Third Coast Bancshares Aktie

Greetings, and welcome to the Third Coast Bancshares Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It's now my pleasure to introduce Natalie Hairston of Investor Relations. Natalie, please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Third Coast Bancshares Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. With me today are Bart Caraway, Founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; John McWhorter, Chief Financial Officer; and Audrey Spaulding, Chief Credit Officer.

First, a few housekeeping items. There will be a replay of today's call and it will be available by webcast on the Investors section of our website at ir.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a call replay available until October 29, and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release. Please note that the information reported on this call speaks only as of today, October 22, 2026, and therefore, you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as the time of replay listening or transcript reading.

In addition, the comments made by management during this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management. However, various risks, uncertainties and contingencies could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management. The listener or reader is encouraged to read the annual report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC to better understand those risks, uncertainties and contingencies.

Today's discussion will also include the proposed merger with Great Plains Bancshares. This call does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval. Third Coast intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4 that will include a joint proxy statement prospectus, and investors are encouraged to read it when it becomes available as it will contain important information about the proposed transaction. The comments made today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures were included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website.

Now I would like to turn the call over to Third Coast's Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway. Bart?

Thank you, Natalie, and good morning, everyone. The third quarter was another healthy quarter for Third Coast and importantly, one that demonstrates the underlying strength of our franchise. Reported earnings included $3.2 million in merger-related expenses, which affected noninterest expenses and net interest margin. John will walk through those items in more detail in just a moment.

But when you look through those items, I believe the underlying performance of the franchise remains solid. There are a few things I'd point to. First, I'm encouraged by the continued momentum we're seeing in treasury management. The team continues to add customer relationships and generate a steady source of deposits. Over the past 12 months, noninterest-bearing deposits increased 60.3% compared with 35.5% growth in total deposits. For us, that's really about continuing to deepen customer relationships and build a stronger core funding base.

Second, we're also seeing strong loan activity. Gross loans ended the quarter at approximately $5.5 billion. During the quarter, we sold approximately $87 million of loans through our securitization program. Excluding that sale, loan growth exceeded $144 million. That underlying growth is consistent with the pipelines we discussed with you last quarter and gives us continued confidence in the strength of customer demand across our markets. Third, credit remained stable. We recorded net recoveries during the quarter. Audrey will provide some additional detail on the portfolio in a few minutes.

And fourth, tangible book value per share reached $33.31, another new high for the company. We view the continued growth in tangible book value as an important measure of the long-term value we're building for our shareholders. When you put these things together, I believe they tell a pretty straightforward story about where we are today. We're continuing to grow the company, strengthen our customer relationships and build value while also positioning Third Coast for the next stage of growth.

And that brings me to Great Plains. Earlier this month, we announced our agreement to merge with Great Plains Bancshares, parent company of Great Plains National Bank. The combination will expand our presence in Dallas, establish our entry into Oklahoma and is expected to create a franchise of approximately $9 billion in assets. We view Great Plains as an extension of the strategy we've been executing.

We remain focused on disciplined growth, strong customer relationships, thoughtful balance sheet management, sound credit fundamentals and ultimately building a franchise capable of producing durable long-term earnings. We feel good about the progress we're making, both in performance of the core bank today and in what we're building for the future.

With that, I'll turn the call over to John to walk through the financial results and provide additional details on the quarter. John?

Thank you, Bart, and good morning, everyone. As Bart mentioned, our third quarter results included a few items that are important to understand when looking at the quarter-over-quarter comparison. I'll spend some time on those items and provide additional detail on the underlying performance of the business. Net income for the third quarter was $19 million compared to $22 million in the second quarter and $18.1 million in the third quarter of 2025. And diluted earnings per share was $0.93 compared to $1.08 last quarter and $1.03 in the same period last year.

However, excluding the $3.2 million of merger-related expenses, adjusted net income was approximately $21.6 million or $1.06 per diluted share. Net interest income was $59.5 million compared to $60.3 million in the second quarter and $50.8 million in the third quarter of last year. Net interest margin was 3.7% and would have been 3.74% without the accelerated accretion compared with 3.83% last quarter. On loans, gross loans ended the quarter at approximately $5.5 billion, an increase of $57 million from June. However, that reported number includes the impact of approximately $87 million of loans sold through our securitization program during the quarter. Excluding that sale, underlying loan growth exceeded $144 million.

As we discussed last quarter, securitization has become a part of our broader balance sheet and capital management strategy, and we expect to close a new securitization in the fourth quarter as well.

On the funding side, total deposits ended the quarter at $5.9 billion, an increase of $69 million from June. Noninterest-bearing demand deposits increased approximately $78 million to $721 million and represented 12.2% of total deposits compared with just 11% at June. As Bart noted, the longer-term trend of noninterest-bearing demand deposits is also encouraging. Average cost of deposits for the quarter was 3.09%, up just 4 basis points from the second quarter, while remaining 47 basis points below the third quarter of last year.

Our reported efficiency ratio was 63.1% and as adjusted was 58.63% compared with 56.5% last quarter. The sequential comparison reflects both the merger-related and other nonrecurring items as well as the approximately $3.5 million gain on the sale of the factoring business that benefited the second quarter noninterest income. We continue to build book value during the quarter. Book value per common share increased to $36.53, while tangible book value per common share reached a new high of $33.31 compared with $33.08 at June 30 and $30.91 a year ago.

Finally, in case you missed it, we added a new table to our earnings release. It's something investors have asked for in the past, which is a breakout of our merger-related expenses, and we also broke out the second quarter gain realized on the sale of our factoring business. This table shows adjusted ROA and ROE and also shows that by some measures, it was our best quarter ever. It also shows that we have consistently grown net income for all reported periods.

Overall, while several items affected the quarter-over-quarter comparison, we continue to see strong loan demand, progress in our funding mix and continued growth in shareholder value.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Audrey to discuss asset quality.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Credit performance remained stable during the quarter and overall portfolio performance remains consistent with our expectations. Nonperforming loans ended the quarter at approximately $29 million compared to $27.1 million in June. As a percentage of total loans, nonperforming loans were 0.53% compared with 0.50% last quarter and 0.52% a year ago. While we experienced a slight increase in the quarter, the overall ratio remains relatively consistent with recent periods.

The increase in nonperforming loans was primarily due to the placement on nonaccrual of 3 SBA loans totaling approximately $2.3 million. This increase was partially offset by paydowns on nonaccruals and 4 small loans, which were placed back on accrual. It is also noteworthy that over 45% of our total nonaccrual loans are fully SBA guaranteed or cash secured. We recorded net recoveries of $27,000 during the quarter, marking our third consecutive quarter of net recoveries. We have recorded net recoveries of $182,000 year-to-date.

Provision for credit losses totaled $540,000 during the quarter, and the allowance for credit losses increased to $54.4 million, representing 0.99% of total loans. Our loan portfolio remains well diversified across industries, markets and borrower relationships. Portfolio allocations remain generally consistent with the prior quarter with commercial and industrial loans representing 43% of total loans and construction development and land loans representing 16%, while owner-occupied CRE was 11% and nonowner-occupied CRE was 18%.

Overall, we continue to feel good about the credit profile of the portfolio. As we grow, our teams remain focused on disciplined underwriting, appropriate loan structures and proactive portfolio management. The consistency we're seeing in credit performance even as the balance sheet continues to grow, reflects the same disciplined approach we've discussed with you throughout the year.

With that, I'll turn the call back to Bart. Bart?

Thank you, Audrey. As we look ahead, we believe Great Plains represents an important next step in building a stronger, more valuable Third Coast franchise. First and foremost, the transaction has the potential to transform our funding profile. Great Plains brings a granular relationship-based core deposit franchise that strengthens the commercial banking platform we have built at Third Coast and gives us greater capacity to support continued growth. When you pair that stronger funding base with the scale and capabilities we're bringing together, we believe it creates an opportunity for more durable earnings and long-term stakeholder value.

Our focus isn't simply on becoming a bigger bank. It's building a better bank. And as the banking landscape continues to evolve, we believe there is meaningful value in building a Texas-headquartered bank of scale with the talent, capabilities and relationship banking culture to compete. That kind of franchise is increasingly difficult to replicate.

Before we open the call to questions, I want to thank our employees for their continued commitment to our customers and to Third Coast and our customers and shareholders for the trust they place in us. We do not take that trust for granted, and we'll continue to work to earn it in every way.

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

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from the line of Michael Rose with Raymond James.

I just wanted to kind of get a better understanding of the margin dynamics this quarter. Typically, when you have a securitization, you get a pretty meaningful boost, but you were down kind of 13 basis points. It looks like it was in the securities portfolio. I saw the balances grew. So maybe you added some yields were down. If you can just kind of walk us through kind of what happened this quarter? I think you guided to flat to up. So with the securitization, I would have thought that we would have seen that up. So if you could just walk us through all that, it would be great.

Sure. So there's a lot, Michael, that I could say about the margin for this quarter. It certainly was a little bit of a surprise to us. On a more positive basis, we're definitely going to be up in the fourth quarter. So several points there. On the margin, I would point out that for the quarter, we were considerably better each consecutive month. In other words, July was the low point for the quarter. And we would have expected it to be a little bit better because of the securitization. But that one, we were selling loans off the balance sheet that we had already amortized most of the fee income. So there were very few fees that we picked up from that one. The one that we're doing in the fourth quarter should be more material where we actually see a difference where this one, we did not.

And the securities portfolio, because we did the securitization early in the quarter, this one had a little bit lower yield than the existing portfolio. So it did drag it down a little. But then, of course, late in the quarter, when rates went up, all of those asset-backed securities that we have on the books are floating rate. So I would expect an increase in the yield in securities for the quarter.

Our noninterest-bearing demand is going to continue to be a nice tailwind. So if you look at the quarterly average noninterest-bearing demand, it was, I think, $654 million average for the quarter, where period end was $721 million. So a pretty significant difference, and we're still at about those levels today. So where last quarter, we sold assets early in the quarter, it's going to be a little bit different this quarter that our noninterest-bearing demand is up. Loans so far through today are up $80 million for the month. So it looks like we're going to have loans that are being funded by noninterest-bearing demand, the rate increase, we are a little bit asset sensitive.

So I'm a lot more optimistic about the fourth quarter. The third quarter was just kind of quirky that I certainly wouldn't have expected the decline. And a little bit of it was amortization of premiums on the Keystone portfolio. We didn't have many loans booked at a premium, but there were a few. And unfortunately, some of them paid off at the same time. So we had to amortize those premiums, which made a bigger difference, too. So it just happened to be one of those quarters where everything seemed to be going in the wrong direction. And I think those will reverse themselves for the fourth quarter.

Right. So not trying to pin you down here, John. But as we think about the fourth quarter and the dynamics that you just laid out, the 4 basis points you talked about earlier, the growth that you just mentioned, the NIB mix moving higher, how should we think as a starting point for the fourth quarter in the context of the margin increased through the third quarter?

Yes. I think 3.80% is a pretty good number for the fourth quarter and would hope to overperform versus that number, but 3.80% is kind of what we've penciled in.

Okay. Perfect. And maybe one for you, Bart. Obviously, if you back out the securitization underlying growth closer to $145 million, that's above the guide. John, you just mentioned that loans are up about $80 million so far this month. You're going to be adding the new deal. Just how should we think about kind of pre- and post-deal loan generation kind of as we move forward? Is that prior target still what we should expect? Or should it be potentially something higher?

No. I think we're going to probably stay on target. There's a lot of dynamics to that. But we do have some teams that joined us at Third Coast that are ramping up, and I think that's reinforced the pipeline. At the same time, our focus is going to be on integrating Great Plains and spending time with them. I do think there's some upside in their production in that they have some larger customers that would benefit from more products that we have.

But I think all in all, we probably are sticking with the same guidance that we've had. I think it's going to be fairly consistent. And a little bit of that, too, with rates going up, may put a little bit of damper on some of the loan production. I think that's going to be offset by how robust our pipelines are. So evening everything out, I'm sticking to the same guidance we've had for the last 3, 4 months.

Yes. And Michael, just maybe a little more color from my perspective. Last quarter, I would have thought that we could have done the securitization and still grown $100 million, and it was $56 million. So we were off a little bit there. I would say the same thing for the fourth quarter that we can do a securitization and still grow in that $100 million range.

But the difference is going to be we're not going to close it early in the quarter like we did the last one. It would be much later in the quarter and not impossible that it would push to the first quarter, but most likely, it's going to be a December sort of transaction. We kind of have it teed up and should be ready to go on it, and we're waiting to see what the growth for the quarter looks like. But it's been strong enough lately that it's kind of just the best guess at this point.

Yes, totally got it. I appreciate all that color. If I could just slip one more in, just -- anything in that other fee income line that you would consider kind of nonrecurring at this point? I know it was kind of above the 4% to 4.5% quarterly range that you've given last quarter.

Yes. So we've been real happy with fee income initiatives lately. The treasury management group continues to do well. For this quarter, specifically, the differences versus prior quarters were we had more swap fees and we had more loan fee income. And those are a little harder to forecast, although with the pipelines being strong, those numbers should continue to be strong. The swap fees, I mean, they're customer dependent. It's just hard to say.

And then the other piece that we had this quarter that we haven't had previously is this trailing revenue stream from the sale of our factoring company. And that was $150,000 or thereabouts for the quarter. That number shouldn't go down unless those loans pay off and if we refer more deals, it could go up. So we're pretty optimistic about fee income. It again, tend to be just a little bit lumpy based on loan volume being that a lot of it was loan fee related, but we feel pretty good about the quarter.

The next question comes from the line of Hannah Wynn with KBW.

I wanted to start on the hiring side. I know you guys have continued to invest in experienced lenders and hired 5 new hires last quarter. Just curious how the hiring progress this quarter was and when those newer teams are expected to ramp up in the process and when we should expect a more meaningful contribution to growth?

Yes. We've -- the teams that have come on are teams that we've known for a long time. And I think I'll give credit to the management team. We have gotten very good at kind of feathering in experienced team members aligned with their production so that they get profitable very quickly. And indeed, I think the team has gotten better and better at that. But these experienced bankers come with high-quality customers that they are bringing on early. So I expect each one of them to get to profitability much faster than in the past. And indeed, some of them are already there.

At this point, I think they're already contributing to the pipeline. Maybe the last one is coming is -- we feel like it's going to be very strong as well. And at this point, I think we've gotten the people that we'll probably have for this year. Maybe if there's a lucky surprise, we add another one. But for the most part, it's -- instead of volume, it is very targeted and surgical hiring, people that are coming on board, fewer numbers but much bigger pipelines.

