John Kanas, Chairman, President and CEO
No. We have a number of delicate conversations going on. It’s not wealth management. I’m not a big believer in wealth management, although it seems this morning disproved my theory on that with 2.5 times book for Russell Goldsmith. They are not a wealth management company, but they are — we are struggling like everybody is. And looking at the yield on assets, competition for loans, the probability that that funding costs are going to go up at some point at some time, and we are thinking about — we are thinking globally and widely about what it is we can do to protect that margin and maybe even improve on it going to next year. That’s about all I can say.
Stephen Scouted, Sandler O’Neill
Okay. Fair enough. And the new loan yield at 3.52%, is that a level we think can kind of remain in line? Or do you expect — I guess in your 3.80% to 4% NIM modeling for ’15, do you expect further compression there?
Leslie Lunak, Chief Financial Officer
Stephen, we don’t really expect further compression. That’s driven in large part by product mix. It’s a little bit difficult to predict. But I would — my best guess today is it would remain relatively stable although product mix could drive that up or down.
John Kanas, Chairman, President and CEO
We are seeing an interesting trend this quarter. Tom and I were just talking about this morning with some of our larger real estate borrowers opting for variable rate rather than fixed rate loans, which hurts that – it hurts that margin and you can see it in there. But that may turn out to be very good for us depending upon when and how much rates do go up.
Stephen Scouten, Sandler O’Neill
Fair enough. And then one last clarifying question on the provision and I know, Leslie, you said maybe it will stay relatively flat on a percentage basis of loans. But, as I look at it, it appeared to be at about 1.5% of new loan production, or net new loan production. Is that kind of another way to think of it, or was that elevated?
Leslie Lunak, Chief Financial Officer
Not really, Stephen, I think you’d be much better served by looking at the — looking at it, the allowance as a percentage of loans. There’s so many moving parts running through the provision in any quarter with changes — our reserve is based on peer group net charge off rates. As those change, as specific reserves move in and out, I think the better way for you to think about it is targeting that allowance as a percentage of loans.
Stephen Scouten, Sandler O’Neill
Okay. Perfect. Well, thanks guys for the clarification, and congrats on the strong loan growth.
Operator
Your next question will come from the line of David Bishop from Drexel Hamilton. Please proceed.
David Bishop, Drexel Hamilton
Hey, good morning. A quick question in terms of the division of loan growth into 2015, obviously a little bit more weighted to New York this quarter. Looking forward, do you think it’s going to be relatively more balanced though throughout 2015?
Raj Singh, Chief Operating Officer
It’s hard to say. It is somewhat the function of the competitive landscape. It can change quite dramatically from quarter to quarter.
John Kanas, Chairman, President and CEO
Yeah, we said this before. If you realize how huge the markets are that we are in, and how small we are, it gives us the ability to sort of cherry pick where we want our growth to be based on the loan types and the yields that we see. It just happened this quarter where we saw more opportunities in New York that fit the box for us. But that could turn around and be — it could go the other way in Florida the next quarter or the quarter after that. Obviously New York is a much, much larger market. I suppose over time, we expect to see New York grow in terms of dollars at a greater rate, but it’s too close to call over the short term.
