremental fee in partners. I partner with third parties to offer additional services such as access to new asset classes and investment strategies. We are consolidating certain back office and servicing functions in our clearing and custody business to leverage the processes and systems we have to more efficiently serve broker-dealers and advisory clients. Once completed, we will have a more competitive and stable cost structure in order to expand the types of custody and clients we can serve profitably.

從產品角度來看，我們繼續尋找在合作夥伴中產生增量費用的方法。我與第三方合作提供額外服務，例如取得新的資產類別和投資策略。我們正在整合清算和託管業務中的某些後台和服務功能，以利用我們現有的流程和系統更有效地為經紀交易商和諮詢客戶提供服務。一旦完成，我們將擁有更具競爭力和更穩定的成本結構，以擴大我們可以獲利的託管類型和客戶範圍。

One important strategic initiative in the securities business that is the development of Axos professional workstation, our proprietary client service platform that will replace the current third-party workstations used in our -- by our Clarent clients to allow better integration of banking and lending to those clients.

證券業務的一項重要策略措施是開發 Axos 專業工作站，這是我們的專有客戶服務平台，它將取代我們 Clarent 客戶目前使用的第三方工作站，以便更好地整合銀行業務和貸款服務。

We leverage low cost -- low code development to reduce the time, cost and resources required to complete our access professional workstation build-out. We're also actively using artificial intelligence in our software development and across a wider set of workflows to enhance development and operating efficiency, which should result to better operating leverage over time.

我們利用低成本—低程式碼開發來減少完成存取專業工作站建造所需的時間、成本和資源。我們也在軟體開發和更廣泛的工作流程中積極使用人工智慧來提高開發和營運效率，這將隨著時間的推移帶來更好的營運槓桿。

Additionally, we're modernizing core components of the technology infrastructure for Axos Invest, our direct-to-consumer securities trading and digital wealth management business. The primary objectives are to make the platform more flexible so we can add new products and services faster and cheaper as well as improve the customer experience by eliminating friction caused by a reliance on third-party integrations.

此外，我們正在對 Axos Invest（我們的直接面向消費者的證券交易和數位財富管理業務）的技術基礎設施核心組件進行現代化改造。主要目標是使平台更加靈活，以便我們能夠更快、更便宜地添加新產品和服務，並透過消除對第三方整合的依賴所造成的摩擦來改善客戶體驗。

We see Axos Invest as a channel for low-cost consumer acquisition and cross-sell to existing Axos clients as well as a white label offering to institutional clients such as RIAs and IBDs.

我們將 Axos Invest 視為一種低成本獲取消費者和向現有 Axos 客戶交叉銷售的管道，同時也是向 RIA 和 IBD 等機構客戶提供的白標產品。

Now, I'll turn the call over to Derrick to share other further details.

現在，我將把電話轉給德里克，讓他分享更多細節。

Thanks, Greg, quick reminder that in addition to our press release, an 8-K with supplemental schedules and our 10-Q were filed with the SEC today and are available online through EDGAR or through our website at axosfinancial.com. I'll provide some brief comments on a few topics. Please refer to our press release and our SEC filings for additional details.

謝謝，格雷格，快速提醒一下，除了我們的新聞稿之外，今天我們還向美國證券交易委員會提交了一份包含補充時間表的 8-K 表格和 10-Q 表格，可通過 EDGAR 在線獲取，也可以通過我們的網站 axosfinancial.com 獲取。我將針對幾個主題發表一些簡短的評論。請參閱我們的新聞稿和美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 文件以了解更多詳細資訊。

Noninterest expenses were approximately $146 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, up by about $900,000 from the three months ended December 31, 2024.

截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的三個月，非利息支出約為 1.46 億美元，比截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月增加約 90 萬美元。

Salaries and benefit expenses were $74.6 million, up by $0.6 million compared to the three months ended December 31, 2024. Excluding the seasonal increases in FICO expenses, in the March 31 quarter, salaries and benefit expenses were down by $0.8 million on a linked quarter basis. Professional service expenses were $8.2 million compared to the $9.1 million in fiscal Q2 '25.

薪資和福利支出為 7,460 萬美元，與截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月相比增加了 60 萬美元。不計入 FICO 費用的季節性增長，3 月 31 日當季，工資和福利費用環比下降 80 萬美元。專業服務費用為 820 萬美元，而 2025 財年第二季為 910 萬美元。

General and administrative expenses were down to $6.8 million for March 2025 compared to $9.3 million for December 2024. We had a payment of a legal judgment that was previously accrued and resulted in a reduction to general and administrative expenses by approximately $2 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2025. We remain focused on managing our expenses and investments in a controlled manner in order to maintain and improve our operating efficiency ratio.

2025 年 3 月的一般及行政開支降至 680 萬美元，而 2024 年 12 月為 930 萬美元。我們支付了先前累積的法律判決款項，導致截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的季度的一般及行政開支減少約 200 萬美元。我們將繼續專注於以可控的方式管理我們的費用和投資，以維持和提高我們的營運效率比率。

Next, our income tax rate was 29% for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to 28.8% in the corresponding year ago period.

其次，截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的三個月，我們的所得稅率為 29%，去年同期為 28.8%。

We still expect our corporate tax rate to be approximately 29% to 30% with one caveat. The California budget proposal currently includes a provision that will change the taxation of financial institutions. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, the provision, if passed, would require financial institutions to use a single sales factor for portioning multi-state income to California. Financial institutions are currently required to use a three-factor apportionment formula, which includes a corporate property factor, a payroll factor in addition to a sales factor. If the provision changing this tax apportionment from the three-factor tests to a single sales factor is enacted, the change would require the company to remeasure its deferred tax assets.

