Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp (MCB) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Metropolitan Commercial Bank's second-quarter 2023 earnings call. Hosting the call today for Metropolitan Commercial Bank are Mark DeFazio, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Greg Sigrist, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

歡迎參加首都商業銀行 2023 年第二季度財報電話會議。今天主持大都會商業銀行電話會議的是總裁兼首席執行官馬克·德法齊奧 (Mark DeFazio)；執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Greg Sigrist。

Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) During today's presentation, reference will be made to the company's earnings release and investor presentation, copies of which are available at mcbankny.com.

今天的通話正在錄音。 （操作員說明）在今天的演示中，將參考公司的收益發布和投資者演示，其副本可在 mcbankny.com 上獲取。

Today's presentation may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to the company's notices regarding forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures that appear in the earnings release.

今天的演示可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果出現重大差異。請參閱公司關於收益發布中出現的前瞻性陳述和非公認會計原則措施的通知。

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Mark DeFazio, President and Chief Executive Officer. You may begin.

現在我很高興請總裁兼首席執行官馬克·德法齊奧 (Mark DeFazio) 發言。你可以開始了。

Thank you, and good morning. And thank you for joining our second-quarter earnings call. The first six months of this year was a very interesting but disruptive time. Bank management teams were challenged to prove how prepared they were to manage their business and balance sheet in a sustained high-rate environment.

謝謝你，早上好。感謝您參加我們的第二季度財報電話會議。今年的前六個月是非常有趣但具有破壞性的時期。銀行管理團隊面臨的挑戰是證明他們在持續高利率環境下管理業務和資產負債表的準備程度如何。

It's clear there is no quick fix to this problem. If you came into the year unprepared. Thin and compressing margins will continue to plague many banks for years to come. For those banks like MCB, who prepared for such an environment and have the capital core-funding strategies and growth opportunities, we'll continue to secure more organic market share, driving material shareholder value.

很明顯，這個問題沒有快速解決辦法。如果你毫無準備地進入這一年。利潤微薄和壓縮將在未來幾年繼續困擾許多銀行。對於像 MCB 這樣的銀行來說，他們已經為這種環境做好了準備，並擁有資本核心融資戰略和增長機會，我們將繼續獲得更多的有機市場份額，推動股東的實質性價值。

I believe that identifying these well-prepared banks will be easier than in the past, and the focus will be on true fundamentals and a strategy to produce sustainable shareholder value. I am pleased with MCB's second quarter as well as year-to-date results.

我相信，識別這些準備充分的銀行將比過去更容易，重點將放在真正的基本面和創造可持續股東價值的戰略上。我對 MCB 第二季度以及年初至今的業績感到滿意。

We continued to achieve critical objectives, including, but not limited to demonstrating margin stability, driving lower cost funding, reducing the reliance on higher cost borrowings, bringing our crypto deposits to zero, sustained loan growth with very attractive loan yields.

我們繼續實現關鍵目標，包括但不限於展示保證金穩定性、推動較低成本的融資、減少對較高成本借款的依賴、將我們的加密貨幣存款降至零、持續貸款增長以及極具吸引力的貸款收益率。

Margin compression has been a core challenge for the industry since the start of rate hikes. What has been evident in MCB's fundamentals is that we have absorbed a portion of this compression by managing a diversified earning assets balance sheet that allowed us to maintain lending spreads as well as various deposit verticals that continue to drive lower cost of core funding.

自加息開始以來，利潤率壓縮一直是該行業面臨的核心挑戰。從 MCB 的基本面來看，我們通過管理多元化的盈利資產資產負債表吸收了部分壓縮壓力，這使我們能夠維持貸款利差以及各種存款垂直領域，從而繼續降低核心融資成本。

It is important to recognize that MCB caused more margin compression than we would have experienced to date by deciding to offload 100% of crypto deposits. In 2022, MCB move off balance sheet a total of $754 million in zero-cost deposits from their peak on June 30. And year to date, June 30, 2023, we moved off an additional $436 million of crypto-related deposits now at zero.

重要的是要認識到，MCB 決定卸載 100% 的加密貨幣存款，造成的保證金壓縮比我們迄今為止所經歷的還要嚴重。到 2022 年，MCB 將總計 7.54 億美元的零成本存款從 6 月 30 日的峰值移出資產負債表。今年迄今，即 2023 年 6 月 30 日，我們又移出了 4.36 億美元的加密貨幣相關存款，目前為零。

The final exit decision was the right decision, and what it demonstrates is that MCB was prepared from a risk management perspective as well as having the ability to absorb the temporary margin compression that came with replacing these deposits.

最終的退出決定是正確的，它表明 MCB 從風險管理的角度做好了準備，並且有能力吸收因替換這些存款而帶來的暫時的利潤壓縮。

Looking forward, with the addition of the lower cost deposits that are coming in from the new verticals we have announced in the second quarter, along with the many diversified core deposit verticals we already have embedded into the franchise, we are very close to at an inflection point or where NIM compression from replacing crypto deposits with borrowings will transition to expanding net interest margin as we efficiently replace those borrowed funds with lower-cost deposits and maintain our discipline on low pricing.

