Midland States Bancorp Inc (MSBI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q4 2022 Midland States Bancorp Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to your host today, Tony Rossi of Financial Profiles. You may begin.

美好的一天，謝謝你的支持。歡迎來到 Midland States Bancorp 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）我現在想將會議轉交給今天的主持人，Financial Profiles 的 Tony Rossi。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for the Midland States Bancorp Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. Joining us from Midland's management team are Jeff Ludwig, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Eric Lemke, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，凱文。大家早上好，感謝您今天加入我們，參加 Midland States Bancorp 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。從 Midland 的管理團隊加入我們的是總裁兼首席執行官 Jeff Ludwig；和首席財務官 Eric Lemke。

We will be using a slide presentation as part of our discussion this morning. If you've not done so already, please visit the Webcasts and Presentations page of Midland's Investor Relations website to download a copy of the presentation.

我們將使用幻燈片演示作為今天上午討論的一部分。如果您還沒有這樣做，請訪問 Midland 投資者關係網站的網絡廣播和演示文稿頁面，下載演示文稿的副本。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that this conference call contains forward-looking statements with respect to the future performance and financial condition of Midland States Bancorp that involve risks and uncertainties. Various factors could cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議包含有關 Midland States Bancorp 未來業績和財務狀況的前瞻性陳述，其中涉及風險和不確定性。各種因素可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的任何未來結果存在重大差異。

These factors are discussed in the company's SEC filings, which are available on the company's website. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during the call.

這些因素在公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了討論，這些文件可在公司網站上找到。公司不承擔任何更新電話會議期間所做的任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

Additionally, management may refer to non-GAAP measures, which are intended to supplement, but not substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. The press release available on the website contains the financial and other quantitative information to be discussed today as well as the reconciliation of the GAAP to non-GAAP measures. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Jeff. Jeff?

此外，管理層可能會參考非 GAAP 指標，這些指標旨在補充而非替代最直接可比的 GAAP 指標。網站上的新聞稿包含今天要討論的財務和其他定量信息，以及 GAAP 與非 GAAP 措施的調節。有了這個，我想把電話轉給傑夫。傑夫？

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Midland States earnings call. I'm going to start on Slide 3. Our fourth quarter performance capped a very successful year in which we generated a record level of earnings for the company. One of our goals over the past few years was to bring our level of returns more in line with our peer group, and we believe our performance this year reflects the strong progress we have made in this area.

大家，早安。歡迎來到米德蘭州財報電話會議。我將從幻燈片 3 開始。我們第四季度的業績為非常成功的一年畫上了句號，我們為公司創造了創紀錄的收益水平。我們過去幾年的目標之一是使我們的回報水平更符合我們的同行群體，我們相信我們今年的表現反映了我們在這一領域取得的巨大進步。

For the full year, we generated a return on average assets of 1.31%, up from 1.18% in 2021. And a return on average tangible equity of 20.8%, up from 17.9% in 2021.

全年，我們的平均資產回報率為 1.31%，高於 2021 年的 1.18%。平均有形資產回報率為 20.8%，高於 2021 年的 17.9%。

Our improved profitability represents our strong execution on our strategies to generate profitable growth and realize more operating leverage, while at the same time, prudently managing our growth as reflected in our continued strong credit quality.

我們提高的盈利能力表明我們強有力地執行了我們的戰略，以產生盈利增長並實現更多的經營槓桿，同時審慎地管理我們的增長，這反映在我們持續強勁的信貸質量上。

We have built a stronger and more diversified franchise with higher quality, more consistent sources of income, which has resulted in the steady improvement we have seen in our financial performance. Specific to the fourth quarter, we continue to generate strong financial performance despite moderating our level of loan growth, given the likelihood of economic conditions weakening in 2023.

我們建立了一個更強大、更多元化的特許經營權，擁有更高質量、更穩定的收入來源，這導致我們的財務業績穩步改善。具體到第四季度，儘管我們的貸款增長水平有所放緩，但考慮到 2023 年經濟狀況可能走弱，我們繼續產生強勁的財務業績。

We generated net income of $29.7 million or $1.30 per share, which included $17.5 million gain we realized on the termination of forward-starting FHLB interest rate swaps and $6.7 million in charges we took on commercial mortgage servicing rights and impairment on other real estate owned.

我們產生了 2,970 萬美元或每股 1.30 美元的淨收入，其中包括我們在終止遠期啟動 FHLB 利率掉期時實現的 1,750 萬美元收益，以及我們在商業抵押貸款服務權和其他房地產減值方面承擔的 670 萬美元費用。

On a core earnings basis, we continue to generate a higher level of profitability with adjusted pre-tax, pre-provision earnings coming in at $33.2 million. We were able to continue generating solid loan growth even while being more selective in our new loan production.

在核心收益的基礎上，我們繼續產生更高水平的盈利能力，調整後的稅前撥備前收益為 3320 萬美元。即使我們在新貸款生產中更具選擇性，我們也能夠繼續實現穩健的貸款增長。

Our total loans increased at a 7% annualized rate with most of the growth coming in our commercial portfolio. Our Equipment Finance business has -- had another strong quarter, which contributed to the growth in commercial loans as this portfolio has now surpassed $1.1 billion.

我們的貸款總額以 7% 的年率增長，其中大部分增長來自我們的商業投資組合。我們的設備融資業務又迎來了一個強勁的季度，這促進了商業貸款的增長，因為該投資組合現已超過 11 億美元。

Our Community Bank group continues to be highly productive. And with the increased exposure to higher-growth markets, we are seeing a larger volume of attractive lending opportunities, which has enabled us to continue generating solid loan growth while being conservative in our underwriting and pricing. We are seeing good contributions across our footprint, but in particular, we are seeing increased production out of our Eastern Illinois markets, which includes the Chicago MSA and the St. Louis market, where we have made investments to increase our business development capabilities over the past couple of years.

我們的社區銀行小組繼續保持高效。隨著對高增長市場的敞口增加，我們看到了更多有吸引力的貸款機會，這使我們能夠繼續實現穩健的貸款增長，同時在我們的承銷和定價方面保持保守。我們在我們的足跡中看到了良好的貢獻，但特別是，我們看到東伊利諾伊州市場的產量增加，其中包括芝加哥 MSA 和聖路易斯市場，我們在這些地方進行了投資以提高我們的業務發展能力過去幾年。

For the full year, our Eastern Illinois loan portfolio increased 22% while our St. Louis loan portfolio increased 40%. We also saw double-digit deposit growth in these markets as our teams are doing an excellent job of developing full banking relationships.

全年，我們東伊利諾伊州的貸款組合增長了 22%，而我們的聖路易斯貸款組合增長了 40%。由於我們的團隊在發展全面的銀行業務關係方面做得非常出色，我們還看到這些市場的存款實現了兩位數的增長。

As I indicated earlier, we have generated a higher level of earnings and loan growth over the past few years while maintaining a conservative approach to risk management. As a result, we continue to see good asset quality trends. While we had a slight increase in nonperforming loans in the fourth quarter, our net charge-offs were just 3 basis points of average loans. And importantly, at this point, we continue to see generally healthy trends across the portfolio with no meaningful change in delinquencies or watch-list loans.