我們仍然預計我們的企業稅率約為 29% 至 30%，但有一個警告。加州預算提案目前包括一項將改變金融機構稅收的條款。對於 2025 年 1 月 1 日或之後開始的納稅年度，該條款如果獲得通過，將要求金融機構使用單一銷售因素將跨州收入分配給加利福尼亞州。目前，金融機構必須使用三因素分攤公式，其中包括企業財產因素、工資因素和銷售因素。如果將該稅分配從三因素測試改為單一銷售因素的規定得以實施，則該變更將要求公司重新計量其遞延所得稅資產。

Management estimates access deferred tax asset will decrease by approximately $6 million to $7 million as a result of the change. The impact of the remeasurement will be a noncash charge recognized through continuing operations in the period, which the law is enacted. If enacted, management expects the effective tax rate for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026 and beyond, would be reduced by approximately 3% or approximately $5 million per quarter compared to the current effective tax rate.

管理層估計，由於這項變化，遞延稅務資產將減少約 600 萬至 700 萬美元。重新計量的影響將是透過法律頒布期間的持續經營確認的非現金費用。如果該法案獲得通過，管理層預計截至 2026 年 6 月 30 日及以後的財政年度的有效稅率將比目前的有效稅率降低約 3% 或每季減少約 500 萬美元。

I'll wrap up with our loan pipeline, which remains healthy, with $2.1 billion of total loans in the pipeline as of April 25, 2025, consisting of $76 million of single-family residential jumbo mortgage, $57 million of single-family gain on sale mortgage, $346 million of multifamily and small balance commercial, $63 million of auto and consumer, and $1.1 billion of commercial loans.

最後，我將介紹我們的貸款管道，我們的貸款管道仍然健康，截至 2025 年 4 月 25 日，我們的貸款總額為 21 億美元，其中包括 7600 萬美元的獨戶住宅巨額抵押貸款、5700 萬美元的獨戶住宅出售收益抵押貸款、3.46 億美元的多戶住宅和小額貸款的 100 億美元的汽車貸款和商業貸款以及商業貸款和商業貸款和商業貸款以及 10 億美元的商業貸款和商業貸款。

As Greg noted, we believe that we will be able to grow loan balances organically by high-single digits to low-teens year over year over the next 12 months, excluding the impact of the loan portfolio purchased from the FDIC or any other potential loan or asset acquisitions. Our pipelines are up across several lending businesses, and we expect the headwinds we faced from single-family and multifamily mortgages to subside. Due to elevated levels of uncertainty regarding interest rates, the economy and the shape of the yield curve, we may see more volatility in our net loan growth over the next few quarters.

正如格雷格所指出的，我們相信，在未來 12 個月內，我們將能夠實現貸款餘額逐年有機增長，增長率從高個位數到低十位數不等，這不包括從 FDIC 購買的貸款組合或任何其他潛在貸款或資產收購的影響。我們的貸款業務管道已涵蓋多個貸款業務，我們預計單戶住宅和多戶住宅抵押貸款面臨的阻力將會消退。由於利率、經濟和回報率曲線形狀的不確定性增加，未來幾季我們的淨貸款成長可能會出現更大波動。

With that, I'll turn the call back to Johnny.

說完這些，我就把電話轉回給強尼。

Thanks, Derrick. Kevin, we're ready to take questions.

謝謝，德里克。凱文，我們準備好回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Kyle Peterson, Needham & Company.

（操作員指示） Kyle Peterson，Needham & Company。

Great. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions and nice results. I wanted to start off a little bit on loan growth and kind of what you guys are seeing. Obviously, there's been a lot more volatility and uncertainty. I guess, are there any areas either that you guys are being a little more cautious in? Or on the flip side, like are there areas you guys are seeing competitors maybe be a little more cautious or shy where you guys think might be opportunities to go and take share?

偉大的。午安.感謝您回答問題，結果很好。我想先簡單談談貸款成長情況以及你們所看到的情況。顯然，波動性和不確定性已經大大增加。我想，你們在哪些方面會更謹慎一點呢？或者從另一方面來說，你們是否看到競爭對手在某些領域表現得更加謹慎或害羞，而你們認為這些領域可能存在著搶佔市場份額的機會？

Yeah. I think the logistics -- I think there are certain C&I segments that in anticipation of the administration change or the potential administration change that we've been cautious about for a while. So we've been -- we've been shying away from logistical sort of deals.

是的。我認為物流——我認為某些 C&I 部門預期政府變動或潛在的政府變動，我們已經對此保持謹慎一段時間了。所以我們一直——我們一直在迴避物流的交易。

Obviously, we got caught up in that one that's still paying but is on nonaccrual. So we generally have shied away from those as far as adding a lot of exposure in that sector. And there's been a few others that we've had views about from an economic perspective, but those are either segments within C&I or specific companies that have unique exposure.

顯然，我們陷入了仍在付款但未提列的困境。因此，我們一般會盡量避免在該領域增加投資。我們從經濟角度對其他一些公司也發表了看法，但這些公司要么是商業和工業領域的細分市場，要么是具有獨特影響力的特定公司。

As far as, it's a little early to tell, but I do think that we were seeing more spread compression, and we've been able to push back against that a little bit as a result of volatility. And I think that's partially related to the fact that in certain instances, some of the takeouts or some of our lines or whatnot the revolving lines are securitizations. And so to the extent you get any difference in that market that can flow through. So I think that's positive there. But in general, the pipelines are pretty good.

