Atlantic Union Bankshares Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Atlantic Union Bankshares EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.94
• Consensus EPS: $0.92
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.02
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.95

Atlantic Union Bankshares Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $387.57 million
• Expected Revenue: $389.06 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$1.49 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +3.10%

Atlantic Union Bankshares Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 7/21/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 9:00AM ET

Atlantic Union Bankshares (NYSE:AUB), Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, operating through its principal subsidiary Atlantic Union Bank. The company offers a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions across Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. Leveraging a network of full-service branches, commercial lending offices and digital platforms, Atlantic Union Bankshares focuses on relationship-driven solutions tailored to its regional client base.

Atlantic Union’s product lineup includes traditional deposit accounts, such as checking, savings and money market accounts, along with certificates of deposit. On the lending side, the company provides commercial real estate financing, equipment loans, lines of credit, construction financing and a variety of consumer loans, including home mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Atlantic Union also offers treasury management services, merchant services, online and mobile banking capabilities, and a suite of wealth management, trust and brokerage solutions through its investment services division.

The origins of Atlantic Union Bankshares trace back to Union Bank & Trust, founded in Richmond in the early 20th century. The holding company was established in the late 1980s under the name Union Bankshares Corporation and underwent a rebranding in 2019 to emphasize its expanding regional footprint. Over the decades, the company has grown both organically and through strategic acquisitions, enhancing its lending capabilities and broadening its geographic reach within the Mid-Atlantic market.

Leadership at Atlantic Union Bankshares is anchored by President and Chief Executive Officer Robert M. Harris Jr., who has guided the company’s strategic initiatives and growth plans. Under his direction, Atlantic Union continues to invest in digital banking technologies and relationship management to support its commitment to regional communities and local economies. The company’s board of directors comprises experienced financial services and business executives who oversee risk management, governance and long-term strategic planning.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Atlantic Union reported a strong second quarter, with adjusted operating EPS of $0.94 and improved profitability metrics, including a 20.11% adjusted ROTCE and 1.47% adjusted ROA. Management said the results show the growing earnings power of the franchise.
• Positive Sentiment: Loan growth was robust, with period-end loans up 10.4% annualized sequentially and management now expecting full-year loan growth toward the higher end of the mid-single-digit range. They highlighted strong pipelines, especially in commercial, construction, multifamily, and select consumer lending.
• Neutral Sentiment: Deposit growth was positive but funding costs are rising as customers shift into higher-yielding products. Management lowered full-year net interest income guidance because of this mix shift, even though deposit competition was described as elevated but stable.
• Positive Sentiment: Credit quality remained strong, with net charge-offs of just 3 basis points annualized and improved criticized/classified assets. Based on first-half results, the company lowered its full-year net charge-off guidance.
• Positive Sentiment: The bank generated capital and returned some to shareholders, including a $10 million share repurchase, while ending the quarter with a CET1 ratio of 10.41% and tangible book value per share up 13% year over year. Management also said it plans to complete the remaining $240 million buyback authorization, subject to share price and capital needs.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Atlantic Union Bankshares' Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephones. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I will now hand the conference over to your speaker host, William Cimino, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thank you, Olivia, and good morning, everyone. I have Atlantic Union Bankshares President and CEO, John Asbury, and Executive Vice President and CFO, Alex Dodd, with me today. We also have other members of our executive management team with us for the question and answer period. Please note that today's earnings release and the accompanying slide presentation we're going through on this webcast are available to download on our investor website, investors.atlanticunionbank.com. During today's 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 slide presentation and in our earnings release for the second quarter of 2026. We'll also make forward-looking statements which are not statements of historical fact and are subject to risks and uncertainties.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

There can be no assurance that actual performance will not differ materially from any future expectation or result expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statement except as required by law. Please refer to our earnings release and slide presentation issued today and our other SEC filings for further discussion of the company's risk factors and other important information regarding our forward-looking statements, including factors that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied in a forward-looking statement. All comments made during today's call are subject to that Safe Harbor statement. At the end of the call, we'll take questions from the research analyst community. I'll now turn the call over to John.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thank you, Bill. Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today. Atlantic Union Bankshares reported strong second quarter financial results reflecting disciplined execution and providing an encouraging indication of the earnings power of the franchise we have been building. For the first time in two years, we did not incur any merger-related costs. We were also pleased to realize a $32.3 million pre-tax gain from the sale of our equity interest in Bearing Insurance. Adjusted operating performance, excluding the gain from the equity interest sale, was notable for solid loan growth, margin improvement on both a core and reported basis, disciplined expense management, and solid credit performance, along with continued capital generation. Over the past two years, we have deployed capital intentionally to strengthen and expand our franchise.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

