ServisFirst Bancshares Inc (SFBS) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the ServisFirst Bancshares Third Quarter Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce you to our host, Davis Mange, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you, Davis. You may begin.

您好，歡迎參加 ServisFirst Bancshares 第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我很高興向您介紹我們的東道主投資者關係總監戴維斯·曼格(Davis Mange)。謝謝你，戴維斯。你可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and welcome to our third quarter earnings call. We'll have Tom Broughton, our CEO; Rodney Rushing, our Chief Operating Officer; Henry Abbott, our Chief Credit Officer; and Bud Foshee, our CFO, covering some highlights from the quarter, and then we'll take your questions. I'll now cover our forward-looking statements disclosure.

下午好，歡迎參加我們的第三季財報電話會議。湯姆·布勞頓 (Tom Broughton)，我們的執行長；羅德尼‧拉欣 (Rodney Rushing)，我們的營運長； Henry Abbott，我們的首席信貸官；我們的財務長 Bud Foshee 介紹了本季的一些亮點，然後我們將回答您的問題。我現在將介紹我們的前瞻性聲明披露。

Some of the discussion in today's earnings call may include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ from any projections shared today due to factors described in our most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and ServisFirst assumes no duty to update them.

今天的財報電話會議中的一些討論可能包括前瞻性陳述。由於我們最近的 10-K 和 10-Q 文件中描述的因素，實際結果可能與今天分享的任何預測有所不同。前瞻性陳述僅代表發布當日的情況，ServisFirst 不承擔更新這些陳述的義務。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom.

這樣，我就把電話轉給湯姆。

Thank you, Davis. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our calls where we review the third quarter. I thought I'd start by reviewing the current economic outlook.

謝謝你，戴維斯。下午好，感謝您參加我們的電話會議，我們將回顧第三季的情況。我想我應該先回顧一下當前的經濟前景。

Going back to late spring, the conventional wisdom, which included mine, was that we were pretty much headed for a hard economic landing. Much of that outlook was due to -- we've seen rapid escalation in interest rates. We've seen bank deposit disintermediation for over -- close to a year at that point. And then we see credit tightening by most banks.

回到春末，包括我在內的傳統觀點認為，我們幾乎正走向經濟硬著陸。這種前景很大程度上是由於——我們看到利率迅速上升。那時我們已經看到銀行存款去中介化已經超過一年了。然後我們看到大多數銀行都收緊信貸。

The demand for goods and services continues to be amazing. The consumer appears to be very resilient. They're sort of hooked on living large, it seems, since the pandemic started. They were buying stuff when they were stuck at home, and now they're consuming stuff. So it seems like we're in a little bit better spot than we've been in. We have seen a slowdown in demand for credit, both CRE and C&I, is probably a combination of borrower caution and higher interest rates.

對商品和服務的需求仍然很驚人。消費者似乎非常有彈性。自從大流行開始以來，他們似乎有點沉迷於大生活。當他們被困在家裡時，他們會買東西，現在他們會消費東西。因此，我們的處境似乎比以前要好一些。我們看到信貸需求放緩，包括商業房地產和商業與工業信貸，這可能是藉款人的謹慎態度和利率上升的結合。

I was with a customer last week, and he said the best way I can make $16 million is to pay down $200 million of debt at [0.8%] of. He said that's the best way for me to improve my earnings. I'm not going to buy any more capital goods. So I think that's probably a prevailing thought. I know our bank and others are watching for late cycle credit cracks. Henry Abbott will discuss a little bit more in a few minutes on the credit side.

上週我和一位客戶在一起，他說我賺 1,600 萬美元的最好方法就是以 [0.8%] 的價格償還 2 億美元的債務。他說這是我提高收入的最佳途徑。我不會再購買任何資本貨物。所以我認為這可能是個普遍的想法。我知道我們的銀行和其他銀行正在關注晚週期的信貸裂縫。亨利·阿博特將在幾分鐘內就信用方面進行更多討論。

We don't run our bank based on any kind of economic forecast because they're all wrong. But it does appear we are headed for more of a soft landing than we envisioned a few months ago. The recent [addition -- version] of the yield curve will be helpful to us as we move towards a normal yield curve and really, the higher for longer rate environment, we think benefits us, our future earnings for the bank.

我們不會根據任何經濟預測來運作我們的銀行，因為它們都是錯的。但看來我們正在走向比幾個月前預想的更軟著陸的方向。隨著我們走向正常的殖利率曲線，最近的[添加版本]的殖利率曲線將對我們有所幫助，而且實際上，長期利率環境越高，我們認為對我們以及我們銀行未來的收益有利。

So that's sort of a brief overlook of where we are, and I'll get down into a little more granular information here. Start talking about deposits. We have focused on building core deposits over the last 4 quarters. We've seen really fantastic results. Our people have done an outstanding job, and they've done what we've asked them to do. And very few banks can demonstrate the deposit growth we've seen combined with 0 Federal Home Loan Bank advances and 0 brokered deposits.

這是對我們現狀的簡要概述，我將在這裡深入了解一些更詳細的資訊。開始談論存款。過去四個季度我們專注於建立核心存款。我們已經看到了非常出色的結果。我們的員工做得非常出色，他們也完成了我們要求他們做的事情。很少有銀行能夠展示我們所看到的存款成長以及 0 聯邦住房貸款銀行預付款和 0 經紀存款。

Our municipal clients have received significant COVID funding this year. It'll take a bit of time for that to be spent. The -- most COVID funds, I know have to be committed by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026. But I do have faith that most politicians can spend it more quickly than that. Our deposit pipeline is down a bit from the record level last quarter. We are looking for -- it's still strong. We're looking for granular new relationships that are sticky. On the correspondent side, Rodney Rushing will give an update in a few minutes when I finish.