就目前而言，現在下結論還為時過早，但我確實認為，我們看到了更多的利差壓縮，並且由於波動性，我們已經能夠稍微抑制這種利差壓縮。我認為這部分與以下事實有關：在某些情況下，我們的一些外賣或一些線路或諸如此類的循環線路都是證券化。因此，在某種程度上，你可以在該市場中獲得任何可以流通的差異。所以我認為這是積極的。但整體來說，管道還是相當不錯的。

I would say the biggest impact it will have is just with respect to whether we can hit an 11% sort of loan growth in the year or 15%. Is this really going to be more related to prepays? And had some periods during COVID that we were very cautious on any kind of project financing construction stuff. And so that means we sort of have a little gap where some of those loans kind of pay off and we may have a little gap there. But I feel pretty good about where loan growth is.

我想說，它最大的影響在於我們今年的貸款成長率能否達到 11% 或 15%。這真的與預付款更相關嗎？在新冠疫情期間的某些時期，我們對任何類型的專案融資建設都非常謹慎。這意味著我們在某些​​貸款償還方面存在一些差距，我們可能在那裡存在一些差距。但我對貸款成長感到十分滿意。

I mean, if you look at the single-family pipeline, it's a lot higher. It doesn't mean every quarter it's going to be perfect. But we've been really fighting against a pretty nice tailwind to single-family and multifamily, and that tailwind is over. So we may have areas like commercial specialty real estate that might have high payoff quarters just because of timing, but I don't think that's going to be something that will occur every quarter. And so I feel okay about loan growth, actually.

我的意思是，如果你看一下單戶住宅管道，它會高得多。這並不意味著每個季度都會是完美的。但我們一直在與單戶住宅和多戶住宅的良好順風作鬥爭，但這種順風已經結束了。因此，我們可能會有一些商業專業房地產等領域，僅僅因為時機原因，在某些季度會有較高的回報，但我不認為這種情況會每季都會發生。因此，實際上我對貸款成長感到滿意。

Okay. That's very helpful. And then maybe just a follow-up, more of a housekeeping item, but notice of fee income jumped up quite a bit this quarter, I guess. Could you just clarify whether there was anything like whether it's seasonal or one-time or what we saw in the March quarter is a good run rate to you going forward?

好的。這非常有幫助。然後也許只是一個後續行動，更多的是一個管理事項，但我猜本季的費用收入通知已經大幅增加。您能否澄清一下，這是否是季節性的還是一次性的，或者我們在三月季度看到的對於您未來來說是一個良好的運行率？

Yeah, there were some -- we had some mortgage banking impacts from the prior quarter. So that was where the prior quarter was somewhat depressed. This quarter is a little bit more representative of where we're at. We had added BOLI in the December quarter. So that's part of it.

是的，有一些——上一季我們的抵押貸款銀行業務受到了一些影響。這就是上一季表現有些低迷的原因。本季更能代表我們的現狀。我們在 12 月季度增加了 BOLI。這就是其中的一部分。

We did have a blip up in auto insurance recoveries, which come through that line item, and then there were some additional loan fees that came through unrelated to origination. So nothing necessarily of significant one-time that were in there this quarter.

我們的汽車保險追償確實出現了小幅上升，這是透過該專案產生的，然後還有一些與貸款發起無關的額外貸款費用。因此本季並不一定會出現重大的一次性事件。

One item, actually -- sorry, just remember, there is a fair value mark on our DTC stock that we have to hold for the clearing company, that was $750,000 that was -- only happens once a year. And so that gave us a little bump up, but that was only $750,000.

實際上有一件事——抱歉，請記住，我們的 DTC 股票上有一個公允價值標記，我們必須為清算公司持有，那是 750,000 美元——每年只發生一次。這為我們帶來了一點好處，但也只有 75 萬美元。

Okay. Appreciate the color. Nice quarter. Thanks.

好的。欣賞色彩。不錯的季度。謝謝。

Andrew Liesch, Piper Sandler.

安德魯·萊施、派珀·桑德勒。

Hey, guys, good afternoon. Greg, you've highlighted some good investment opportunities to maybe streamline the company. I'm just curious, like what's like the cadence of some of these investments? Is it -- do you have enough revenue to keep that efficiency ratio with this 48% level? Or do you think it might step-up here in the near term?

嘿，大家下午好。格雷格，你強調了一些好的投資機會，或許可以精簡公司。我只是好奇，這些投資的節奏是怎麼樣的？您是否有足夠的收入來將效率比率維持在 48% 的水平？或者您認為它可能會在短期內有所加強？

We're going to really work extremely hard to keep it where it is. I don't really think it's acceptable for it to go up. And I think it's the responsibility of me and my team to take advantage of all this amazing technology and operating efficiencies that we've been developing to ensure that we're definitely keeping costs under control. So we're targeting next year that personnel expenses will go up no more than 30% of the combination of net interest and noninterest income. I think we can do that. We want to make sure we're getting operating leverage in the business.

我們將竭盡全力維持現狀。我確實不認為它的上漲是可以接受的。我認為我和我的團隊有責任利用我們一直在開發的所有這些驚人的技術和營運效率來確保我們能夠控製成本。因此，我們明年的目標是，人事費用的增幅不超過淨利息和非利息收入總和的 30%。我認為我們可以做到。我們希望確保我們在業務中獲得營運槓桿。

There's a lot of AI improvements that can be made from an efficiency perspective. There's even in a company such as ours, there's always an opportunity for people to step it up and do more. And so I'm looking forward to cracking the whip on our organization to make all of us, including myself run faster. So I think it's going to be a very cost-efficient year going forward. And my team is smiling about how excited they are to that happen.