We believe our second quarter results are an encouraging early indication that those investments are beginning to translate into stronger earnings capacity, capital generation, and long-term shareholder value. We remain focused on building on this progress through disciplined execution, organic growth, and continued attention to soundness, profitability, and growth in that order. Our commitment to creating shareholder value remains unwavering. We believe Atlantic Union is well positioned to deliver sustainable growth, top-tier financial performance, and long-term value for our shareholders. We believe that our continued organic growth opportunities, due to our robust presence in attractive markets, reinforce our status as the premier regional bank headquartered in the lower Mid-Atlantic. I'll briefly cover our Q2 2026 highlights and share market insights before Alex presents the financial review.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Before reviewing this quarter's results, I would note that the second quarter was marked by continued uncertainty, particularly around geopolitical developments and the conflict involving Iran. Despite that backdrop, customer confidence remained resilient and economic activity across our footprint held up well. We delivered record loan production during the quarter, exceeding our 2025 fourth quarter production level, which is traditionally our strongest quarter, by roughly 8%. While the second quarter is typically one of our seasonally stronger periods, we expect some moderation in the third quarter due to the normal summer slowdown, our pipelines remain healthy. Overall, we believe that our underlying credit activity and pipeline depth support our full-year outlook, and we currently expect loan growth to finish toward the higher end of our mid-single-digit range.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Importantly, this growth reflects strong client activity across our markets, the value of the customer relationships we have built, and disciplined execution by our team. With that context, here are the key highlights from the second quarter. Average loans were $28.2 billion and grew approximately 6% annualized during the second quarter, while period end loans increased approximately 10.4% annualized from Q1 to Q2, ending the quarter at approximately $28.7 billion. Growth was well distributed across the franchise, led by strong client activity in commercial lending, construction lending, multifamily, and select consumer categories. Line of credit utilization decreased slightly from the first quarter but was up slightly year-over-year. Year-to-date annualized loan growth was 6.4%. As I mentioned, loan pipelines are healthy and support our expectation that full-year loan growth is tracking toward the higher end of our mid-single-digit outlook.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Average deposits increased 2.4% annualized during the quarter. Total deposits increased approximately 1% annualized from the end of Q1 to the end of Q2, all consistent with our low single-digit 2026 outlook. Growth was concentrated in interest-bearing deposits. We also reduced broker deposits by approximately $53 million during the quarter and roughly $571 million year-to-date. Broker deposits represented only 2% of total deposits at quarter end, giving us flexibility to use them selectively going forward if needed. Our core customer deposit base remains a defining strength of the franchise, and our focus remains on relationship-based deposit growth, expanding share of wallet, and maintaining funding discipline. Core net interest margin, which excludes the purchase accounting adjustments, improved by one basis point quarter-over-quarter. Reported FTE net interest margin increased nine basis points to 3.94%, driven primarily by higher accretion income compared with first quarter.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Alex will provide more detail on the factors influencing NIM performance in his section. Before turning to credit, I do want to highlight the progress we are making in bringing our capital markets capabilities to our expanded footprint. In the second quarter, former Sandy Spring Bank teams generated approximately 27% of our interest rate swap transactions and 32% of our foreign exchange revenue. We believe these key products should continue to provide opportunities for additional revenue synergies over time. Credit quality remained strong in the quarter, with annualized net charge-offs of just three basis points for both the second quarter and year to date. Based on our first half performance, current loss expectations, and favorable asset quality trends, we are lowering our full-year net charge-off guidance, which Alex will discuss later in the call. Key asset quality indicators remained encouraging.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Non-performing assets increased modestly from the prior quarter but remain low at 39 basis points of loans held for investment, while past dues declined considerably and criticized and classified assets improved to 4.4% of total loans, down from 4.5% in the prior quarter. With Bureau of Labor Statistics scheduled to release June unemployment data shortly, this chart will soon be updated. For now, I'll simply note that Virginia and North Carolina's May unemployment rates remain below the national average, while Maryland's was just slightly above it. We continue to expect unemployment levels in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina to remain manageable and generally comparable to or below the national average, consistent with Moody's current state-level forecast. We remain confident in the resilience and long-term attractiveness of our markets.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

