Q4 2021 First Foundation Inc Earnings Call

January 31, 2022

Hi.

[music].

Yes.

Greetings and welcome to the First Foundation's fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode and the floor will be opened for your questions following the presentation.

If you would like to ask a question at that time. Please press star one on your touchtone phone. If at any point your question has been answered you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing the pound key. We ask that you please pick up your handset to allow optimal sound quality.

Speaking today will be Scott Kavanaugh First Foundation's Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Thompson, Chief Financial Officer, and David DePillo, President. Before I hand the call over to Scott. Please note that the management will make certain predictive statements during today's call that reflect their current views and expectations about the company's performance and financial results.

These forward-looking statements are made subject to the Safe Harbor statement included in today's earnings release. In addition, some of the discussion meeting include non-GAAP financial measures.

For a more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures see the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and now I would like to turn the call over to Scott Kavanaugh.

Hello, and thank you for joining us. We would like to welcome all of you to our fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call.

As highlighted in our earnings report, we had another strong quarter, which capped off a great year for First Foundation.

Before I get into the details of the financial results we reported.

Let me share how impressed I am with what our team has been able to accomplish this quarter and frankly for the entire year.

When the fourth quarter started, we had many initiatives underway and there were a lot of moving parts. We had several important projects planned for completion all at the same time complicating these matters with the rise of cases due to omicron, which hit many of our departments.

We had to temporarily close some branches and there were a couple of days where entire departments were out.

Yet through this herculean effort from our team, I am pleased to report we delivered on all of our projects, while still reporting the strong financial results we did today.

Before I get into the details of the financial metrics, let me touch on a few of those projects and what they mean for the organization.

First, we closed on our transaction with TGRF financial in Florida.

This important transaction means a couple of things. We're now strategically positioned in another business-friendly state with the ability to expand into some key met markets within Florida. We also have a team of experienced bankers, who know the local community keeping the local.

The team in place is something we are very pleased we were able to do in addition, this transaction gives us access to a very solid client base that we can offer complementary services to whether it be additional banking.

Solutions, wealth management or trust services, we are actively looking to recruit additional talent to build out these services from our Florida locations.

Another important project in 2021 was our expansion into Texas, we moved our principal office to Dallas in the second quarter and opened an LPO in Irving.

It was our expansion into Texas, we moved our principal office to Dallas in the second quarter and opened an L. P O in Irving.

And we are planning to open a retail branch in Plano in the first quarter of this year. Texas, which as you know is another business-friendly state and has a ton of opportunity for retail and commercial banking as well as our wealth management and trust services.

You've heard me say before, we are really excited about Texas, we continue to invest in our markets as well across Hawaii.

Nevada and California.

We also launched our new mobile App in 2021 and the adoption of the app

By our clients in the fourth quarter has been terrific. This new app transforms how we deliver our banking experience. Clients can now gain insights into all facets of their financial lives without leaving the first Foundation bank environment. This solution will help our team better.

And track and target clients with complementary services. We expect to deepen our client relationships with this important new tool. This is something you're likely to hear more about in future quarters. In addition, we recently announced the successful close of our 150 million

Sub debt offering to strengthen our capital position. This attractive source of capital will fuel our future growth and allow us to continue to execute on our strategic plan without diluting our existing equity stakeholders.

In 2021, we also completed the following projects. The successful Freddie Mac securitization of multifamily loans, our preparedness for them, becoming a $10 billion bank. The kickoff of our Bitcoin project with nine dig in Pfizer working through the majority of our remaining PPP loans.

And the continuation of a very community giving program.

There were a host of other important projects, we completed in 2021 that I didn't cover.Iin fact, we have 35 strategic projects 100 plan that are slated to be completed. This reinforces our commitment to enhancing the client experience and their technology.

I want to say that the projects that I just mentioned would take most of the other banks years to complete. We did it in 12 months and much of this activity occurred in the past 90 days, which is truly remarkable. It's a testament to the experienced team we have in place.

Our ability to successfully operate and grow a bank is second to none in our industry and I am pleased with everyone's contributions.

Now, let me touch on some details related to our financial results for the quarter.

Our earnings for the quarter were $23.9 million or 51 cents a share.