正如我之前指出的那樣，我們在過去幾年中實現了更高水平的收益和貸款增長，同時保持了保守的風險管理方法。因此，我們繼續看到良好的資產質量趨勢。雖然我們在第四季度的不良貸款略有增加，但我們的淨註銷僅為平均貸款的 3 個基點。重要的是，在這一點上，我們繼續看到整個投資組合的總體趨勢是健康的，拖欠率或觀察名單貸款沒有任何有意義的變化。

Our strong financial performance continues to enhance the value of our franchise. During the fourth quarter, our book value per share increased 2.4%, while our tangible book value per share increased 4%. And with the exception of our total capital ratio, which decreased due to the payoff of $40 million in subordinated debt in the fourth quarter, all of our capital ratios increased from the end of the prior quarter as we continue to make progress on one of the most important financial goals.

我們強勁的財務業績繼續提升我們特許經營權的價值。第四季度，我們的每股賬面價值增長了 2.4%，而我們的每股有形賬面價值增長了 4%。除了我們的總資本比率因第四季度償還 4000 萬美元的次級債務而下降外，我們所有的資本比率都比上一季度末有所增加，因為我們繼續在其中一項取得進展最重要的財務目標。

At this point, I'm going to turn the call over to Eric to provide some additional details around our fourth quarter performance. Eric?

在這一點上，我將把電話轉給埃里克，以提供有關我們第四季度業績的一些額外細節。埃里克？

Thanks, Jeff, and again, good morning, everyone. Before we move on, I would like to note that this is our first quarter reporting net income available to common shareholders following the capital we raised through the preferred stock offering in August. Our fourth quarter financials included the payment of the preferred stock dividend for the fourth quarter as well as the portion of the third quarter after the stock was issued.

謝謝，傑夫，再一次，大家早上好。在我們繼續之前，我想指出，這是我們在 8 月份通過優先股發行籌集資金後的第一季度報告普通股股東可獲得的淨收入。我們的第四季度財務數據包括第四季度優先股股息的支付以及股票發行後第三季度的部分股息。

Going forward, without the stub period included, the impact to net income available to common shareholders will be $0.04 per share less per quarter. Now moving on to Slide 4. We'll take a look at our loan portfolio. Our total loans increased to $108 million from the end of the prior quarter. Most of the growth came in our commercial and construction portfolios, which more than offset a small decline in our commercial real estate portfolio.

展望未來，不包括存根期，對普通股股東可獲得的淨收入的影響將是每季度每股減少 0.04 美元。現在轉到幻燈片 4。我們將看看我們的貸款組合。我們的貸款總額比上一季度末增加到 1.08 億美元。大部分增長來自我們的商業和建築投資組合，這足以抵消我們商業房地產投資組合的小幅下降。

Equipment Finance was the largest contributor to the commercial loan growth as the fourth quarter is typically a seasonally strong period in this business. We also had a small increase in our consumer loan portfolio which was attributable to an increase in loans generated through our new partnership with LendingPoint, which more than offset a small decrease in our GreenSky portfolio. Jeff will talk more about our relationship with GreenSky later in the call.

設備融資是商業貸款增長的最大貢獻者，因為第四季度通常是該業務的季節性旺季。我們的消費貸款組合也有小幅增長，這歸因於我們與 LendingPoint 的新合作夥伴關係產生的貸款增加，這抵消了我們 GreenSky 投資組合的小幅下降。傑夫將在稍後的電話會議中更多地談論我們與 GreenSky 的關係。

Now turning to Slide 5. We'll look at our deposits. We had a small decrease in total deposits from the prior quarter largely due to declines in noninterest-bearing and savings deposits. The decline in noninterest-bearing deposits was primarily due to lower period-end balances of commercial FHA servicing deposits as well as more commercial depositors moving some of their excess liquidity to interest-bearing accounts in order to capitalize on the higher rates now being offered. As we indicated on our last call, we have selectively raised rates on deposits in order to continue funding our loan growth.

現在轉到幻燈片 5。我們將查看我們的存款。與上一季度相比，我們的存款總額略有下降，這主要是由於無息存款和儲蓄存款的下降。無息存款的下降主要是由於商業 FHA 服務存款的期末餘額較低，以及更多商業存款人將其部分過剩流動性轉移至計息賬戶，以利用目前提供的更高利率。正如我們在上次電話會議中指出的那樣，我們有選擇地提高了存款利率，以繼續為我們的貸款增長提供資金。

We continue to see the opportunity to add high-quality lending relationships with new commercial clients that we believe we can expand over time, and we believe it is in the best interest of the company and our shareholders to add these relationships even if the results in near-term upward pressure on our deposit costs, in order to fund the initial loans.

我們繼續看到與新商業客戶增加高質量貸款關係的機會，我們相信我們可以隨著時間的推移擴大這些關係，我們相信增加這些關係符合公司和我們股東的最佳利益，即使結果是我們的存款成本近期面臨上行壓力，以便為初始貸款提供資金。

Now looking at Slide 6. We'll walk through the trends in our net interest income and margin. The net interest income was down slightly from the prior quarter as a higher average balance of interest-earning assets was offset by a decline in our net interest margin. Our net interest margin decreased 13 basis points from the prior quarter as the increase in our cost of deposits exceeded the increase we saw in earning asset yields.

現在看幻燈片 6。我們將介紹淨利息收入和利潤率的趨勢。淨利息收入較上一季度略有下降，因為生息資產平均餘額較高被我們的淨息差下降所抵消。我們的淨息差比上一季度下降了 13 個基點，因為我們的存款成本增加超過了我們在賺取資產收益率方面看到的增加。

We've been able to generate our strong loan growth without compromising on loan pricing. And as a result, we continue to see positive trends in our average rate on new originations. In the month of December, the average rate on our new and renewed loans was 7.1%, an increase of 150 basis points from the month of September.

我們已經能夠在不影響貸款定價的情況下實現強勁的貸款增長。因此，我們繼續看到新起源的平均利率呈積極趨勢。 12 月份，我們的新貸款和續貸平均利率為 7.1%，比 9 月份增加了 150 個基點。

In particular, we are seeing higher rates on commercial loans, including equipment financing. As we indicated on our last call, we plan to take some steps to move the balance sheet into a more neutral position in terms of interest rate sensitivity and the termination of the forward starting interest rate swaps has done that.

特別是，我們看到更高的商業貸款利率，包括設備融資。正如我們在上次電話會議中指出的那樣，我們計劃採取一些措施，使資產負債表在利率敏感性方面處於更加中性的位置，並且遠期起始利率掉期的終止已經做到了這一點。

Our goal this year is to try to keep our net interest margin relatively stable. The rapid increase in interest rates impacted our cost of funds significantly in the fourth quarter. However, if interest rate increases slow or moderate, it will allow our fixed rate assets to reprice and stabilize our margin going forward.