As I approach my 10th anniversary with Atlantic Union at the end of this quarter, what is clear to me is how far we've come as an organization. We've stayed focused, adapted as conditions changed, and consistently executed the strategy we set out and clearly communicated while remaining grounded in the community bank values and local relationships that have always defined Atlantic Union. This quarter's results reflect that continued momentum and, most importantly, the dedication of our teammates whose hard work makes it all possible. With that foundation in place and no additional acquisitions currently planned during this phase of our strategic plan, our focus is squarely on continuing to demonstrate the sustained performance and capital generation capability of the company we have built. Performance that enables us to better serve our customers and communities, invest in our teammates, and create long-term value for our shareholders.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

With that, I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Alex Dodd, for a detailed review of our quarterly financial results. Before I do, I'd like to note that Alex has now been with the company for nearly four months following a deliberate and smooth transition with former CFO, Rob Gorman, who will retire at the end of September. Since this is our last earnings call before Rob's retirement, I want to again thank him for all he's contributed over his 14 years with Atlantic Union. Rob leaves behind a strong legacy and will be missed, but he is ably succeeded by Alex. With that, I'll turn the call over to Alex for his inaugural quarterly earnings comments. Alex?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Before I begin, I want to thank Rob as well for making this a smooth transition for me. I'll now take a few minutes to provide you with some details on the results. My commentary today will primarily address Atlantic Union's second quarter financial results presented on a non-GAAP adjusted operating basis, which for the second quarter principally excludes the $32.3 million pre-tax gain associated with the sale of our equity interest in Bearing Insurance. In the second quarter, reported net income available to common shareholders was $158 million and earnings per common share of $1.11.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

The adjusted operating earnings available to common shareholders were $134 million or $0.94 for common share for the second quarter, resulting in an adjusted operating return on tangible common equity of 20.11%, an adjusted operating return on assets of 1.47%, and an adjusted operating efficiency ratio of 47.47%. Here's a look at the GAAP year-to-date metrics and trends over the last few years. Looking at the year-to-date adjusted operating numbers at the end of the second quarter, we have already reached the target for ROA and ROTCE medium-term financial targets. We remain confident that we will achieve all three of these targets over the medium term, which we define as this year and next. Turning to the credit loss reserves.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

At the end of the second quarter, the total allowance for credit losses was $331 million, an increase of $9.1 million, primarily driven by loan growth during the quarter. The total allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans held for investment remained flat at 115 basis points at the end of the second quarter. As John mentioned, net charge-offs were $2 million or three basis points annualized in the quarter. Now turning to the pre-tax, pre-provision components of the income statement for the second quarter. Tax equivalent net interest income was $329.7 million, an increase of $12.8 million from the first quarter, primarily driven by an increase in loan volumes, higher loan yields, and increased loan accretion income. The increase in loan-related interest income was partially offset by an increase in deposit interest expense, primarily from growth in interest-bearing deposit balances and modestly higher deposit costs.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