展望未來，隨著我們在第二季度宣布的新垂直行業中增加低成本存款，以及我們已經嵌入到特許經營中的許多多元化核心存款垂直行業，我們非常接近一個拐點，或者說，隨著我們有效地用低成本存款取代這些借來的資金並維持我們的低價紀律，用借款取代加密貨幣存款的淨息差壓縮將過渡到不斷擴大的淨息差。

I am confident that the future -- I am confident about the future of MCB, and I believe executable opportunities for MCB will emerge -- will continue to emerge from the disruption the industry will continue to experience.

我相信，未來——我對 MCB 的未來充滿信心，我相信 MCB 將會出現可執行的機會——將繼續從行業將繼續經歷的顛覆中出現。

I will now turn the call over to Greg, who will share some specific results with you.

我現在將把電話轉給格雷格，他將與您分享一些具體結果。

Thank you, Mark, and good morning, everyone. While the second quarter was a turbulent one for the industry, MCB had a very strong quarter for deposit and loan growth, which is evident in our June 30 balance sheet.

謝謝你，馬克，大家早上好。雖然第二季度對該行業來說是一個動蕩的季度，但 MCB 的存款和貸款增長非常強勁，這一點從我們 6 月 30 日的資產負債表中可以明顯看出。

In the quarter, MCB's deposit verticals grew $377 million or nearly 8% as we successfully expanded our existing deposit verticals, thanks to the dedication and hard work of the MCB team in what was a very challenging time for the industry.

本季度，由於 MCB 團隊在行業充滿挑戰的時期的奉獻和辛勤工作，我們成功擴展了現有的存款垂直領域，MCB 的存款垂直領域增長了 3.77 億美元，即近 8%。

Net inflows were particularly strong for retail deposits, including those with loan customers, which collectively were up nearly 13% in the quarter, reflecting growth from both existing and new customers. Crypto deposits were substantially reduced by $220 million in the quarter. What remained at quarter end was $58 million of corporate and reserve deposits with crypto-related companies, which we expect to be fully transitioned away from MCB within the next few weeks.

零售存款（包括貸款客戶的存款）的淨流入尤其強勁，該季度總計增長了近 13%，反映了現有客戶和新客戶的增長。本季度加密貨幣存款大幅減少 2.2 億美元。截至季度末，加密貨幣相關公司還存有 5800 萬美元的企業存款和準備金存款，我們預計這些存款將在未來幾週內從 MCB 完全轉移。

While borrowings were utilized to manage those expected outflows, growth of our deposit verticals has allowed us to reduce borrowings from an average balance of $568 million during the second quarter to $443 million at the end of June. We expect to further reduce borrowings over the balance of the year.

雖然借款被用來管理這些預期的資金外流，但存款垂直領域的增長使我們能夠將藉款從第二季度的平均餘額 5.68 億美元減少到 6 月底的 4.43 億美元。我們預計今年餘下時間將進一步減少借款。

We also had a very strong quarter for lending with loan growth in the quarter of $297 million or 6% on $425 million of loan production. Notably, loan paydown and payoff activity occurred largely at early in the second quarter, while loan closings generally occurred late in the quarter. Combined, this had an obvious muting effect on net interest income in the quarter.

我們的貸款季度也非常強勁，本季度貸款增長 2.97 億美元，即貸款產出 4.25 億美元的增長 6%。值得注意的是，貸款償還和還款活動主要發生在第二季度初，而貸款結清通常發生在本季度末。總而言之，這對該季度的淨利息收入產生了明顯的抑製作用。

New loan production came in at an average yield of 8.19% versus the portfolio rate for the first quarter of 6.34% as we have stayed focused on our pricing discipline. While we did see 42 basis points of net interest margin compression in the quarter, replacing non-interest-bearing crypto deposits with borrowing did drive half of that compression.

新貸款產出的平均收益率為 8.19%，而第一季度的投資組合收益率為 6.34%，因為我們一直專注於定價紀律。雖然我們確實看到本季度淨息差壓縮了 42 個基點，但用借貸取代無息加密貨幣存款確實推動了一半的壓縮。

The remainder of the compression came from the impact of rising short-term market rates on deposit costs only partially offset by increasing asset yields. The lag in asset yield uplift was magnified by the timing of loan closings in the quarter.

其餘的壓縮來自短期市場利率上升對存款成本的影響，但資產收益率的上升僅部分抵消了這一影響。本季度貸款結束的時間放大了資產收益率上升的滯後性。

Through the industry's recent turbulence, MCB has emerged with a well-positioned balance sheet, thanks to the success of our historical funding strategies and strong capital levels, which demonstrates the strength and stability of the franchise.

在最近的行業動盪中，MCB 憑藉我們歷史融資策略的成功和強大的資本水平，實現了良好的資產負債表，這體現了特許經營的實力和穩定性。

Asset quality remained strong. Loan growth drove the majority of the second-quarter credit provision with the remainder being driven by macroeconomic factors in our CECL model. Our global payments business also performed quite well in the quarter. [This company is] up 21% from the first quarter of 2023 as our partners continue to hit their stride.

資產質量依然強勁。在我們的 CECL 模型中，貸款增長推動了第二季度信貸撥備的大部分，其餘則由宏觀經濟因素推動。我們的全球支付業務在本季度也表現良好。隨著我們的合作夥伴繼續大步前進，[該公司] 較 2023 年第一季度增長了 21%。

Within that growth. We are particularly pleased to see corporate disbursement client revenues up 27% in the quarter. Overall, non-interest expenses remained very well managed, but I do want to give color on a few items.

在那成長之中。我們特別高興地看到本季度企業支付客戶收入增長了 27%。總體而言，非利息支出仍然管理得很好，但我確實想對一些項目進行說明。

The decline in compensation and benefits largely reflects the first-quarter seasonality in employer taxes. Looking ahead, we do continue or do expect to continue our investment in human capital and technology. We do expect professional fees to revert back to historical levels.

薪酬和福利的下降很大程度上反映了第一季度雇主稅收的季節性。展望未來，我們確實會繼續或期望繼續對人力資本和技術進行投資。我們確實預計專業費用將恢復到歷史水平。

While legal fees were elevated, outside counsel engagement on open matters wound down in the second quarter. We've also been making investments in several corporate initiatives, including strategic planning and technology consultants, which will begin winding down in the third quarter. Collectively, we would expect approximately $2 million to drop out of the run rate for professional fees in the third quarter of 2023.

儘管法律費用有所上升，但第二季度外部律師對未決事項的參與有所減少。我們還一直在對多項企業計劃進行投資，包括戰略規劃和技術顧問，這些投資將於第三季度開始逐步結束。總的來說，我們預計 2023 年第三季度專業費用的運行費率將減少約 200 萬美元。

Lastly, there was a discrete item in the quarter that increased income tax expense by $1.7 million. We will see a discrete tax benefit of $1.7 million in the third quarter on the conversion of stock awards that have already occurred. Going forward, we would expect the effective tax rate to be in the range of 31% to 32%, excluding discrete items.

最後，本季度的一項獨立項目使所得稅費用增加了 170 萬美元。我們將在第三季度看到已經發生的股票獎勵轉換帶來的 170 萬美元的離散稅收優惠。展望未來，我們預計有效稅率將在 31% 至 32% 之間，不包括離散項目。

I will now turn the call back to Shelby for Q&A.

我現在將把電話轉回給謝爾比進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Alex Lau, JPMorgan.

（操作員指令）Alex Lau，摩根大通。

Hi, good morning.

早上好。

Good morning, Alex.

早上好，亞歷克斯。

Greg, last quarter, you mentioned you thought the NIM could get back to the 1Q level, call it [380 to 390 range]. Is it fair to assume that with NIM expanding for the next quarter -- two quarters, we could see that move back to that level or has that exit rate changed things?

格雷格，上個季度，您提到您認為淨息差可以回到第一季度的水平，稱之為[380 至 390 範圍]。假設隨著淨息差在下個季度（兩個季度）的擴張，我們可以看到回升至該水平，或者退出率是否改變了情況，這是否公平？

I think it's possible, Alex. I mean, obviously, the balance sheet is still slightly liability sensitive, so that rates would be a bit of a headwind going forward. I mean, if we have 25 bps next week, that's one conversation. But to me, it's really -- the uplift is going to come from a combination of asset yields. Obviously, we've had a lot of success maintaining loan yields in the quarter. We expect that to continue.

我認為這是可能的，亞歷克斯。我的意思是，顯然，資產負債表仍然對負債稍微敏感，因此利率將成為未來的一個阻力。我的意思是，如果下週我們有 25 個基點，那就是一次對話。但對我來說，這確實是——資產收益率的提升將來自於資產收益率的組合。顯然，我們在本季度維持貸款收益率方面取得了很大成功。我們預計這種情況會持續下去。

We are taking $20 million to $25 million a quarter of investment securities, which are rolling off at a very low rate, putting those into loans at a higher rate. I think getting back to that level is going to be dependent upon what we think is very positive, which is continuing to bring in low-cost deposits, particularly from our new verticals, which will come in at a much lower rate. So I think we can get back to that level, if not in the fourth quarter, then very early next year, first quarter.

我們每季度投資 2000 萬至 2500 萬美元的投資證券，這些證券以非常低的利率展期，從而以更高的利率將其投入貸款。我認為回到這個水平將取決於我們認為非常積極的因素，即繼續帶來低成本存款，特別是來自我們新垂直領域的存款，其利率會低得多。因此，我認為我們可以回到這個水平，如果不是在第四季度，那麼很早在明年第一季度。

I think, to Mark's point, though, in his prepared remarks, we are at that inflection point. I really think if we haven't hit that floor, we'll hit that floor early in the third quarter. And with the build and the low-cost deposits, I think we get back up to that the prior rate pretty quickly. But this is a marathon, right? Not a sprint for us. So we're looking to do it over a couple of quarters.