Total revenues were $75.8 million for the quarter, a 20% increase over the prior-year fourth quarter.

Turn on average assets was 1.15% return on average tangible equity was 13.4% and tangible book value per share remained strong at $14.92.

I'm also pleased to announce that we increased our dividend payment by 22% from 9 cents to 11 cents per share in the prior quarter.

<unk> 11 per share in the prior quarter.

Each of our business contributed to our success.

Our banking operations experienced another record quarter of growth as loan originations in the fourth quarter hit $1.2 billion and $3.9 billion for the year, while deposits grew in the quarter by 2 billion. Following the close of our acquisition of TGRF financial and $3 billion.

For the year.

I've mentioned this before but the transformation of our business model has really taken shape and the diversification of our offering is only strengthened our position as a premier regional bank.

This is evidence yet again by another strong quarter of high-quality C&I originations, which reached a record $518 million in the quarter and accounted for 43% and the $1.2 billion in total that we originated in the quarter.

We also saw contributions from our equipment finance, public finance and builder finance teams as these business businesses continue to ramp up.

Our ability to generate high-quality loans is something I'm very proud of and I were underwriting team has done an incredible job to ensure [MPA] remains at industry-leading levels decreasing to 14 basis points for the quarter.

Looking at deposits. Our core funding accounts for 99% of our total deposits, while our cost of funding continues to be favorable with deposit costs remaining low at 15 basis points for the quarter.

Our loan to deposit ratio improved to 84% at the end of the quarter.

Our attractive deposit profile continues to be attributable to a reduction in our broker deposits and an increase in more business related operating accounts.

Looking at our wealth management business, we had a strong quarter and here both in terms of new clients and positive investment returns and our portfolio's assets increased by $282 million in the fourth quarter and assets under management ended the year at a record $5.7 billion.

Additionally, our wealth management and trust businesses saw a record combined pre-tax profitability of 25% for the quarter. Our ability to maintain this level of profitability across several quarters now shows that

We are hitting scale for this business.

Again, I would remind everyone that we accomplished all of this even as we completed several very important projects close out the year.

Kevin will provide some adjusted numbers for ease of comparison, but our reported numbers are strong even at face value. I can't say enough about how our team rose to the challenge and delivered great results all of what I've mentioned, our services our expansion projects we completed.

Our team and our commitment to technology positions us well as we serve our clients. Our business model is designed to help clients wherever they are in their financial lives and today's results indicate that our model is working very well across the diverse and dynamic markets we serve.

Because we serve.

It is truly an honor to be able to lead this organization comprised of extraordinary professionals, serving our wonderful clients. I continue to be very excited about our future.

Now, let me turn the call over to our CFO, Kevin.

Thank you, Scott.

Earnings per diluted share was 51 cents in the fourth quarter. As Scott mentioned the return on assets was strong at 1.15% with a return on tangible common equity of 13.4%.

These were especially good metrics, considering our one-time expenses related to closing the acquisition of TGR Financial.

These merger-related expenses included a recognition of $1.1 million and noninterest expense as well as $5.6 billion related to the day, one seasonal loan loss provision for non purchased credit deteriorated loans.

This is often called the seasonal double count related to acquisitions. A Adjusting for these items our return on assets would have been around 1.4%.

And our return on tangible common equity would have been approximately 16%.

The TGR acquisition took place on December 17th. So there are only a few weeks of income statement impacts from the merger.

We're very proud of our performance for the full year of 2021. Our return on assets was 1.41% and our return on tangible common equity was 16.9% for the full year.

Our investments in technology talent and processes have really taken root and our operational leverage as evidenced in our metrics.

A few quarters ago, we announced our strategic investment in [NIDEK], which is an industry leader in providing bitcoin-related solutions to banks and institutions.

While we are very excited to continue to work with [inaudible] to implement these services for our customers. We are very pleased that our strategic investment has increased in value and we recognized a $1.1 million gain on the investment this quarter.

The net interest margin increased to 3.17% in the quarter, which was due to slightly improving loan yields and lower average cash balances and a slightly improving cost of funds in the quarter.

Our continued balance sheet discipline resulted in an increase in loan yields of six basis points and a decrease in cost of funding of two basis points.

We earned 561,000 and net PPP fee income in the quarter and we have 618,000 of fees remaining.