As John noted, the second quarter's tax equivalent net interest margin increased nine basis points from the prior quarter to 3.94%, primarily due to higher earning asset yields, partially offset by modestly higher cost of deposits. Earning asset yields increased nine basis points from the prior quarter to 5.88%, primarily due to higher loan accretion income of $5 million and higher loan yields. Cost of funds was flat from the prior quarter as a three basis point increase in the cost of deposits was offset by lower borrowing amortization costs related to past acquisitions. Of note, excluding the impact of accretion income, our core net interest margin increased by one basis point to 3.46%. Non-interest income increased $35.5 million to $90.2 million during the second quarter, primarily driven by the gain on sale of our equity interest in Bearing Insurance.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Excluding the one-time gain, adjusted operating non-interest income increased $3.1 million to $57.9 million, driven by higher loan-related interest rate swap fees associated with higher loan originations and increased fiduciary and asset management fees, which were partially offset by lower other income. Non-interest expense decreased $10.7 million to $199.1 million for the second quarter, driven by a $9 million decline in merger-related costs. Adjusted operating non-interest expense, which excludes merger-related costs in the first quarter and amortization of intangible assets in both quarters, decreased $1.3 million to $184 million for the second quarter, primarily due to lower marketing costs, along with a decrease in salaries and benefits, primarily related to seasonally higher payroll taxes and 401(k) contribution expenses in the prior quarter. At June 30th, loans held for investment net of unearned income were $28.7 billion, an increase of $727 million or 10.4% annualized from the prior quarter.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Our average loan growth for the quarter was approximately 6%. At June 30th, total deposits were $30.5 billion, an increase of $77 million or approximately 1% annualized from the prior quarter, while average deposits decreased 2.4% for the quarter. Our loan-to-deposit ratio ended the quarter at 94.1% within our preferred range of 90%-95%. At the end of the second quarter, Atlantic Union Bankshares and Atlantic Union Bank's regulatory capital ratios were comfortably above well-capitalized levels. In addition, we remain well-capitalized on an adjusted basis if you include the negative impact of AOCI and unrealized losses for held maturity securities in the calculation of the regulatory capital ratios. On a linked-quarter basis, tangible book value per common share increased $0.84 or 4.2% to $20.77 per share at the end of the second quarter.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Since Q2 of 2025, tangible book value per share has grown $2.39 or 13% year-over-year. The CET1 ratio was 10.41% for the second quarter and within our preferred range of 10%-10.5%. During the second quarter, the company repurchased approximately $10 million of its common shares at an average price of $37.76, leaving approximately $240 million remaining under our share repurchase authorization. Before turning to the financial outlook, I would emphasize that our second quarter results represented strong operating performance and an encouraging indication of the earnings capacity and capital generation capability of the franchise. At the same time, we believe our updated outlook reflects a disciplined and prudent view of second half funding competition and deposit mix. We continue to expect loan balances to end the year between $29 billion and $30 billion, while year-end deposit balances continue to be projected between $31 billion and $32 billion.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

On the credit front, the allowance for credit losses is projected to remain in the 115-120 basis point range, and we are reducing the range for our projected net charge-off ratio to be between five and 10 basis points in 2026. Fully tax equivalent net interest income for the full year is now projected to come in between $1.32 billion and $1.33 billion, inclusive of accretion income. The updated range reflects our expectation of higher interest-bearing deposit mix as well as greater loan and deposit competition in the second half of the year. We are tightening the range for our 2026 fully tax equivalent net interest margin to between 3.90% and 3.95%. This outlook is supported by our baseline assumption that the Federal Reserve increases rates by 25 basis points in September and that term rates remain stable at current levels.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

On a full year basis, non-interest income is expected to be between $220 million and $230 million, while adjusted operating non-interest expense is estimated to fall in between the range of $742 million-$752 million, including the expense impact of our North Carolina investment and our other 2026 strategic initiatives. Based on these projections, including our expected stock repurchase activity, we expect to generate annual growth in tangible book value per share of approximately 12% in 2026 and produce financial returns that will place us within the top quartile of our proxy peer group. In summary, Atlantic Union delivered strong operating financial results in the second quarter and had a solid first half. We remain focused on generating sustainable, profitable growth and to build long-term value for our shareholders in 2026 and beyond. I'll now turn the call over to Bill.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thank you, Alex. Olivia, we're ready for our first caller, please.

[Operator]

Certainly. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question at this time, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, simply press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the queue. Now, first question coming from the line of Russell Gunther with Stephens. Your line is now open.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Good morning, Russell.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Hey. Good morning.

[Russell Gunther, Analyst at Stephens]

Hey. Morning, John. Good morning, Alex. First question for me, I wanted to kind of start on the margin and really try to get a sense directionally for loan yields, where they're headed. If you could level set us for where new production came on in 2Q, perhaps where that pipeline yield sits today, and then just remind us of what the fixed rate opportunity, repricing opportunity is for you guys, kind of relative to what you are putting on new commercial at today.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Sure. Good morning, Russell. For the second quarter, our fixed rate loans are coming on. New loan spreads are around 200 basis points, and our variable rate loans are also around 200 basis points. We saw a little bit of lower spreads in the quarter, due to larger loans that we completed, and that was more just a function of the size of the loan. Around 200 basis points for both variable and fixed. In terms of the fixed rate opportunity, we have about $800 million- $900 million per quarter of variable rate loans that are maturing with rates around 5%, and we expect to put those back on around 610 basis points. It's about 100-110 basis point benefit for the loan maturities each quarter.

