Bank7 Corp.

Welcome to the Bank 7 Corp Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. Before we get started, I'd like to highlight the legal information and disclaimer on page 27 of the investor presentation. For those who do not have access to the presentation, management is going to discuss certain topics that contain forward-looking information which is based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, they can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions including, among other things, the direct and indirect effect of economic conditions on interest rates, credit quality, loan demand, liquidity, and monetary and supervisory policies of banking regulators. Should one or more of these risks materialize or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. Also, please note that this conference call contains references to non-GAAP financial measures. You can find reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to gap financial measures in an 8K that was filed this morning by the company. Representing the company on today's call, we have Brad Haynes, Chairman, Tom Travis, President and CEO, J.T. Phillips, Chief Operating Officer, Jason Estes, Chief Credit Officer, Kelly Harris, Chief Financial Officer, and Paul Timmons, Director of Accounting. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom Travis.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. As you can see, we had a very solid quarter. Essentially, we just are a broken record, but it's a shout out to our bankers. And if you look at the organic growth in both the loan and deposit portfolios, we had a very, very good quarter. And it's not a surprise. Again, it's We don't take them for granted, but I think sometimes people take our great results for granted. But organic growth has just been really good all year, and it's continuing to drive the institution forward. And so when you look at our income and strong capital accumulation, you can see the effect it's had, effects on the capital ratios, which are really, really strong and have us well-positioned. And so all the elements of the bank look fantastic, the liquidity, the capital, earnings, and the margin. And so we're excited about where we are. We're excited about the markets we operate in. And we're just delighted for the results.

And so with that said, we're here for any questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then 2. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question comes from Nathan Race with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Hi, this is Adam Kroll on for Nate Race. Good morning and thank you for taking my questions.

Morning Adam.

Yeah, so maybe just to start on loan growth, you know you guys obviously had another really strong quarter in terms of growth, so I'd just be curious how the pipeline stands today and how you're thinking about growth and the fourth quarter and into 26.

Yeah, thanks Adam. This is Jason and you know, The quarter was outstanding. And as Tom mentioned, you know, the team of bankers, they just keep delivering, you know, and it's not just loans, it's deposits as well, which are so vital, you know, to us continuing to be able to expand like this. So the current pipeline is It's good, but again, as we caution each quarter, we're prone to lumpy paydowns as people exit. There's a lot of conversations about what kind of economy we're going to have here in the near term. And so you see a lot of people exiting businesses or specific assets. And so we're not immune to that. We've been able to overcome significant exits this year just with robust growth. I think, you know, continuing the theme that we've had here for really the whole year, I really expect, you know, kind of a high single-digit year over year growth. That's our target. That's our goal. I think we'll be able to deliver on that. But, you know, so right now pipeline still has plenty of activity in it. But again, we're always careful with those lumpy pay downs.

Got it. Yeah, I really appreciate that. And kind of going off of that, I'd be curious if you could touch on what you're seeing in terms of loan pricing dynamics among competition. in what you're seeing new loans come on the portfolio relative to maybe that 7.4% or so that you saw in September?

I think if you looked at the average, we'd be slightly below that 7.4, somewhere in between 7 and 7.25, I think, for the bulky new funding. And then, you know, I think there's more pressure. You talk about the competitor's From a loan standpoint, it seems to be less pressing than the deposit side, which, you know, that ebbs and flows, but that seems to be the flavor of the week right now. There's a little more pressure on the deposit side than the loan side.

Got it. And then last one from me is, you know, obviously there's been plenty of deal activity within your market, so just any update on the M&A front?

We're constantly out there and we've had opportunities over the last few months and looked at various transactions and we're active in that space and we continue to proceed with a nod towards strategic combinations and that hasn't really changed and so one of these days we're going to find something that works and, you know, so really our posture hasn't changed.

Got it. Thank you for taking my questions. Thank you.

The next question comes from Woody Lay with KBW. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, guys.

Good morning, Woody.