我們的市政客戶今年收到了大量的新冠肺炎資金。這需要一些時間才能花掉。據我所知，大多數新冠肺炎資金必須在 2024 年底之前投入，並在 2026 年底之前支出。但我確實相信，大多數政客能夠更快地花掉這筆資金。我們的存款管道比上季創紀錄的水平略有下降。我們正在尋找——它仍然很強大。我們正在尋找具有黏性的細粒度新關係。記者這邊，羅德尼·拉欣（Rodney Rushing）將在我講完後幾分鐘內提供最新情況。

Our total new accounts were up 19% year-over-year, while our commercial accounts were up 20% year-over-year. This is indicative of broad-based deposit growth, which is what we wanted. We think our emphasis on deposit growth over current liquidity will set the stage for improved profitability in 2024.

我們的新帳戶總數較去年同期成長 19%，而商業帳戶則較去年同期成長 20%。這表明存款廣泛增長，這正是我們想要的。我們認為，我們對存款成長而非當前流動性的重視將為 2024 年獲利能力的提高奠定基礎。

We are seeing cash on hand stay consistently at the $2 billion level in October. We are pleased to have built this liquidity at this level during the industry disruption we've seen. While it may reduce the net interest margin, it does not affect net interest income, so I'm very pleased with the deposit situation.

我們看到 10 月手頭現金持續保持在 20 億美元的水平。我們很高興在我們看到的行業混亂期間建立了這種水平的流動性。雖然可能會降低淨利差，但不會影響淨利息收入，所以我對存款狀況很滿意。

Talking a little bit about loan demand. We did turn the loans back on a few months ago, and it started with a trickle as it always does after you shut off the tap. Our loan pipeline today is up 74% over the prior quarter. And though it's not back to levels from early 2022, it is back to late 2022 levels.

談貸款需求。幾個月前，我們確實重新開放了貸款，一開始就像你關掉水龍頭後的細流一樣。今天我們的貸款管道比上一季增加了 74%。雖然沒有回到 2022 年初的水平，但已經回到 2022 年底的水平。

We have seen increased activity in the past 30 days, and we also -- loans grew $87 million in the month of September. We are seeing increased confidence by borrowers, both C&I and CRE. Our liquidity position, we think, gives us a significant competitive advantage in the industry.

我們看到過去 30 天內的活動增加，而且 9 月的貸款增加了 8700 萬美元。我們看到 C&I 和 CRE 借款人的信心增強。我們認為，我們的流動性狀況使我們在產業中具有顯著的競爭優勢。

On the production side, we previously announced we added a great new team of bankers in the Montgomery region, 4 new bankers there. We had a total of 5 in the quarter. From a head count standpoint, we were down 3 for the quarter. We are focused on adding the right people and rightsizing our team. This year, we think that will be certainly coming to an end as we go towards the end of the year, and we'll have the right group here.

在製作方面，我們之前宣佈在蒙哥馬利地區增加了一支出色的新銀行家團隊，那裡有 4 名新銀行家。本季我們總共有 5 個。從員工人數的角度來看，本季我們減少了 3 名員工。我們專注於增加合適的人員並調整我們的團隊規模。今年，我們認為隨著年底的臨近，這種情況肯定會結束，我們將在這裡擁有合適的團隊。

We will open our new Lake Norman office in the Piedmont region soon. It will be a community banking officer -- office that's very similar to the offices in Tallahassee, Panama City and Nashville, North Carolina. These community banking offices do produce good granular and sticky deposits and have improved margins.

我們很快就會在皮埃蒙特地區開設新的諾曼湖辦事處。這將是一個社區銀行官員辦公室，與巴拿馬城塔拉哈西和北卡羅來納州納什維爾的辦公室非常相似。這些社區銀行辦事處確實產生了良好的顆粒狀和黏性存款，並且利潤率有所提高。

So with that, I'll turn it over to Rodney to discuss the correspondent side.

因此，我將把它交給羅德尼來討論記者方面的問題。

Thank you, Tom. Correspondent banking had a strong deposit rebound, closing the quarter with total fundings just over $2 billion. Our deposit growth at September 30 was 12.3% for the quarter. Most of that increase came from Tennessee, and our new Texas market expansion was just over $275 million in new deposit relationships coming from those markets.

謝謝你，湯姆。代理銀行存款強勁反彈，本季末資金總額略高於 20 億美元。截至 9 月 30 日，本季存款成長率為 12.3%。其中大部分成長來自田納西州，而我們新的德州市場擴張則來自這些市場的新存款關係剛超過 2.75 億美元。

I need to also mention or remind you that correspondent balances are not hot or temporary funding sources as our rates paid are market rates, not rate specials. 70% of all correspondent balances are tied to settlement relationships with these downstream banks.

我還需要提及或提醒您，代理餘額不是熱門或臨時資金來源，因為我們支付的利率是市場利率，而不是特價利率。所有代理行餘額的 70% 與這些下游銀行的結算關係有關。

The division is well diversified in both correspondent bank sizes and geographies. 7 new bank relationships were opened during the quarter in 5 different states. Correspondent participation loans and new relationship pipelines are strong for the remainder of the year and also in the 2024. Our correspondent agent bank credit card program has 15 new banks in our pipeline that are in various stages of the sales process. There are 3 new state banking associations reviewing our American Bankers endorsed agent credit card program to determine if they would like to participate.

該部門在代理銀行規模和地域方面都十分多元化。本季在 5 個不同的州開設了 7 家新的銀行關係。代理參與貸款和新關係管道在今年剩餘時間以及 2024 年都很強勁。我們的代理銀行信用卡計劃有 15 家新銀行正在籌備中，這些銀行正處於銷售流程的不同階段。有 3 個新的州銀行協會正在審查我們的美國銀行家認可的代理信用卡計劃，以確定他們是否願意參與。

We currently have 9 state endorsements at this time. This has expanded our reach and as the existing pipeline includes banks in Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Montana, Missouri and New York, just for an example of how wide that the market has grown. Correspondent deposits and fundings in summary, the correspondent balances stabilized in the early second quarter, and we had impressive strong growth, as you can see for the third quarter.

