Stellar Bancorp Inc (STEL) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Audra, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Stellar Bank third quarter earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

早安.我叫奧德拉，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線生。此時此刻，我謹代表 Stellar Bank 歡迎各位參加第三季財報電話會議。（操作說明）

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Courtney Theriot, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

此時，我謹將會議交給首席會計長 Courtney Theriot。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and thank you to all who have joined our call today. Good morning. Our team would like to welcome you to our earnings call for the third quarter of 2025. This morning's earnings call will be led by our CEO Bob Franklin and CFO Paul Egge.

謝謝接線員，也謝謝今天所有參加我們電話會議的人。早安.歡迎各位參加我們2025年第三季財報電話會議。今天早上的財報電話會議將由我們的執行長鮑勃富蘭克林和財務長保羅埃格主持。

Also in attendance today are Steve Reitcloff, Executive Chairman of the company, Ramon Vitulli, President of the company and CEO of the bank, and Joe Lett, senior executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer of the bank.

今天出席的還有公司執行董事長史蒂夫·雷特克洛夫、公司總裁兼銀行首席執行官拉蒙·維圖利以及銀行高級執行副總裁兼首席信貸官喬·萊特。

Before we begin, I need to remind everyone that some of the remarks made today constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Limitation Reform Act of 1,995 as amended. We intend all such statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the act.

在開始之前，我需要提醒大家，今天發表的一些言論構成了經修訂的 1995 年《私人證券限制改革法案》中所定義的前瞻性陳述。我們希望所有此類聲明都受到該法案中關於前瞻性聲明的安全港條款的保護。

Also note that if we give guidance about future results, that guidance is only a reflection of management's beliefs at the time the statement is made, and such beliefs are subject to change.

另請注意，如果我們對未來業績做出預測，該預測僅反映管理層在做出該聲明時的看法，而這些看法可能會改變。

We disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement except as may be part of the law.

除法律另有規定外，我們不承擔公開更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

Please see the last page of the text in this morning's earnings release, which is available on our website at II.stellar.net for additional information about the risk factors associated with forwarding statements. At the conclusion of our remarks, we'll open the line and allow time for questions. I will now turn the call over to our CEO Bob Franklin.

有關轉發報表相關風險因素的更多信息，請參閱今天早上發布的收益報告的最後一頁，該報告可在我們的網站 II.stellar.net 上找到。發言結束後，我們將開放電話線路，並留出時間回答問題。現在我將把電話轉交給我們的執行長鮑勃富蘭克林。

Thank you, Courtney. Good morning and welcome to the Stellar Bancorp third quarter earnings call. I'm pleased to report that we delivered solid results including increasing our net interest income and our net interest margin. Our balance sheet expansion was driven primarily by deposit growth, reflecting our bankers' emphasis on getting the full client relationship.

謝謝你，考特尼。早安，歡迎參加Stellar Bancorp第三季財報電話會議。我很高興地報告，我們取得了穩健的業績，包括淨利息收入和淨利差的提高。我們的資產負債表擴張主要由存款成長驅動，這反映了我們銀行家對建立完整客戶關係的重視。

Credit quality has found its way back into the headlines. While we experienced some charge-offs in the quarter. They were spread over several small credits, most of which were already identified and appropriately reserved. We feel comfortable at our present level of reserve based on our portfolio and the markets that we serve.

信用品質再次成為新聞熱點。雖然本季我們經歷了一些壞帳核銷。它們被分散到幾個小額信貸中，其中大部分已經確定並妥善保留。根據我們的投資組合和我們所服務的市場，我們對目前的儲備水準感到滿意。

We have little exposure to non-originated credits and only have 3 shared national credits, all with longstanding and additional business ties to the bank. Overall, credit trends remain favorable and our markets stable.

我們很少接觸非原創信貸，只有 3 筆共享的全國性信貸，所有這些信貸都與銀行有著長期且額外的業務聯繫。整體而言，信貸趨勢依然良好，市場保持穩定。

Paul will provide more detail on our expenses during the quarter, including some one-time expenses and some increased advertising spend. As we continue to strengthen our capital position, we have repurchased shares, and we have paid down $30 million of our subordinated debt just after quarter end. Our well capitalized position gives us valuable flexibility, and we remain committed to deploying capital in ways to enhance our shareholder value.

Paul 將提供本季度我們各項支出的更多詳細信息，包括一些一次性支出和一些增加的廣告支出。為了持續增強我們的資本實力，我們回購了股票，並在季度末後不久償還了 3000 萬美元的次級債務。我們雄厚的資金實力賦予了我們極大的靈活性，我們將繼續致力於以各種方式運用資金，從而提升股東價值。

We are focused on growing our company. We believe that if we continue to be disciplined in building quality assets, protecting margins, and focusing on full balanced relationships, we will drive long-term value for our shareholders. Now I'll turn the call over to Paul Egge, our CFO, for more content.

我們專注於公司發展。我們相信，如果我們繼續在建立優質資產、保護利潤率和專注於全面平衡的關係方面保持嚴謹，我們將為股東創造長期價值。現在我將把電話交給我們的財務長保羅·埃格，讓他帶來更多內容。

Thanks, Bob, and good morning, everybody. We are pleased to report third quarter of 2025 net income of $25.7 million or $0.50 for diluted share, as compared to net income of $26.4 million or $0.51 per share in the second quarter.

