Bank Ozk (OZK) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Bank OZK first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Bank OZK 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Jay Staley, Managing Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的發言人、投資者關係和企業發展部董事總經理傑伊·斯塔利 (Jay Staley)。請繼續。

Good morning. I'm Jay Staley, Managing Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development for Bank OZK. Thank you for joining our call this morning and participating in our question-and-answer session.

早安.我是 Jay Staley，Bank OZK 投資者關係和企業發展總經理。感謝您今天上午參加我們的電話會議並參與我們的問答環節。

In today's Q&A session, we may make forward-looking statements about our expectations, estimates, and outlook for the future. Please refer to our earnings release, management comments, and other public filings for more information on the various factors and risks that may cause actual results or outcomes to vary from those projected in or implied by such forward-looking statements.

在今天的問答環節中，我們可能會對我們的預期、估計和未來的展望做出前瞻性的陳述。請參閱我們的收益報告、管理層評論和其他公開文件，以獲取有關可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述中預測或暗示的結果不同的各種因素和風險的更多資訊。

Joining me on the call to take your questions are George Gleason, Chairman and CEO; Brannon Hamblen, President; Tim Hicks, Chief Financial Officer; Cindy Wolfe, Chief Operating Officer; and Jake Munn, President, Corporate and Institutional Banking.

與我一起參加電話會議回答大家問題的還有董事長兼首席執行官喬治·格里森 (George Gleason)；布蘭農·漢布倫 (Brannon Hamblen)，總裁；蒂姆·希克斯 (Tim Hicks)，首席財務官；辛迪·沃爾夫 (Cindy Wolfe)，首席營運官；以及企業和機構銀行業務總裁傑克·芒恩（Jake Munn）。

We'll now open up the lines for your questions. Let me now ask our operator, Michelle, to remind our listeners how to queue in for questions.

我們現在將開放熱線回答您的問題。現在，請允許我請我們的接線員米歇爾提醒我們的聽眾如何排隊提問。

(Operator Instructions) Stephen Scouten, Piper Sandler.

（操作員說明）Stephen Scouten、Piper Sandler。

Yeah. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the time. I guess -- I know you guys said in the management comments it's kind of hard to update guidance around RESG originations, and I really appreciate that given all the uncertainty. But can you give us maybe some anecdotal kind of discussion about what your customers are thinking, how they've been reacting over the past couple of weeks, and what you think customer demand, how that's changed maybe in the near term and kind of how you're thinking about walking through that demand profile in the future?

是的。大家早安。謝謝你的時間。我想——我知道你們在管理層評論中說過，更新有關 RESG 發起的指導有點困難，考慮到所有的不確定性，我真的很感激這一點。但是，您能否給我們一些軼事式的討論，關於您的客戶在想什麼，他們在過去幾週的反應如何，以及您認為客戶需求如何，短期內可能發生了怎樣的變化，以及您如何考慮在未來解決這一需求問題？

Brannon, do you want to take that one?

布蘭農，你想拿那個嗎？

Absolutely. Stephen, thanks for the question. You read the comments correctly. It's an uncertain time right now, but let me give you some background.

絕對地。史蒂芬，謝謝你的提問。您正確地閱讀了評論。現在是一個不確定的時期，但讓我給你介紹一些背景。

I've been talking to a number of market participants looking at the industry from a number of different angles. And of course, as we've said in several of the past quarters, the environment was such that equity was already having to work really hard to pencil deals. Sponsors were having to work hard to find their common equity or their pref equity, so it was an environment that already had some headwinds coming into the beginning of Q1. There was an off the 100-basis-point drop in the last four months of '24. There was some hopefulness about direction and a lot of equity that had been on the sideline for a while.

我一直在與許多市場參與者交談，從不同的角度看待這個行業。當然，正如我們在過去幾季中所說的那樣，目前的環境使得股權必須非常努力才能達成交易。發起人必須努力尋找他們的普通股或優先股，因此在第一季初，這個環境已經面臨一些阻力。2024 年最後四個月，利率下降了 100 個基點。人們對方向抱有希望，而且許多股權已經被擱置了一段時間。

So as we look forward into the year, we were expecting that we could outperform 2024 by some margin, as we said in Q1. Everyone's well aware of some of the uncertainty that's been introduced in the market over the last several weeks, so that's added another element, another consideration that our folks are having to look at. But I'd tell you, as I've talked to folks, the sentiment has been, yes, this is another more short-term uncertainty we believe and long term believe will be worked out.

因此，展望今年，我們預計我們的表現將比 2024 年有所提升，正如我們在第一季所說的那樣。每個人都清楚地意識到過去幾週市場中出現的一些不確定性，因此這又增加了另一個因素，我們的員工必須考慮的另一個問題。但我想告訴你，正如我與大家交談時所說，大家的看法是，是的，我們相信這是另一個短期的不確定性，但從長期來看，我們相信這個問題會得到解決。

We don't know where short term stops and long term starts, but there's a level of confidence that it's going to make sense to do real estate deals. The uncertainty around that timing has caused us to put a pause on our guidance as it relates to that. We come into this quarter with a fairly decent closing pipeline for the quarter, but as we look into the subsequent quarters, there's just enough uncertainty that we didn't feel like we could stand on solid ground to give additional guidance there.

我們不知道短期在哪裡結束，長期在哪裡開始，但我們有信心，進行房地產交易是有意義的。由於時間不確定，我們暫停了與此相關的指導。進入本季度時，我們擁有相當不錯的收尾業績，但展望隨後的幾個季度，我們發現存在太多的不確定性，因此我們覺得無法有堅實的基礎來提供額外的指導。

I will tell you that sponsors are -- everyone's pushing in to look at the potential impact of tariffs and how their general contracts are written, who's going to be up for funding additional costs if they occur. But I would also say that there's others that readily state that it's a mathematical problem. It's not necessarily a deal killer, so everybody's focused on the good deals that are out there and making sure they're underwriting those, structuring them correctly in light of the uncertainty. There will still be deals that are originated, but it's difficult to say what that volume is going to be over the remainder of the year.

我會告訴你，贊助商——每個人都在努力研究關稅的潛在影響以及他們的一般合約是如何寫的，如果發生額外費用，誰將承擔額外費用。但我也想說，其他人很容易就說這是數學問題。這不一定會導致交易失敗，所以每個人都會關注現有的好交易，並確保他們承保這些交易，並根據不確定性正確地構建它們。仍會有交易產生，但很難預測今年剩餘時間內的交易量會是多少。

And Stephen, you were focused on RESG volume. I would point out that we reiterated our prior guidance for mid-single-digit to high-single-digit total loan growth for the year. And of course, our first quarter was pretty strong with 3.8% growth, not annualized in Q1. So while we did pull down the RESG origination volume, we still think our cautious guidance at the beginning of the year was appropriate and still stands.

史蒂芬，您關注的是 RESG 數量。我想指出的是，我們重申了先前對今年貸款總額成長中個位數至高個位數的預期。當然，我們的第一季表現相當強勁，成長了 3.8%，但並未實現年化成長。因此，雖然我們確實降低了 RESG 發起量，但我們仍然認為，年初的謹慎指導是適當的，並且仍然有效。

Yeah, that's a good point to make, George. Appreciate that.

是的，喬治，你提得非常好。非常感謝。

And I think what's really interesting there, and maybe my follow-up, would be it looks like I think last four quarters, 65% of the loan growth has actually come from non-RESG loans, which is pretty impressive. And that handoff story continues to play out well ahead of what I would have thought, and it's great to see.

我認為真正有趣的是，也許我的後續觀察是，過去四個季度，65% 的貸款成長實際上來自非 RESG 貸款，這相當令人印象深刻。而這個交接故事的進展遠遠超出了我的想像，我很高興看到這一點。

But I guess my question there is, with this kind of uncertainty, and maybe with tariffs, there's more of a focus on small business, or C&I type of lending people are a little more skittish. Does it make you guys think any differently about the pace and the aggressiveness in which you would go after those loans and those new verticals versus RESG, which has traditionally been just your bread and butter, kind of your strongest, highest credit quality, most collateral type loans? I guess, does the environment make you think about the timing of that handoff any differently?

但我想我的問題是，由於這種不確定性，也許還有關稅，人們更加關注小型企業，或者 C&I 類型的貸款，人們會更加謹慎。這是否讓你們對追逐這些貸款和新垂直行業的步伐和積極性有了不同的看法？與 RESG 相比，後者傳統上只是你們的衣食父母，是最強的、信用品質最高的、抵押品最多的貸款？我想，環境是否會讓你對交接時機有不同的看法？

Yeah, that's a great question. The Corporate and Institutional Banking Group that Jake Munn runs for us has obviously been the biggest contributor to that non-RESG growth, which, as you pointed out, has been the majority of our growth over the recent quarters, most recent quarters.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。傑克·芒恩 (Jake Munn) 為我們管理的企業和機構銀行集團顯然對非 RESG 成長貢獻最大，正如您所指出的，這是我們最近幾季成長的主要部分。

So I'll let Jake answer that question. Jake?

所以我讓傑克來回答這個問題。傑克？

Yeah, appreciate that, George. Good morning, Stephen. Good question there.