目前我們已獲得 9 個州的認可。這擴大了我們的覆蓋範圍，現有的管道包括康乃狄克州、維吉尼亞州、德克薩斯州、喬治亞州、蒙大拿州、密蘇裡州和紐約州的銀行，這只是市場成長的一個例子。總而言之，代理存款和資金，代理餘額在第二季度初趨於穩定，我們的增長令人印象深刻，正如您在第三季度所看到的那樣。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Henry Abbott, our Chief Credit Officer.

接下來，我會將其交給我們的首席信貸官亨利·阿博特 (Henry Abbott)。

Thank you, Rodney. ServisFirst had a very strong third quarter, and we're pleased with the bank's results. Past due loans to total loans were down to only 8 basis points. This represents a 45% reduction from the second quarter and a 50% drop from the first quarter.

謝謝你，羅德尼。 ServisFirst 第三季的業績非常強勁，我們對該銀行的業績感到滿意。逾期貸款佔貸款總額的比例下降至僅 8 個基點。這比第二季下降了 45%，比第一季下降了 50%。

Our asset quality continues to remain strong, and I'm pleased to say nonperforming assets to total assets decreased from 16 basis points in the second quarter to only 15 basis points in the third quarter. With the current economic outlook, the bank felt it appropriate to maintain its ALLL to total loans of 1.31%, which is consistent with the prior quarter.

我們的資產品質持續保持強勁，我很高興地說不良資產佔總資產的比例從第二季的16個基點下降到第三季的僅15個基點。鑑於當前的經濟前景，該銀行認為將 ALLL 佔貸款總額的比例維持在 1.31% 是合適的，與上一季一致。

AD&C as a percentage of risk-based capital was 91% and at the end of the third quarter and income-producing CRE and AD&C to risk-based capital was 312%. Both of these figures are down from when we started 2023. We had no material downgrades to the watch list in our CRE portfolio, and we continue to focus on and monitor our AD&C bucket. We also review and stress our entire CRE portfolio via both internal and external sources. We as an industry leader in commercial real estate data and analytics help provide stress testing and real-time data on the portfolio.

AD&C 佔創投的比例為 91%，第三季末，創收型 CRE 和 AD&C 佔創投的比例為 312%。這兩個數字都比 2023 年開始時有所下降。我們的 CRE 投資組合中的觀察名單沒有出現重大下調，我們將繼續關注和監控我們的 AD&C 類別。我們也透過內部和外部來源審查和強調我們的整個商業房地產投資組合。作為商業房地產數據和分析領域的行業領導者，我們幫助提供投資組合的壓力測試和即時數據。

As a reminder, our CRE exposure is primarily in the Southeast, which continues to remain one of the strongest areas, and we have no material downtown urban office exposure. Charge-offs for the quarter were 15 basis points when annualized, and year-to-date annualized charge-offs were only 11 basis points. Charge-offs for the quarter were not related to income producing CRE or any SNCs. And I know those are items of interest and impacted the charge-offs at some of our peer banks. We continue to feel very good about our diverse and granular loan portfolio to outperform in the third quarter.

提醒一下，我們的商業房地產業務主要集中在東南部，該地區仍然是最強勁的地區之一，我們沒有實質的市中心辦公室業務。以年化計算，本季的沖銷為 15 個基點，而年初至今的年化沖銷僅 11 個基點。本季的沖銷與產生收入的 CRE 或任何 SNC 無關。我知道這些都是令人感興趣的項目，並影響了我們一些同業銀行的沖銷。我們仍然對我們多元化且精細的貸款組合在第三季度跑贏大盤感到非常滿意。

With that, I'll hand it over to Bud Foshee.

這樣，我就把它交給 Bud Foshee。

Thank you, Henry. Good afternoon. We are very pleased with the progress the bank has made in the third quarter with deposit growth, liquidity, capital and improving loan pipelines. Our noninterest-bearing deposits were stable in the third quarter with the exception of $100 million in deposit runoff related to COVID funds. We were pleased with the total deposit growth of $854 million in the quarter.

謝謝你，亨利。午安.我們對銀行第三季在存款成長、流動性、資本和改善貸款管道方面取得的進展感到非常滿意。除了與新冠病毒基金相關的 1 億美元存款徑流外，第三季我們的無利息存款保持穩定。我們對本季存款總額增加 8.54 億美元感到滿意。

We saw loans grow in the quarter after several quarters of decline or flat. A key to improving EPS is loan growth, and our team is focused on a more balanced approach to loan and deposit growth going forward. We had a goal of $1 billion in liquidity, and we have exceeded that goal with $2 billion at quarter end.

我們看到貸款在幾個季度下降或持平之後在本季度出現增長。提高每股盈餘的關鍵是貸款成長，我們的團隊專注於未來採取更平衡的貸款和存款成長方式。我們的流動性目標是 10 億美元，到季末我們已經超過了這個目標，達到了 20 億美元。

Our loan repricing initiative will contribute to market expansion later in the year. Examples are our repricing effort, $390 million of loans where the rate has been restructured, loans paid off early, $104 million. We have $188 million pending in loan repricing.

我們的貸款重新定價措施將有助於今年稍後的市場擴張。例如，我們的重新定價工作，3.9 億美元的貸款已調整利率，提前還清了 1.04 億美元的貸款。我們還有 1.88 億美元的貸款重新定價待處理。

Loan repricing is the best opportunity to improve profitability combined with loan growth. Loans that repriced are paid off in the third quarter were $276 million, which combined with loan paydowns on fixed rate loans totaled to $2 billion on an annualized run rate. Cumulative effects of this repricing will improve margin and EPS over time.

貸款重新定價是提高獲利能力和貸款成長的最佳機會。第三季償還的重新定價貸款為 2.76 億美元，加上固定利率貸款的償還貸款，以年化運行利率計算總計達 20 億美元。隨著時間的推移，這種重新定價的累積效應將提高利潤率和每股盈餘。

Net interest margin stabilized in the third quarter, $100 million in the third quarter versus $101 million in the second quarter. 89% of our new loans are floating rate, and about 41% of total loans are floating rate today.