And so I think we're really pleased with the way we've managed it. It's not been a drag on the earnings like in the past, we've hired large teams and it took a while for them to ramp up. I think these are teams that are coming on that make almost an immediate impact. And sometimes they're profitable within the first month they come on.

Great. That's... sorry, go ahead.

Hannah, if you look at the salary line item on our earnings release, it's been pretty consistently $25 million for the last 3 quarters. So we've been able to hire these new teams, we think very high-performing people, and it's been offset with cost saves through Keystone and the sale of our factoring company. So we've been pretty happy with that line item. It could go up a little bit in the fourth quarter. We do need to add support for these teams, but we've been encouraged by the talent that we've been able to add this year at a relatively modest increase, if any, in salary expense.

Great. That's very helpful. And then another question on Great Plains. If you could just give us an update on the expected timing of the deal and whether an early first quarter 2027 close is still the right expectation? And any other color on the process and integration planning would be helpful.

We don't have a date exactly yet. We do have to have shareholder meetings on both sides. I think the latest it would be is April 1. We certainly hope for it to be February 1. We think it will be somewhere in that range between February 1 and April 1 is kind of best guess at this point. And hopefully, we can clarify that in coming weeks.

And as far as integration, obviously, that's our priority. Fortunately, coming off right off Keystone, everything is relatively fresh. And our project management team is geared up, and it's almost rinse and repeat. The nicer thing about Great Plains is that they're essentially on FIS as well as we are. So it greatly simplifies the products, and they have a very similar treasury platform as well. So for us, this is actually an easier transaction to integrate than even what Keystone was.

So it's looking it's actually looking very well right now. The other thing is just that I'd just give a shout out to the Great Plains team. I mean they -- it's a very talented group of people, especially for the size of the bank. We've been very impressed by the quality of people there and the cooperation between our teams has just been a natural fit, and it's just been a very easy and pleasant process thus far. So I think that's going to translate into next to no customer impact.

Again, we're keeping their names in their's markets. So from a customer standpoint, I don't think they're going to really know much of any difference other than they're going to have more products. And at the same time, we're going to be able to add some scale and leverage to all of it. So it's turning out to be even better than what I anticipated. And I knew it was going to be good from the beginning.

The next question comes from the line of Brett Rabatin with StoneX Group.

I wanted to start -- go back to the margin for a second. And just was curious if you had the spot margin at the -- either the end of the quarter or the margin for September.

It might take me just a second. I don't remember that off the top of my head.

No worries. Then maybe...

As John is working, maybe ask another one.

Yes, I was going to say I'll ask another one while you are looking for that. I guess I'm still a little confused on...

Brett, don't hold me to this, but September was 3.85%.

Okay. Great. And then Bart or John, I guess I'm still just a little confused with the loan rates in the quarter. And I know the September rate hike was late in the quarter, and so you wouldn't have had the full benefit. But can you just talk about the linked quarter change in loan yields? And then maybe go over how much of the portfolio would be variable and reprice with the Fed hike? Or walk us through kind of the dynamics around the repricing of the loan book.

Yes, Brett, I admit you look at the raw numbers, and it's a little bit of a head scratcher as to how rates could have gone up and our yield went down. It's all tied to loan fees, though, and the way we're amortizing fees. So if, for example, in the second quarter, we had more loan payoffs that had fees that we took directly into income, I mean, that would affect it.

We talked a little about the amortization of the premium that we had on the Keystone loan that paid off. It was $800,000 and you annualize that, and it has a rather large effect. And that's actually probably the biggest thing is that one single loan that paid off that we had at a large premium. So I would -- I mean, we're asset sensitive at plus 200. We're 2% asset sensitive. When the Fed raised rates, we did not increase our deposit rates at all. I mean there are some that are floating, obviously, but I expect the yield to go up next month for sure.

Okay. That's helpful. And then I was hoping to get an update on the ORE property and just if that was leasing up and any update on that credit?

I don't think there's a whole lot to update on it. We just continue to move forward with it, but it's pretty much on trend that we talked about before.

The next question comes from the line of Bernard Von Gizycki with Deutsche Bank.

John, just following up on the fee income commentary that you mentioned was a little bit of an outlier given the more swap fees, the more loan fee income. Is it fair? Are you keeping your quarterly guidance around that $4 million to $4.5 million? Or has that changed at all?

Yes, I think we could probably say $5 million. Yes. So some of it is certainly going to be core, just the fact that we're bigger, that we have more people, that we're doing more deals. I mean, we certainly expect that number to increase. It may not be 6 every quarter or at least next quarter, but we should see a nice increase.

Okay. Great. And then maybe just on expenses. Obviously, I understand that the merger costs can be a little lumpy. But just given like your forecast on those, any way to think about what we should be expecting? Should there be another big number in 4Q? Just some sort of cadence, just so we have a rough idea on what you're thinking from next quarter or so?

Yes. Good question. I'm glad you brought that up. So we did go back and look at what we originally told the market for the Keystone acquisition. So most of this expense was related to Keystone, not Great Plains. And if we go back to our original investor deck, we said the total deal expenses would be $13 million, and we've so far spent about $12.5 million. So we're just a little under where we expected to be, and we may end up getting to the $13 million. There's probably a little bit more expense there.

On Great Plains, it depends on when closing is. There shouldn't be much by way of merger expense in the fourth quarter. Keystone, we're almost through with. There's work, obviously, we're doing on Great Plains, but it's not going to be material probably until the first quarter. So I would think this quarter is going to be, I don't know, $500,000, maybe $1 million tops in merger expenses, probably closer to the $500,000, if I had to guess.

The next question comes from the line of Matt Olney with Stephens Inc.

Just a few follow-ups on the securitization discussion from earlier. John, the securitization that you closed in the third quarter, you mentioned it was helpful as far as liquidity management and capital management, which makes sense. Just in terms of the overall financials of this transaction, I think you said the securitization was a slight drag to overall loan yields and obviously a drag to loan balances. So is it fair to say that, that securitization on itself was a little bit of a drag to overall financials in the third quarter? Or any other considerations from that deal we should consider?

And then the second part, John, on the securitization that you're planning for the fourth quarter, I think you said it would be more financially impactful, implying it would not be a drag. Any more color you can give on that securitization versus the one you just closed?

Yes. Good question, Matt. So the first 2 that we did last year were very impactful because the fee income was in the $1 million range, which far offset the attorneys' fees. But the more recent one, it was a push at best. I mean we really didn't make anything from that perspective. Now of course, we have the earning assets. I mean, I'm not counting any of that. But if I look at noninterest income, noninterest expense, that securitization would have been a net negative for the quarter. Only slightly so.

But obviously, it was a strategic play for us. It was something we needed to do to manage concentrations. And sometimes you do that when we have such large customers that we want to make sure and accommodate. I think we look at this as customer service more than anything else and managing our own balance sheet. But I think John and I talked about the fact that it closed within 2 weeks of the start of the quarter. That was a drag from the fact that it happened so early in the quarter.

I appreciate the details. And the second part of the question was on the securitization that you're working on now. I think it was implied this one could be more financially impactful. I know it's not closed yet, but any more color on that would be helpful.

Yes. And I don't have numbers that we can give out yet, but I think this next one is going to look more similar to the first 2 than the more recent one that there will be more fee income associated with it. It will be a little bit higher yield on the securities that we buy back. I think it will be better all the way around.

Okay. That is helpful. Appreciate the color there. And then I guess, Bart, you mentioned the progress you've made on the noninterest-bearing deposits in the third quarter, and it sounds like that's continued thus far early in the fourth quarter. Really impressive in this kind of environment. Any more color on just the customer wins and the investments you've made that have driven some of the strong results there?

Yes. I think almost everything is singles and doubles for the most part. One thing that, again, we highlight treasury management, they're opening probably more accounts than they ever have been. And I think part of this is just across the bank, the partnership, both the community and the commercial as well that that's a really, really good sign of the synergies that are happening between the groups. We have some rather large customers, too, that, as you know, that we've been banking.

And we have 25 accounts that are more than $1 million, which are significant high-quality customer accounts that we probably could not have onboarded on the old system. And this is another reason why we converted to a higher-grade system is to be able to manage these type accounts and win these accounts, and that's part of the success story we're having.

The next question comes from the line of Dave Storms with Stonegate.

I wanted to go back to the Great Plains transaction. I know you mentioned in the slides there that you're expecting about 50% of the cost savings in 2027. Is there any -- is it too early to talk about maybe a cadence for that? Does the Keystone acquisition and some of the legacy infrastructure there front-load some of that? Or maybe just any color we could get there would be helpful.

Yes, Dave, if anything, it's probably the opposite that it would be later in the quarter. And depending on when our conversion ends up being that the cadence of the savings could come a little bit later. We don't have a definitive date for conversion yet. So kind of pending what we find out about that, we'll have a lot to do with it.

Understood. Appreciate that. And then maybe just one more. In the past, we've talked about the success of the Heritage rural branches as a source of growth. Maybe just any thoughts on how you expect that to continue maybe in the second -- last couple of months of the year here? And then again, if Great Plains maybe adds to that growth in any meaningful way?

That's a great observation because it really is an extension on our rural building. I think Great Plains has some fantastic history of being able to grow deposits. And they're truly a great marriage in that they do some things better than us. We do some things a little bit better than them. But together, the synergies are going to be fantastic. And we expect one of the stories that we're going to be able to tell is the ability to continue to grow these great core deposits even faster and a better rate with us together. And these deposits, particularly are both core and stable, which is part of the story of transforming our deposit base.

So I think this is one of the things that's hard to quantify, but I'm seeing it already from the dialogue that we're having internally, how well it fits together that I think big part of our core deposit production is going to be the contributions of us together in these particular markets. So -- and don't forget also North Texas, it greatly expands our footprint there. And whenever you look at the markets that they're in, in North Texas and the dynamism of that market, I think we're going to be able to grow a lot of market share there with the combined banks.

So overall, I think that's going to be a great story that we're going to be able to update and have you all follow over time.

The next question comes from the line of Stephen Scouten with Piper Sandler.

This is Jackson Andrew on for Stephen. I appreciate all the color so far. I just wanted to touch back on the pipeline, kind of what's kind of driving growth there going forward?

Yes. I think everybody is doing well and hitting on all cylinders. I do think it will be probably disproportionately in the C&I portfolio. I've just seen the pipelines and with the new lenders, most of them are on the C&I side. Again, what I didn't mention before some of the complexities are a lot of these are lines, and it depends on what the utilization is and as they ramp up. So even some of these that we've booked in the past, the utilization is going to start to rise and help contribute. So it may already actually be on our books. So I think the -- what I would say is we'll see a little bit from every one of the verticals, but I think the C&I is probably going to be the biggest growth driver over the next quarter.

Yes. And Jackson, I probably should have mentioned that this next securitization that we're working on is actually out of the commercial portfolio, which will be a first for us.

Great. And then just one other question. Kind of how should we be thinking about loan and deposit betas for this upcoming cycle?

That is a good question. We certainly consider ourselves to be slightly asset sensitive. But in saying that our cost of funds has not gone up nearly as much as market rates. I mean I think most people view us as being more sensitive to deposit costs, but market rates are up 50 to 100 basis points depending on where you look, and ours were certainly up far less than that. So I mean, -- some of our accounts are going to be very dependent on market rates and the betas are going to be close to 100%.

But overall, in the portfolio, we're managing for the margin. And even though ours may be higher than normal or higher than average, we see the same thing on the asset side. So we're managing towards the margin and think it will be up in the fourth quarter. And whether rates continue going up or not, we're confident about a higher margin for the fourth quarter.

I think we've worked well to position ourselves to be a little agnostic on the rate moves. We were prepared whether they went down or up. And sometimes for us, just movement actually helps. I think if you look at our history, we've been very adept at working our portfolio when there are changes. And I think this is going to be the same that for us, the market rates moving is just opportunities to us readjust our portfolio some. And we're -- I think we're going to be less impacted than most banks out there.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. And I'd like to turn the call back over to Bart Caraway for closing remarks.

Well, thank you, Joe, and thank you for everybody joining us on the call and your continued support of Third Coast Bancshares. We look forward to reporting back next quarter. Thank you all. Have a good day.

Thank you. This does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and enjoy the rest of your day.

Greetings, and welcome to the Third Coast Bank Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Natalie Hairston, Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Third Coast Bancshares Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. With me today is Bart Caraway, Founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; John McWhorter, Chief Financial Officer; and Audrey Spaulding, Chief Credit Officer. First, a few housekeeping items. There will be a replay of today's call, and it will be available by webcast on the Investors section of our website at ir.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a call replay available until July 30, and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release.

Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, July 23, 2026, and therefore, you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listening or transcript reading. In addition, the comments made by management during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management. However, various risks, uncertainties and contingencies could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management.

The listener or reader is encouraged to read the annual report on Form 10-K to better understand those risks, uncertainties and contingencies. The comments made today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures were included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website.

Now I would like to turn the call over to Third Coast's Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway. Bart?

Thank you, Natalie, and good morning to everyone. It was another strong quarter for Third Coast. We delivered a new record for EPS performance, continued to generate disciplined loan and deposit growth as projected, improved core profitability and maintained solid credit performance.

These results reflect the continued execution of the same priorities we have shared with investors since becoming a public company nearly 5 years ago, disciplined growth, relationship-based funding, positive operating leverage and consistent credit execution. The growth in record diluted earnings per share, tangible book value and net interest income reinforces the core progress and core strategic priorities and further demonstrates the quality and durability of our earnings profile.

The quarter reflected progress across each of the areas we focus on most, namely, we generated strong loan growth while maintaining disciplined underwriting and risk-appropriate loan pricing standards and continue to project a robust and steady loan pipeline. We continue to expand and improve our deposit base, supporting both growth and profitability as evidenced by our $65 million in growth in DDAs. We produced meaningful operating leverage with operating income growing faster than expenses, a consistent theme that has proven out the durability of our core earnings. And we maintained strong credit performance while continuing to grow the balance sheet.

During the quarter, we also took several strategic initiatives that position us for sustained long-term success. First, as previously noted, we completed the sale of substantially all of the assets of Third Coast Commercial Capital. This transaction simplifies the organization, sharpens our strategic focus on our core banking platforms while still allowing us to continue serving factoring clients through a strategic partnership and ongoing revenue-sharing arrangement.

Second, we continue to leverage our securitization capabilities as a key element of our broader balance sheet management strategy, closing our third securitization on July 15. We now view these activities as a normal extension of our funding and capital management toolkit, and we expect future uses of them to support growth opportunities as conditions warrant. Third, and perhaps more importantly, we continue to attract top talent to our already exceptional team.