我們今年的目標是盡量保持淨息差相對穩定。利率的快速上昇在第四季度對我們的資金成本產生了重大影響。然而，如果利率緩慢或適度增長，這將使我們的固定利率資產重新定價並穩定我們未來的利潤率。

Turning to Slide 7. We'll look at the trends in our wealth management business. Our assets under administration increased by $150 million from the end of the prior quarter due to both market performance and inflows from new clients. The increase in assets under administration resulted in a slight increase in our wealth management revenue compared to the prior quarter.

轉到幻燈片 7。我們將看看我們財富管理業務的趨勢。由於市場表現和新客戶的流入，我們管理的資產比上一季度末增加了 1.5 億美元。管理資產的增加導致我們的財富管理收入與上一季度相比略有增加。

On Slide 8, we'll look at noninterest income. We had $33.8 million in noninterest income in the fourth quarter, which included the $17.5 million gain from the termination of the forward starting interest rate swaps. Excluding this gain, most fee-generating areas were relatively consistent with the prior quarter.

在幻燈片 8 中，我們將查看非利息收入。第四季度我們的非利息收入為 3380 萬美元，其中包括終止遠期起始利率掉期產生的 1750 萬美元收益。排除這一收益，大多數收費領域與上一季度相對一致。

As we indicated on our last call, we are currently in the process of selling the commercial mortgage servicing rights portfolio, which will eliminate a source of earnings volatility. We are working with a potential buyer and expect the transaction to close during the second half of the year.

正如我們在上次電話會議中指出的那樣，我們目前正在出售商業抵押貸款服務權組合，這將消除收益波動的來源。我們正在與潛在買家合作，預計交易將在今年下半年完成。

We expect to retain the servicing deposits related to the commercial mortgage servicing rights portfolio; however, they will reprice to market rates upon completion of the sale.

我們希望保留與商業抵押貸款服務權組合相關的服務存款；但是，他們將在銷售完成後根據市場價格重新定價。

Now turning to Slide 9. We'll review our noninterest expense. Our noninterest expense was up from the prior quarter primarily due to 2 nonrecurring items. First, as part of the sale of the commercial MSR portfolio, we recorded a $3.3 million loss on MSRs held for sale to reflect the current valuation. And second, we recorded an other real estate-owned impairment charges of $3.5 million.

現在轉到幻燈片 9。我們將審查我們的非利息費用。我們的非利息費用比上一季度有所增加，這主要是由於 2 個非經常性項目。首先，作為出售商業 MSR 投資組合的一部分，我們記錄了 330 萬美元的待售 MSR 損失，以反映當前估值。其次，我們記錄了 350 萬美元的其他房地產減值費用。

All the other areas of noninterest expense were relatively consistent with the prior quarter. For the near term, we expect our operating expense to be in the range of $43 million to $44 million per quarter.

所有其他非利息支出領域與上一季度相對一致。在短期內，我們預計我們的運營費用將在每季度 4300 萬至 4400 萬美元之間。

Turning to Slide 10. We'll look at our asset quality trends. Our nonperforming loans increased $2.5 million from the end of the prior quarter, which is entirely attributable to 1 commercial real estate loan. Within the consumer portfolio, the delinquency rate remains exceptionally low. And should any deterioration begin to occur, we have approximately $41 million in an escrow account that is available to cover any losses on the GreenSky portfolio.

轉到幻燈片 10。我們將看看我們的資產質量趨勢。我們的不良貸款比上一季度末增加了 250 萬美元，這完全歸因於 1 筆商業房地產貸款。在消費者組合中，拖欠率仍然非常低。如果任何惡化開始發生，我們的託管賬戶中有大約 4100 萬美元可用於彌補 GreenSky 投資組合的任何損失。

As Jeff mentioned earlier, we had an extremely low level of loss in the portfolio in the fourth quarter with net charge-offs of just 3 basis points of average loans. We recorded a provision for credit losses on loans of $3 million, which was largely related to growth in total loans, changes in the mix of the portfolio and the impact of negative economic forecasts.

正如 Jeff 之前提到的，我們在第四季度的投資組合損失水平極低，平均貸款的淨沖銷僅為 3 個基點。我們記錄了 300 萬美元的貸款信用損失準備金，這主要與貸款總額的增長、投資組合的變化以及負面經濟預測的影響有關。

On Slide 11, we show the components of the change in our allowance for credit loss from the end of the prior quarter, with the provision being well in excess of net charge-offs in the fourth quarter, our ACL increased by approximately $2.4 million and the ACL to total loans increased by 2 basis points to 97 basis points. The increase in ACL was driven by growth in total loans, changes in the mix of the portfolio and changes in forecast from weakening economic conditions.

在幻燈片 11 中，我們顯示了自上一季度末以來信用損失準備金變化的組成部分，準備金遠遠超過第四季度的淨註銷，我們的 ACL 增加了約 240 萬美元，並且總貸款的 ACL 增加了 2 個基點，達到 97 個基點。 ACL 的增加是由於貸款總額的增長、投資組合的變化以及經濟狀況疲軟導致的預測變化。

And finally, on Slide 12, we show our ACL broken out by portfolio. The most significant increases in coverage came in our commercial owner-occupied CRE and construction and land portfolios. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Jeff. Jeff?

最後，在幻燈片 12 上，我們展示了按投資組合劃分的 ACL。覆蓋面增長最顯著的是我們的商業業主自用 CRE 以及建築和土地投資組合。有了這個，我會把電話轉回給傑夫。傑夫？

All right. Thanks, Eric. We'll wrap up on Slide 13 with some comments on our outlook and priorities for 2023. It's clear that the possibility of a recession is going to make 2023 a challenging year. But with the stronger franchise and earnings quality that we have built, we believe that we could continue to generate strong financial performance and a higher level of profitability, while we maintain our more conservative approach to new loan production until economic conditions improve.

好的。謝謝，埃里克。我們將在幻燈片 13 上總結我們對 2023 年的展望和優先事項的一些評論。很明顯，經濟衰退的可能性將使 2023 年成為充滿挑戰的一年。但憑藉我們建立的更強大的特許經營權和盈利質量，我們相信我們可以繼續產生強勁的財務業績和更高水平的盈利能力，同時我們在經濟狀況改善之前對新貸款生產保持更為保守的態度。

At this point, it is difficult to provide a forecast for our level of expected loan growth given the uncertain economic environment, but we believe that we will continue to grow our total loans as a result of the more productive commercial banking team we have built, the greater exposure we have to higher growth markets like Chicago and St. Louis and the continued growth of the Equipment Finance business.

在這一點上，鑑於不確定的經濟環境，很難預測我們的預期貸款增長水平，但我們相信，由於我們建立了更俱生產力的商業銀行團隊，我們將繼續增加我們的貸款總額，我們對芝加哥和聖路易斯等高增長市場的敞口更大，以及設備金融業務的持續增長。

Given the success we are having in generating commercial loan growth and with a loan deposit ratio at 99%, we are now planning to accelerate our exit from the GreenSky partnership. On Tuesday of this week, we provided notice to GreenSky that we will exit the program in October of this year, our required notice period under the contract.