不過，我認為，就馬克而言，在他準備好的講話中，我們正處於這個拐點。我真的認為，如果我們還沒有達到這個水平，我們將在第三季度初達到這個水平。隨著建設和低成本存款，我認為我們很快就會恢復到之前的水平。但這是一場馬拉松，對吧？對我們來說不是衝刺。因此，我們希望在幾個季度內完成這項工作。

Yes. I want to move on to deposits. So non-interest bearing deposits were down $400 million, half of that coming from crypto related. On the other half of the $400 million, where did that come from in terms of deposit verticals? And has this shown any signs of moderating?

是的。我想轉向存款。因此，無息存款減少了 4 億美元，其中一半來自加密貨幣相關存款。就存款垂直領域而言，這 4 億美元的另一半來自哪裡？這是否顯示出任何緩和的跡象？

Frankly, it was just normal flows in the quarter. Some of that was coming from retail clients, especially commercial lending clients as they deployed liquidity. So it kind of came across a number of different verticals, Alex, and it wasn't repricing -- wholesale repricing of DDAs into interest bearing. So it's really more of a timing issue.

坦率地說，這只是本季度的正常流動。其中一些來自零售客戶，尤其是商業貸款客戶，因為他們部署了流動性。所以它遇到了許多不同的垂直領域，Alex，這不是重新定價——將 DDA 大規模重新定價為計息。所以這實際上更多的是一個時間問題。

I think some of that will come back in normal course as DDAs again, but as I kind of parse through it, I didn't really see any red flags or any storylines to pull forward for you.

我認為其中一些會在正常過程中再次以 DDA 的形式出現，但當我仔細分析它時，我並沒有真正看到任何危險信號或任何故事情節可以為你推進。

Thanks. And you mentioned you had good quarters on the retail and loan customer segments. Can you give some colors in terms of the rates that you're paying on those balances that you brought onboard?

謝謝。您提到您在零售和貸款客戶群方面取得了良好的業績。您能否就您帶入船上的餘額所支付的費率給出一些顏色？

I mean, as you know, we don't publish our money market rates or rates on individual customers. I would say we brought it in well inside of what our borrowing costs would be. So if we're [out with] our borrowings, that fund's effective plus a spread, we'd be well inside of that.

我的意思是，如您所知，我們不會公佈貨幣市場利率或個人客戶利率。我想說的是，我們將其納入了我們的借貸成本範圍內。因此，如果我們[退出]我們的借款，該基金有效加上利差，我們就會很好地參與其中。

I think, as part of that, you would see just naturally and not just to the growth in the quarter, but we certainly had the rates up in the first quarter and second quarter. You'll start to see it -- continue to see a little bit of just pull through in their cost of funds or cost of deposits into the third quarter. But again, I think it's going to be offset very well by what we're able to do on the loan pricing side.

我認為，作為其中的一部分，您會很自然地看到，而不僅僅是本季度的增長，但我們肯定在第一季度和第二季度提高了利率。您將開始看到這一點 - 到第三季度繼續看到他們的資金成本或存款成本略有上升。但我再次認為，我們在貸款定價方面的能力將很好地抵消這一影響。

Thanks. And you mentioned in the last few months, you've added a couple of deposit-gathering teams, the EB-5 teams, title, and escrow and charter schools. Can you give some colors on these deposit opportunities in terms with these teams? And when should this deposit gathering pick up and contribute, and if you could also touch on briefly about the type of costs that are associated with these deposits? Thanks

謝謝。您在過去幾個月中提到，您增加了幾個存款收集團隊、EB-5 團隊、產權學校以及託管和特許學校。您能否對這些團隊的這些存款機會進行一些說明？這種存款收集何時應該開始並貢獻，您是否也可以簡要談談與這些存款相關的成本類型？謝謝

Yes, hi, Alex. It's Mark DeFazio. Each and every one of them have now started to contribute to that increase in deposits in the third quarter. We've been working on these new channels for quite a while. So as we reported in the past, we get a return on investment pretty quickly at this stage of our operating efficiency. So we're very optimistic.

是的，嗨，亞歷克斯。我是馬克·德法齊奧。他們每一家現在都開始為第三季度存款的增加做出貢獻。我們在這些新渠道上的工作已經有一段時間了。因此，正如我們過去報導的那樣，在現階段的運營效率下，我們很快就獲得了投資回報。所以我們非常樂觀。

The one item you did mention was our [1031 in title escrow] as well. It's really hitting their stride, and we're doing a fair amount of technology integration. So we have the human capital in place. We're doing the legal framework around these structures, which are fairly complex as well. And we are doing a technology integration with this. It's required as well to be very competitive.

您提到的一項也是我們的[產權託管中的 1031]。這確實是他們的一大進步，我們正在進行大量的技術集成。所以我們擁有適當的人力資本。我們正在圍繞這些結構制定法律框架，這些結構也相當複雜。我們正在對此進行技術集成。它還需要非常有競爭力。

So I think -- we're not sure if we're going to report specifically on these line items in the third and fourth quarter and beyond. But we do believe they are going to be meaningful and can assist us with going back to our traditional arm funding strategy, which is very, very, very core and relies very little at a minimum level of -- to borrowed funds.

