Third Coast (TCBX) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

DATE

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Investor Relations - Natalie Hairston
• Founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer - Bart Caraway
• Chief Financial Officer - John McWhorter
• Chief Credit Officer - Audrey Duncan

TAKEAWAYS

• Net Income -- $19.0 million, decreasing from $22.0 million in the previous quarter due to $3.2 million in merger-related expenses and the absence of a one-time gain from a prior factoring business sale.
• Adjusted Net Income -- $21.6 million, excluding $3.2 million of acquisition-related costs during the quarter.
• Diluted EPS -- $0.93, compared with $1.08 in the second quarter, reflecting the impact of merger-related noninterest expenses.
• Adjusted Diluted EPS -- $1.06, representing an improvement over the adjusted $0.98 reported in the second quarter.
• Net Interest Income -- $59.5 million, a 1.2% sequential decrease primarily driven by the impact of loan sales and reduced fee income from securitizations.
• Net Interest Margin -- 3.70%, contracting from 3.83% in the previous quarter due to the timing of loan sales and the amortization of premiums on specific loans.
• Adjusted Net Interest Margin -- 3.74%, excluding the impact of accelerated accretion during the period.
• Gross Loans -- $5.49 billion, increasing by $57.1 million sequentially despite the sale of $87.5 million in loans through the securitization program.
• Underlying Loan Growth -- $144 million, representing the expansion in the loan portfolio when excluding the impact of the quarter's loan sale.
• Total Deposits -- $5.92 billion, an increase of $69 million from June 30, 2026, supported by core funding growth.
• Noninterest-bearing Deposits -- $721.2 million, growing by $78.4 million during the quarter to reach 12.2% of the total deposit mix.
• Average Cost of Deposits -- 3.09%, rising 4 basis points sequentially but remaining 47 basis points lower than the same period last year.
• Tangible Book Value Per Common Share -- $33.31, reaching a new high for the company and increasing from $33.08 at the end of the second quarter.
• Nonperforming Loans -- $29.0 million, an increase from $27.1 million in June, largely due to three SBA loans totaling $2.3 million being placed on nonaccrual status.
• Nonperforming Loan Ratio -- 0.53%, remaining relatively consistent with the 0.50% reported at the end of the second quarter.
• Adjusted Efficiency Ratio -- 58.63%, compared with 56.5% in the prior quarter, reflecting the impact of nonrecurring items and merger costs.
• Provision for Credit Losses -- $540,000, decreasing from $2.1 million in the second quarter while maintaining overall portfolio coverage.
• Allowance for Credit Losses -- $54.4 million, representing 0.99% of total gross loans outstanding as of Sept. 30, 2026.
• Loan Securitization -- $87.5 million, completed during the quarter as part of a broader capital management and concentration risk strategy.
• Great Plains Merger Value -- $239.6 million, an all-stock transaction announced in Oct. 2026 that is expected to create a franchise with $9 billion in total assets.
• NIM Guidance -- 3.80% for the fourth quarter, with management anticipating improvements from asset sensitivity and favorable deposit mix shifts.
• Total Headcount -- 499 employees, a decrease from 504 at the end of the second quarter.

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RISKS

• McWhorter stated, "The third quarter was just kind of quirky that I certainly wouldn't have expected the decline," regarding the unexpected 13-basis-point sequential compression in the net interest margin.

SUMMARY

Third Coast Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:TCBX) reported financial results for the third quarter of 2026, highlighted by the announcement of its merger with Great Plains Bancshares and a significant increase in noninterest-bearing core deposits. Management stated that the Great Plains acquisition is an extension of its disciplined growth strategy, intended to expand the company's footprint into Oklahoma and North Texas while enhancing its core deposit base. The company reported steady loan demand across its Texas markets and continues to utilize a securitization program to manage balance sheet concentrations and capital efficiency. Management indicated that credit quality remained stable during the period, with net recoveries recorded for the third consecutive quarter, and expressed optimism regarding margin expansion in the upcoming fourth quarter.