是的，我很感激，喬治。早安，史蒂芬。問得好。

We had a good, strong quarter for CIB in first quarter. ABLG led from a total dollars deployed standpoint. CBSF led from a new relationship count standpoint. First quarter for diversified C&I lending holistically, if you look at the markets, typically the weakest. Second quarter and fourth quarter mimic one another. Third quarter is typically the strongest. So we do still feel good about the build and the momentum that we're getting in CIB as a whole. It's a part of that continued growth, growth and diversification strategy that we've talked about previously.

CIB 第一季表現良好，表現強勁。從總部署資金角度來看，ABLG 處於領先地位。CBSF 從新的關係計數角度進行領導。從整體來看，第一季多元化商業和工業貸款市場通常是最弱的。第二季和第四季互相模仿。第三季通常是最強勁的。因此，我們對於 CIB 整體的建設和發展勢頭仍然感到滿意。這是我們之前談到的持續成長、成長和多樣化策略的一部分。

Given that macroeconomic noise and some of those headwinds you mentioned, we're still conservatively looking at this on a quarter-by-quarter basis. But I can tell you, our three legacy business lines, being ABLG, EFCS and Fund Finance, still have great pipelines. They continue to add new deals at a steady cadence.

考慮到宏觀經濟噪音和您提到的一些不利因素，我們仍然以保守的方式逐季度審視這種情況。但我可以告訴你們，我們的三條傳統業務線，即 ABLG、EFCS 和基金金融，仍然擁有很好的管道。他們繼續以穩定的節奏增加新的交易。

When we look at our Corporate Banking and Sponsor Finance business line that we only launched a few quarters ago, that group is really still in expansion mode and we're actively looking at placing two additional teams out within our core footprint in two major metropolitan areas that would further drive growth. In addition to that, our LSCS group, which I'm sure we'll talk about later on in the call, is up and running. So we're starting to feel the benefit of additional fee income and business services that we can provide for our clients.

當我們回顧幾個季度前剛推出的企業銀行和贊助商金融業務線時，我們發現該業務部門實際上仍處於擴張模式，並且我們正在積極考慮在兩個主要大都市區的核心業務範圍內增設兩個團隊，以進一步推動成長。除此之外，我們的 LSCS 小組（我相信我們稍後會在電話會議中討論）已經啟動並運行。因此，我們開始感受到我們可以為客戶提供的額外費用收入和商業服務的好處。

And then lastly, I'm equally as excited to share on this call that we're actively pursuing and launching a natural resources group this year. We've identified and sourced and brought over our new Executive Managing Director of that group, George McKean, who I've been a long-time colleague and friend and have great faith in. And so we'll be, over the next couple quarters, working with our credit, our risk partners, corporate finance, analytics, et cetera, to build that group up and ready it for launch.

最後，我同樣高興地在這次電話會議上分享，我們正在積極尋求並在今年成立一個自然資源集團。我們已經確定並聘請了該集團的新任執行董事總經理喬治·麥基恩 (George McKean)，我與他是多年的同事和朋友，我對他非常信任。因此，在接下來的幾個季度中，我們將與我們的信貸、風險合作夥伴、企業財務、分析等部門合作，建立該團隊並為啟動做好準備。

And so as I mentioned, our pipelines remain robust. We're cautiously optimistic of the continued growth that you're seeing in CIB and that handoff we've discussed. All of our business lines really remain focused on credit quality first, and I've got all the faith in that team to continue to march that direction.

正如我所提到的，我們的管道仍然強勁。我們對 CIB 的持續成長以及我們討論過的交接持謹慎樂觀的態度。我們所有的業務線實際上仍然首先關注信貸質量，我完全相信我們的團隊會繼續朝著這個方向前進。

And Stephen, I would add implicit in the reiteration, reaffirmation of our aggregate loan growth guidance for the year, even though we have withdrawn RESG origination volume guidance, implicit in that is the growing confidence and expectation we have for other business lines to pick up the pace if and as needed to offset any reduction in RESG origination volume. So we're feeling good about it.

史蒂芬，我想補充一點，儘管我們已經撤回了 RESG 發放量指引，但我們仍然重申並確認了今年的總貸款增長指引，這其中隱含著我們對其他業務線加快步伐的信心和期望不斷增強，如果需要的話，可以抵消 RESG 發放量的減少。所以我們對此感覺很好。

That's fantastic. Thanks for all the time, and I appreciate it. It's always a great, great start to the year.

太棒了。感謝您一直以來的支持，我非常感激。這總是一個非常棒的一年的開始。

Manan Gosalia, Morgan Stanley.

馬南‧戈薩利亞，摩根士丹利。

Hi. Good morning, all. You noted it's an uncertain time, and I guess my question is, if this uncertainty remains and businesses are slow to make decisions, how are you thinking about the pace at which properties lease up and find permanent financing? And what conversations are you having with sponsors in terms of their ability to support properties for a longer period of time should we need that?

你好。大家早安。您提到這是一個不確定的時期，我想我的問題是，如果這種不確定性仍然存在並且企業決策緩慢，那麼您如何看待房產租賃和尋找永久融資的速度？如果我們需要的話，您與贊助商就他們是否有能力在更長時間內支持該物業進行了哪些對話？

Brannon, do you want to take that one?

布蘭農，你想拿那個嗎？

Absolutely. I'll speak about the last part of that question, Manan, conversations with sponsors.

絕對地。我將談論該問題的最後一部分，馬南，與贊助商的對話。

You guys have seen in our comments for a number of quarters the evidence that we continue to update for you around how our sponsors are doing exactly that. We are up to $957 million of total additional equity contributions over the 450 modifications and extensions that we have made. So yes, we are constantly having those conversations, and we're very pleased with the level at which they continue to support those.

你們已經在我們多個季度的評論中看到了我們持續向你們更新的證據，表明我們的贊助商正是這樣做的。我們已對 450 項修改和擴展進行了總計高達 9.57 億美元的額外股權投資。所以是的，我們一直在進行這些對話，我們對他們繼續支持這些對話的水平感到非常高興。

As it relates to leasing activity, business decisions, we are seeing continued lease up across the portfolio. So based on the facts, we've seen them so far. Certainly, some have elongated lease-up periods -- we've noted that -- but we continue to see healthy lease up in the portfolio. We'll continue to monitor that and, as that occurs or as it's elongated, expect to continue to see our sponsors support these projects that, as we noted, are the newest and highest quality projects in the market.

就租賃活動和商業決策而言，我們看到整個投資組合的租賃持續上漲。因此，根據事實，到目前為止我們已經看到了它們。當然，有些公司延長了租賃期——我們已經注意到了這一點——但我們仍然看到投資組合中的租賃狀況良好。我們將繼續監控這一點，隨著這種情況的發生或延長，我們期望繼續看到我們的贊助商支持這些項目，正如我們所指出的，這些項目是市場上最新、品質最高的項目。

And our experience has been that those highest quality, best located projects do still obtain the majority of the leasing that does occur in the market. So the story is similar today as it was before. We, as you noted, have some additional noise in the market. It remains to be seen how long that lasts, but our sponsors have been great to step up through the higher-for-longer period that we've been through over the last couple of years, and we expect they'll continue to do so into the future.

我們的經驗是，那些品質最高、位置最佳的項目仍然能獲得市場上大部分的租賃。因此，今天的故事與以前的故事類似。正如您所說，市場上有一些額外的噪音。這種局面能持續多久還有待觀察，但我們的贊助商在過去幾年中為我們提供了很大的幫助，讓我們度過了這段較長時間的高光時期，我們預計他們將來還會繼續這樣做。

Got it. Very helpful. Maybe just to pivot over to NII. NII was relatively flat, Q on Q, despite the average Fed funds rate was down meaningfully. Can you talk about what drove that? I see the new disclosure on securities repayments in 2025. Can you talk about what reinvestment rates you're getting there, and maybe also speak to the duration that you're putting on the securities book? We noticed it's been increasing a little bit over the past couple of quarters.

知道了。非常有幫助。也許只是轉向 NII。儘管平均聯邦基金利率大幅下降，但 NII 環比保持相對穩定。能談談是什麼原因導致的嗎？我看到了 2025 年有關證券償還的新披露。您能否談談您所獲得的再投資利率，以及您在證券帳簿上記錄的期限？我們注意到，過去幾個季度它一直在略有增長。

Let me take the securities question, and then I'll let Tim provide some commentary on the net interest income question. But you'll notice in our management comments that this was the first quarter among many that we actually had some growth in the bond book, and with the very optimistic view of the economy early in the quarter, very early in the quarter, and the steepening of the yield curve, the medium-term, short-term 15-year agency mortgage-backed product that we buy a lot of and some medium-dated muni bonds backed up into our strike zone.

讓我來回答證券問題，然後讓蒂姆對淨利息收入問題提供一些評論。但您會從我們的管理評論中註意到，這是眾多季度中第一個我們的債券賬簿出現增長的季度，並且由於本季度初對經濟的樂觀看法，以及收益率曲線的陡峭化，我們大量購買的中期、短期 15 年期機構抵押貸款支持產品和一些中期市政債券進入了我們的打擊區。

So we bought about $320 million, I think was the number of bonds, when the 10-year treasury backed up into the [$468 million to $478 million] range. That was our buy range to execute on some of those strategies. We were very particular, very careful in what we bought in there. We weren't in that range for very long, but we did add some bonds, and those had a very nice yield on them. We obviously went way far away from that when the 10-year got down to $380 million and is now back, I think, to $430 million or something today. So we would probably not be a buyer in that $468 million to $478 million range now, but beyond that, we would be a buyer again.

