George Noonan: There are several different grant programs that go along with that, really kind of three. There’s one called the Financial Assistance Grant, there is one called the Bank Enterprise Award. And then the grant that we just got was a special one, it wasn’t a reoccurring grant. It was a one-time grant out of the COVID relief money. So, I wouldn’t expect a grant of that level to come back. There’s nothing on the drawing board for that right now. The other grants are on an annual basis, and they are generally about $2.5 million or so, depending on how much money is allocated through the CDFI fund. So those are more reoccurring. So it’s not near to the $6.2 million level. The usage for this grant, it was to increase our lending and increase our investments in those most affected COVID markets.
So many of our markets are underserved markets that we don’t have any – the compliance piece of that we don’t have an issue with given our normal business function, growing our loans in those markets, it meets the requirements. In fact, we probably already met the compliance requirements for that.
Kevin Fitzsimmons: Okay, great. And one last one from me I’ll hoppy. I think last quarter you were pretty upbeat about the potential for M&A opportunities and just given the environment and what small banks must be facing. But what we’re hearing from a lot of banks is just given what it would trigger in terms of having to mark-to-market securities and extend or inflate tangible book dilution, it kind of seems like it has quieted down a lot of potential activity. So just wondering if that’s what you are seeing or are you seeing something a little different? Thanks.
George Noonan: I would concur with that view, Kevin. I am not as optimistic on it now as I was, say, last quarter. But I think you’re right, I think, there’s still pretty significant headwinds out there in the M&A space. I think there is a lot of deals that I probably like to get done, but it’s just difficult to get them to the table.
Kevin Fitzsimmons: Yes. And without M&A hoppy, is there potential to do left-outs [ph] in strategic markets? Is that something you’re looking at?
George Noonan: I think there absolutely is. That’s a very good point. We’ve seen an increase in that opportunity as of late. Particularly, some of the larger banks are looking at cost cutting features or cost cutting programs. And in some of our markets that we’ve expanded in Atlanta, Tampa, Jacksonville, we’re hopeful we’ll be able to do – add to some of our bench strength there through some of the maybe larger banks cost cutting and cost reductions.
Kevin Fitzsimmons: Okay, great. Thanks very much.
George Noonan: Thank you, Kevin.
Operator: Thank you so much. One moment for our next question. All right, our next question comes from the line of Brett Rabatin of Hovde Group. Sorry if I said that incorrect. Your line is now open.
Brett Rabatin: Thanks. Good morning, everyone.
George Noonan: Hey, good morning.
Brett Rabatin: Wanted to go back to the margin for a second and just make sure I understand, so it sounds like in the fourth quarter, the narrative as you’ve got some public funds that you have to replace. And so or that come in and so margins down a little bit in the fourth quarter, but it should rise through 2024 with loan portfolio repricings. Can you guys give us a little more color on the quarterly progression of loan portfolio repricing in 2024?
Dee Dee Lowery: I don’t, and J.J. do you happen to have that win here with you? I didn’t bring my ALM report in here, I believe.
J.J. Fletcher: Yes. I’ve got this one charity scheduled at 2024.
Dee Dee Lowery: I got you, okay. Yes.
J.J. Fletcher: [Indiscernible]
Dee Dee Lowery: Yes. This looks like a little over 100 million a quarter, that’s maturing, so potentially be repricing.
J.J. Fletcher: That’s maturing, doesn’t count cash flows coming.
Dee Dee Lowery: None count cash flows, it’s just maturing, yes.
J.J. Fletcher: Yes. If you look back, the whole portfolio is about 20% reprices during the whole year in terms of cash flow coming off that plus maturity distribution.
Brett Rabatin: Okay. And then wanted to go back to loan demand and just get maybe a little more color around what you’re seeing in the different markets. Borrowers, are they pulling back some? Are you seeing deals, because others have pulled back? Maybe just a little more color around loan demand and how that might shape out for 2024 in terms of loan growth potential?
J.J. Fletcher: So this is J.J. I think pipelines I said were down a little bit, but from a historical perspective they’re still pretty much in line. So I have not seen George, and I were talking about that, this morning. I have not really felt a lot of deals being shelved or put on the sideline. I do think it’s becoming a little more challenging with the more equity requirements. We’re wondering when that does become a hindrance because if developers are putting in another 10% or 20% we’ve seen them doing that, but how many times are they going to do that on the next deal and the next deal? So I’m not sure. George, if you have any commentary on that. I think the jury is still out, but as of today, our client base is still doing deals and demand seems to be pretty good. We’re picking up some in Atlanta. Tampa had a good quarter. We mentioned New Orleans, that team they’ve got a really strong pipeline for this quarter. So overall things appear to be still fairly strong.
George Noonan: Yes. I concur J.J. And we’ve seen some instances in recent months where maybe a traditional group of investors that have done projects with us in the past may have brought some additional equity partners into their groups to fund some of that equity requirement. So that has surfaced several times.
