Pathward Financial Inc (CASH) 2026 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Pathward Financial's second-quarter fiscal year 2026 investor conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

各位女士、先生，感謝您稍候，歡迎參加 Pathward Financial 2026 會計年度第二季投資人電話會議。(接線員指示) 提醒您，本次電話會議將被錄音。

I would now like to turn the conference call over to Darby Schoenfeld, Senior Vice President, Chief of Staff, and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將電話會議交給 Darby Schoenfeld，資深副總裁、幕僚長暨投資人關係負責人。請開始。

Thank you operator, and welcome. With me today are Pathward Financial's CEO, Brett Pharr; and CFO, Greg Sigrist, who will discuss our operating and financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, after which we will take your questions. Additional information, including the earnings release, the investor presentation that accompanies our prepared remarks, and supplemental slides may be found on our website at pathwardfinancial.com.

謝謝接線員，歡迎各位。今天與我一同出席的有 Pathward Financial 執行長 Brett Pharr，以及財務長 Greg Sigrist；他們將說明我們 2026 會計年度第二季的營運與財務結果，之後我們將回答各位的提問。更多資訊（包括新聞稿、配合我們事先準備講稿的投資人簡報，以及補充投影片）可於我們的網站 pathwardfinancial.com 查閱。

As a reminder, our comments may include forward-looking statements. Those statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual and anticipated results to differ. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Please refer to the cautionary language in the earnings release, investor presentation, and in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent filings for additional information covering factors that could cause actual and anticipated results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.

提醒各位，我們的發言可能包含前瞻性陳述。這些陳述受風險與不確定性影響，可能導致實際結果與預期結果出現差異。公司不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述之義務。請參閱盈餘新聞稿、投資人簡報，以及公司向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交之文件中的警示性說明（包括我們最近期的申報文件），以取得更多資訊，了解可能導致實際與預期結果與前瞻性陳述存在重大差異的因素。

Additionally, today, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures on this conference call. References to non-GAAP measures are only provided to assist you in understanding the company's results and performance trends, particularly in competitive analysis. In order to make our adjusted net interest margin as comparable as possible, we have excluded the impact of the growth accounting methodology on our consumer loans and included contractual rate-related processing expenses associated with deposits on the company's balance sheet.

此外，今天我們也將在本次電話會議中討論若干非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。提及非 GAAP 指標僅為協助您理解公司的結果與績效趨勢，特別是在競爭分析方面。為使我們的調整後淨利差（adjusted net interest margin）盡可能具可比性，我們已排除成長會計方法（growth accounting methodology）對消費者貸款的影響，並將與公司資產負債表上存款相關之合約利率相關處理費用（contractual rate-related processing expenses）納入。

The historical numbers in the earnings presentation has also been updated to reflect this. Reconciliation for such non-GAAP measures are included in the earnings release and the appendix of the investor presentation. Finally, all time periods referenced are fiscal quarters and fiscal years, and all comparisons are to the prior-year period unless otherwise noted.

盈餘簡報中的歷史數據亦已更新以反映上述調整。此類非 GAAP 指標之調節表已包含於盈餘新聞稿及投資人簡報附錄中。最後，文中提及的所有期間均為會計季度與會計年度，除非另有說明，所有比較皆以去年同期為基準。

Now let me turn the call over to Brett Pharr, our CEO.

現在我把電話交給我們的執行長 Brett Pharr。

Thanks, Darby, and welcome, everyone, to our earnings conference call. At the midpoint of our fiscal year, we continue to make good progress on our goals and execute on our long-term strategy, being the trusted platform that enables our partners to thrive.

謝謝你，Darby，也歡迎各位參加我們的盈餘電話會議。在本會計年度過半之際，我們持續在目標上取得良好進展，並執行我們的長期策略——成為值得信賴的平台，讓合作夥伴得以蓬勃發展。

Our tax season is going very well, with tax-related products leading the way in revenue growth for the quarter. Additionally, new and existing partnerships announced last year are developing nicely, and the Partner Solutions pipeline remains robust. Net interest income from our Commercial Finance loans also increased significantly as well.

我們的報稅季進展非常順利，本季與稅務相關的產品在營收成長方面領先。此外，去年宣布的新舊合作關係也正順利發展，Partner Solutions 的商機管線仍然強勁。我們商業金融（Commercial Finance）貸款的淨利息收入也大幅增加。

All in all, our core businesses remain healthy, and we are pleased with the results achieved in the quarter. Continuing with some highlights, we reported net income of $72.9 million and earnings per diluted share of $3.35. Non-interest income in the quarter grew 9% and represented 55% of our total revenue. This was primarily accomplished through numerous successes within Tax Services and further supported by growth in our core card and deposit fees.

總體而言，我們的核心業務維持健康，我們對本季達成的成果感到滿意。接著分享幾項重點：我們公布淨利為 7,290 萬美元，稀釋後每股盈餘為 3.35 美元。本季非利息收入成長 9%，占總營收的 55%。這主要來自稅務服務（Tax Services）多項成果，同時也受惠於核心卡片與存款手續費的成長。

Return metrics were also strong for the first six months of the year, with return on average assets of 2.75% and return on average tangible equity of 40.69%. Just a reminder that these metrics generally hit their high point during this quarter due to the seasonality of the tax business.

今年前六個月的報酬指標也相當強勁，平均資產報酬率（ROAA）為 2.75%，平均有形股東權益報酬率（ROATCE）為 40.69%。提醒各位，由於稅務業務的季節性，這些指標通常會在本季度達到高點。

Finally, we are maintaining our guidance range of $8.55 to $9.05 earnings per diluted share. Our investments within Tax Services are paying off, and we are very proud of all that the team was able to accomplish not only this quarter, but also in the planning and preparation that was undertaken to achieve the results that you see today.

最後，我們維持稀釋後每股盈餘 8.55 至 9.05 美元的財測區間不變。我們在稅務服務的投資正在產生回報，我們也為團隊所完成的一切深感自豪——不僅是本季的表現，也包括為達成各位今天所見成果而進行的規劃與準備工作。

This year, we operated with over 48,000 independent tax offices, which is another record for us and nearly double the number of offices from just five years ago. We are thankful to have cultivated such strong relationships with our existing tax partners and independent tax offices, as well as new ones that have come on board. It is incredibly important to us, especially given the competitive nature of the space, that they trust our people and the level of service they receive.

今年，我們與超過 48,000 家獨立報稅辦公室合作，這再次創下我們的紀錄，且幾乎是五年前辦公室數量的兩倍。我們很感謝能與既有的稅務合作夥伴與獨立報稅辦公室建立如此穩固的關係，也感謝新加入的夥伴。對我們而言，尤其在此領域競爭激烈的情況下，他們信任我們的團隊與所獲得的服務水準至關重要。

We hope to inspire financial confidence and empower more people to navigate the tax system with clarity. Tax season can be the most significant financial event of the year for many families. And through our products, we aim to help individuals make informed decisions about their finances.

我們希望激發財務信心，並賦能更多人以清晰的方式理解並應對稅務制度。對許多家庭而言，報稅季可能是一年中最重要的財務事件。透過我們的產品，我們旨在協助個人就其財務做出明智決策。

This focus on empowering taxpayers and delivering transparent solutions drove increased engagement and improved financial performance within Tax Services. For the six months ending March 31, 2026, we increased total tax product revenue by 13%, led by a 13% increase in non-interest income related to Refund Transfer products and Refund Advance products. Additionally, Refund Advance originations increased by over $200 million this year. This brought total Tax Services revenue to $96 million.

這種以賦能納稅人並提供透明解決方案為核心的聚焦，帶動稅務服務的互動提升並改善財務表現。截至 2026 年 3 月 31 日止六個月，我們的稅務產品總營收成長 13%，主要由與退稅轉帳（Refund Transfer）產品與退稅預支（Refund Advance）產品相關的非利息收入成長 13%所帶動。此外，今年退稅預支的放款金額（originations）增加超過 2 億美元。使稅務服務總營收達到 9,600 萬美元。

Loss rates on Refund Advances were also favorable when compared to last year due to our continued work on our underwriting models and data analytics capabilities. This led us to pretax income of $62 million for Tax Services, an increase of 30%. We believe these outcomes reflect our commitment to empowering people and partners through innovative solutions, unlocking potential and fueling success for those we serve.

由於我們持續精進核貸模型與資料分析能力，退稅預支的損失率相較去年也更為有利。因此，稅務服務的稅前淨利達 6,200 萬美元，成長 30%。我們相信，這些成果反映了我們透過創新解決方案賦能個人與合作夥伴的承諾，釋放潛能並推動我們所服務對象的成功。

We remain diligently focused on delivering on our strategy of being the trusted platform that enables our partners to thrive. As a reminder, this consists of five key focus areas in our fiscal 2026. First, we continue to favor asset rotation in areas where we believe we have a competitive advantage to deliver higher return on assets. With an asset limit of $10 billion to remain below the Durbin Amendment exemption, we remain focused on creating balance sheet optionality. This should deliver increasing net interest income without growing the overall asset size and generate sustainable fee income in the form of secondary market revenue.

我們仍專注且嚴謹地落實「成為值得信賴的平台，讓合作夥伴得以蓬勃發展」的策略。提醒各位，在 2026 會計年度，這項策略包含五個關鍵聚焦領域。第一，我們持續在我們認為具競爭優勢、可帶來更高資產報酬率的領域偏好進行資產輪動（asset rotation）。在資產上限 100 億美元、以維持低於《Durbin 修正案》豁免門檻的前提下，我們仍專注於提升資產負債表的選擇性（optionalitiy）。這應可在不增加整體資產規模的情況下，帶來更高的淨利息收入，並以次級市場收入（secondary market revenue）的形式創造可持續的手續費收入。

Second, we invest regularly in technology and our run rate to help ensure that our platform undergoes the evolution and scalability needed to support our partners' growth as they expand their reach with new products and markets. Third, we believe that people and culture are Pathward's most important assets, which is why I'm very proud to share with you that we once again earned the Great Place to Work certification in 2026 for the fourth year in a row.

第二，我們定期投資於科技與我們的經常性成本水準（run rate），以協助確保我們的平台具備所需的演進與可擴展性，支持合作夥伴在以新產品與新市場擴大觸及範圍時的成長。第三，我們相信人才與文化是 Pathward 最重要的資產，因此我很自豪地與各位分享：我們在 2026 年再次獲得「Great Place to Work」認證，且已連續第四年獲此肯定。

Our culture is just as important as the outcome of our efforts. At Pathward, we are guided by our core values, lead by example, find a better way, help others succeed, and dare to be great. These core elements, along with our talent anywhere approach, is what we believe sets us apart.

我們的文化與努力的成果同樣重要。在 Pathward，我們以核心價值為指引：以身作則、尋求更好的方法、協助他人成功，以及勇於追求卓越。我們相信，這些核心要素，加上我們的「人才無所不在」（talent anywhere）策略，正是讓我們與眾不同之處。

Fourth, the consultative governance approach we take when it comes to our risk and compliance framework helps our partners manage an area that is often complex and difficult to navigate. We also continue to invest in this area to not only evolve with the regulatory environment but also allow for scalability with our partners.

第四，就我們的風險與法遵架構而言，我們採取的諮詢式治理方式，有助於合作夥伴管理一個往往複雜且難以掌握的領域。我們也持續在此領域投入，不僅為了隨監管環境演進，也為了讓我們與合作夥伴的合作具備可擴展性。

Finally, our focus on the client experience is about supporting our partners for greater successes and revenue enablement. Our pipeline remains full, and we are diligently working to bring more partners into the Pathward family and help those that we are already working with to do more. We are also happy to announce that in April, after the quarter close, Pathward executed a three-year extension with TabaPay, a leading money movement platform.

最後，我們對客戶體驗的重視，是為了支持合作夥伴取得更大的成功並促進營收成長。我們的商機管道仍然充足，並正積極努力引進更多合作夥伴加入 Pathward 大家庭，同時協助既有合作夥伴拓展更多合作。我們也很高興宣布，於4月、在本季結束後，Pathward 與領先的資金移動平台 TabaPay 完成為期三年的續約。

Now I'd like to turn it over to Greg, who will take you through the financials.

現在我想把時間交給 Greg，由他帶各位檢視財務表現。

Thank you, Brett. Overall, we are pleased with the financial performance in the quarter. As Brett mentioned, our tax season is off to a great start. This is the product of thoughtful planning and teamwork, and we're proud of what the team is accomplishing again this year. We're equally pleased to see growth in Partner Solutions, which I'll dive into a little deeper in a moment.

謝謝你，Brett。整體而言，我們對本季的財務表現感到滿意。如 Brett 所提到，我們的報稅季開局非常順利。這是周密規劃與團隊合作的成果，我們也為團隊今年再次達成的成果感到自豪。我們同樣樂見合作夥伴解決方案（Partner Solutions）的成長，我稍後會再深入說明。

First, let me start with revenue. As expected, the sale of the consumer finance portfolio back in October did impact net interest income, given the elimination of the grossed-up accounting for that portfolio. Having said that, our strategy of balance sheet optimization continues to deliver solid results with growth in our core Commercial Finance business. Other parts of our strategy have enabled us to report solid results in non-interest income, particularly in our tax products, as well as in core card and deposit fees.

首先，先從營收談起。如預期，10月出售消費金融投資組合確實影響了淨利息收入，因為該投資組合不再適用加總（grossed-up）會計處理。儘管如此，我們的資產負債表最佳化策略持續帶來穩健成果，核心商業金融（Commercial Finance）業務成長表現亮眼。我們策略的其他部分也使我們得以在非利息收入方面繳出穩健成績，特別是稅務產品，以及核心卡片與存款手續費收入。

In our consolidated Tax Services, which consists of both our independent tax offices and tax partnerships, we saw an 18% increase in non-interest income from refund advance and other tax fees and a 7% growth in revenue from refund transfers during the quarter. This is the direct result of significant work to grow this business, increase market share, and evolve the underwriting model.

在我們的合併稅務服務（Tax Services）中（包含獨立報稅據點與稅務合作夥伴），本季來自退稅預支（refund advance）及其他稅務費用的非利息收入成長18%，退稅轉帳（refund transfers）收入成長7%。這是我們為擴大該業務、提升市占率並優化承保模型所投入大量工作的直接成果。

Core card and deposit fee income, which excludes the servicing fees we earn on custodial deposits, grew 22%. We're seeing a lot of growth through existing partners, as well as increasing contributions from new contracts signed last year. Due to the continued backlog from the first government shutdown, we fell short of our goal range for secondary market revenues, but we believe this is primarily a timing impact, and we expect to make up the difference in subsequent quarters.

核心卡片與存款手續費收入（不含我們就保管存款所收取的服務費）成長22%。我們看到既有合作夥伴帶來大量成長，同時去年簽署的新合約貢獻也持續提升。由於第一次政府關門所造成的積壓案件仍在延續，我們的次級市場收入未達目標區間，但我們認為這主要是時點因素，預期後續季度可補回差距。

Non-interest expense improved in the quarter. Outside of the impact from the sale of the consumer portfolio, the primary driver was lower card processing expense due to lower rates, partially offset by an increase in compensation and benefits.

本季非利息費用有所改善。撇除出售消費金融投資組合的影響，主要驅動因素是因費率下降而使卡片處理費用降低，但部分被薪酬與福利增加所抵銷。

Given the value we place on our people, we remain committed to investing in them, as well as processes and technology, and we were still able to manage expenses well when compared to the prior-year quarter. This led to net income of $72.9 million and earnings per diluted share of $3.35.

鑑於我們對人才的重視，我們仍致力於投資員工，以及流程與科技；同時，相較去年同期，我們仍能良好控管費用。因此，本季淨利為7,290萬美元，稀釋後每股盈餘為3.35美元。

Deposits held on the company's balance sheet at March 31 were relatively flat versus a year ago. This is consistent with our balance sheet optimization strategy. Lower-yielding assets, such as securities, declined, and partner deposits were strong in the quarter. This allowed us to have over $250 million more in average custodial deposits than in the prior-year quarter and also generated higher servicing fee income in the quarter.

截至3月31日，公司資產負債表上的存款餘額與一年前相比大致持平。這與我們的資產負債表最佳化策略一致。較低收益的資產（例如證券）下降，而合作夥伴存款在本季表現強勁。這使我們的平均保管存款（custodial deposits）較去年同期增加超過2.5億美元，並在本季帶來更高的服務費收入。

Loans and leases at March 31 grew 9%. Our focus on ensuring we have the right loans on the balance sheet was the primary driver of the increase, with a $588 million increase in our core Commercial Finance business, particularly in renewable energy and structured finance.

截至3月31日，放款與租賃（loans and leases）成長9%。我們聚焦確保資產負債表上配置的是合適的放款，為成長的主要驅動因素；其中核心商業金融業務增加5.88億美元，特別集中在再生能源與結構融資。

Additionally, origination volumes were strong during the quarter, with $367 million in Commercial Finance at yields higher than the March 31 portfolio yield and $945 million in consumer finance. This represents significant growth versus the same quarter last year, and we were pleased by the growth in consumer finance originations, which was driven by the new contract we announced last year.

此外，本季承作量（origination volumes）強勁：商業金融承作3.67億美元，收益率高於3月31日投資組合收益率；消費金融承作9.45億美元。相較去年同季，這代表顯著成長；我們也對消費金融承作的成長感到滿意，主要由我們去年宣布的新合約所帶動。

In Commercial Finance, our loan pipeline remained strong despite timing delays in certain cases stemming from the October 2025 government shutdown. Net interest margin was 6.63% in the quarter. Our adjusted net interest margin was 5.32%, a 23-basis-point improvement over the same quarter last year. This was primarily driven by lower rate-related card expenses.

在商業金融方面，儘管部分案件因2025年10月政府關門而出現時程延遲，我們的放款管道仍維持強勁。本季淨利息收益率（net interest margin）為6.63%。調整後淨利息收益率為5.32%，較去年同季改善23個基點。這主要是由於與利率相關的卡片費用下降所致。

Our non-performing loans saw a modest increase to 2.39%, and our allowance for credit loss ratio on Commercial Finance increased versus last year. This was driven by a mix of specific reserves and our CECL model, which takes into account a number of factors, including the macroeconomic environment as well as portfolio history over time.

不良放款比率小幅上升至2.39%，商業金融的信用損失備抵比率（allowance for credit loss ratio）亦較去年提高。這是由特定個案備抵與我們的 CECL 模型共同驅動；該模型會納入多項因素，包括總體經濟環境以及投資組合長期歷史表現。

Our Commercial Finance portfolio metrics are being driven by a relatively small number of loans in comparison to our portfolio size and in different verticals. As we've mentioned before, we look at our credit metrics to a full-year look back. And to March 31, our trailing 12-month net charge-off rate was at or below the same metric at the end of every quarter in fiscal 2025 and still remains at the low end of our historical range.

我們的商業金融投資組合指標，主要受到相對於投資組合規模而言數量不多、且分布於不同產業垂直領域的放款所影響。如同我們先前提到的，我們會以回溯一整年的角度檢視信用指標。截至3月31日，我們過去12個月的淨沖銷率（net charge-off rate）不高於2025會計年度每一季季末的同項指標，且仍位於我們歷史區間的低端。

Lastly, we continue to believe that we are still in a relatively stable credit environment consistent with the past few quarters. Our liquidity remains strong with $2.7 billion available, and we are extremely pleased with our position at this point in the year. During the quarter, we repurchased approximately 855,000 shares at an average price of $84.15. This leaves 3.4 million shares still available for repurchase under the current stock repurchase program.

最後，我們仍認為目前的信用環境相對穩定，與過去幾季一致。我們的流動性依然強勁，可動用額度為27億美元；就今年此時點而言，我們對自身的部位感到非常滿意。本季我們以平均每股84.15美元回購約855,000股。依現行庫藏股回購計畫，仍有340萬股可供回購。

This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for questions.

以上為我們預先準備的發言。接線員，請開放提問。

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

現在開始問答環節。(接線員指示)

Tim Switzer, KBW.

KBW 的 Tim Switzer。

Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the question.

下午好。謝謝讓我提問。

So the first one I have, you guys just touched on it, but you upped the buyback quite a bit this quarter relative to what you've been doing recently. You still have a good amount of capital, obviously a higher ROE. Is what you did this quarter, is that kind of repeatable for the rest of the year? And what are your other priorities outside of organic growth and [new purchases]? Are there any other kind of M&A type businesses you're in discussions with?

我第一個問題，你們剛剛有提到：相較於近期的做法，你們本季大幅提高了回購。你們顯然仍有相當充足的資本，而且 ROE 也更高。你們本季的回購規模，是否在今年剩餘時間具有可重複性？另外，除了內生成長與[新增收購] 之外，你們還有哪些其他優先事項？是否有在洽談任何其他類型的併購（M&A）業務？

Yeah, Tim, let me start, and Brett may jump in at the end. But I think what you typically see throughout the years, you're going to see seasonality in that buyback, the number of shares and the dollar amount. It typically is correlated to our higher earnings quarters. So the second quarter is always our highest buyback quarter on a relative basis. I would say, though, that the algorithm for the number of shares we buy, particularly early in the quarter, does get updated periodically. And I think this quarter, in part, it was we took advantage of lower share prices as well.

好的，Tim，我先回答，Brett 可能最後也會補充。但我認為你通常會看到，回購在一年當中具有季節性，無論是股數或金額。它通常與我們獲利較高的季度相關。因此，第二季一向是相對而言回購最多的季度。不過我也想說，我們回購股數的演算法，特別是在季度初期，會定期更新。而本季部分原因是我們也把握了較低的股價。

So if it optically looked like we got a little bit ahead, it probably had something to do with that. Obviously, very pleased with where we landed in the quarter on the buybacks. But I think more broadly on the question of capital and capital allocation, I still continue to believe and we continue to believe that the share buybacks are still the highest and best use of capital at this point in time. We obviously continue to look at a lot of things. And if that changes, we'll at some point let you know, but I think it's still buybacks.

所以如果從表面上看起來我們稍微超前了一點，可能就是因為這個原因。顯然，我們對本季回購的落點非常滿意。但更廣泛地談到資本與資本配置的問題，我仍然相信、而且我們也持續相信，就目前這個時間點而言，股票回購仍然是資本最高且最佳的用途。我們當然也持續在看很多事情。如果這點有所改變，我們會在某個時候告訴各位，但我認為目前仍然是回購。

Yeah. And Tim, it's Brett. Just sort of on the strategic elements of M&A, we're always looking to see what's out there. But with our results, we've got a pretty high hurdle rate and obvious reasons we wouldn't be involved in much of a bank kind of situation. We look for things that you might buy versus build. We've just not seen anything over time that made any sense. So the kind of capital utilization we're doing is the highest and best use in our mind at this moment.

是的。Tim，我是Brett。就併購（M&A）的策略面而言，我們一直在看市場上有什麼機會。但以我們的經營成果來看，我們的門檻報酬率相當高，而且基於顯而易見的原因，我們不太可能涉入那種銀行類型的情境。我們會尋找那些你可能會選擇「買」而不是「自己建」的項目。但長期以來我們沒有看到任何合理的標的。所以就目前而言，我們所採取的資本運用方式，在我們看來就是最高且最佳的用途。

Got it. Very clear. And then another question I had. You guys mentioned. I remember it was last quarter or two quarters ago, about how the new programs you guys announced in '25 would contribute mid- to high-single digits to card fees year over year, not even including some of the new lending partnerships you guys have. Now that we're a few quarters in, are you guys still on track for that? What have been kind of the puts and takes over the last few months, and where do you think that can go as we head into '27?

了解。非常清楚。接著我還有另一個問題。你們提到——我記得是上季或前兩季，你們談到在’25宣布的新方案，將使卡費收入年增達到中到高個位數（mid- to high-single digits），而且還不包含你們的一些新放款合作夥伴關係。現在又過了幾季，你們仍然在這個軌道上嗎？過去幾個月有哪些拉抬與抵銷的因素？以及展望邁向’27，你們認為這可能會走到哪裡？

Yeah, Greg can talk about specifics if he wants to. But you look at our card fee income year to date, that's part of the increase in the non-interest income. And we had those deals. We always talk about some of them take time to come on. We're now seeing the benefit of that come through the non-interest income line.

是的，如果Greg想談細節，他可以補充。但你看我們今年迄今的卡費收入，這是非利息收入增加的一部分。而我們也有那些合作案。我們一直都說，其中一些需要時間才會開始貢獻。我們現在正看到其效益反映在非利息收入這一行。

Yeah. As I said in my prepared remarks, year over year, the significant increase versus a year ago is largely organic. But as you would expect and as we've talked about, we've started to see some of the benefit of the new deals. But it's all about the speed to revenue. It still takes some time after you've signed the deals to, depending upon the product, to get those programs live and get the programs ramped and get them fully loaded. But the guide we gave previously about what that looked like on a fully loaded basis still applies. We still think it's going to be a measurable increase into next year as those programs fully ramp.

是的。如我在事先準備的發言中所說，與去年同期相比的顯著成長主要是內生成長（organic）。但如你所預期、也如我們先前談過的，我們已開始看到一些新合作案帶來的效益。不過關鍵在於收入實現的速度（speed to revenue）。在簽署合作案之後，依產品不同，仍需要一些時間才能讓這些方案上線、讓方案爬坡（ramp）、並達到完全載入（fully loaded）。但我們先前給出的、在完全載入基礎下的指引仍然適用。我們仍然認為，隨著這些方案全面爬坡，明年會有可衡量的增幅。

Okay. Got it. And then the last one I had, and it might be a little too early to ask this question, and I don't know if we have enough details, but there's been this proposed executive order about banks being required to obtain citizenship info. And that seems like a tricky situation, I guess, for some of the BaaS banks. And what's the risk of needing to perform that for all the bank accounts you guys have? How much could that cost?

好的。了解。最後一個問題，可能現在問有點太早，我也不確定我們是否有足夠細節，但最近有一項擬議的行政命令，要求銀行必須取得公民身分資訊。我想這對某些BaaS（Banking-as-a-Service）銀行來說似乎是個棘手的情況。而你們需要對所有銀行帳戶執行這件事的風險有多大？可能會花多少成本？

And then I know there's a lot in here, but on the other side of it, is there an opportunity at all for your prepaid card products? Do we know if those would be required to obtain citizenship info as well?

我知道這裡面牽涉很多，但從另一面來看，你們的預付卡產品是否有任何機會？我們是否知道那些產品也會被要求取得公民身分資訊嗎？

All right, Tim. So let's get in the weeds just a little bit. Obviously, we don't know what the rules are, right? So that's part of it. You probably know that for any known owner of account, you have to collect something called CIP. So we already have documentary and non-documentary pieces of information about our customers that we're required to get. An exception to that is if it's unregistered, like an unregistered gift card, that would not apply, and I would suspect in this case it would not apply.

好的，Tim。那我們稍微深入一點。顯然，我們不知道規則會是什麼，對吧？所以這是其中一部分。你可能知道，對於任何已知的帳戶所有人，你必須蒐集所謂的CIP（Customer Identification Program，客戶身分識別計畫）資料。因此，我們已經有必須取得的、關於客戶的文件式與非文件式資訊。其中一個例外是未註冊的情況，例如未註冊的禮品卡，這就不適用；我猜在這個案例中也不會適用。

So we already have the processes in place with our partners to collect the necessary information like that. If there's something else that has to be collected, then we, like everybody else, would have to go and do that. But until we know what the rules are, we don't know what the implications are. But the highways already exist to get that kind of information.

所以我們已經與合作夥伴建立好流程，用來蒐集這類必要資訊。如果還需要蒐集其他資訊，那我們就會和其他人一樣，必須去做。但在我們知道規則之前，我們無法判斷影響會是什麼。不過，取得這類資訊的既有管道（highways）已經存在。

Okay. Are you able to tell us maybe what percent of your deposits or accounts would be part of that unregistered prepaid card business?

了解。你們能否告訴我們，大概有多少比例的存款或帳戶屬於那種未註冊的預付卡業務？

Yeah. So I'm getting the heads that say we don't disclose that here, right? But you can think about our business, right, in general, the kinds of things we have. And if you're in the gift card, it doesn't apply unless they specifically register it. Payroll card, obviously know who it is. There's various kinds of things. So we would have it on some, and we would not have it on others.

可以。我這邊收到的訊息是：我們不在這裡揭露那個數字，對吧？但你可以從我們的業務來思考，一般而言我們有哪些類型。如果是禮品卡，除非他們特別去註冊，否則就不適用。薪資卡則顯然知道是誰。還有各式各樣的類型。所以有些我們會有資料，有些則不會有。

Yeah. And I think as we say broadly on just the topic of deposits, it's a well-diversified deposit base.

是的。而且我想我們也常就存款這個主題廣泛地說，我們的存款基礎是高度多元分散的。

Right. It's going to be different. Yeah.

對。會不一樣。是的。

So over time it evolves, and over time, as we continue to bring on new partners, it continues to diversify.

所以隨著時間推移它會演變，而隨著我們持續導入新的合作夥伴，它也會持續更加分散。

Right.

對。

So hopefully that helps you.

希望這能對你有幫助。

Yeah. No, thanks for answering that. I'll jump back in the queue.

是的。不，謝謝你們回答。我回到排隊序列裡。

Joe Yanchunis, Raymond James.

Joe Yanchunis，Raymond James。

Good afternoon. So I'd like to start with credit here, and I know you touched on it in your prepared remarks, but [NPL] has ticked higher again this quarter. Can you provide some color on the underlying credits that drove this increase? And I know you often tout your workout process which can take time. So do you have a sense for how much of this bucket was resolved [intra-quarter]?

下午好。我想先從信用（credit）談起。我知道你們在事先準備的發言中有提到，但本季[NPL]又再度上升了一些。你能否就推動這次上升的底層授信（underlying credits）提供一些說明？我也知道你們常強調你們的重整／催收處置（workout）流程，這可能需要時間。所以你們是否能判斷這個區間（bucket）中有多少是在[intra-quarter]（季內）就已解決的？

So let me go through it big picture. So you recall we've got different asset classes. We always do collateral managed transactions, so there's no unsecured. And we stay out of certain kinds of verticals that we do not think have good collateral attributes over time. We measure these things through the cycle, and Greg in his comments even talked about that.

我先從大方向說明。你會記得我們有不同的資產類別。我們一向做的是有擔保品管理的交易，所以沒有無擔保（unsecured）。而且我們會避開某些垂直領域（verticals），因為我們認為那些領域的擔保品屬性長期來看不夠好。我們會用穿越景氣循環（through the cycle）的方式衡量這些事情，Greg在他的評論中也提到了這點。

You always have some one-offs, right? So you have to go through a workout. Workouts can be short. Workouts can be long, and they're uneven as you go through them. So I don't know that we could answer the question if any have been resolved. But they're all consistent with the way that we approach our collateral management program, and we've had consistent results with that literally for years that you can trace through.

你總是會有一些一次性的事項，對吧？所以你必須經歷一個處置流程。處置流程可能很短。處置流程也可能很長，而且在推進過程中並不均勻。所以我不確定我們是否能回答哪些已經解決了這個問題。但它們都與我們處理擔保品管理計畫的方式一致，而且我們多年來在這方面一直有一致的結果，你可以一路追溯驗證。

So again, to Greg's comments, I think in his remarks, we're not seeing anything changing in the credit environment. It's just one-off stories that happen in various asset classes.

所以再一次呼應 Greg 的評論，我想在他的發言中，我們沒有看到信用環境有任何變化。只是各類資產中偶爾會發生一些一次性的個案故事。

Yeah. And Joe, just to walk you through a few of the metrics there, just broadly on the credit side. You probably saw when you get into it that on the past due side, the 30- to 59-day bucket increased. It went up by about $40 million. That was due to a limited number of loans that frankly came current after quarter end. So that kind of factors into this equation too. So you kind of get back to more normalized level of past dues in that bucket. And then when you mentioned the NPL ratio ticked up, it did, but then you need to disaggregate that a little bit. When you look at the non-accrual balances in the earnings release, those non-accrual balances actually came down about $5 million. That's the bucket that had some of the larger loans in it that we've been talking about in terms of resolution over the last couple of quarters.

