Bank7 Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Organic growth in both loan and deposit portfolios drove significant capital accumulation, resulting in strong capital ratios and ample liquidity.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management still targets high single-digit year-over-year loan growth for Q4 and 2026, noting a robust pipeline despite occasional lumpy paydowns.
  • Negative Sentiment: Core net interest margin was 4.55% in Q3, but is expected to compress slightly toward the mid-4.40% range as recent rate cuts and rising deposit costs feed through.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Loan fee income contributed about 40 basis points to the margin this quarter, though management anticipates a return toward more normal levels as deal activity fluctuates.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Credit quality remains strong with minimal ratings migrations, yet management built additional reserves to hedge against macroeconomic volatility and continued portfolio growth.
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Earnings Conference Call
Bank7 Q3 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Welcome to the Bank7 Corp. third quarter 2025 earnings call. Before we get started, I'd like to highlight the legal information and disclaimer on page 27 of the investor presentation. For those who do not have access to the presentation, management is going to discuss certain topics that contain forward-looking information which is based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, they can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including, among other things, the direct and indirect effect of economic conditions on interest rates, credit quality, loan demand, liquidity, and monetary and supervisory policies of banking regulators.

Operator

Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. Also, please note that this conference call contains references to non-GAAP financial measures. You can find reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures in an 8K that was filed this morning by the company. Representing the company on today's call, we have Brad Haines, Chairman; Tom Travis, President and CEO; J.T. Phillips, Chief Operating Officer; Jason Estes, Chief Credit Officer; Kelly Harris, Chief Financial Officer; and Paul Timmons, Director of Accounting. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom Travis.

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

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

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

We're excited about the markets we operate in, and we're just delighted for the result. With that said, we're here for any questions.

Operator

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

Adam Pearl
Adam Pearl
Equity Analyst at Piper Sandler

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

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

Morning, Adam.

Adam Pearl
Adam Pearl
Equity Analyst at Piper Sandler

Maybe just to start on loan growth, you guys obviously had another really strong quarter in terms of growth. I'd just be curious how the pipeline stands today and how you're thinking about growth in the fourth quarter and into 2026.

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

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

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

Right now, the pipeline still has plenty of activity in it. We're always careful with those lumpy paydowns.

Adam Pearl
Adam Pearl
Equity Analyst at Piper Sandler

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

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

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

Adam Pearl
Adam Pearl
Equity Analyst at Piper Sandler

Got it. Last one for me is, you know, obviously there's been plenty of deal activity within your markets. Just any update on the M&A front?

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

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

Adam Pearl
Adam Pearl
Equity Analyst at Piper Sandler

Got it. Thank you for taking my questions.

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

Thank you.

Operator

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

Woody Lay
Woody Lay
Analyst at KBW

Hey, good morning, guys.

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

Morning, Woody.

Woody Lay
Woody Lay
Analyst at KBW

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

Kelly Harris
Kelly Harris
CFO at Bank7 Corp

Yeah, what is this, Kelly? We did the quarter at 4.55% from a core net interest margin perspective. I think, as Jason mentioned, we did experience some deposit upward pressure on cost of funds towards the end of the quarter. I think if you look at the first rate cut in Q4, you could see further net interest margin compression slightly down to 4.50%, and that starts to slow with the additional rate cut towards the latter half of the quarter. That could creep down to 4.47% as those loan floors kick in, but then also assuming that we can keep pace on the liability side.

Woody Lay
Woody Lay
Analyst at KBW

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

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

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

Woody Lay
Woody Lay
Analyst at KBW

Got it. Lastly, just on credit, credit trends were really strong in the quarter, but you did elect to increase the reserve some just on a % basis. Could you just sort of walk through the decision there and any over broader thoughts on credit?

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

Yeah, I think this is Tom. The real key here is the growth in the portfolio. When you look at the macro events in the world right now, it's frightening in a lot of areas. It's increased what I think is the volatility of just the overall credit markets. When we grow the portfolio and we see increased volatility in the macro world out there, we believe it's prudent to put hay in the barn, so to speak, relative to all those factors. It gives us a lot of comfort. We benefit from really strong, strong capital levels. It's always been fascinating to me that when people around the world in our space talk about landlocked reserves, there isn't really much discussion usually on the capital levels.

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

One could argue and say, "Why do you even need to worry about anything if you're going to maintain capital levels the way you are?" I think the importance for us is the Rubik's cube, so to speak. We stay really focused on the loan book, the macro factors. When you look at that growth, we felt like it was prudent. To maintain the integrity of our process, that's why we did it.

Woody Lay
Woody Lay
Analyst at KBW

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

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

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

Woody Lay
Woody Lay
Analyst at KBW

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

Operator

Again, if you have a question, please press star, then one. The next question comes from Matt Olney with Stephens. Please go ahead.

Matt Olney
Matt Olney
Analyst at Stephens

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

Kelly Harris
Kelly Harris
CFO at Bank7 Corp

Hey, Matt. This is Kelly. I think we got pretty close on the core fee income from Q3, and we anticipate a similar run rate both on the core fee and the expense side, the $1 million core fee, and then $9 million-$9.5 million on the non-interest expense side. Yeah, you're correct. The oil and gas is a little bit less predictable, but we're also utilizing the Q3 as a good guide for Q4.

Matt Olney
Matt Olney
Analyst at Stephens

Okay. Thanks for that, Kelly. What about the expectations around mortgage? I know you guys made an investment there recently. We'd love to get your updated thoughts about expectations for this investment, especially within 2026. Thanks.

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

Yeah, I think right now, the mortgage business, at least here locally, it's pretty slow still. Maybe not as bad for the mortgage lenders as it is for the realtors. Until you see something give, whether it's discounts or lower rates, I think we're kind of expecting more of the same where it's covering itself. It makes a little bit of money, but it's definitely not what we think. It's possible if you see a real change in the rate scenario, or we think there's a lot of headwinds against that business. It's not just rates. That affordability of housing is a big deal, and it's a little hard for us to handicap. Personally, I'd be surprised if 2026 isn't better than 2025, but who knows?

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

There's so much going on really across the globe that impacts our economy and people's ability to get wage gains and afford a new house. We're as curious as you are. I wish I had a more specific answer, but I would think that next year would be a little bit better for us in the mortgage business. I will say the pipeline has picked up compared to what it was six months ago. We're sitting here with probably, I would say, three times the number of transactions and dollar volume that'll close in the next 60 days than what we had. I'll also tell you the fallout rate's quite high. I don't know how closely you follow the industry, but we're seeing a lot more contracts break and people not close than historically has been the case.

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

Yeah, this is Tom. I would add also just a reminder on who we are and what we are. Specifically, as it relates to mortgage, it was an important acquisition for us. It was obviously a relatively small amount of dollars given our earnings and the size of the company. We're more of a rifle shooter than a shotgun shooter in the business. The strategic implication of buying that company, and Dale built a really fine mortgage operation. We're really glad to have him. We feel like we're a professional mortgage provider now. When you look at what the mortgage space will be for us going forward, we're delighted that we have the ability to deliver to our high-net-worth clients and other people. I don't want to minimize mortgage at all because it's a wonderful, nice little segment.

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

It's always going to be that more niche, specialized service that we provide our customers. Hopefully, one day it'll grow into a much more significant income provider. I think that that's going to take some time. In the meantime, we're really, really happy with the acquisition.

Matt Olney
Matt Olney
Analyst at Stephens

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

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

I would say that we still have the overhang of the AOCI that's keeping some sellers on the bench. It's a slow boat to China. It's not just the AOCI in the bond portfolio, but it's disappointingly surprising how many bankers booked really long maturity, lower fixed-rate loans. It's just going to take some time to work out. That has a dampening effect on the sellers. They all think they're worth fill in the blank, whatever. They all think they're worth one and a half to two times. When you factor all those purchase accounting marks into the equation, it makes it more difficult. I would also say that we own more than 50% of the shares of this company. We act like owners, and we act like owners every day, especially in the M&A space.

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

I think when you look at our disciplined approach and just following the numbers, it makes it a little more challenging as compared to, I'm not going to reference any particular transactions, but there have been two or three transactions recently that are real head-scratchers. I'm not sure that those transactions should have happened the way they did, but they did. I just think the landscape is going to be, it's better. There's a lot of excitement out there, but those factors are always going to make it more challenging for Bank7. With that said, I can't get into specifics on what we've looked at over the last nine months or so, but we've come close on a few transactions. I don't want anybody to think that we're not competitive because we are.

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

I think that you're going to see continued eagerness in the M&A space and our industry, and eventually, we'll find something that works strategically for us.

Matt Olney
Matt Olney
Analyst at Stephens

Thank you for the commentary. It feels like Bank7 Corp. is in a nice spot for M&A activity. I appreciate it.

Operator

We have a follow-up from Nathan Race with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Adam Pearl
Adam Pearl
Equity Analyst at Piper Sandler

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

Jason Estes
Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp

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

Adam Pearl
Adam Pearl
Equity Analyst at Piper Sandler

Got it. Thanks for taking my question.

Operator

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

Tom Travis
Tom Travis
President and CEO at Bank7 Corp

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

Operator

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

Executives
    • Kelly Harris
      Kelly Harris
      CFO
    • Tom Travis
      Tom Travis
      President and CEO
Analysts
    • Woody Lay
      Analyst at KBW
    • Matt Olney
      Analyst at Stephens
    • Adam Pearl
      Equity Analyst at Piper Sandler
    • Jason Estes
      Chief Credit Officer at Bank7 Corp