鑑於我們在促進商業貸款增長方面取得的成功以及 99% 的貸款存款比率，我們現在正計劃加速退出 GreenSky 合作夥伴關係。本週二，我們向 GreenSky 發出通知，我們將在今年 10 月退出該計劃，這是合同規定的通知期。

The contract includes certain minimum loan originations through the notice period, and we have indicated to GreenSky that we will waive those minimums in order to lower our overall balances in the program. We believe that exiting the partnership will have a positive impact on our liquidity and capital while having a relatively minimal impact on earnings. The average yield on this portfolio is currently 5% as loans in the program pay off, the cash flow can be profitably invested in either loan originations or within the securities portfolio, or used to pay off some of our higher cost funding sources.

該合同包括在通知期內發放的某些最低貸款，我們已向 GreenSky 表示我們將放棄這些最低貸款，以降低我們在該計劃中的總體餘額。我們相信，退出合作夥伴關係將對我們的流動性和資本產生積極影響，同時對收益的影響相對較小。該投資組合的平均收益率目前為 5%，因為該計劃中的貸款已得到償還，現金流可投資於貸款發放或證券投資組合，或用於償還我們一些成本較高的資金來源，從而獲利。

As we have talked about over the past few quarters, one of our newer initiatives is building our Banking-as-a-Service platform which we believe can be an important contributor to the continued profitable long-term growth of the franchise. We are being very selective in our approach to adding new partnerships in this initiative so that we can ensure that any partners we add meet our high standards of risk management.

正如我們在過去幾個季度所討論的那樣，我們的一項新舉措是構建我們的銀行即服務平台，我們認為該平台可以為特許經營業務的持續盈利長期增長做出重要貢獻。我們非常有選擇性地在此計劃中增加新的合作夥伴關係，以便我們可以確保我們添加的任何合作夥伴都符合我們的高標準風險管理。

During 2023, our primary focus will be adding partners that can contribute to deposit gathering. We are going to maintain disciplined expense management while we focus on getting more leverage from our significant investments we have made in both banking talent and technology over the past few years.

在 2023 年期間，我們的主要重點將是增加可以為存款收集做出貢獻的合作夥伴。我們將保持嚴格的費用管理，同時專注於從我們過去幾年在銀行業人才和技術方面進行的重大投資中獲得更多槓桿作用。

As we do this, we believe that we can keep our expense growth rate below our revenue growth rate, which should help support our continued strong profitability. We have significantly strengthened our commercial banking team over the past few years, and we are very happy with the group we currently have and don't anticipate making any meaningful additions in the near term as we focus on keeping our expense levels relatively stable. However, we are making investments in the wealth management business in terms of adding some new personnel and enhancing our platform which we believe will enable us to improve our business development efforts, increase our client base and grow the fee income that this business generates.

當我們這樣做時，我們相信我們可以將我們的費用增長率保持在我們的收入增長率以下，這應該有助於支持我們持續強勁的盈利能力。在過去的幾年裡，我們顯著加強了我們的商業銀行團隊，我們對我們目前擁有的團隊感到非常滿意，並且預計在短期內不會進行任何有意義的增加，因為我們專注於保持我們的費用水平相對穩定。然而，我們正在通過增加一些新人員和加強我們的平台來投資財富管理業務，我們相信這將使我們能夠改善我們的業務發展努力，增加我們的客戶群並增加該業務產生的費用收入。

In terms of the outlook for credit, we believe that our loan portfolio will continue to perform well given that we have a well-diversified portfolio with limited exposure to those areas that are most likely to be impacted by a recession, most notably office and retail commercial real estate, small business loans and sub-prime consumer loans.

就信貸前景而言，我們認為我們的貸款組合將繼續表現良好，因為我們擁有多元化的投資組合，對最有可能受到經濟衰退影響的領域的敞口有限，尤其是寫字樓和零售業商業房地產、小企業貸款和次級消費貸款。

At the beginning of last year, we indicated that we are open to considering small strategic M&A opportunities that could further improve our deposit base, increase our exposure in higher growth markets or build the wealth management business. Our branch acquisition in Northern Illinois in June fits this criteria perfectly and enabled us to add low-cost deposits and increase our exposure to the Chicago MSA without disrupting the organization's focus on the execution of strategies that have generated the strong improvement we have seen in our financial performance.

去年年初，我們表示願意考慮小型戰略併購機會，以進一步改善我們的存款基礎、增加我們在高增長市場的風險敞口或建立財富管理業務。我們 6 月在北伊利諾伊州的分支機構收購完全符合這一標準，使我們能夠增加低成本存款並增加我們對芝加哥 MSA 的敞口，而不會擾亂組織對執行戰略的關注，這些戰略產生了我們在我們的業務中看到的強勁改進財務績效。

In 2023, we will continue to be open to the same type of opportunities. And as we have mentioned in the past few earnings calls, we are focused on strengthening our capital ratios to better support the continued growth of our franchise. With the higher level of profitability that we are now generating and the lower level of balance sheet growth that we expect this year, we believe that we can continue to increase our capital ratios as we move through the year.

2023 年，我們將繼續對同類機會持開放態度。正如我們在過去幾次財報電話會議中提到的那樣，我們專注於加強我們的資本比率，以更好地支持我們特許經營權的持續增長。憑藉我們現在產生的更高水平的盈利能力和我們今年預期的較低水平的資產負債表增長，我們相信我們可以在今年繼續提高我們的資本比率。

While we expect the operating environment to be a challenging year, with the strong execution we are seeing throughout the organization, we believe that we will continue to enhance the long-term value of our franchise in 2023.

雖然我們預計經營環境將是充滿挑戰的一年，但憑藉我們在整個組織中看到的強大執行力，我們相信我們將在 2023 年繼續提升我們特許經營權的長期價值。

With that, we'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. Operator, please open the call.

這樣，我們很樂意回答您可能遇到的任何問題。接線員，請打開通話。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Jeff Rulis。戴維森。

Wanted to check in on the loan growth side. I respect that you said a little uncertain on the growth rate. Could you remind me the impact of GreenSky and what that would mean from a balance standpoint and then even any sort of high-level thoughts on growth as you talk about being a little guarded, in other words, just Q4 growth indicative of a guarded but yet still growing portfolio?

想檢查貸款增長方面。我尊重你說的增長率有點不確定。你能否提醒我 GreenSky 的影響以及從平衡的角度來看這意味著什麼，然後甚至是任何關於增長的高級想法，因為你談到有點謹慎，換句話說，只是第四季度的增長表明謹慎但但仍在增長的投資組合？

Yes. So we didn't -- I'll provide some wide guide rails to GreenSky. We think at a very high level, we think the GreenSky balances could come down anywhere between $100 million and $300 million this year depending on sort of the loan originations that we get from GreenSky during this, what we call this notice period, we've asked for GreenSky to reduce our origination, I think they're receptive to that. We're not exactly sure how that could go. If it goes like we would like it to, it will be on the higher end of that range. And if it doesn't, it'll be on the lower end of that range. So that's sort of from a total loan point of view, that will be a headwind. And so from there, we think we can grow the portfolio a little bit. So the commercial business and the equipment business will sort of help offset that and grow a little bit.