第三季淨利差穩定為 1 億美元，而第二季為 1.01 億美元。我們的新增貸款中有 89% 是浮動利率，目前總貸款的 41% 左右是浮動利率。

Our adjusted loan-to-deposit ratio at September 30, 2023, was 80.5%. This ratio includes the correspondent net funds purchase. We saw improvement in core noninterest income in the quarter with improvements in both credit card and mortgage. We expect continued improvement over the balance of the year.

截至2023年9月30日，我們調整後的貸存比率為80.5%。該比率包括相應的淨資金買入。隨著信用卡和抵押貸款的改善，我們看到本季核心非利息收入有所改善。我們預計今年剩餘時間將持續改善。

As a reminder, the second quarter noninterest income included a debt benefit of $890,000. Discussing noninterest expense, we have made an effort to hold the line on expense growth in 2023. We have experienced increases in noncore expenses. Problem credit, which was primary legal expenses related to credits, check fraud and credit card fraud, and we had 1 case of $600,000 in credit card fraud. These items increased $1.4 million from the first quarter of 2023.

提醒一下，第二季非利息收入包括 89 萬美元的債務收益。在討論非利息支出時，我們努力控制 2023 年的支出成長。我們經歷了非核心支出的增加。問題信貸，這是與信貸、支票詐欺和信用卡詐欺相關的主要法律費用，我們有 1 起涉及 60 萬美元的信用卡詐欺案件。這些項目較 2023 年第一季增加了 140 萬美元。

We also experienced an increase in FDIC insurance $825,000 from the first quarter.

與第一季相比，我們的 FDIC 保險金額也增加了 825,000 美元。

We have built our staffing and our new offices and do not expect additional head count for any existing offices. Our teams are performing quite well and have grown new accounts 19% year-over-year. We continued our growth in book value per share. Our CET1 ratio was 10.69%, and our Tier 1 leverage ratio was 9.35%. Our capital continues to be a strength.

我們已經建立了人員配置和新辦公室，預計不會為任何現有辦公室增加人員數量。我們的團隊表現相當出色，新客戶數量較去年同期成長 19%。我們的每股帳面價值持續成長。我們的CET1比率為10.69%，一級槓桿率為9.35%。我們的資本仍然是我們的優勢。

And that concludes my remarks, and I'll turn the program back over to Tom.

我的發言到此結束，我將把程序轉回給湯姆。

Thank you, Bud. If we made a list of the 20 most important metrics in managing a bank, we are performing extremely well on almost all of those except for the one that's the most important, which is earnings per share.

謝謝你，巴德。如果我們列出管理銀行的 20 個最重要的指標，那麼我們在幾乎所有指標上都表現得非常好，除了最重要的一個，即每股收益。

We've got to get our earnings back up to where they were. It's going to take a few quarters, we think, but we'll get there. So we think our performance on all those other metrics will lead to improved earnings per share in the future.

我們必須讓我們的收入恢復到原來的水平。我們認為這需要幾個季度的時間，但我們會實現這一目標。因此，我們認為我們在所有其他指標上的表現將導致未來每股收益的提高。

So we'll open it up now for questions. I'd be glad to see what you have to -- on your mind.

所以我們現在就打開它來提問。我很高興了解您的想法。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Kevin Fitzsimmons with D.A. Davidson.

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

I'm just trying to -- I know there's a number of contributors into the margin, but I'm just trying to let -- unpack. I think when we were on the last conference call, we talked about the NIM maybe stabilizing in third quarter and then beginning to expand in the fourth quarter. And there's -- looks like there's maybe a couple of contributors here and maybe you can kind of go through them in terms of what contributed.

我只是想——我知道有很多貢獻者進入了利潤空間，但我只是想讓——解開包裝。我想當我們在上次電話會議上時，我們談到淨利差可能會在第三季趨於穩定，然後在第四季開始擴張。看起來這裡可能有幾個貢獻者，也許你可以根據他們的貢獻來了解他們。

So it looks like, on the one hand, you talked about repricing the loans and maybe that's going to help earnings in the future, but it seems like that might have led to less substantial loan growth than you might have had otherwise and then coupled with paydowns. On the funding side, you had a very successful quarter growing deposits and building up that liquidity, but I guess it comes at a cost to that ratio. And I know you don't -- you talked about not necessarily managing to that ratio. But -- and then the loan-to-deposit ratio looks like it came into.

因此，一方面，您談到了對貸款重新定價，也許這將有助於未來的收入，但似乎這可能會導致貸款增長幅度低於您原本可能獲得的水平，然後再加上付款。在資金方面，您在一個非常成功的季度增加了存款並建立了流動性，但我想這是以該比率為代價的。我知道你不知道——你談到不一定能達到這個比例。但是——然後貸存比看起來就出現了。

And so I'm just trying to like weigh all those. Was the increased funding, was that exceeding that goal of $1 billion to $2 billion? Was that more a byproduct of just the movement you saw in the correspondent network and elsewhere? Or was it a deliberate aim?

所以我只是想權衡所有這些。增加的資金是否超出了 10 億至 20 億美元的目標？這更多的是你在通訊網路和其他地方看到的運動的副產品嗎？還是故意的目的？

Because most banks are talking about, I'm not sure if you guys put it this way, but really loan growth being governed by the pace of deposit growth. And in this case, we saw a big delta between deposit growth and loan growth. So I know that's a lot, but I just wanted to set up on helping us understand where the margin goes from here.