因此，當 10 年期公債殖利率回升至 [4.68 億美元至 4.78 億美元] 區間時，我們購買了約 3.2 億美元的債券，我想這是債券的數量。這是我們執行某些策略的購買範圍。我們對在那裡買的東西非常講究、非常小心。我們並沒有在這個範圍內停留很長時間，但我們確實增加了一些債券，而且這些債券的收益率非常好。當 10 年期債券殖利率降至 3.8 億美元時，我們顯然已經遠離了這一目標，而現在我認為已經回落至 4.3 億美元左右。因此，我們現在可能不會以 4.68 億至 4.78 億美元的價格購買，但超過這個價格，我們可能會再次購買。

So I think we were very opportunistic in what we did, and I feel good about that. We've got, obviously, some lower-rate bonds rolling off. We gave you that detail in figure 4 on page 6 of the management comments. It's not a huge volume, but it's about 13% of the portfolio, I guess, rolling off this year and another 15% or so rolling off next year, 16% rolling off next year in the low-3s weighted average yield for those. So we would expect to reinvest those at improved rates in the 5s to 7s sort of tax equivalent yield range if we are consistent with our prior experience.

所以我認為我們所做的事情非常具有機會主義色彩，我對此感覺很好。顯然，我們已經發行了一些低利率債券。我們在管理評論第 6 頁的圖 4 中給出了該詳細資訊。雖然數量不是很大，但我估計今年將佔投資組合的 13% 左右，明年將佔另外 15% 左右，明年將佔 16%，加權平均收益率將低於 3%。因此，如果我們與以往的經驗一致，我們期望以 5 到 7 倍稅收等值收益範圍內的改善利率對這些資金進行再投資。

So that's what I've got to say on investment securities. Tim, you want to comment on the net interest income generally, including the fact that we had two fewer days in Q1 than we did in Q4, so that was really the difference.

這就是我對投資證券要說的。提姆，你想對淨利息收入進行總體評論，包括我們第一季的利息收入比第四季度少了兩天，所以這確實是區別。

Yeah, that's right, George. Two fewer days in Q1, our NIM down 2 basis points, which was a good result there. We gave you some guidance on page 8 under that figure 7 on our net interest margin and where we believe that should go under different rate scenarios.

是的，沒錯，喬治。第一季減少了兩天，我們的淨利差下降了 2 個基點，這是一個不錯的結果。我們在第 8 頁的圖 7 下為您提供了一些有關淨利差的指導，以及我們認為在不同的利率情境下應該如何調整。

But certainly, during Q1, we had a great -- as George mentioned earlier in the call, we had a very strong loan growth quarter. We believe we'll have continued growth in average earning assets throughout the year, which we continue to expect that would drive record net interest income in at least one or more quarters in the rest of 2025 and certainly for the full year.

但可以肯定的是，在第一季度，我們取得了很大的進步——正如喬治在電話會議中早些時候提到的那樣，我們本季度的貸款成長非常強勁。我們相信，全年平均生息資產將繼續增長，我們預計這將推動 2025 年剩餘時間至少一個季度或多個季度的淨利息收入創下紀錄，當然全年也是如此。

Cindy and [Adi] and team did a great job driving down our COIBD during the quarter. We were down 29 basis points in the quarter. I think that's probably going to be one of the best in the industry for this quarter as more folks report. And you see our chart on figure 6, we still have several more quarters of volume of time deposit maturities with weighted average rates in the mid-4% range.

Cindy 和 [Adi] 及其團隊在本季度出色地降低了我們的 COIBD。本季我們下降了 29 個基點。我認為，隨著越來越多的人報告，這可能是本季業界最好的業績之一。您可以從圖 6 中看到，我們仍有幾個季度的定期存款到期量，其加權平均利率處於 4% 中間區間。

So we still feel like we've got some opportunity to continue to decrease our COIBD. We were very pleased with our NII results for the quarter, and I think that sets us up in a pretty good spot for the rest of the year.

因此我們仍然覺得我們還有機會繼續減少 COIBD。我們對本季的 NII 結果非常滿意，我認為這為我們在今年剩餘時間內保持良好的業績奠定了基礎。

Cindy, do you want to provide color on kind of where we finished the quarter and on deposit costs since that's a big element, obviously, of net interest income?

辛迪，您是否想介紹一下我們本季的業績以及存款成本狀況，因為這顯然是淨利息收入的重要組成部分？

Sure, happy to do that. A little color on March. Obviously, we're extremely pleased and proud, as Tim said, of the 29-bp decrease in the quarter. But if you want to know a little more about March and why, as Tim says, we expect to have more opportunity there with our maturities in the future, in March alone, we picked up 90 basis points of savings. We retained 88% of our maturing CDs in March, and we cut another 10 basis points in April on our published CD specials.

當然，我很樂意這麼做。三月有點色彩。顯然，正如蒂姆所說，我們對本季 29 個基點的降幅感到非常高興和自豪。但是如果你想更多地了解三月份的情況，以及為什麼正如蒂姆所說，我們預計未來我們的到期日會有更多機會，僅在三月份，我們就獲得了 90 個基點的儲蓄。我們保留了 3 月到期 CD 的 88%，並在 4 月將已發行 CD 特別利率再次下調 10 個基點。

Going forward, we're excited. And I just have to point out the obvious here that even while doing that, we've grown deposits. And if you read anything about deposit growth and deposit acquisition right now, it's extraordinarily hard to grow deposits right now.

展望未來，我們感到很興奮。我只想指出一個顯而易見的事實：即使在這樣做的同時，我們的存款也增加了。如果你現在讀到任何有關存款成長和存款獲取的文章，你會發現現在增加存款是極其困難的。

So I couldn't be prouder of our team continuing to fund our balance sheet and drop those costs down. They have been working together for years now. They execute with extreme precision and discipline and also just aggressively out there growing our business with our amazing team of retail bankers and the amazing team in our wholesale deposit group.

因此，我對我們的團隊繼續為我們的資產負債表提供資金並降低成本感到無比自豪。他們已經合作多年了。他們以極其精確和紀律的方式執行，並與我們出色的零售銀行家團隊和批發存款集團的出色團隊一起積極發展我們的業務。

And the 90 basis points that we picked up in March, for clarification, that was the weighted average rate on time deposits rolling versus the weighted average rate on --

為了澄清起見，我們在 3 月獲得的 90 個基點是定期存款的加權平均利率與定期存款的加權平均利率的比較。--

That's right. Yes, sir. Yeah, thank you.

這是正確的。是的，先生。是的，謝謝。

And our net interest margin -- or I'm sorry, our cost of interest-bearing deposits for the month of March was --

我們的淨利差——或者抱歉，我們三月的計息存款成本是--

It was 3.71%.

為3.71%。

So 7 basis points below the quarterly average. So we're continuing to work hard to push those cost of interest-bearing deposits lower. And as Cindy mentioned, it's a battle out there, but it's a battle our team is doing a really good job of winning.

因此比季度平均值低 7 個基點。因此，我們將繼續努力降低有利息存款的成本。正如辛迪所提到的，這是一場戰鬥，但我們的團隊正在努力贏得這場戰鬥。

So I think you mentioned last time that maybe one or two cuts would be slightly negative to them because your loan yields would come down faster. And then beyond that, the floors protect you on the loan side. Is that still something that you guys see happening, more than two cuts and your name could be supported a little bit more?

所以我認為你上次提到過，也許一兩次降息對他們來說會略微不利，因為你的貸款收益率會下降得更快。除此之外，這些底線還能在貸款方面保護您。你們還認為這種情況會發生嗎？經過兩次以上的削減，你的名字會得到更多的支持嗎？

Yes. And we allude to that in the language, as Tim pointed out, below figure 7 there on page 8, where we said if the Fed reduces interest rates, we anticipate loan yields would decrease faster than our deposit costs, likely resulting in some decrease in our net interest margin, at least until time deposits reprice and our floor rates are reached on more variable rate loans. And we refer you to figure 22, which shows the variable rate loans that hit their floor with each decrease in the Fed funds target rate and other similar market rates.

是的。正如蒂姆在第 8 頁圖 7 下方所指出的那樣，我們在第 8 頁的文字中提到了這一點，我們表示，如果美聯儲降低利率，我們預計貸款收益率的下降速度將快於我們的存款成本，這可能會導致我們的淨息差有所下降，至少在定期存款重新定價並且更多浮動利率貸款達到最低利率之前是這樣。請參考圖 22，該圖顯示了隨著聯邦基金目標利率和其他類似市場利率的每次下降，浮動利率貸款觸及底線。

So you can see when we get down to three decreases, you're getting one decrease. We don't get a lot more. We go from 22% of the loans to 28% of the loans -- 22% currently to 28% of loans at their floors with a 25-bp increase. With a 50-bp increase, that number goes to -- or decrease, that number goes to 44%. So we get a lot more support from the floors, and the 44% number is a meaningful percent at their floors that will contribute to us protecting the margin quite a bit. So that's a big difference between a minus 25 and a minus 50 in there.