從效率角度來看，人工智慧還有許多進步空間。即使在我們這樣的公司，人們總是有機會進步並做得更多。因此，我期待著對我們的組織施加壓力，讓我們所有人，包括我自己，跑得更快。所以我認為今年將會是成本效益非常高的一年。我的團隊對此感到非常興奮，臉上露出了笑容。

Got it. All right. Very helpful. And then just looking at net interest income going into the quarter, it looked like a lot of the loan growth may have come on later in the quarter. So maybe that may have been why NII was down sequentially. But if you're looking in the -- in your fourth quarter. Maybe a little bit more margin compression if that continues, but should we see NII step-up from here?

知道了。好的。非常有幫助。然後只看本季的淨利息收入，看起來很多貸款成長可能出現在本季後期。所以這也許就是為什麼 NII 會持續下降的原因。但如果你看一下第四季。如果這種情況持續下去，利潤率可能會進一步壓縮，但我們是否應該看到 NII 從現在開始上升？

You answer that, Derrick.

你來回答這個問題，德瑞克。

Yes, we should. It was -- to your point, from a point in time basis, loan growth was $700 million, it was closer to $100 million on an average basis during the quarter. So we expect that average this next quarter to go up, and that will, in turn, increase the net interest income impact. But that's why there was kind of a somewhat weak net interest income performance there. But as we look forward, it should return to an increasing value.

是的，我們應該。正如您所說，從某個時間點來看，貸款增加了 7 億美元，而本季平均貸款成長接近 1 億美元。因此，我們預計下個季度的平均值將會上升，進而增加淨利息收入的影響。但這就是為什麼那裡的淨利息收入表現有點疲軟的原因。但展望未來，它的價值應該會恢復成長。

Got it. Do you think the margin could stop here? Or is there too much yield pressure where it could be hard to replicate 4.78%?

知道了。您認為利潤會到此為止嗎？還是殖利率壓力太大，難以複製 4.78%？

So I asked the team to go and look at the difference between what was the net spread compression versus what was just lagging adjustments from interest rate declines. And it was about a 3-basis-point net spread compression.

因此，我要求團隊去研究淨利差壓縮與利率下降滯後調整之間的差異。淨利差壓縮了約 3 個基點。

So I would say that on average, the loans are coming in probably at a lower spread in the past, but we also still have -- not that we have a lot, we still have hybrids adjusting. That will certainly happen going forward. There's still a decent number of hybrid loans that have to adjust and things like that. .

所以我想說，平均而言，過去的貸款利差可能較低，但我們仍然有——並不是說我們有很多，我們仍然有混合調整。這種情況肯定會在未來發生。仍有相當數量的混合貸款需要調整等等。。

So I feel pretty good about where margin is looking forward. I mean, could it be a little bit down. But if we also use up some of the excess liquidity, that's also going to move it the other way, too. But I think that 3 basis points is an interesting number because that -- if you have a flat rate environment, that was sort of -- that's the number that takes out the lagging decline just from index and floating rate loans.

因此，我對保證金的前景感到十分樂觀。我的意思是，它可能會稍微下降一點。但如果我們也用掉一些過剩的流動性，那麼情況也會朝著相反的方向發展。但我認為 3 個基點是一個有趣的數字，因為 — — 如果你處於固定利率環境下，那麼 — — 這個數字就可以消除指數和浮動利率貸款的滯後下降。

Got it. That's helpful, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. I will step back.

知道了。夥計們，這很有幫助。感謝您回答這些問題。我會退後。

(Operator Instructions) Gary Tenner, D.A. Davidson.

（操作員指示）Gary Tenner，D.A.戴維森。

Thanks. Good afternoon, everybody. I wanted to ask about the sequential quarter improvement in special mention substandard loans. Can you talk to kind of where those -- where that kind of improved credit rating was driven by and the color on there? I know NPAs were down quite a bit, but kind of looking deeper, we'll love some additional color.

謝謝。大家下午好。我想問一下關注類次級貸款的季度環比改善情況。您能否談談這些 — — 信用評等的提升是由什麼原因造成的，以及其中的原因是什麼？我知道 NPA 下降了不少，但從更深層次來看，我們希望看到一些額外的資訊。

Yes. In a number of cases, some of the loans were -- that were placed on substandard had payoffs that were coming that just happened to come at the end of the quarter or there was a loan being sold or refinanced that happened to hit at the end.

是的。在許多情況下，一些被列為次級貸款的貸款恰好在季度末才需要償還，或者一些貸款恰好在季度末才需要出售或再融資。

So I think that in a lot of cases, like even if you look at the two large C&I loans that are on nonaccrual, they're both still paying. They both still arguably have strong borrowing bases. So I think we're always cautious about this stuff and we try to be conservative about how we look at it. But in a lot of cases, there really isn't a lot of loss content there. And so frankly, a lot of those loans just paid off or -- and then we did sell some of them, too.

所以我認為在很多情況下，即使你看一下兩筆未計息的大型 C&I 貸款，它們仍然在償還。可以說，它們都仍然擁有強大的借貸基礎。所以我認為我們對這些事情總是很謹慎，我們試圖以保守的方式看待它。但在很多情況下，確實沒有太多損失內容。坦白說，很多貸款剛剛還清，或者——然後我們也出售了其中一些。

At par.

