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spk08: Good morning and welcome to the HOPE Bancorp 2022 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need any assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to the Director of Investor Relations, Angie Yang. Please go ahead.
spk01: Thank you, Joe. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Hope Bank Corp 2022 Second Quarter Investor Conference Call. As usual, we will be using a slide presentation to accompany our discussion this morning. If you have not done so already, please visit the presentations page of our Investor Relations website to download a copy of the presentation. Or if you are listening in through the webcast, you should be able to view the slides from your computer screen as we progress through the presentation. Beginning on slide two, let me begin with a brief statement regarding forward-looking remarks. The call today may contain forward-looking projections regarding the future financial performance of the company and future events. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, projections, and management assumptions about the future performance of the company, including any impact as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the businesses and markets in which the company does and is expected to operate. These statements constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. We refer you to the documents the company files periodically with the SEC, as well as the safe harbor statements in our press release issued yesterday. Hope Bancorp assumes no obligation to revise any forward-looking projections that may be made on today's call. The company cautions that the complete financial results to be included in the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, could differ materially from the financial results being reported today. In addition, some of the information referenced on this call today are non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our 2022 second quarter earnings release for the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures. Now, we have allotted one hour for this call. Presenting from the management side today will be Kevin Kim, host BainCorps Chairman, President, and CEO, and Alex Koh, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Peter Koh, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, is here with us as usual and will be available for the Q&A session. With that, let me turn the call over to Kevin Kim. Kevin.
spk02: Thank you, Angie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Let's begin on slide three with a brief overview of our financial results. We delivered a very strong performance for the second quarter of 2022, highlighted by the highest level of loan production in the history of the bank. Loan production for the second quarter increased 25% quarter over quarter, or 44% year over year, and drove a 16% increase in our loans outstanding on an annualized basis, excluding PPP loans. Our net interest margin expanded 15 basis points from the preceding first quarter, and we continue to have success in driving down our criticized loan balances. We reported net income of $52.1 million or 43 cents per share in the second quarter. In terms of pre-provision net revenue, we generated $73.9 million, which represents an increase of 4% from the preceding first quarter and 15% from the year-ago second quarter. This performance resulted in our pre-provisioned net revenue return on assets increasing to 1.65% in the second quarter, up from 1.6% in the preceding first quarter, while pre-provisioned net revenue return on equity increased to 14.66% from 13.58%. Moving on to slide four. In the second quarter, we funded a record $1.3 billion in new loans. This represents the fourth consecutive quarter in which we produced more than $1 billion in total loan funding as we continue to benefit from the investments we have made to add banking talent and build expertise in new asset classes and vertical markets. We dispersed a record $557 million in new commercial loans during the second quarter, resulting in our commercial loan portfolio increasing at an annualized rate of 26%. As these commercial loans are variable rate loans, we are well positioned to benefit with the expected increases in interest rates. And I'm pleased to report that we also saw a significant increase in the average rate of new commercial loans from the preceding first quarter. The $557 million in commercial loan funding accounted for approximately 43% of our total loan fundings in the second quarter, which represents the progress we have made in strengthening our commercial banking platform and diversifying our business model and loan portfolio. Our corporate banking group generated approximately 90% of our commercial loan fundings during the second quarter, which reflects the progress we have made in moving up market and expanding our commercial client base to include more middle market enterprises. We are also benefiting from the teams we have built within our corporate banking group to focus on vertical markets like telecom, healthcare, and financial institutions, including broker dealers and asset managers. These verticals have been less impacted by supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures and have been more resistant to recessionary environments and geopolitical issues. In terms of commercial real estate, loan demand was relatively consistent with the prior quarter. We had $545 million of commercial real estate loan production, which also was booked at much higher rates than the preceding first quarter. The production was well diversified across property types, with the single largest contributor this quarter being multifamily, which accounted for 32% of our total CRA loan production in the quarter and continues to increase as a percentage of our overall CRE portfolio. Despite higher interest rates and a significant decline in demand for mortgage refinancing industry-wide, we had a 75% increase in residential mortgage production while maintaining strong underwriting criteria with average LTVs in the high 50 to low 60% range. The higher level of production reflects the successful expansion of our team into our eastern region, which has contributed to increased levels of purchase transactions. Overall, we saw very good trends in loan pricing in the second quarter, with the average rate on new loan originations increasing from the preceding quarter in each asset class, combined with the higher mix of commercial loan production This resulted in our average rate on total loan production increasing by 72 basis points compared with the preceding quarter. The investments we have made to strengthen our commercial banking platform have not only positively impacted loan production, but has made us less reliant on CRA lending as a growth driver. And this positions us well going into the second half of 2022. In addition, our expanded commercial banking platform has enhanced our deposit gathering capabilities. Deposits from larger commercial enterprises, primarily generated through our corporate banking group, as well as our efforts to target U.S. subsidiaries of Korean corporations, now account for approximately 23% of our total deposits. and we are consistently generating new commercial deposit relationships each quarter, which is providing a steady inflow of core deposits. Now, I will ask Alex to provide additional details on our financial performance for the second quarter. Alex?