因此，您可以看到，當我們減少三次時，就會減少一次。我們得到的並不多。我們的貸款佔比從目前的 22% 增加到 28% —— 貸款底線從目前的 22% 增加到 28%，增加了 25 個基點。如果增加 50 個基點，這個數字就會上升到 - 或下降，這個數字就會下降到 44%。因此，我們從交易大廳獲得了更多的支持，44% 這個數字對他們的交易大廳來說是一個有意義的百分比，這將在很大程度上幫助我們保護利潤率。因此，-25 和-50 之間存在很大差異。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Tim Mitchell, Raymond James.

提姆米切爾、雷蒙詹姆斯。

Hey. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to start out on the buybacks subsequent to quarter-end, which was great to see. And with the stock still trading around those levels, if there's any color you can give on your attitude, just kind of given all this uncertainty out there, but you still have a lot remaining under your program, just curious if you'd give us any thoughts.

嘿。大家早安。感謝您回答我的問題。我想在季度末之後開始回購，這真是令人高興。由於股票仍在這些水平附近交易，您是否可以透露一些您的態度，考慮到目前存在的所有這些不確定性，但您的計劃仍有很多剩餘，我只是好奇您是否可以給我們一些想法。

Tim, do you want to take that?

提姆，你想接受這個嗎？

Yeah. I mean, as you said, if we continue to trade at current levels, we would expect to continue to repurchase throughout the quarter. Our current authorization ends at the end of the quarter. We would expect our Board to consider a new authorization sometime before the end of the quarter.

是的。我的意思是，正如你所說，如果我們繼續以當前水平進行交易，我們預計將在整個季度繼續回購。我們目前的授權將在本季末結束。我們預計董事會將在本季結束前的某個時候考慮新的授權。

But certainly, at the current levels, we'd buy some more. We bought back some more yesterday. The data we gave you in the management comments was through the 15th and 16th. We had some additional purchases as well. So it depends on stock price and a lot of other variables. But I think you could expect us to be somewhat active at this level.

但可以肯定的是，以目前的水平，我們還會買更多。我們昨天又買了一些。我們在管理評論中給您的資料是截至 15 日和 16 日的資料。我們也購買了一些額外的物品。所以這取決於股票價格和許多其他變數。但我想你可以期待我們在這個層面上表現得比較活躍。

Got it. And then on expenses, if one growth is more muted than you expected, I know you sound pretty confident in your outlook, but just your thoughts on weighing near-term EPS versus continuing to invest in branches and new people, just how you're thinking about that over the near term.

知道了。然後，在費用方面，如果一項增長比你預期的要低，我知道你對你的前景非常有信心，但你只是在權衡短期每股收益與繼續投資分支機構和新員工之間，你是如何考慮短期內這些的。

Well, we're very focused on taking advantage, capitalizing on opportunities in the market. You saw that with our bond purchases early in the quarter. You saw that with our stock repurchases after quarter-end here. And we believe, and you saw it in Cindy and her deposit teams being very strategic in the way they managed our deposit base to get probably one of the best quarter-over-quarter reductions in our cost of interest-bearing deposits.

嗯，我們非常注重利用和把握市場機會。您可以在本季初看到我們購買債券的情況。您可以從我們在季度末之後的股票回購中看到這一點。我們相信，如您所見，辛蒂和她的存款團隊在管理我們的存款基礎方面非常具有策略性，從而實現了我們的計息存款成本環比下降，這可能是最好的季度之一。

So we're leaning into opportunities that the market provides. And that's always been part of our culture and our company's history is to capitalize on opportunities when they're presented. We have believed last year, continue to believe this year that we've got opportunities to both grow various parts of our balance sheet. Brannon and Jake have addressed that. If Alan Jessup or Ken Ronecker were here, or Dennis Poer who run other parts of our business, they would address the work they're doing to capitalize on growth opportunities on the asset side.

因此，我們正在抓住市場提供的機會。這一直是我們企業文化的一部分，而我們公司的歷史就是抓住出現的機會。我們去年就相信，今年我們仍然相信，我們有機會實現資產負債表各部分的成長。布蘭農和傑克已經解決了這個問題。如果艾倫·傑瑟普 (Alan Jessup) 或肯·羅內克 (Ken Ronecker) 在這裡，或者負責我們其他業務的丹尼斯·波爾 (Dennis Poer) 在這裡，他們就會著手開展工作，利用資產方面的成長機會。

We also think we've got real good opportunities to capitalize on growth on the deposit side. So we will continue to add team members to grow in areas Jake alluded to one recent hire in a new line of business in the energy area. We're continuing to add staff in mortgage, continuing to add staff in business banking, continue to ramp up our consumer banking pieces.

我們也認為，我們確實有很好的機會實現存款方面的成長。因此，我們將繼續增加團隊成員，以在傑克提到的領域中發展，最近我們在能源領域的新業務線上招募了一名員工。我們將繼續增加抵押貸款業務的員工，繼續增加商業銀行業務的員工，並繼續擴大我們的消費者銀行業務。

So we're growing and we're adding people to grow, and that's reflected in the a 10% growth in our net interest -- non-interest expense in the quarter and consistent with our guidance -- almost exactly consistent with our guidance of estimated 10% growth in non-interest expense this year. So we're continuing to capitalize on that, and that includes opening a lot of retail branches.

因此，我們正在發展，我們也在增加員工來發展，這反映在我們的淨利息增長 10% 上——本季度非利息支出與我們的預期一致——幾乎與我們對今年非利息支出預計增長 10% 的預期完全一致。因此，我們將繼續利用這一點，包括開設許多零售分店。

And Cindy, I don't know if -- do you have a count on that?

辛迪，我不知道——你對此有把握嗎？

Sure. We're excited about opening new branches. And this year alone, if you look at the schedule, the published schedule that we share to plan all those branch openings, it's 34 branches. Now, that is three in Q1, could be up to 11 or 12 in Q2, 12 in Q3, eight in Q4.

當然。我們很高興能開設新的分店。光是今年，如果你看一下時間表，我們為計劃開設所有分店而發布的時間表，就會發現有 34 家分店。現在，第一季有 3 家，第二季可能會增加到 11 家或 12 家，第三季增加到 12 家，第四季增加到 8 家。

But anyone who's developed real estate knows that that can swing by weeks or days, as far as the exact timing of those openings based on construction schedules and all sorts of things that we can't control. But that's an estimate that we'll have probably around 30 more branches at the end of the year than we had at the beginning of the year. And those will take time to grow our deposits. So we're making those moves now.

但任何開發過房地產的人都知道，開業的具體時間可能會根據施工進度和各種我們無法控制的因素而變化數週或數天。但據估計，到今年年底，我們的分公司數量可能會比年初增加約 30 家。而這些都需要時間來增加我們的存款。所以我們現在就採取這些行動。

And hiring staff, obviously, some of those are outright acquisitions of bank branch buildings, and we can get those opened really quickly. And the ones that are ground-up development can take months or even years to develop. But over time, we expect that to add meaningful deposit growth.

顯然，在招募員工方面，有些是直接收購銀行分行大樓，這樣我們就可以很快開設這些大樓。而從頭開始開發的產品可能需要幾個月甚至幾年的時間才能開發出來。但隨著時間的推移，我們預期存款將大幅成長。

And that is, I would tell you, embedded in our 10% year-over-year guidance for growth in non-interest expense. So we baked that branch addition and the staff for those -- into those projections, as we have the projections for adding an energy group, growing CIB, growing business banking, growing our consumer banking functionality, so that's our end mortgage. That's all built into our projections.

我想告訴你們，這包含在我們對非利息支出年增 10% 的預期中。因此，我們將分行的增加和員工納入這些預測中，因為我們有增加能源集團、發展 CIB、發展商業銀行業務、發展消費者銀行業務功能的預測，所以這就是我們的最終抵押貸款。這些都已納入我們的預測之中。

Got it. Thanks for all the color. Thanks for taking my questions.

知道了。感謝所有的色彩。感謝您回答我的問題。

Jordan Ghent, Stephens Inc.

喬丹根特（Jordan Ghent），史蒂芬斯公司

Hey. Good morning. I just wanted to ask about the RESG mix going forward. I think last time you said it would be kind of upper 50% by year-end of '25 and into early '26. Is that still a kind of target we can be expecting?

嘿。早安.我只是想詢問有關 RESG 組合未來的發展。我認為上次您說過，到 25 年底到 26 年初，這一比例將達到 50% 以上。這還是我們可以期待的目標嗎？

I think you'll see a continuation of the trend that we've seen over the last half-dozen quarters or so, where our RESG percentage of our total book comes down. CIBs and our community banking, commercial banking part of our book, along with indirect lending, goes up.

我認為您會看到我們在過去六個季度左右看到的趨勢的延續，即我們的 RESG 佔總帳面價值的百分比下降。CIB 和我們的社區銀行、商業銀行部分以及間接貸款都在增加。

So I think that trend is there, whether we're at 50% RESG or 55% at the end of the year or 57%. The trend is there. It's a long-term trend, and I'm not going to reaffirm specific guidance because I don't have that number in front of me and haven't reprojected that, but the trend is there. RESG is going to become a lower percentage of our book.