We added $23 million of PPP loans through the acquisition of TGR Financial.

With the pay down of $20 million of legacy PPP loans in the quarter and the addition of the acquired loans $51 million of PPP loans remain.

The allowance for credit losses for loans increased $12.8 million to $33.8 million or 0.49% of total loans in the quarter.

We recorded $15.1 million, an additional allowance for credit losses associated with the acquisition of TGR Financial.

Of this, $9.5 million was related to purchase credit deteriorated loans.

And $5.6 million was related to non purchase credit deteriorated loans.

This increase due to the acquisition was offset by a reduction in the allowance of $2.4 million.

Related to the bank's legacy lower loan portfolio due to improvements in the economics scenario outlook offset by an increase in legacy loan balances.

Asset management fees were strong with revenues of $9.6 million and our advisory entrust divisions achieved a record combined pre-tax profit margin of 25%.

Noninterest expense increased $1.2 million to $39.6 million in the quarter. $1.1 million of professional fees and other expenses were related to the merger. With only two weeks of TGR Financial and our result, the corresponding noninterest expense was very small at around 600000.

The efficiency ratio was very strong at 51% for the quarter and 47.5% for the full year.

I will now turn the call over to David DePillo.

Thank you, Kevin. As Scott mentioned, our team did an incredible job addressing some very important projects and the completion of those projects in the fourth quarter really is a testament to the team we have in place the transformation of our balance sheet continues to develop nicely on today, we are well-positioned as a premier regional bank servicing a diverse client base.

Overall, we generated a record $1.2 billion in loans in the fourth quarter.

As noted on previous calls, we anticipated higher fundings in the fourth quarter as our teams delivered.

Consistent with last quarter, C&I loans continued to balance our overall fundings were $518 million or 43% of our total core this quarter. Furthermore, 55% of the C&I loans that were generated this quarter were adjustable commercial revolving lines of credit, which is a strategic move for us and we continue to see.

The balance sheet to be [more neutral].

Neutral.

C&I loans were comprised of $130 million of commercial term loans, $46 million of public finance loans, $32 million of owner-occupied commercial real estate loans and $25 million of equipment finance loans.

These are all high quality business once that generate strong yields while continuing to diversify our loan portfolio.

Looking more broadly at the $1.2 billion in loans, we originated in the second quarter the percentage breakdowns.

Follows.

Commercial 43%, multifamily 48%, single family 6% and 3% other.

Also worth noting that our Texas lending activities are gaining steam as we originated $156 million for this year and our state.

And as of year end, we had $216 million of loans in Texas.

We continue to focus on originating high quality allowance.

With high underwriting standards.

As Ben mentioned, our NPA ratio remains very low at 14 basis points at year-end.

I am pleased to note that all forbearance and deferral of our legacy portfolio were resolved this quarter.

The forbearance and deferrals ended in the quarter at approximately $16 million or 22 basis points total loans.

These were all inherited from the acquisition of TGR Financial and will be resolved.

In consistency with our successful approach to date.

Let me touch briefly on PPP loans. At the end of the quarter or 86% of our total PPP loans have been forgiven.

It's only about 600,000 of net PPP fee income that remains to be recognized. Our total remaining PPP balance stands at $50.8 million, which includes $23.1 million of PPP loans added through the acquisition of TGR Financial.

Looking ahead. The overall pipeline remains strong as we entered the first quarter and we expect production levels consistent with this quarter as our various lending teams continue to drive new business.

Even despite record originations this quarter, we experienced only a slight dip in the weighted average rate at

3.38% on originations versus the third quarter, which was up 3.46%. We remain committed to achieving strong origination volumes, while still defending the yield on our portfolio. We experienced a weighted average portfolio yield of 3.8%.

For the quarter versus 3.74% last quarter. As the yield on payoffs has stabilized.

As of September 30, 2021. Excuse me, December 31st, 2021, our held to maturity portfolio consists of 42% multifamily loans, 31% commercial business loans, 11% owner-occupied CRE, 14% consumer.

Excuse me December 31, 2021 are held to maturity portfolio consists of 42% multifamily loans, 31% commercial business loans, 11% owner occupied CRE, 14% consumer.

And 2% land and construction.

Our deposit business also continues to perform well.

