QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Brian Martin: Okay. Alright. And then just you mentioned – just one last one on the margin, Todd. I guess you talked about it or maybe Larry talked about it, just being – maybe feeling a bit more confident to defend the margins in a higher for longer environment. I mean anything else you haven’t – I guess as far as just kind of supporting that statement, just as far as you look out a couple of quarters? Can you give kind of – what gives you a bit more confidence today? Anything over and above you have already talked about?

Todd Gipple: Sure. I think the biggest thing, Brian, that gives us a lot of confidence that we are going to be at this more static margin, even into 2024 is what’s happened on the right side of the balance sheet. The deposit base, really settling and settling down, certainly did so in Q3. That’s why we had guided static to maybe down 10 basis points, and we came in at static. And what really allowed us to show that nice outcome was the deposit base stabilizing. We have seen that continue here thus far in the fourth quarter, through the month of October. And that really has what – has been what has impacted our margin the most during this hiking cycle, of course has been the right side of the balance sheet. So, it’s starting to settle in.

The mix shift has really stopped, not just slowed, but for the most part stopped. And our beta results have actually been quite good on the deposits side. Our betas have outperformed our modeling. It’s just the mix shift that really caught us and caught the industry, of course. So, that’s the thing that I would really point to, Brian, that gives us confidence about a more static margin. If we are in this rate environment for longer, we feel like we are not going to continue to believe margin, we are going to be able to hang on to it.

Brian Martin: Okay. And is it worth, my guess, the spot margin Todd, in September, where that was at?

Todd Gipple: Sure. Yes. So, in July was $327 million. In August, it was $329 million. And in September, it was $330 million. And that again bodes well for the go forward because our full year was $328 million. So, we saw a nice ramp during Q3 and that gives us some real confidence going forward.

Brian Martin: Got it. Okay. That’s helpful. Just last two for me. Just on the – just housekeeping, the accretion. I know you talked last quarter pretty close to where it was at. Is that kind of a good level to think about here in the next couple of quarters?

Todd Gipple: It is. So, it was at $500 million which is much more normal than prior quarters. And really, our accretion model would show it being close to that $500 million in Q4. And that leaves us with roughly $4 million of accretion left. And if you are looking at $24 million, I would say, again continue that $500 million per quarter, so roughly $2 million for 2024.

Brian Martin: Got it. And with the securitization on the LIHTC, what – where is your concentration limit, kind of where your targeting that to be now, if you kind of utilize the securitizations? I mean where would you like that portfolio to be?

Larry Helling: Yes. How we would look at that one, Brian, is a little bit – as a percent of our capital, we would probably like to maintain it around the percent of capital that we have today. And so as we grow, capital will be comfortable continuing to grow that more as if you step back and look at the loan growth that we have had over a long period of time, our total loan growth has been 10%, roughly over a long period of time. What we are going to do on balance sheet now, because we are going to do securitizations going forward, is to really grow the on balance sheet, or the loans held for investment more like 5%. We think that’s going to provide a great funding mechanism, better pricing power on the deposits side for us. It will flow through under NIM eventually. And so we are going to grow those, but at a more slow pace than we have over the last couple of years.