所以我認為這種趨勢是存在的，無論我們在年底的 RESG 比例是 50% 還是 55% 或 57%。趨勢就在那裡。這是一個長期趨勢，我不會重申具體的指導，因為我面前沒有這個數字，也沒有重新預測它，但趨勢是存在的。RESG 在我們的帳簿中所佔的比例將會降低。

Now, longer term, it's still going to grow. It'll be bigger in five years than it was two years ago in my estimation, my expectation, but it will be a lower percentage of our book. So we expect, as we've been very clear on this, we're not in any way pulling back from that business. We're fully committed to its business, but these other business units are going to continue to outgrow it in most quarters going forward for the next several years until RESG is a much smaller percentage of our book, even if it's bigger in dollars.

現在，從長遠來看，它仍會增長。根據我的估計和期望，五年後它的規模會比兩年前更大，但它在我們帳簿中所佔的比例會更低。因此，我們預計，正如我們對此非常清楚的那樣，我們不會以任何方式退出該業務。我們全力致力於其業務，但未來幾年內，其他業務部門在大多數季度的成長速度仍將超過其，直到 RESG 在我們帳簿中所佔的比例大大減小，即使其金額更大。

Perfect. And then maybe just another question. I noticed that there was the Maryland land loan that was moved to substandard non-accrual, but I did notice that the LTV on it was pretty healthy, pretty low at 51%, especially compared to the other substandard accruals. Is there any color you could give on this on why it was moved to substandard accrual?

完美的。然後也許只是另一個問題。我注意到馬裡蘭州的土地貸款被轉為不合格的非應計貸款，但我確實注意到它的 LTV 相當健康，相當低，為 51%，尤其是與其他不合格的應計貸款相比。您能否解釋為什麼要將其轉移到不合格應計項目？

It is substandard accrual. I know you said in your first sentence there, substandard non-accrual. It is substandard accrual. And Brannon, you want to take that question?

這是不合標準的應計。我知道您在第一句話中就說過，不合標準的不提。這是不合標準的應計。布蘭農，你想回答這個問題嗎？

Sure. Sure, George. Jordan, thanks for the question.

當然。當然，喬治。喬丹，謝謝你的提問。

We've based that on the appraisal that we have that was a 2024 appraisal. That's where valuation was at that point in time. That is a healthy LTV. We'll be updating that appraisal in the near future, but it's just a complicated land development loan that has some similarity, I guess you would say, in that context to the Chicago land loan, a large complex. So we've taken what we believe is the right approach with that asset in where we rated it in the reserve that we took on it. So that's really the story on that asset.

我們是根據 2024 年的評估得出這一結論的。這就是當時的估值。這是一個健康的 LTV。我們將在不久的將來更新該評估，但這只是一項複雜的土地開發貸款，我想你會說，它與芝加哥土地貸款有一些相似之處，是一個大型綜合體。因此，我們採取了我們認為正確的方法來處理該資產，並根據我們對其採取的儲備對其進行了評級。這就是有關該資產的真實故事。

Yeah, I want to add a little bit to that. Most of our land loans in our RESG portfolio are land bridge loans to go to -- on projects that are going toward near-term vertical development. There are a few loans in the book that are more land development loans. The Chicago land loan that we have in other real estate foreclosed assets is one of those. And this loan is one of those few that really is a land development loan, Maryland loan.

是的，我想補充一點。我們 RESG 投資組合中的大部分土地貸款都是土地過橋貸款，用於近期垂直開發的專案。書中有一些貸款更多的是土地開發貸款。我們在其他房地產止贖資產中持有的芝加哥土地貸款就是其中之一。這筆貸款是少數真正的土地開發貸款之一，是馬裡蘭州的貸款。

That's really where the similarity on this probably ends. We're in active, positive discussions with the sponsor on this. This loan is migrated on here because of the nature of those discussions and the fact that it's approaching a maturity. It's premature to assume that it is going to pan out the same way the Chicago land did. It may, it may not. It may continue to progress in a very positive manner going forward. We don't know.

這大概就是兩者相似之處的終點。我們正在與贊助商就此事進行積極、正面的討論。由於這些討論的性質以及貸款即將到期的事實，這筆貸款被轉移到這裡。現在就假設它會像芝加哥土地那樣發展還為時過早。有可能，也有可能不會。未來它可能會繼續以非常積極的方式取得進展。我們不知道。

But the uncertainty around that as we approach maturity and discussions with the customer is the reason it's on there. So I think it's an appropriate place to put it. We'll have more clarification on that next quarter as we continue discussions with the sponsor about their plan forward and as we get a new appraisal on it in connection with this upcoming maturity.

但隨著我們逐漸成熟並與客戶進行討論，圍繞這一問題的不確定性就是它出現在那裡的原因。所以我認為在這裡放置它是合適的。隨著我們繼續與發起人討論他們的未來計劃，並根據即將到來的到期日對其進行新的評估，我們將在下個季度對此有更清晰的說明。

Perfect. Thanks for all that updated discussions. And then maybe just kind of one follow-up regarding that Chicago land loan. Can you give any update on what's the appetite to market this property? It kind of sounds like you can be a little bit more patient and just kind of wanting to understand how aggressively you might market it going forward.

完美的。感謝所有更新的討論。然後也許只是關於芝加哥土地貸款的後續問題。您能否透露一下市場對這處房產的銷售意願如何？聽起來你需要更有耐心一點，只是想了解未來你會如何積極地推銷它。

It is a very significant asset. If you're reading the commentary, particularly in Chicago, about it, you understand the significant potential and importance of this asset to the future of Chicago and development in Chicago. It's a significant asset. So we'll be as patient as we need to be to get the right sponsor in there who has the capital and the expertise to develop this land to its full potential or significant potential. And we'll take the time to do that.

這是一項非常重要的資產。如果您正在閱讀有關它的評論，特別是在芝加哥的評論，您就會明白這項資產對芝加哥的未來和芝加哥的發展具有巨大的潛力和重要性。這是一筆寶貴的財富。因此，我們將盡可能耐心地尋找合適的贊助商，他們擁有足夠的資本和專業知識來開發這片土地的全部潛力或巨大潛力。我們會花時間做這件事。

With that said, we've already had several parties indicate an interest in it, a very serious interest it would seem. Time will tell on that. But this is a very valuable piece of land. The City of Chicago is very interested in the outcome of this development because it's important to the city. And it's gotten quite a bit of attention already as folks have come to know that we've taken title to it and are looking for the right path forward. So we'll be as patient as we need to be. But it wouldn't surprise me if things moved on this fairly quickly just because of the value and importance of the land.

話雖如此，我們已經有幾個團體對此表示了興趣，而且看起來是非常認真的興趣。時間會證明一切。但這是一塊非常寶貴的土地。芝加哥市對這項發展的結果非常感興趣，因為它對這座城市很重要。它已經引起了相當多的關注，因為人們已經知道我們已經擁有了它的所有權，並且正在尋找正確的前進道路。因此，我們會盡可能保持耐心。但如果僅僅因為土地的價值和重要性而使事情進展得相當快，我不會感到驚訝。

Now, you shouldn't take that to mean we're going to have it sold in a quarter. A big complicated land piece like this with a lot of interaction with the city and city entitlements and TIF districts and those things, it takes a good while to formulate a plan and develop full due diligence to formulate a big plan to go forward with a project like this. So it'll take a little while, but we're optimistic from the initial unsolicited feedback we've had from the market.

現在，你不應該認為這意味著我們將在一個季度內將其售出。像這樣一塊大型複雜的土地，與城市、城市權利、TIF 區等有很多互動，需要很長時間才能製定計劃，並進行充分的盡職調查，制定一個大計劃來推進這樣的項目。所以這需要一點時間，但從我們從市場上收到的初步主動回饋來看，我們感到樂觀。

Perfect. Thanks for answering my question.

完美的。感謝您回答我的問題。

Samuel Varga, UBS.

瑞銀的 Samuel Varga。

Hey. Good morning. I wanted to turn back a little bit to just the discussion around how the macro environment is impacting originations. Could you touch on the other side of that equation, the payoffs? Does the recent volatility speed up repayments at all?

嘿。早安.我想稍微回顧一下關於宏觀環境如何影響起源的討論。您能否談談這個等式的另一邊，即收益？最近的波動是否會加快還款速度？

Yeah, happy to. Yeah, great question, Samuel.

是的，很高興。是的，這個問題問得很好，塞繆爾。

This past quarter, you saw a little bit of drop-off in the repayment volume that we had relative to past quarters, but I wouldn't take that as indicative of repayment certainly in the near term. I mean, we've noted that as some of the macroeconomic noise and uncertainty unfolds, it does have an impact on these decisions. But our guys stay very close to our sponsorship in terms of their plans and their expectations.