• The treasury management team significantly increased its core funding by onboarding 25 new accounts with balances exceeding $1 million each.
• CEO Caraway reported that the company's hiring strategy focuses on surgical additions of experienced banking teams that typically achieve profitability within their first month.
• Management noted that the integration of Great Plains will be simplified because both financial institutions utilize the same FIS core banking platform.
• CFO McWhorter indicated that the company intends to execute its first securitization of commercial loans in the fourth quarter.
• The company reported that its current loan pipeline remains robust, with the commercial and industrial sector expected to be the primary driver of growth in the next quarter.
• Management confirmed that the majority of Keystone integration expenses have been realized, with merger-related costs expected to decrease to between $500,000 and $1 million in the fourth quarter.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Accretion: The increase in the value of a discounted instrument over time as it approaches its maturity or face value.
• Basis Points: A standard unit of measure for interest rates and other percentages in finance, where one basis point equals 0.01 percentage point.
• C&I Loans: Commercial and industrial loans made to businesses for working capital or equipment financing rather than for real estate.
• Efficiency Ratio: A measure of a bank's overhead as a percentage of its revenue, calculated by dividing noninterest expenses by the sum of net interest income and noninterest income.
• Net Interest Margin (NIM): A measure of the difference between interest income generated and the amount of interest paid out to lenders, relative to the amount of interest-earning assets.
• Nonperforming Loans (NPL): Loans where the borrower is in default and has not made scheduled payments of principal or interest for at least 90 days.
• SBA Loans: Loans partially guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration to support small business lending.
• Securitization: The process of pooling various types of debt, such as commercial real estate loans, and selling their related cash flows to third-party investors as securities.
• Tangible Book Value: The net asset value of a company excluding intangible assets such as goodwill and core deposit intangibles.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Greetings, and welcome to the Third Coast Bancshares Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It's now my pleasure to introduce Natalie Hairston of Investor Relations. Natalie, please go ahead.

Natalie Hairston: Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Third Coast Bancshares Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. With me today are Bart Caraway, Founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; John McWhorter, Chief Financial Officer; and Audrey Spaulding, Chief Credit Officer. First, a few housekeeping items. There will be a replay of today's call and it will be available by webcast on the Investors section of our website at ir.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a call replay available until October 29, and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release.

Please note that the information reported on this call speaks only as of today, October 22, 2026, and therefore, you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as the time of replay listening or transcript reading. In addition, the comments made by management during this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management. However, various risks, uncertainties and contingencies could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management.

The listener or reader is encouraged to read the annual report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC to better understand those risks, uncertainties and contingencies. Today's discussion will also include the proposed merger with Great Plains Bancshares. This call does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval. Third Coast intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4 that will include a joint proxy statement prospectus, and investors are encouraged to read it when it becomes available as it will contain important information about the proposed transaction. The comments made today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures.

Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures were included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website. Now I would like to turn the call over to Third Coast's Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway. Bart?

Bart Caraway: Thank you, Natalie, and good morning, everyone. The third quarter was another healthy quarter for Third Coast and importantly, one that demonstrates the underlying strength of our franchise. Reported earnings included $3.2 million in merger-related expenses, which affected noninterest expenses and net interest margin. John will walk through those items in more detail in just a moment. But when you look through those items, I believe the underlying performance of the franchise remains solid. There are a few things I'd point to. First, I'm encouraged by the continued momentum we're seeing in treasury management. The team continues to add customer relationships and generate a steady source of deposits.

Over the past 12 months, noninterest-bearing deposits increased 60.3% compared with 35.5% growth in total deposits. For us, that's really about continuing to deepen customer relationships and build a stronger core funding base. Second, we're also seeing strong loan activity. Gross loans ended the quarter at approximately $5.5 billion. During the quarter, we sold approximately $87 million of loans through our securitization program. Excluding that sale, loan growth exceeded $144 million. That underlying growth is consistent with the pipelines we discussed with you last quarter and gives us continued confidence in the strength of customer demand across our markets. Third, credit remained stable. We recorded net recoveries during the quarter.