因為大多數銀行都在談論，我不確定你們是否這麼說，但實際上貸款成長是由存款成長速度決定的。在這種情況下，我們看到存款成長和貸款成長之間存在很大的差異。所以我知道這很多，但我只是想幫助我們了解利潤從這裡到哪裡。

Yes. Probably let me -- Bud will have to give you some actual numbers. But my take on it is that the improvement in loan repricing, it's been swallowed up by deposit repricing to this point in time. So that's why you haven't seen the margin improve yet because of that. If we think the rate increases are behind us, then it stabilizes from this point forward pretty well. And as we reprice loans, more of that starts flowing to net income instead of flowing to reprice deposits.

是的。也許讓我——巴德必須給你一些實際的數字。但我的看法是，到目前為止，貸款重新定價的改善已經被存款重新定價所吞噬。這就是為什麼你還沒有看到利潤率因此而改善。如果我們認為升息已經過去，那麼從現在開始它就會穩定下來。當我們重新定價貸款時，更多的資金開始流向淨收入，而不是流向重新定價存款。

So that's the first thing, I think. And of course, we had no idea of deposits. We asked our people 15 months ago to focus solely on growing deposits. Our incentive plan is skewed almost 100% of that for the year 2023. So you probably heard me say, people do what you incent them to do, and they've done what we incented them to do. They have grown deposits.

我認為這是第一件事。當然，我們不知道存款。 15 個月前，我們要求我們的員工只專注於增加存款。我們的激勵計劃幾乎 100% 傾斜於 2023 年。所以你可能聽到我說，人們會做你激勵他們做的事情，而他們也做了我們激勵他們做的事情。他們的存款增加。

So now we've actually gone back and for the last 3 months of the year, we're putting a special incentive to grow loans from October 15 to January 15 to have an incentive to grow loans and by a fair amount of money to try to get the loan pipeline restarted. But I guess, Bud, I don't know -- obviously, when you add that much in deposits that's sitting at the Fed, it does not do anything to help the net interest margin at all, but that wasn't the point. It doesn't hurt the net interest income, and that's -- we think showing liquidity today, we will start rationalizing deposit cost as we go forward.

所以現在我們實際上已經回去了，在今年的最後3 個月裡，我們在10 月15 日至1 月15 日期間提​​供了增加貸款的特別激勵措施，以激勵增加貸款，並提供相當數量的資金來嘗試重新啟動貸款管道。但我想，巴德，我不知道——顯然，當你加上美聯儲的這麼多存款時，它根本不會對淨息差有任何幫助，但這不是重點。它不會損害淨利息收入，而且我們認為今天顯示出流動性，我們將開始合理化存款成本。

We had a call with our regional executives a couple of weeks ago, and we're starting to try to rationalize some of that cost because we're in a pretty good spot. And we think -- again, we think having all this excess liquidity is a significant competitive advantage with our -- in the industry. But I probably didn't answer your question, Kevin.

幾週前，我們與區域主管通了電話，我們開始嘗試合理化部分成本，因為我們處於一個非常好的位置。我們認為，我們再次認為，擁有所有這些過剩的流動性對於我們的產業來說是一個顯著的競爭優勢。但我可能沒有回答你的問題，凱文。

No. No, that was helpful, Tom. I just -- I guess, I know there's a lot of moving parts to it, but are you -- do you guys feel like that -- it sounds like you're over -- not overshot, but I mean it's never -- you can never have too much of it. But is it -- and it's just 1 quarter. But do you feel -- assuming the Fed is mostly done here, do you feel we're getting closer to that ratio stabilizing and then maybe [eat up] to expand in '24? Is that where -- what you suspect?

不，不，這很有幫助，湯姆。我只是 - 我想，我知道其中有很多變化的部分，但是你們 - 你們有這樣的感覺嗎 - 聽起來你已經結束了 - 沒有過頭，但我的意思是它永遠不會 -你永遠不會擁有太多。但這只是四分之一。但你是否覺得——假設聯準會基本上已經完成了這項工作，你是否認為我們正在接近該比率的穩定，然後可能會在 24 年[吃掉]擴張？那是你懷疑的地方嗎？

Yes. We mentioned that our municipal clients have had big liquidity. And these are existing customers. We're not -- they are core relationships. We're not outbidding on money with municipalities. In fact, we're not bidding on money with municipalities. We're not going to do that. These are core relationships at some reasonable price that doesn't leave you a lot of profit when you get the money to the Fed to hold. But nevertheless, we're not going to tell a good client we won't take their money.

是的。我們提到我們的市政客戶擁有大量流動性。這些都是現有客戶。我們不是──他們是核心關係。我們不會與市政當局出價過高。事實上，我們並沒有與市政當局競標資金。我們不會那樣做。這些是以合理價格建立的核心關係，當你把錢交給聯準會持有時，不會為你帶來很多利潤。但儘管如此，我們不會告訴好客戶我們不會拿他們的錢。

So that's the bottom line. They're not -- it's not -- again, we don't have any brokered deposits, and we don't have any home loan bank advances. So we're really kind of a spot. I don't think most of the industry would trade places with us if they could.

這就是底線。他們不是——不是——再說一次，我們沒有任何經紀存款，我們也沒有任何房屋貸款銀行預付款。所以我們確實是一個地方。如果可以的話，我認為大多數行業都不會與我們交換位置。

And Tom, just on loan growth, typically, you guys have seen more back half of the year heavy in loan growth if I recall correctly. And it gains momentum over the course of the year. And so on the one hand, you mentioned that a lot of customers are looking to pay down debt. There's the impact of rates. There's the impact of you guys being -- tightened standards.

湯姆，就貸款成長而言，如果我沒記錯的話，你們通常會看到今年下半年貸款成長強勁。而且這一勢頭在這一年中不斷增強。一方面，您提到很多客戶正在尋求償還債務。還有利率的影響。你們的影響是──收緊標準。

And -- but on the other hand, you cited, if I heard it correct, a big increase in the loan pipeline. And last quarter, you were kind of -- it seemed like much more optimistic on the economy. So do you feel like loan growth is just going to grind higher at this point, not necessarily in leaps and bounds?