spk05: Thank you, Kevin. Beginning with the slide five, I will start with our debt interest income, which is total $141.5 million for the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 6.3% from the preceding first quarter. Our net interest margin increased 15 basis points quarter over quarter to 3.36%. The increase was largely due to increases in our loan yields driven primarily by the repricing of variable rate loans, as well as higher average loan balances, which contributed to a more favorable mix of higher yielding earning assets. Overall, the yield on interest earning assets increased by 26 basis points, quarter over quarter. These benefits were partially offset by higher costs related to interest-bearing deposits and borrowings as a result of the rate hikes since March 2022. Given our asset-sensitive position, we expect to continue to benefit from rising interest rates. Looking at the third quarter of 2022, we expect another quarter of margin expansion, but at modestly lower levels than we had in the second quarter. As a lag in interest-bearing deposit cost increases, will offset some of these benefits. Moving on to slide six, we remain in asset-sensitive position as of June 30, 2022, and our position to benefit from higher interest rates. Of our new loan production in the second quarter, 41% represented variable rate loans, and as of June 30, 2022, Variable rate loans accounted for 44% of our total loan portfolio. Now moving on to slide seven. Our non-interest income was $12.7 million for the second quarter, down by $440,000 from the preceding first quarter. We had increases in most of our major fee generating areas. but we did not sell much of our residential mortgage loan production in the second quarter. During the quarter, we recorded a loss of $547,000 on the sale of $35 million of previously identified problem CRE relationship that was transferred to help for sale as of March 31, 2022. Excluding this long recurring transaction, our core non-interest income trended higher quarter over quarter. Moving on to non-interest expense on slide eight. Our non-interest expense was $80.4 million, representing an increase of 7% from the preceding first quarter. The most significant variance was a 7% increase in our salary and benefit expenses, largely due to the impact of annual merit increases that took effect at the beginning of the second quarter, personnel additions to support the continued growth of the company, and the higher costs associated with retaining employees and the extremely competitive staffing market. Our advertising and the marketing expenses were also higher, as the second quarter includes the seasonal impact of our LPGA sponsorship. Our credit-related expenses increased by approximately $1.8 million due to higher provision for accrued interest receivables and the legal collection expense that was higher than usual. Reflecting the higher salaries and benefit expenses, our efficiency ratio trended higher, but still remained in our targeted range in the low 50s. Now moving on to slide nine, I will discuss our key deposit trends. As of June 30, 2022, our total deposits increased 3.5% from the end of the prior quarter, primarily due to growth in our demand deposits and time deposit balances. As part of our interest rate management strategy, we increased our time deposits in the second quarter in order to lock in some longer-term funding before further increases in interest rates. The cost of our interest-bearing deposits increased by 16 basis points quarter-over-quarter due to higher rates on interest-bearing checking and time deposits. However, with a stability in our average non-interest-bearing demand deposits, our overall cost of deposits increased by only nine basis points. Now moving on to slide 10. I will review our asset quality. We saw generally positive trends in the portfolio in the second quarter, driven primarily by the continued upgrading of credits out of the criticized loan categories, as the borrowers demonstrate sustained performance. This resulted in total criticized loans declining by another 14% in the second quarter, and represented our fourth consecutive quarter of steady reduction. Non-accrual loans increased by $16.8 million, reflecting an $18.6 million relationship that was moved from troubled debt restructure status to non-accrual during the quarter. Delinquent loans 90 days or more on accrual status increased by $12.5 million as of June 30, 2022. $10.7 million of this has already been addressed following the close of the quarter. $3.4 million represented a delay in maturing loans, which have since been renewed and are no longer delinquent. Another $7.3 million relationship was paid off in the first week of the third quarter. Overall, our loss experience remains very low. We had just $712,000 in the charge-offs during the second quarter and $1.6 million in recoveries, resulting in net recoveries of $930,000. This is our third consecutive quarter of net recoveries. We recorded a provision for credit losses of $3.2 million, which primarily reflects the growth in the loan portfolio during the second quarter, and an adjustment in our outlook utilizing Moody's S2 economic scenario, which has a more recessionary outlook. Over the last two years, during