Audrey will provide some additional detail on the portfolio in a few minutes. And fourth, tangible book value per share reached $33.31, another new high for the company. We view the continued growth in tangible book value as an important measure of the long-term value we're building for our shareholders. When you put these things together, I believe they tell a pretty straightforward story about where we are today. We're continuing to grow the company, strengthen our customer relationships and build value while also positioning Third Coast for the next stage of growth. And that brings me to Great Plains. Earlier this month, we announced our agreement to merge with Great Plains Bancshares, parent company of Great Plains National Bank.

The combination will expand our presence in Dallas, establish our entry into Oklahoma and is expected to create a franchise of approximately $9 billion in assets. We view Great Plains as an extension of the strategy we've been executing. We remain focused on disciplined growth, strong customer relationships, thoughtful balance sheet management, sound credit fundamentals and ultimately building a franchise capable of producing durable long-term earnings. We feel good about the progress we're making, both in performance of the core bank today and in what we're building for the future. With that, I'll turn the call over to John to walk through the financial results and provide additional details on the quarter. John?

John McWhorter: Thank you, Bart, and good morning, everyone. As Bart mentioned, our third quarter results included a few items that are important to understand when looking at the quarter-over-quarter comparison. I'll spend some time on those items and provide additional detail on the underlying performance of the business. Net income for the third quarter was $19 million compared to $22 million in the second quarter and $18.1 million in the third quarter of 2025. And diluted earnings per share was $0.93 compared to $1.08 last quarter and $1.03 in the same period last year. However, excluding the $3.2 million of merger-related expenses, adjusted net income was approximately $21.6 million or $1.06 per diluted share.

Net interest income was $59.5 million compared to $60.3 million in the second quarter and $50.8 million in the third quarter of last year. Net interest margin was 3.7% and would have been 3.74% without the accelerated accretion compared with 3.83% last quarter. On loans, gross loans ended the quarter at approximately $5.5 billion, an increase of $57 million from June. However, that reported number includes the impact of approximately $87 million of loans sold through our securitization program during the quarter. Excluding that sale, underlying loan growth exceeded $144 million.

As we discussed last quarter, securitization has become a part of our broader balance sheet and capital management strategy, and we expect to close a new securitization in the fourth quarter as well. On the funding side, total deposits ended the quarter at $5.9 billion, an increase of $69 million from June. Noninterest-bearing demand deposits increased approximately $78 million to $721 million and represented 12.2% of total deposits compared with just 11% at June. As Bart noted, the longer-term trend of noninterest-bearing demand deposits is also encouraging. Average cost of deposits for the quarter was 3.09%, up just 4 basis points from the second quarter, while remaining 47 basis points below the third quarter of last year.

Our reported efficiency ratio was 63.1% and as adjusted was 58.63% compared with 56.5% last quarter. The sequential comparison reflects both the merger-related and other nonrecurring items as well as the approximately $3.5 million gain on the sale of the factoring business that benefited the second quarter noninterest income. We continue to build book value during the quarter. Book value per common share increased to $36.53, while tangible book value per common share reached a new high of $33.31 compared with $33.08 at June 30 and $30.91 a year ago. Finally, in case you missed it, we added a new table to our earnings release.

It's something investors have asked for in the past, which is a breakout of our merger-related expenses, and we also broke out the second quarter gain realized on the sale of our factoring business. This table shows adjusted ROA and ROE and also shows that by some measures, it was our best quarter ever. It also shows that we have consistently grown net income for all reported periods. Overall, while several items affected the quarter-over-quarter comparison, we continue to see strong loan demand, progress in our funding mix and continued growth in shareholder value. With that, I'll turn the call over to Audrey to discuss asset quality.