I wanted to touch on the net interest margin to start. Really strong quarter in the third quarter, but it did look like with the rate cut in September, the quarter end margin was a little bit lower than where it was in the third quarter. I guess if we get a couple more rate cuts through year end, can you just talk about how we should think about the trajectory of the margin from here?

Yeah, what is this, Kelly? We did the quarter... at 455 from a core NIM perspective. I think as Jason mentioned, we did experience some deposit upward pressure on cost of funds towards the end of the quarter. I think if you look at the first rate cut in Q4, you could see further NIM compression slightly down to 450. And that starts to slow with additional rate cuts towards the latter half of the quarter. That could creep down to 447. as those loan floors kick in, but then also assuming that we can keep pace on the liability side.

Got it. That's helpful.

And then I also wanted to touch on the loan fee income. The past couple quarters, it's come up pretty nicely, and it now represents about 40 basis points of the margin. Could you just talk about the dynamics there on what's been driving that income up and how sticky can that be going forward?

Yeah, I think, again, that goes back to successful efforts by the sales team, you know, a robust deal market. We've just seen a lot of activity, a lot of opportunities are happening. Salespeople have done a fantastic job of converting. And so when you say, how sticky is that? Gosh, it feels like we've really beat the mean here for a couple quarters in a row. I think you'll see it trend back toward normal, though fourth quarter, who knows? The pipeline's strong. But definitely feels like a bit of outperformance the last couple quarters.

Got it. And then lastly, just on credit, I mean, credit trends were really strong in the quarter, but you did elect to increase the reserve some just on a percentage basis. Do you just sort of walk through the decision there and just any over broader thoughts on credit?

Yeah, I think this is Tom. The real key here is the growth in the portfolio. And when you look at the macro events in the world right now, it's frightening in a lot of areas. And it's increased what I think is the volatility of just the overall credit markets. And so when we grow the portfolio and we see increased volatility in the macro world out there, we believe it's prudent to to put the hay in the barn, so to speak, relative to all those factors. And, you know, it gives us a lot of comfort. And we benefit from really strong, strong capital levels. And it's always been fascinating to me that when people around the world in our space talk about land loss reserves, you know, there isn't really much discussion usually on the capital levels. And so one could argue and say, why do you even need to worry about anything if you're going to maintain capital levels the way you are? But I think the importance for us is the Rubik's cube, so to speak. And we stay really focused on the loan book, the macro factors. And so when you look at that growth, we felt like it was prudent. And to maintain the integrity of our process, That's why we did it.

Got it. So, just as a follow-up, was it driven by some changes in the scenario weightings? And if that's the case, do you think we could see some additional reserve bill from here?

I think it was driven by all of the above. And, you know, could we see us increasing and putting more provision It's possible. It depends on the macro factors and it depends on the growth. But I would say that I don't want to signal anything, but I would say that we're pretty set right now for the foreseeable future. But again, if macro conditions change, adjustments need to be made, or if we have additional growth, then you could see more provisioning.

Yeah. All right. Well, I appreciate all the color. Thanks for taking my questions.

Again, if you have a question, please press star then 1.

The next question comes from Matt Olney with Stevens. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Just wanted to ask about the outlook for fees and expenses. And I know this can be impacted by the oil and gas. So, just any kind of call you can give with and without that. Thanks.

Hey, Matt. This is Kelly. I think we got pretty close on the core fee income from Q3, and we anticipate a similar run rate, both on the core fee and the expense side, $7 million core fee, and then $9 million to $9.5 million on the non-existent expense side. And then, yeah, you're correct. The oil and gas is a little bit less predictable, but we're also utilizing the Q3 as a good guy for Q4.

Okay. Thanks for that, Kelly.

And then on what about the expectations around mortgage? I know you guys made an investment there recently. We'd love to get your thoughts about expectations for this investment, especially within Q4. Thanks.