And our deposit profile continues to be very favorable.

The $8.8 billion in deposits that we ended the quarter with represents a combination of closing the acquisition of TGR Financial which contributed approximately $2.2 billion in deposits offset slightly by typical year-end seasonal outflows in our commercial deposit service group.

Of note, our noninterest bearing deposits accounted for 37% of our total deposits.

Commercial business deposits from our channel serving complex Treasury management commercial customers and from our business banking customers served by our retail branches or 71% of call core deposits as of December 31st core deposits continue to improve now accounting for 99% of total deposits.

As said, our core deposits have continued to remain low and our core deposit costs have continued to remain low and have stabilized at 15 basis points consistent with the last quarter.

As Kevin mentioned, our NIM improved to $3.17 during the quarter.

Excess liquidity from our legacy cash prior to the acquisition of <unk> financial was deployed while loan funding yields are stabilizing the additional excess liquidity inherited.

In the end of the fourth quarter from TGR Financial will likely provide a short term drag to NIM into the next quarter as we work to deploy the excess.

Finally, the success in the quarter could not have been achieved without the great team we have in place. Like Scott, I'm very grateful for all the dedication and hard work. At this time, we are ready to take questions. I will hand it back to the operator.

And at this time, we are now open for questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your touchtone phone. You may withdraw your question at any time by pressing the pund key. Once again that is star and one and we will take our first question from David Feaster with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everybody.

Good morning, David.

Maybe just starting on on the growth outlook I mean loan growth has been phenomenal.

Pipeline sounds like they're pretty good. We got expansion into some higher growth markets. Just curious how do you think about organic growth as we head into '22. And just maybe you could just touch on the pipeline and maybe how that composition has changed no how much is from Texas, and Florida and just.

The amount of non multifamily loans in the pipeline.

Non multifamily loans in the pipeline.

Sure. Our pipeline going into the year is at record levels across all product types, including multifamily. So proportionately, we would expect fundings for the year to kind of fall in line with what we've seen.

Our pipeline going into the year is at record levels across all product types, including multifamily. So proportionately, we would expect fundings for the year to kind of fall in line with what we've seen.

For for this year so yes.

Probably about 50% to 55% multifamily.

50% to 55% multifamily.

And the remainder spread across our C&I and a little bit in our consumer platform.

We expect a little more traditional CRE.

To add into that mix next year due to the acquisition of TGR that was a primary focus along with C&I.

And they also have

Some residential lending that we plan to continue to expand in the market. So what I would say is I would expect this year to track.

Very closely to last year with C&I continuing to round up at a very nice level. Texas.

Brown.

At a very nice level.

Texas.

We had some pretty good numbers coming out of not only income property, but equally or even greater.

In the C&I channel due to

C&I channel due to the other.

The fact that we just added teams recently, but have traditionally at C&I relationships in Texas that continue to build. So our expectations are to continue to

Just added teams recently, but have traditionally at C&I relationships in Texas that continue to build so our expectations are to continue to do.

Build those fundings in Texas.

It's going to take a while for Florida to really ramp to the levels that we expect on a long term basis, but what we would say is.

We would like to be at a significantly higher run rate by the end of the year.

Than we certainly have models to date so.

I would expect their numbers to increase from historical levels that they had previously.

Achieved due to a larger balance sheet and a much.

We think a greater depth of product that they will now have to offer across a state that.

It is pretty deep and wide as far as availability so.

I would say. We're very excited about heading into the year.

We're very excited about heading into the year tip.

Typically the fourth quarter is a clean out of pipelines.

However, we entered this year with pipeline stronger than we've seen in prior years.

Okay. That's helpful color and then.

Just maybe if you could give us an update on the integration of the

The [board] acquisition, where do we stand with cost saves? It's obviously still in the early innings.

And then just kind of how you think about expenses.

Just if you can you give us a good core expense run rate and you obviously, we've got inflationary pressures.

Can you give us a good core expense run rate and you obviously, we've got inflationary pressures.

And some of the investments that we have going on Just kind of how do you think about expense growth as we head throughout '22?

And then Kevin, why don't you touch on the expenses? Yes.

You bet, and Dave can talk more about the integration. First part of your question. The integration is going very well a very strong team at TGR Financial that adds a lot of talent to our team and very pleased to have been able to retain

A higher number of employees than we normally would in this type of transaction because our cross country.

In a market that we want to grow in and so very pleased with the integration so far with a lot of work to go as we.

finish much of that out in May. So from an expense perspective, we had modeled 30% expense reductions are I believe we're on track for that.

And hopefully, we can improve that over time, but again, we've retained talent as we dip into the $10 billion

Asset mark, we want to make sure that we're prepared from a regulatory.

And logistics perspective, to be ready for that so we would retain a lot of talent.

Their run rate was $8 million a quester or so and so we do expect to save many of those expenses.

Or so and so we do expect to save many of those expenses.

Our run rate going forward for the year or currently expecting 46 to $47 million in noninterest expense for the year and we will see how that plays out based on loan growth et cetera.

Well first of all, from an efficiency standpoint, we still expect to be around 50% efficiency, even with the combination and being over $10 billion. So our expectation is our revenues will grow.

Commensurate with our expenses so, unlike some other financial institutions that are reporting outsized expense growth, we expect to be relatively in line to what we've seen traditionally as a percentage.

Other financial institutions that are reporting outsized expense growth, we expect to be relatively in line to what we've seen traditionally as a percentage.

As Kevin mentioned. We acquired this for growth.

We acquired this for growth.

We did have some initial cost saves due to some.

Management turnover and some legacy costs.

Legacy costs.

We will now be absorb the platform migration.

Absorb the platform migration.

Our plan is still to do our core system conversion in May.

Do our core system conversion in May.

We still have some additional employees that are under attention through that time that will probably.

Employees that are under attention through that time that will probably.

roll off after that but we would say that's probably not significant in the overall

Cost structure as we plan to add additional resources in the market. And most likely would offset any of those cost savings that we would have.

Going forward from there.

<unk>.

Being involved in many many acquisitions over the year.

Many many acquisitions over the year.

Our ability to do this at a very efficient cost structure.

It was very low on a relative basis to what we see for an institution of this size and we've been able to find additional cost saves.

In some of the restructuring of contracts and migration. So, so far, so good.

Yes. I'm also very pleased. Look, we made a decision.

I'm also very pleased look we made a decision.

Some of the management team. In particular, Gary [Ties] has remained on the board. Garrett Richter, who was their CEO.

In particular, Gary ties has remained on the board.

Garrett Richter, who is their CEO.

Is now the area market presence in Florida, and I think that's really important for the retention of clients. Those guys were very strong.

And knowing who their clients were and maintaining those relationships.

And along with the cost saves that Kevin and Dave just talked about.

We modeled just like everybody does some loss of relationships and deposits et cetera.

Relationships and deposits et cetera.

I think we're going to do better than average as well so.

I'm very optimistic on that.

That's great. That's extremely helpful color. And then maybe just touching on the margin. It was a lot better than expected and appreciate the commentary about the liquidity drag from TGRF.

Can you maybe just walk us through some of the puts and takes with the margin? It sounds like new loan yields.

Hopefully or at least, the decline slowing hopefully we're at a trough and maybe seeing some inflection just given the move in the 10 year just any thoughts on the margin and could you just remind us of the pro forma rate sensitivity.

The decline slowing hopefully we're at a trough and maybe seeing some inflection just given the move in the 10 year just any thoughts on the margin and could you just remind us of the pro forma rate sensitivity.

It's interesting.

The margin is sensitive to obviously two areas. One is if we have cash.

Effectively earning I don't know what on average 25 basis points.

If we can redeploy those into loans, yielding anything or securities, who we have a tremendous amount of pickup so you'll see a lot of the margin pick up related to that.

The other is. There was a little bit of margin drag when we had higher.

There was a little bit of margin drag when we had higher.

Yielding loans paying off on a relatively rapid basis from a few years ago due to the low-interest-rate environment that we were in. So the benefit we got several years ago.

Those loans where we're now starting to impact our margin.

Not significantly as much as our liquidity overhang, but still had a impact.

So loans that were say in the mid fours that were refinancing into assets in the mid threes, you would lose 100 basis points on those as they cycle through, significant portion in the majority of those have already cycled through the portfolio. So now that we see.