是的。Joe，我再帶你快速看幾個指標，主要是信用面的大方向。你可能也看到，在逾期方面，30 到 59 天的區間上升了。大約增加了 4,000 萬美元。那是因為少數幾筆貸款，坦白說在季末之後就恢復正常還款（轉為當期）。所以這也會納入這個等式的考量。因此那個區間的逾期水準會回到比較正常化的水準。另外你提到不良貸款（NPL）比率小幅上升，確實如此，但你需要再把它拆開看。當你看財報新聞稿中的停計息（non-accrual）餘額時，那些停計息餘額其實下降了約 500 萬美元。那個區間包含了我們過去幾季一直在談、正在解決中的一些較大型貸款。

What drove the NPL ratio up in the quarter, though, is that greater than 90 days past due and still accruing bucket, which -- and that's really the broad stuff, normal course collateral management collection piece that Brett's talking about. So that's a number of just our normal process. A number of smaller loans kind of drove that. So in the quarter, what drove it up was that bucket, not anything that's larger in part of the resolution.

不過，本季推升 NPL 比率的原因，是「逾期超過 90 天但仍在計息」那個區間；而那其實就是 Brett 所說的、在正常營運下的擔保品管理與催收作業。所以那是我們正常流程的一部分。主要是一些較小筆的貸款推動了那個變化。因此本季拉高比率的是那個區間，而不是任何較大型、屬於處置解決的一部分。

Okay, that's helpful. And then just kind of moving over to some provision, and then we'll move on to a different topic. So the provision increased pretty materially in this quarter. How much of that increase was due to seasonal tax changes, organic growth versus underlying credit issues?

好的，這很有幫助。接著我想轉到提存（provision）這塊，然後我們再換個主題。所以本季提存增加得相當明顯。這個增加有多少是因季節性稅務變動、有機成長所致，與潛在的信用問題相比各占多少？

Yeah. I think the line I focus on the most, I think we isolate the Tax Services provisioning in the document. I keep coming back to the Commercial Finance, which I addressed in my prepared remarks, right?

是的。我最關注的一條線是：我想我們在文件中把稅務服務（Tax Services）的提存單獨拆出來了。我一直回到商業金融（Commercial Finance）這塊，也就是我在事先準備的發言中提到的部分，對吧？

It was a mix of both. There's certainly some specific reserving related to everything we talked about on the NPL side, but it's also just driven by our normal CECL process. Many quarters, it's driven by increase in the loan book. But this quarter, it was more driven just by looking through and just taking a pragmatic view of where we're going to land on some of these credits. But with the benefit of looking forward, we still believe this is a very -- my words, benign -- very stable credit environment. So we're not seeing anything special in that.

兩者都有。當然有一些特定提列，與我們在 NPL 方面談到的所有事項相關，但同時也只是由我們正常的 CECL 流程所驅動。很多季度，提存是由貸款組合增加所帶動。但這一季更多是因為我們檢視後，務實地評估這些授信最終可能落點會在哪裡。不過從前瞻角度來看，我們仍然認為這是一個非常——用我的話說，溫和（benign）——非常穩定的信用環境。所以我們沒有看到任何特別的狀況。

I think the other thing I pointed to in my prepared remarks, though, is you've heard us say this for quite a few quarters now. We always look at the trailing 12-month NPLs or net charge-offs because that's a better barometer for this business, given how lumpy some of our workouts are and some of our recoveries are. So when you kind of apply that backward-looking 12-quarter view to the net charge-offs this quarter, and frankly, the things driving some of the credit metrics, it's benign. It's well within our historic averages.

不過我在事先準備的發言中也指出另一點：你們已經聽我們講了好幾季了。我們總是看過去 12 個月的不良貸款或淨沖銷（net charge-offs），因為考量到我們的一些處置流程與回收（recoveries）波動很大，這對這項業務而言是更好的衡量指標。所以當你用這種回顧式的 12 季視角來看本季的淨沖銷，以及坦白說推動部分信用指標的因素，其實是溫和的。完全在我們歷史平均範圍之內。

One of the things that's very important about our asset class is, Joe, while in some industries, non-performing loans are a leading indicator and the net charge-offs are a lagging indicator, if you look at the correlation in our book for the past literally decade, that's not what happens. And so while you have non-performing loans, they generally tend to be more tightly secured. And even if you get a charge-off, you get a recovery. So look at that history through the cycle and you'll see our net charge-offs are disconnected from our non-performing loans.

關於我們資產類別有一點非常重要，Joe：在某些產業中，不良貸款是領先指標，而淨沖銷是落後指標；但如果你看我們這本帳過去幾乎整整十年的相關性，情況並不是那樣。因此即便你有不良貸款，它們通常也有更緊密的擔保。而且即使發生沖銷，你也會有回收。所以你沿著景氣循環看這段歷史，你會發現我們的淨沖銷與不良貸款之間是脫鉤的。

Got it. I appreciate that. And I'll ask one more before hopping back in the queue. You had mentioned subsequent to quarter end, you reached a contract extension with a partner -- and sorry, I didn't catch the name during it.

了解。謝謝你的說明。我再問一個問題，然後就回到排隊序列。你提到在季末之後，你們與一個合作夥伴達成了合約延長——抱歉，我當時沒聽清楚名稱。

Generally speaking, how did economics change during the recontracting process? I understand that if the partner grows during the contract, you'll get more volume. Does the recontracting generally result in lower margins?

一般來說，在重新簽約的過程中，經濟條件（economics）是如何改變的？我理解如果合作夥伴在合約期間成長，你們會獲得更多量。重新簽約通常會導致較低的利潤率嗎？

Every contract is different. And there's a lot of contracts where you trade one thing for the other because that's what the partner wants to do. So the classic example is if there's deposits involved and somebody wants a higher percentage of what we call contractual card service payments on it. But then we just charge more in transaction fees. So the net economics for us are the same. And a lot of it depends on whether they want to take interest rate risk or not. We can manage interest rate risk or they can manage it.

每份合約都不一樣。而且很多合約會在某些條件上做取捨，因為那是合作夥伴想要的安排。典型例子是：如果涉及存款，而對方希望在我們所稱的「合約性卡片服務支付」（contractual card service payments）中取得更高比例。那我們就會在交易手續費上收得更高。因此對我們而言，淨經濟效益是一樣的。而且很大一部分取決於他們是否想承擔利率風險。利率風險可以由我們管理，也可以由他們管理。

So there's always trade-offs. There's also trade-offs of if you want it longer, that'll probably be better economically. If you want it shorter, probably not as good economically. So that's a general comment on them. Every contract negotiation is different and there's not a standard sort of book approach to it.

所以總是會有取捨。另外也有取捨：如果你希望期限更長，經濟條件可能會更好。如果你希望期限更短，經濟條件可能就沒那麼好。這是對合約的一般性評論。每一次合約談判都不同，並沒有一套標準化、照本宣科的做法。

And no, we're not seeing things generally go south on the margin side because that's -- and we did this a few years ago. That's the reason we didn't do a lot of transactions at one point was because the pricing was silly. Now we're seeing the kind of pricing we want to have.

而且不，我們並沒有看到整體利潤率普遍走弱，因為那——我們幾年前就做過這件事。我們曾在某個時點不做很多交易的原因，就是因為當時的定價太荒謬了。現在我們看到的是我們希望達到的那種定價水準。

And part of that too is we feathered in the discipline to do risk-adjusted returns every time we do either a new partner or one of these renewals. So there's a pricing team that looks at it to make sure it makes sense and it's sensical for us from an overall enterprise perspective.

另外一部分原因是，我們已經把每次做新合作夥伴或這類續約時，都要做風險調整後報酬（risk-adjusted returns）的紀律納入流程。因此有一個定價團隊會審視，確保它合理，並且從整體企業角度來看對我們是合乎邏輯的。

All right. That was very helpful. And I will hop back in the queue and we'll talk again soon.

好的。這非常有幫助。我會回到隊列裡，之後我們很快再聊。

Manuel Navas, Piper Sandler.

Manuel Navas，Piper Sandler。

Good afternoon. Is there any more color you could add about the partner pipeline? You said it was robust. Just anything you could add there.

下午好。關於合作夥伴的管線，您能否再多補充一些細節？您說它很強勁。就任何您能補充的內容都可以。

Yeah. Well, we've been through these last several years where there was a period of time I alluded to a minute ago where there were some things that were going on in the industry that we really didn't want to participate in. A lot of that's gotten washed out. And we've started talking in the last year, a year and a half that it's really picking up, and it's actually coming through with contracts.

是的。嗯，過去這幾年我們經歷了一段時間——我剛才提到過——當時產業裡發生了一些事情，我們其實不想參與。其中很多已經被洗出去了。而我們在過去一年到一年半一直在談，情況確實在回升，而且實際上也透過合約落地了。

And yes, our pipeline is very strong. Part of that has to do with our breadth of product approach with our partners, where we'll do multiple kinds of products with the same partner. And that's an advantage I think we have in the marketplace. And we're continuing to have lots of new opportunities and new partners as well as existing partners bringing on new products and new programs. So pipeline is very strong and part of it's because we think the dynamics and economics have returned back in our favor.

是的，我們的管線非常強。其中一部分原因在於我們與合作夥伴採取的產品廣度策略，也就是我們會與同一個合作夥伴合作多種不同類型的產品。我認為這是我們在市場上的一項優勢。我們也持續有許多新的機會與新合作夥伴，同時既有合作夥伴也在導入新產品與新方案。所以管線非常強，而其中一部分是因為我們認為產業動態與經濟條件已回到對我們有利的方向。

Yeah. And the 22% increase in core card fee income from last year, that in part is new products with existing organic partners. No, I don't have the numbers to split it out for you. But again, that's just one outward sign that we're having success with our existing partners doing the multi-threaded approach on the product side, as Brett mentioned, in addition to, as he also mentioned, new partners to new products. So we're really pleased with where we are right now.

是的。而核心卡片手續費收入較去年成長22%，其中一部分來自既有有機合作夥伴推出的新產品。不，我沒有數據可以幫你拆分。但同樣地，這只是其中一個外顯跡象，顯示我們在既有合作夥伴上採取多線並進的產品策略方面取得成功——如Brett所提——另外也包括他提到的，新的合作夥伴帶來新的產品。所以我們對目前的狀況非常滿意。

That's helpful. Can you speak to -- there was some loan declines this quarter. I understand some of the seasonality there. How should we think about loan growth going forward? You talked about healthy pipelines in different of your loan lines. Can you speak to perhaps the mix of that growth as well going forward as you kind of reset the loan book to how you want it to end up?

這很有幫助。能否談談——本季有一些貸款下滑。我理解其中有些季節性因素。我們應該如何看待未來的貸款成長？你提到在不同貸款線別都有健康的管線。也能否談談未來成長的組合，當你們把貸款組合重置到你們希望最終呈現的樣子時，該如何看待？

Let me work backwards on that. I think we like the verticals we're in. We've done some resetting over the last couple of years. We've exited a couple of verticals. When we think about the asset classes that we're in, we've been very purposeful with them. We've obviously used a risk-adjusted return approach with looking at credit through the cycle.

我先從後面說起。我想我們喜歡我們所在的垂直領域。過去幾年我們做了一些重置。我們退出了幾個垂直領域。當我們思考所處的資產類別時，我們一直是有目的、有策略地配置。顯然，我們在檢視跨景氣循環的信用時，採用的是風險調整後報酬的方法。

I think the variance you saw in the quarter, though, was more of a timing issue. On the USDA side, there's probably a bit of a slowdown in the quarter just related to the government shutdown. The first shutdown with the government led to some slowdown on the USDA side, but I continue to believe that's just a timing issue.

不過，我認為你在本季看到的差異，更多是時點問題。在USDA那一塊，本季可能有些放緩，主要與政府關門有關。政府第一次關門導致USDA端出現一些放緩，但我仍然相信這只是時點問題。

When I think about the rest of the asset classes more broadly, I think it's just more of a timing issue. I would say our pipelines are still very full across the verticals. So when I think about the balance of the year, I tend to focus more on the originations than I do the relative point estimate or average on the loan side. Why? And this goes back to the treasury-led model and the fact that we're focused on the balance sheet velocity, which really means we could be down quarter over quarter, too just because we sold a lot of stuff purposefully as part of that process.

當我更廣泛地看其餘資產類別時，我認為也更多是時點問題。我會說我們在各個垂直領域的管線仍然非常滿。因此，當我看今年剩餘時間時，我更關注承作量（originations），而不是貸款端的相對點估或平均值。為什麼？這又回到以財資主導的模式，以及我們專注於資產負債表周轉速度（balance sheet velocity）這件事；這其實意味著，我們可能也會出現季度對季度下降，只是因為我們在該流程中有目的地賣出了很多資產。

This quarter, it didn't have anything to do with that, again, because the USDA, they're still a little bit groggy, they're still a little bit gummed up. But when I think about going forward, I would expect to see some modest continued uptick in the quarters going forward in the products we're in with an eye toward, again, risk-adjusted returns across the verticals we're in at this point in time.

本季並不是因為那個原因；再說一次，是因為USDA那邊還有點遲滯、流程還有點卡。但展望未來，我預期在我們目前所做的產品上，未來幾季會看到一些溫和、持續的回升，同時仍會著眼於我們目前所在各垂直領域的風險調整後報酬。

I appreciate that. Any near-term guidance on the direction of the NIM? It stepped down on both the full version and then the adjusted level. Just how should we think of it going forward on either metric?

了解，謝謝。對於NIM的短期走勢，有沒有任何指引？無論是完整口徑或調整後口徑，本季都有下滑。我們應該如何看待未來，不論用哪個指標？

Yeah. Adjusted NIM is the one I would recommend. It's the one I look to because I believe it's the more accurate representation of the interest rate risk on our balance sheet because it kind of neutralizes for things that are not sitting in net interest expense, the contractual rate-related fees we pay to partners on deposits. That one was down in the quarter. But if you go back, I think we have a time sequence someplace that'll show you that metric back in time.

是的。我會建議看調整後NIM。我自己也看這個，因為我認為它更能準確反映我們資產負債表的利率風險，因為它把一些不在淨利息費用裡的項目中和掉了，例如我們依合約支付給合作夥伴、與利率相關的存款費用。這個指標本季確實下滑。但如果你回頭看，我想我們某處有一個時間序列，會顯示這個指標的歷史走勢。

You tend to always see seasonality in the March quarter because of tax season. The balance sheet grows, and as a result, we tend to do some wholesale borrowings at the margin to fund that. We don't need to fund it 12 months of the year, but we do fund it for 45 to 60 days of the year. So that tends to cause a little bit of a downtick in the March quarter.

你通常會在3月季度看到季節性，因為報稅季。資產負債表會成長，因此我們往往會在邊際上做一些批發融資借款來支應。我們不需要一年12個月都這樣融資，但我們確實會在一年中約45到60天這麼做。所以這通常會導致3月季度出現一點下滑。

Looking ahead, though, and I appreciate you weren't on last quarter's call -- and Manuel, I will say now we really appreciate you joining the team here and joining the party. I still continue to believe we're stable to slightly trending up on the adjusted net interest margin. Why? I think we've proven -- you can look at either metric over the last year. Rates are down, approaching 100 basis points in the last year. You look back to the adjusted NIM a year ago, we're up. And that kind of -- I think it's proof that we're not sensitive to the short end of the curve. And as we've said consistently, we are more sensitive to the middle part of the curve, three- to five-year, because that's where we price the fixed rate loans that we do have are priced there.

不過展望未來——也理解你上季的電話會議沒有參加——Manuel，我現在也要說，我們非常感謝你加入團隊、加入這場盛會。我仍然相信調整後淨利差是持平到略微上行的趨勢。為什麼？我認為我們已經證明了——你可以看過去一年的任一個指標。利率在過去一年下跌、接近100個基點。你回頭看一年前的調整後NIM，我們是上升的。而這某種程度上——我認為這證明我們對殖利率曲線短端並不敏感。而且如我們一貫所說，我們對曲線中段（3到5年期）更敏感，因為我們所做的固定利率貸款就是在那裡定價。

And as importantly, we still have roughly $200 million net for the next 12 months in the securities portfolio that it'll reprice, and it'll reprice likely into loans over the horizon. And there's still a bit of fixed-rate loans that were put on before rates really ran up in 2022 that still are subject to repricing. And that last one's becoming a smaller and smaller bucket, but it all leads down the path of, again, I still believe there's a modest tailwind there for us. I don't see with the current rate environment, current rate outlook, and the mix we've got, anything that would suggest otherwise.

同樣重要的是，在證券投資組合中，未來12個月仍約有2億美元的淨額將會重新定價，而且在這段期間內很可能會重新定價並轉入貸款。另外，還有一些在2022年利率真正大幅上升之前承作的固定利率貸款，仍會面臨重新定價。那一塊的占比正變得越來越小，但整體仍指向同一條路徑：我仍然相信對我們而言有一個溫和的順風。以目前的利率環境、利率展望以及我們的組合來看，我看不出有任何理由會顯示不是如此。

I appreciate that. One last question on the tax season. I know there's about a month left in terms of what you haven't reported yet, but what are some of the learnings that you're going to apply to next year? Anything on new tax laws where you can gain market share? Any of the priorities that you think you might set up for the next tax season?

我很感謝。關於報稅季最後一個問題。我知道就你們尚未回報的部分來看，大概還剩一個月，但你們有哪些學到的經驗會應用到明年？在新的稅法方面，有沒有什麼可以讓你們取得市占的機會？對於下一個報稅季，你們認為可能會設定哪些優先事項？

Over the last several years, we have really done a good job of focusing on customer service with our EROs. And because of some disruption going on in the marketplace, that's given us a great opportunity to grab market share. And we would hope we would continue to do the same thing next year.

過去幾年，我們確實在與我們的 ERO（電子報稅申報人）合作的客戶服務上做得很好。而由於市場上出現了一些擾動，這也給了我們很好的機會去搶占市占。我們希望明年也能持續做到同樣的事。

Now this year got quite a boost from the new tax laws and interest in refunds and the size of them and a lot of those kinds of things. And that may not come next year, but we still continue to believe we're having a better experience for our EROs, and so therefore, we retain more and we'll be grabbing more in future years.

今年因為新稅法、以及大家對退稅與退稅金額大小的關注等因素，確實帶來了相當大的提振。明年可能不會再有同樣的助力，但我們仍然相信我們為 ERO 提供了更好的體驗，因此我們能留住更多客戶，並在未來幾年取得更多份額。

Thank you for the commentary.

謝謝你的評論。

Lucas, are you there? I believe we have more questions still.

Lucas，你在線嗎？我相信我們還有更多問題。

Yeah, everyone, just bear with us for a moment. I think we're having some technical issues.

是的，各位，請稍等我們一下。我想我們遇到一些技術問題。

Tim Switzer, KBW.

Tim Switzer，KBW。

Okay. Yeah, thanks for letting me back. A quick one here. There's obviously been a lot of pullback from some competitors in the Banking-as-a-Service space due to the regulatory environment. Now that we're a few years through that, can you quantify -- and maybe not quantify, but discuss if you're starting to see more competition coming in? And are there different types of players or more players in this space than there were previously in terms of like this is coming from beyond banks now as you guys also expand your offerings?

好的。是的，謝謝讓我重新加入。我這邊一個簡短問題。由於監管環境的關係，銀行即服務（Banking-as-a-Service）領域的一些競爭對手顯然出現了不少退縮。現在我們已經走過那段時間幾年了，你能否量化——或者不一定要量化，但談談你們是否開始看到更多競爭回來？另外，就你們也在擴大產品提供而言，這個領域的參與者類型是否不同，或玩家是否比以前更多——例如現在不只是銀行端也有其他來源的玩家進來？

Yeah. So let's talk about the elephant in the room, right? Which is, everybody's going and getting a bank charter right now. We might as well just hit that head on. So generally in our pipelines, we are not seeing the effect of that. There are those, including some of our partners that are getting charters. But in many cases, they're getting sort of limited purpose charters, and re-acknowledging to us they're going to continue to do things with us. So we think there'll be certain cases where people get charters and do that.

是的。那我們來談談房間裡的大象，對吧？也就是現在大家都在去申請銀行執照（bank charter）。我們不如就直接正面談這件事。整體而言，在我們的案源管線（pipelines）中，我們沒有看到這件事帶來的影響。確實有一些人，包括我們的一些合作夥伴正在申請執照。但很多情況下，他們拿到的是某種有限目的的執照，同時也再次向我們確認，他們仍會繼續與我們合作做事。所以我們認為，確實會有一些案例是人們拿到執照後自己去做。

Those that are going for full national charters, some of those things. There's a long way between here and them actually getting a bank opened and getting something up and running. So my view is we're a couple of years out, and they'll probably arrive just in time from what might be the next administration, which will be an interesting experience.

至於那些要申請完整的全國性執照（full national charters）之類的情況，從現在到他們真的把銀行開起來、把系統與業務跑起來，還有很長一段路。所以我的看法是，至少還要兩年左右，他們大概會在下一屆政府上任時才剛好到位，那會是個很有意思的局面。

So I think we've got a period of time here with runway on pipelines, and that we're not seeing any impact yet from some of those kinds of things. I do believe there'll be some that are successful. And two or three years from now, we'll have some more competitors that are in this space. We've been there before, and it's one of the reasons we're making sure we're serving partners well, giving them a wide breadth of product opportunities, which are not easy to duplicate, typically, getting longer term contracts where we can, because switching costs are high. And we think that'll help us even if we hit another competitive wave that may happen here in a few years.

因此我認為，我們在這段時間的管線仍有一段跑道，而且目前還沒有看到這類事情帶來任何影響。我確實相信其中會有一些人成功。而在兩到三年後，這個領域可能會出現更多競爭者。我們以前也經歷過，這也是我們確保把合作夥伴服務好的一個原因：提供他們廣泛的產品機會（通常不容易被複製）、在可行時簽更長期的合約，因為轉換成本很高。我們認為，即便幾年後又遇到新一波競爭，這些做法也能幫助我們。

Interesting. Yeah. You did get ahead of my follow-up there on some of your partners going to get contracts. So I got just one more here. And I think I asked this a couple of quarters ago too, but there's so much movement happening in this space right now, and the current administration's very open to it. Any recent developments you guys can share or talk about your level of interest in partnering with a stablecoin or some other digital asset company?

有意思。是的。你其實已經先回答了我後續想問的、關於你們一些合作夥伴去簽合約的問題。所以我再問最後一個。我想我在前幾季也問過，但現在這個領域變動很多，而且現任政府對此也很開放。你們最近有沒有任何進展可以分享？或者談談你們對於與穩定幣（stablecoin）或其他數位資產公司合作的興趣程度？

I mean, we're in the payments business, so we have to pay attention, right? So we have our own views on stablecoin, how we're going to deal with that, think about that, et cetera. But we are a partner-led model, and we're watching our partners. And as our partners come to us, we're engaging in various things. And that's not just stablecoin, that's many other different kinds of payment mechanisms that are happening.

我的意思是，我們在做支付業務，所以我們必須關注，對吧？因此我們對穩定幣有自己的看法：要如何因應、如何處理、如何思考等等。但我們是以合作夥伴為主導的模式，我們也在觀察合作夥伴的動向。當合作夥伴來找我們時，我們就會在各種事情上進行合作與投入。而這不僅是穩定幣，也包括許多其他正在發生的不同支付機制。

And so we'll continue to do that. But we're watching it and participating in the dialogue, but it's not the kind of thing we're announcing, and we'll watch how our partners lead us.

所以我們會持續這麼做。但我們會觀察並參與相關對話，只是這不是我們會對外宣布的那種事情；我們會看合作夥伴如何帶領我們前進。

Joe Yanchunis, Raymond James.

Joe Yanchunis，Raymond James。

Hello again. A few more questions from me here. So I understand your partner pipeline's pretty full. Cross-selling remains a big opportunity. Over the next, call it 12 to 18 months, do you expect to have more success cross-selling products or signing up new partners?

再次你好。我這邊還有幾個問題。我理解你們的合作夥伴管線相當滿。交叉銷售仍然是很大的機會。在接下來大約 12 到 18 個月，你們預期交叉銷售產品會更成功，還是簽下新合作夥伴會更成功？

It's hard to answer that question, and a lot of it depends on -- I mean, we're going to be doing both, right? New ideas come in, et cetera. When you do a new partner and a new program, ramp up is slower. There's no doubt about that.

這個問題不太好回答，而且很大程度取決於——我的意思是，我們兩者都會做，對吧？新的想法會進來等等。當你做一個新合作夥伴與新方案時，爬坡期會比較慢。這點毫無疑問。

Greg alluded to it earlier. Organic growth has been an awful lot of our growth recently, but we've got new things coming in. So I don't know that I could put a 50-50 on it or something like that, but both of them are key parts of our overall strategy.

Greg 先前也提到。最近我們的成長有很大一部分來自自然成長（organic growth），但我們也有新的事情正在導入。所以我不確定能不能把它說成 50-50 之類，但兩者都是我們整體策略的關鍵部分。

Yeah. I'll answer just from a revenue growth perspective, not even the numbers, what's signed up. I think to Brett's point, I think you always get to revenue faster with existing partners, in part because of just the third party risk management you have to do once they're onboarded. It makes it a little easier. There's less.

是的。我就從營收成長的角度來回答，甚至不談數字或簽了多少。我認為就 Brett 的觀點，你通常能從既有合作夥伴更快帶來營收，部分原因是他們一旦完成導入後，你只需要做一次第三方風險管理。這會讓事情稍微容易一些。阻力更小。

But I think you also typically -- when I think about the next 18 months, I still think that you're going to have a fair amount of revenue growth that are going to come from existing partners, whether that's cross-selling to your words or multi-threaded to ours. I think when you get out past the 18 months is when you're still going to have the tailwind from new partners, new products.

但我也認為，通常——當我看接下來 18 個月時，我仍然認為會有相當一部分營收成長來自既有合作夥伴，不管用你的說法是交叉銷售，或用我們的說法是多線並進（multi-threaded）。我認為超過 18 個月之後，你仍會受到新合作夥伴、新產品帶來的順風（tailwind）。

Okay. So in that answer, you talked about onboarding partners and how it can take longer for new partners. I guess, how has the time to onboard a new partner changed over now versus, say, three years ago? And I understand you have different products which might have different times. So just generally speaking, has that speed to market, has that changed at all?

好的。所以在那個回答中，你談到合作夥伴的導入，以及新合作夥伴可能需要更長時間。我想問的是，現在導入一個新合作夥伴所需的時間，和例如三年前相比，有什麼變化嗎？而且我理解你們有不同的產品，可能需要不同的時間。所以一般來說，你們的上市速度（speed to market）有任何改變嗎？

We've had a focus on speed to market, and that's part of what we're doing. Some of that is process improvement. Some of that is we're investing in technology and those kinds of things that will help with it. And sometimes, we're waiting on partners, right? You've got both of those things are going on, and you sort of took the words out of my mouth. And it depends on the product. There's a few products you can turn on in a matter of weeks, right? And there's others that can take quite a while to do it.

我們一直專注於加快上市速度，這也是我們正在做的一部分。其中一部分是流程改善。另一部分是我們在投資科技以及這類能提供協助的事情。而且有時候，我們也在等合作夥伴，對吧？這兩件事同時在發生，你幾乎把我想說的話都說出來了。而且這取決於產品。有些產品可以在幾週內就啟用，對吧？也有一些可能需要相當長的時間。

So it varies, but we have been focused on us improving the speed of that. But we just got to remember, third-party delivery is in fact third-party delivery, and there are frameworks that have to be put in place when you set that up. And that's an important part of our overall program.

所以會有所不同，但我們確實一直專注於提升我們在這方面的速度。但我們也必須記得，第三方交付（third-party delivery）畢竟就是第三方交付，當你建立這種模式時，必須先把相關框架建置到位。而這是我們整體計畫中很重要的一部分。

Yeah. And speed to launching is different from speed to revenue because, again, we're not lifting and shifting programs that exist. These are not BIN transfers, right? So then you're beholden to the partner to actually ramp their programs, and that, again, varies by product. But that's the other dimension that we work with partners on, but that's the way they manage their program.

是的。而且上線速度不同於營收速度，因為再說一次，我們不是把既有的計畫直接搬過來（lift and shift）。這些不是 BIN 轉移（BIN transfers），對吧？因此你就得依賴合作夥伴實際去拉升他們的計畫，而這同樣會因產品而異。但那是我們與合作夥伴一起處理的另一個面向，不過那也是他們管理其計畫的方式。

That's fair. On the technology front, you're one of the major players in the Banking-as-a-Service space. Can you talk about the value of building your own technology versus using a third-party vendor?

這很合理。在科技方面，你們是 Banking-as-a-Service（BaaS）領域的主要玩家之一。你能談談自建技術相較於使用第三方供應商的價值嗎？

Yeah. We spend a lot of time talking about that. Part of the issue is that the requirements for this business are fairly unique, and the ability for, say, a service bureau to provide them, there's not sufficient scale for them to be interested in developing. So we have to do a lot of things ourselves, have done a lot of things in the past, and are rebuilding a lot of things now.

可以。我們花了很多時間在討論這件事。其中一個問題是，這個業務的需求相當獨特，而例如服務局（service bureau）要提供這些能力，因為規模不足，讓他們沒有足夠的誘因去投入開發。所以我們必須自己做很多事情，過去也做了很多，而現在也正在重建很多東西。

The other thing is -- and I'll just kind of go ahead and use the word everybody wants to use, which is AI is being used a lot in our engineering space to help speed up the time to develop various capabilities. And that makes it even easier for us to build things ourselves internally, and I think that'll be a key part of the future.

另外一點是——我就直接用大家都想用的那個詞：AI 在我們的工程領域被大量使用，用來加快各種能力的開發時間。而這也讓我們更容易在內部自行建置，我認為這會是未來的關鍵部分。

I'm not saying that software service providers aren't going away. I just think that there will be different kinds of use cases for different things. And the things that are unique to our business, we will likely build ourselves.

我不是說軟體服務供應商會消失。我只是認為，不同的事情會有不同類型的使用情境（use cases）。而那些對我們業務而言獨特的部分，我們很可能會自己建置。

Okay. And then one more from me here. Just kind of taking a step back and looking at the broader BaaS space. What do you view the biggest potential risk to the industry? We have -- JPM seems to be focused on small businesses. They're kind of doubling down on that segment. So how do you handicap the risk of, say, one of the G-SIBs starting to target lower-end consumers?

好的。那我這邊再問最後一個。稍微退一步，從更廣泛的 BaaS 領域來看。你認為這個產業最大的潛在風險是什麼？我們看到——摩根大通（JPM）似乎專注在小型企業。他們在那個區隔上加碼投入。那麼你如何評估例如某家 G-SIB 開始鎖定較低端消費者的風險？

Yeah. One of the key things here for the big banks is their sufficient scale, right? And I don't see that happening, and I worked for one of those at one point, so I kind of know the conversations that went on in that space. So I don't see that happening.

是的。對大型銀行來說，其中一個關鍵在於他們需要足夠的規模，對吧？而我不認為那會發生，我曾在其中一家工作過，所以我大概知道那個領域裡的對話是怎麼進行的。所以我不認為那會發生。

I do think as we become less interchange product dependent oriented, which could happen over time, we'll face different kinds of competition. But again, being small, fast and nimble is something that I think is of great value and is particularly important in this third-party delivery environment. And so we will have to adapt and change as product desires are coming in from our partners, which we're doing. That's why we like that wide breadth of products. But I don't see one of the big banks coming in and trying to take over the low to moderate income or the digital-first, very young folks. There's just not enough scale in it.

我確實認為，隨著我們逐漸不再那麼依賴交換手續費（interchange）產品（這可能會隨時間發生），我們會面臨不同類型的競爭。但再說一次，小、快、靈活，我認為非常有價值，且在這種第三方交付環境中特別重要。因此，當合作夥伴對產品的需求不斷提出時，我們必須調整與改變，而我們也正在這麼做。這也是為什麼我們喜歡擁有廣泛的產品線。但我不認為大型銀行會進來，試圖接管中低收入族群，或是數位優先、非常年輕的族群。那裡的規模不足。

Got it. Well, thank you, and I appreciate you taking my questions.

了解。非常感謝，也謝謝你回答我的問題。

At this time, there are no further questions. I will now hand the call over to Brett Pharr, CEO, for closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我現在把電話會議交給執行長 Brett Pharr 作結語。

Thank you, everyone, for joining the call today. Have a good evening.

感謝各位今天加入電話會議。祝各位晚上愉快。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位出席。您現在可以斷線。