As a talent magnet, it should not be a surprise that remarkable talent continues to seek us out. We added 5 experienced commercial banking professionals during the second quarter and expect to hire a similar number in the third quarter. We believe our ability to consistently attract talented bankers is one of the clearest indicators of the quality of our bank that we are building and bodes well for long-term growth potential. Overall, we believe the second quarter demonstrates our continued ability to grow revenue, improve profitability, maintain disciplined credit standards, all while investing in the future of Third Coast.

With that, I'll turn it over to John to cover the financials.

Thank you, Bart, and good morning, everyone. Our second quarter results reflected strong performance across the company, and I'll focus my comments on providing additional color around the numbers. Net interest income increased meaningfully during the quarter to $60.3 million, up 12.4% from the first quarter. This increase was driven by a combination of strong organic loan production, continued balance sheet optimization following the Keystone merger and expansion in lower-cost funding sources.

During our first quarter call, we discussed our expectation that the strength of the loan pipelines and strategic investments we have made in talent and production teams would support continued growth throughout the year. We believe our second quarter results validate that outlook. Loan demand remained healthy across our markets. Production levels continue to outpace normal portfolio runoff and total loans increased by approximately $185 million or 3.5% in the quarter. Commercial and industrial lending accounted for substantially all of that growth, increasing approximately $187 million from the prior quarter.

From a funding strategy perspective, our focus on growing relationship-based deposits is producing measurable results. Noninterest-bearing deposits were up $65.5 million and overall deposits were up $140.4 million from the first quarter. Importantly, deposit growth continued to keep pace with balance sheet growth while improving our overall funding mix. Additionally, the average cost of deposits declined 12 basis points from the previous quarter reflecting continued improvement in deposit pricing and mix.

As a result, margin performance was favorable during the quarter. Net interest margin expanded to 3.83%, exceeding the 3.75% target that we set following the Keystone merger, reflecting the strength of our balance sheet, disciplined loan and deposit pricing, improving funding trends and successful execution of our Keystone integration strategy. While deposit competition remains elevated, we continue to see opportunities to further improve our funding mix and support margin stability.

Perhaps most encouraging, we delivered meaningful operating leverage during the quarter. Total noninterest expense remained essentially flat when compared to the prior quarter, while our efficiency ratio improved to 56.5% from 66.1% in the first quarter. This performance demonstrates the scalability of our model and highlights the benefits of the operating and technology investments we've made over the past several quarters. We expect additional cost savings related to systems integration of $100,000 per month effective August 1 and an additional $150,000 per month effective February 1, 2027. Diluted earnings reached a record at $1.08 per share for the second quarter.

While earnings benefited from a gain on sale of the TCC assets, we were equally encouraged by the strength of our core operating performance. Regarding TCC, during the quarter, we closed the sale of substantially all the assets of Third Coast Commercial Capital. effective June 25. The transaction generated total consideration of approximately $27.5 million and a gain of $3.5 million at closing and includes a structured ongoing revenue share that will allow us to continue participating in the performance of the portfolio going forward.

Consistent with our balance sheet strategy, we redeployed capital toward our core commercial banking, ABL and specialty lending platforms where we see attractive growth opportunities. Overall, our second quarter results reflect progress from ongoing relationship development, maturing production teams and investments we've made across our franchise. We remain constructive on net interest income growth and earnings trends while maintaining a disciplined approach to funding, capital allocation and risk management.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Audrey to discuss asset quality.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Credit fundamentals remained healthy during the second quarter. Nonperforming loans declined by approximately $5.6 million during the quarter and improved to 0.55% of total loans compared to 0.68% in the prior quarter.

The decrease in nonperforming loans during the second quarter was primarily due to the transfer of a $17.1 million loan to other real estate owned, offset by the placement on nonaccrual of 3 relationships totaling $10.1 million and an increase of $2.1 million in loans over 90 days past due and still accruing. The 3 relationships that were placed on nonaccrual are all well secured, and we do not anticipate any losses on these loans. I'd also like to note that 44% of our total nonaccruals are SBA guaranteed.

We recorded net recoveries of $150,000 during the quarter, marking our second consecutive quarter of net recoveries. As mentioned earlier, during the quarter, we sold substantially all of the assets of Third Coast Commercial Capital. It is important to point out that over the last 5.5 years, 44% of our total net charge-offs came from Third Coast Commercial Capital. The successful disposition of this subsidiary is viewed very favorably from a credit perspective as it has historically negatively impacted credit performance. Provision for credit losses totaled $2.1 million during the quarter, and the allowance for credit losses increased to $53.6 million, representing 0.99% of total loans compared to 0.98% in the prior quarter.

We continue to believe our reserve level remains appropriate for the size, composition and risk profile of the loan portfolio. Our loan portfolio remains well diversified across industries, markets and borrower relationships. As of June 30, total loans increased to $5.44 billion, driven primarily by growth in the commercial and industrial lending. Portfolio allocations remain consistent with the prior quarter with C&I loans representing 44% of total loans, while construction development and land loans were 16%, owner-occupied CRE was 11% and nonowner-occupied CRE was 17%.

We continue to closely monitor broader economic conditions and borrower performance remains generally consistent with our expectations. Our teams remain focused on proactive risk management and disciplined credit underwriting. We remain confident in our ability to support continued growth while maintaining strong credit quality.

With that, I'll turn the call back to Bart. Bart?

Thank you, Audrey. As we look ahead to the second half of 2026, we remain optimistic about the momentum across our organization. We are benefiting from strong customer activity, healthy loan pipelines, improving funding trends and a resilient Texas economy. As I mentioned earlier, we're particularly encouraged by our ability to continue attracting experienced bankers to the organization.

The investments we've made in people continue to strengthen our competitive position, and we believe recently added team members will drive additional quality growth over time. I also want to highlight results from our deposit strategy. As previously referenced, our noninterest-bearing demand increased by $65 million, a notable improvement. Another highlight is our track record in our rural markets. We performed a look back on the deposit trends of the rural markets acquired in the Heritage Bank merger in 2019. Deposits in those rural markets have grown approximately 90%, representing an impressive 11.3% CAGR, significantly outperforming the roughly 3.1% growth rate of those underlying markets.

These results reinforce a simple but effective strategy: retain talented local bankers, invest in community visibility and deepen customer relationships. We believe our ability to consistently outgrow our markets while strengthening the funding base of the franchise is a meaningful competitive advantage and an important driver of long-term value creation. Additionally, we completed the Keystone conversion last weekend, which went very smoothly. We are pleased with how the combined franchise is performing. We have exceeded our previous guidance for NIM while continuing to grow loans, deposits and tangible book value, which not only reinforces our confidence in the strategic rationale behind this transaction, but it also underscores the earnings power and long-term value creation potential of the organization.

Most importantly, what gives us confidence moving forward is not simply the level of earnings we've achieved this quarter, but the quality and durability of those earnings. Broad-based revenue growth, margin expansion, effective expense management, positive operating leverage, disciplined credit performance and continued investment in the future all contributed to our results. We believe that Third Coast is well positioned to continue generating profitable growth, and we're committed to creating long-term value for our shareholders, customers and communities.

With that, I'll turn it back over to the operator. Operator?

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from the line of Michael Rose with Raymond James. Please proceed with your question.

Bart, maybe I just wanted to start on the loan growth this quarter. Obviously, very strong. You hired 5 lenders. I think you said you had another 5 lenders in the pipeline. I know you had a previous range. It just feels like all the commentary and the momentum that you spoke about that maybe you could do a little bit better than that. But obviously, you could have some paydowns as well. So just trying to balance kind of what I view as kind of positive statements versus the forward look.

Yes. I'd just like to emphasize that, I mean, we still have a pretty tight credit box, and it's got to meet hurdles both on rate, return on capital for us as well as structure. It's still a very competitive environment out there. And we do have paydowns, as you mentioned, I appreciate you bringing that up because it is still challenging somewhat in that area.

But what I would note is we've just been able to find great customers that are moving over more for relationship more than anything. And the timing of that also is going to depend on a lot of other different factors. And so as we talk about, we could have a big quarter and a slower quarter for loan growth. But overall, what I would say the trajectory is very positive for us. We like the client base that we're going after and the success we've had at bringing over quite frankly, some clients that are bigger than you would normally get at a bank the size as well as granular, the response from the community as we continue to grow. So we're kind of hitting in multiple different verticals that are growing.

And I think consolidation in the banking arena here in Texas has also helped us particularly grow. But with all that, Audrey sitting next to me, and we both agree credit quality is the #1 thing that we strive for. And we're going to be out there getting what we think is the best credit and not just buying the market or else we could grow more.

Yes, Michael, I might add that $200 million quarters are probably going to be more the exception than the rule that when we do have these big quarters, we're more likely to do a securitization. We mentioned that we closed one July 15. So that reduces loans. Investments will go up by a similar amount. So we still have the balance sheet growth. So we did the one on July 15, and there is another one that we're working on that looks probable. I think I would say at this point that we would close another one in August. These things tend to be customer dependent and a lot of moving parts. But at least as we sit here today, I think another one in August is likely.

Okay. That's great color, everyone. Maybe just a follow-up, John, just as we think about the margin and certainly understand that you will get some benefit from the securitizations in the third quarter. Excluding that, though, it does sound like you have some further deposit repricing tailwinds and obviously, new production loan yields still fairly strong. Can you just kind of level set expectations around the margin just given those tailwinds, coupled with this quarter's better result versus what you said last quarter?

Yes. So we did exceed what we what we were expecting last quarter. And the primary reason was Keystone and growth in noninterest-bearing demand. If you look at our noninterest-bearing demand over the last year, it's up almost 50%, which is hard to predict something like that. We're certainly working hard on it.

The treasury group is doing a great job bringing in big commercial accounts. It tends to be a little bit of a volatile account. But again, over the last year, if it's up 50%, I mean, that's great for the margin. So all things being equal, I think the margin is flat to maybe up just a little bit in the third quarter. But with the 2 potential securitizations, I would expect it to be up even more because these 2 definitely help the margin. When you look back at last year when our margin was 4% plus, it's when we were doing the securitizations and I don't know. We're bigger, obviously, today than we were then. It may not have the disproportionate effect, but they'll be good for the margin for sure.

Very helpful. And if I could just squeeze one more in, just with Keystone conversion having just happened, where do we stand in terms of cost saving realization kind of through the third quarter? And maybe if you could just help us level set the expense trajectory as well, just given some of the hires that were made.

Yes. So first on Keystone. So we did wrap up our core conversion just this past weekend. So we expect effective August 1, we'll have about $100,000 a month in cost savings that's directly related to the data processing contracts. And then we think February 1 of next year, we'll pick up an additional $150,000 a month. So that should be the kind of the last of the cost savings associated with Keystone.

In the first quarter, the expenses were a little bit high. We had a lot going on. The securitizations aren't cheap, a lot of legal fees, accounting fees associated with them. We had the sale of [ TCC ]. We had the integration of Keystone. I mean, all of those things cost money. And then, of course, the lenders that we hired. We hired the 5 lenders and the people that we're hiring are seasoned experience, we expect to be big contributors in the future. But certainly, as we hire those people, day 1 is the most expensive day for a lender when we have all their salary and none of their loans yet. So we had that in the first quarter. We'll have it -- or in the second quarter, rather.

We'll have it again in the third quarter. We've had a couple of people already accept. We have other offers outstanding for some really great people that we expect to come on. So I'd say kind of best guess on expenses is kind of flat for the third quarter that some of these savings are going to be offset with the people that we're hiring, but it will bode well for our growth, particularly next year as those people get ramped up.

Our next question comes from the line of Jordan Ghent with Stephens.

Just one follow-up maybe to the expense conversation. Were there any onetimes in 2Q expenses? It looks like -- I know you talked about how they're higher, but were there any one-timers from the merger or from TCC?

Yes, Jordan, there were. There wasn't any one thing that was particularly noteworthy. So we didn't break anything out in the release. I mean there's always little things. I mean the sale of TCC, I mean, I don't know, it was $100,000 in legal fees. And the merger, we probably had similar expenses. We had a shareholder meeting, some of these new lenders that we hired had signing bonuses.

So there were several hundreds of thousands of dollars that were nonrecurring. But it seems like there's always some sort of nonrecurring expense. But on a stand-alone basis, it was somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million that we would think were nonrecurring expenses.

Got it. And then maybe just one more follow-up. Can you maybe talk about the $17 million OREO? I think it was the CRE relationship that you guys previously disclosed last quarter? -- you just provide like an update on that?

Sure. This is Audrey. I can give you an update on that. So we've had some positivity there. It's a medical office building in Southeast Texas. As you noted, we foreclosed in April. We've had some good updates there. We're working a few leases to increase the occupancy.

We do have the property listed. We also were successful in modifying a restrictive covenant that was on the building. So that took some negotiation, a little time with the attorneys, but that has been resolved to our satisfaction. So it definitely helps us market more widely and lease more widely as far as the types of tenants. So have some positive feedback on that.

Our next question comes from the line of Woody Lay with KBW.

Maybe just a follow-up on credit and that the $10 million that moves into NPLs from 3 different relationships, could you just give some color on those? It sounds like a portion of it might be SBA related.

Sure. Sure, Woody. I can cover that, too. One of the loans, $3 million of that is an SBA loan with a 75% guarantee. It's also secured by real estate. It's got about a 77% LTV on that. Then there was a $5.5 million loan secured by an office building, 57% LTV on that with a new appraisal. And we actually, just this week, that particular loan and another loan to the same borrower were both brought current, and we have 6 months payment reserves.

So those are looking good. And then we had a $1.6 million relationship that was actually 4 or 5 loans to a C&I customer. We had we do have some real estate. We have some equipment, a revolving line of credit. The combined LTV on that relationship with all the collateral is below 50%. So while we did have that uptick, we feel good about those and aren't anticipating any losses.

Got it. And then I guess, as it relates to credit, I mean, any broader trends you're seeing given some of the migration we've seen over the past couple of quarters? Is there a common denominator? Or is it -- or is it all pretty idiosyncratic?

I mean a couple of things. We've seen some deterioration in the SBA portfolio. But that -- and we've had net recoveries for the year so far. The charge-offs that we have had, we've had about [ $320,000 ] in charge-offs for the year. [ $270,000 ] of that was unguaranteed portions of SBA loans. So we've seen not a particular market or industry, just in general, some stress in the SBA portfolio.

Maybe I'll add, that's a fairly small portfolio. So I mean it's not -- it's a very small portion of our overall business.

And actually, the balance of the SBA portfolio because we've been proactive and charged down unguaranteed portions on some of those where proportionately, we have a higher -- what's remaining on the books in some cases, is fully guaranteed, not just 75% guaranteed. So I'm not expecting anything big there either.

The other thing I would say is mini storage. We've seen -- we had a relationship of 3 mini storage facilities that are special mentioned currently. There's been a lot of competition in those markets. So the rates -- rental rates they're getting have reduced. But actually, the 3 that we do have in special mention, they do those are supposed to be paying off, and they're being refinanced. So as part of a larger portfolio that this customer has.

And I'd just note that historically, you look at our charge-offs and you just lumped up to an average of 10 basis points. And thus far this year, we have net recoveries. And I'm not seeing anything that's in the portfolio that would be out of the bandwidth of what we normally do. So I feel like the portfolio has really held up well. I think we've chosen well on the customers and we have a very diversified portfolio as well, so both geography and with the customer base and with several verticals we have.

So I feel like we're still positioned better than most of the banks out there from the credit side. And even if you look with the upticks, we're still probably at average or below average for the banks in our peer group, probably well below average. And that's with the $17 million [ ORE ] property. So if you look at it, I think our portfolio has held up very, very well. And I don't see anything in it that it's going to be a charge-off would take us out of that 10 basis points.

Yes, I agree.

Got it. That's really helpful color. I appreciate that. Maybe just one last question for me on the noninterest-bearing growth in the quarter. It was really encouraging to see. I was just curious on how granular that growth was? Did it come from one larger customer? Or was it numerous accounts driving that?

It's initiatives from just about everybody working it from everything from the corporate, the community team, commercial altogether, from specialty finance to the retail team, all of them working together that's added up, which is even better, right, because it's much more granular than just one big thing. But treasury has done a fantastic job, as John noted, I mean, they have really been ramping up and doing a great job of growing the client base. And all of it together just sums up to something bigger.

Our next question comes from the line of Bernard Von Gizycki with Deutsche Bank.

Just wanted to follow up. The loan growth was strong, obviously, in the quarter. I just want to make sure I heard this right. John, obviously, you mentioned it's the exception versus the rule and you're going to have the securitizations coming up in the quarter. Would the quarterly pace still be that $75 million to $125 million? I just wanted to confirm if that's still kind of the guidance for like at least the next few quarters, 3Q and 4Q?

I think so, yes. And again, the securitization complicates it a little bit depending on what we're doing, but I think that's a good guide, yes.

Okay. And then maybe just one follow-up, just keeping with the modeling. Fee income, obviously, ex the gains in the quarter, it still kind of fell in line with like your projections of 4% to $4.5 million. Does that seem kind of like the similar run rate we should expect in 3Q, 4Q? Or anything else you want to highlight?

No, I think it will be about the same. If it was roughly $4.2 million this quarter, I think it will be the same, maybe marginally higher next quarter, kind of between the $4 million and $4.5 million is a pretty good number.

[Operator Instructions]

Our next question comes from the line of David Storms with Stonegate Capital Partners.

I was looking at it looks like your [indiscernible]. After receivable sales, maybe closer to the 50% without [indiscernible]. Is this still [indiscernible]. I know we've mentioned the basis and the increase in employee headcount. Is high 50s, low 60s feel like a fair run rate for efficiency?

I think the question is where we're looking forward with efficiency ratio. And if that's the case, obviously, there was a little bit of a noise in the first quarter. But we've been running mid- to a little higher 50s. Our goal is obviously to reduce that to get below [ 55 ] -- that's an internal challenge that we have.

But I think with some of the scale that's happening, you can see that it's consistently got it below [ 60 ]. And on a normal run rate, John, I would say [ 56 ], [ 57 ], something along those lines is kind of -- but we -- because we've invested some in the future with some of these new hires, I mean, they're going to be extremely efficient once they fund up. And we've seen this from team after team that we've gotten pretty good at being successful of both onboarding them, setting up for success and getting a very efficient profitable units out of them. And I think that's going to be the same here even more so. I think we've gotten better at it. So as we go forward, again, I think we do have the ability to continue to lower the efficiency ratio over the next year or so.

Yes, Dave, on our slide deck, Page 10, we show noninterest expenses to average earning assets. And this past quarter was our second best quarter. But we still think we have a lot of room for improvement there. I mean, 2.44% for a noninterest expense ratio is not great the way we think of it. I mean we think it should be 2.25%, maybe down to 2% if we were really high performing. And we're not going to be there overnight, but the lower we can drive that number, our absolute expense number is going to continue increasing. But as a percent of our earning assets, it should decrease. That's going to be good for the efficiency ratio over time. So we certainly expect it to improve.

Yes. And just the bigger theme that we've talked about many times is the revenue is going to grow faster than expenses, and that's going to be better for profitability. And I think now haven't given enough time to that has actually played out. And I think people feel comfortable understanding that, that is what we're doing and that we've been executing on it and just getting better and better at it.

That's great commentary. I appreciate that. I did want to ask a second one here, circling back to credit. I think it was mentioned on the call earlier that you still have a pretty tight credit box, but then also that your portfolio is in pretty good shape. Is there any appetite to maybe open up that credit box? Or would you rather stick to winning elsewhere with the securitizations and the likes?

Yes. I mean with the talent that we've brought on in the past and currently and just because of the disruption that's in the market, I mean, I think we have very robust pipelines that there is not really any need for us to change what we're doing right now.

Again, Audrey and I talked about before the pandemic, where we were wrong, we thought that there was going to be in 2019, some event, and we pulled back on LTVs and some of the structures, and we never really loosened it up. And I think that's -- as long as we can continue to grow the way we're growing, we're pretty happy with it. And I don't see a reason for us to reach out there either on pricing structure. And indeed, internal discussions we've had, we talk about different things and particularly on pricing. And we're happy with basically passing on deals if they don't meet our pricing hurdles.

And I think the disciplined approach that we've been very successful in it because I think we're trying to win with relationships and people coming to us because they want service and they do a good job of explaining why we have more covenants or why we want a little bit more money down, but they want a partnership, a trusted adviser. And I think we can continue to move forward with that and still grow and continue to probably even improve credit quality.

This concludes our question-and-answer session. Mr. Caraway, I'd like to turn the floor back over to you for closing comments.

Well, thank you, Christine. I just want to thank everybody for joining us for this call, and we will be looking forward to a call next quarter. Thank you all.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.

Greetings, and welcome to the Third Coast Bank First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host for today, Natalie Harrison, Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for Third Coast Bancshares conference call and webcast to review our first quarter 2026 results. With me today is Bart Caraway, Founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; John McCarter, Chief Financial Officer; and Audrey Spaulding, Chief Credit Officer.

First, a few housekeeping items. There will be a replay of today's call, and it will be available by webcast on the Investors section of our website at ir.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a telephonic replay available until April 30 and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release. Please note that the information reported on this call speaks only as of today, April 23, 2026, and therefore, you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listening or transcript reading.

In addition, the comments made by management during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management. However, various risks, uncertainties and contingencies could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management.

The listener or reader is encouraged to read the annual report on Form 10-K to better understand those risks, uncertainties and contingencies. The comments made today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures were included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website.

Now I would like to turn the call over to Third Coast Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway. Bart?

Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Natalie. Welcome to the TCBX First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. I'll begin by discussing the company's progress in the quarter. John will cover the financial performance in more detail, then Audrey will provide a credit quality update. Then I'll close with a few thoughts on management's outlook.

As we look at our first quarter, let's start with the broader context. This quarter marked a significant milestone for Third Coast highlighted by a successful addition of Keystone Bank shares to our platform. The Keystone merger acquisition had a substantial impact on our results this quarter, driving solid growth in loans and deposits, expanding our customer base and strengthening our presence in the key markets in Central Texas. which translated into an expanded balance sheet.

Specifically, assets increased by 23.2%, loans by 19.5% and deposits by 23.5% from year-end. Equally important is the strength of our underlying business. Our loan pipelines are robust, customer activity is healthy and the strategic investments we continue to make in our platform are already gaining traction. This includes enhancements to our leadership team and the purposeful build-out of several key divisions.

Within our corporate banking group, we have added seasoned best-in-class relationship bankers in Houston and Dallas, including experienced teams focused on select dedicated verticals. We also launched our asset-based lending platform, adding to our credit product suite. We believe these will be an important contributor to our loan growth and fee income. In addition, we have expanded our public funds and correspondent banking teams, further diversifying our funding base and expanding our reach across Texas and Beyond.

While many of these teams are still early in the ramp up, we believe these combined investments position us to drive organic growth at meaningful levels. reinforcing our long-term goals of scalability, disciplined growth and sustainable profitability. Overall, we believe the first quarter demonstrates headway in building a stronger franchise while staying true to our fundamentals that have consistently driven our success and performance.

With that, I'll turn the call over to John to walk through the financial results and provide additional details on the quarter. John?

Thank you, Bart, and good morning, everyone. As Bart mentioned, the Keystone transaction is the primary factor influencing the quarter-over-quarter changes in our financial results. Keystone added roughly 20% to our loans and deposits and roughly $3.3 million in merger-related nonrecurring noninterest expense. I'll focus my comments on providing clarity around those impacts, along with our underlying trends.

Starting with expenses. Our noninterest expenses were higher during the quarter, largely due to Keystone related items as well as sign-on bonuses for several recent senior-level hires. During the first quarter of 2026, the company recorded $3.3 million in Keystone merger-related noninterest expenses, primarily consisting of $1.6 million in legal and professional, $1.3 million of salary and benefits and $400,000 miscellaneous.

Additionally, the company recorded $644,000 in salary and benefits attributable to sign-on bonuses during the first quarter. This is the second consecutive quarter of above average hiring. These expenses are nonrecurring and reflect the near-term cost of integrating Keystone and onboarding new talent. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter was $0.88, but excluding merger expenses, would have been $102 million. Also excluding merger expenses, return on average assets would have been 1.25%.

Net interest income was $53.6 million for the first quarter, marking a 2.7% increase from the previous quarter. driven by higher than average earning assets following the merger and offset by a lower net interest margin. The margin decline resulted primarily from the merger, but also from the reversal of $996,000 in accrued interest from 2 loans placed on nonaccrual.

Turning to loan growth. Excluding Keystone, loans were up approximately $45 million for the quarter, whereas quarterly average balances were up over $100 million. and the second quarter has started even stronger with April month-to-date loans already up over $100 million. Pipelines are full, and some of our new lenders are just getting started.

Lastly, I might mention that tangible book value ended the quarter at $31.7 which compares favorably to 31.69, which was the guidance that we gave in October of last year when we announced the acquisition. Most of our expense savings will be realized in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Audrey to discuss asset quality.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to provide a summary of asset quality for the first quarter. Nonperforming assets to total assets increased by 11 basis points from the prior quarter. The increase in nonperforming assets was primarily due to 1 CRE loan of approximately $17.1 million being placed on nonaccrual as well as the addition of $1.8 million in purchased credit impaired loans from the Keystone acquisition, which are on nonaccrual. This increase was partially offset by a $5 million decline in loans over 90 days past due and still accruing.

When placing the $17.1 million loan on nonaccrual as well as a $602,000 loan, we reversed $996,000 in accrued interest which impacted our margin. On April 7, the bank foreclosed on the property securing the $17.1 million CRE loan. Our LTV on the property based upon a 2026 appraisal is just under 70%. It is also worth noting that $5.3 million of our nonaccrual loans are fully guaranteed by the SBA.

The allowance for credit losses totaled $51.5 million, representing 0.98% of gross loans as of March 31, 2026. compared to $43.9 million or 1% as of the previous quarter end. The increase was primarily due to the day 1 allowance related to the Keystone acquisition. We recorded net recoveries of $4,000 in the first quarter. Our loan portfolio remains well diversified and reflects organic production as well as contributions from the Keystone portfolio with actions consistent with the prior year.

Commercial and industrial loans are 42% of total loans while construction development and land loans were 17%, owner-occupied CRE was 11% and nonowner-occupied CRE was 18%. I'd be happy to answer any questions regarding asset quality during our question-and-answer session.

With that, I'll turn the call back to Bart. Bart?

Thank you, Audrey. As we move further into 2026, we are increasingly confident in the direction of the franchise and the strategic foundation we have put in place. We believe we are building 1 of the best platforms in the country and across our footprint. With our expanded corporate banking, including ABL, along with our public funds and correspondent banking capabilities, which position us to continue scaling the company in a disciplined and thoughtful way.

We believe these groups combined with our core teams represent durable long-term growth engines that will drive organic growth, diversify our balance sheet and deepen client relationships over time. We believe when these teams gain scale, they will drive even stronger pipelines and profitability, with the potential to generate over $1 million in fees per month and extend our quarterly loan growth target range to $75 million to $125 million.

Underpinning all of this is our continuous improvement mindset, which is now deeply embedded across the organization. was started as a 1% improvement challenge has evolved into a culture centered on execution, accountability and delivering consistency across outcomes for our stakeholders. And we believe that continues to be a key differentiator for Third Coast.

Ongoing consolidation across the banking sector continues to strengthen our scarcity value and positions us at the early stages of unlocking additional upside for our franchise. Finally, I want to thank our team for their exceptional work this quarter and extend a warm welcome to our Keystone customers and shareholders. We appreciate your continued support in Third Coast and look forward to building on this momentum.

With that, I'll turn the call back over to the operator to begin the question-and-answer session.

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from Matt Olney with Stephens.

I'll start with the net interest margin as you guys mentioned some noisy results this quarter with Keystone, and I heard the commentary about the nonaccrual impact to the margin as well. Any color you can give us as far as expectations for the margin in the near term?

Sure. So Matt, this is John. Last quarter, I guided to a number in kind of the 390 range. And I think Third Coast stand-alone before this interest reversal, that's exactly where we were. So the interest reversal is worth about 4 basis points. And then, of course, we merged with Keystone. their margin was about 350. So you average kind of all that out and assuming nothing unusual next quarter, and I think we're about 3.75 for the margin going forward.

Okay. Perfect. Appreciate that, John. And then on the loan growth front, it sounds like 2Q is up to a really strong start. We'd love to hear more about the drivers of what you're seeing there. Any of this from the new producers hired or market disruption? Just more commentary on the pipeline would be helpful.

Yes. That very observational obi. I think it's both what you mentioned. One, we have both some new team members and some team members that are last year that are obviously have some good volumes. And at the same time, we are seeing some opportunities from some of the disruption in the market. And I think the combination has actually basically really got a -- really robust pipeline. A matter of fact, I think the first quarter maybe have masked a little bit of how good it was because we had an exceptional number of payoffs or otherwise, our loans would have been up quite a bit more.

So we're still seeing the pipelines grow right now, and we feel pretty good where we stand. The market is good. These producers that we're bringing are highly productive and have a loyal customer base. And at the same time, some of the disruption is starting to play out, where we're able to basically compete and win some business that we've been after for a while. So all in all, despite all the other macro headwinds, it's actually looking really good for us in terms of our growth and volumes.

Yes. And Matt, I might add that with the market disruption, that's really what's given us the opportunity to hire a lot of these people that we've talked about over the last couple of quarters. So we've paid sign-on bonuses to some of these people, again, 2 quarters in a row, I don't necessarily envision that happening in the second quarter of this year, but many of the people that we hired were exceptional. They were great opportunities, just ones that we couldn't pass up that will very much contribute to our growth going forward. But it's not an every quarter sort of thing.

I think, I said the expenses related to that were about $650,000 and we likely -- I mean, who knows, maybe we have other opportunities, but I don't think it will be of that magnitude. I think most of who we wanted to hire recently, we've hired in the last 6 months.

And if I could add on to that, like the folks that we've hired are people that have had long-term relationships with the existing leadership here. So these aren't new people that are unknown to us or people that either worked with before or had long-time relationships with, that we've been after for a while. And once again, similar to what happened right after the pandemic, there's a lot of dislocation and disruption that's allowed us to finally get them over the fence.

Yes. Okay. Makes sense. And you guys seem to be in a nice spot to take advantage of all disruption. All back in the queue. Thank you.

Your next question comes from Michael Rose with Raymond James.

Maybe just following up on mass loan growth. Question, it looks like in the quarter, if I exclude Keystone, you were kind of below that $75 million to $100 million range that you talked about previously. Was there any sort of elevated pay downs or anything that may have impacted the organic growth? Or maybe if you can just parse out what it is.

And then, I think, Bart, I heard you say given some of the hires that you've made over the past couple of quarters that, that -- maybe that range on a go-forward basis is $75 million to $125 million. So a nice kind of uptick there. I assume that there's some time that it will take for some of the newer hires to get ramped up. So should we expect an acceleration to kind of the mid to higher point of that range in the back half of the year? Just trying to frame out the loan growth outlook?

Yes. Good comments. Early in the quarter, we actually had such strong loan growth that we thought were going to be above budget on it. But then we had some significant paydowns that came through, and it was -- the timing of it we thought was going to be kind of spread out over a few quarters, and it just happened to be kind of all in 1 quarter. And they were significant enough that they offset a lot of that growth.

So I don't expect that to continue. Those headwinds probably kind of came first quarter. We'll maybe have a few -- I always have a few surprise paydowns of somebody sales or what have you. But I think the pipeline has grown that if we even mirror what we did last quarter, we're going to have pretty strong net loan growth. So that's why John and I in order talking that we feel like it's probably going to be this year is going to turn out to be a little better than what we even anticipated on the loan growth.

Having said that, obviously, it's always lumpy. I can't control the timing of when these loans close. But prospectively, we look like it's going to be a very strong loan year for us.

Very, very helpful. And then just as it relates to the $17.1 million credit that was added to the nonaccruals. Is that a credit that you previously talked about? I just -- I don't remember or recall and then it seems like you have an appraisal on the property. I mean, what's kind of the expectation here for resolution? Is it a couple of quarters? I know it's hard to kind of parsed out individual credits, but just given the magnitude of size here, just trying to better understand the -- when it could eventually come out of the run rate.

Sure. I can give you some more color on that. I don't think we have talked about the loan previously, but it is a seasoned loan and we originated it in 2021. So it's been on the books and paying for many years. They had a significant decline in occupancy due to a tenant bankruptcy. So that kind of precipitated the issue there. The LTV adds just under 70% based on a new appraisal within the last 90 days, and that's the as-is value. on the current occupancy. We're getting ready to list it with a national broker, and we're working on some additional leases to increase the occupancy. But yes, I would think, yes, it's probably going to be a couple of quarters.

Okay. Perfect. I appreciate that, Audrey. Maybe if I could just slip in 1 more. It looks like on the deposit side, the growth on an organic basis was actually pretty strong. Obviously, some of the mix change was due to the acquisition. But just as we kind of think about deposit growth as we move forward, I think, Bart, you previously talked about it kind of somewhat matching loan growth. Is that kind of still the expectation there?

Yes. So Michael, 1 thing that I wanted to point out there, we had a lot more cash at quarter end. And the reason for that is we sold the Keystone investment portfolio, 100% of it. thinking that we were going to fund up a bunch of loans and replace it before quarter end and that didn't happen because we had those big loan payoffs. But -- so their investment portfolio, it was roughly $75 million in April. Our loans were up more than $100 million. So that's going to be a big help to the margin.

And just the fact that the loan-to-deposit ratio was lower for the quarter. We do try to fund to the extent that we can just in time funding, and we really thought we were going to have more loan fundings. We weren't expecting the payoffs. They almost all came out of 1 lenders portfolio who's no longer with the bank, and we weren't sad to see those loans pay off. But going forward, I'd expect the loan-to-deposit ratio to creep up a little bit more and we've already reallocated that cash into loans, so that should help the margin as well.

And your next question comes from Wood Lay with KBW.

I had a couple of follow-ups on credit. I was just curious, are there any trends to note and criticized or classified loans this quarter?

Well, obviously, the $17.1 million, that was an increase in classifieds for the quarter. We had a couple of CRE loans that were downgraded during the quarter, but they are both current now. We've got low LTVs on current appraisals. Those LTVs are closer to the 50%, 60%, and we're not expecting any issues there. Those are actually moving in the right direction.

If you take out $17 million, it really is pretty moderate.

Yes. If you take out the $17 million, in fact, classifieds were up about $15 million. So we actually had some net reduction there if you excluded that $17 million. Our NPAs actually would have declined 15 basis points had it not been for the $17 million loan.

So I think I would comment that I still feel the portfolio looks really good. I mean, we're not seeing any macro trends or any micro trends on it. I think the story was the 1 property we took back other than that, I think we're seeing some really strong economic environment for us. We're seeing basically our customers pretty stable and navigating through all the chaos and disruption that's out there. portfolio looks pretty good, I think.

That's great to hear. And maybe just last for me. We're just looking for an update on how the integration of Keystone is going, when core conversion is scheduled? And do you still feel good about all the assumptions that were laid out at deal announcement.

Yes. I mean I think it's actually going better than expected. It's a good cultural fit. We love the market. And thus far, the teams really kind of rallied and kind of worked well together. I'd say the conversion is going to be in July. And thus far, it's been going very, very well. If you remember, we did do a core conversion last summer. And so I guess everybody is already acclimated to change, and we're very familiar with our system. So converting a bank onto our system versus doing a whole bank conversion is a whole lot easier.

So -- and by the way, we have a whole ERM team and project management team that kind of rides heard on this. And so it's very organized and we feel like everybody has the up-to-date training to be able to make this pretty seamless.

Yes. And Woody, as far as the assumptions and the cost saves, we're running 2 different banks today on 2 different systems. So obviously, that's more expensive. So we won't realize any of the cost saves from data processing until August, will be the first month of savings there. Keystone needed a full-blown financial statement audit, so we didn't have any savings there. So going forward, we do expect more. We obviously don't need auditors out there anymore. We won't have examiners obviously, the data processing will happen in the third quarter.

So most of the expense saves are are still to come. I think we had forecast $6 million in savings and a lot of it is those couple of categories is the professional fees and the data processing fees and things like that.

Your next question comes from Bernard Van Gist with Deutsche Bank.

Maybe just on expenses from here, how do we think about maybe whether it's the quarterly run rate for the rest of the year? Or how to think about it just from here until the end of the year, just given some of the lumpy M&A-related costs, which I believe they're nonrecurring that you've highlighted. I'm not sure if there's any spillover in other merger-related costs that you want to highlight. And then just as those cost saves as they come in, are they fully realized in 3Q and 4Q? Or does that spill over in 2017? Just any thoughts you can break out in expenses.

Yes. So the last thing first. I think by January 1 of the next year, we will have 100% of the cost saves, but some of them we won't have until year-end, some things that we're accruing for an some expenses. But as far as expense run rate, it's hard to put a handle on. I mean, obviously, you could take this quarter and minus out the $3.3 million and then maybe the extra bonuses that we paid out, that's another $650,000. I mean that's kind of a good starting point for that, but we're spending time and effort on conversion, merger-related stuff. So we're not quite to a point where I can give you a good run rate number, but it's certainly this quarter minus the merger expenses and probably more than that.

Okay. Got it. And then what about like fee income? Just any thoughts on -- with the new hires, obviously, the Keystone. Just anything we should be thinking about going forward or how we can think about for the rest of the year in fee income?

Yes. So we guided to $4 million for the quarter, and that's almost exactly where we were, I think it will be a little bit higher going forward. But again, we're not a huge fee income shop. So it's not going to be materially different. I think it's going to be between that $4 million and $4.5 million range.

Your next question comes from Matt Olney with Stephens.

Just want to go back to the net adverse margin outlook. John, I think you said that $3.75. I was struggling to get to that number. I heard your commentary about the liquidity and the impact of that kind of late in the quarter and so far, early what you're seeing in April?

Any other color that can help us get to that $3.75 number. Was there any impact of securitization or anything else that can help -- can I speak to the noise that we saw in -- moving from the results in the first quarter to that $3.75 million in 2Q?

Yes. I think if you add back the reversal of interest, that's going to be worth about 4 basis points. So it's not too terribly far from the $3.75 million, just to start with. I think the rest of where I'm thinking we get there is through better loan fees. The loan fees were a little late this quarter. It looks like they're running heavier. We didn't talk about securitizations. We obviously didn't do 1 in the first quarter, but we are -- we're always looking at it working on them.

I can't say for sure that we'll do 1 in the second quarter, but I think the odds are probably more likely than not that we will be able to do another securitization this quarter. And if -- if we do, it will look similar to the last ones where there's a fair amount of fee income associated with it, and that goes into the margin. And I'm not considering that in the $3.75 number that would push it even higher if we were able to do that.

And when we start running a little bit higher loan-to-deposit ratio, that will certainly help. Again, we had such a strong start, the first part of the quarter, had the payoffs. I think that would have made somewhat of a difference on the margin as well. And as we're able to kind of dial that in a little bit, I think that's going to kind of help our margin over the next couple of quarters.

Yes. Well, definitely some noisy trends given all the moving parts, but I appreciate you kind of walking through all the items.

Your next question comes from Dave Storms with Stonegate.

Just wanted to maybe start with maybe some underwriting following the merger. Has there been anything that's been learned either from the Keystone way doing things or doing things or maybe any synergies that can be picked up in underwriting?

I think it's all kind of in process. So they had a few products a little different from ours. It's been kind of interesting that we might be able to take and evolve at the same time, I think being able to overlay our bigger legal lending limit and some of the things that we do, particularly on the corporate side of it is going to open up some business for them on some probably bigger loans and bigger relationships.

So -- but it's only been a few weeks since we brought them on board. And I think that's going to play out as we kind of get this thing integrated. And it will be a lot easier when they're on our system as well.

Understood. And then just thinking about the long-term NIM trends, before Keystone, you're trending in the plus 4% range. I guess what would it take to get the portfolio back to that again, thinking over the longer term?

I'm sorry, I didn't follow the question, Dave.

No, sorry. Just long-term NIM trends. I know you're talking about maybe 3 quarters, but just before the merger, you were around 4%, low north of that, is it possible to get back to that range? And kind of what would that take?

That's probably optimistic at that point because we have a relatively high cost of funds. I mean, the way we would get there would be through more loan fees, which we think is possible. I mean that certainly would be a goal and an aspirational sort of goal number. We think as we get bigger and lead more deals, there'll be more loan fees associated with it that will help the margin, but 4% is probably pretty optimistic for our way of doing business. And I think it's a way of upper anyway.

Thank you. And there are no further questions at this time. I'll hand the floor back to Mr. Caraway for closing remarks.

Well, thank you, Diego, and thank you, everybody, for joining us for our earnings call for 2026 and look forward to talking to you all next quarter. Thank you for your support.

Thank you. This concludes today's call. All parties may disconnect.

Greetings, and welcome to the Third Coast Bancshares Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Natalie Hairston, Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for Third Coast Bancshares conference call and webcast to review our fourth quarter and full year 2025 results. With me today is Bart Caraway, Founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; John McWhorter, Chief Financial Officer; and Audrey Spaulding, Chief Credit Officer.

First, a few housekeeping items. There will be a replay of today's call, and it will be available by webcast on the Investors section of our website at ir.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a telephonic replay available until January 29, and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release. Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, January 22, 2026, and therefore, you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listening or transcript reading.

In addition, the comments made by management during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Federal Securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management. However, various risks, uncertainties and contingencies could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management. The listener or reader is encouraged to read the annual report on Form 10-K that was filed on March 5, 2025, to better understand those risks, uncertainties and contingencies.

The comments made today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures were included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website.

Now I would like to turn the call over to Third Coast's Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway. Bart?

Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Natalie. I'm pleased to begin by highlighting our company's robust performance in the fourth quarter as well as the entire year. Following my remarks, John will discuss the financials. Audrey will provide an update on our credit quality. Finally, I will discuss the progress of our merger with Keystone and share management's outlook for 2026.

Our recent results demonstrated the company's commitment to growth, profitability and long-term shareholder value. This performance reaffirms our strategic priorities and highlights our ability to deliver lasting outcomes that benefit our customers, employees and stockholders.

First, we saw significant growth in our balance sheet in the fourth quarter and throughout the entire year. Gross loans increased by $230 million, or 5.5% compared to the third quarter, reaching $4.39 billion. This marks a 10.8% rise compared to the previous year, surpassing our targeted run rate of 8%. Total assets mirrored this upward trend, ending the year at $5.34 billion, reflecting a 5.5% increase over the third quarter, and an 8.1% rise compared to the previous year-end. Similarly, total deposits grew by over $254 million in the fourth quarter, reaching $4.6 billion, a 5.8% increase from the third quarter, and a 7.3% rise compared to a year ago.

Second, the increase in service charges and fees is noteworthy with an approximately 24% increase over the third quarter, and an impressive 55% year-over-year rise. This is due to the effectiveness of our relationship banking model and our appealing platform, which have resonated powerfully with our customers. Meanwhile, loan interest income and fees grew by about 7% compared to the previous year as we effectively expanded our overall loan portfolio through the hard work of our talented bankers. We were also able to lower our interest expense by approximately 4.2% from the third quarter and 5.2% when compared to a year ago. This was possible by dynamically pricing a portion of our deposit portfolio and capitalizing on the evolving interest rate landscape.

Last, but not least, we reached significant milestones. Book value and tangible book value rose to $33.47 and $32.12 respectively, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 16.8% and 17.7%. Our return on average assets remained robust, achieving an annualized 1.33% for the full year of 2025, returning a year-over-year enhancement of more than 26%, as we continue to operate efficiently and serve our customers well.

Overall, our 2025 performance reflects the incredible dedication and talent of our team and underscores the effectiveness of our strategy. These achievements go beyond mere figures. They embody our vision and passion. We outpaced our peers, exceeded expectations and have set new standards for our company, all while sustaining growth and maintaining profitability to support long-term value for our stakeholders.

With that, I'll turn the call over to John for the company's financial update. John?

Thank you, Bart, and good morning, everyone. We provided the detailed financial tables in yesterday's earnings release. So today, I'll provide some additional color around select balance sheet and profitability metrics from the fourth quarter and full year.

We reported net income of $17.9 million for the fourth quarter, leading to a record total annual net income of $66.3 million, reflecting a 39% increase year-over-year. This resulted in an annual return on equity of 14%, marking a 24% increase from last year. As a result, our earnings per share exceeded expectations, reaching $1.02 per diluted share for the quarter and totaling $3.79 for the year, representing a 36% increase from the prior year and setting a record for the company. Net interest income was $52.2 million in the fourth quarter and $195.2 million for the year, an increase of 21% from the previous year. This increase was due primarily to an increase in earning assets.

Investment securities decreased $7.5 million during the fourth quarter, ending the period at $575 million. This modest decline primarily reflects normal portfolio runoff and active balance sheet management. As the company continued to prioritize prudent liquidity, capital efficiency and disciplined deployment of earning assets. Deposits rose by $254 million in the fourth quarter, totaling $4.6 billion, which marks a 7.3% increase compared to the previous year. This growth maintains our loan-to-deposit ratio of 95%. Our cost of funds stood at 3.33% in the fourth quarter, reflecting a 23 basis point improvement from the third quarter, and a 50 basis point improvement from a year ago. And as Bart highlighted, we've surpassed expectations with our stable asset liability model even during a fluctuating interest rate environment.

Net interest margin remained consistent at [ $4.10 ] for the quarter, exceeding expectations. This performance resulted from higher-than-expected loan fees due primarily to robust loan growth. We believe the core net interest margin was 3.90% for the quarter, up about 10 basis points from the prior quarter.

That completes the financial review. At this point, I'll pass the call to Audrey for our credit quality review.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. The fourth quarter and full year credit performance highlights the strength and stability of our asset quality, a result of our disciplined risk management practices and underwriting standards.

Nonaccrual loans saw continued improvement for the fourth consecutive quarter, decreasing by $603,000 in the fourth quarter and $16.7 million for the full year. Loans over 90 days and still accruing totaled $11.36 million. However, subsequent to year-end, the loan totaling approximately $5.5 million was renewed and is now current. Quarter-over-quarter, nonperforming loans saw an improvement of $259,000, contributing to a total annual improvement of $6.5 million when compared to the same period last year. The ratio of nonperforming loans to total loans improved by 3 basis points from the prior quarter and improved by 21 basis points year-over-year. The allowance for credit losses represented 1% of total loans, which is a slight decline from 1.02% at the third quarter and previous year-end. Net charge-offs were 8 basis points for the year, representing a 1 basis point improvement over the same period last year.

Our loan portfolio remains well diversified with allocations consistent with the previous quarter and throughout the year. Commercial and industrial loans were 43% of total loans, while construction development and land loans were 19%, owner-occupied CRE was 10%, and nonowner-occupied CRE was 16%. Overall, the quality of our assets is a key highlight. Our strategic blend of conservative credit underwriting and prudent risk management not only drives growth, but also ensures long-term value for our stakeholders.

With that, I'll turn the call back to Bart. Bart?

Thank you, Audrey. Third Coast's history has been consistently defined by our remarkable growth as a company which has been a key factor in our success. Throughout our journey, we have achieved several transformative milestones, including surpassing $5 billion in total assets, successfully expanding our commercial lines to corporate and specialty products, enhancing our core and treasury management solutions, and completing two securitizations in 2025. These accomplishments are a tribute to our strategic vision and well-executed decisions, solidifying our status as a high-performing public company.

As we begin 2026, we are excited to build on the positive momentum generated in the fourth quarter and throughout 2025. By executing our strategic initiatives, we are confident that we will drive our company forward and continue to deliver substantial value to our shareholders. A focal point this year will be the integration of our merger with Keystone Bancshares Inc., announced last October. Once complete, this strategic partnership will unite us as a combined $6 billion entity with 22 locations across Texas. Three locations in Austin, with its dynamic economic growth and vibrant community, serve as a perfect backdrop for Third Coast expansion. Together, we expect to merge two [indiscernible] community banks our shared commitment to relationship banking and customer service, and reinforcing Third Coast's presence in the Texas Triangle.

Looking beyond the merger, we also have set our strategic and financial outlook for 2026, including achieving loan growth targets of $75 million to $100 million per quarter, establishing an annualized growth rate of approximately 8%, maintaining disciplined underwriting and portfolio management practices to ensure high-quality loan growth, enhancing our operational efficiency while scaling our organization for even greater success.

In closing, I want to again recognize the outstanding work of the Third Coast team. Their commitments and execution have enabled us to deliver growth that differentiates us from our peers and strengthens our franchise in Texas' most dynamic markets. We remain focused on proven banking model that supports sustainable growth, strong profitability and long-term value for our shareholders. We entered the new year with confidence in our strategy and ability to continue delivering for all of our stakeholders.

I'd like to now turn the call back over to the operator to begin the question-and-answer session. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Woody Lay with KBW.

Wanted to start on expenses. It looks like there were several moving parts. And as you called out, I think, $1.5 million of sign-on and severance costs. So could you just walk through some of the actions you took in the quarter?

Yes. Thanks, Woody. And there certainly was more than average noise for this quarter. So a couple of things that I might point out. On -- so the legal and professional line item had about $1 million in merger-related expenses, and we think we have another probably $5 million that we'll incur in the next couple of quarters. For salary and employee benefits, it was more in the hundreds of thousands of range as far as, kind of, nonrecurring type expenses. We did have a little severance. We did have some signing bonus. But -- but having -- paying a signing bonus is not an unusual thing us.

The other thing that I might point out is we had a little tailwind from taxes this quarter. We did purchase some tax credits and had a little more in the fourth quarter than I would expect to see going forward. So the kind of salary and benefits of maybe the excess was [ 500 ] or so for the quarter was basically offset by the extra benefit of the taxes, so that -- we were kind of thinking of operating earnings as being in that [ 107 ] sort of a range. And I saw that there were a few people out there that had us at a little bit higher number, adding back on salaries. But if you think about how much we grew in the fourth quarter, we did have to hire just a lot of people to help in loan ops and other support areas throughout the bank and we'll definitely have an increase in that line item.

Yes. And as you think about once the acquisition has closed. How do you think about additional hiring from there? Do you feel like you got most of it done in the fourth quarter, or there's going to be more to go in 2026?

Well, again, the thing that we've talked about is us being a talent magnet, and that continues, and only gets probably better as we grow. So as there is more, I guess, disruption in the markets with bankers, we get more than our proportional share of good quality bankers. Again, we're surgical and selective. But as great talent comes available and decides to move to our shop, we're going to continue to add them, and that's going to help propel our growth and continue on the trajectory that we're at. So I think what you say is no fundamental shift as much as ongoing operations as we've been doing it for the last few years.

Yes. And that's true on both the sales and the op side. When we have these really big quarters, and we've talked a lot about our growth being lumpy over time. But when we have these particularly big quarters, we need to staff up in loan ops, in IT, in treasury, and just any number of areas. So don't be surprised by our head count going up when we have these big quarters.

Got it. And then just lastly, a follow-up on the loan growth comment you made. I think you mentioned $75 million to $100 million a quarter, which is where you have been running. But once Keystone closes, do you expect that range to increase just given the bigger balance sheet? Or is that still the right growth range as a pro forma company?

I still think that's the right growth rate. So notice we've kind of bumped up the lower number a little bit just because we're seeing such good pipeline growth. I do think 2026 is going to be more favorable, if not an easier year on the production side. Plus we've -- between Keystone and some of the talent that we've onboarded, I think we're going to have a good run this year in terms of loan volume.

And we're probably have less of the headwinds, some of the big payoffs or pay downs. So I do feel like 2026 is a good year. But again, I caution everybody that it does tend to be lumpy for us. And -- so you'll see bigger quarters than others from time to time. But last year, we basically exceeded, barely, the target that we put out. And again, I see -- when you look at it year-over-year, we've been pretty consistent on what we said the growth is going to be in achieving that.

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Rose with Raymond James.

Obviously, really strong loan-to-deposit balance sheet growth this quarter. It looks like there was really strong growth in the C&I bucket. Just wanted to get some color there. And it does seem like you've kind of raised the level of expectations for loan growth moving higher from -- I think you were at [ $50 million to $100 million ], so you've kind of raised that range to [ $75 million to $100 million ].

Just given the dislocation within some of your markets from M&A, the impacts of the deal and what that will bring and just a better overall kind of loan environment as rates come down. Is -- how should we think about that $75 million to $100 million? I mean, is that kind of the base case? Is it conservative? It just seems like the momentum would be there to perhaps do a little bit better than that.

Yes. I would say the base case. I mean, it's just a confluence of lots of different factors that could have an effect on it. Obviously, rates with regard to real estate loans, but it's also just -- great demographics in Texas, and there's a lot of tailwinds as well. But we do -- it also depends on the sentiment of our borrowers, whether they're using more leverage or not.

So what I would tell you is there's still uncertainty in the market. I feel comfortable with where we stand right now and projecting forward that we're going to hit those numbers. So I feel like that's the base case that we have, and we'll just see where it goes from there.

Okay. Helpful. And I'm sorry if I missed this in the prepared remarks, but obviously, the margin kind of holding flat, was better than kind of what you talked about. Was there any loan fees or anything in the quarter that -- or was it just the excess growth, maybe mix shift? Just trying to get a better understanding of how we should at least think about the starting margin as we move into the first quarter?

Yes. We had about $1.5 million of what we think of excess loan fees. No, I know I've said that 2 or 3 quarters in a row. We had the securitizations, but they're harder to predict those big loan fees. There's nothing I'm aware of today that would be similar in the first quarter so I would expect the margin to be back down into the [ 390 ] range without having those kind of onetime special -- it could be a lot of different things. It could -- for the fourth quarter, we had some big originations that had loan fees associated with them. Arrangement fees, things like that. So the fees were certainly higher than we would expect there. And in the prior quarter, we had the securitization. So we'll just have to wait and see.

Yes, always a good thing when those come through.

But Michael, one thing I might say, is versus the third quarter our core margin was up about 10 basis points versus the third quarter and that was with rates down. So certainly happy with that. To the extent that you think rates are going down another couple of times next year. We -- we think we're well positioned because remember, we have a relatively high cost of funds, which gives us a little more room to lower rates if they do go down. So we've kind of outperformed our modeling, and the margins definitely behaved better over the last 3 quarters than we would have expected.

No, it's been really good to see. Maybe just finally for me. Obviously, the Keystone deal hopefully closes here soon. What's the appetite from here for additional M&A? There's clearly a lot of banks in Texas. However, it does seem like the environment maybe some goldilocks here, feels pretty good. So maybe that pushes out potential opportunities for a little bit. But just wanted to get a pulse of the market just in terms of your deals, some of the other ones that we've seen, and kind of what the what the dynamic looks like in Texas?

We're certainly focused on consummating the Keystone deal and integrating them, and we have certainly our priorities. But the M&A side for us is just ongoing part of our strategic planning. And so nothing's really changed for us. We continue to build relationships. And I think we're, again, very selective and judicious in what we look for. And the -- I guess, the flow of M&A will come and go. But for us, it's more about relationships and having right partnerships. And when they come along, we'll take a look at them. So at this point, I don't see any large shift in any conversations that we're having.

Our next question comes from the line of Bernard Von Gizycki with Deutsche Bank.

So deposit growth was very strong towards the end of the year. Did you hold any like year-end deposit campaigns like you've done in the past? Just wanted some color on what drove the growth.

No. Bernie, this is somewhat seasonal for us. Remember, the last couple of years, we've had a big increase in the 4 than it would carry over to the first quarter. We actually didn't have as much this year as we've seen in the past, and this is customer dependent. It wasn't anything special that we were doing. And the customer just isn't carrying the balances that they did last year. So I'm not sure that we'll see the same thing in the first quarter. But much of the growth was temporary, I guess, you would say.

And at the same time, we're doing lots of things to grow core deposits. And our noninterest-bearing demand has been up nicely for 6 or 7 months in a row. And our treasury group is doing a great job, and our corporate group, and bringing in those accounts. And we've been encouraged by the growth that we've seen in noninterest-bearing deposits.

And then just a follow-up, maybe just on some of the expenses. I know you alluded to, I guess, some of the merger-related expenses to maybe come in about $5 million for the rest of the year. I believe the Keystone merger is expected to close by the end of 1Q. If I just think about like total expenses, whether it's the core ex -- the merger related or total, what kind of growth are you expecting for full year '26?

It's a good question, Bernie. I mean, I do think that much of our expense growth is going to be weighted towards the beginning of the year that we need to make up for the growth that we just saw in the fourth quarter. There's a lot of people available now just from the M&A we've seen in our markets. So there's some really good people available.

We have our annual salary increases and all that, that happen in the first quarter. So from our run rate today, I mean we're probably going to be plus 5%, maybe 6% or 7%. But we still think our revenue growth is going to be quite a bit more than that. That's the story that we've talked about for several years, or certainly since we've gone public that our revenue growth will continue to exceed our expense growth, and we think that's still true today.

Yes. And we have internally kind of reinitiated, or kind of rebranded our 1% initiative. And that kicking in along with basically, we're going to realize some more efficiencies from our core conversion upcoming, as well as the efficiencies we get from the growth from Keystone that some of that [indiscernible] that. So it's going to be a little bit noisy for the first 6 months as we kind of work through this. But as they all come together, we do feel that we're still on par for making a good ROA for this year in making progress.