上個季度，我們發現我們的還款金額與前幾季相比略有下降，但我並不認為這代表短期內還款額會下降。我的意思是，我們注意到，隨著一些宏觀經濟噪音和不確定性的出現，它確實會對這些決策產生影響。但我們的球員在計劃和期望方面與我們的贊助商保持著非常密切的聯繫。

And for the very near term, we do expect those repayments to return to a level that was more akin to what we saw in the latter part of '24. And we would expect that to, as we said, result in elevated repayments for the year. Things can change, though, from month to month, quarter to quarter, so we'll keep our eye on it. But based on what information we have today, what information we have today, we do expect those repayments to be elevated over Q2 and to continue to do so over the remainder of the year.

而在短期內，我們確實預期這些償還額將恢復到與 2024 年後期更相似的水準。正如我們所說，我們預計這將導致今年的還款額增加。不過，情況每個月、每季都會發生變化，所以我們會密切注意。但根據我們今天掌握的信息，我們確實預計這些還款額將在第二季增加，並在今年剩餘時間內繼續增加。

Brannon, we might give a little interim color. I believe already in the first 10 days or so, two weeks of April, we've had six RESG loans pay off. I believe the balances were, what, $250 million to $300 million range total?

布蘭農，我們可能會給出一點臨時的顏色。我相信，在 4 月的前 10 天左右，也就是兩週內，我們已經有 6 筆 RESG 貸款還清了。我相信餘額總計在 2.5 億到 3 億美元之間吧？

Correct. That is correct.

正確的。沒錯。

And those loans, most of them, if not all of them, were loans we expected to pay off in Q1, but for one reason or another, the closings almost drug out another week or two. That's certainly not unusual. Big transactions, whether we're closing them or somebody else, have a lot of moving parts to them and a lot of lawyers and others involved in that closing process. Those closings sometimes get hung up on one issue or another and take several weeks longer than expected or sometimes even months longer than expected. So that's not unusual, but it did throw our expectations off a little bit from Q1 to Q2.

這些貸款，其中大部分（如果不是全部）都是我們預計在第一季償還的貸款，但由於這樣或那樣的原因，結清貸款幾乎又拖延了一兩週。這當然並不罕見。大型交易，無論是我們自己完成還是其他人完成，都涉及很多環節，並且需要許多律師和其他人員參與完成過程。這些結案有時會因為一個或另一個問題而受阻，並且比預期多花幾週甚至幾個月的時間。所以這並不罕見，但它確實使我們對第一季和第二季的預期有些偏離。

Yeah. To your point, five of those six paid off in the first three days of the month. So point well made.

是的。正如您所說，這六個人中有五個人在當月的前三天就得到了回報。所以觀點很好。

Yeah, they just barely missed the tape.

是的，他們只是差一點就錯過了比賽。

Awesome. Thanks for all that color. And then just a more housekeeping item, and it's probably for Tim. On the buybacks, the capital ratios have been -- CET1 especially has been pretty flattish, it seems, when I look at the preliminary for the first quarter. Is it fair to say that the buybacks are there and you're going to be opportunistic and sort of keep capital ratios flattish through that? And is that a governor on it? Or if valuations stay where they are today, you'd be willing to actually lower CET1 to take advantage of those opportunities to buy back shares?

驚人的。感謝所有這些色彩。然後只是一個更家務的物品，它可能適合蒂姆。關於回購，當我查看第一季的初步數據時，資本比率一直相當穩定——尤其是 CET1。是否可以說，存在回購，而您將抓住機會，並透過回購來保持資本比率平穩？那是州長嗎？或者，如果估值保持在今天的水平，您是否願意實際降低 CET1 以利用這些機會回購股票？

Yeah, thanks for the question. Certainly, we had really good growth and then really strong earnings during Q1, which, as you pointed out, kept our CET1 ratios and most of our ratios relatively flat. Some were down a few basis points, some were up a few basis points.

是的，謝謝你的提問。當然，我們在第一季實現了非常好的成長，而且獲利也非常強勁，正如您所指出的，這使得我們的 CET1 比率和大多數比率保持相對平穩。有些下降了幾個基點，有些上升了幾個基點。

But yes, and as share repurchases right now, it's such a compelling value, we would be willing to let the CET1 come down slightly. But that certainly is a consideration, not only a stock price, but our capital ratios and our outlook for growth for the remainder of the year. So if they came down slightly in one quarter, it's likely that they'd bounce back up in subsequent quarters as we go throughout the year.

但是的，而且由於現在股票回購，它的價值如此引人注目，我們願意讓 CET1 略微下降。但這當然是一個考慮因素，不僅包括股價，還包括我們的資本比率和今年剩餘時間的成長前景。因此，如果它們在某個季度略有下降，那麼很可能會在全年的後續季度中反彈。

So we're really pleased that we've held on to our share repurchase authorization up to this point. We've been very patient, and as George has pointed out, we've got a history of being very opportunistic on a lot of different fronts. And this is one of those cases where our patience has paid off and we're really able to utilize that share repurchase authorization at very compelling values right now.

因此，我們很高興到目前為止仍保留著我們的股票回購授權。我們一直非常有耐心，正如喬治指出的那樣，我們在許多不同方面都有抓住機會的歷史。這是一個我們的耐心得到回報的案例，我們現在確實能夠以非常誘人的價格利用該股票回購授權。

Great. Thank you very much for taking our questions.

偉大的。非常感謝您回答我們的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Timur Braziler, Wells Fargo.

（操作員指示）Timur Braziler，富國銀行。

Hi. Good morning. I wanted to circle back on the Chicago exposure and the relationship with Sterling Bay in particular. Clearly, you took back a good chunk of the land in Lincoln Yards. You do have other exposure to Sterling Bay. I'm just wondering, as the quarter progressed, how are you thinking about the other loans that you have to Sterling Bay? And if there was maybe a broader consideration, whether it's for incremental allowance, risk rating, what it might be for that sponsor in particular?

你好。早安.我想回顧一下芝加哥的曝光情況以及與斯特林灣的關係。顯然，你們收回了林肯廣場的一大塊土地。您確實對 Sterling Bay 還有其他了解。我只是想知道，隨著本季的進展，您如何看待 Sterling Bay 的其他貸款？如果可能有更廣泛的考慮，無論是增量津貼，風險評級，對於該贊助商來說可能是什麼？

Brannon, you want to take that?

布蘭農，你想接受這個嗎？

Sure, Timur. I would tell you that those loans are unique. There is a commonality in the sponsorship, but you have to understand every one of those projects, you've got different types of projects, you've got significant leasing in a number of those projects, you have different capital stacks in those projects, you have different capital partners, part of those projects that are a consideration. So it's not our practice to broad brush a situation like that in a portfolio that just happens to have the same sponsorship name.

當然，帖木兒。我想告訴你，這些貸款是獨一無二的。贊助有共同點，但你必須了解每一個項目，你有不同類型的項目，你在很多項目中都有大量租賃，你在這些項目中有不同的資本堆疊，你有不同的資本合作夥伴，這些項目的一部分是值得考慮的。因此，我們的做法是，在一個恰好具有相同贊助商名稱的投資組合中，概括地描述這種情況。

Okay. And I guess more specifically, the remaining loans in Lincoln Yards themselves, how are you guys thinking about the development and the fact that it has been a little bit of a mess with just the city, and then the fact that the city is so involved, is there an incremental risk that either the full buildout or the leasing up of the additional properties on Lincoln Yards themselves gets pushed out and just how that might translate to the loans?

好的。我想更具體地說，對於林肯庭院本身的剩餘貸款，你們如何看待開發以及它對城市造成的一些混亂，然後由於城市如此參與，是否存在增量風險，即林肯庭院本身的全面建設或額外房產的租賃被推遲，以及這會如何影響貸款？

Brannon, go ahead.

布蘭農，續。

Yeah. So again, I would restate what I said before, you have different capital partners in different loans. You sort of lumped in a lot of issues there that are not necessarily tied together, but we treat each one of them individually as to their situation.

是的。因此，我再次重申我之前所說的話，不同的貸款有不同的資本合作夥伴。你把很多問題混為一談，這些問題不一定連在一起，但我們會根據具體情況分別處理它們。

As George noted, that's a phenomenal location and piece of real estate that has a tremendous amount of opportunity, a tremendous amount of interest. It needs, as George alluded to, the right sponsorship to execute on that. But I would also remind you that our basis in these loans is we enter these to be prepared for things not going as planned, and we're pleased with the fact that we've got diversity of property type and again, to lump all those in would be a mistake.

正如喬治所說，這是一個絕佳的地理位置和房地產，擁有巨大的機會和巨大的利益。正如喬治所提到的，要實現這一目標，需要正確的贊助。但我還要提醒您，我們進行這些貸款的基礎是，我們為不按計劃進行的事情做好準備，我們很高興看到我們擁有多樣化的財產類型，再次強調，將所有這些都集中在一起將是一個錯誤。

I would make a couple of comments -- Timur, let me add another comment or two. We've had a number of successful executions with the Sterling Bay Group and positive long-term history with them. So that's important to note.

我想發表幾點評論——Timur，請容許我再補充一兩則評論。我們與 Sterling Bay Group 合作過多次成功的項目，並保持著長期良好的合作關係。所以這一點很重要。

And secondly, the city's interest and engagement in this project, we view as very positive. I mean, the developer who ends up developing this project to its ultimate potential is going to be a developer that is going to work closely with the city, because there's city infrastructure and collaboration that is required on a project of this scale that sits right sort of at the confluence of several significant urban areas in the city -- urban, suburban areas in the city.