the pandemic, we have significantly increased our credit administration processes, which better enables us to address portfolio risk. These enhancements include, among others, updated borrow financial statements on a more frequent basis, a more aggressive strategy to address non-monetary default in real time, and the requirement for projections as part of the underwriting process that includes at least a 300 basis point interest rate sensitivity analysis that helps drive title loan covenant and transaction structures. We have also further tightened our underwriting criteria in preparation for a possible recession. And for our corporate banking group, we conduct quarterly portfolio reviews to identify key risks for each industry vertical. So all in all, we believe our enhanced credit administration processes and tightened underwriting criteria has improved our ability to mitigate the recessionary downside risks. At June 30, 2022, our allowance for credit losses coverage ratio was 1.04% of loans, compared with 1.05% as of March 31, 2022. While our coverage of non-performing assets decreased to 137% from Now, moving on to slide 11, let me provide an update on our capital position and returns. The increase in interest rates during the second quarter resulted in unrealized losses in our investment securities portfolio that negatively impacted the tangible common equity to tangible asset ratio by approximately 37 basis points. Our tangible common equity to tangible asset ratio remained strong at 8.68% as of June 30, 2022. And there was no impact from changes in unrealized losses to our regulatory capital positions. During the quarter, we repurchased approximately 1 million shares of our stock at an average price of $14.10 per share. As of today, we have $35.3 million remaining of our $15 million stock repurchase program. Despite the increase in unrealized losses in the second quarter and our stock repurchase activity, we remain strong capital levels to support our continued balance sheet growth as shown on this slide. During the second quarter, we completed the transfer of $239 million of available for sale securities to help to maturity securities. These securities reflected CRA investment that the bank normally would have helped to maturity nonetheless. With that, let me turn the call back to Kevin.
spk02: Thank you, Alex. Now moving on to slide 12. I will wrap up with a few comments about our outlook. Although the operating environment is becoming increasingly challenging with greater uncertainties, we still see a number of catalysts that should support continued strong financial performance. As we look ahead to the second half of the year, we believe the investments we have made to strengthen our commercial banking platform and diversify our business model over the past few years will become even more valuable and result in solid loan growth for 2022. With the rise in interest rates, the demand for commercial real estate loans is expected to soften in the second half of the year, and we expect to see a lower level of CRA production over the remainder of the year. The aggressive pace at which interest rates are expected to rise this year will undoubtedly also challenge the mortgage and SBA lending markets. We expect the geographic expansion of our residential mortgage platform will shift to higher levels of purchase transactions and support continued growth of this portfolio, notwithstanding the broad declines in refinancings. In terms of our SBA business, We have gone through many economic cycles during our 30-plus years as a preferred lender and recognize that the current rising rate environment will only temporarily impact volumes. Our CNI pipeline, however, remains strong and should continue to result in a high level of production. Initially, as we built our corporate banking group, We pursued relationships with more middle market enterprises in our Texas and California markets where our teams were positioned. With the success of this initiative, we have started extending it in additional geographic markets where we have been able to recruit experienced commercial lenders, including the Southeast and the Northeast. We are pleased to see increasing contributions from these newer CNI teams to our commercial loan production. The continued strength in our commercial lending should help to offset the industry-wide headwinds in other areas of lending. As a result, and despite the challenges of the rising interest rate environment, based on our current pipeline and projections, we have greater confidence that we will achieve the higher end of our full year guidance of high single digit to low double digit loan growth. As Alex mentioned, we also expect to see further expansion in our net interest margin as variable rate loans continue to reprice and new loan originations reflect the higher interest rate environment that we are in. And the enhancements we have made in credit administration in terms of initial underwriting criteria stress testing and loan monitoring have improved both the quality of the loan portfolio and our ability to identify early signs of stress among borrowers and mitigate any potential loss exposure we may have. I am comforted in knowing that we have significantly improved the profile of our franchise in recent years. As a more diversified financial institution, With a stronger enterprise risk management infrastructure, we are much better positioned today than in the past to withstand the challenges of weakened economic conditions. We have a lower risk, more diversified CRA loan portfolio, largely reflecting the growth in our multifamily lending portfolio and a meaningful reduction in our hospitality portfolio. As well, Our commercial portfolio is increasingly becoming more diversified with our corporate banking group more focused on larger, stronger enterprises in more recession-resistant industries. One of our strategic goals has been to differentiate Bank of Hope from the characteristics that had typically been associated with Korean American banks, most notably a loan portfolio that was concentrated in commercial real estate and more susceptible during times of economic stress, along with a deposit base that was too reliant on high-cost retail funding. Over the past few years, I believe we have achieved this goal, significantly differentiating ourselves from our niche peers and substantially strengthening our institution in the process. As a result of the investments we have made in our organization, we have significantly expanded our business development capabilities and have the ability to effectively target a much broader customer base, which will progressively transform our loan portfolio into a more diversified one that is more resistant to economic cycles. And we also have improved our ability to continue delivering strong financial results, even when the economic environment is less favorable for commercial real estate lending. We believe that we have built a strong commercial banking franchise that can effectively capitalize on favorable economic conditions to generate profitable growth while also having a lower risk balance sheet that will serve us well during times of weakened economic conditions. and I look forward to keeping you apprised of our ongoing progress. With that, we would be happy to take your questions and add any additional color as requested. Operator, please open up the call.
spk08: We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question will come from Gary Tenner with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead, sir.
spk07: Thanks. Good morning. Alex, I wanted to ask a question about the cost side of things as well as the NIM outlook. On slide nine, you were you know, inter-quarter monthly deposit trend up pretty significantly over the course of the quarter at 41 basis points in June. Can you give us, you know, a June 30 spot rate for deposit costs to give us, you know, some sense of a jumping off point into 3Q? Sure.
spk05: Gary, as you know, during the second quarter, the market rate has gone up substantially than what we expected. So, Even though we have targeting to lower our deposit beta to fund our loans, we had a deposit cost increase. So as you can see, especially each month of the second quarter, we did increase quite a bit. In terms of a spot rate that you asked, we have a total interest-bearing deposit spot rate of 77 basis points. Total deposit-wise, it's a 48 basis point is our spot rate. And just give you a little bit more color on our spot rate as of June 30 versus the market competition that we see now. As of yesterday, the rate that we are offering is even higher than the June 30 rate reflecting those competition. So as of yesterday, our SPAR rate for the total deposit was about 56 basis points.
spk07: Great, Alex. That's very helpful. I appreciate it. And then just to put some context around the expectations for NIM expansion, I mean, A, I guess the first question is what options do you have embedded in your model in terms of the expectation of less margin expansion than we saw in the second quarter? Yes, because, you know, obviously the 75 basis point hike in June, you know, you can get a full benefit of that. Presumably another 75 next week, and that will be, you know, in past quarter as well. So, you know, can you just talk about what's embedded in your rate assumptions that kind of limit the expansion maybe versus what we'd expect?
spk05: Sure. Net interest margin expansion, as we said, it will continue to expand, but not to the level that we have seen 15 bps increase in the second quarter. But the reason why we still expect to increase net interest margin is our variable rate loans, obviously. Most of those variable rate loans will be repriced, except small amounts of SBA, which will be quarterly reset. But there will be obviously a deposit side offsetting impact, which we expect to increase. There is a little bit tendency of the lagging, the increase of those deposit rates as the market rate goes up. So that's the main driver that we would expect to see less extent of a margin expansion. But given our asset sensitive position, as the rate goes up, we will see the net interest margin to continue to be expanded.
spk07: Okay, I apologize if I wasn't clear with my question. I guess in terms of the expectations that you've got, is it basically the forward curve for the remainder of the year, just in terms of your expectations being fully loaded for the market rate expectations? Is that fair?
spk05: Yes. Sorry, maybe I was not clear earlier, my responses. Yes, you know, our projection for the interest rate, you know, a 75 basis point in July and maybe a 50 basis point in September and the remaining 25 years each. That's the market consensus or forward curve that the market expects. We have the same view on debt rate increases, and that is actually reflected in our debt interest margin forecast.
spk07: Okay, perfect. And then if I can, I apologize for going on, but In terms of the expense increase and the increase in the guide, I mean, was the expense side a surprise at all in terms of any one particular part of the upward pressure on expenses? Caught you off guard?
spk05: Not necessarily. As you know, the competition on the salary and benefits, that's not only our bank but industry-wise. Also, we have in the March, there is merit increases. That's an annual merit increase. We have about 6.8% merit increases. Obviously, that merit increase does have a little bit higher merit increase than the previous rate increases to maintain the talented employees and the market condition. So that was not real total surprise And going forward, run rate wise, I don't think there will be any continuation of the further increase as much as we saw in the second quarter. So we would expect to have the salary and benefit expenses will be pretty much the same level that we have seen in the second quarter. And just to note, the increase on the salary and benefit The main reason comes from, again, the merit increase, but also we have a hiring increase. During the second quarter, our FTE increase was a 54 person, and they were mainly from the front line generating those revenue. So even though non-interest expenses will increase, we will see some benefit increasing, including the revenue increases as well. Thank you.
spk08: Our next question will come from Chris McGrady with KBW. Please go ahead, sir.
spk06: Hey, good morning. Kevin, maybe a comment on the buyback. You're opportunistic in the quarter, but your comments also struck a little bit of a conservative tone on the economy. How should we think about the remainder of the buyback from here, given the growth outlook?
spk02: Well, we will continue to monitor the market for good opportunities to purchase our shares. And as you know, we have approximately $35 million remaining under the existing plan. Even after that $35 million, we would still have strong capital levels. So I do not see any reason to stop repurchase activities under the existing plan in the third or fourth quarter.
spk06: Okay. Thank you. And then just on the balance sheet, your loan-to-deposit ratio, you know, you did keep pace with the deposit growth this quarter with loan growth. Is this about where you want to be kind of mid-90s in terms of loan-to-deposit? And with that, would the expectation be securities, you know, which continue to fund loan growth?
spk02: Yeah, mid-90s is the ballpark that we will plan to remain at. Great. Thank you.
spk08: Our next question will come from Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.
spk10: Hey, good morning. First one for me, just on some additional color on the TDR that migrated into non-accrual. Can you give us a sense for the type of properties or businesses that are underlying this relationship? What happened to this borrower situation and how do you plan to resolve it?
spk03: Sure. This is Peter. Yeah, there was a migration from TDR to non-accrual within our CRE retail bucket. This is really just an elongated workout with the customer. We feel the property is well secured. We really don't see much loss from this, but because it is a longer workout situation, we determined to go to non-accrual for this period.
spk10: Okay. And then it sounds like you've gone through a more proactive process of getting updated financials. from your business borrowers to see if they can withstand inflation and higher debt service costs. Is there some portion of your borrower base that you think may get a little thin on debt service coverage and cause you to offer some rate concessions to make sure they make it through the cycle or not?
spk03: You know, I think over the last couple of years, we've actually made a lot of enhancements through our credit administration process. You know, we think we are better prepared, you know, to weather any type of possible recession at this point. You know, there are a couple areas we are closely monitoring, including, I would say, the retail sector, as well as our SBA portfolio. You know, our SBA are... Generally, all variable rate loans where the payments will continue to go up and so we are keeping close eye on that. We have regular asset quality meetings, more rigorous quality meetings with our credit department and our lenders. As a reminder, we went through a fairly robust de-risking strategy last year. that entailed all of our CRE focusing heavily on the hotel and the retail sector. And in doing so, we have implemented a lot of stress testing processes, including portfolio-wide. We do very rigorous regular stress testing. And then on an individual loan basis, we also stress test these loans, interest rate shocks, P&L, Expense items and incomes aside, we do very rigorous stress testing there as well. So for now, we feel that we are very well positioned. I think 2Q, we were still in a fairly healthy economic environment. But we are, you know, we feel very well prepared for any downside potential here.