所以我認為 - 我們不確定是否會在第三季度和第四季度及以後專門報告這些項目。但我們確實相信它們將是有意義的，可以幫助我們回到傳統的手臂融資策略，該策略非常非常核心，並且在最低水平上很少依賴借來的資金。

As I said in the first quarter, we would expect by year end to be back at the original levels of borrowed funds than we were when we came into 2023. So we're optimistic. And all in on the cost -- Greg, keep me honest here. I think they'll be well on the inside of our -- on our total deposit cost [tonight].

正如我在第一季度所說，我們預計到年底借入資金將恢復到 2023 年時的原始水平。所以我們很樂觀。一切都取決於成本——格雷格，請誠實地說。我認為他們會很好地了解我們的總存款成本（今晚）。

Yes, I agree with that.

是的，我同意這一點。

Thanks for all the color there. And then just one on loan growth, you're close to 100% loan-to-deposit ratio. Now how do you think about loan growth for the rest of the year, considering you're at this 100% mark? Are you comfortable running above 100% level? Thanks.

感謝那裡的所有顏色。僅就貸款增長而言，貸存比就接近 100%。現在，考慮到您已達到 100% 的水平，您如何看待今年剩餘時間的貸款增長？您在 100% 以上的水平上運行是否感到舒適？謝謝。

I am comfortable at running above 100% of -- but I -- as we have been talking, these six months were a disrupted six months. We've relied more on borrowed funds than we have in two decades. So I think, as I just mentioned, we will go back to normal trends. So I would expect you will see that number stay south of 100% in the future.

我對運行超過 100% 感到滿意——但是我——正如我們一直在談論的，這六個月是一個被打亂的六個月。我們對借入資金的依賴程度超過了二十年來。所以我認為，正如我剛才提到的，我們將回到正常趨勢。因此，我預計您將來會看到該數字保持在 100% 以下。

Yes. And again, I think we've said this conversation before. If we thought that -- if we didn't have the ability to grow our deposit verticals and to bring in the new verticals, which will contribute significantly over the balance of the year, Alex, I think that might be one conversation. It might lead us down the path of slowing down loan growth.

是的。再說一遍，我想我們之前已經說過這​​個對話了。如果我們認為，如果我們沒有能力發展我們的存款垂直領域並引入新的垂直領域，這將在今年餘下的時間裡做出重大貢獻，亞歷克斯，我認為這可能是一次對話。它可能會導致我們走上放慢貸款增長的道路。

But the reality is we see the runway not only to fund loan growth, but to also significantly reduce the borrowing's balances over the next quarter or two. So we're comfortable at a short term at a moment in time being closer to 100% on that loan to deposit ratio because I think over the next several quarters or that's two to four quarters, I think, to Mark's point, that will come down to more historic level.

但現實是，我們看到的不僅是為貸款增長提供資金，而且還會在未來一兩個季度大幅減少借款餘額。因此，我們對短期貸款與存款比率接近 100% 感到滿意，因為我認為在接下來的幾個季度或兩到四個季度，我認為，按照馬克的觀點，這將降至歷史水平。

Thanks. And then just on the GPG Group, the fee income was up nicely in the quarter. Is there anything one time in nature in that increase, or was that mostly transaction volume related?

謝謝。然後，就 GPG 集團而言，本季度的費用收入大幅增長。這種增長是否存在一次性增長，或者主要與交易量有關？

It was mostly transaction-related volumes. I mean, there's always, quarter on quarter, you might have a little bit of just contractual revenues. Peek into it, it might have been a little bit of that. But frankly, on balance, it was really just transaction revenues out.

主要是與交易相關的交易量。我的意思是，每個季度你可能總會有一點合同收入。仔細一看，可能有那麼一點點。但坦率地說，總的來說，這實際上只是交易收入。

Thank you, and then just last one for me. On the GPG deposits, it's been holding in that $700 million range in deposits. Is this still a deposit growth vertical for you in the near term, or is that expected to be in that similar range moving forward?

謝謝你，然後是我的最後一個。在 GPG 存款方面，它一直持有 7 億美元的存款。短期內這對您來說仍然是存款垂直增長嗎？還是預計未來會保持在類似的範圍內？

I think it is still a deposit -- a growth vertical for us. Mainly, this goes back and ties into your question on non-interest bearing deposits. It's the one vertical where it's a very active flow. We see a fair amount of ins and outs in that vertical.

我認為這仍然是一筆存款——對我們來說是一種垂直增長。主要是，這可以追溯到你關於無息存款的問題。這是一個非常活躍的垂直領域。我們在這個垂直領域看到了相當多的細節。

Average balances for the quarter, I got to tell you, we're definitely above the spot at the end of the quarter. And again, those are non-interest bearing flows. That kind of came out as well near the end of the quarter. So it's absolutely a growth vertical over as we think longer term.