但另一方面，如果我沒聽錯的話，你提到了貸款管道的大幅增加。上個季度，您對經濟似乎更加樂觀。那麼，您是否認為此時貸款成長只會進一步走高，而不一定是跳躍式的？

Yes, we do. Now again, like I said, our loans grew $87 million in the month of September. We've seen a lot of activity just in the last 30 days. It seems like we've seen things really pick up. Borrowers are getting a little bit more confidence in the economy and starting with projects in both C&I and CRE.

是的，我們願意。現在，正如我所說，我們的貸款在 9 月增加了 8700 萬美元。過去 30 天內我們看到了許多活動。看來我們已經看到事情真的好轉了。借款人對經濟信心增強，並開始進行工商業和商業房地產專案。

So -- and again, we're being a little bit more creative in trying to find sources of loan demand right now, Kevin. And I think that's what we had to do after '08, '09, '10, after the -- people weren't buying boats and airplanes during that period of time, and we had to try to finance operating equipment for trucking companies and things that we're still growing and doing well. So that's what we're trying to do this time. We just have to be a little more creative in finding the loan demand out there than you do when times are really good.

所以，凱文，我們現在在尋找貸款需求來源方面變得更有創意了。我認為這就是我們在 08 年、09 年、10 年之後必須做的事情，在那段時間人們不再購買船隻和飛機，我們必須嘗試為貨運公司和運營設備提供資金我們仍在成長並且做得很好的事情。這就是我們這次嘗試要做的事。我們只需要在尋找貸款需求方面比您在經濟狀況好的時候更有創意。

Our next question comes from Steve Moss with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自史蒂夫·莫斯和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Tom, you spoke about the loan pipeline improvement here. Just kind of curious, what is the rate you're seeing these days? And kind of hearing you say $87 million of growth in September kind of feels like maybe we'll see a decent step-up in growth for the fourth quarter on loans.

湯姆，你在這裡談到了貸款管道的改善。只是有點好奇，最近看到的利率是多少？聽到您說 9 月份增長了 8700 萬美元，感覺我們可能會看到第四季度貸款增長出現可觀的增長。

Go ahead, Bud.

繼續吧，巴德。

Yes, we think that loans can increase. The rate that new loans went on during September was 8.35%. So we feel like it would be that or above. And like Tom said, we put in an extra incentive for loans in the fourth quarter, so we expect loans to increase. I mean fourth quarter is always our best quarter.

是的，我們認為貸款可以增加。 9月新增貸款率為8.35%。所以我們覺得應該是這個或以上。正如湯姆所說，我們在第四季度對貸款進行了額外的激勵，因此我們預計貸款將會增加。我的意思是第四季永遠是我們最好的季度。

Steve, what I can't project is what kind of payoffs we're going to have. And I'm looking at Henry Abbott. If we've got -- if a multifamily developer is looking at going to permanent financing with Fannie Mae, I mean, their rate's going up, but it's still less then what we're charging them. I mean they might pay 6% at Fannie, but they're going to pay us -- they're paying us 8.25%, 8.5%. So there's what I can't predict, Steve.

史蒂夫，我無法預測我們將會得到什麼樣的回報。我正在看著亨利·阿博特。如果我們——如果多戶住宅開發商正在尋求與房利美進行永久融資，我的意思是，他們的利率會上升，但仍然低於我們向他們收取的費用。我的意思是，他們可能會向房利美支付 6%，但他們會付給我們——他們付給我們 8.25%、8.5%。所以有些事情是我無法預測的，史蒂夫。

Great. And then maybe just curious in terms of the underlying mix in the pipeline, is that a little more weighted towards CRE and construction these days? Or is there a healthy C&I component? Just kind of curious business mix is.

偉大的。然後也許只是對管道中的基礎組合感到好奇，現在是否更偏重於商業地產和建築？或是否存在健康的 C&I 成分？只是一種奇怪的業務組合。

Yes. I mean I think it's a mix. I mean we're seeing a lot of AD&C opportunities, but at the same time, we know we've got a limited bucket. So we're being more selective on those and obviously trying to point our incentive and our folks to go after C&I opportunities, and those are certainly what we're looking for and striving for.

是的。我的意思是我認為這是一個混合體。我的意思是，我們看到了很多 AD&C 機會，但同時，我們知道我們的機會有限。因此，我們對這些機會更加挑剔，顯然是在努力激勵我們和我們的員工去追求 C&I 機會，而這些肯定是我們正在尋找和爭取的。

Yes, we think we need to kind of stay on to that 100% AD&C exposure level that seems to be a bright line with -- it might become more of a bright line with the regulators. We're not sure, but that was our thought on that.

是的，我們認為我們需要保持 100% AD&C 暴露水平，這似乎是一條明線——它可能會成為監管機構的一條明線。我們不確定，但這就是我們的想法。

Great. Okay. And then just in terms of thinking about the liquidity on balance sheet here, you guys achieved the goal of having $1 billion on balance sheet. Curious, let's just say there's a healthy step-up in loan growth and it may be sustained for the next quarter or 2. Are you willing to dip below that $1 billion of liquidity? Or kind of how do we think about funding loan growth? Will it be more by deposits or existing liquidity?

偉大的。好的。然後就考慮資產負債表上的流動性而言，你們實現了資產負債表上 10 億美元的目標。好奇的是，我們假設貸款成長出現健康的成長，並且可能會在下一季或第二季持續下去。您願意將流動性降至 10 億美元以下嗎？或者我們如何看待為貸款成長提供資金？更多的是存款還是現有的流動性？

Yes. We've got $2 billion in cash at the Fed today. And I guess we've got some short-term treasuries that are about $250 million, Bud?

是的。今天我們在聯準會有 20 億美元現金。我想我們有一些大約 2.5 億美元的短期國庫券，巴德？

We do.