謝謝你，鮑勃，大家早安。我們很高興地宣布，2025 年第三季淨利為 2,570 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.50 美元，而第二季淨利為 2,640 萬美元，即每股收益 0.51 美元。

Represent an annualized ROAA of 0.97% in an annualized ROATCE of 11.45%. Key highlights of our third quarter performance were improvements in our net interest income and margin on incrementally larger interest earning assets.

相當於年化 ROAA 為 0.97%，年化 ROATCE 為 11.45%。第三季業績的主要亮點是淨利息收入和利息資產增加所帶來的利潤率的提高。

Our balance sheet growth was driven by strong deposit growth, and we feel great about our liquidity, capital, and overall balance sheet positioning.

我們的資產負債表成長主要得益於存款的強勁成長，我們對自身的流動性、資本和整體資產負債表狀況感到非常滿意。

So during the third quarter, net interest income was $100.6 million representing an increase from the $98.3 million booked in the second quarter, largely due to higher earning assets and net interest margin for the quarter. This translated into the net interest margin of 4.2% relative to 4.18% posted in the second quarter.

因此，第三季淨利息收入為 1.006 億美元，比第二季的 9,830 萬美元有所增加，這主要是由於該季度生息資產和淨息差的增加。這意味著淨利差為 4.2%，而第二季為 4.18%。

Purchase accounting accretion in the third quarter was $4.8 million down from $5.3 million in the second quarter. So if you were to exclude Purchase accounting accretion, tax equivalent net interest incomes increased by slightly more to $95.9 million from $93.1 million in the prior quarter, and that change in net interest margin excluding purchase accounting accretion was also greater, going from 3.95% in the prior quarter to 4% in the third quarter.

第三季的採購會計增值額為 480 萬美元，低於第二季的 530 萬美元。因此，如果排除購買會計增值，稅收等效淨利息收入從上一季的 9,310 萬美元略微增加到 9,590 萬美元，並且排除購買會計增值後的淨利差變化也更大，從上一季的 3.95% 增加到第三季的 4%。

We're really proud to get NIM excluding purchase accounting accretion back to a 4% level, and we continue to feel good about our ability to defend and perhaps incrementally improve on our top tier margin profile by focusing on staying true to our core relationship banking model.

我們非常自豪地將不計入購買會計增值的淨息差恢復到 4% 的水平，並且我們繼續有信心透過專注於堅持我們的核心關係銀行模式來捍衛並可能逐步提高我們頂級利潤率水平的能力。

Walking further down the income statement, we booked a provision for loan losses of $305,000 in the third quarter, which was driven primarily by an increase in our allowance for unfunded commitments and growth in that category.

繼續查看損益表，我們在第三季度提列了 305,000 美元的貸款損失準備金，這主要是由於未撥備承諾的準備金增加以及該類別的增長所致。

While we did experience $3.3 million in net charge-offs in the third quarter relating to over 10 relationships, most of these were previously identified and already specifically reserved for, therefore not impacting our quarterly provisions.

雖然我們在第三季確實經歷了與 10 多筆業務相關的 330 萬美元淨沖銷，但其中大部分先前已被確定並已專門預留，因此不會影響我們的季度撥備。

For a year to day perspective, our net charge off totalled $3.7 million or approximately 7 basis points annualized.

從年初至今來看，我們的淨沖銷總額為 370 萬美元，年化率約為 7 個基點。

Our allowance for credit losses on loans ended the quarter at $78.9 million or 1.1% of loans, which is down slightly from $83.2 million or 1.14% of loans at the end of the second quarter.

本季末，我們的貸款信貸損失準備金為 7,890 萬美元，佔貸款總額的 1.1%，略低於第二季末的 8,320 萬美元，佔貸款總額的 1.14%。

Moving on to non-interest income, we earned $5 million in the third quarter versus $5.8 million in the second quarter of 2025. This third quarter decrease was mostly due to approximately $445,000 of write downs on foreclosed assets and other lower other non-interest income during the quarter.

接下來是非利息收入，我們第三季賺了 500 萬美元，而 2025 年第二季為 580 萬美元。第三季的下降主要是由於止贖資產減損約 44.5 萬美元以及該季度其他非利息收入的減少。

On to non-interest expense, our expense increased to $73.1 million from $70 million in the second quarter, primarily due to an increase in salaries and benefits and to a lesser extent increases in professional fees and advertising.

在非利息支出方面，我們的支出從第二季的 7,000 萬美元增加到 7,310 萬美元，主要是由於工資和福利增加，其次是專業費用和廣告費用增加。

Salary benefits expense included severance expenses recorded relating to two upcoming branch closures in the fourth quarter, which totalled about [$500]as well as elevated medical insurance expenses relative to prior quarters.

薪資福利支出包括與第四季即將關閉的兩家分行相關的遣散費，總計約 500 美元，以及相對於前幾季較高的醫療保險支出。

We view our third quarter expenses as an outlier, and we expect fourth quarter expenses to be closer to our run rate for the first half of the year.

我們認為第三季的支出屬於異常值，預計第四季的支出將更接近上半年的正常水準。

So all of this drove solid bottom line results of $25.7 million in net income, which continues to fuel our track record of internal capital generation in our very strong capital position.

因此，所有這些因素共同促成了2,570萬美元的淨利潤，這繼續鞏固了我們強大的資本實力，並推動了我們內部資本的持續成長。

Total risk-based capital was 16.33% at the end of the third quarter relative to15.98% at the end of the second quarter.