[Russell Gunther, Analyst at Stephens]

Okay, great. Thanks, Alex. Maybe just to follow up with the revised NII guide, including a Fed hike in September, can you quantify for us what, if any, benefit is factored into your kind of revised NIM and NII outlook? Perhaps just kind of package where you would expect kind of the core NIM overall to trend within that guide.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. We do have in our guidance 125 basis point increase in September. We will see a small benefit in the fourth quarter for the deposit pricing lag. It's under one basis point for the full year. It's about three basis points in the fourth quarter. In terms of core margin, we do expect that to grind higher over time from the benefit of the fixed rate loan repricing. Because of higher funding costs and deposit mix, it's not going to be as high as expected. As we look forward to the next few quarters, we'll see core margin increase modestly because of those dynamics.

[Russell Gunther, Analyst at Stephens]

Got it. Okay, great. Super helpful. I'll step back. Thanks for taking my question.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thank you, Russell.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Olivia, we're ready for our next caller, please.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Janet Lee with TD Securities. Your line is now open.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Hi, Janet. Good morning.

[Janet Lee, Analyst at TD Securities]

Good morning. Could you give us a little more color around the deposit competition and the mix shift, what you're expecting in your NII guide, and maybe what pace of deposit cost increase is assumed in your 3.90%-3.95% NIM guide?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Sure. Good morning, Janet. We did update our guidance for net interest income, and it's solely coming from the funding side of the balance sheet. What we saw in the quarter was customer migration to our higher yielding interest-bearing deposit accounts, and that's informed our guidance. We're encouraged by the loan growth that we saw in the quarter, but the cost of funding that is going up higher than we expected. What we saw through the quarter, to give you perspective on just the month of June, we saw a two basis point increase in our cost of deposits. It's three basis points for the full quarter and two basis points in the month of June, and that really informed the outlook for the rest of the year. I guess I'll stop there, Janet, and see if you have further questions.

[Janet Lee, Analyst at TD Securities]

Got it. Two basis point increase in the month of June. That is sort of at this point the pace at which you would expect for the rest of the year ballpark?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Not necessarily. We're going to be a little bit under that if you just play that out for the rest of the year. That's going to come from the mix that we'll see in CD growth and money market growth, as well as some DDA growth that we have in our outlook. It's underneath that pace, but that's what informed our outlook for the rest of the year.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. Alex, is it fair to say what we're seeing is relatively stable deposit rates from a competitive standpoint? Is this more of a mix issue in terms of where is the growth coming from?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

That's a good point, John. Yeah. It really is our deposit mix that's informing the guide here. The deposit competition is elevated but stable. What we're seeing is just the inflow into our deposit portfolio is coming from the higher-yielding products.

[Janet Lee, Analyst at TD Securities]

Got it. Thanks for the color. Just a quick follow-up. PAA for the second quarter came in maybe just slightly above what you guided before. Is 145 PAA for 2026 still a good assumption?

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. We had said on the last call the range is 140-150, and we're still tracking to that. 145 being in the midpoint is fine.

[Janet Lee, Analyst at TD Securities]

Got it. Thank you.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thanks, Janet.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thank you, Janet.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Olivia, we're ready for the next caller, please.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of David Bishop with Hovde Group. Your line is now open.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Hey, good morning.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Good morning.

[David Bishop, Analyst at Hovde Group]

Hey. Curious, John, Alex, it sounds like the loan pipeline continues to be pretty robust. Just curious what you're seeing on the commercial pipeline out of sort of the legacy Sandy Spring Maryland markets. How much that's contributing to the pipeline and maybe the growth you saw this quarter?

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. We are growing the former Sandy Spring portfolio, and we're happy to see that. David Ring, do you want to just sort of speak directionally?

[David Ring, EVP and Wholesale Banking Group Executive at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Sure. We're seeing double-digit growth in the pipeline in the greater Washington market- Greater Washington, Maryland. Production is up double digits as well. All the teams in those markets are also growing. We're seeing very balanced, stable growth. We're not seeing any hangover from the acquisition.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

The way I think about this, Dave, is that the former Sandy is, in round numbers, maybe a third of the overall portfolio. You would expect all things being equal for them to be about a third of the pipeline. They've come a long way closer to that. We've been very pleased with it. The teams, to be clear.