I think right now, the mortgage business, at least here locally, it's pretty slow still. Maybe not as bad for the mortgage lenders as it is for the realtors, but until you see something give, you know, whether it's discounts or, you know, lower rates, I think we're kind of expecting more of the same where, you know, it's covering itself. It makes a little bit of money, but it's definitely not what we think, you know, is possible if you see a real change in the rate scenario or, you know, I We think there's a lot of headwinds against that business, and it's not just rates. You know, that affordability of housing is a big deal, and it's a little hard for us to handicap, but, you know, personally, I'd be surprised if 26 isn't better than 25, but who knows? You know, there's so much going on really across the globe that impacts our economy and people's ability to get wage gains and afford a new house and so we're we're as curious as you are uh i wish i had a more specific answer but i i would think that next year would be a little bit better for us in the mortgage business i will say the pipeline you know has picked up uh compared to what it was six months ago you know we're sitting here with probably I would say three times the number of transactions and dollar volume that will close in the next 60 days than what we had. But I'll also tell you the fallout rate's quite high. I don't know how closely you follow the industry, but we're seeing a lot more contracts break and people not close than historically has been the case.

Yeah, this is Tom. I would add also just a reminder on who we are and what we are. And specifically as it relates to mortgage, it was an important acquisition for us. And it was obviously a relatively small amount of dollars given our earnings and the size of the company. But we're more of a rifle shooter than a shotgun shooter in the business. And the strategic implication of buying that company. And Dale built a really fine mortgage operation. We're really glad to have him. But we feel like we're a professional mortgage provider now. And when you look at what the mortgage space will be for us going forward, we're delighted that we have the ability to deliver to our high net worth clients and other people And so I don't want to minimize mortgage at all because it's a wonderful, nice little segment. But it's always going to be that more niche, specialized service that we provide our customers. And hopefully one day it will grow into a much more significant income provider. But I think that that's going to take some time. And in the meantime, we're really, really happy with the acquisition.

Yep. Okay. Well, I appreciate the commentary on mortgage. And if I could just circle back to the M&A topic, it sounds like there's still conversations with potential candidates. And I guess, Tom, I'm curious kind of What do you see as a major challenge for M&A today, and what do we need to see to see just improved volumes within the region?

You know, I would say that we still have the overhang of the AOCI that's keeping some sellers on the bench. It's a slow boat to China, and it's not just the AOCI in the bond portfolio, but there are... It's disappointingly surprising how many bankers booked really long maturity, lower fixed rate loans. And it's just going to take some time to work out. So that has a dampening effect on the sellers. They all think they're worth fill in the blank, whatever. They all think they're worth one and a half to two times. And when you factor all those purchase accounting marks into the equation, it makes it more difficult. I would also say that we own more than 50% of the shares of this company, and we act like owners, and we act like owners every day, and especially in the M&A space. And so I think when you look at our disciplined approach and just following the numbers, it makes it a little more challenging as compared to, I'm not going to reference any particular transactions, but there have been two or three transactions recently that are real head scratchers. And I'm not sure that those transactions should have happened the way they did, but they did. So I just think the landscape is going to be It's better. There's a lot of excitement out there. But those factors are always going to make it more challenging for Bank 7. Now, with that said, you know, I can't get into specifics on, you know, what we've looked at, you know, over the last nine months or so. But we've come close on a few transactions. And so I don't want anybody to think that we're not competitive because we are. But I think that you're going to see continued eagerness in the M&A space in our industry, and eventually we'll find something that works strategically for us.

Okay. Well, thanks for the commentary, and it feels like Bank 7 is in a nice spot for M&A, so appreciate it.

We have a follow-up from Nathan Reese with Piper Sandler.

Please go ahead.

Yeah, just a follow-up on credit. You obviously had really strong credit performance during the quarter. But, Tom, you mentioned the concerns within the macro environment. So I was just curious if you're seeing anything in terms of criticized or classified migrations during the quarter.

No, it was very benign in the quarter migrations. We had a couple move down, a couple move up, a couple pay off that were on our special mention rating. So all in all, very, very neutral. If I had to cap it, was it slightly positive or slightly negative, I would say it was slightly positive. But in general, couldn't be happier with where we are credit-wise within the whole portfolio.

Got it. Thanks for taking my question.

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Tom Travis for any closing remarks.

Thank you again for joining us. We're happy with our quarter, looking forward to our near future, and thank you.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation.