NASDAQ:FSUN FirstSun Capital Bancorp Q4 2025 Earnings Report $37.08 +0.22 (+0.60%) Closing price 05/8/2026 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$37.07 -0.01 (-0.03%) As of 05/8/2026 04:10 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more. ProfileEarnings HistoryForecast FirstSun Capital Bancorp EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.95Consensus EPS $0.86Beat/MissBeat by +$0.09One Year Ago EPSN/AFirstSun Capital Bancorp Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$110.18 millionExpected Revenue$108.20 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$1.98 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AFirstSun Capital Bancorp Announcement DetailsQuarterQ4 2025Date1/26/2026TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateTuesday, January 27, 2026Conference Call Time11:00AM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Annual Report (10-K)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by FirstSun Capital Bancorp Q4 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrJanuary 27, 2026 ShareLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Positive Sentiment: FirstSun reported a strong fourth quarter with adjusted net income of $26.9M, adjusted EPS of $0.95, and a NIM of 4.18%, driven by 10.8% annualized revenue growth and positive operating leverage for the year. Positive Sentiment: Loan activity was robust with average loan growth of 8.5% annualized and ~ $350M of new fundings in Q4 (up ~30% YoY), and management expects mid-single-digit average loan growth in 2026 on a standalone basis. Negative Sentiment: Asset-quality headwinds included a large telecom-related charge-off (and a cross-border C&I loss), which accounted for ~75% of 2025 charge-offs and pushed the full-year charge-off ratio to ~43 bps. Positive Sentiment: Management reported steady progress on the pending merger with First Foundation — integration planning, balance-sheet optimization, and disclosed cost-savings assumptions remain on track, which they expect to improve pro forma liquidity and funding flexibility. Neutral Sentiment: Outlook for margins and funding: management expects NII growth in the mid-single digits and stable NIM in 2026, but warned of heavier competitive pressure on deposit betas despite recent improvement in deposit costs (spot cost ~1.90% at Dec-end). AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallFirstSun Capital Bancorp Q4 202500:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipantsPresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Morning, and welcome to the FirstSun Capital Bancorp Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by the number two. Also, as a reminder, this call may be recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to Ed Jacques, FirstSun's Director of Investor Relations and Business Development. You may begin. Ed JacquesDirector of Investor Relations and Business Development at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:00:35Thank you, and good morning. I'm joined today by Neal Arnold, our Chief Executive Officer and President, Rob Cafera, our Chief Financial Officer, and Jennifer Norris, our Chief Credit Officer. We will start the call with some brief remarks to highlight commentary around the fourth quarter and full year results, and then move into questions. Our comments will reference the earnings release and earnings presentation, which you will find on our website under the Investor Relations section. During this call, we will comment on our financial performance using both GAAP metrics and non-GAAP financial measures. Important information about these non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures, is included in the appendix to our earnings presentation and in our earnings release. Ed JacquesDirector of Investor Relations and Business Development at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:01:21During this call, we will also make remarks about future expectations, plans, and prospects for the company that constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Safe Harbor Provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors. Please refer to our earnings presentation, our annual report on Form 10-K, and our other SEC filings for further discussion of the company's risk factors and other important information regarding our forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statement except as required by law. During our comments today, we will also discuss our pending merger with First Foundation. In connection with the proposed merger, we filed a definitive joint proxy statement and prospectus with the SEC on January 15th, 2026, which we urge you to read. Ed JacquesDirector of Investor Relations and Business Development at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:02:23Information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be considered participants in the solicitation of FirstSun and First Foundation stockholders in connection with that proposed transaction is set forth in such definitive joint proxy statement and prospectus. I will now turn the call over to Neal Arnold. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:02:45Thank you, Ed, and thank you all for joining us this morning. We are pleased with our strong operating results in the fourth quarter. For the quarter, we achieved adjusted net income of $26.9 million, representing adjusted diluted EPS of $0.95 and a $1.27 adjusted ROA. This quarter was highlighted by strong revenue growth, which was up 10.8% annualized over last quarter, and the growth in our net interest margin to a very strong 4.18%. We also achieved healthy average loan growth of 8.5% annualized while maintaining a strong revenue mix with non-interest income to total revenue of 24.3%. Overall, this performance underscores our emphasis on relationship-based banking across all our businesses. In addition, we've continued our focus on reinvesting in the franchise, and it has positioned us well and resulted in $11.5 million of positive adjusted operating leverage for the full year. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:04:03We plan to continue to invest in our growth markets and add to our portfolio of products and services to support our relationship-based model, with a continued focus on generating operating leverage and maintaining a healthy revenue mix. On the asset quality side, we took a charge on a telecom loan, which we'd prior partially charged off in prior quarters, which resulted in the biggest driver of our total charge-offs in the fourth quarter. While we have not seen pervasive credit issues in any sector or geography within our portfolio, we do continue to monitor carefully the credit conditions of our portfolio. Given our heavy C&I nature of our loan portfolio, I've always said that at times credit will be lumpy, but all in all, we remain focused on driving healthy returns for our shareholders as we have this year. Overall, I'm very encouraged by our performance this year. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:05:12Given our franchise footprint in 7 of the 10 fastest-growing MSAs in the Southwest, we believe we're well-positioned to continue to grow our customer base. We see great growth potential across all markets and believe we have the right team to continue to drive our long-term growth and profitability in these markets. Touching briefly on the pending merger with First Foundation, we are encouraged by the progress our teams are making on all the integration planning, the balance sheet optimization, and we look forward to working together in the year ahead. I want to thank our entire team for their relentless focus on our businesses and our clients. Our teams remain focused on building a best-in-class bank while delivering value-added solutions to all of our clients throughout our footprint. I'll now pass the call over to Rob for a more detailed review of our financial results. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:06:22Thank you, Neal. I will touch on several highlights this morning in regards to our fourth quarter and full year results. In addition, please note that when I refer to our financial outlook for the full year 2026, I'm referencing FirstSun on a standalone basis and not reflective of the financial impact of our proposed merger with First Foundation. Starting on the balance sheet side, for the fourth quarter, on an average balance basis, we achieved healthy loan growth of 8.5% annualized. New loan fundings totaled approximately $350 million in the fourth quarter. And while this has historically been our seasonally slowest quarter for new loan fundings each year, this year's new funding level was up 30% over the fourth quarter of last year. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:07:11While we saw healthy average balance growth, period-end loan balances were flat, given some late quarter paydowns, and as we saw overall line utilization drop 3 percentage points. For the full year, we saw net balance growth of approximately $300 million, or almost 5%, with the bulk of that growth in our C&I portfolio. As Neal noted, we plan to continue to invest in our franchise, including adding to our C&I teams in several of our higher growth markets in 2026. On the deposit side for the fourth quarter, on both an average balance and period-end basis, balances were relatively flat. Although not exactly the outcome we were looking for on the deposit side, we continue to be focused on mix, and we remain pleased with our trending there. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:08:01We saw average balance growth in transaction products and period-end growth in our money market accounts, with a noticeable decline in consumer CD balances. Rates in many of our markets on the CD side seem to be staying higher, and that isn't our focus. We will remain focused on operating account and money market account growth across our customer base. For the full year, we saw total deposits increase over $400 million, or approximately 6.5%, with strong overall growth in our money market, non-interest-bearing, and interest-bearing accounts, partially offset by a drop in consumer CDs. We finished the year with an approximate 93.9% loan-to-deposit ratio, a slight improvement from the third quarter. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:08:48Overall, for loans and deposits, we finished the year roughly where we expected to be on a growth basis, and our growth expectations on a standalone basis on the loan and deposit side for 2026 are much the same, growing at a rateable basis throughout the year with average balance growth in the mid-single digit level. Flipping to the P&L side, as Neal noted, we're quite pleased with the fourth quarter EPS performance, as our adjusted diluted EPS of $0.95 was our best EPS quarter of the year. Our net interest margin in the fourth quarter was quite strong at 4.18%, up 11 basis points from the third quarter, and has now been above 4% for the last 13 consecutive quarters. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:09:33Overall, net interest margin and net interest income trending in the fourth quarter was largely driven by improved funding costs, with interest-bearing deposit costs down 21 basis points, and wholesale borrowing costs favorably impacted by a sub-debt payoff we completed at the very beginning of the quarter. All in all, we're pretty pleased with our margin performance and 7% NII growth on the full year. It's a testament to our focus on our loan and deposit product and business mix. Looking ahead to the full year 2026, we expect mid-single digit growth in our net interest income, with NIM remaining stable relative to full year 2025 performance. Shifting to the service fee revenue side, we had a really nice quarter with non-interest revenue totaling $26.7 million, or roughly $400,000 more than Q3, and up almost 24% over the fourth quarter of 2024. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:10:31The sequential growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 was largely driven by our loan syndication and swap revenue streams, partially offset by a nominal decline in our mortgage revenues, which certainly showed strong given the season. We also saw growth in our treasury management and interchange service fee revenues in the fourth quarter. For the full year, we saw growth of approximately $12.1 million over 2024, or approximately 13%, driven mostly by service fee revenues in our mortgage and treasury management lines of business, which were up 21% and 18%, respectively. Our results on the non-interest revenue side really highlight the diversity across all our fee businesses, contributing to our achieving the 13% full year growth in 2025. For 2026, we expect non-interest revenue percentage growth in the low double-digit to low teens range. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:11:30Our total adjusted non-interest expense in the fourth quarter, which excludes merger-related expenses, was up from the third quarter by approximately $1 million, primarily related to increases in other non-interest expenses. The increase there was primarily the result of the write-off of the remaining deferred expenses associated with the sub-debt redemption at the beginning of the fourth quarter, as well as some maintenance expenses related to some real properties. That said, the adjusted efficiency ratio for the quarter was slightly down from the prior quarter at 63.36%, resulting from the net revenue growth for the quarter. As Neal noted earlier, we saw nice operating leverage this year in both the fourth quarter and for the full year. For 2026, we expect to see our adjusted non-interest expense percentage growth in the mid to high single digit range. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:12:25On the asset quality side, provision expense for the fourth quarter was $6.2 million, resulting in an ending allowance for credit losses as a percentage of loans of 1.27%, an increase of one basis point from Q3. Our provisioning this quarter was due primarily to impacts from net portfolio downgrades. Our classified loan balances were down about 5% from the prior quarter, while non-performing loan balances also decreased from the third quarter by about 13%. As Neal referenced earlier, credit on the C&I side can be lumpy at times. We finished the year with an approximate 43 basis points charge-off ratio on the full year, with approximately 75% of the charge-off dollars related to two loans in our C&I portfolio, the telecom credit and the cross-border credit that we've referenced earlier in the year. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:13:18For 2026, we expect our allowance for credit losses to loans to stay in the mid to high 120s in basis points, with a net charge-off ratio in the mid to high 20s in basis points. On the capital side, we continue to strengthen our position as we closed out the year with our TBV per share improving by $3.89, or roughly 11.5% over 2024 year-end, to $37.83, and CET 1 ratio ending at 14.12%. I will now turn the call back to the moderator to open the line for questions. Operator00:14:00Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. The first question comes from Woody Lay of KBW. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:14:23Hey, good morning, guys. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:14:26Good morning. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:14:26Wanted to start on deposit costs, and we saw the deposit betas kind of re-accelerate, which was great to see. It was just looking for maybe some additional color on the deposit pricing strategy in the quarter. And then how do you think about betas from here? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:14:50Thank you, Woody. Yeah, we certainly saw favorable movement, as I commented on earlier, with overall interest-bearing costs going down by about 21 basis points. Certainly pleased with that. We moved rates when macro rates moved, and we'll continue to do that. We look at kind of looking forward, we do look at the environment. It's tougher out there, certainly when you're pushing for growth like we are. We acknowledge that we do have a lot of flexibility given the C&I variable nature of the asset side to our sheet. So we have a lot more flexibility to engage in some of the pricing that's going on out there. We don't see that changing by and large. I've mentioned CD pricing across a lot of our markets is pretty aggressive. We're seeing it hang pretty high. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:15:56Now, CDs isn't really where we play, but we'll continue to be focused on operating account growth through all of our C&I business development efforts across our sales teams. And certainly on the consumer side with money market account growth and our emphasis there, how does that translate to betas? I think our beta is going to be tracking a little lighter than it historically has tracked because of all the deposit competition out there. Having said that, I don't expect it to be terribly lighter than it has been in the past, but we do expect it to be less than the 40%+ betas that we've been able to enjoy historically. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:16:49Got it. That's helpful color. Next, I wanted to shift over to expenses, and I appreciate the standalone guide. I was just curious sort of what level in that standalone guide is baked into investments in the West Coast, knowing you've been kind of doing that independently. And then once the deal closes, how are you thinking about sort of the incremental expense investment needed? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:17:23Yeah, good question. Yes. Thank you, Neal. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:17:30I would say the opportunity to add to our sales force is probably across the footprint, and we're seeing more activity in Texas, certainly as a result of the merger side. So I would expect us to add to our C&I team in both Texas and Southern Cal, specifically some of the newer markets that First Foundation brings. But I'd say I still think we've by and large built a lot of what we're trying to do ahead of the merger. So with that, I'll turn it over to Rob. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:18:12Yeah, and I would just add to Neal's comment to say, aside from the sales force, Woody, in your question, our cost-save synergy disclosures in our investor presentation all took into consideration the infrastructure needs for the combined company. So we don't expect that there's anything else on the infrastructure side. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:18:50All right. I appreciate that. And then last for me, just real quick, any color on what drove the special mention increase in the quarter? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:19:04Yeah, fair question. I mean, ultimately, I think, and Jennifer could certainly add to this, maybe I'll just offer that we continue to see a little bit of pressure just from macro interest rates and how that's reverberating in the portfolio. And that's the general trend that we've seen throughout 2025. Of course, we do expect, given how interest rates have come down towards the latter half of 2025, we do expect to see, as we get financial statements through the end of the year, we expect to see some of that interest rate pressure on the business side abate a bit. But generally, that's a net downgrade trend that we have been seeing throughout the year, and particularly on interest costs. Jennifer, I suspect you may have something to add there. Jennifer NorrisChief Credit Officer at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:20:09Yeah, and I think your comment is spot on. As we've seen the interest rate deteriorate, well, the interest rates play out for a longer period of time. There were certainly, as it's been said multiple times, no pervasive themes in the increase in special mentions. It was, again, a lumpy component there primarily with one particular name. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:20:40All right. That's it for me. Thanks for taking my question. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:20:45Thank you. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:20:45Thanks, Woody. Operator00:20:49The next question comes from Matt Olney of Stephens. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Matt OlneyAnalyst at Stephens00:20:57Hey, thanks. Good morning. Appreciate you taking my question. Looking for any commentary on loan price. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:21:04Good morning. Matt OlneyAnalyst at Stephens00:21:05Good morning. Any commentary on loan pricing? Are C&I spreads holding in, or is competition coming in more aggressively? Just trying to forecast loan betas, I guess, over the next few quarters. Thanks. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:21:19Yeah, maybe I'll kick it off there. I mean, pretty consistent, really, Matt. I mean, no material changes in what we're seeing in terms of trends on credit spreads. And certainly, credit spreads have some slight differences from one market to another across our franchise footprint. But by and large, credit spreads have been holding in the spaces that we are focused on, have been holding pretty well. Matt OlneyAnalyst at Stephens00:21:57Okay. Appreciate that, Rob. And then I guess as a follow-up, I just want to ask about the pending acquisition and any kind of impact you can see on that from the recent interest rate cuts and potentially, I guess, additional rate cuts until closing. Will any of those rate changes over the last few months impact the financial metrics of the acquisition? And then maybe just strategically, as we get more rate cuts since the announcement, what does that mean for the asset and liability repositioning that we've talked about previously? Thanks. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:22:37Yeah, absolutely. And maybe I'll start off. I know Neal will have some additions here as well. I would just start off by saying certainly we remain very excited about the prospects ahead of us, post-merger closing as we look forward here in 2026. As it relates to macro rates, both balance sheets operate a little differently, as you know. But all in all, we're not seeing anything that is causing us any pause or having any change in our expectations. As it relates to the balance sheet repositioning, loan downsizing there, as Neal had mentioned a little bit earlier, we're making great progress on, well, actually all integration planning efforts, including the balance sheet repositioning. So certainly, macro rates have moved around a little bit, but as it relates to the balance sheet repositioning, we think we're right on schedule for our execution plan. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:23:57Yeah. I'd say in general, I think people understand that First Foundation's balance sheet is a term asset, short-funded kind of structure. We're certainly taking action to reduce some of that. But I think, as Rob said, both with hedging and with the activity that we're working on together, I think we feel good about the progress we've made. Operator00:24:41Thank you. The next question comes from Michael Rose of Raymond James. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:24:50Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe we can just start. Certainly appreciate the prior good morning. Certainly appreciate the prior questions regarding loan and asset betas. How should we think about, obviously, excluding the deal, just the trajectory of the margin from here? So obviously, not much balance sheet growth this quarter. Looks to re-accelerate into next year, given kind of the guide. Obviously, a fair amount of fixed or, excuse me, floating-rate loans. Just walk us through just kind of the puts and takes on the margin, assuming the two cuts, and then if we don't get any. Thanks. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:25:28Yes, absolutely, Michael. Maybe I'll kick off on this one. I mean, all in all, we do expect net interest margin to remain relatively stable. Very pleased with the 11 basis point expansion that we saw in the fourth quarter. But on the deposit pricing side, we see the environment tightening up. And so, as I mentioned earlier, we do see, or we are expecting that some of the deposit pricing is going to get a little tougher. We have a little room to play with there given that we are a little bit stronger on the asset side. But we think we're going to be able to maintain margins with the contributions on both sides. We do have 2 rate cuts, as we had indicated, baked into our expectations. And I think that's largely consensus. So we're not really straying from consensus there. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:26:31But we do see there's going to be quite a bit of price competition on the deposit side. We think, again, here in 2026, and that's going to directionally drive where we land on net interest margin. But we do feel pretty good about the standalone legacy Sunflower FirstSun franchise operating at a pretty stable level in comparison to what we saw in 2025. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:27:02Very helpful. And then maybe one for you, Neal. I think in prior calls, you've kind of talked about the opportunity being a little bit larger or maybe much larger in the Southern California market relative to Texas. It seems like maybe there's, if I'm reading your comments earlier correctly, that there may be a little bit more in terms of opportunity in Texas than maybe you might have thought a couple of months ago. If you can just kind of square those comments. And as it relates to the expense guide, how much of that is just kind of normal kind of inflationary aspects, bonuses, raises, things like that, versus incremental hiring efforts both in Texas and in Southern California? Thanks. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:27:48Sure. No, thank you, Michael. Yeah, I guess I'd say broadly, our priority the last year and a half was certainly to build out Southern Cal. I think we were ahead of the curve. I think we have a couple of, I'll call it, minor holes that we'd add as the First Foundation acquisition comes together. I would say, given all the M&A activity in Texas, we have seen more opportunity than we originally thought to pick up solid bankers with good relationships. I think everybody's heard me. Houston's been a priority. We continue to add in Dallas. So I think you'll see us continue to be opportunistic on the hire side. Texas has been white-hot on the M&A side. We aren't going to use our currency to play on the M&A side in Texas. So our opportunity is really to grow by building teams. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:29:02All right. Very helpful. And then maybe if I can just squeeze one last one in. Once the deal hopefully closes here by the end of the second quarter, it looks like the loan-to-deposit ratio will come down into kind of the mid-80s range, which will give you a little bit more flexibility. At that point, does the deposit narrative or beta narrative change insofar that you might have a little bit of flexibility to maybe let some of those higher-cost deposits go? And that could actually be supportive of kind of NIM expansion on a combined basis. And if it's too early to answer, I certainly understand, but that was my read. Thanks. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:29:43No, I'll let Rob take that. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:29:44No, absolutely. Yeah. No, absolutely, Michael. As you know from our IR deck on the deal, we're certainly very focused on the liquidity equation. And that's certainly a big part of the overall balance sheet repositioning, not only immediately following close and up to close, but also in the several quarters following close. We'll continue to address and reposition as some of the term funding items continue to hit maturity dates. And by that, I mean in higher-cost areas. So we'll continue to look to bring down overall costs for the pro forma company as we get there from an overall beta perspective. I mean, our interest is always in relationships. That's what we're looking to drive. Relationships have more than one element, of course. So we know it's competitive out there. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:31:00So we expect competition on pricing, but we also expect the balance through the relationship and it being more than just a one product. So our focus will be on continuing to build out on the relationship side there. We think that'll have some beneficial impact in margin as we think of things not only for legacy, but looking into the future. But that's how we would be attacking it. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:31:32All right. Very helpful. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:31:32Michael, the only thing I would add. Michael, the only thing I would add to your question, because I think it is important, we look forward to running our retail strategy play in Southern Cal in their branches. I think there's great opportunity, as I've said in the past, in Southern Cal running our play. I think it's a very robust deposit opportunity. And secondarily, as we've got into the multifamily portfolio, a lot of these clients are sitting on a lot of cash because they're investors, not necessarily just developers, like we sometimes think about on the space. So I think we have, as we've spent more and more time with the First Foundation team, I think there's a robust treasury management opportunity on that multifamily portfolio, not just property counts, but actual deposit relationships. So kickstarting that will also be additive, I believe. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:32:44Great. Thanks to all the callers, guys. I'll step back. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:32:48Thank you. Operator00:32:52The next question comes from Matthew Clark of Piper Sandler. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:33:00Hey, good morning. Thanks for the questions. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:33:03Good morning. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:33:05Good morning. Do you happen to have the spot rate on deposits at the end of December to give us some visibility into 1Q? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:33:12Yeah. On the deposit side, as we were talking about, certainly very pleased with what we saw in the fourth quarter. I think we were total cost of deposits around 198 for the quarter. At the end of December, we were closer to 190, that neighborhood, Matthew. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:33:37Okay. That's helpful. And just on the money market side, I mean, is there, I guess, what is your current offering there? It may be customized to some degree, but I guess what's kind of the range that people are getting these days? And do you feel like there's pressure to potentially increase that rate, or do you feel like it's just not going to come down as much as you'd like? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:34:03Yeah. Great question. Yeah. I mean, it's very competitive out there, definitely. Our promo offerings on the MMDA side, and there's always asterisks. There's balance qualifiers. But the top tier, we're around the 3.45 handle on the consumer side for that MMDA product. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:34:39Okay. Okay. Great. And then just on the pro forma, the guidance you gave today or last night was on a standalone basis. But any update on your pro forma guidance relative to at the time when the deal was announced, whether plus or minus, whether or not you think there have been any material changes there? Obviously, put up a better-than-expected quarter. So that's helpful. But any thoughts there? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:35:07Yeah. I mean, we don't have any updates at this time on pro forma projections. We're certainly, as we mentioned, very encouraged about the prospects looking forward. And you're right, a lot of information in our IR deck around expectations. I mean, there's always some pluses, minuses. But all in all, yeah, we continue to remain extremely excited about the prospects as we look forward on that side. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:35:40Okay. Great. Thank you. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:35:43Yeah. Thank you. Operator00:35:47We currently have no further questions, so I'd like to hand back to Neal for closing remarks. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:35:54Thank you. Thank you all for joining our call this morning. As always, we appreciate your continued interest in FirstSun. We hope you all have a great day, and thanks for listening.