第三季末，總創投為 16.33%，而第二季末為 15.98%。

Year to year tangible book value per share increased 9.3% from [$19.28] to $21.08 per share, and that is after the effect of dividends and meaningful share repurchases.

每股有形帳面價值較上年同期成長 9.3%，從每股 19.28 美元增至 21.08 美元，已計入股息和大量股票回購的影響。

I should note that our share repurchases in the third quarter was lighter than prior quarters, totalling just under $5 million relative to a total of approximately $64 million in share repurchases here to date.

需要指出的是，我們第三季的股票回購規模小於前幾季，總額略低於 500 萬美元，而迄今為止，我們的股票回購總額約為 6,400 萬美元。

In closing.

最後。

We really like where we sit, both financially and strategically, even more so since recent M&A disruption in Texas accentuates our key differentiation among the only truly focused franchises with scale in a competitive landscape comprised of increasingly larger out of state competitors.

我們非常滿意我們目前的財務和戰略地位，尤其是在德克薩斯州最近的併購浪潮中，我們作為少數真正專注於特定領域的特許經營企業之一，在競爭日益激烈的州外競爭對手中脫穎而出，這更加凸顯了我們的優勢。

We've built a strong balance sheet that can support quality growth, and with growth we're positioned to deliver positive operating leverage through adding scale to the stellar bank platform while maintaining the financial flexibility to be opportunistic.

我們已經建立了強大的資產負債表，可以支持高品質的成長，隨著成長，我們可以透過擴大卓越的銀行平台規模來實現積極的經營槓桿，同時保持財務靈活性以抓住機會。

Thank you and I will now put a call back at Bob.

謝謝，我現在就回鮑伯電話。

Thank you, Paul and operator. We're ready for questions.

謝謝保羅和接線生。我們已準備好回答問題。

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

謝謝。現在開始問答環節。（操作說明）

We'll take our first question from David Feaster at Raymond James.

我們首先來回答來自 Raymond James 的 David Feaster 所提出的問題。

Hi, good morning everybody.

大家早安。

I just wanted to start on, let's start on the growth side, somewhat of the decline is strategic, and we've talked about that given your focus on a balanced approach, but I just wanted to get a sense on first off, what's driving the payoffs and pay downs, how much of that is competition versus just, asset sales and those kinds of things and then just how do you think about the growth outlook as we look forward.

我想先從成長方面談起，某種程度上的下滑是戰略性的，鑑於您注重平衡的方法，我們也討論過這一點，但我首先想了解一下，是什麼因素導致了收益和虧損，其中有多少是競爭造成的，又有多少是資產出售之類的因素造成的，然後您如何看待未來的增長前景。

Texas is a very competitive market on one hand and, that's maybe that could be a headwind, but at the same time you talk about the disruption and that creates a ton of opportunities just given the strength of your franchise and your relationships. Just wanted to kind of taking that all together like how do you think about growth and just any insights you can provide on that?

一方面，德州的市場競爭非常激烈，這或許會成為一種不利因素；但另一方面，你談到顛覆性變革，鑑於你的特許經營權和人脈關係的強大，這創造了大量的機會。我只是想把所有這些結合起來，問問您是如何看待成長的，以及您在這方面有什麼見解？

Hey, sure, David, yeah, so start maybe a little bit with what's impacting the growth is when we talk about the payoffs like you asked the color around that. So, payoffs this last quarter were about $50 million more than the previous quarter. So, we talked about a run rate of around $300 million of payoffs. They were 330 in the last quarter and year-to-date, about 44% of our payoffs are related to sale of collateral sale of business.

嘿，當然，大衛，是的，那麼或許可以先從影響成長的因素開始，例如我們談到回報時，就像你問到的顏色一樣。因此，上一季的收益比上一季增加了約 5,000 萬美元。所以，我們討論的是每年大約 3 億美元的收益。上一季為 330 筆，今年迄今為止，我們約 44% 的收益與抵押品出售或企業出售有關。

About 25% is kind of that, in that competitive area of refinance elsewhere. So, and those are the things that we're, that we take a look at around, one, and as Bob already mentioned us remaining disciplined around full relationships. So, Some of that we, it will go away, but on that refinance elsewhere if we put our best foot forward to try to keep some of that, but that's some of the, that's some of what we're faced with.

在其他競爭激烈的再融資領域，大約 25% 的比例也差不多是如此。所以，這些就是我們正在關注的事情，第一，正如鮑伯已經提到的，我們要在完整的人際關係中保持自律。所以，有些問題會迎刃而解，但如果我們盡全力在其他地方進行再融資，試圖保留其中的一部分，那麼這就是我們面臨的部分問題。

On the other component of that in the (inaudible) is, we call it, we've talked about it before, but we call it carried, which is our advances versus our pay downs and scheduled payments. And as Paul mentioned, we had a reserve.

（聽不清）的另一個組成部分是，我們稱之為，我們以前也討論過，但我們稱之為“已結清”，即我們的預付款與我們的還款和計劃付款之間的差額。正如保羅所提到的，我們還有儲備。

Related to unfunded that continues to grow, but we're still not seeing the lift from that. So compared to the previous quarter, that was almost another $50 million of increase in payments and pay downs exceeding the advances. So that's an area where we think we will get a lift as we continue to originate loans. So we're really pleased with the originations.