Audrey Duncan: Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Credit performance remained stable during the quarter and overall portfolio performance remains consistent with our expectations. Nonperforming loans ended the quarter at approximately $29 million compared to $27.1 million in June. As a percentage of total loans, nonperforming loans were 0.53% compared with 0.50% last quarter and 0.52% a year ago. While we experienced a slight increase in the quarter, the overall ratio remains relatively consistent with recent periods. The increase in nonperforming loans was primarily due to the placement on nonaccrual of 3 SBA loans totaling approximately $2.3 million. This increase was partially offset by paydowns on nonaccruals and 4 small loans, which were placed back on accrual.

It is also noteworthy that over 45% of our total nonaccrual loans are fully SBA guaranteed or cash secured. We recorded net recoveries of $27,000 during the quarter, marking our third consecutive quarter of net recoveries. We have recorded net recoveries of $182,000 year-to-date. Provision for credit losses totaled $540,000 during the quarter, and the allowance for credit losses increased to $54.4 million, representing 0.99% of total loans. Our loan portfolio remains well diversified across industries, markets and borrower relationships. Portfolio allocations remain generally consistent with the prior quarter with commercial and industrial loans representing 43% of total loans and construction development and land loans representing 16%, while owner-occupied CRE was 11% and nonowner-occupied CRE was 18%.

Overall, we continue to feel good about the credit profile of the portfolio. As we grow, our teams remain focused on disciplined underwriting, appropriate loan structures and proactive portfolio management. The consistency we're seeing in credit performance even as the balance sheet continues to grow, reflects the same disciplined approach we've discussed with you throughout the year. With that, I'll turn the call back to Bart. Bart?

Bart Caraway: Thank you, Audrey. As we look ahead, we believe Great Plains represents an important next step in building a stronger, more valuable Third Coast franchise. First and foremost, the transaction has the potential to transform our funding profile. Great Plains brings a granular relationship-based core deposit franchise that strengthens the commercial banking platform we have built at Third Coast and gives us greater capacity to support continued growth. When you pair that stronger funding base with the scale and capabilities we're bringing together, we believe it creates an opportunity for more durable earnings and long-term stakeholder value. Our focus isn't simply on becoming a bigger bank. It's building a better bank.

And as the banking landscape continues to evolve, we believe there is meaningful value in building a Texas-headquartered bank of scale with the talent, capabilities and relationship banking culture to compete. That kind of franchise is increasingly difficult to replicate. Before we open the call to questions, I want to thank our employees for their continued commitment to our customers and to Third Coast and our customers and shareholders for the trust they place in us. We do not take that trust for granted, and we'll continue to work to earn it in every way. With that, I'll turn the call back over to the operator.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Michael Rose with Raymond James.

Michael Rose: I just wanted to kind of get a better understanding of the margin dynamics this quarter. Typically, when you have a securitization, you get a pretty meaningful boost, but you were down kind of 13 basis points. It looks like it was in the securities portfolio. I saw the balances grew. So maybe you added some yields were down. If you can just kind of walk us through kind of what happened this quarter? I think you guided to flat to up. So with the securitization, I would have thought that we would have seen that up. So if you could just walk us through all that, it would be great.

John McWhorter: Sure. So there's a lot, Michael, that I could say about the margin for this quarter. It certainly was a little bit of a surprise to us. On a more positive basis, we're definitely going to be up in the fourth quarter. So several points there. On the margin, I would point out that for the quarter, we were considerably better each consecutive month. In other words, July was the low point for the quarter. And we would have expected it to be a little bit better because of the securitization. But that one, we were selling loans off the balance sheet that we had already amortized most of the fee income.

So there were very few fees that we picked up from that one. The one that we're doing in the fourth quarter should be more material where we actually see a difference where this one, we did not. And the securities portfolio, because we did the securitization early in the quarter, this one had a little bit lower yield than the existing portfolio. So it did drag it down a little. But then, of course, late in the quarter, when rates went up, all of those asset-backed securities that we have on the books are floating rate. So I would expect an increase in the yield in securities for the quarter.

Our noninterest-bearing demand is going to continue to be a nice tailwind. So if you look at the quarterly average noninterest-bearing demand, it was, I think, $654 million average for the quarter, where period end was $721 million. So a pretty significant difference, and we're still at about those levels today. So where last quarter, we sold assets early in the quarter, it's going to be a little bit different this quarter that our noninterest-bearing demand is up. Loans so far through today are up $80 million for the month. So it looks like we're going to have loans that are being funded by noninterest-bearing demand, the rate increase, we are a little bit asset sensitive.

So I'm a lot more optimistic about the fourth quarter. The third quarter was just kind of quirky that I certainly wouldn't have expected the decline. And a little bit of it was amortization of premiums on the Keystone portfolio. We didn't have many loans booked at a premium, but there were a few. And unfortunately, some of them paid off at the same time. So we had to amortize those premiums, which made a bigger difference, too. So it just happened to be one of those quarters where everything seemed to be going in the wrong direction. And I think those will reverse themselves for the fourth quarter.

Michael Rose: Right. So not trying to pin you down here, John. But as we think about the fourth quarter and the dynamics that you just laid out, the 4 basis points you talked about earlier, the growth that you just mentioned, the NIB mix moving higher, how should we think as a starting point for the fourth quarter in the context of the margin increased through the third quarter?

John McWhorter: Yes. I think 3.80% is a pretty good number for the fourth quarter and would hope to overperform versus that number, but 3.80% is kind of what we've penciled in.

Michael Rose: Okay. Perfect. And maybe one for you, Bart. Obviously, if you back out the securitization underlying growth closer to $145 million, that's above the guide. John, you just mentioned that loans are up about $80 million so far this month. You're going to be adding the new deal. Just how should we think about kind of pre- and post-deal loan generation kind of as we move forward? Is that prior target still what we should expect? Or should it be potentially something higher?

Bart Caraway: No. I think we're going to probably stay on target. There's a lot of dynamics to that. But we do have some teams that joined us at Third Coast that are ramping up, and I think that's reinforced the pipeline. At the same time, our focus is going to be on integrating Great Plains and spending time with them. I do think there's some upside in their production in that they have some larger customers that would benefit from more products that we have. But I think all in all, we probably are sticking with the same guidance that we've had. I think it's going to be fairly consistent.

And a little bit of that, too, with rates going up, may put a little bit of damper on some of the loan production. I think that's going to be offset by how robust our pipelines are. So evening everything out, I'm sticking to the same guidance we've had for the last 3, 4 months.

John McWhorter: Yes. And Michael, just maybe a little more color from my perspective. Last quarter, I would have thought that we could have done the securitization and still grown $100 million, and it was $56 million. So we were off a little bit there. I would say the same thing for the fourth quarter that we can do a securitization and still grow in that $100 million range. But the difference is going to be we're not going to close it early in the quarter like we did the last one.

It would be much later in the quarter and not impossible that it would push to the first quarter, but most likely, it's going to be a December sort of transaction. We kind of have it teed up and should be ready to go on it, and we're waiting to see what the growth for the quarter looks like. But it's been strong enough lately that it's kind of just the best guess at this point.

Michael Rose: Yes, totally got it. I appreciate all that color. If I could just slip one more in, just -- anything in that other fee income line that you would consider kind of nonrecurring at this point? I know it was kind of above the 4% to 4.5% quarterly range that you've given last quarter.

John McWhorter: Yes. So we've been real happy with fee income initiatives lately. The treasury management group continues to do well. For this quarter, specifically, the differences versus prior quarters were we had more swap fees and we had more loan fee income. And those are a little harder to forecast, although with the pipelines being strong, those numbers should continue to be strong. The swap fees, I mean, they're customer dependent. It's just hard to say. And then the other piece that we had this quarter that we haven't had previously is this trailing revenue stream from the sale of our factoring company. And that was $150,000 or thereabouts for the quarter.