是的。所以我們沒有——我會為 GreenSky 提供一些寬闊的導軌。我們認為在一個非常高的水平上，我們認為今年 GreenSky 的餘額可能會下降 1 億到 3 億美元之間，這取決於我們在此期間從 GreenSky 獲得的貸款種類，我們稱之為通知期，我們已經要求 GreenSky 減少我們的起源，我認為他們會接受這一點。我們不確定那會怎樣。如果它像我們希望的那樣發展，它將處於該範圍的高端。如果沒有，它將位於該範圍的低端。所以從貸款總額的角度來看，這將是一個不利因素。因此，從那裡開始，我們認為我們可以稍微增加投資組合。因此，商業業務和設備業務將在某種程度上幫助抵消這一點並有所增長。

Great. And maybe just jumping over to the fee income outlook, kind of a similar kind of question, I guess, given the MSR sale, kind of expected in the latter part of the year, given your wealth management push, the puts and takes of that line item, I guess, on a core basis, kind of $16 million run rate, how should we think about kind of growth of the fee income layered in with that MSR sale?

偉大的。也許只是跳到費用收入前景，我想這是一個類似的問題，考慮到 MSR 的銷售，預計在今年下半年，考慮到你的財富管理推動，看跌期權和看跌期權訂單項目，我想，在核心基礎上，大約 1600 萬美元的運行率，我們應該如何考慮與 MSR 銷售相關的費用收入的增長？

Yes, I think that's about right. I think that's -- you're looking at it how we think it will go. I think -- we think we can grow wealth management, that revenue is going to -- it won't leave until the end of -- more towards the end of the year. And so that growth in wealth should offset whatever we lose there, and we think we can probably do a little bit better this year than we did last year.

是的，我認為這是正確的。我認為那是——你正在看我們認為它會如何發展。我認為——我們認為我們可以發展財富管理，收入將——直到年底才會離開——更多的是在年底。因此，財富的增長應該抵消我們在那裡失去的一切，我們認為今年我們可能會比去年做得更好。

Appreciate it. And the last housekeeping item. Eric, I think you mentioned on the preferred quarterly kind of a stub period in Q4. That comes down to, again, $2.2 million. Is that fair on a quarterly basis?

欣賞它。還有最後一項清潔用品。埃里克，我想你在第 4 季度提到了首選的季度存根期。這再次歸結為 220 萬美元。按季度計算是否公平？

Yes, that's fair. That's what we're expecting.

是的，這很公平。這就是我們所期待的。

Our next question comes from Damon DelMonte with KBW.

我們的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Damon DelMonte。

So my first question was regarding the outlook for margin. Eric, hoping you could just provide a little bit more color around kind of how you see things shaping up. Obviously, I understand the puts and takes for margins have responded this quarter the way it did. So kind of just wondering how you think about it kind of bottoming over the next quarter or so? Or do you think it could reverse sooner than that?

所以我的第一個問題是關於保證金的前景。埃里克，希望你能為你如何看待事物的發展提供更多色彩。顯然，我知道保證金的看跌期權和看跌期權本季度的反應是這樣的。所以有點想知道你如何看待它在下個季度左右觸底？還是您認為它會比這更早逆轉？

I think kind of, Damon, how we sort of think about it is we may, this month, in particular, see a little bit of near-term pressure on the margin just from some of the deposit costs that we sort of talked about, and from some of these deposit relationships that we brought in to fund our loan growth. But then if we can keep the Fed at 25 basis points or less and give our fixed rate portfolios a month or 2 after that to continue to catch up on rates, then I think we're kind of looking at a margin that's relatively stable past this month into the rest of the quarter.

我想，達蒙，我們是如何考慮的，尤其是本月，我們可能會從我們談到的一些存款成本中看到一些短期的利潤壓力，以及我們為貸款增長提供資金而引入的一些存款關係。但是，如果我們能夠將美聯儲的利率保持在 25 個基點或更低，並在此之後一兩個月給我們的固定利率投資組合以繼續趕上利率，那麼我認為我們正在尋找過去相對穩定的利潤率本月進入本季度的剩餘時間。

If you look at our equipment finance portfolio in general, we had a really solid fourth quarter at really good rates. Those are fixed rate loans, but the portfolio turns over fairly quickly. We've seen as much as 40% attrition in that portfolio. So we see some rate pick up with that each month. So I think we're kind of looking stable, plus or minus a few basis points for the next quarter. And then beyond that, we'll see how the economic conditions kind of play out.

如果你總體上看一下我們的設備融資組合，我們第四季度的業績非常穩健，利率非常好。這些是固定利率貸款，但投資組合周轉得相當快。我們已經看到該投資組合的流失率高達 40%。因此，我們每個月都會看到一些利率回升。所以我認為我們看起來有點穩定，下個季度會增加或減少幾個基點。然後除此之外，我們將看到經濟狀況如何發揮作用。

Got it. Fair enough. Okay. That's helpful. And then with regards to the commentary about more cautious outlook for a recessionary environment. Can you give us a little guidance on the loan loss provision outlook. This quarter came in lower than it had 3 previous quarters. So just wondering if we should expect to go back to like maybe an average of what we saw during the first 3 quarters of 2022? Or what are your thoughts on that?

知道了。很公平。好的。這很有幫助。然後是關於對衰退環境更加謹慎的前景的評論。你能給我們一些關於貸款損失撥備前景的指導嗎？本季度低於前 3 個季度。所以只是想知道我們是否應該期望回到 2022 年前三個季度的平均水平？或者你對此有何看法？

I'll take that one. Because as you know, Damon, that one is the hardest one I told on the income statement that is to predict. But as you mentioned, this was our lowest provision quarter of the year. We've been internally working really hard around asset quality around underwriting. We've probably tightened our credit box and pricing box up a little bit, which, over time, right? should help with loan losses, which then helps with the provision. I think we're expecting probably a little more provision than what we had in the current quarter, but not dramatically more over the year.

我會拿那個。因為如你所知，達蒙，那是我在損益表上所說的最難預測的一項。但正如您所提到的，這是我們今年最低的供應季度。我們一直在內部圍繞承保的資產質量努力工作。我們可能已經稍微收緊了我們的信貸箱和定價箱，隨著時間的推移，對嗎？應該有助於解決貸款損失，然後幫助撥備。我認為我們預計可能會比本季度的供應量多一點，但不會比一年多得多。

Now if things really turn around for the worst then that changes as well. But I think if the environment kind of stays like this, and we don't go into a real deep recession, it's sort of a mild recession with like lots of folks are talking about, I don't think our provision should be much different than what we saw this year and could be better.