我必須告訴你，本季度的平均餘額，我們絕對高於本季度末的水平。再說一遍，這些都是無息流量。這種情況也在本季度末出現。因此，從我們長遠來看，這絕對是一個垂直增長。

Thanks for taking my questions,

感謝您回答我的問題，

You're welcome, Alex.

不客氣，亞歷克斯。

Chris O'Connell, KBW.

克里斯·奧康奈爾，KBW。

Good morning.

早上好。

Hey, Chris. Good morning.

嘿，克里斯。早上好。

So I just wanted to circle back on the GPG fee question. I think, in the second quarter, about $1.5 million was identified as being crypto related within the $5.5 million GPG fees. Does that fully fall out next quarter, or does some of that stick around? How should we be thinking about the new baseline level starting in 3Q?

所以我只想回到 GPG 費用問題。我認為，第二季度 550 萬美元的 GPG 費用中約有 150 萬美元被確定為與加密貨幣相關。下個季度這種情況是否會完全消失，還是其中一些會繼續存在？我們應該如何看待第三季度開始的新基準水平？

Yes. Having that business wound down by June 30, Chris, you'd expect that to go zero for the third quarter.

是的。克里斯，該業務到 6 月 30 日結束，您預計第三季度該業務將為零。

Okay. Great. And then I appreciate the color on the loan-to-deposit ratio and the overall growth. Obviously, you guys have had strong growth this quarter, and now we're getting the deposits to be able to effectively fund that going forward.

好的。偉大的。然後我欣賞貸存比和整體增長的顏色。顯然，你們本季度取得了強勁的增長，現在我們獲得的存款能夠有效地為未來提供資金。

I mean, how are you thinking about the level of balance sheet growth overall on the loan and deposit side into the second half of the year? Are the pipelines winding down a little bit or slowing, given the broader economic environment? How do you think about the overall balance sheet growth as a whole?

我的意思是，您如何看待下半年貸款和存款方面的總體資產負債表增長水平？考慮到更廣泛的經濟環境，管道建設是否會稍微放緩或放緩？您如何看待整體資產負債表的增長？

Yes. So the pipeline is still fairly robust. Times like this are very opportunistic also. Notwithstanding some of the obvious headwinds in various different industries or real estate asset classes, our clients are very active across the franchise. They are very opportunistic. So I think we are finding the right deals to involve ourselves in.

是的。所以管道仍然相當穩健。這樣的時代也非常機會主義。儘管各個不同行業或房地產資產類別存在一些明顯的阻力，但我們的客戶在整個特許經營領域都非常活躍。他們非常機會主義。所以我認為我們正在尋找合適的交易來參與其中。

So I think, historical -- I think our balance sheet growth will be in line with what we have said in the beginning of the year, closer to historical trends. I think, the second half of the year, they will be even more core-funded than they were for this quarter. And as I said, as far as the funding, ultimately, we expect our borrowings to be at or even less than where we were when we came into the year in January.

所以我認為，歷史性的——我認為我們的資產負債表增長將與我們年初所說的一致，更接近歷史趨勢。我認為，今年下半年，他們的核心資金將比本季度更多。正如我所說，就資金而言，最終，我們預計我們的借款將等於或什至低於今年一月份時的水平。

So we're really optimistic. Again, we're not growing for the sake of growing. If we're not getting the kind of net interest margin and the operating efficiencies by leveraging our capital, we just won't do it. But we clearly are demonstrating that stability.

所以我們真的很樂觀。再說一次，我們不是為了增長而增長。如果我們不能通過利用我們的資本來獲得這種淨息差和運營效率，我們就不會這樣做。但我們顯然正在展示這種穩定性。

Great. Got it. And you mentioned -- I mean, obviously, the securities yield is still really low. It should migrate pretty substantially upward over time. I'm just trying to think about the timeline of how that occurs, and if you could give any color around the monthly or quarterly portfolio cash flow and how quickly that can kind of turn over, that would be great.

偉大的。知道了。你提到——我的意思是，顯然，證券收益率仍然很低。隨著時間的推移，它應該會大幅向上遷移。我只是想考慮一下這種情況如何發生的時間表，如果你能對每月或每季度的投資組合現金流以及周轉速度給出任何顏色，那就太好了。

Yes, quarterly, we're seeing somewhere between $20 million and $25 million of principal cash flow coming off the portfolio, Chris, so it's still a fairly -- these interest rates are still a fairly long duration book. At points in time, we've looked at maybe doing some restructuring around it. I don't see that being imminent.

是的，每個季度，我們看到投資組合中的本金現金流量在 2000 萬到 2500 萬美元之間，克里斯，所以它仍然是一個相當 - 這些利率仍然是一個相當長的期限。在某些時候，我們考慮過圍繞它進行一些重組。我不認為這會迫在眉睫。

We might be opportunistic down the road as rates start to come back down in terms of rebalancing the portfolio. But frankly, I don't see that in the near term. So in the meantime, that cash flow coming off the portfolio is just going back into the pool to be deployed into lending at a much more attractive rate.