我們的確是。

So you say we got $2.250 billion. We really think that of that, we could put $1.5 billion probably into the loan bucket over time. Now again, some of these municipal deposits are going -- again, the -- they're going to spend it. Politicians always find a way to spend money, as you know. So it'll burn a hole in their pocket a bit. They will take a couple of years to burn some of it off, and we'll replace it by the end with other deposits.

所以你說我們有22.5億美元。我們確實認為，隨著時間的推移，我們可能會向貸款桶中投入 15 億美元。現在，這些市政存款中的一些又會被花掉。如你所知，政治人物總是想辦法花錢。所以這會在他們的口袋裡燒個洞。他們需要幾年的時間才能燒掉其中的一些，最後我們將用其他存款取代它。

But right now, we feel good about where we are. We just, again, are actively looking for the right -- we're still being careful on loans. I mean we're not really talking to -- we're trying to talk to the people we've always done business with rather than somebody that just walks in the door.

但現在，我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好。我們只是再次積極尋找合適的人選——我們仍然對貸款持謹慎態度。我的意思是，我們並沒有真正與我們交談——我們只是試圖與我們一直有業務往來的人交談，而不是與剛剛走進門的人交談。

Got you. One last one for me here just on the reserve ratio. You guys have built it up for a number of quarters. This quarter kind of flat. Just curious, is this kind of as high as it can go in terms of what maybe the auditors are comfortable with? Or is there any -- are you guys just more comfortable with credit and hence, the reserve ratio is not climbing up as much or not climbing?

明白你了。我的最後一個問題是關於準備率。你們已經建立了好幾個季度了。本季表現平淡。只是好奇，就審計師可能感到滿意的程度而言，這是可以達到的最高水準嗎？或者有沒有——你們只是對信貸更加滿意，因此準備金率沒有上升那麼多或沒有上升？

And I think the primary driver, as Tom mentioned in his remarks, was kind of the economic outlook improved over the past 2 or 3 quarters. So I mean that's where we were able to maintain where we are. It just depends on kind of the key drivers being unemployment and GDP are going to impact the model and the outlook on those.

我認為，正如湯姆在演講中提到的，主要驅動力是過去兩三個季度經濟前景的改善。所以我的意思是，這就是我們能夠維持現狀的地方。這僅取決於失業和 GDP 等關鍵驅動因素將影響模型及其前景。

Yes. Unfortunately, there's a limit on what you can -- I think bankers by nature would have a much higher loan loss reserve if we were left to our own desires, but we're not. And subject to the CECL, models are -- they can switch -- change all the time as you well know.

是的。不幸的是，你能做的事情是有限的——我認為，如果我們按照自己的意願行事，銀行家本質上會有更高的貸款損失準備金，但我們沒有。眾所周知，根據 CECL，模型是可以切換的，並且一直在變化。

Our next question comes from Graham Dick with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自格雷厄姆·迪克和派珀·桑德勒。

I just wanted to circle back with something you just touched on, is that $1.5 billion number of deployment in the loans. Do you -- what's sort of the ideal time horizon for achieving that?

我只是想回顧一下您剛才提到的問題，即 15 億美元的貸款部署金額。您認為實現此目標的理想時間範圍是多少？

You know why I'm laughing, Graham. I don't know. I mean, at this point, I don't know. I just don't know how quickly we can book -- get the loans on the books, and I don't know what will pay off. Our loan pipeline is pretty robust, but it's nothing like $1.5 billion, I can tell you that.

你知道我為什麼笑，葛拉漢。我不知道。我的意思是，目前我不知道。我只是不知道我們能多快預訂——將貸款記入賬簿，而且我不知道什麼會帶來回報。我們的貸款管道相當強勁，但我可以告訴你，它還沒有 15 億美元那麼高。

So that is the $64,000 question, which is -- that was -- you weren't born when the $64,000 question came about, Graham. But Google it some time.

這就是 64,000 美元的問題，也就是說，當 64,000 美元的問題出現時，你還沒有出生，格雷厄姆。但谷歌一下。

Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. Okay. So then I guess I wanted to just talk a little bit more about deposits as it relates to the pipeline. You mentioned that the pipeline is smaller than it was last quarter now. Can you just provide what the pipeline was heading into 3Q? And then also what it was heading into 4Q?

好的。很公平。很公平。好的。所以我想我想多談談存款，因為它與管道有關。您提到現在的管道比上季小。您能否提供進入第三季的流程？那麼第四季的發展方向是什麼？

Yes, it's not a scientific number, and we don't ever discuss it, but I -- let me see. Where is the -- I don't have it. Probably down. Probably down a couple of hundred million dollars from the last quarter, Graham. So we put it on the book. So we got it on the book.

是的，這不是一個科學數字，我們也從不討論它，但我——讓我想想。哪裡有——我沒有。大概是下來了。格雷厄姆，可能比上個季度減少了數億美元。所以我們把它寫在書上。所以我們把它記在書上了。

So -- and again, we're trying to rationalize deposit costs now. It's time to start improving profitability. So we've got to be a little bit smarter about it.

因此，我們現在正在努力使存款成本合理化。是時候開始提高獲利能力了。所以我們必須在這方面變得更聰明一點。

Okay. And then on that front with deposit costs, I mean, it seems like most of the growth has been in money market recently. I guess most of that's probably fully indexed and floating, right? So as you start to adjust your strategy on the deposit pipeline and pricing perspective, what does that sort of look like for you guys? Is it saying like no more indexed money market and just time at a rate below Fed funds? Or how do you guys kind of approach that from here, I guess?

好的。然後在存款成本方面，我的意思是，最近大部分成長似乎都發生在貨幣市場。我想其中大部分可能是完全索引和浮動的，對吧？因此，當您開始調整存款管道和定價方面的策略時，您覺得這是什麼樣的？這是不是說不再指數化貨幣市場，只是以低於聯邦基金的利率？或者我想你們是如何從這裡開始處理這個問題的？

Well, it depends on what is -- as a percent of Fed funds, what is the rate. You're not using 100% of Fed funds. You're using some percentage of Fed funds, so -- that -- you got to have some margin in what -- you want at least to have some margin in what you leave sitting at the Fed because we got a lot of cash sitting in the Fed right now.

嗯，這取決於利率佔聯邦基金的百分比是多少。你並沒有使用 100% 的聯邦資金。你使用了一定比例的聯邦基金，所以，你必須有一些餘量，你至少希望在你留在美聯儲的資金中有一些餘量，因為我們有很多現金現在在美聯儲。

Of course, the other question is when do you start buying securities. And we got to buy securities again someday, but given we've got so much -- we don't -- we want a little bit more floating rate assets on the book. So we're hesitant to move into longer term. When I say longer term, I say 2- to 5-year treasuries. So that's -- you might be smart to start doing it now, but we're not going to be smart because we're not going to do it now. But we're just waiting on that. But again, we will have to all do it someday.

當然，另一個問題是你什麼時候開始購買證券。有一天我們必須再次購買證券，但考慮到我們已經擁有這麼多——我們沒有——我們希望帳面上有更多的浮動利率資產。因此，我們對於是否要進入更長期的階段猶豫不決。當我說長期國債時，我指的是 2 至 5 年期公債。所以，你現在開始這樣做可能是明智的，但我們不會聰明，因為我們現在不打算這樣做。但我們只是在等待。但同樣，有一天我們都必須這麼做。

Yes. Understood. And I guess just one more follow-up on the deposit front and the costs. So that money market piece, just correct me if I'm wrong, that's like that's fully floating, right? So that -- there's not a lot of -- there's no maturities in that thing or any, I guess, exception pricing within that segment that's going to cause that to have any further catch-up? So for example, if we get no more rate hikes, it's probably going to stick around 4.25% on cost, right?

是的。明白了。我想只是在存款方面和成本方面再進行一次後續行動。因此，貨幣市場部分，如果我錯了，請糾正我，就像完全浮動一樣，對吧？那麼——沒有太多——那件事沒有成熟度，或者我猜，該細分市場內的任何例外定價將導致其進一步追趕？舉例來說，如果我們不再升息，成本可能會維持在 4.25% 左右，對嗎？

We think so, Graham.

我們這麼認為，格雷厄姆。

Our next question comes from Dave Bishop with Hovde Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Hovde Group 的 Dave Bishop。

Tom, you noted the revamp of the incentive plans. Obviously, they were very successful on the funding side this quarter. From an operating expense standpoint, does that imply maybe an acceleration of operating expenses into the last quarter of the year? And how should we think maybe about expense growth into the next year?

湯姆，您注意到激勵計劃的修改。顯然，他們本季在融資方面非常成功。從營運費用的角度來看，這是否意味著營運費用可能會加速到今年最後一個季度？我們該如何考慮明年的費用成長？

No, we've already caught up. We accrued more in the third -- a good bit more in the third quarter, Dave. I don't know the exact number. Bud's got it over there. But we're going to accrue more in the third and the fourth quarter to account for that, so we've already started doing that in the -- because they have -- we have been wildly successful at raising deposits and they've done what we asked them to do.

不，我們已經追上了。我們在第三季賺得更多——戴夫，第三季賺得更多。我不知道確切的數字。巴德在那兒拿到了。但我們將在第三和第四季增加更多資金來解決這個問題，所以我們已經開始這樣做了——因為他們已經——我們在籌集存款方面取得了巨大成功，他們已經做到了我們要求他們做什麼。

Got it. And then circling back to the liquidity and maybe securities outlook here and then maybe answer that last question or so. But there's been a lot of chatter, and I think you even noted we're probably a higher for longer scenario economic outlook, your interest rate outlook moving forward. Is there a potential to potentially restructure the securities portfolio and maybe, I don't know, sell off some of the lower-yielding stuff, pay off some of the borrowings to improve the margin and profitability? Just curious how we should think about that.

知道了。然後回到流動性，也許還有證券前景，然後也許回答最後一個問題。但有許多討論，我認為您甚至指出，對於長期經濟前景，您的利率前景可能會更高。是否有可能重組證券投資組合，也許（我不知道）出售一些收益較低的東西，償還一些借款以提高利潤率和盈利能力？只是好奇我們該如何思考這一點。

Dave, this is Bud. I don't see us selling anything. I think we'll continue to buy. If we buy, we'll buy treasury short term, 6 months to a year. This takes a long time to be actually paid back and earn money. I just -- I don't know, just something I want to do. We'd rather just hold it to maturity.

戴夫，這是巴德。我沒看到我們在賣任何東西。我想我們會繼續買。如果我們購買，我們會購買短期國債，6個月到一年。這需要很長時間才能真正收回並賺錢。我只是──我不知道，只是我想做的事。我們寧願將其持有至成熟。

And what if rates drop? I mean probably my salesman can always show you a Bloomberg run that shows that makes you a lot of money to reposition securities.

如果利率下降怎麼辦？我的意思是，我的推銷員可能總是能向您展示彭博社的運作情況，顯示可以讓您賺很多錢來重新配置證券。

Got it. No, understood. Understood. And then a housekeeping question, I guess, maybe for Bud. Good tax rate system moving forward. It looks like there were some lower-than-trend tax rate this quarter. Curious, how should we think about next quarter and into 2024?

知道了。不，明白了。明白了。然後是一個家政問題，我想，也許是針對巴德的。良好的稅率制度不斷推進。本季的稅率似乎低於趨勢水準。很好奇，我們該如何思考下個季度和 2024 年？

Yes. I would say 18% would be a good rate for the fourth quarter.

是的。我想說 18% 對於第四季來說是一個不錯的利率。

18%?

18%？

18%, yes.

18%，是的。

There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the floor back over to management for closing comments.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將發言權交還給管理層以徵求結束意見。

Thanks. I think we're done. Thank you, everybody, for joining us.

謝謝。我想我們已經完成了。謝謝大家加入我們。

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。