That number shouldn't go down unless those loans pay off and if we refer more deals, it could go up. So we're pretty optimistic about fee income. It again, tend to be just a little bit lumpy based on loan volume being that a lot of it was loan fee related, but we feel pretty good about the quarter.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Hannah Wynn with KBW.

Hannah Wynn: I wanted to start on the hiring side. I know you guys have continued to invest in experienced lenders and hired 5 new hires last quarter. Just curious how the hiring progress this quarter was and when those newer teams are expected to ramp up in the process and when we should expect a more meaningful contribution to growth?

Bart Caraway: Yes. We've -- the teams that have come on are teams that we've known for a long time. And I think I'll give credit to the management team. We have gotten very good at kind of feathering in experienced team members aligned with their production so that they get profitable very quickly. And indeed, I think the team has gotten better and better at that. But these experienced bankers come with high-quality customers that they are bringing on early. So I expect each one of them to get to profitability much faster than in the past. And indeed, some of them are already there. At this point, I think they're already contributing to the pipeline.

Maybe the last one is coming is -- we feel like it's going to be very strong as well. And at this point, I think we've gotten the people that we'll probably have for this year. Maybe if there's a lucky surprise, we add another one. But for the most part, it's -- instead of volume, it is very targeted and surgical hiring, people that are coming on board, fewer numbers but much bigger pipelines. And so I think we're really pleased with the way we've managed it. It's not been a drag on the earnings like in the past, we've hired large teams and it took a while for them to ramp up.

I think these are teams that are coming on that make almost an immediate impact. And sometimes they're profitable within the first month they come on.

Hannah Wynn: Great. That's... sorry, go ahead.

John McWhorter: Hannah, if you look at the salary line item on our earnings release, it's been pretty consistently $25 million for the last 3 quarters. So we've been able to hire these new teams, we think very high-performing people, and it's been offset with cost saves through Keystone and the sale of our factoring company. So we've been pretty happy with that line item. It could go up a little bit in the fourth quarter. We do need to add support for these teams, but we've been encouraged by the talent that we've been able to add this year at a relatively modest increase, if any, in salary expense.

Hannah Wynn: Great. That's very helpful. And then another question on Great Plains. If you could just give us an update on the expected timing of the deal and whether an early first quarter 2027 close is still the right expectation? And any other color on the process and integration planning would be helpful.

John McWhorter: We don't have a date exactly yet. We do have to have shareholder meetings on both sides. I think the latest it would be is April 1. We certainly hope for it to be February 1. We think it will be somewhere in that range between February 1 and April 1 is kind of best guess at this point. And hopefully, we can clarify that in coming weeks.

Bart Caraway: And as far as integration, obviously, that's our priority. Fortunately, coming off right off Keystone, everything is relatively fresh. And our project management team is geared up, and it's almost rinse and repeat. The nicer thing about Great Plains is that they're essentially on FIS as well as we are. So it greatly simplifies the products, and they have a very similar treasury platform as well. So for us, this is actually an easier transaction to integrate than even what Keystone was. So it's looking it's actually looking very well right now. The other thing is just that I'd just give a shout out to the Great Plains team.

I mean they -- it's a very talented group of people, especially for the size of the bank. We've been very impressed by the quality of people there and the cooperation between our teams has just been a natural fit, and it's just been a very easy and pleasant process thus far. So I think that's going to translate into next to no customer impact. Again, we're keeping their names in their's markets. So from a customer standpoint, I don't think they're going to really know much of any difference other than they're going to have more products. And at the same time, we're going to be able to add some scale and leverage to all of it.

So it's turning out to be even better than what I anticipated. And I knew it was going to be good from the beginning.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Brett Rabatin with StoneX Group.

Brett Rabatin: I wanted to start -- go back to the margin for a second. And just was curious if you had the spot margin at the -- either the end of the quarter or the margin for September.

John McWhorter: It might take me just a second. I don't remember that off the top of my head.

Brett Rabatin: No worries. Then maybe...

Bart Caraway: As John is working, maybe ask another one.