其次，我們認為該市對該項目的興趣和參與非常積極。我的意思是，最終將這個項目開發到極致的開發商將是與城市密切合作的開發商，因為這種規模的項目需要城市基礎設施和協作，而這個項目正好位於城市中幾個重要城區（城市中的城區和郊區）的交匯處。

So it's going to take a sponsor who is very capable of working with the city, and the city is going to have to be engaged. So we view that constructively, not negatively. And if there was a negative innuendo in the question there about city involvement, we actually view that as positive, not negative.

因此，我們需要一個非常有能力與城市合作的贊助商，而且城市也必須參與其中。因此，我們對此持建設性而非負面的看法。如果問題中關於城市參與的暗示是負面的，我們實際上認為這是正面的，而不是負面的。

Okay, thanks for that. And then, my follow-up, just the growth and diversification strategy, I'm just wondering, your thoughts on that strategy going into a period of uncertainty like we're in today, more specifically just in growing out CIB as aggressively as you guys have been growing it.

好的，謝謝。然後，我的後續問題是成長和多樣化策略，我只是想知道，您對進入像我們今天這樣的不確定時期的這一戰略有何看法，更具體地說，就是像你們一直以來那樣積極地發展 CIB。

I'm just wondering, A, does that growth rate still make sense as we look at it today, just given the level of uncertainty? And then, I guess, if it does, just be what the conviction that you guys have in making some of those loans to industries that maybe could be more at acute risk if the economy does sour more quickly.

我只是想知道，A，考慮到不確定性程度，從今天的角度來看，這個成長率是否仍然有意義？然後，我想，如果確實如此，那麼你們是否確信，如果經濟惡化得更快，那些向產業提供部分貸款可能會面臨更大的風險。

Well, I would tell you, I think our conviction, our belief that it's the absolute right thing to do, and our growth and diversification strategy is as strong as it's been any time since we started down that path five or six years ago when we brought in and began to build the first team that is now part of Jake's group, and then a year later added another team on a different business line, and a third year added another team on a different product line. So we absolutely believe it's the right thing to do.

好吧，我想告訴你，我認為我們的信念，我們相信這是絕對正確的事情，我們的增長和多元化戰略和五六年前我們走上這條道路以來的任何時候一樣強大，當時我們引入並開始建立現在屬於傑克集團的第一支團隊，一年後，我們又在不同的業務線上增加了一個團隊，第三年，我們又在不同的產品線上增​​加了一個團隊。所以我們絕對相信這是正確的做法。

We've got tremendous confidence in the team that we have built over the years and that Jake has significantly augmented in the last year plus, and these are experienced veteran folks. They share our commitment, as Jake articulated in his earlier comments, that asset quality is always paramount. They're doing business with high-quality customers, and I think they'll do a good job. I think we will achieve more diversification, and that will be healthy for our company, healthy for our stock price, and will not dilute our asset quality, but contribute to better asset quality through broader diversification.

我們對多年來建立的團隊充滿信心，而且傑克在過去一年多的時間裡已經大大增強了團隊實力，他們都是經驗豐富的老將。正如傑克在他之前的評論中所表達的，他們與我們有著共同的承諾，即資產品質始終是最重要的。他們正在與優質客戶做生意，我認為他們會做得很好。我認為我們將實現更加多元化，這對我們公司、對我們的股價都是有益的，而且不會降低我們的資產質量，反而會透過更廣泛的多元化促進資產品質的提高。

Yeah. And to piggyback off that, George, if I can, it's a good question, a fair question. As previously mentioned, we're really just now hitting our stride with some of these new business units that have come online. And when we look out over the broader opportunity that's out there, specifically in that just general C&I space, call it middle market to upper middle market corporate space, the bank doesn't have much asset there historically, and so pushing into that, there's really a whole world available for us to continue to grow within.

是的。喬治，如果可以的話，順便說一下，這是一個好問題，一個公平的問題。如同前面所提到的，隨著一些新業務部門的上線，我們目前正處於快速發展階段。當我們放眼更廣泛的機會時，特別是在一般的 C&I 領域，即所謂的中端市場到中高端市場的企業領域，銀行歷史上在該領域並沒有太多資產，因此，如果繼續進入該領域，我們真的可以繼續成長。

I want to reiterate, though, just given that market uncertainty and some of those macroeconomic headwinds that you mentioned, if you look at the opportunities we're pursuing, the vast majority of them have a sponsor behind them or publicly traded, so we've got a nice tertiary source repayment potentially there or access to capital markets, if you will. Average client, or if not most of our clients, are over $10 million plus in EBITDA. They've been around for years and years, so they've gone through multiple business cycles and economic cycles, and so they've gotten hardened balance sheets.

不過，我想重申，鑑於市場不確定性和您提到的一些宏觀經濟逆風，如果您看看我們正在追求的機會，您會發現絕大多數機會背後都有贊助商或公開交易，因此，我們有可能獲得良好的第三級償還來源，或者進入資本市場，如果您願意的話。平均每位客戶（如果不是大多數的話）的 EBITDA 都超過 1000 萬美元。它們已經存在很多年了，因此它們經歷了多個商業週期和經濟週期，並且它們已經獲得了穩健的資產負債表。

We've taken a page out of RESG's book. If you look at our average LTEB, it's down in the 50 percentile range on these two when we're doing enterprise value lending. And then also to reiterate, we don't do leverage lending when we're actively doing enterprise value lending, which is very different than many of our peers. And so holistically, if you look at the type of opportunities we're pursuing in CIB, strong balance sheets, ample equity in, and a long-running history of success for these companies through multiple business and economic cycles.

我們借鏡了 RESG 的經驗。如果你看一下我們的平均 LTEB，當我們進行企業價值貸款時，這兩項的平均 LTEB 都下降到了 50% 的範圍內。然後還要重申一下，我們在積極進行企業價值借貸時不會進行槓桿借貸，這與我們的許多同行非常不同。因此，從整體上看，如果您看一下我們在 CIB 中追求的機會類型，您會發現這些公司擁有強大的資產負債表、充足的股權以及在多個商業和經濟週期中長期取得成功的歷史。

So to George's point, we're cautiously optimistic and we anticipate continued growth across these CIB business lines. And the new CIB business lines that we've launched, work kind of in tandem with the existing ones, ABLG, EFCS, and Fund Finance. And so if we start to see pricing pressure or structuring pressure in one of those areas, it allows us to pull the lever on another area to continue to pursue that growth. And so that diversified nature that we've built out strategically is really what's going to continue to propel our growth there successfully.

因此，正如喬治所說，我們持謹慎樂觀的態度，並預計這些 CIB 業務線將繼續成長。我們推出的新 CIB 業務線與現有的 ABLG、EFCS 和基金融資業務線協同工作。因此，如果我們開始看到某個領域出現定價壓力或結構壓力，我們就可以在另一個領域採取行動，繼續追求成長。因此，我們策略性地建構的多元化性質才是真正繼續推動我們在那裡成功發展的動力。

Great. Thank you for the questions.

偉大的。謝謝您的提問。

Brian Martin, Janney.

布萊恩馬丁、珍妮。

Hey. Good morning, guys. Hey, I joined a bit late here, so if you covered this, George, I apologize, and I'll go back and listen to the transcript. But just in terms of the -- just with the tariffs and kind of the uncertainty and just the opportunities, I guess when you look at the reserves today, and I guess are you -- with the Moody's forecast, I don't know how you guys changed your -- if it all changed your outlook in terms of reserving or just how we should think about that going forward, or if you could just give a little bit of color if you haven't already done so just on how we should think about that going forward.

嘿。大家早安。嘿，我來得有點晚，所以如果你報道了這件事，喬治，我很抱歉，我會回去聽一下記錄。但就關稅、不確定性和機會而言，我想當您看到今天的儲備時，我想您是——根據穆迪的預測，我不知道您是如何改變的——這一切是否改變了您對儲備的看法，或者我們應該如何看待未來，或者如果您還沒有這樣做，您是否可以稍微解釋一下我們應該如何看待未來。

Brian, I'll -- let me make a few comments on that, and then I'll let Tim make a comment. In our management comments on page 22, where we show that progression of our ACL bill over the last 11 quarters, and I'll let Tim talk to that, we make a comment that if you read it and sort of read between the lines, there's been a steady array of challenges that our customers have faced that have prompted that ACL bill, and the recession was always coming. The recession was coming, and the recession was coming from the lingering effects of the pandemic, from remote work, from all sorts of things, and then it was the Fed raising rates 500, 525 basis points, I guess, 525 basis points of Fed rate increases.