平價。

At par. Yeah. So we sold them at par. So yes, par plus accrued. So we got our interest and whatnot. So yes, it was a good quarter for that. I mean I think the reality of our real estate loans mostly with extremely small exceptions. If the borrower has something going on, the real estate is still worth so much more than what we've lent on and said someone wants it, right? And so we're not really in the business of doing that, although sometimes I feel like we should be when I look at how much money people make on stuff that we sell to them. But in any event, that's kind of what we did there.

平價。是的。因此我們以面值出售它們。是的，票面價值加上應計金額。因此我們得到了我們的興趣等等。是的，這是一個好的季度。我的意思是，我認為我們的房地產貸款的現實情況大多是極少數的例外。如果借款人有事要做，那麼房地產的價值仍然會比我們借出的價格高得多，而且有人想要它，對嗎？因此，我們實際上並不是在做這樣的生意，儘管有時當我看到人們從我們賣給他們的東西上賺了多少錢時，我感覺我們應該這樣做。但無論如何，這就是我們在那裡所做的。

Okay. And then another question I get also around credit. In terms of build this quarter just based on what's in your supplemental deck, it looks like you lowered the reserve specific to multifamily and commercial mortgage by, call it, 30 basis points that increase the C&I reserve by a pretty similar amount. So can you talk about the moving parts there and the thoughts around those two categories?

好的。我遇到的另一個問題也是關於信用的。就本季的建設而言，僅根據您的補充資料，看起來您將多戶住宅和商業抵押貸款的具體儲備金降低了 30 個基點，而 C&I 儲備金則增加了相當相似的數額。那麼，您能談談其中的活動部分以及圍繞這兩個類別的想法嗎？

Yeah. There were -- I'll start with C&I. Loan growth was primarily in C&I. And so that was obviously a major factor in that category. The other results were really coming from the quantitative model where which incorporates the economic factors. So what were some of the key economic factors when you look at what was happening in kind of late February and into March was a lot of tariff fears and driving more negative outlooks on the economic factors. So when we run that through the model, what portfolio gets kind of hit a bit harder was the C&I portfolio. And so that's what drove some of those. That and combined with the growth or what drove some of those increases in that portfolio.

是的。有——我將從 C&I 開始。貸款成長主要集中在商業和工業領域。因此，這顯然是該類別的一個主要因素。其他結果實際上來自於包含經濟因素的量化模型。那麼，當你回顧二月底和三月發生的事情時，你會發現一些關鍵的經濟因素，那就是對關稅的擔憂以及對經濟因素的更多負面展望。因此，當我們透過模型運行該模型時，受到打擊最嚴重的是 C&I 投資組合。這就是導致其中一些現象的原因。這與成長相結合，或者說是推動了該投資組合的一些成長。

And then the real estate portfolio still is continuing to perform and then some of the HBI indexes, housing price indexes, we're continuing to remain positive or turn positive compared to where they were in the prior quarters. And so that's what drove some of the benefits there.

然後，房地產投資組合仍在繼續表現，然後一些 HBI 指數、房價指數與前幾季相比繼續保持正值或轉為正值。這就是推動那裡出現一些好處的原因。

Yeah. I mean, these models are hooked up to Moody's stuff. So if Moody's gets in a mood, then that's going to move the model around, so.

是的。我的意思是，這些模型與穆迪的產品有關。因此，如果穆迪情緒激動，那麼模型就會改變。

I'm sure we've got a lot of that to look forward to in the June quarter.

我確信我們對六月季度有很多期待。

Probably.

大概。

Kelly Motta, KBW.

凱利·莫塔（Kelly Motta），KBW。

Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for the question. I guess starting off on capital, you noted you were active on the buyback here this quarter and continued into April. Wondering, especially given your outlook for what's still pretty strong growth, how you're viewing, continuing the buyback here?

嘿，下午好。謝謝你的提問。我想從資本開始，您注意到您本季積極進行回購，並持續到四月。想知道，特別是考慮到您對仍然相當強勁的成長前景的看法，您如何看待繼續回購？

Yeah. Look, I think we do have excess capital. Obviously, we look at where loan growth is. I think this is a nice opportunity to where our stock is right now to be looking at buybacks. Obviously, we put our money where our mouth is this quarter, and we'll probably keep on looking at that. We don't get opportunities like this all the time. And so we think it's a good opportunity, and we still think we can do right now good solid loan growth.

是的。看，我認為我們確實有過剩的資本。顯然，我們關注的是貸款成長在哪裡。我認為這是我們股票目前回購的好機會。顯然，本季度我們說到做到，我們可能會繼續關注這一點。我們並不是總是能得到這樣的機會。因此，我們認為這是一個很好的機會，我們仍然認為我們現在可以實現良好的貸款成長。

We think our capital ratios are good. We're not really seeing anything that we feel good about where nonperformers are and those kind of things. So things feel okay to be doing a little buyback. And it's not really -- we don't ever go get too crazy and do something that's too abrupt, right?

我們認為我們的資本比率良好。我們確實沒有看到任何讓我們感到滿意的不良表現和諸如此類的事情。因此，進行少量回購感覺還不錯。但事實並非如此——我們永遠不會變得太瘋狂，做出太突然的事情，對吧？

We kind of were in there in the market and making incremental buybacks, which are helpful. I mean, we did -- it was like almost a little bit more than 1% of the stock or about 1% or something like that for the quarter and including this month. So it's a nice opportunity.

我們進入了市場並進行了增量回購，這很有幫助。我的意思是，我們確實這樣做了——就本季（包括本月）而言，這幾乎佔了股票的 1% 多一點，或大約 1% 左右。所以這是一個很好的機會。

If we see M&A type stuff floating around, then maybe we won't do as much. But I think it's a really nice opportunity for us right now. The IRR pencils really, really well. We look at our internal forecast and stuff like that, about where we think we're going to be. So.