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesEd JacquesDirector of Investor Relations and Business DevelopmentJennifer NorrisChief Credit OfficerNeal ArnoldCEO and PresidentRob CaferaCFOAnalystsMatt OlneyAnalyst at StephensMatthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper SandlerMichael RoseAnalyst at Raymond JamesWood LayAnalyst at KBWPowered by Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Annual report(10-K) FirstSun Capital Bancorp Earnings HeadlinesWhat FirstSun Capital Bancorp (FSUN)'s Mixed Q1 Results and Acquisition Integration Progress Means For ShareholdersMay 8 at 9:52 AM | finance.yahoo.com5 Insightful Analyst Questions From FirstSun Capital Bancorp’s Q1 Earnings CallMay 4, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comI was right about SpaceXJeff Brown predicted Bitcoin before it climbed as high as 52,400%, Tesla before 2,150%, and Nvidia before 32,000%. Now he says SpaceX is shaping up to be the biggest IPO of the decade - and three key milestones just confirmed it. In the past 21 days: SpaceX crossed 10,000 active satellites, Elon filed confidential IPO paperwork with the SEC, and another rocket launched 25 more satellites. Two-thirds of every satellite in orbit now belongs to one company. The public filing could drop any day.May 9 at 1:00 AM | Brownstone Research (Ad)Stephens Lowers FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) Price Target to $43.00May 1, 2026 | americanbankingnews.comFirstsun Capital Bancorp (FSUN) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Loan Growth and ...April 29, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comWhy FirstSun Capital Bancorp (FSUN) shares are trading lower todayApril 29, 2026 | msn.comSee More FirstSun Capital Bancorp Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like FirstSun Capital Bancorp? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on FirstSun Capital Bancorp and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About FirstSun Capital BancorpFirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) engages in the provision of commercial banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Mortgage Operations, and Corporate. The Banking segment consists of loans and provides deposits and fee-based services to consumer, business, and mortgage lending customers. The Mortgage Operations segment originates, sells, services, and manages market risk from changes in interest rates on one-to-four family residential mortgage loans to sell and hold. 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PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Morning, and welcome to the FirstSun Capital Bancorp Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by the number two. Also, as a reminder, this call may be recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to Ed Jacques, FirstSun's Director of Investor Relations and Business Development. You may begin. Ed JacquesDirector of Investor Relations and Business Development at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:00:35Thank you, and good morning. I'm joined today by Neal Arnold, our Chief Executive Officer and President, Rob Cafera, our Chief Financial Officer, and Jennifer Norris, our Chief Credit Officer. We will start the call with some brief remarks to highlight commentary around the fourth quarter and full year results, and then move into questions. Our comments will reference the earnings release and earnings presentation, which you will find on our website under the Investor Relations section. During this call, we will comment on our financial performance using both GAAP metrics and non-GAAP financial measures. Important information about these non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures, is included in the appendix to our earnings presentation and in our earnings release. Ed JacquesDirector of Investor Relations and Business Development at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:01:21During this call, we will also make remarks about future expectations, plans, and prospects for the company that constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Safe Harbor Provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors. Please refer to our earnings presentation, our annual report on Form 10-K, and our other SEC filings for further discussion of the company's risk factors and other important information regarding our forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statement except as required by law. During our comments today, we will also discuss our pending merger with First Foundation. In connection with the proposed merger, we filed a definitive joint proxy statement and prospectus with the SEC on January 15th, 2026, which we urge you to read. Ed JacquesDirector of Investor Relations and Business Development at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:02:23Information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be considered participants in the solicitation of FirstSun and First Foundation stockholders in connection with that proposed transaction is set forth in such definitive joint proxy statement and prospectus. I will now turn the call over to Neal Arnold. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:02:45Thank you, Ed, and thank you all for joining us this morning. We are pleased with our strong operating results in the fourth quarter. For the quarter, we achieved adjusted net income of $26.9 million, representing adjusted diluted EPS of $0.95 and a $1.27 adjusted ROA. This quarter was highlighted by strong revenue growth, which was up 10.8% annualized over last quarter, and the growth in our net interest margin to a very strong 4.18%. We also achieved healthy average loan growth of 8.5% annualized while maintaining a strong revenue mix with non-interest income to total revenue of 24.3%. Overall, this performance underscores our emphasis on relationship-based banking across all our businesses. In addition, we've continued our focus on reinvesting in the franchise, and it has positioned us well and resulted in $11.5 million of positive adjusted operating leverage for the full year. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:04:03We plan to continue to invest in our growth markets and add to our portfolio of products and services to support our relationship-based model, with a continued focus on generating operating leverage and maintaining a healthy revenue mix. On the asset quality side, we took a charge on a telecom loan, which we'd prior partially charged off in prior quarters, which resulted in the biggest driver of our total charge-offs in the fourth quarter. While we have not seen pervasive credit issues in any sector or geography within our portfolio, we do continue to monitor carefully the credit conditions of our portfolio. Given our heavy C&I nature of our loan portfolio, I've always said that at times credit will be lumpy, but all in all, we remain focused on driving healthy returns for our shareholders as we have this year. Overall, I'm very encouraged by our performance this year. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:05:12Given our franchise footprint in 7 of the 10 fastest-growing MSAs in the Southwest, we believe we're well-positioned to continue to grow our customer base. We see great growth potential across all markets and believe we have the right team to continue to drive our long-term growth and profitability in these markets. Touching briefly on the pending merger with First Foundation, we are encouraged by the progress our teams are making on all the integration planning, the balance sheet optimization, and we look forward to working together in the year ahead. I want to thank our entire team for their relentless focus on our businesses and our clients. Our teams remain focused on building a best-in-class bank while delivering value-added solutions to all of our clients throughout our footprint. I'll now pass the call over to Rob for a more detailed review of our financial results. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:06:22Thank you, Neal. I will touch on several highlights this morning in regards to our fourth quarter and full year results. In addition, please note that when I refer to our financial outlook for the full year 2026, I'm referencing FirstSun on a standalone basis and not reflective of the financial impact of our proposed merger with First Foundation. Starting on the balance sheet side, for the fourth quarter, on an average balance basis, we achieved healthy loan growth of 8.5% annualized. New loan fundings totaled approximately $350 million in the fourth quarter. And while this has historically been our seasonally slowest quarter for new loan fundings each year, this year's new funding level was up 30% over the fourth quarter of last year. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:07:11While we saw healthy average balance growth, period-end loan balances were flat, given some late quarter paydowns, and as we saw overall line utilization drop 3 percentage points. For the full year, we saw net balance growth of approximately $300 million, or almost 5%, with the bulk of that growth in our C&I portfolio. As Neal noted, we plan to continue to invest in our franchise, including adding to our C&I teams in several of our higher growth markets in 2026. On the deposit side for the fourth quarter, on both an average balance and period-end basis, balances were relatively flat. Although not exactly the outcome we were looking for on the deposit side, we continue to be focused on mix, and we remain pleased with our trending there. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:08:01We saw average balance growth in transaction products and period-end growth in our money market accounts, with a noticeable decline in consumer CD balances. Rates in many of our markets on the CD side seem to be staying higher, and that isn't our focus. We will remain focused on operating account and money market account growth across our customer base. For the full year, we saw total deposits increase over $400 million, or approximately 6.5%, with strong overall growth in our money market, non-interest-bearing, and interest-bearing accounts, partially offset by a drop in consumer CDs. We finished the year with an approximate 93.9% loan-to-deposit ratio, a slight improvement from the third quarter. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:08:48Overall, for loans and deposits, we finished the year roughly where we expected to be on a growth basis, and our growth expectations on a standalone basis on the loan and deposit side for 2026 are much the same, growing at a rateable basis throughout the year with average balance growth in the mid-single digit level. Flipping to the P&L side, as Neal noted, we're quite pleased with the fourth quarter EPS performance, as our adjusted diluted EPS of $0.95 was our best EPS quarter of the year. Our net interest margin in the fourth quarter was quite strong at 4.18%, up 11 basis points from the third quarter, and has now been above 4% for the last 13 consecutive quarters. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:09:33Overall, net interest margin and net interest income trending in the fourth quarter was largely driven by improved funding costs, with interest-bearing deposit costs down 21 basis points, and wholesale borrowing costs favorably impacted by a sub-debt payoff we completed at the very beginning of the quarter. All in all, we're pretty pleased with our margin performance and 7% NII growth on the full year. It's a testament to our focus on our loan and deposit product and business mix. Looking ahead to the full year 2026, we expect mid-single digit growth in our net interest income, with NIM remaining stable relative to full year 2025 performance. Shifting to the service fee revenue side, we had a really nice quarter with non-interest revenue totaling $26.7 million, or roughly $400,000 more than Q3, and up almost 24% over the fourth quarter of 2024. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:10:31The sequential growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 was largely driven by our loan syndication and swap revenue streams, partially offset by a nominal decline in our mortgage revenues, which certainly showed strong given the season. We also saw growth in our treasury management and interchange service fee revenues in the fourth quarter. For the full year, we saw growth of approximately $12.1 million over 2024, or approximately 13%, driven mostly by service fee revenues in our mortgage and treasury management lines of business, which were up 21% and 18%, respectively. Our results on the non-interest revenue side really highlight the diversity across all our fee businesses, contributing to our achieving the 13% full year growth in 2025. For 2026, we expect non-interest revenue percentage growth in the low double-digit to low teens range. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:11:30Our total adjusted non-interest expense in the fourth quarter, which excludes merger-related expenses, was up from the third quarter by approximately $1 million, primarily related to increases in other non-interest expenses. The increase there was primarily the result of the write-off of the remaining deferred expenses associated with the sub-debt redemption at the beginning of the fourth quarter, as well as some maintenance expenses related to some real properties. That said, the adjusted efficiency ratio for the quarter was slightly down from the prior quarter at 63.36%, resulting from the net revenue growth for the quarter. As Neal noted earlier, we saw nice operating leverage this year in both the fourth quarter and for the full year. For 2026, we expect to see our adjusted non-interest expense percentage growth in the mid to high single digit range. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:12:25On the asset quality side, provision expense for the fourth quarter was $6.2 million, resulting in an ending allowance for credit losses as a percentage of loans of 1.27%, an increase of one basis point from Q3. Our provisioning this quarter was due primarily to impacts from net portfolio downgrades. Our classified loan balances were down about 5% from the prior quarter, while non-performing loan balances also decreased from the third quarter by about 13%. As Neal referenced earlier, credit on the C&I side can be lumpy at times. We finished the year with an approximate 43 basis points charge-off ratio on the full year, with approximately 75% of the charge-off dollars related to two loans in our C&I portfolio, the telecom credit and the cross-border credit that we've referenced earlier in the year. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:13:18For 2026, we expect our allowance for credit losses to loans to stay in the mid to high 120s in basis points, with a net charge-off ratio in the mid to high 20s in basis points. On the capital side, we continue to strengthen our position as we closed out the year with our TBV per share improving by $3.89, or roughly 11.5% over 2024 year-end, to $37.83, and CET 1 ratio ending at 14.12%. I will now turn the call back to the moderator to open the line for questions. Operator00:14:00Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. The first question comes from Woody Lay of KBW. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:14:23Hey, good morning, guys. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:14:26Good morning. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:14:26Wanted to start on deposit costs, and we saw the deposit betas kind of re-accelerate, which was great to see. It was just looking for maybe some additional color on the deposit pricing strategy in the quarter. And then how do you think about betas from here? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:14:50Thank you, Woody. Yeah, we certainly saw favorable movement, as I commented on earlier, with overall interest-bearing costs going down by about 21 basis points. Certainly pleased with that. We moved rates when macro rates moved, and we'll continue to do that. We look at kind of looking forward, we do look at the environment. It's tougher out there, certainly when you're pushing for growth like we are. We acknowledge that we do have a lot of flexibility given the C&I variable nature of the asset side to our sheet. So we have a lot more flexibility to engage in some of the pricing that's going on out there. We don't see that changing by and large. I've mentioned CD pricing across a lot of our markets is pretty aggressive. We're seeing it hang pretty high. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:15:56Now, CDs isn't really where we play, but we'll continue to be focused on operating account growth through all of our C&I business development efforts across our sales teams. And certainly on the consumer side with money market account growth and our emphasis there, how does that translate to betas? I think our beta is going to be tracking a little lighter than it historically has tracked because of all the deposit competition out there. Having said that, I don't expect it to be terribly lighter than it has been in the past, but we do expect it to be less than the 40%+ betas that we've been able to enjoy historically. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:16:49Got it. That's helpful color. Next, I wanted to shift over to expenses, and I appreciate the standalone guide. I was just curious sort of what level in that standalone guide is baked into investments in the West Coast, knowing you've been kind of doing that independently. And then once the deal closes, how are you thinking about sort of the incremental expense investment needed? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:17:23Yeah, good question. Yes. Thank you, Neal. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:17:30I would say the opportunity to add to our sales force is probably across the footprint, and we're seeing more activity in Texas, certainly as a result of the merger side. So I would expect us to add to our C&I team in both Texas and Southern Cal, specifically some of the newer markets that First Foundation brings. But I'd say I still think we've by and large built a lot of what we're trying to do ahead of the merger. So with that, I'll turn it over to Rob. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:18:12Yeah, and I would just add to Neal's comment to say, aside from the sales force, Woody, in your question, our cost-save synergy disclosures in our investor presentation all took into consideration the infrastructure needs for the combined company. So we don't expect that there's anything else on the infrastructure side. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:18:50All right. I appreciate that. And then last for me, just real quick, any color on what drove the special mention increase in the quarter? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:19:04Yeah, fair question. I mean, ultimately, I think, and Jennifer could certainly add to this, maybe I'll just offer that we continue to see a little bit of pressure just from macro interest rates and how that's reverberating in the portfolio. And that's the general trend that we've seen throughout 2025. Of course, we do expect, given how interest rates have come down towards the latter half of 2025, we do expect to see, as we get financial statements through the end of the year, we expect to see some of that interest rate pressure on the business side abate a bit. But generally, that's a net downgrade trend that we have been seeing throughout the year, and particularly on interest costs. Jennifer, I suspect you may have something to add there. Jennifer NorrisChief Credit Officer at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:20:09Yeah, and I think your comment is spot on. As we've seen the interest rate deteriorate, well, the interest rates play out for a longer period of time. There were certainly, as it's been said multiple times, no pervasive themes in the increase in special mentions. It was, again, a lumpy component there primarily with one particular name. Wood LayAnalyst at KBW00:20:40All right. That's it for me. Thanks for taking my question. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:20:45Thank you. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:20:45Thanks, Woody. Operator00:20:49The next question comes from Matt Olney of Stephens. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Matt OlneyAnalyst at Stephens00:20:57Hey, thanks. Good morning. Appreciate you taking my question. Looking for any commentary on loan price. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:21:04Good morning. Matt OlneyAnalyst at Stephens00:21:05Good morning. Any commentary on loan pricing? Are C&I spreads holding in, or is competition coming in more aggressively? Just trying to forecast loan betas, I guess, over the next few quarters. Thanks. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:21:19Yeah, maybe I'll kick it off there. I mean, pretty consistent, really, Matt. I mean, no material changes in what we're seeing in terms of trends on credit spreads. And certainly, credit spreads have some slight differences from one market to another across our franchise footprint. But by and large, credit spreads have been holding in the spaces that we are focused on, have been holding pretty well. Matt OlneyAnalyst at Stephens00:21:57Okay. Appreciate that, Rob. And then I guess as a follow-up, I just want to ask about the pending acquisition and any kind of impact you can see on that from the recent interest rate cuts and potentially, I guess, additional rate cuts until closing. Will any of those rate changes over the last few months impact the financial metrics of the acquisition? And then maybe just strategically, as we get more rate cuts since the announcement, what does that mean for the asset and liability repositioning that we've talked about previously? Thanks. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:22:37Yeah, absolutely. And maybe I'll start off. I know Neal will have some additions here as well. I would just start off by saying certainly we remain very excited about the prospects ahead of us, post-merger closing as we look forward here in 2026. As it relates to macro rates, both balance sheets operate a little differently, as you know. But all in all, we're not seeing anything that is causing us any pause or having any change in our expectations. As it relates to the balance sheet repositioning, loan downsizing there, as Neal had mentioned a little bit earlier, we're making great progress on, well, actually all integration planning efforts, including the balance sheet repositioning. So certainly, macro rates have moved around a little bit, but as it relates to the balance sheet repositioning, we think we're right on schedule for our execution plan. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:23:57Yeah. I'd say in general, I think people understand that First Foundation's balance sheet is a term asset, short-funded kind of structure. We're certainly taking action to reduce some of that. But I think, as Rob said, both with hedging and with the activity that we're working on together, I think we feel good about the progress we've made. Operator00:24:41Thank you. The next question comes from Michael Rose of Raymond James. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:24:50Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe we can just start. Certainly appreciate the prior good morning. Certainly appreciate the prior questions regarding loan and asset betas. How should we think about, obviously, excluding the deal, just the trajectory of the margin from here? So obviously, not much balance sheet growth this quarter. Looks to re-accelerate into next year, given kind of the guide. Obviously, a fair amount of fixed or, excuse me, floating-rate loans. Just walk us through just kind of the puts and takes on the margin, assuming the two cuts, and then if we don't get any. Thanks. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:25:28Yes, absolutely, Michael. Maybe I'll kick off on this one. I mean, all in all, we do expect net interest margin to remain relatively stable. Very pleased with the 11 basis point expansion that we saw in the fourth quarter. But on the deposit pricing side, we see the environment tightening up. And so, as I mentioned earlier, we do see, or we are expecting that some of the deposit pricing is going to get a little tougher. We have a little room to play with there given that we are a little bit stronger on the asset side. But we think we're going to be able to maintain margins with the contributions on both sides. We do have 2 rate cuts, as we had indicated, baked into our expectations. And I think that's largely consensus. So we're not really straying from consensus there. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:26:31But we do see there's going to be quite a bit of price competition on the deposit side. We think, again, here in 2026, and that's going to directionally drive where we land on net interest margin. But we do feel pretty good about the standalone legacy Sunflower FirstSun franchise operating at a pretty stable level in comparison to what we saw in 2025. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:27:02Very helpful. And then maybe one for you, Neal. I think in prior calls, you've kind of talked about the opportunity being a little bit larger or maybe much larger in the Southern California market relative to Texas. It seems like maybe there's, if I'm reading your comments earlier correctly, that there may be a little bit more in terms of opportunity in Texas than maybe you might have thought a couple of months ago. If you can just kind of square those comments. And as it relates to the expense guide, how much of that is just kind of normal kind of inflationary aspects, bonuses, raises, things like that, versus incremental hiring efforts both in Texas and in Southern California? Thanks. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:27:48Sure. No, thank you, Michael. Yeah, I guess I'd say broadly, our priority the last year and a half was certainly to build out Southern Cal. I think we were ahead of the curve. I think we have a couple of, I'll call it, minor holes that we'd add as the First Foundation acquisition comes together. I would say, given all the M&A activity in Texas, we have seen more opportunity than we originally thought to pick up solid bankers with good relationships. I think everybody's heard me. Houston's been a priority. We continue to add in Dallas. So I think you'll see us continue to be opportunistic on the hire side. Texas has been white-hot on the M&A side. We aren't going to use our currency to play on the M&A side in Texas. So our opportunity is really to grow by building teams. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:29:02All right. Very helpful. And then maybe if I can just squeeze one last one in. Once the deal hopefully closes here by the end of the second quarter, it looks like the loan-to-deposit ratio will come down into kind of the mid-80s range, which will give you a little bit more flexibility. At that point, does the deposit narrative or beta narrative change insofar that you might have a little bit of flexibility to maybe let some of those higher-cost deposits go? And that could actually be supportive of kind of NIM expansion on a combined basis. And if it's too early to answer, I certainly understand, but that was my read. Thanks. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:29:43No, I'll let Rob take that. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:29:44No, absolutely. Yeah. No, absolutely, Michael. As you know from our IR deck on the deal, we're certainly very focused on the liquidity equation. And that's certainly a big part of the overall balance sheet repositioning, not only immediately following close and up to close, but also in the several quarters following close. We'll continue to address and reposition as some of the term funding items continue to hit maturity dates. And by that, I mean in higher-cost areas. So we'll continue to look to bring down overall costs for the pro forma company as we get there from an overall beta perspective. I mean, our interest is always in relationships. That's what we're looking to drive. Relationships have more than one element, of course. So we know it's competitive out there. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:31:00So we expect competition on pricing, but we also expect the balance through the relationship and it being more than just a one product. So our focus will be on continuing to build out on the relationship side there. We think that'll have some beneficial impact in margin as we think of things not only for legacy, but looking into the future. But that's how we would be attacking it. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:31:32All right. Very helpful. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:31:32Michael, the only thing I would add. Michael, the only thing I would add to your question, because I think it is important, we look forward to running our retail strategy play in Southern Cal in their branches. I think there's great opportunity, as I've said in the past, in Southern Cal running our play. I think it's a very robust deposit opportunity. And secondarily, as we've got into the multifamily portfolio, a lot of these clients are sitting on a lot of cash because they're investors, not necessarily just developers, like we sometimes think about on the space. So I think we have, as we've spent more and more time with the First Foundation team, I think there's a robust treasury management opportunity on that multifamily portfolio, not just property counts, but actual deposit relationships. So kickstarting that will also be additive, I believe. Michael RoseAnalyst at Raymond James00:32:44Great. Thanks to all the callers, guys. I'll step back. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:32:48Thank you. Operator00:32:52The next question comes from Matthew Clark of Piper Sandler. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:33:00Hey, good morning. Thanks for the questions. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:33:03Good morning. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:33:05Good morning. Do you happen to have the spot rate on deposits at the end of December to give us some visibility into 1Q? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:33:12Yeah. On the deposit side, as we were talking about, certainly very pleased with what we saw in the fourth quarter. I think we were total cost of deposits around 198 for the quarter. At the end of December, we were closer to 190, that neighborhood, Matthew. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:33:37Okay. That's helpful. And just on the money market side, I mean, is there, I guess, what is your current offering there? It may be customized to some degree, but I guess what's kind of the range that people are getting these days? And do you feel like there's pressure to potentially increase that rate, or do you feel like it's just not going to come down as much as you'd like? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:34:03Yeah. Great question. Yeah. I mean, it's very competitive out there, definitely. Our promo offerings on the MMDA side, and there's always asterisks. There's balance qualifiers. But the top tier, we're around the 3.45 handle on the consumer side for that MMDA product. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:34:39Okay. Okay. Great. And then just on the pro forma, the guidance you gave today or last night was on a standalone basis. But any update on your pro forma guidance relative to at the time when the deal was announced, whether plus or minus, whether or not you think there have been any material changes there? Obviously, put up a better-than-expected quarter. So that's helpful. But any thoughts there? Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:35:07Yeah. I mean, we don't have any updates at this time on pro forma projections. We're certainly, as we mentioned, very encouraged about the prospects looking forward. And you're right, a lot of information in our IR deck around expectations. I mean, there's always some pluses, minuses. But all in all, yeah, we continue to remain extremely excited about the prospects as we look forward on that side. Matthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper Sandler00:35:40Okay. Great. Thank you. Rob CaferaCFO at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:35:43Yeah. Thank you. Operator00:35:47We currently have no further questions, so I'd like to hand back to Neal for closing remarks. Neal ArnoldCEO and President at FirstSun Capital Bancorp00:35:54Thank you. Thank you all for joining our call this morning. As always, we appreciate your continued interest in FirstSun. We hope you all have a great day, and thanks for listening.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesEd JacquesDirector of Investor Relations and Business DevelopmentJennifer NorrisChief Credit OfficerNeal ArnoldCEO and PresidentRob CaferaCFOAnalystsMatt OlneyAnalyst at StephensMatthew ClarkAnalyst at Piper SandlerMichael RoseAnalyst at Raymond JamesWood LayAnalyst at KBWPowered by