spk10: Okay. And can you remind us how big the non-guaranteed SBA portfolio is on the balance sheet?
spk03: Can you, just waiting for the number here. Yeah, $420 million.
spk10: Okay, great. And then just shifting gears to the loan pipeline coming out of second quarter, how does that compare to the end of 1Q? Have you started to see any projects get delayed because of higher prices or has there been some portion of the pipeline dry up because of higher rates. Just trying to get a sense for the fluidity of that pipeline.
spk02: Yeah, let me cover that. Actually, loan pipeline is pretty different from CRE sector, from the commercial sector. And let me first cover CRE. We expect demand for CRE loans will soften in the second half of the year. because of the higher rates would impact demand in the refinance market. And third quarter has traditionally been one of the strongest quarters of the year for Bank of Hope, but our current CRE pipeline is meaningfully lower than what we had in the second quarter. So given the expectation in the market and our current pipeline, we are not really anticipating meaningful growth in our CRE portfolio. Rather, we expect that to remain relatively flat for the balance of the year. On the other hand, CNI side, we have not seen any significant impact in the demand for CNI loans as a result of recent hikes. And going into the third quarter, we have a very strong pipeline of commercial loans, and many of them are in the latter stages, so we are not really expecting any meaningful impact to our CNI volumes in the third quarter, even with another interest rate hike in a very near future. On the other hand, the fourth quarter traditionally has been seasonally slower in terms of commercial lending. We may have less robust loan volumes at year-end, but as far as the third quarter is concerned, we feel pretty strong about CNI loan demand as well as expected production of commercial loans.
spk10: Okay. Thank you.
spk08: Again, if you have a question, please press star, then 1. Our next question will come from Tim Coffey with Jani. Please go ahead, sir.
spk09: Great. Thank you. Morning, everybody. And thank you for the questions. Alex, I just want to go back to the expense question so I can fully appreciate the guide here. Does the guide include future hiring or is it just kind of the current employee base right now?
spk05: It does take into the consideration of the future hirings as well. But just for a caveat, we will continue to grow, but the exact hiring number is yet to be decided. But it does capture our best expected hiring as of now. But it might change a little bit.
spk09: Okay. And then how does future hiring FTEs relate to the second quarter? Do you anticipate growing 50 FTEs a quarter?
spk05: I don't think it will, again, Tim, it will depend on our strategy and especially the growth will depend on our revenue generation. So it was like a 54 FTE increase in the second quarter was a little bit higher than the historical trend. So I think it might be lower than 54 FTE increase in the next quarter or so.
spk09: Okay. And there's one more question on the FTEs. The ones that you hired in the second quarter that you're looking to hire later this year, is there a specific category? Is it mortgage? Is it CNI?
spk05: No, I'm not thinking it's specific to one sector, but it's more of a lending side. And we had actually increased our FTE you know, for the back office function in the past. So I think it is, again, you know, a CDG and other lending-related business. I think that's the main driver for the increase of the FTE.
spk09: Okay. Okay. That's super helpful. Thank you. And then I just had a question on SBA premiums and what you're seeing in the marketplace.
spk05: Yeah, I know SBA premium was a pretty high – last time, but as the interest rate goes up, we see it's coming down quite a bit. So as of second quarter, we see it's a lower level, like a 4.5 to 5.5% level. However, as the rate goes up, and as a reminder, SBA loans are repriced on a quarterly basis. So there's a view that in the current 4.5% to 5.5% range may be a bottom. So there is an expectation that it will go up in the third quarter or so. But I do not have that exact expectation.
spk09: Okay, okay. Is there a level at which you consider port following the SBA loans again? Because I know you've done that in years past.
spk05: Yeah, we did, but we resumed to selling it and we believe the lower premium will be one of the factors that we will consider to portfolio versus continue to sell. And also the total production for the SBA, we expect it will be slowed. But we still have some portfolio if we choose to continue to sell. So as of today, we do not expect to portfolio it in the near term. But again, it depends on the premium and the secondary market demand and so forth. Great.
spk09: Okay. Well, those are my questions. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
spk04: Thank you. Again, if you have a question, please press star, then 1.
spk08: This will conclude our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.
spk02: Okay. Once again, thank you all for joining us today. We hope everyone stays safe and healthy, and we look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Thank you, everyone.
spk04: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.
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