布萊恩，我——讓我對此發表一些評論，然後讓蒂姆發表評論。在第 22 頁的管理評論中，我們展示了過去 11 個季度 ACL 法案的進展情況，我會讓 Tim 談談這一點，我們評論說，如果你讀過它並讀懂字裡行間的意思，就會發現我們的客戶一直面臨著一系列的挑戰，這促使我們提出 ACL 法案，而且經濟衰退一直在來臨。經濟衰退即將來臨，而經濟衰退的根源在於疫情的持續影響、遠距工作以及各種各樣的因素，然後聯準會又升息了 500、525 個基點，我猜，是 525 個基點。

Then it was, gosh, the Fed's not going to cut quickly, so we're going to have a recession, we're going to have higher for longer, we're going to have a recession, and you could throw in all sorts of the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East, the recession risk in Europe, and trade tensions and supply chain disruptions, and now we've got the little tariff tantrum going on. So there's been just a steady progression of risk that our customers have had to deal with. And as those risks have increased and a handoff from one apparent risk to the next apparent risk has occurred, we just kept building our ACL, realizing that the cumulative impact of all these risks could manifest itself in more and more challenges for our customers.

然後，天哪，聯準會不會迅速降息，所以我們將會陷入衰退，我們將會處於更長時間的更高水平，我們將會陷入衰退，你可能會想到烏克蘭的各種戰爭、中東的衝突、歐洲的衰退風險、貿易緊張局勢和供應鏈中斷，現在我們又遇到了小規模的關稅恐慌。因此，我們的客戶必須應對的風險一直在穩定增加。隨著這些風險的增加以及從一個明顯風險轉移到下一個明顯風險，我們只是繼續建立我們的 ACL，並意識到所有這些風險的累積影響可能會給我們的客戶帶來越來越多的挑戰。

Our customers have done an exceptionally good job. And if you look over that 11-quarter period of time, our provision expense has been four times our actual losses, and that tells you that, one, we're being very cautious in our build of the ACL; and two, our customers have just continued to perform very well, even under a constantly evolving and shifting array of risk and challenges, all of which have threatened a recession or adverse situation of some kind or another.

我們的客戶做得非常出色。如果你回顧這 11 個季度，你會發現我們的撥備支出是實際損失的四倍，這說明，第一，我們在建立 ACL 時非常謹慎；第二，即使在不斷演變和變化的風險和挑戰下，我們的客戶仍然表現良好，所有這些都預示著經濟衰退或某種不利局面。

We looked at all that coming into the year through the fourth quarter when everybody was euphoric to the extreme and said, wow, that is, that's probably excessive euphoria, and built our ACL in the fourth quarter of last year, even though everybody was in a euphoric mindset because we were adopting a very conservative set of scenarios at that point in time. And being appropriate, prudent, and cautious regarding the outlook is that euphoria has turned more recently into just doom and gloom.

我們回顧了今年第四季的情況，當時每個人都興奮到了極點，我們說，哇，這可能是過度興奮，並在去年第四季度建立了 ACL，儘管每個人都處於興奮的心態，因為我們當時採用了一套非常保守的方案。對於前景，我們應該保持適當、謹慎和謹慎的態度，因為最近的興奮變成了悲觀。

We think the doom and gloom is overdone as the euphoria was three months earlier, and that the economy and the outcomes are going to be somewhere in that, but being cautious and being prudent and wanting to make sure we've got an appropriate ACL in the quarter just ended, we built our ACL again, $19 million.

我們認為，由於三個月前的興奮情緒，目前的悲觀情緒有些過度，經濟和結果也將處於某種程度，但出於謹慎和審慎，我們希望確保在剛結束的這個季度獲得適當的 ACL，我們再次建立了 ACL，金額為 1900 萬美元。

And so Tim, why don't you talk about our specific scenario of selections in the quarter just ended, and anything else I missed in my comments?

那麼提姆，你為什麼不談談我們在剛結束的這個季度的具體選擇情況，以及我在評論中遺漏的其他內容呢？

Yeah. Thanks, George. As you pointed out, I mean, we have increased -- more than doubled over that 11-quarter period. Our ACL increased at 113%, which was a net $339 million increase, given all the, as you pointed out, risks and uncertainties that have been present over those 11 quarters.

是的。謝謝，喬治。正如您所指出的，我的意思是，我們在那 11 個季度內增長了一倍多。考慮到您所指出的這 11 個季度中存在的所有風險和不確定性，我們的 ACL 增長了 113%，即淨增長 3.39 億美元。

We have been consistently weighted to downside scenarios, and during the quarter just ended, we did shift even more of our weightings to those downside scenarios. You can see in that last paragraph, we mentioned that the weightings we assigned each of the Moody's S4, which is a recessionary scenario, and Moody's stagflation scenario, each of those exceeded the weighting that we had to the Moody's baseline scenario. So we've been including stagflation in our downside scenarios for the last several quarters and continue to view that as something that should be considered in our ACL calculations.

我們一直在關注下行情景，而在剛結束的這個季度，我們確實將更多的權重轉移到了下行情景。您可以在最後一段看到，我們提到，我們為穆迪 S4（經濟衰退情境）和穆迪滯脹情境分配的權重都超過了我們對穆迪基線情境的權重。因此，過去幾季我們一直將滯脹納入我們的下行情境中，並繼續將其視為 ACL 計算中應考慮的因素。

Got you. Okay, that helps. And maybe just one, not the Chicago land, George, but the other property in Orio that had the contract out there, did you provide any update on where that stands today, or do you have an update on that?

明白了。好的，這有幫助。也許只有一塊土地，喬治，不是芝加哥的土地，而是奧裡奧的另一塊有合約的土地，你有沒有提供任何關於目前情況的最新消息，或者你對此有什麼最新消息？

Yeah, we've got that updated. The Los Angeles land is updated on page 25, and when we finished the fourth quarter, that land had fallen out of contract because the prospective purchaser of that land didn't make the contract extension payments that they were supposed to make at the end of the year. We -- reasonably quickly, I think it took about a month for the sponsor to come back and work out a new contract. We had already canceled the O contract and captured the $3 million of non-refundable earnest money that we applied that reduced our carry value on that asset from $59.95 million to $56.95 million, where it is today.

是的，我們已經更新了。洛杉磯土地的最新情況在第 25 頁，當我們結束第四季度時，該土地的合約已經失效，因為該土地的潛在買家沒有支付他們應該在年底支付的合約延期款項。我們——相當快，我認為贊助商花了大約一個月的時間才回來制定一份新合約。我們已經取消了 O 合同，並獲得了 300 萬美元的不可退還的保證金，這使該資產的賬面價值從 5995 萬美元降至今天的 5695 萬美元。

But as part of the sponsor re-engaging with that contract, they had to pay us $2.5 million in fees that was in our non-interest income in the quarter just ended and put up an additional $1.5 million in non-refundable earnest money deposits. So $4 million they put up. That was in addition to the $6 million that they had previously paid to us and all the money that they've spent on it.

但作為贊助商重新簽訂合約的一部分，他們必須向我們支付 250 萬美元的費用，這筆費用是我們剛結束的季度的非利息收入，此外還要支付 150 萬美元的不可退還的保證金。所以他們投入了 400 萬美元。這還不包括他們之前支付給我們的 600 萬美元以及他們為此花費的所有資金。

The contract currently expires June 30. They have one extension option, which they negotiated for three additional months to September 30. To exercise that extension option, they've got to pay us a $1 million fee and put up another $1 million of non-refundable earnest money by June 30. Our current expectation of the most likely scenario, given their apparent commitment to this project, is that they'll probably take that extension and probably pay those payments on and before June 30 and extend to September 30.

該合約目前將於6月30日到期。他們有一個延期選擇，經協商後，合約將延長三個月，至 9 月 30 日。為了行使延期選擇權，他們必須在 6 月 30 日之前向我們支付 100 萬美元的費用並再支付 100 萬美元不可退還的定金。鑑於他們對這個項目的明顯承諾，我們目前對最可能的情況的預期是，他們可能會接受延期，並可能在 6 月 30 日之前支付這些款項，並延長至 9 月 30 日。

It's impossible to know for sure if this project closes or not. But certainly, by the time they do that, if they exercise the extension, they'll have paid us $12 million in fees and earnest money toward the project. That seems pretty serious interest to me, and they will have spent millions of dollars of other money on due diligence and work on the project. I think it's more likely that that sale closes than not, but I'm not going to celebrate it until it closes and the money is in our account. If it closes, that contract closing should result in a small gain on sale.

無法確切知道該項目是否會結束。但可以肯定的是，到那時，如果他們行使延期權，他們將向我們支付 1200 萬美元的費用和項目定金。在我看來，這似乎是一個非常嚴肅的興趣，而且他們將花費數百萬美元的其他資金用於盡職調查和專案工作。我認為這筆交易完成的可能性很大，但我不會慶祝，直到交易完成並且錢到賬為止。如果成交，該合約的成交應該會帶來小額銷售收益。

Got you. Okay, I appreciate you taking the question. Thank you.

明白了。好的，感謝您回答這個問題。謝謝。

All right. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to George Gleason, Chairman and CEO, for closing remarks.

謝謝。今天的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議交還給董事長兼執行長喬治·格里森 (George Gleason) 來致閉幕詞。

Thank you, guys, for joining us today. We appreciate all the questions. We appreciate your interest in OZK, and we look forward to talking with you in about 90 days, more or less. Thanks so much.

謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們感謝大家提出的問題。我們感謝您對 OZK 的關注，我們期待在大約 90 天後與您交談。非常感謝。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。祝大家有個愉快的一天。