隨著利率在重新平衡投資組合方面開始回落，我們可能會在未來採取機會主義態度。但坦率地說，我短期內看不到這種情況。因此，與此同時，來自投資組合的現金流將重新回到資金池中，以更具吸引力的利率用於貸款。

Okay. Yes, makes sense. And I think you said, in [3Q], the professional fees should benefit about $2 million downward, but [there's still] the overall expense growth. On a net basis, do you have an idea as to whether you think overall expenses will be up or down in the third quarter?

好的。是的，有道理。我想你說過，在[第三季度]，專業費用應該會減少約200萬美元，但[仍然]總體費用增長。從淨值來看，您是否知道第三季度的總體費用會上升還是下降？

Just how you're thinking about kind of expense growth going forward, recognizing that. You guys have hired a bunch of teams at different points throughout the past quarter. So I'm just trying to see what the new starting point might be there.

認識到這一點，您就如何看待未來的支出增長。在過去的一個季度裡，你們在不同的時間點僱傭了很多團隊。所以我只是想看看新的起點可能是什麼。

Yes, once you normalized for that professional fee, [assuming a dollar run rate], when you think about the rest of the lines, I think comp and benefits is the one where you're absolutely going to continue to see the investments coming through from our -- what we're doing with human capital, Chris.

是的，一旦你將專業費用標準化，[假設美元運行率]，當你考慮其餘的項目時，我認為補償和福利是你絕對會繼續看到來自我們的投資——我們正在用人力資本做的事情，克里斯。

I think if you look at that and you kind of look at our trends over last -- historically last year, call it six to eight quarters before this, that will give you a pretty good idea how we were going to look there. I mean, I think the teams that have come on are going to take some time to ramp up and -- but I think that will get reflected in that run rate as well.

我認為，如果你看看這一點，看看我們去年的趨勢——從歷史上看，稱之為去年的六到八個季度，這會讓你很好地了解我們將如何看待那裡。我的意思是，我認為已經上場的球隊將需要一些時間來提升——但我認為這也會反映在運行率中。

You always hear us talk to -- we don't focus on the efficiency ratio. We're much more focused on driving our OTC and the expense base it takes to get there. It's just part of the sausage making. But -- I would tell you in the quarter, the efficiency ratio was obviously elevated just given both the little bit of compression that happened on the net interest side, combined with the elevated professional fees.

你總是聽到我們談論——我們不關注效率比。我們更專注於推動我們的 OTC 以及實現這一目標所需的費用基礎。這只是香腸製作的一部分。但是，我想在本季度告訴您，考慮到淨利息方面發生的一點點壓縮以及專業費用的提高，效率比率明顯提高了。

The first six months of the year, we're still right around 50% on the efficiency ratio. We do a very good job managing expenses. So I think the other lens you should look at is -- look through is over the next several quarters, we're going to continue to push that efficiency ratio back down toward the historic levels, which are more in that mid-40s, so call it 45% to 47%. That's what my goal would be.

今年前六個月，我們的效率仍然在 50% 左右。我們在費用管理方面做得非常好。所以我認為你應該關注的另一個視角是——在接下來的幾個季度裡，我們將繼續將效率比推回到歷史水平，大約在 40 多歲左右，所以稱之為 45% 到 47%。這就是我的目標。

Okay, really helpful. And then as far as the human capital, you mentioned -- you guys have obviously hired a bunch of teams and -- deposit related. How are you thinking about opportunities going forward?

好的，真的很有幫助。然後就人力資本而言，你提到——你們顯然已經僱傭了一群團隊和——與存款相關。您如何看待未來的機會？

I mean, I know that you're always looking, but is there any specific types of teams that you are seeing opportunities with, you're having discussions with. Those opportunities kind of increased or decelerated over the past few weeks, given the immediate opportunities that were present after the M&A disruption last quarter.

我的意思是，我知道您一直在尋找，但是您是否正在與任何特定類型的團隊一起尋找機會並進行討論。考慮到上季度併購中斷後立即出現的機會，這些機會在過去幾周有所增加或減少。

Yes. We're not out there seeking any new teams. Obviously, we're open to new opportunities, but I think our plate is fairly full right now, and we want to get the real value out of the new partners we've brought on and really give them the attention and time and resources to get into the market.

是的。我們並不在那裡尋找任何新的團隊。顯然，我們對新的機會持開放態度，但我認為我們現在的工作已經相當滿了，我們希望從我們引入的新合作夥伴中獲得真正的價值，並真正給予他們進入市場的注意力、時間和資源。

These are not simple business lines. They are very much aligned alongside of our core competency. And that's something else that everyone should keep in mind. We're not the type of franchise to bolt on just teams for the sake of adding people or products. We tried to leverage off of our core competencies.

這些不是簡單的業務線。它們與我們的核心能力非常一致。這是每個人都應該牢記的另一件事。我們不是那種為了增加人員或產品而僅僅增加團隊的特許經營類型。我們試圖利用我們的核心競爭力。

So what we announced in the first quarter is standing up quite well. I think you're going to see material contributions going forward. But our focus right now is to assist those teams in being as successful as they possibly can. So we're not interested in any other distractions. But obviously, we are open to an opportunity if it falls in front of us.