[David Bishop, Analyst at Hovde Group]

Got it. Appreciate that color. Then John, just maybe an update in progress in terms of the Carolina build-out, what you're seeing on those fronts. Thanks.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

I think of this, it's a holistic strategy comprised of both the retail banking effort as well as the investments that we're making in expanding our commercial banking teams, along with some additional investment for mortgage and wealth management, et cetera. Something I've been saying recently, I want to be clear in terms of the investment. While we do refer to it as the North Carolina strategy, you could more specifically refer to it as our densification strategy in Raleigh and Wilmington because that's where the thrust of the investment and certainly the physical branch network build-out is going on. I'll ask Shawn O'Brien, who's head of consumer and business banking, can you update us on where are we in terms of the branch effort? I'll ask David Ring to chime in with some perspective on the commercial side.

[Shawn O'Brien, EVP and Consumer and Business Banking Group Executive at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. Thanks, John. We announced that we were going to open 10 branches, 10 new branches in North Carolina, to John's point, in Raleigh, in Wilmington. The first of those branches opens here this month. We are very excited.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

That's Raleigh.

[Shawn O'Brien, EVP and Consumer and Business Banking Group Executive at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Raleigh. We have a branch opening, we have two more opening in Raleigh in October, November of this year. We'll have three new Raleigh branches this year. We will start to open branches in Wilmington as well. If you remember, seven new in Raleigh, three in Wilmington. We hope to get all 10 done in 2027. A couple may get into 2028, but we are very happy with our site selection. We have hired the first three teams, and they're completely staffed for Raleigh. We have all of those teams hired. We're very happy with the talent we found. We're very excited about it. We have a lot of plans underway for how to grow new customers in those two primary markets.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Then Dave, your perspective on what we call wholesale banking, which are the various commercial businesses.

[David Ring, EVP and Wholesale Banking Group Executive at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

We're working really closely with consumer. We're seeing double-digit growth again in loan balances in North Carolina. Plus, we're waiting on announcements of some new hires that have started or recently started that we're very excited about. Overall, we're meeting our talent acquisition plan, and we're meeting our loan growth expectations.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Dave, more to come on that.

[David Bishop, Analyst at Hovde Group]

Great. Thank you for the color.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thanks, Dave.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Olivia, we're ready for our next caller, please.

[Operator]

Our next question coming from the line of Catherine Mealor with KBW. Your line is now open.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Hi, Catherine.

[Catherine Mealor, Analyst at KBW]

Hi, good morning. Just one more on the NII. Just circling back on the size of the bond book. How should we think about the security portfolio growth in the back half of the year? Or is it fair to keep that fairly stable?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. I guess I'll start with, in the second quarter, we did bring it down over $200 million to fund lending growth. We're now at about 13% of total assets, and we plan on keeping it stable in the rest of the year.

[Catherine Mealor, Analyst at KBW]

Okay. That's shrunk the past two quarters, so maybe we can expect as deposit growth improves in the back half of the year, your loan growth is funded by deposit growth, not the securities book. That just is flat.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah, you're correct. Yep. We want to fund the loan growth from our core deposit growth going forward.

[Catherine Mealor, Analyst at KBW]

Perfect. Okay, great. On buybacks, it was great to see that started. How should we think about how much of that $240 million you expect to repurchase through the period that you have that authorization?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. We plan to complete the whole program. Our forecasting assumption right now is spread out by quarter. It's obviously going to be dictated by the share price and when we're in the market.

[Catherine Mealor, Analyst at KBW]

Perfect. Okay. Thank you.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yep. Thank you, Catherine.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

One quick note, Catherine. If you recall, the securities book was elevated after the CRE loan sale. It coming down is sort of part of our plan, is to reinvest those into core earning assets.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. You'll go back, you can see how it rose temporarily, and that was the plan. We intended to draw it down, which is what we've done. As Alex said, roughly 13% is a pretty good proportion of assets to have in the securities portfolio from our perspective.

[Catherine Mealor, Analyst at KBW]

Got it. Okay, thanks for the clarification.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thanks, Catherine. Olivia, we're ready for the next caller, please.

[Operator]

Our next question coming from the line of Steve Moss with Raymond James. Your line is now open.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Hi, Steve.