與此相關的未獲資金持續成長，但我們仍然沒有看到由此帶來的成長。因此，與上一季相比，還款和償還金額又增加了近 5,000 萬美元，超過了預付款。所以我們認為，隨著我們繼續發放貸款，這個領域將會得到提振。所以我們對這些成果非常滿意。

Third quarter we originated almost $500 million of loans compared to 640 the previous quarter.

第三季我們發放了近 5 億美元的貸款，而上一季為 6.4 億美元。

But the real thing that we want to make sure we communicate is just overall year-to-date, compared to last year, first three quarters, we're at 62% of the loan originations and in the mix that we like with a little bit more C&I in that mix. So things are heading in the right direction. We just have to continue to convert on our pipeline and, pipeline remains healthy. I think a little bit of the originations that we're down.

但我們真正想傳達的是，今年迄今為止，與去年同期相比，前三個季度我們的貸款發放量達到了 62%，而且貸款結構也符合我們的預期，其中商業和工業貸款的比例略高一些。所以事情正朝著正確的方向發展。我們只需要繼續推進產品線轉化，目前產品線狀況良好。我認為我們有點搞不清頭緒了。

Compared to the previous quarter, we're really due to, in some cases, there it's competitive, obviously, but also just some things that are going to get pushed into the fourth quarter. But the pipeline remains healthy, and we're really pleased with where we stand there.

與上一季相比，在某些情況下，競爭確實很激烈，但也有一些東西將被推遲到第四季。但管道狀況依然良好，我們對目前的進展非常滿意。

That's great. Maybe touching on the credit side a little bit, concerns are, they've gotten heightened in the industry right now, first I was hoping you could maybe touch on what are you seeing on the credit front? Is there anything that you're seeing broadly.

那太棒了。或許可以稍微談談信貸方面的問題，目前業內對信貸的擔憂有所加劇，首先我希望您能談談您在信貸方面觀察到的情況？你觀察到哪些普遍現象？

It's causing you any concern, and then secondarily I was just hoping you could maybe touch a bit on your approach to credit, collateral management, stress testing ongoing monitor it seems like some of those are what's, maybe investors are concerned about, in the industry so just was hoping you could elaborate maybe a little bit on your process and your approach to managing credit.

這是否讓您感到擔憂？其次，我希望您能稍微談談您在信貸、抵押品管理、壓力測試和持續監控方面的做法，這些似乎是業內投資者比較關心的問題，所以我希望您能詳細說明一下您的信貸管理流程和方法。

The best way to manage credit is when they come in through the front door, David, so that's how we manage credit most of the time. However, we do stress testing, we do all the things that the folks do to monitor portfolios and we are moving our portfolio from what was two smaller community banks into a larger community bank.

大衛，管理信貸的最佳方式就是讓他們從正門進來，所以我們大多數時候都是這樣管理信貸的。但是，我們會進行壓力測試，我們會做所有其他人用來監控投資組合的事情，而且我們正在將投資組合從兩家較小的社區銀行轉移到一家較大的社區銀行。

And it has a different look you've seen it on our balance sheet as we, we've gone from where we used to run our banks at say 90% to 100% loan to deposits. We're now down to about in the low 80s and feel comfortable there. We're able to make money there.

而且它的外觀也發生了變化，正如你在我們的資產負債表上看到的那樣，我們已經從過去銀行貸款與存款比率 90% 到 100% 的模式轉變為現在的模式。現在氣溫降到了80華氏度左右，感覺很舒服。我們在那裡能賺錢。

We're changing the mix a bit, to try to have a little more emphasis on stickier C&I credits now. We do, we are very careful about how we approach C&I and how that's getting monitored and what we do to make sure that we have solid resorts around results around C&I, but we also continue to do real estate loans and those things have been good to us over the years.

我們正在調整組合，以便更加重視那些更具黏性的工商企業信貸。是的，我們非常謹慎地對待工商業貸款業務，以及如何監控業務進展，並確保我們在工商業貸款業務方面取得可靠的成果。同時，我們也持續進行房地產貸款業務，這些業務多年來一直對我們有利。

We're in a market that continues to grow and, so real estate continues to be a good active place for us to put money. So, we would be more concerned if we were in a less dynamic market, but we're in a very dynamic market.

我們身處一個持續成長的市場，因此房地產仍然是我們投資的好去處。所以，如果我們身處一個不那麼活躍的市場，我們會更加擔憂，但我們身處在一個非常活躍的市場。

All the things that are affecting the world for that matter, tariffs and the various things that are happening today are being absorbed, pretty well in Houston and Dallas and the markets that we're in, so.

就此而言，所有影響世界的事情，關稅以及今天發生的各種事情，休士頓、達拉斯以及我們所處的市場都很好地吸收了。

We feel supported by our markets and, it's about decision making with them and that's kind of how we approach it.