The portfolio yield bottoming out and actually starting to stabilize and rise with higher expectations of interest rates that will probably impact us more I would say in the second quarter, we will start to see asset yield starting to increase again.

Somewhat offset by cost of funds increases as

Cost of funds increases as does.

start to impact us but.

We would expect not as much rate sensitivity going into this cycle as we experienced in the last cycle due to the lack of wholesale funding.

The low beta on a lot of the deposits that we've gathered and through acquisition of TGR. So I think we're in a much much better position to maintain our margin and our current forecast is probably our margin will stabilize about where we're at now.

Maybe a little bit lower.

Okay. That's all.

Thank you.

And our next question will come from Steve Moss with B Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning.

So maybe just circling back to the origination pipeline here $1.2 billion.

Maybe just circling back to the origination pipeline here $1 2 billion.

What kind of production level, it sounds like from the first quarter you expect

With the pipe, with things growing as the year goes. So I guess it sounds like implying north of 5 billion in originations for 2022 is what you guys are thinking.

I would say we always look at modeling around four to four four is kind of our expectations.

Always look at.

Modeling around four to four four is kind of our expectations.

We could accelerate beyond that depending on the reactions of what happens with the fed.

If they start raising rates relatively rapidly we may see a little bit of low in some of the activity in the market as people's expectations start to catch up to a new rate environment.

I would say $5 billion is probably an aspirational number.

I would certainly think our run rate is a little over $4 billion.

The good thing is Steve, CPRs are declining.

<unk> are declining.

So hopefully that helps us a little bit.

<unk>.

If there is a law with raising rates. Kind of give us something to beat Steve.

[laughter].

Yes.

Alright. That's helpful and then maybe just in terms of.

That's helpful and then maybe just in terms of.

Expansion activity, just kind of curious you guys touched a little bit on expanding into additional markets in Florida. Kind of curious the markets you're thinking, excuse me.

Expanding into and maybe the pace of hires for both Florida and Texas.

Yes, so definitely we are going to continue to look for M&A activity.

Predominantly in Florida and Texas.

They are.

I mean, we're always hopeful that we can find something.

There is no doubt that one way or another we're going to continue to expand in both Texas. And Florida.

And Florida.

I would say, California, Nevada, Hawaii.

We feel like we've got pretty good coverage in those markets and that won't.

Probably won't see us do a whole lot there unless something just falls in our lap.

Hi.

We're continuing to look for teams in all markets.

In particular, I feel like we're starting to gain some traction on the investment management and Trust services and I think I had previously said that we are looking to gain our trust powers in Florida.

We can't get it till we, in Texas until we have our branch operational which will be later in this quarter or first part of the second quarter, but we are going to be seeking trust powers there, but we've turned up what we think are some pretty good candidates in both of those sectors.

We're starting to find some good C&I teams.

We're going to continue to try to ramp up in.

Try to ramp up in <unk>.

[inaudible]

The M&A deal. Yes strategically, Scott.

I think we've talked in Florida really kind of migrating north along the West Coast first.

Migrating north along the West Coast first.

Strategically. A lot of opportunity in the Panhandle.

A lot of opportunity in the Panhandle.

So west Coast of Florida is probably we would see the.

A little bit of easy lifting.

Dallas Metroplex is obviously, our focus of growth right now, but we're looking at adjacent markets such as Austin and San Antonio is great markets for us to

Find additional resources and grow.

Okay, great.

Well. Thank you very much for all the color, nice quarter.

Thank you.

Yes.

And our next question comes from Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, guys. Good morning.

First one for me on the C&I loan growth this quarter.

C&I.

Loan growth this quarter.

How much of that was from higher line utilization and how does that ratio compare to pre-pandemic at this point?

I don't have the exact numbers for you, but we could probably get them.

There was a big chunk from line expansion aor larger renewals accordions.

Larger renewals accordions.

There is some of that was so I would say, it's probably 50% new credits, but a lot of the new credits were.

Some of that was so I would say, it's probably 50% new credits, but a lot of the new credits were.

Our borrowing base related expansions by companies that needed more access so.

I would say the significant portion of it was really it expansion company expansion

Expansion.

Company.

for borrowings based on higher levels of quiet levels of productivity.

Activity.

Okay, Great and then on your rate sensitivity.