No, I appreciate that. That makes sense. If I could just ask one more. Maybe just on the fee front. Obviously, the $4.3 million was a nice uptick. I think you called out the increase in the non-margin loan fees. I know some of that could be lumpy. Bart, you noted kind of seeing the impact of clients experiencing the full benefit of the relationship model.

Just any expectations on the full year, or the quarterly run rate for the rest of '26 as we think about like fees, and how they come in post the Keystone merger?

Yes. We're pretty optimistic on noninterest income. We have a lot of ongoing initiatives that appear to be bearing fruit and granted the loan fees, in particular, will be kind of choppy, kind of lumpy, harder to predict, but the all-in core deposit fees, I mean, they look strong. The swap fees, anything like that, the more volume we have, the more money we make there. So noninterest income in that $4 million range, we feel pretty good about it. And I'm still kind of excluding Keystone because we don't know exactly when the closing is going to be at. But we feel pretty comfortable with that $4 million run rate on noninterest income.

Our next question comes from the line of Matt Olney with Stephens.

John, you mentioned the two securitizations from 2025. I think we talked previously about potentially doing another one or two in 2026. Any update just on the securitization pipeline?

Yes. I do think it's likely that we'll do another one this year. I think that it would look a little bit different than the ones that we've done in the past. I think it would be more likely that we would be selling assets that exist on our books into the securitization, just to just to free up room on the concentration so that we can do more of that construction lending.

The first one that we did last year was unique, I would say, that it was kind of a new customer, new deal. We added loans to the balance sheet and securitize the rest of it on a large deal. Doing something like that is probably less likely going forward. I would think that the next deal would more likely be more granular, more loans on balance sheet where we're just selling down some of the concentrations. So it would actually shrink the balance sheet a little.

Okay. And so it sounds like, John, the net impact to the bank may not be as significant as the securitizations from last year since you wouldn't be retaining a small piece on your balance sheet. Is that fair?

Well, we would sell loans into the securitization. It's still likely that we would buy back the security that would be at a lower yield. So it may not affect the size of the balance sheet as much as the mix [ in ] the yield. We would potentially have some fees that would be booked day 1 that would kind of be bringing forward fees associated with those loans, since they're sold off our balance sheet. But it would be more a timing thing than anything else. We're booking the income upfront as opposed to over time if we would have kept the loans on the books.

Okay. All right. That's helpful. I appreciate that. And then going back to Keystone. I may have missed this from the call, but any update just on the merger applications and the time line of the deal closing?

Yes. So at this point, it's going along as planned. And so we don't really have any other updates other than it's proceeding kind of on our schedule.

Both Third Coast and Keystone have shareholder meetings coming up for approval. I think ours is tomorrow, and Keystone's is next week. Still just coming along.

Okay. And then just lastly for me, I think one of the capital instruments on your balance sheet that's been there for a few years, is that preferred convertible instrument. Just remind me of the mechanics of that instrument and if and when, when would that be converted, and at who's discretion? And then what would be the impact of capital if and when that is converted?

Yes. So we have the right to call it September 2027. And I think the likelihood is that we would convert it to common at that point. And the holder of the preferred could convert earlier if they wanted to, I'm not sure that anyone would at this point. It probably makes more sense to hold it. So we're a little over 1.5 years away from converting that to common. It won't affect most of our capital ratios, or earnings per share, or anything else because it's already included in all of those numbers.

Is it already included? I mean if it's converted to common, then I would assume it would impact the CET1 ratio at the whole...

It would affect that one. Yes. So if you look at our slide deck, I think we show what the number is and what it would be if it was converted. And I think it's about 150 basis points difference to CET1. Maybe a little more than 150 basis points.

Okay. And if it's the common, I assume it also would benefit tangible book value per share?

No, it's included in tangible book value already.

Okay.

Yes. So Page 12 of our slide deck shows that it's 25 basis points or so that it would add to CET1.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Dave Storms with Stonegate Capital Partners.

I wanted to go back to your prepared remarks, where you mentioned that a dynamic pricing has helped lower interest expense. How should we think about this tool going forward? And are you seeing any limits to this as you use it?

Yes. So I think -- that's a great question. Let's go ahead and picked up on. But yes, there are several factors to this. With the new system, the core system, we have better pricing tools, better ways to understand our customers. And I think we're just now been able to utilize that to kind of sharpen our rate structures. So I do believe that we'll have more information at hand.

And -- but at the same time, I think as rates have changed, and as John mentioned, it's actually good for us when rates change because I think we have more capability to squeeze out more of our earnings, especially on the liability side, that we feel good that we've outperformed all of our models. So I think we are well positioned for any kind of rate changes that are there. But even on ongoing basis, I think a combination of the fact that we've had this initiative for having full wallet, full relationships has been very helpful in us in basically squeezing out earnings out of the -- basically the same assets. And the fact that I think we're more of a platform for our customers now, and we've got them into more products certainly helps in a number of ways. But overall, what I would say is we just continue to refine what we're doing and get better and better at it. John, I don't know if you had anything else add?

No, that's great.

That's perfect. I really appreciate that color. One more for me. You mentioned that you expect NIM to maybe be more in the [ 3.9% ] range. How should we be thinking about the time line for that? Are you expecting more of a cliff, or maybe a glide path as certain portions of the portfolio roll off?

No. I think it would be a cliff. When I'm thinking [ 390 ], I'm thinking for the quarter versus the [ 410 ] last quarter because the loan fees that we had in the fourth quarter or -- I mean, it's in the kind of the $1.3 million, $1.5 million range that were onetime events that added a lot to the margin. If we don't have those, the margin is just going to be lower for the entire quarter.

We have no further questions at this time. Mr. Caraway, I'd like to turn the floor back over to you for closing comments.

Well, thank you, Christine. And I just want to thank everybody for joining us for the phone call and the continued support of Third Coast Bank shares. We'll look forward to talking to you again next quarter. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.

Greetings, and welcome to the Third Coast Bancshares Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Ms. Natalie Hairston. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for Third Coast Bancshares conference call and webcast to review our third quarter 2025 results. With me today is Bart Caraway, Founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; John McWhorter, Chief Financial Officer; and Audrey Spaulding, Chief Credit Officer.

First, a few housekeeping items. There will be a replay of today's call, and it will be available by webcast on the Investors section of our website at ir.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a telephonic replay available until October 30, and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release. Please note that the information reported on this call speaks only as of today, October 23, 2025, and therefore, you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listening, or transcript reading.

In addition, the comments made by management during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Federal Securities Laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management. However, various risks, uncertainties and contingencies could cause actual results, performance or achievements, to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management. The listener, or reader, is encouraged to read the annual report on Form 10-K that was filed on March 5, 2025, to better understand those risks, uncertainties and contingencies.

The comments made today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures were included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website.

Now I will turn the call over to Third Coast's Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway. Bart?

Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Natalie. I'll begin by sharing the highlights from the company's performance this quarter. After my remarks, John will discuss the financials, and Audrey will give a review of credit quality. Finally, I'll cover our merger announcement and share management's outlook for the remainder of 2025.

The third quarter was particularly impressive for Third Coast as the company reached several key milestone achievements in growth, innovation and shareholder value. First, the recent listing of TCBX on both the New York Stock Exchange and the NYSE Texas marked a strategic shift aimed at enhancing market visibility and providing shareholders with greater liquidity.

Second, we experienced notable growth in the third quarter, creating substantial asset value. For the first time in the company's history, we surpassed $5 billion threshold in total assets with a compound annual growth rate of 19.3% since our IPO in November 2021. Our relationship banking model has remained effective, evidenced by the consistent quarter-over-quarter growth in both deposits and loans. Additionally, we set new records in book value and tangible book value, reaching $32.25 and $30.91, respectively. Our return on average assets also hit a new high, reaching an annualized 1.41% for the third quarter of 2025. These accomplishments not only demonstrate our growth strategy, but also underscored our commitment to creating lasting franchise value for our stakeholders.

Third, the successful completion of the bank's first and second securitization transactions mentioned during our Q2 earnings call, received international recognition, winning the SCI Risk Sharing award for North American transaction of the year at a recent ceremony in London. These transactions demonstrated that what we once thought impossible is now within reach. And Third Coast is immensely proud to have set new standards for a bank our size, while redefining risk management for real estate development loan portfolios among our peers.

Lastly, our ongoing efforts to optimize operating leverage led to improvements in efficiency, profitability and opportunity. Our efficiency ratio improved to 53.05% for the third quarter. Net income rose driven by enhancements in interest and noninterest-bearing income, while keeping expenses stable, resulting in a total of $18.1 million for the quarter. Collectively, the third quarter results position us as a strong performer and create a solid foundation for potential M&A opportunities ahead, including the definitive agreement with Keystone that was announced yesterday, and I will discuss more in detail later in the call.

In summary, the third quarter not only exceeded expectations, but also set several new records for the company. And overall, we remain committed to delivering on our strategic priorities and providing sustained value for our shareholders.

With that, I'll turn the call over to John for the company's financial update. John?

Thank you, Bart, and good morning, everyone. We provided the detailed financial tables in yesterday's earnings release. So today, I'll provide some additional color around select balance sheet and profitability metrics from the third quarter.

We reported third quarter net income of $16.9 million, up 8.3% versus the second quarter of 2025. This resulted in an ROA of 1.41% and a 15.1% return on equity. The net interest income was up $15 million, or 3% from the second quarter. This increase was primarily due to a better-than-expected net interest margin and growth in average earning assets of $229 million. Noninterest expenses were essentially flat in the third quarter, where salary and employee benefits were up but legal and professional expenses were down. If you recall, last quarter, we noted relatively high legal fees associated with the securitizations.

Investment securities were up $21 million to $583 million, and quarterly average balances were up $117 million. Yield on the portfolio at September 30 was 6.07%, and AOCI improved slightly with a gain to $10.9 million. Deposits increased $92 million for the quarter, resulting in a loan-to-deposit ratio of 95%, and our cost of funds declined slightly. Net interest margin declined to 4.10% but was still higher than expected due to relatively high loan fees. In fact, speaking of loan fees, despite higher-than-expected accretion, capitalized loan fees at 9/30 were a record $19.9 million. But with that said, we're forecasting a margin of between $3.90 and 3.95% for the fourth quarter.

Third quarter average loans were up $158 million versus the second quarter of this year. Period end loans, however, were up $85.4 million. Loan demand remained strong with loans already up $50 million in October. We've recently hired several new employees that we believe will be significant contributors to both loan growth and deposit growth in future quarters.

That completes the financial review. At this point, I'll pass the call to Audrey for our credit quality review.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. The third quarter highlighted the stability of our credit quality, a result of our disciplined risk management practices and underwriting standards. Nonaccrual loans declined for the second consecutive quarter, improving by $2.6 million in the third quarter. Quarter-over-quarter, nonperforming loans increased by $1.6 million. However, they are $2.3 million lower than the same period a year ago. Similarly, the nonperforming loans to total loans ratio rose by 3 basis points quarter-over-quarter, but still improved by 10 basis points compared to the same period last year. The 4 basis point increase in provision expense was attributable to growth in gross loans outstanding, and the company recorded net recoveries of $17,000 for the quarter.

Our loan portfolio remains well diversified and similar to the previous quarter's allocations. Commercial and industrial loans were 43% of total loans, while construction, development and land loans were 20%. Owner-occupied CRE was 10%, and nonowner-occupied CRE was 16% of total loans. Our office and medical office portfolio exposure was not materially different than previous quarters, and our multifamily exposure has declined slightly.

Overall, the stability of our loan portfolio, combined with our team's discipline allows us to maintain strong performance as we navigate market fluctuations strategically. This blend of conservative credit underwriting and careful risk management not only propels our growth but also delivers long-term value to our stakeholders.

With that, I'll turn the call back to Bart. Bart?

Thank you, Audrey. Looking ahead, we are excited to capitalize on the positive momentum generated in the third quarter as we continue to implement strategic initiatives that will drive our company forward.

As announced yesterday, Third Coast has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Keystone Bancshares, Inc. Once completed, the combined entity is expected to have a pro forma total assets in excess of $6 billion. We are targeting to close the transaction in the first quarter of 2026.

Keystone Bank is headquartered in Austin, Texas. A region known for dynamic economic growth and a vibrant community, making it an ideal location for continued expansion. Keystone currently operates two branches within the Austin market alongside a branch in Ballinger, Texas; and a loan production office in Bastrop, Texas. This partnership presents a compelling opportunity to merge two culturally aligned community banks, allowing us to leverage our shared commitment to relationship banking and customer service. By combining our resources and expertise, Third Coast will significantly strengthen its position in that corner of the Texas Triangle.

Turning to our outlook. Management expects the remainder of 2025 to be consistent with prior quarters. Our loan pipeline show even more demand over the robust figures of the third quarter, reinforcing our confidence in meeting our loan growth targets of $50 million to $100 million in the fourth quarter. This aligns with our annualized growth rate of approximately 8%, and as always, we remain disciplined in our underwriting and portfolio management practices to ensure high-quality growth.

In closing, I'd like to restate how proud I am of the Third Coast team. We consistently exceed industry expectations, achieving growth rates that surpassed that of our peers. Thanks to the dedication of our bankers and the strategic positioning in Texas' most attractive markets, we have built a strong franchise characterized by desirable banking model, sustained growth and profitability, and long-term value creation for our shareholders.

With that, I'd now like to turn the call back over to the operator to begin the question-and-answer session. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Bernard Von Gizycki with Deutsche Bank.

Just curious on the merger of Keystone, the deal closes, or expected to close by 1Q '26. Just any expectations of how long the integration process may take? I know you noted in the deck, it should be straightforward integration given some operational compatibility. Just any color you can share on similar systems. Anything you can break out there?

Yes. Fortunately, we've coordinated very well with them. So we're looking at a very early second quarter core conversion with them. Fortunately, there are contracts tied to our benefit and expires at -- basically in May. Plus a lot of what they do business-wise is similar to us. So it's pretty easy to map over and their cultural aspects are very much aligned with ours. So we do expect the integration to be fairly straightforward.

Understood. And then maybe just following up on the loan growth expected for 4Q. I know, John, you mentioned the $50 million already in October. And Bart, you mentioned the expectations are still the $50 million to $100 million. That seems to be maybe conservative.

Just wondering any expectations that November, December might be maybe a little bit slower? Just any thoughts on the pipelines and color you can provide there?