如果我們看到併購類型的活動，那麼我們可能就不會做那麼多了。但我認為這對我們來說是一個非常好的機會。IRR 計算起來確實非常好。我們會查看內部預測和類似的東西，以了解我們將會達到什麼程度。所以。

Got it. And on the M&A front, can you remind us what kinds of businesses would be top of mind being additive to Axos?

知道了。在併購方面，您能否提醒我們哪些類型的業務最有可能加入 Axos？

Yeah. We'd love to buy wealth and custody stuff, but there's not a lot out there and it tends to trade at multiples that are just so high that it makes it a little difficult, so we do look at stuff like that. And then, obviously, we pay attention to what's going on in banking, but our model is somewhat unique. So we're not the natural owner of a lot of banks, particularly if they're heavy branch based, but there are specialty type of banks that we might look at a different times if they really made a lot of sense.

是的。我們很想購買財富和託管產品，但市場上這樣的產品不多，而且交易倍數往往很高，這有點困難，所以我們確實會考慮這類產品。然後，顯然，我們關注銀行業正在發生的事情，但我們的模式有些獨特。因此，我們並不是許多銀行的自然所有者，特別是那些分行密集的銀行，但如果它們確實很有意義，我們可能會在不同時間考慮某些專業類型的銀行。

And then we look at spec thin companies, if they're the type of companies that would have a bank-like credits and would be a benefit from our platform from the operational synergies we could bring and the tech and that kind of stuff.

然後，我們會檢視那些規格較低的公司，看看它們是否擁有類似銀行的信用，並能從我們的平台帶來的營運綜效、技術等方面受益。

So we look -- I mean, we looked at differ, we looked at a premium finance business that a bank was selling. We lost the bid on it. We looked at kind of leasing business that was a vendor leasing business, also lost that bid on price. We thought we had a good price, but there's -- some people like to overpay for things. I do not. So -- but we keep on looking at it. And I think when we do something, we do it in a way that has enough margin of safety in it.

所以我們看看——我的意思是，我們看看不同之處，我們看看銀行正在出售的保費融資業務。我們競標失敗了。我們研究過一種租賃業務，即供應商租賃業務，但也因價格原因失敗了。我們認為我們的價格很合理，但是有些人喜歡為東西支付過高的價格。我不知道。所以——但我們會繼續關注它。我認為，當我們做某事時，我們會以具有足夠安全餘地的方式去做。

Got it. That's helpful. Last question from me, just changing gears. Greg, it sounds like you're -- you still feel good about growth even with kind of the noise and uncertainty about tariffs. I'm wondering if you could size your exposure directly or indirectly to construction? And what implications rising input costs could have on maybe CRESL and other like construction elements of the portfolio. If you could just help frame that for me, that would be helpful.

知道了。這很有幫助。我的最後一個問題，只是換個話題。格雷格，聽起來你——即使關稅方面存在一些噪音和不確定性，你仍然對成長感到樂觀。我想知道您是否可以衡量您直接或間接地接觸建築業的情況？投入成本上升可能對 CRESL 和投資組合中的其他類似建設要素產生什麼影響？如果您能幫我構思一下，那將會很有幫助。

Yeah. I mean, the types of projects that we, I think the answer is not much. And the reason it's not much isn't because the input factors may not go up, but we generally require that a substantial portion of the trades are bought out and that usually is a very high proportion. I mean, it varies depending on the strength of the sponsor and our junior lender, but then you also have subguard insurance that bonds, those subs.

是的。我的意思是，我們的項目類型，我認為答案是不多。之所以不多，並不是因為投入因素可能不會上升，而是我們通常要求很大一部分交易被買斷，而且這個比例通常很高。我的意思是，這取決於發起人和次級貸款人的實力，但你也有債券的次級保險，那些次級保險。

So with respect to that, you don't want to leave in a general instance, the idea that you're going to have a project that could have a budget that blows out for whatever reason. And so theoretically, tariffs might be a reason, but there's plenty of things that happen in construction that have nothing to do with tariffs, that blow out budgets. And so that's the thing you've got to get good at and you should make sure you don't do it.

因此，就這一點而言，您不會希望在一般情況下放棄這樣的想法：您將要執行的一個專案可能會因為某種原因而超出預算。因此，從理論上講，關稅可能是一個原因，但建築業中發生的許多事情與關稅無關，會導致預算超支。所以這就是你必須擅長的事情，你應該確保你不會這樣做。

I mean I think where it's harder is frankly, which we don't have a lot of is when you have a smaller mom-and-pop builder and they're doing a $5 million multifamily project or something. And so having institutional level GCs with very strong balance sheets that are able to get all the subs bought out and then buy insurance for the subs and whatever, that's a much different kind of lending. That really doesn't have anything to do with CRESL. So, it's a very different kind of risk that we bear with respect to that because of how we structure our deals.

我的意思是，坦白說，我認為困難的地方在於，我們這裡沒有太多這樣的建築商，他們有一個規模較小的夫妻店建築商，正在做一個價值 500 萬美元的多戶型項目或類似的東西。因此，如果機構層級的 GC 擁有非常強大的資產負債表，能夠將所有子公司收購，然後為子公司購買保險等等，那麼這是一種非常不同的貸款方式。這實際上與 CRESL 沒有任何關係。因此，由於我們的交易結構，我們承擔的風險非常不同。

Thanks, Greg. I appreciate all the color. I'll step back.

謝謝，格雷格。我欣賞所有的色彩。我會退後。

(Operator Instructions) Edward Hemmelgarn, Shaker Investments.

（操作員指示）Edward Hemmelgarn，Shaker Investments。

Great. Thanks. Greg, I got a couple of questions. One is -- you seem to be a higher level of conservatism, both in your allowance for loan losses, but also your, I think your equity, I like to see the share repurchase that was good. But your equity as a percentage of the asset base was higher than I've ever seen it. Are you trying to you being conservative? Or are you anticipating is rougher time or what?

偉大的。謝謝。格雷格，我有幾個問題。一是──你們似乎具有較高的保守性，不僅體現在貸款損失準備金方面，而且體現在股權方面，我認為我喜歡看到股票回購是件好事。但您的股權佔資產基礎的百分比比我所見過的任何時候都要高。你是想表現得保守嗎？或者您預計會面臨更艱難的時期嗎？

Well, you know, Ed, I am a conservative guy, as we've discussed many times. No, look, I think there's a couple of things going on. One is that if you look at our balance sheet, when you first became enamored with us, we were much more of a 50% risk-weighted shop, and so that's changed over time, right? So you sort of -- you get -- if you have a much higher percentage of 50% risk-weighted assets, then you've got that leverage and at risk-weighted ratio tends to have a bigger disparity.

嗯，你知道，艾德，我是一個保守的人，正如我們多次討論過的那樣。不，看，我認為有幾件事正在發生。一是，如果你看一下我們的資產負債表，當你第一次迷上我們時，我們是一家風險加權為 50% 的公司，所以這種情況隨著時間的推移而發生了變化，對嗎？因此，你會明白，如果你擁有 50% 風險加權資產的較高比例，那麼你就擁有了槓桿，而風險加權比率往往會出現更大的差距。

And then as we've added fund finance and C&I and all these different categories, and we've kind of shied away -- single family is not shy away for instance becomes a smaller portion of the portfolio, that ratio has sort of kind of moved together. And so that's an element that you're seeing. That's not all of it, though. I mean, I think there is recognition that we obviously want to continue to make sure that we have a very strong balance sheet. So that is a piece of that as well.

然後，隨著我們增加了基金融資、商業與工業以及所有這些不同的類別，我們有點迴避了——例如，單戶住宅在投資組合中所佔的比例變小了，這個比例有點一起變動了。這就是您所看到的元素。但這還不是全部。我的意思是，我認為大家認識到我們顯然希望繼續確保我們擁有非常強勁的資產負債表。這也是其中的一部分。

So generally, in comparison with a longer period ago, we are targeting a higher equity ratio. But I feel like we're good where we are, and as I said, credit performance looks to be, continue to be solid. So I think we are able to buy back stock, and we had good growth this period. So I think we're doing an appropriate job of balancing, taking appropriate risks and making sure that we're really protecting the institution.

因此整體而言，與較長時期前相比，我們的目標是較高的股權比率。但我覺得我們現在的狀況很好，正如我所說，信貸表現看起來將繼續保持穩固。所以我認為我們能夠回購股票，而且我們這段時間實現了良好的成長。因此我認為我們正在做適當的平衡工作，承擔適當的風險並確保我們真正保護機構。

Yeah. I was looking at the -- just look at the loans balances and your -- assumed to be getting better in terms of current payments and so forth as opposed to worse (inaudible) a little surprised by the loan loss decision for the quarter. The other thing you --

是的。我正在查看——只需查看貸款餘額和你的——假設在當前付款等方面有所好轉，而不是更糟（聽不清楚），對本季度的貸款損失決定有點驚訝。另一件事--

Yeah. I mean, what I would say on the loan loss, what I said on the loan loss provision at is you have to remember, is that with CECL, what happens is there's external inputs for us that are not -- they're marginally related to anything with respect to due to our loan portfolio. So if we have -- so if Moody's says the probability of recession is greater, that's going to increase our loan loss.

是的。我的意思是，關於貸款損失，關於貸款損失準備，我想說的是，你必須記住，對於 CECL 來說，我們會有一些外部投入 - 它們與我們的貸款組合幾乎沒有關係。因此，如果穆迪表示經濟衰退的可能性更大，那麼我們的貸款損失就會增加。

Now, whether or not that ultimately ends up meaning anything for us, I mean, I can have my doubts, but it's a model-based part of it.

現在，無論這最終對我們是否有意義，我的意思是，我可以有疑問，但這是基於模型的一部分。

And the one other thing is that certainly, it comes into effect a little bit a portion of what's happened in the last three months or what have you, right, from quarter to quarter, but the whole idea of CECL, it's a lifetime of the loan. So that you're going -- you're projecting forward multiple different waves of economic ups and downs, right? So you're not trying to necessarily move the allowance massively based on, well, nonaccruals were up this quarter, but they're down next quarter, you'd have loan losses going kind of spiking up and down across the industry if you were solely using that as your one input, right. To Greg's point, there's a lot of different inputs that come into play to help inform the allowance and the provision each quarter.

還有一件事是，它肯定會對過去三個月發生的事情或每季發生的事情產生一點影響，但 CECL 的整個想法是貸款的整個生命週期。所以，您預測了未來經濟將會出現多波不同的起伏，對嗎？因此，您不一定要根據以下因素大幅調整準備金：本季不提列項目上升，但下個季度下降；如果您僅將其作為一項輸入，則整個行業的貸款損失將會大幅上升和下降，對吧。正如格雷格所說，有很多不同的投入可以發揮作用，幫助告知每季的津貼和撥款。

But look, I mean, that being said, we are -- I think we've done -- I think it's a good thing that we can be as profitable as we are and continue to increase and make our loan loss balance where it is. I think that's a positive. And I think it's talked to a lot of pretty smart people over the last couple of months about where they see things going.