現在，如果事情真的向最壞的方向發展，那麼情況也會發生變化。但我認為，如果環境保持這種狀態，我們不會陷入真正的深度衰退，就像很多人都在談論的那樣，這是一種溫和的衰退，我認為我們的規定應該不會有太大不同比我們今年看到的還要好。

Our next question comes from Nathan Race with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自 Nathan Race 和 Piper Sandler。

Just want to kind of zoom out on the margin outlook, maybe kind of thinking about 2Q and the back half dynamics. Eric, I appreciate your comments earlier in terms of just trying to get the balance sheet to more neutral position. And I guess I'm trying to understand, with the termination of the swaps that you guys executed in the quarter, how does that kind of play out from just an earning asset yield expansion perspective going forward?

只是想縮小利潤率前景，可能會考慮第二季度和後半部分的動態。埃里克，我很欣賞你早些時候關於試圖讓資產負債表處於更中性位置的評論。而且我想我試圖理解，隨著你們在本季度執行的掉期交易的終止，從盈利資產收益率擴張的角度來看，這種情況如何發揮作用？

And I guess also within that context, how are you guys thinking about what inning you're in, in terms of additional upward pressure on deposit costs?

而且我想在這種情況下，你們如何考慮存款成本的額外上行壓力？

Yes. I'll touch on some of that, and then Eric can follow up. On the interest rate swaps, these are forward starting, so they're not impacting the financial statements right now that they would have gone into play as we move through this year, and with our sort of more neutral view where we want to be and the fact that we're going to sort of roll GreenSky off, there's funding that we may not need as we go into 2024.

是的。我會談及其中的一些內容，然後 Eric 可以跟進。在利率互換方面，這些都是遠期開始的，所以它們現在不會影響財務報表，因為它們本會在我們今年進行時發揮作用，並且我們的觀點更加中立，我們希望成為和事實上，我們將在某種程度上推出 GreenSky，在進入 2024 年時，我們可能不需要資金。

So those are sort of the decisions we made around that and when the 5-year rate got into the like 430s and 440s, the value there was just too good to pass up. And -- so between all of those, we made the decision to move off of the forward starting swaps.

所以這些就是我們圍繞這一點做出的決定，當 5 年期利率達到 430 和 440 時，那裡的價值實在是太好了，不容錯過。並且 - 因此在所有這些之間，我們決定取消遠期啟動互換。

On the deposit side, I think the way we viewed this year from the very beginning was, we needed to get ahead of the deposit costs. We have a higher loan-to-deposit ratio. We can't afford to let deposits just roll off our balance sheet, so we were very proactive starting in the first quarter of this year to be, one; get in front of our commercial clients begin to run some specials on the retail side and began to give rate to customers earlier in the cycle. So I would say we're deeper in the game than others.

在存款方面，我認為我們從一開始就看待今年的方式是，我們需要領先於存款成本。我們有更高的貸存比。我們不能讓存款從我們的資產負債表上滾下來，所以我們從今年第一季度開始就非常積極主動地成為一個；走在我們的商業客戶面前，開始在零售方面推出一些特價商品，並開始在周期的早期向客戶提供價格。所以我想說我們在遊戲中比其他人更深入。

If we want to do the baseball analogy, I don't know, maybe we're in the later innings. But depending on where the Fed goes from here, I mean, if they do 25 for the next couple of meetings, we can -- I think we have the ability to now lag some without losing deposits at this point. But it's a pretty fluid situation. We meet -- our teams are meeting every week. I'm involved every other week, talking about deposits, and that market is pretty dynamic right now with competition, doing lots of different things. But I think what we did early in the year is going to sort of help us a little more as we get into '23 around how much more the interest expense needs to increase. Eric, anything else?

如果我們想做棒球類比，我不知道，也許我們在後面的幾局。但取決於美聯儲從這裡走向何方，我的意思是，如果他們在接下來的幾次會議上做 25 次，我們可以——我認為我們現在有能力在不損失存款的情況下落後於一些人。但這是一個非常不穩定的情況。我們開會——我們的團隊每週都會開會。我每隔一周參與一次，談論存款，這個市場現在充滿活力，競爭激烈，做很多不同的事情。但我認為，隨著我們進入 23 世紀，我們在今年早些時候所做的事情會在某種程度上幫助我們了解利息支出需要增加多少。埃里克，還有什麼事嗎？

No. I think the other thing I would say is, Jeff talked about leveraging technology earlier in the call, and we've really been focused on technology and how it applies to our retail team. If you look at our -- we increased retail deposits by just short of 7% over the past year and by focusing on that sales culture and the technology, we think that can continue. And so we're hoping to continue to increase in that area in 2023, which will allow us to pull back on some of those other funding that we've put on the books as well.

不，我想我要說的另一件事是，傑夫在電話會議的早些時候談到了利用技術，我們真的很關注技術以及它如何應用於我們的零售團隊。如果你看看我們——我們在過去一年中增加了近 7% 的零售存款，並且通過專注於銷售文化和技術，我們認為這可以繼續下去。因此，我們希望在 2023 年繼續增加該領域的資金，這將使我們能夠收回我們已經投入賬面的其他一些資金。

Got it. under the scenario where the Fed maybe cuts rates a couple of times in the back half of this year as implied by the forward curve currently. I'd imagine that would be supportive of some margin expansion depending on loan growth dynamics as maybe you can kind of unwind some of the wholesale overnight borrowings that have been added to the balance sheet recently. Is that a fair scenario in terms of expecting some expansion just given some of the lagging earning asset repricing that we discussed earlier?

知道了。在美聯儲可能在今年下半年降息幾次的情況下，正如目前遠期曲線所暗示的那樣。我想這將支持一些利潤率擴張，這取決於貸款增長動態，因為也許你可以解除最近添加到資產負債表中的一些批發隔夜借款。考慮到我們之前討論過的一些滯後的盈利資產重新定價，就預期一些擴張而言，這是一個公平的場景嗎？

Yes. Nate, if that scenario happens, I think there'd be some benefit to us with some of the additional funding we've added that floats with Fed funds, seeing the Fed cut later in the year would definitely help.

是的。內特，如果這種情況發生，我認為我們增加的一些額外資金與聯邦基金一起流動，這對我們有一些好處，看到美聯儲在今年晚些時候降息肯定會有所幫助。

Okay. Great. And then just going back to the credit discussion. I think we've talked in the past that kind of normalized charge-off levels are maybe in the 25 basis point range historically. Is that kind of a fair scenario to think about this year, just based on kind of what you guys are seeing in terms of criticized classified trends as well as just obviously given some improvement in nonperformers in the quarter? Or do you guys think that's maybe too high of an expectation for this year just based on how much the portfolio credit metrics have improved recently?

好的。偉大的。然後回到信用討論。我認為我們過去曾討論過，這種標準化的沖銷水平可能在歷史上處於 25 個基點的範圍內。今年考慮這種情況是否公平，僅基於你們在批評分類趨勢方面所看到的情況，以及明顯地考慮到本季度表現不佳的情況有所改善？或者你們是否認為僅根據最近投資組合信用指標的改善程度，對今年的預期可能過高？

Yes. I mean I personally -- I think it's -- that's too high. We came in at 13 basis points this year. Yes, I do think that's high. But depending on where this economy goes, that's hard -- is hard to predict. But again, what I said earlier, we're working real hard around here to get our credit quality metrics down closer to the peer group, which is going to then impact charge-offs. We saw some of that in the current quarter. One quarter is not a trend. So we're hoping as we move forward, we can minimize our charge-offs which then impacts the provision and really impacts the bottom line profitability of our company. So that's a big focus here and has been for the last couple of years.

是的。我的意思是我個人 - 我認為 - 這太高了。我們今年的收益為 13 個基點。是的，我確實認為這很高。但取決於經濟的發展方向，這很難——很難預測。但同樣，正如我之前所說，我們正在努力工作，以使我們的信用質量指標更接近同行群體，這將影響沖銷。我們在本季度看到了其中的一些。四分之一不是趨勢。因此，我們希望隨著我們的前進，我們可以最大限度地減少我們的沖銷，然後影響準備金並真正影響我們公司的底線盈利能力。所以這是這裡的一個重點，過去幾年一直如此。

One thing, Nate, one thing I'd tag along to that too is if you look at our ACL by portfolio, that page in the slide deck, as over the next year, we'll see some provisions just because of the remixing of our loan portfolio as GreenSky comes down.

有一件事，內特，我也要附上的一件事是，如果你按投資組合查看我們的 ACL，幻燈片中的那個頁面，就像明年一樣，我們會看到一些規定，只是因為重新混合了我們的貸款組合隨著 GreenSky 的倒閉而減少。

As we've talked about in the past, I mean, our ACL right now is at 97 basis points of total loans. The credit enhancements of GreenSky is only about 25 to 30 basis points. So as that pays down, and we remix into other loan areas, you're going to see our ACL go more to that adjusted number that we disclosed, which is 113 at the end of the quarter. So there'll be some remixing in our allowance, and we'll see some provisions just related to that because of those loan portfolio changes.

正如我們過去談到的那樣，我的意思是，我們現在的 ACL 是總貸款的 97 個基點。 GreenSky的信用增級僅為25至30個基點左右。因此，隨著這筆費用的減少，我們將重新組合到其他貸款領域，您將看到我們的 ACL 更接近我們披露的調整後數字，即本季度末的 113。因此，我們的津貼會有一些重新組合，我們會看到一些與此相關的準備金，因為這些貸款組合發生了變化。

Okay. So yes, under that scenario, I'd imagine the ACL as a percentage of loans maybe steadily rises this year, again, assuming maybe charge-offs are kind of low or similar to kind of what we've seen historically from you guys?

好的。所以，是的，在這種情況下，我認為今年 ACL 佔貸款的百分比可能會穩步上升，假設沖銷可能有點低或類似於我們從你們那裡看到的歷史？

Yes, that's where we see it, yes.

是的，這就是我們看到的地方，是的。

Our next question comes from Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自 Daniel Tamayo 和 Raymond James。

This is [Tim Delas], actually on for Danny this morning. I was hoping if you guys could expand kind of on the plans on the BaaS partnerships. Just giving us an update on how talks of partnerships are going and then some of the nature of the deposits that could be coming in, are those interest-bearing, noninterest-bearing. Just any color there would be helpful.

我是 [Tim Delas]，今天早上實際上是為 Danny 做的。我希望你們是否可以擴展有關 BaaS 合作夥伴關係的計劃。只是向我們提供有關合作夥伴關係談判進展情況的最新信息，然後是可能流入的存款的一些性質，這些存款是生息的，還是不生息的。任何顏色都會有幫助。

Yes. So we've worked pretty hard this year sort of laying the foundation, both on the technology side and sort of the, I'll say, the risk management compliance governance side here, lots of sort of meetings. The key for us is to do this right. So slow is good. And we've looked at a fair amount of partners at this point and haven't sort of got to the -- we're going to do one of them yet. So it's like sales, right? You got to look at -- or it's like M&A. We got to look at a lot of banks before you buy the one that you're going to buy.

是的。因此，今年我們在技術方面和風險管理合規治理方面都非常努力地奠定了基礎，我要說的是，這裡召開了很多會議。我們的關鍵是正確地做到這一點。所以慢是好的。在這一點上，我們已經研究了相當多的合作夥伴，但還沒有達到——我們將要做其中的一個。所以這就像銷售，對吧？你必須看看 - 或者就像併購一樣。在您購買要購買的銀行之前，我們必須查看很多銀行。

So it's really important for us to get the first partnership really right with the right partner, and make sure that's going well before the next partner comes on. So this will be sort of the year where I think we can bring on a partner or two, and make sure that's going really well. We are focused solely on deposits at this point and partnerships that are deposit driven.

因此，與合適的合作夥伴建立真正正確的第一個合作夥伴關係對我們來說非常重要，並確保在下一個合作夥伴出現之前一切順利。所以今年我認為我們可以引進一兩個合作夥伴，並確保一切順利。我們目前只關注存款和存款驅動的合作夥伴關係。

In this rate environment, you can imagine that there's some rate involved here. It might be to the end customer. These are noninterest-bearing accounts, but then there's some fee share or if you will, deposit placement fee arrangement from that fintech partner that is being negotiated on a lot of these, but I would say our position there is we will not -- it will be at some margin less than Fed funds. And I think where we're targeting mostly now is like half of that number. So if we brought some of those funds on today, it would be materially cheaper than wholesale today.

在這種利率環境中，您可以想像這裡涉及一些利率。它可能是給最終客戶的。這些是無息賬戶，但是有一些費用分享，或者如果你願意的話，金融科技合作夥伴的存款安置費安排正在就其中很多進行談判，但我會說我們的立場是我們不會 - 它將在一定程度上低於聯邦基金。而且我認為我們現在主要針對的是這個數字的一半。因此，如果我們今天帶來其中一些資金，它會比今天的批發便宜得多。

No, that's very helpful. And if we could just go to the loan-to-deposit ratio here, it ticked up a little bit, just sitting just below 100%. Could you just remind us around where you could see that going or you're comfortable with that trending up towards?

不，這非常有幫助。如果我們只看這裡的貸存比，它會略有上升，剛好低於 100%。您能否提醒我們您可以在哪裡看到這種趨勢，或者您對這種趨勢感到滿意？

Yes. I mean I think that's as high as we would like it to be. I mean, ideally, we would like to be probably closer to 90%. But banking is about cycles and there's -- we talk about our management meetings all the time. There's times where loans are coming in faster than deposits. There's times on deposits coming in faster than loans. And unfortunately, they don't come in at the same rate all the time. And right now, loans have been coming in faster than the deposit side.

是的。我的意思是我認為這和我們希望的一樣高。我的意思是，理想情況下，我們希望接近 90%。但是銀行業是關於週期的——我們一直在談論我們的管理會議。有時貸款比存款來得更快。有時存款比貸款來得更快。不幸的是，他們並不是一直以同樣的速度進來。而現在，貸款的流入速度快於存款。

So we're really focused on, as I talked about earlier on deposits and deposit gathering and that will continue as we move into the year -- into this year. We do think the loans are going to slow some, and that's going to sort of help us -- sort of move that loan to deposit ratio down. The unwinding of GreenSky is also going to help, and as we unwind that cash flow, as I talked about, that -- those cash flows will either go into the investment portfolio or take some of this higher cost non-core funding off the balance sheet at very frankly, minimal impact to the income statement.

所以我們真的很專注於，正如我之前談到的存款和存款收集，並且隨著我們進入今年 - 進入今年，這將繼續下去。我們確實認為貸款會放緩一些，這會在某種程度上幫助我們——降低貸款與存款的比率。 GreenSky 的平倉也將有所幫助，正如我所說的那樣，當我們平倉現金流時，這些現金流要么進入投資組合，要么將一些成本較高的非核心資金從餘額中取出坦率地說，對損益表的影響微乎其微。

Now I appreciate the color there. And then just one more housecleaning item from us here. Tax rate kind of jumped around a little bit over the past few quarters. Any additional color on where that could shake out for 2023 would be helpful.

現在我欣賞那裡的顏色。然後我們這裡再送一件大掃除物品。在過去的幾個季度裡，稅率有點跳躍。任何關於 2023 年可能動搖的地方的其他顏色都會有所幫助。

Yes. Good question. I think it's going to be relatively stable where it was in the fourth quarter going into 2023. The tax rate jumps around a little bit as we've grown our revenues fairly significantly in 2022, our percentage of tax-exempt income, say, from like a muni portfolio dropped as a percentage of that total revenue or that total income. So I think the fourth quarter is probably a good measure going forward.

是的。好問題。我認為到 2023 年的第四季度，它會相對穩定。隨著我們在 2022 年收入的顯著增長，稅率會略有上升，例如，我們的免稅收入百分比來自就像市政投資組合在總收入或總收入中所佔的百分比下降一樣。所以我認為第四季度可能是一個很好的衡量標準。

Our next question comes from Terry McEvoy with Stephens Inc.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stephens Inc. 的 Terry McEvoy。

This is Brandon Rud on for Terry. I just have a couple of questions here. Good, good. I think on Slide 3, you mentioned you're being more selective in new loan production. Can you expand on that? And if it's in a specific area like CRE? Or is it just broadly across the whole portfolio?

這是特里的布蘭登路德。我在這裡有幾個問題。好好。我想在幻燈片 3 上，你提到你在新貸款生產中更具選擇性。你能詳細說說嗎？如果它在像 CRE 這樣的特定區域？或者它只是廣泛地跨越整個投資組合？

It's broad. I think I would say it's broad, although in the quarter, our CRE was down slightly. So we are being more selective in the CRE space. But I would say it's mostly broadly looking at deals with even a more critical eye than maybe we were 6 to 8 months ago. Yes.

它很廣泛。我想我會說它很廣泛，儘管在本季度，我們的 CRE 略有下降。因此，我們在 CRE 領域更具選擇性。但我想說的是，與 6 到 8 個月前相比，它主要以更挑剔的眼光廣泛看待交易。是的。

Okay. Another one, the equipment finance portfolio reached about a little over $1 billion this quarter. Is there a size -- or how large relative to the whole portfolio would you be willing to grow those loans to?

好的。另一個是設備融資組合，本季度達到約 10 億美元多一點。是否有規模 - 或者相對於整個投資組合，您願意將這些貸款增加到多大？

Yes, it's roughly -- Yes. It's roughly 17% or 18% right now. I think that's probably is about where we would want it to be that range. I don't want it to be 20% somewhere between 15% and 20%, but on the lower end of that range would be sort of where I'd like to see it.

是的，大致是——是的。現在大約是 17% 或 18%。我認為這可能是我們希望它在那個範圍內的地方。我不希望它在 15% 到 20% 之間的某個地方達到 20%，但在該範圍的低端將是我希望看到的位置。

Okay. And your comment earlier was NIM stable in 2023. Net interest income kind of took a small step down in the fourth quarter. Do you see that trending lower through 2023? Or is that holding stable as well? Maybe with your loan growth, can you expand on that, please?

好的。你之前的評論是 NIM 在 2023 年保持穩定。第四季度淨利息收入略有下降。你認為到 2023 年這種趨勢會下降嗎？還是保持穩定？也許隨著你的貸款增長，你能擴大一下嗎？

Yes. I think we're real focused on dollars. Dollars is what pays the bills. The margin rate doesn't. So we -- I think we can grow dollars. There'll be a little pressure. GreenSky will provide a little pressure. But really, I think that's a flat move. And then it's how well can we grow the loan portfolio and the repricing of our fixed rate loans over time at these higher rates, even if we don't have a lot of loan growth, that's going to help. And if the rate -- if the Fed slows rates down, as I said earlier, if we're deeper in the game, that means we're -- we don't need to raise our deposit rates as much going forward. So as those assets reprice, we think the dollars could go up.

是的。我認為我們真正專注於美元。美元是用來支付賬單的。保證金率沒有。所以我們 - 我認為我們可以增加美元。會有一點壓力。 GreenSky 會提供一點壓力。但實際上，我認為這是一個平坦的舉動。然後是我們如何能夠在這些更高的利率下隨著時間的推移增加貸款組合和我們的固定利率貸款的重新定價，即使我們沒有很多貸款增長，這也會有所幫助。如果利率 - 如果美聯儲放慢利率，正如我之前所說，如果我們在遊戲中更深入，那意味著我們 - 我們不需要像往常一樣提高我們的存款利率。因此，隨著這些資產重新定價，我們認為美元可能會上漲。

I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to management for any closing remarks.

我現在不顯示任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回給管理層，聽取任何結束語。

Yes. Thank you. So before we end the call today, I want to mention that we have decided to discontinue our practice of holding these quarterly earnings calls. After much consideration, we have determined that the benefit of the call doesn't justify the amount of time and resources required for preparing for and holding them. We will continue to have an active investor relations program and maintain a regular dialogue with our analysts and both current and potential shareholders. And where appropriate, we will expand disclosures in our earnings release and investor presentation to provide information that was typically discussed on these calls. And with that, I'd like to thank everybody for joining us today. Have a good day.

是的。謝謝。因此，在我們今天結束電話會議之前，我想提一下，我們已決定停止召開這些季度財報電話會議。經過深思熟慮，我們確定電話會議的好處並不能證明準備和舉行電話會議所需的時間和資源是合理的。我們將繼續實施積極的投資者關係計劃，並與我們的分析師以及現有和潛在股東保持定期對話。在適當的情況下，我們將在收益發布和投資者介紹中擴大披露範圍，以提供通常在這些電話會議上討論的信息。因此，我要感謝大家今天加入我們。祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.

女士們，先生們，今天的演講到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接並度過美好的一天。