Relatively neutral.

I'm not sure what deposit beta you've assumed in that analysis in your filings, but maybe you could let us know what.

Deposit beta you've assumed in that analysis in your filings, but maybe you could let us know what.

The deposit beta is that you've assumed in that and how do you think it might play out.

The cycle.

Kevin. Yes. Are you talking our merger-related beta or our overall company beta?

Yes.

Are you talking our merger related beta or our overall company beta.

Well I guess it would be the deposit beta that's in your filings.

Assumed maybe for the first 100 basis points and then.

How are you. I would I would think we'd take the under on this cycle, but we just wanted to get your thoughts on.

I would I would think we'd take the under on that.

This cycle, but we just wanted to get your thoughts on.

The.

The sensitivity of our margin on the deposit side. Understood.

Yes. We model and I think that's fairly consistent with other banks, we model about 15% to 20% decay.

We model and I think that's fairly consistent consistent with other banks, we model about 15% to 20% decay.

As well as a beta of 10% now our numbers that we're currently using we're not assuming yet a rate increase until we start seeing that happen, but to your point, we believe much like the last rate cycle. The deposit betas will be quite low it will be extended over a period of time add that to our transition of balance sheet, having more core deposit small.

10% now our numbers that we're currently using we're not assuming yet a rate increase until we start seeing that happen, but to your point, we believe much like the last rate cycle. The deposit betas will be quite low it will be extended over a period of time add that to our transition of balance sheet, having more core deposit small.

Relationship based deposits, we anticipate that deposit beta in the slow over time and the loan beta, the loan yield beta outpacing the deposit yield data over time. We still need time to model the current environment. It depends on how the yield curve plays out and whether we actually see these rate increases.

Happen this year, but I think we're setup to your point in a fairly neutral position to be able to handle it either way I guess the good news is the long end of the curve and salary react to expectations of higher rates. So we should have some run rate on

The wound side before the deposit side starts to adjust. Agreed.

Also it sounds like you have a remix opportunity.

Knowing you have the loan growth that should help to I would think.

And then just shifting to expenses.

How should we think about that $2.1 million run rate of customer service costs with each rate hike?

And is that included in your $46 million to $47 million.

Included in your <unk> $46 million to $47 million.

Run rate of expenses this year.

Yes. That's fairly static, Greg, Kevin.

That's fairly static Greg Kevin.

That would increase. Although we don't think it's going to go hike for hike.

Although we don't.

I think it's going to go up.

For hike.

But because it's a little artificially higher than what we didnt bottom out to zero.

It's a little artificially higher than what we didnt bottom out to zero.

Those costs, so we have a little bit of room on the way up. That's right well and those are static numbers averaged 47, and noninterest expense for the year is assuming the current interest rate environment. So we will see some deposit beta in those.

As we said I think it's somewhat extended in low over time, yes, maybe model App.

Somewhat extended in low over time, yes, maybe model App.

Rate adjustments into it.

Okay. And then just on the tax rate how should we think about that right with your growing presence in Florida and Texas.

And then just on the tax rate how should we think about that right with your growing presence in Florida and Texas.

We anticipate 28% or so for this year and then moving down over time as we have more loan production out of California.

Okay. Thank you.

And once again as a reminder to ask a question today that is star one on your touchtone phone and we will take our next question from Gary Tenner with D. A Davidson. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Good morning.

I just had a follow up on rate sensitivity, I just gave some thoughts on deposits just thinking about the loan side now.

On the consolidated balance sheet.

Could you kind of give us a sense of the percent of floating rate loans in the portfolio today? And then any impact of floor subtle that will la reaction to [inaudible].

Reaction just a radar.

Okay.

Do you have the breakdown, Kevin, our actuals adjustable rate loans?

Yes. So we have about 16% fix the rest adjustable.

So we have about 16% fix the rest adjustable.

Many of those adjustable however are within their first five year.

In their first five year.

Fixed rate period. Period, so in fact the majority of it is.

So we shouldn't see the existing portfolio moving too much. Add to that.

Add to that.

That's us.

Low duration, it's really the new production that I anticipate moving the needle more than that depends a lot on the yield curve. It depends on competition. A lot of banks have high deposit balances to deploy so that may be a little delayed as well, but I still anticipate loan yields moving quicker than deposit rates. Yes, I would say.