[Steve Moss, Analyst at Raymond James]

Hi. Hey, John. Good morning, everyone. Maybe just following up on deposit competition here. Just kind of curious in terms of what's your appetite to maybe increase borrowings over higher cost CDs and money market. Is the market that competitive that borrowing is cheaper? I know you put on some towards the end of the quarter here.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. What you saw go on at the end of the quarter was essentially a bridge. As we indicated, we had 6% annualized loan growth during the quarter. We were productive all quarter long, which was great. It was not all back-end loaded. Having said that, it certainly picked up at the end of the quarter, and hence that bridge. Alex, do you want to share any perspective?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Sure. We ended the quarter with a loan-to-deposit ratio of over 94% and had to increase borrowings as you're calling out. We would prefer to fund our lending growth through our core deposit growth, including CDs. After that, we may support it with broker deposits as well. The borrowings is going to be more of a short-term measure to really balance the overall balance sheet.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. As you know from past history with us, not unlike many others, we do see some seasonality in deposit balances in Q2 due to tax payments, and we also have certain larger commercial depositors that seem to commonly have some sort of downdraft in balances just at quarter end through the natural cycle and flow of their businesses. You can see that evident in the difference between the spot growth rate for deposits and the average quarter-over-quarter.

[Steve Moss, Analyst at Raymond James]

Right. Okay. No, just wanted to check on that. Appreciate that color there. A second thing here, just in terms of on credit, I guess two things. One, if you'd give color around the C&I loans that were placed non-accrual this quarter. With regard to the allowance for credit losses, you guys state in your guidance that you assume an uptick in unemployment. Just kind of wondering how much that uptick matters to the total ACL for the current year by year-end.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. Doug Woolley, Chief Credit Officer, is here. Do you want to speak to that, Doug?

[Doug Woolley, Chief Credit Officer at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. On the C&I uptick, it's two smaller credits that have gone a little bit sideways, so we're working through that. Obviously non-accrual, so we think it's a little bit of loss there. Doesn't indicate anything not tied to anything else in the portfolio.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah, what's interesting, we have been impressed with the resilience of not only our local economies, but the client base. You would expect to see some stress, and this isn't much. Non-performers are low from our perspective at 39 basis points of loan sales for investment. It's fair to assume that you could see it go plus or minus a bit in any given quarter. We're actually below where we finished the end of last year.

[Steve Moss, Analyst at Raymond James]

Got you.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. It happens. Losses are very, very low. I've said for 10 years that losses across the industry and in the bank are below what I would have expected to be a normalized rate. That was beginning 10 years ago. We feel pretty good about losses.

[Steve Moss, Analyst at Raymond James]

Right. Appreciate that color there. Just the ACL guide, is it just like maybe one to two bps in terms of the assumption on the unemployment rate to rise? Is this a minor impact maybe on your guidance for 2026?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

That's right. It is a minor impact. We're certainly still within our 115-120 basis points if you look out to 2027.

[Steve Moss, Analyst at Raymond James]

Okay. Thanks. I'll step back in the queue here.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thank you, Steve.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Olivia, we're ready for the next caller, please.

[Operator]

Our next question coming from the line of Brian Wilczynski with Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Hi, Brian.

[Brian Wilczynski, Analyst at Morgan Stanley]

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. You mentioned earlier on the call that most of the pressure that you're seeing on deposit cost is coming from the mix of deposits. Can you give any color on what the cost of new interest-bearing deposits that are coming into the bank today are?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. The new deposits on a combined basis is going to be over 3%, somewhere between 3% and 3.5%, depending on that mix. It's mostly going to be in CDs and money markets and interest checking.

[Brian Wilczynski, Analyst at Morgan Stanley]

Got it. That is very helpful. Thank you. When we look at the non-interest-bearing deposits as a percentage of total, it sounds like there will be some more migration in the second half of the year. Do you think that you'll see a similar amount of migration in the second half as you saw in the second quarter?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

We're actually forecasting some of the non-interest-bearing growth in the second half of the year and maintaining that same percentage of our total deposits around 22%. Obviously, we saw migration happen in the second quarter. That's our assumption right now based on working with the business leaders, but it could change.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. The data that we're looking at is suggesting it's not about smaller deposit non-interest-bearing accounts. It's some of the larger ones, commercial businesses that are making more active use of sweep accounts. The reality is that we do offer quite sophisticated treasury management services, and part of our job is to help them optimize working capital. We saw some of that movement as they were able to deploy some surplus funds. I'm in Alex's camp. We would expect to see some improvement there over time. It's very difficult to forecast in this environment, no question about it.

[Brian Wilczynski, Analyst at Morgan Stanley]

Got it. If I could just squeeze in one more. Alex, do you happen to have the spot deposit costs at quarter end?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

It was 195 for the month of June.