我們感到得到了市場的支持，決策是與市場共同做出的，這就是我們處理問題的方式。

Okay, that's helpful. And then just wanted to maybe switch gears to the deposit side, your growth was really strong this quarter, cost decline, just wanted to get a sense of some of the drivers behind that how much of that is, new clients versus, increasing liquidity or relationships with existing clients, and then just, again with the liquidity build even after paying down borrowings and buy a little bit of security just kind of curious what your plans are for some of that excess liquidity going forward

好的，這很有幫助。然後我想稍微轉換話題，談談存款方面。你們本季的成長非常強勁，成本也有所下降。我想了解背後的驅動因素，例如其中有多少是新客戶的貢獻，又有多少是流動性增加或與現有客戶關係的改善。另外，在償還貸款併購買了一些證券之後，流動性仍然增加。我很好奇你們未來將如何處理這部分多餘的流動性。

Yeah, I'll touch up. Well, let me touch real quick on the here on the deposits growth piece. So really pleased, there as we've already mentioned, so of our new deposits that were on board in the quarter, 51% were to new customers that have not been here before, and we've seen that kind of hover in that 40% to 50% all year, which we really like and we think that's really a reflection of continued brand awareness of Stellar, our bankers that are really having good success with market share gains.

好的，我會稍作修飾。好，我這裡就簡單談談存款成長方面的問題。非常高興的是，正如我們之前提到的，本季度新增存款中，51%來自以前從未在我們這裡存款的新客戶，而且我們看到這一比例全年都徘徊在 40% 到 50% 之間，我們對此非常滿意，我們認為這真正反映了 Stellar 品牌知名度的持續提升，以及我們的銀行家在市場份額增長方面取得的良好成績。

We've had improvement in our net promoter score really getting into like a best in class area there and customer satisfaction is all heading in the right direction that just points to the fact that we continue to bring new customers to the bank as well as this expansion of our existing customer base, which represents that other 50%, but really the growth is really around those new accounts and the deposits associated in that are well exceeding in dollar amount, the closed accounts and are carried it was nice and gave us a little lift.

我們的淨推薦值 (NPS) 確實有所提高，達到了同類最佳水平，客戶滿意度也朝著正確的方向發展。這表明，我們不僅持續為銀行帶來新客戶，而且現有客戶群也在不斷擴大（佔總成長的 50%）。但真正的成長主要來自新帳戶，相關的存款金額遠遠超過了已關閉帳戶的餘額，這給我們帶來了一些提振。

Yeah, we just feel very strongly that that low cost deposits is something that everyone's going to be fighting over and something we put a big emphasis on in any relationship that we have. And so we're going to continue to do that we've seen some success as we did this quarter and hopefully we'll continue to see that as we keep the push on that going forward.

是的，我們堅信低成本存款是每個人都會爭取的東西，也是我們在任何合作關係中都非常重視的東西。因此，我們將繼續這樣做，我們已經看到了一些成功，就像我們本季所做的那樣，希望隨著我們繼續努力，我們能夠繼續看到這種成功。

We are building some liquidity and deploying that both in loans and securities is something that we intend to do in the in the future, but we want to grow the loan portfolio. We want to, that's where we grow customers, and that's how we continue to grow the bank and it's important to us to continue on that lock.

我們正在累積一些流動性，未來我們打算將這些流動性用於貸款和證券投資，但我們希望擴大貸款組合。我們希望如此，因為我們正是透過這種方式發展客戶，也正是透過這種方式發展銀行，對我們來說，繼續保持這種鎖定狀態非常重要。

A lot of turmoil in our markets. A lot of M&A going on, a lot of, so it's given us opportunity for customers, it's given us opportunity for new, employees and people to join our company which is great.

我們的市場動盪不安。併購活動很多，真的很多，這給我們帶來了客戶機會，也為我們帶來了新員工和加入我們公司的人機會，這很棒。

But it's also has some negatives to it and that you have new players in that want to buy the market and you're seeing some interesting things around not only pricing but covenant packages and sort of credit li and we're not going to join that party that one doesn't fit us and if we have to retreat a little bit, we'll do it, but we've been operating in a competitive market for a long time. We feel like we know how to do that. We'll get our share, and if we continue to do the right things, which we are, from a customer acquisition standpoint, we'll continue, we will grow the bank. So that's kind of how we're approaching it.

但它也有一些負面影響，例如有新的玩家想要收購市場，你會看到一些有趣的事情，不僅圍繞定價，還有契約方案和信用額度，我們不會加入他們的行列，那不適合我們，如果我們必須稍微退縮，我們會這樣做，但我們已經在競爭激烈的市場中經營了很長時間。我們覺得我們知道該怎麼做。我們將獲得我們應得的份額，如果我們繼續做正確的事情（而我們現在正在這樣做），從客戶獲取的角度來看，我們將繼續發展壯大銀行。所以，我們大概就是這麼打算的。

That's helpful. Thanks everybody.

那很有幫助。謝謝大家。

We'll move next to Steven Scouten at Piper Sandler.

接下來，我們將採訪 Piper Sandler 公司的 Steven Scouten。

Hey, good morning, everyone. Just following up on the deposits quickly. You tended to have some seasonal strength in the fourth quarter. Is that something you would expect, here this this coming quarter as well?

嘿，大家早安。只要盡快跟進存款情況。你們隊在第四季往往會有一些季節性強勢表現。你預計下個季度也會出現這種情況嗎？

We talk about that all the time because we do have seasonal strength with some of our government banking deposits and in fact this last year, we had about a $200 million deposits that came in the last day of 2024. It's kind of hard to predict as it relates to that we'll keep you guys abreast if there's any anything that majorly kind of creates a meaningful deviation from norm as we did, last year in telling y'all just how much represents what we would call seasonal excess so we'll note that when we report the fourth quarter I should say, if and when some of that tax revenue seasonality comes in before year end. A lot of it really hits it January and February, and it's kind of gone by, March, but sometimes, and last year was a great example where sometimes it comes in right before the end of the year.

我們一直在談論這個問題，因為我們的一些政府銀行存款確實存在季節性強弱，事實上，去年我們在 2024 年的最後一天收到了大約 2 億美元的存款。這方面很難預測，如果有任何重大因素導致與正常情況出現有意義的偏差，我們會及時向大家匯報，就像去年我們告訴大家有多少是所謂的季節性盈餘一樣。因此，在報告第四季時，我們會特別說明，如果部分稅收收入的季節性因素在年底前到位的話。許多疫情會在一月和二月爆發，然後就過去了，到了三月就結束了，但有時，去年就是一個很好的例子，疫情會在年底前爆發。

But that's not reflected in this quarter's deposit rate. It doesn't happen until late in the fourth quarter, when those government apply precisely

但本季的存款利率並未反映出這一點。這種情況要到第四季末才會發生，屆時政府才會精準地實施這些措施。

Perfect. Great. That's. Great color.

完美的。偉大的。就是這樣。顏色很棒。

When, you were talking a little bit about the expense ratio saying it looked like, this was maybe a bit of an outlier this quarter and can get back to that $70 million dollar level. What makes this quarter more of an outlier? I know there was the severance payment in there, and salaries, but what makes this an outlier and do you think that kind of $70 million range is the level you can hang around in 2026 or should we see just some kind of general inflation build from here?

你剛才談到費用率的時候說，這看起來可能是本季的異常值，可以恢復到 7,000 萬美元的水平。是什麼讓本季的數據顯得更加異常？我知道其中包含遣散費和工資，但是什麼讓這個數字顯得異常？你認為 7,000 萬美元左右的水準在 2026 年還能維持嗎？還是說我們會看到整體通膨從這裡開始上升？

I'll say, to be more specific, I said that we'll see fourth quarter earnings closer to, our first quarter, first half run rate than what we posted in the in the third quarter, so it might not be just as great as the $70 million per quarter we were posting in the first half of the year, but definitely closer to that than the $73 million we posted in the third quarter.

更具體地說，我說過，第四季的收益將更接近我們第一季和上半年的正常水平，而不是第三季的水平，所以它可能不會像我們上半年每季 7000 萬美元那樣高，但肯定會比我們第三季的 7,300 萬美元更接近這個數字。

Separately, we will see some inflation as you guys know, we've been focused on holding the line where we can and really being focused on just that. We feel great about how we've been able to kind of stop the creep in expenses, particularly as it relates to a lot of what we had to build in crossing over the $10 billion dollar threshold.

另外，正如你們所知，我們會看到一些通貨膨脹，我們一直專注於盡可能地控制住局面，並且真正專注於此。我們非常高興能夠控制住開支的成長，尤其是在我們跨越 100 億美元門檻時，我們不得不建造的許多項目都與此有關。

We're in optimization mode on a go forward, and we've been really pleased at how we've been able to do just that while remixing kind of with attrition and things along those lines in our human capital base, so we feel really good about where we sit and you know the goal is to continue optimizing and holding the line as much as we can going into 2026 and beyond.

我們正在進行優化，並很高興看到我們在調整人力資本基礎的同時，也成功地實現了這一目標，包括應對人員流失等問題。因此，我們對目前的狀況感到非常滿意，我們的目標是繼續優化並盡可能保持現狀，直到 2026 年及以後。

Next we'll move to Will Jones at KBW.

接下來我們將介紹KBW的威爾瓊斯。

Hey, great, thanks. Good morning, guys.

嘿，太好了，謝謝。各位早安。

Hey, so Paul, maybe we can just stick with you and move to the margin discussion, if you exclude purchase accounting, we've kind of hit that 4% and on that that felt like kind of the overarching, near term target for you guys. And I go back to your comments, on the call about feeling good about the ability just to defend that level if not even improve from here.

嘿，保羅，或許我們可以繼續聽你講，然後討論利潤率。如果排除購買會計處理，我們已經達到了 4% 的目標，這感覺像是你們近期的總體目標。我再次回到你之前的評論，關於你對保持這個水平，甚至在此基礎上有所進步感到滿意。

But as we think about this next period of Fed easing, will that ability to defend, will that really be more of just some tailwinds from fixture pricing, or do you intend to be, relatively aggressive, lowering deposit costs from here?

但當我們思考聯準會下一階段的寬鬆政策時，這種防禦能力是否真的只是固定資產定價的一些順風，還是你們打算相對積極地從現在開始降低存款成本？

We're going to be focused on lowering deposit costs where we can, that predominantly it's going to be on more of your specials and exception level pricing that's where we've got some index pricing for certain deposit products that that we're going to get immediate benefit from when rates change, so we feel really good about kind of the initial repricing dynamics and then separately there is some tail trends that are helping us in how our securities and loans reprice.

我們將專注於盡可能降低存款成本，主要體現在特價和例外定價方面。我們針對某些存款產品採用了指數定價，當利率改變時，我們將立即從中受益。因此，我們對最初的重新定價動態感到非常樂觀。此外，還有一些尾部趨勢正在幫助我們重新定價證券和貸款。

So we're still in a kind of a pretty good backdrop to defend that margin, as the debt gets reshuffled at every rate cut, there could be some timing distinctions, but we feel like we have got, the benefits are likely to, sufficiently mitigate the drawbacks of how the prices go on. So we're feeling good about defending actually we're pleasantly surprised to have gotten the 4% name excluding purchasing accretion as fast as we did.

因此，我們仍然處於一個相當不錯的環境中來捍衛這一利潤率，因為每次降息都會重新調整債務結構，雖然時間上可能會有一些差異，但我們感覺我們已經獲得了好處，這些好處很可能足以抵消價格走勢帶來的不利影響。所以，我們對捍衛目標感到滿意，實際上，我們驚訝地發現，我們能夠如此迅速地獲得 4% 的收益（不包括購買增值）。

We certainly did not promise that to the market and did not expect it necessarily to materialize as quick, but we're really pleased that we were able to do that. Notwithstanding, being a little less loaned up than what our, budget and forecasts, are in our plans to drive loan grows really are.

我們當然沒有向市場做出這樣的承諾，也沒有期望它能如此迅速地實現，但我們很高興我們能夠做到這一點。儘管如此，我們的貸款規模比預算和預測略小，這與我們推動貸款成長的計畫實際情況不符。

Yeah, well done there. And could you just remind us, is there a kind of a terminal interest paring deposit data that that you guys are trying to manage through this cycle? Maybe you just as you look at what you were able to accomplish on the upright cycle.

是的，幹得好。您能否提醒我們一下，在這個週期中，您是否正在嘗試管理某種形式的最終利率調整存款資料？也許你只是在回顧你在站立式自行車上的成就。

We don't necessarily think of it in terminal bases. We're trying to gain as much ground as we can where we can. So just like on the upswing where we didn't, we weren't as mean as aggressive and necessarily moving a lot of our kind of base sheet rates. And we're more focused on how do we manage this exception population and what we in this index population?

我們可能不會從終端基地的角度來考慮這個問題。我們正在盡一切可能爭取更多陣地。所以就像在經濟上升期，我們沒有採取激進的措施，而是採取了積極進取的態度，並且沒有大幅調整我們的基準利率一樣。我們更關注的是如何管理這個特殊人群，以及在這個指標人群中我們該做什麼？

How do you really manage your most price sensitive customers on the deposit side? And we're going to continue to do that on the way down. And it's a nuanced approach. We feel like we're approaching it with more discipline than we really ever have in having a game plan for every rate cut and being ready to manage all those conversations and really get the highest beta out of our most out of our largest absolute value exception customers, and that's all a reason to ask and so far has functioned pretty well in the September rate cut, so we'll follow the same game plan as we go forward.

如何妥善管理對價格最敏感的顧客在訂金上的支出？我們下山的路上也會繼續這樣做。這是一種細緻的方法。我們感覺，在每次降價時，我們都比以往任何時候都更加嚴謹地制定了行動計劃，並準備好應對所有相關對話，真正從我們最大的絕對價值例外客戶那裡獲得最高的beta值。這一切都是我們提出要求的理由，而且到目前為止，在9月份的降價中，這一策略運行得相當不錯，因此我們將繼續沿用同樣的行動計劃。

Yeah, okay. And then maybe to follow-up, as we've talked about deposits and the growth that's happened there and kind of the excess liquidity that you have as a result, if we do, continue to, find the pay down bug a little bit and to the extent loans, don't really ramp up in growth meaningfully in here in the near term, could you look to be a little more, opportunistic adding to the bond book from here?

好的。然後，我們不妨繼續探討存款及其成長情況，以及由此產生的過剩流動性。如果我們繼續發現償還債務的趨勢有所改善，而貸款在短期內沒有真正意義上的成長，那麼是否可以考慮從現在開始更積極地增持債券？

It's definitely an option, and it's something that we talk about every day, really what is the right size of the bond book, how do we manage our balance sheet best.

這絕對是一個選擇，也是我們每天都在討論的問題，債券帳簿的合適規模是多少，我們如何才能最好地管理我們的資產負債表。

We feel awesome about the fact that we're building an even more fortress-like balance sheet with strong capital, strong liquidity, and a really nice foundation to grow upon, so we think that flexibility can allow us to be opportunistic when more meaningful long growth presents itself or when other strategic opportunities can present themselves. So we are very pleased to be having a very healthy and strong balance sheet.

我們感到非常自豪的是，我們正在建立一個更堅固的資產負債表，擁有雄厚的資本、強大的流動性和非常好的發展基礎，因此我們認為這種靈活性可以讓我們抓住更有意義的長期成長機會或其他策略機會。因此，我們非常高興擁有非常健康、強勁的資產負債表。

Yeah, okay, fair enough, that, that's it from you guys.

好的，沒問題，你們就說到這裡吧。

Thank you.

謝謝。

I As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press one.

再次提醒，如果您想提問，請按 1。

We'll go next to Matt Olney at Stevens.

接下來我們將採訪史蒂文斯理工學院的馬特·奧爾尼。

Thanks. Good morning. I want to circle back on the loan growth discussion and, we talked about the elevated payoffs a few minutes ago. I'm just curious, when do you expect this to slow? we're seeing rates move lower in the fourth quarter and expectation that continues now for a little bit more. I would think that would just create more payoffs, not less, but just curious what your expectations are is when we could see this pressure ease up.

謝謝。早安.我想再回到貸款成長的話題上來，我們幾分鐘前也談到了不斷上漲的還款額。我只是好奇，你預計這種情況什麼時候會放緩？我們看到利率在第四季有所下降，預計這種情況還會持續一段時間。我認為這只會帶來更多收益，而不是更少，但我只是好奇你預計這種壓力何時才能緩解。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Hey Matt, so one of the things that we will get a lift.