Bernie, last quarter, I said basically the same thing that July loans were up $50 million when we had our earnings call. And they ended up going up as much as $150 million and then we had a bunch of big payoffs towards the end of the quarter. So we're still kind of comfortable with that $50 million to $100 million number. We certainly always want to outperform but we are up $50 million. I mean, that's going to be good for the averages for the quarter. But what happens later in the quarter as far as paydowns, it's just harder to predict.

Yes, I echo the same thing. Again, I just try to keep the long vision as we're very consistent in year after year whenever you sum it all up at the end of the year, we kind of meet what our projections are. But the volatility gets very lumpy for us on it. So it's just hard to tell year-end. It can even make a difference whether some loans get pushed into this year versus next year. Just everything happening with the noise in the economy. It's just really hard to predict.

But what I will say is I feel really good about the loan pipelines and the quality of customers that we're seeing, and a lot of disruption that's happening in our markets we're benefiting from. We're just able to start seeing some of these clients that are really good quality clients. We always talk about punching above our weight class that we're getting to see.

And we remain a talent magnet. And so even these last few months, we've picked up a couple of bankers that are really people we're proud of. That we didn't think we'd be able to get. And they're going to also help with that funding part of it in the client acquisition. So I just think we're poised in a great position. I don't want to overpromise and over commit. There's going to be some surprises where sometimes we may be more than what we think on the quarter, but then there's some times where we're going to have some paydowns and be a little less. But overall, we feel like we're right on target with where we're trying to go.

Our next question comes from Woody Lay with KBW.

Wanted to start on the expected EPS accretion of the deal. Is that based on consensus estimates or internal projections? Because I mean just based on the quarter, it would seem like consensus is a little low.

Yes. Woody it is based on consensus. I mean we've talked about that a lot internally. I mean, the hard thing is to know exactly what number to use. I mean, certainly, we think that number is going to change over the next week or so as people saw our current earnings, and that will reduce the accretion a little bit. But we don't think it's going to be material.

And further, if I can add on to this. The reason why we feel like it's going to be more accretive than even what we announced is because we didn't include any synergies. We're being so conservative on this. There are a lot of things. Just to give you an example of a few where we think are going to fall to our benefit.

For instance, we have one branch that overlaps with theirs. And eventually that -- one of those branches is going to get eliminated, and we're going to get some cost saves for that. They view us as a platform to where they can do more with what they have. So as John and I were talking about sending some e-mails around this morning is, we have more than our fair share of derivative income and they don't do derivatives at all. So we're giving them tools on the treasury side, on the loan side that we didn't bake in as far as synergies into this deal that are going to be pretty meaningful with us.

So no matter what the numbers are, whenever we talk about the accretion side, there's a lot that we feel very comfortable of a buffer, or padding, that we have on the expense side, or the increase in revenue that we're going to be able to get from this transaction to where hands down, we think this is going to be very, very good for us. And not just because of that because we think the market is a very attractive market that's going to enhance our footprint and our value in the overall franchise.

All right. I appreciate the color there. Maybe just given you're going to be busy with the integration over the next couple of quarters. How do you think about the near-term securitization strategy? And then longer term, just with a bigger balance sheet, does this open the door for additional flexibility on the securitization front?

Yes, it does. Woody, good question. I checked with the team earlier this morning, and we are looking at a third securitization. It's probably not going to be a this year transaction and as always, these tend to be customer dependent. But we do think, at this point, it will be likely that we would do a similar securitization in the first quarter next year.

Got it. And then just last for me. You're now at -- pro forma, you'll be at $6 billion, but your continue to be a strong organic grower. Just with $10 billion, that threshold, do you see any expense investments that need to be made as you sort of approach the $10 billion mark?

Well, to be honest with you, I think it's kind of already baked in. I mean, I think our -- the examiners know that we've grown fast and they are kind of -- expect us to incrementally build on all of our controls. And what we're trying to do is be smart about it and building a lot more systems and controls instead of just adding people as we continue to grow.

I think we're a long way away from $10 billion, but the expectations are always is that you start putting that in place. And I think that's just normal management and normal processes for us to think about that and continue. And I think it's healthy for the bank to be in a position where we have strong controls and reporting in place, period. So I don't think it's going to be a factor where on the P&L that we're going to see some sort of impact as we continue to grow because I think we're doing it along the way.

We'll go next to Michael Rose with Raymond James.

I wanted to just start on the fee side. Another really good quarter. You guys have had some really good momentum here, but the service charge line item up fairly meaningfully quarter-on-quarter. I assume some of it is seasonal, just given what we saw last third quarter. But would just love any updated thoughts on fee income and some of the ongoing efforts that you've talked about, Bart, over the past year or 2.

Yes. Fees have certainly been a bright spot. Remember, we converted to FIS back in, I guess, it was June. And there's better, bigger products. I mean, it gives us more opportunity to sell things that we weren't before. So we think on both the treasury side and the loan side that -- well, I know for this quarter, I mean that's where a lot of it came from. But going forward, I mean, we're not going to see the same kind of growth quarter-over-quarter. I mean this was a particularly good quarter, but we're pretty confident that our fee income initiatives will continue working out and better treasury products and happier customers and it's just all turning out well.

But probably safe to assume we see a little bit of a step down in the fourth quarter just given some of the seasonal aspects. Is that fair?

Correct. Flat to down a little bit, yes.

Okay. Perfect. And then as you guys have talked about the loan growth story continues to be very, very strong. What's the hiring effort look like at this point to kind of support that high single-digit growth aspect? It seems like every bank that I talked to out there is looking to hire folks. And just wanted to see what your guys' plans are and what the expense build could be kind of related to that?

Yes. I think it's the same story we've talked about for -- like after we went public, obviously, we went on a hiring spree. And then I start talking about the fact that we're going to be very surgical. And once again, I mean, it's continuing down the same path where I think we have become a talent magnet, and that we get a look at a lot of the talent that's in the market that's out there. And certainly, disruptions in the market do help us.

But we sort of have our pipeline of people that we want. And I think it's going to be, basically what I would call, almost one-offs or surgical that we get. And these people are going to be highly productive. They probably come with just a small support team, and they're going to generate a lot of productivity for us. And so that's probably from a -- what John and I talked about deploying resources and making sure we control the P&L. We're just getting the highest and best talent that's out there. So we get a return faster. And indeed, some of the people who come on board, I mean, they may be profitable after their first deal or two.

So I feel real good about where we are. We're not on a massive hiring spree like we did in the past. But we are still hiring some bankers selectively. And they're just best-in-class folks. And me and Audrey both are like -- we want to make sure not only do they check bucket that are the box, that they are good quality, but they're going to bring the right kind of credits that we want. And so we vet them very, very thoroughly. And I mean, this year has been exceptional. We've made a couple of few hires that I've just -- in 2026, are going to make a big impact for us.

That's great to hear. And kudos to the success and ongoing momemtum as we move forward. Maybe just one final one for me. I didn't necessarily think that a deal was in the cards for you guys. I know the currency is a little bit depressed, but glad to see the transaction.

Maybe now pro forma $6 billion, if you can describe kind of would additional deals at some point beyond this one makes sense? And specifically, what would you -- what would you kind of look for? I assume it looks something like this in terms of size, but would just love kind of a schematic of how we should think about M&A for you guys?

Yes. I think it's the same thing we've been talking about. The first deal we did with Heritage, we called it the unicorn because it was just such a great thing for us. It put us over $1 billion. It certainly helped us scale and efficiencies. It helped us with our market presence. It doubled our branches. And the people that were there, a lot of them have become very valuable members for us in leadership roles.

And I view the same thing that's going to happen with Keystone. And Jeff, my counterpart there, is a great banker. And they have -- they're loaded with talent at that bank. And quite frankly, they even surprised me, it's kind of the level of their customer base. I mean, in some ways, they're kind of punching above their weight class too. And because of the cultural fit with it, I think we're going to get a lot of positives, even more than what I think, out of this merger.

And -- but it sets the bar very high, right? So it's got to be financially rewarding for us, but it also has to be a great cultural fit. It's got to be the right -- it's got to check a lot of boxes. And those deals are really hard to come by. So what I would say is the bar for another deal is going to be pretty high. It's got to make sense for us. And there's a lot of other things that has to happen. So we're going to continue to execute on the organic story that we've been telling you all about. And we're opportunists. We'll look at a lot of deals, and we'll see where we're at.

I mean, John and I have talked about, we looked at the deal earlier this year. And we came in third out of three on a bid process with it. And we're okay with that. We're just going to be very, very disciplined about what we do next with stuff. And so I think it's just more of the same.

[Operator Instructions] And we'll go next to Matt Olney with Stephens.

First question for John around the margin. You gave us the margin expectations for the fourth quarter. Any more details you can provide as far as kind of what's behind that? I just assume it's more of a normalized level of loan fees that you mentioned were elevated this quarter. Anything beyond that? And then just other assumptions behind that with respect to interest rates and additional Fed cuts? And just remind us where you are as far as your rate sensitivity?

Yes. If you look back at our margin over time, we were kind of in the 3.70% to 3.80% range and really jumped up when we did those securitizations. And those were onetime fees that we're obviously not forecasting going forward. This quarter, I mean, it wasn't directly tied to those securitizations, but kind of the same concept of loans paying off.

We've booked a lot of loans this year that had a lot of fees that we capitalized. I think I said in my comments that our capitalized fees are now a record $19 million. So maybe I'm being a little conservative in saying 3.90% to 3.95%, but that's still a pretty big jump from where we were just back in the first quarter.

Now when I look at the margin on a monthly basis, after the Fed cut rates, our margin did go up 1 basis point. So our Q is going to show that we're slightly asset sensitive. But I think we're going to outperform our assumptions. We pretty aggressively cut rates on all the deposit accounts that we could. And I think we have more to give, if that makes sense. Having a relatively low noninterest-bearing balance, means that we can cut rates on a higher percentage of our total deposits. That's certainly what happened when the Fed cut rates the first time. It's what happened when they cut rates last year, it's what I think will happen when they cut rates this next time.

And we've probably become a little bit less asset sensitive just because of the securities that we've been purchasing. Our securities book is much bigger than it was a year ago, and I think that will help in the rates down that -- we had pretty good timing on our investment purchases and our yield on that portfolio is 6%. And I think it's going to throw off a lot of income next year.

Okay. That's helpful, John. And then you mentioned that securities portfolio. What -- remind us what portion of that is going to be variable that we should consider with down rates?

Yes. So I guess, it's close to $600 million, there's about $200 million of that that's variable. Now one thing that's maybe a little hard to predict is we have had a lot of securities called recently. But we don't expect big changes in the portfolio.

But basically what we -- held to maturity, Matt. So the $206 million we have in held to maturity, that's all floating, right? And pretty much everything else is fixed.

Okay. And then you touched on some deposit pricing competition in your markets. Anything else to add there? And then same thing for loan pricing competition. Just to appreciate anything that you're still in the market more recently?

We are feeling more confident about deposit growth than we had in quite some time. And this is going to be good core deposit growth where I think we're going to be able to start paying down some of our brokered deposits and improve the cost of funds there a little bit. And we may not be talking about huge number, but saving 10 basis points on tens, or hundreds of millions of dollars. I mean, it can add up in a hurry. But that's kind of what I envision over the next couple of quarters.

Remember in recent years, we have one particular seasonal customer. And it seems like every year, they send us more and more in deposits. And those funds, we're kind of already seeing them out there on the horizon, talking to the customer that those will be coming. And I think we'll let some of our brokers roll off and replace it with those. And again, they're not cheap deposits, but they'll be a little less expensive than what we currently have. So that will be a little bit of a tailwind to the margin.

Moving next to Dave Storms with Stonegate.

Just wanted to kind of ask two maybe around the merger. Could you maybe talk a little bit more about your comfortability with your geographical footprint? And maybe getting back to that last question. Are there any MSAs that you would target to expand into now that you really shored up your presence in Austin?

That's a really good question and something we think about as well. I think our primary goal is to continue to build around the Texas Triangle with that. And Austin, if you look at the market, if I'm correct, if you look at independent community banks, there was really only two independent community banks over $500 million in assets. So we talk about scarcity value a lot with it. And in Austin is a prime example of that.

It's -- we're so lucky with Keystone to be able to get that because it gives us a foothold in that off the market and gives us some assets there, which I think the market that's growing, that is -- has a lot of opportunity for -- to go get some of these different customers from community to middle market side of it, especially as the other banks get bigger and there's more consolidation. So that was kind of a rare opportunity that worked. We would certainly look at our other markets.

But we talked a little bit about being a talent magnet. And I think the market, and we have finally seen, that we're able to acquire bankers that are just exceptional. That are working for much larger banks. And being that talent magnet certainly affords us to be able to grow organically. But I kind of think we're almost like a platform magnet for some of these other banks now.

We give certain banks the opportunity, if they want to take it to the next step, we have the infrastructure, the technology, now the systems in place that if they're looking for a partnership with it, we offer a platform for them to continue to do what they want to do and grow a certain market. So some of this is about cultural fit and about a partnership that would make a difference for us. And I hope we can continue in that Texas Triangle with all of it, but it could be adjacent to that. Or we're opportunists and look at things that add shareholder value.

I mean, ultimately, the way we look at it is what are we going to do that's going to make this franchise more valuable. So I don't know if you were going there, Dave, with it. But it was a really good question that I think it's -- I think we're proving up that we can be a very good partner for other banks. And I'm not so sure that with the Keystone merger that that's not going to open up more phone calls to me about banks that are -- now have another avenue.

That's great color. One more for me, if I could. Just looking at some of the view of the Keystone credit profile. It looks like they do have really high-quality credit profile, strong asset quality. Is there anything that they're doing that you can see that they're doing now, kind of before you get your hands on it, that you think could be mapped over to Third Coast and improve your underwriting, improve your asset quality even further?

Yes. So what I would tell you is we really have a good customer base there that we're happy with. And Audrey and I talked about, we wanted to -- we looked at the loans, we felt comfortable. But we also engaged Gateway to do a loan review. And it came out really well, right, Audrey? I mean...

Yes. Gateway looked at 80% of their commercial loan portfolio and the results were very, very favorable. But you're correct. They have very strong asset quality.

So I think what it is, is, again, we layer the tools on top of what they're doing. And I think we can get more wallet share out of some of their large customers. Give them some more products to go out there and compete with some of the bigger banks now. So I'm pretty excited about to see what they're able to do with our additional tools.

This now concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back to Bart Caraway for closing comments.

Thank you, Carrie. I appreciate that, and thanks, everybody, for your interest in Third Coast Bancshares, and we look forward to talking to you next quarter. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.