所以我們在第一季度宣布的內容是站得住腳的。我想你會看到未來的物質貢獻。但我們現在的重點是幫助這些團隊盡可能取得成功。所以我們對任何其他干擾不感興趣。但顯然，如果機會出現在我們面前，我們對此持開放態度。

Okay, yes. And on the credit side, I mean, everything is very clean this quarter, not much movement around at all. And obviously, net charge-off is super low. I mean, how are you guys -- what are you guys seeing within your portfolio? Is there any signs of stress anywhere that you're keeping a close eye on?

好吧，是的。從信用方面來看，我的意思是，本季度一切都非常乾淨，根本沒有太多變動。顯然，淨沖銷非常低。我的意思是，你們怎麼樣——你們在自己的投資組合中看到了什麼？您密切關注的任何地方是否有任何壓力跡象？

As far as loan demand or desire to put on loans, is there any particular areas that you're seeing that are still attractive versus shying away from? And anything that you're seeing from others in your local markets that are, I guess, concerning in the credit side?

就貸款需求或貸款意願而言，您認為有哪些特定領域仍然具有吸引力而不是迴避？我想，您從當地市場的其他人那裡看到的任何與信貸方面有關的信息？

Yes. Chris, it is not an all or nothing. MCB has always been in the market. Career wise, I can probably speak to most of our more senior stakeholders on the lending side. We're always in the market. The question is finding the right spot and with the right sponsor around what deal in real estate or what industry we want to support. So we're just very careful. We're just more careful than we are conservative.

是的。克里斯，這不是全有或全無的問題。 MCB一直存在於市場上。就職業生涯而言，我可能可以與貸款方面的大多數高級利益相關者交談。我們始終在市場中。問題是圍繞我們想要支持的房地產交易或行業找到合適的地點並找到合適的讚助商。所以我們非常小心。我們只是比保守更小心。

And are we paying more attention today as it relates to certain asset classes in real estate as opposed to an industry in the C&I side? Yes, of course. But we've noticed that a long time ago. We've noticed some of those tea leaves. That's what you can call weaknesses and concerns.

我們今天是否會更加關注房地產中的某些資產類別，而不是工商業方面的行業？是的當然。但我們很久以前就注意到了這一點。我們注意到其中一些茶葉。這就是你所說的弱點和擔憂。

So it doesn't mean we exited those industries or those asset classes. It just means that we have to look at them a bit differently to lean on the side of being more careful, and our clients understand that as well. There's a lot -- there's scarcity value today to liquidity that's out there for a lot of different reasons. So we are filling that void as well.

因此，這並不意味著我們退出了這些行業或資產類別。這只是意味著我們必須以不同的方式看待他們，以便更加小心，我們的客戶也理解這一點。由於多種不同的原因，今天的流動性存在很多稀缺價值。所以我們也在填補這一空白。

So the pipeline is full. We are very careful. I'm very happy with our independent risk management process around managing the portfolio, stress testing the portfolio. I'm very pleased with that. It's fairly robust, as you know, and we continue to throw a lot of resources behind the risk management side of the business. So I'm opportunistic that we can continue to manage the portfolio and manage the new business we bring on well.

所以管道已經滿了。我們非常小心。我對我們圍繞管理投資組合、壓力測試投資組合的獨立風險管理流程感到非常滿意。我對此非常滿意。如您所知，它相當強大，我們繼續在業務的風險管理方面投入大量資源。因此，我認為我們可以繼續管理投資組合併管理我們帶來的新業務。

Great. Thanks for taking my questions.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。

Thank you, Chris.

謝謝你，克里斯。

This concludes the allotted time for questions. I can turn the call over to Mark DeFazio for any additional or closing remarks.

分配的提問時間到此結束。我可以將電話轉給馬克·德法齊奧（Mark DeFazio）以獲取任何補充或結束語。

Thank you. I'd just like to take a moment to thank everyone. I would like to thank all of our investors who have hung in there with us during this challenging time and for those who have increased their positions for their continued confidence in MCB.

謝謝。我想花點時間感謝大家。我要感謝所有在這個充滿挑戰的時期與我們在一起的投資者，以及那些因對 MCB 的持續信心而增持倉位的投資者。

For the new shareholders that came in at a very attractive entry point, welcome to MCB. I would also like to thank our entire MCB team and our directors who continue to step up and recognize the challenges our industry face and what it takes to keep them to be a top-performing and relevant financial institution.

對於在非常有吸引力的切入點進入的新股東來說，歡迎來到 MCB。我還要感謝我們整個 MCB 團隊和我們的董事，他們不斷挺身而出，認識到我們行業面臨的挑戰以及如何保持他們成為表現最佳的相關金融機構。

Thank you again, and I look forward to our next call.

再次感謝您，我期待我們的下一次通話。

That does conclude today's conference call and webcast. A webcast archive of this call can be found at www.mcbankny.com. Please disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.

今天的電話會議和網絡廣播到此結束。本次電話會議的網絡廣播存檔可在 www.mcbankny.com 上找到。請此時斷開您的線路，祝您度過美好的一天。