嘿，馬特，我們要搭便車的事情之一就是…

We will get a lift from our advances exceeding our pay downs and payments and that's.

我們將從預付款超過還款額中獲得提振，就是這樣。

And we, when we go back and look at our history of when we were getting a lift, it patterns kind of this it matches up with our loan originations. So we, as we said, we loan originations are up 62%, but we will get some lift there whether that's it may be a couple quarters away from that helping us and not taking away from loan growth.

當我們回顧過去獲得貸款的歷史時，會發現這種模式與我們的貸款發放情況相符。正如我們所說，我們的貸款發放量增加了 62%，但我們還需要一些時間來提振貸款成長，這可能還需要幾個季度的時間，但這不會阻礙貸款成長，反而會對我們有所幫助。

So that's kind of in the good news category we're going to have to manage through the fact that we've got the way the portfolio, the nature of the portfolio of this, $300million to $350 million of payoffs.

所以這算是好消息，我們必須處理的現實是，我們的投資組合的性質決定了，該投資組合的收益為 3 億至 3.5 億美元。

That we have and we'll do our best to try to limit that through some of those loans that refinancing elsewhere to put our best foot forward, but the real story is going to be on that side it's going to be the funded portion of the new loans that we originate. So, our pipeline is healthy if we're in this.

我們已經這樣做了，我們會盡最大努力透過一些貸款的再融資來限制這種情況，以展現我們最好的一面，但真正的關鍵在於我們發放的新貸款中已支付的部分。所以，如果我們繼續參與其中，我們的產品線就是健康的。

Like last quarter, $600 million of origination, that's getting us closer to where that will give the fundings even with the payoffs to get us, as last quarter we were, we had a slight gain and or slight increase in net funded loan balances so it's a matter of delivering on our on that pipeline and continuing on the path that we've seen in the last couple quarters and really year-to-date.

就像上個季度一樣，新增貸款金額達到 6 億美元，這讓我們離目標更近了一步，即使要償還貸款，也能獲得所需的資金。就像上個季度一樣，我們的淨貸款餘額略有增長，所以現在的問題是完成我們的貸款發放流程，並繼續沿著我們在過去幾個季度以及今年迄今為止所看到的道路前進。

We said before that we thought growth would manifest in the second half of the year. Of course you still have the fourth quarter, but going into 2026, we feel good that we will pivot to that.

我們之前說過，我們認為成長將在下半年顯現。當然，還有第四季度，但展望 2026 年，我們有信心能夠順利過渡到那個階段。

Okay, I appreciate that, Ramon. And also want to get the updated thoughts around M&A. Well, we're definitely seeing more M&A deal announcements in your backyard. Just curious about the conversations you're having with strategic partners and expectations for finding a partner for Stellar bank. Thanks.

好的，謝謝你，拉蒙。也想了解併購的最新動態。沒錯，我們確實看到越來越多的併購交易消息傳出。我很好奇您與策略夥伴的對話內容，以及您對為 Stellar 銀行尋找合作夥伴的期望。謝謝。

Yeah, Matt, we continue to have conversations. We've talked to a lot of folks.

是的，馬特，我們一直在保持溝通。我們和很多人談過了。

I think you're seeing some transactions that that.

我認為你看到的是一些這樣的交易。

That we'd have some interest in some not, but it's, the thing to remember and the thing that we want everyone to understand is that we're very protective of the balance sheet that we built and the deposit base that we built and as we look at partners out there and how they've structured their funding. It would be not behove us to join somebody that takes away from the funding base that we have just to be larger, so what we want to do is make sure that we find the right partners to think about the world the same way we do and find themselves in a similar fashion. So, we continue to have conversations.

我們對某些項目可能感興趣，但並非所有項目都感興趣。重要的是要記住，我們希望每個人都能理解，我們非常重視我們建立的資產負債表和存款基礎，並且我們會密切關注合作夥伴的融資結構。我們不應該為了擴大規模而加入一個會削弱我們現有資金基礎的組織，所以我們想做的是確保找到合適的合作夥伴，他們和我們一樣思考世界，並以類似的方式看待事物。所以，我們繼續進行對話。

There's a possibility that we can be active in this space, but we're going to be careful about how we approach it.

我們有可能在這個領域有所作為，但我們會謹慎行事。

Okay. Thanks for the commentary and agree it's a high-class problem to have protecting the balance sheets. And just lastly from me, over to Paul, I heard you mention the purchase accounting accretion prepared remarks, looking for the updated fair value mark on that portfolio.

好的。感謝您的評論，我也認為保護資產負債表是一個「高層次的難題」。最後，我請保羅回答一下，我聽到你提到購買會計增值準備說明，想了解該投資組合的最新公允價值標記。

I believe that's $58.1 million is what's left of the loan discount.

我認為貸款折扣還剩下 5810 萬美元。

Perfect.

完美的。

Okay, guys, thanks for your help.

好的，各位，謝謝你們的幫忙。

Thanks man.

謝謝老兄。

And that concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Bob Franklin for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將把會議交還給鮑伯·富蘭克林，請他致閉幕詞。

Thank you very much for joining our call today and with that we are adjourned.

非常感謝各位參加今天的電話會議，會議到此結束。

And this includes today's conference call.

這其中也包括今天的電話會議。

Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。