但是，我的意思是，話雖如此，我們 - 我認為我們已經做到了 - 我認為我們能夠像現在這樣盈利並繼續增加並使我們的貸款損失餘額保持在原位是一件好事。我認為這是積極的。我認為，在過去幾個月裡，我們已經與許多非常聰明的人討論了他們對事態發展的看法。

And I think the one commonality is everyone agrees that there's just more volatility, right? There's more potential for volatility and a higher sort of distribution of potential outcomes. So I think that's reasonable that the model predicts that.

我認為一個共同點是每個人都同意波動性會更大，對嗎？波動的可能性較大，潛在結果的分佈也較趨於均勻。所以我認為模型預測這一點是合理的。

Yeah. Okay. That's fine. I mean I also appreciate your conservatism. The other thing is just about your spending, I've noticed has really gone up for IT and data processing and so forth. I mean, and you briefly talked about that. You saw some real opportunities there. Can you talk about that a little bit more? I mean maybe some examples of where you're seeing opportunities to really deploy AI and so forth?

是的。好的。沒關係。我的意思是我也欣賞你的保守主義。另一件事是關於你的支出，我注意到 IT 和資料處理等方面的支出確實增加了。我的意思是，你簡要地談到了這一點。你在那裡看到了一些真正的機會。能再多談一下嗎？我的意思是，也許有一些例子可以說明您看到了真正部署人工智慧等的機會？

Yes. So we just released, and we're getting ready to do a transition for our clearing clients away from a couple of old workstations that are quite common in the industry but have been around for a long time and are sort of universally aided, and we're placing it with our own workstation. And we use the low-code platform to do that. And it -- I believe took -- I think about maybe 50%, 60% of the resources and about half the time to get that product out. So we do think that there's a lot of really interesting AI opportunities happening in the software development life cycle. And we've seen some stuff that's quite extraordinary.

是的。因此，我們剛剛發布了該產品，我們正準備為我們的清算客戶進行轉型，讓他們擺脫行業中相當常見但已經存在很長時間並且普遍受到幫助的幾個舊工作站，並將其與我們自己的工作站放在一起。我們使用低程式碼平台來實現這一點。我認為，推出該產品大概需要花費 50% 到 60% 的資源和大約一半的時間。因此，我們確實認為軟體開發生命週期中存在許多非常有趣的人工智慧機會。我們看到了一些非常不尋常的東西。

The ability to lift and shift old code that is in a in basic or in some sort of old language and be able to refactor it much more quickly or to be able to extract and document the code which would normally require somebody who was very skilled at reading the code and documenting it and all those things, the documentation of code, for example, is becoming much more able to be done by artificial intelligence. The ability to take a plain language business requirements document and bring it into a set of stories and a set of documents that can be utilized by developers to code is a lot greater, too. So there's a lot of that.

能夠提升和轉移使用基礎語言或某種舊語言編寫的舊程式碼，並能夠更快地對其進行重構，或者能夠提取和記錄程式碼，這通常需要非常擅長閱讀程式碼和記錄程式碼的人才能完成，而所有這些事情，例如程式碼文檔，現在越來越能夠由人工智慧來完成。將簡單語言的業務需求文件轉化為一組故事和一組可供開發人員用於編碼的文檔的能力也大大增強。有很多這樣的情況。

We're using software that can take a document that has unstructured data and appraisal or whatnot. And let's say you had to pull 100 fields out of it, the AI can pull those fields out and put them into structured data, right? So those are just some examples. I give you a lot of them. I mean, we're really working hard on this.

我們正在使用的軟體可以取得包含非結構化資料和評估等的文件。假設您必須從中提取 100 個字段，AI 可以將這些字段提取出來並將它們放入結構化資料中，對嗎？這些只是一些例子。我給了你很多。我的意思是，我們確實正在為此努力。

We have an AI task force. I think we have to hold ourselves accountable for actually seeing that in the results, which to me means that you have for each dollar you earn, you don't spend as much on people and technology, right? And that's the way I think you have to be able to eat AI.

我們有一個人工智慧工作小組。我認為我們必須對實際看到的結果負責，對我來說，這意味著你賺的每一美元，都不會在人力和技術上花費太多，對嗎？我認為這就是你必須能夠吃掉人工智慧的方式。

And I think it's possible. It's not always easy at every step of the way, but there's a lot of opportunity. I mean, there really is -- we have a good strategy there, and we're not fully at the agentic AI sort of level yet, but we'll have to keep on pushing for that.

我認為這是可能的。每一步並不總是那麼容易，但也有很多機會。我的意思是，確實有——我們有一個很好的策略，雖然我們還沒有完全達到代理人工智慧的水平，但我們必須繼續努力。

Okay, great, Thanks. It's a good quarter.

好的，太好了，謝謝。這是一個好的季度。

Thank you. Thanks, Ed.

謝謝。謝謝，艾德。

Thank you. We've reached end of our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over for any further or closing comments.

謝謝。我們的問答環節已經結束。我想再次請大家發表進一步的評論或結束語。

Thank you, everyone. We'll talk to you next quarter. Appreciate your interest.

謝謝大家。我們將在下個季度與您交談。感謝您的關注。

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

謝謝。今天的電話會議和網路直播到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，享受美好的一天。我們感謝您今天的參與。