[Brian Wilczynski, Analyst at Morgan Stanley]

Got it. I really appreciate all the detail, thank you for taking my questions.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Certainly. Thanks, Brian.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Olivia, we're ready for our next caller, please.

[Operator]

Our next question coming from the line of David Chiaverini with Jefferies. Your line is now open.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Hi, David.

[Analyst at Jefferies]

Hi, everyone. This is Frank on for Dave. Just one for me.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Hi.

[Analyst at Jefferies]

Hey. Just one for me on the balance sheet sensitivity. I know you guys mentioned that the NII guide down was coming mostly from the deposit side. I just kind of want to touch on how your modeled NII sensitivity has changed relative to last quarter and just what deposit beta you're now embedding in your guidance. Thank you, guys.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Yeah. The sensitivity changed because of our mix. That's what you can expect is the mix change versus the prior quarter into higher rate sensitive deposit products. To the second part of your question around the beta, the beta we're pricing in for the 25 basis point increase is about 50% for interest-bearing products and 40% overall. As I mentioned earlier in the call, there will be a lag. We'll reprice immediately for some contractual deposits, and then there'll be a 90-day lag for our savings portfolio, where we'll see a bit of a benefit that's short-lived, but a benefit in the fourth quarter.

[Analyst at Jefferies]

Awesome. Cool. Thank you, guys.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thanks, Frank.

[William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Olivia, we're ready for our next caller, please.

[Operator]

Our next question in queue coming from the line of Stephen Scouten with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

[Stephen Scouten, Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Yeah, thanks. Good morning, guys. Curious if we could go back to the conversation here around the repurchase briefly. I know you said you plan to utilize the entirety of that. Can you talk a little bit about, at a high level, how you think about the math there, and whether it's an earn back perspective, alternate uses of that capital, and just kind of potentially how sensitive to price you could be if the stock continues to move higher?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Sure. In terms of the buyback, there's a couple things we want to manage at the same time. We want to operate our CET1 ratio between 10% and 10.5%, our capital management priority, excuse me, is supporting loan growth. If we see loan growth outperform our guidance, we will slow down the buyback. In terms of buyback specifically, we have an intrinsic value model on our share price, we want to get a certain return out of when we'll be in the market. If it does trade above, our shares trade above where we want to actually be in the market, there'll be maybe a pause for a little while in terms of when we're repurchasing shares. Overall, the earn back, though, is about four years on the share buyback.

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

We want to make a good economic decision of when we're in the market and when we're actually doing our repurchase activity. We've modeled, as I said, over the next 12 months to be split by months that are evenly distributed. That's going to depend on where the shares are pricing.

[Stephen Scouten, Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Got it. Very helpful. Appreciate that clarity. Then just maybe one last one going back to kind of the balance sheet momentum and loan growth and deposit growth. It sounds like overall balance sheet growth should maybe more closely match loan growth moving forward, if I'm hearing what you're saying. Less potential drawdown in securities, maybe less remix and more just matched growth from that perspective. Is that the right viewpoint in the hope of what you'd be able to deliver?

[Alex Dodd, CFO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Well, over time, the guidance that we've provided for 2026 is mid-single-digit loan growth and low single-digit deposit growth. Certainly over time, we would expect to fund loans with deposits, customer deposits, ideally.

[Stephen Scouten, Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Got it. Okay. Appreciate it. Everything else has been kind of asked and answered. Thanks for the time.

[John Asbury, President and CEO at Atlantic Union Bankshares]

Thanks, Stephen. Thanks everyone for joining us today. We appreciate your time and look forward to talking with you next quarter. Thank you, everyone.

[Operator]

Thank you ladies and gentlemen this concludes the conference for today. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• William Cimino, SVP of Investor Relations
• John Asbury, President and CEO
• Alex Dodd, CFO
• David Ring, EVP and Wholesale Banking Group Executive
• Shawn O'Brien, EVP and Consumer and Business Banking Group Executive
• Doug Woolley, Chief Credit Officer

Analysts

• Russell Gunther, Analyst at Stephens
• Janet Lee, Analyst at TD Securities
• David Bishop, Analyst at Hovde Group
• Catherine Mealor, Analyst at KBW
• Steve Moss, Analyst at Raymond James
• Brian Wilczynski, Analyst at Morgan Stanley
• Analyst at Jefferies
• Stephen Scouten, Analyst at Piper Sandler