On the floor issue since the majority of our C&I loans have had floors anywhere.

Yes.

Floors anywhere.

Between 25 and 50 basis points, there may be a slight lag on some of those.

A slight lag on some of those.

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I would say not tremendous. I think the bigger issue for us is as Scott mentioned, our prepays are starting to slow and those higher-yielding loans that were paying off will have a much

The I think the bigger issue for US is as Scott mentioned, our Prepays are starting to slow and those higher yielding loans that were paying off will have a much.

more dramatic impact to loan yields than any adjustments to the short end of the curve.

Any. Adjustments to. The short end of the curve.

Adjustments to.

The short end of the curve.

Because those rates were probably 100 wider.

Rates were probably 100 wider.

The previous environment now that.

Those have kind of cycled through. We'll start to get the net benefit of new loans going on at higher rates.

Okay. Thank you and then second question in terms of the increase in borrowed funds. At 12, 31. is there any portion of that that would be kind of repaid.

As a result of the sub-debt you just issued or any changes in terms of kind of the full.

We've tried to repay everything.

We've tried to repay everything that we could.

Correct me if I'm wrong Kevin, but most of what came on the balance sheet was TGRF borrowings.

That's correct.

But we had our next bank loan at the holding company and we paid it down the very day that we received the proceeds from the sub debt deal.

Loan at the holding company and we paid it down the very day that we received the proceeds from the sub debt deal.

So I think we've paid everything down that we could.

I think we've paid everything down that we could.

Yes, if you want to give a recap of the borrowings at year-end. Yes, you bet. At year-end, there was to Scott's point $6 million of holding company line. The remaining came from TGR $25 million is subordinated debt.

That we inherited in the acquisition and the rest are actually repurchase agreements with customers. That are much like a different way of doing deposits that some of the TGR customers really appreciate doing.

I think that's the majority of it. That's majority of it.

Okay. Appreciate the color. Thank you.

Okay.

And we'll take our next question is from Brian [inaudible] with Coral Capital. Please go ahead.

Yes. Thank you. Can you just remind me what your profitability goals are say in a clean year? So maybe like in 2023 on that ROE and ROA basis.

I don't think has changed much. I mean, I would hope that we could generate somewhere between 15 and 17%.

Return on average common equity.

Common equity.

And probably somewhere between 135 to 155 on assets.

Probably somewhere between $1 35 to one.

55 on an asset.

Dave, Kevin you disagree?

Probably went on a corner ROA is kind of our normalized number.

Normalized number.

Some of them tomorrow.

Some are extraneous items. Right.

That's right. But yes, like mid teens ROE in one in a quarter ROAs.

Teen.

Ro.

One in a quarter ROA.

It also depends how quickly the fed moves and what reaction our deposit thoughtful of that but in a stabilized environment, that's pretty much where we can attract.

How quickly the fed moves what reaction our deposit thoughtful of that but in a stabilized environment, that's pretty much where we can attract.

So the range seems kind of big. So from the normalized ROA from 125 to upwards to 155. Is that what I'm hearing?

It could be as high as that depending on.

Outside securities gains potentially that we've had historically.

Bolster that. Some other items that could have an impact. We've had some.

Some other.

Items.

Could have.

An impact we've had some.

Because of those outside of securities gains have some pretty dramatic swings in our ROA, ROE.

Ro.

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Depending on strategy with or without.

That's where you would probably see the biggest swing.

Yes. [inaudible] possibly 125. But with security gains, it could be upwards to 155. [Or 150].

Assembly.

Okay.

Think of it possibly 125.

But with security gains it could be upwards to $1 55.

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Okay, got it. Thank you, appreciate it.

[inaudible]. And this concludes our allotted time for today's question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Scott Kavanaugh for closing remarks.

Yes.

And this concludes our allotted time for today's question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Scott Kavanaugh for closing remarks.

Thank you again for participating in today's call. Very proud of our results that we reported our business lines are doing well and I'm very pleased that the path we're on.

As a reminder, our earnings report and Investor presentation can be found on the Investor Relations section.

Of our website. Thank you and have a great remainder of your day.

Yes.

Thank you and this does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time.

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