Brett Rabatin: Yes, I was going to say I'll ask another one while you are looking for that. I guess I'm still a little confused on...

John McWhorter: Brett, don't hold me to this, but September was 3.85%.

Brett Rabatin: Okay. Great. And then Bart or John, I guess I'm still just a little confused with the loan rates in the quarter. And I know the September rate hike was late in the quarter, and so you wouldn't have had the full benefit. But can you just talk about the linked quarter change in loan yields? And then maybe go over how much of the portfolio would be variable and reprice with the Fed hike? Or walk us through kind of the dynamics around the repricing of the loan book.

John McWhorter: Yes, Brett, I admit you look at the raw numbers, and it's a little bit of a head scratcher as to how rates could have gone up and our yield went down. It's all tied to loan fees, though, and the way we're amortizing fees. So if, for example, in the second quarter, we had more loan payoffs that had fees that we took directly into income, I mean, that would affect it. We talked a little about the amortization of the premium that we had on the Keystone loan that paid off. It was $800,000 and you annualize that, and it has a rather large effect.

And that's actually probably the biggest thing is that one single loan that paid off that we had at a large premium. So I would -- I mean, we're asset sensitive at plus 200. We're 2% asset sensitive. When the Fed raised rates, we did not increase our deposit rates at all. I mean there are some that are floating, obviously, but I expect the yield to go up next month for sure.

Brett Rabatin: Okay. That's helpful. And then I was hoping to get an update on the ORE property and just if that was leasing up and any update on that credit?

Bart Caraway: I don't think there's a whole lot to update on it. We just continue to move forward with it, but it's pretty much on trend that we talked about before.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Bernard Von Gizycki with Deutsche Bank.

Bernard Von Gizycki: John, just following up on the fee income commentary that you mentioned was a little bit of an outlier given the more swap fees, the more loan fee income. Is it fair? Are you keeping your quarterly guidance around that $4 million to $4.5 million? Or has that changed at all?

John McWhorter: Yes, I think we could probably say $5 million. Yes. So some of it is certainly going to be core, just the fact that we're bigger, that we have more people, that we're doing more deals. I mean, we certainly expect that number to increase. It may not be 6 every quarter or at least next quarter, but we should see a nice increase.

Bernard Von Gizycki: Okay. Great. And then maybe just on expenses. Obviously, I understand that the merger costs can be a little lumpy. But just given like your forecast on those, any way to think about what we should be expecting? Should there be another big number in 4Q? Just some sort of cadence, just so we have a rough idea on what you're thinking from next quarter or so?

John McWhorter: Yes. Good question. I'm glad you brought that up. So we did go back and look at what we originally told the market for the Keystone acquisition. So most of this expense was related to Keystone, not Great Plains. And if we go back to our original investor deck, we said the total deal expenses would be $13 million, and we've so far spent about $12.5 million. So we're just a little under where we expected to be, and we may end up getting to the $13 million. There's probably a little bit more expense there. On Great Plains, it depends on when closing is. There shouldn't be much by way of merger expense in the fourth quarter.

Keystone, we're almost through with. There's work, obviously, we're doing on Great Plains, but it's not going to be material probably until the first quarter. So I would think this quarter is going to be, I don't know, $500,000, maybe $1 million tops in merger expenses, probably closer to the $500,000, if I had to guess.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Matt Olney with Stephens Inc.

Matt Olney: Just a few follow-ups on the securitization discussion from earlier. John, the securitization that you closed in the third quarter, you mentioned it was helpful as far as liquidity management and capital management, which makes sense. Just in terms of the overall financials of this transaction, I think you said the securitization was a slight drag to overall loan yields and obviously a drag to loan balances. So is it fair to say that, that securitization on itself was a little bit of a drag to overall financials in the third quarter? Or any other considerations from that deal we should consider?

And then the second part, John, on the securitization that you're planning for the fourth quarter, I think you said it would be more financially impactful, implying it would not be a drag. Any more color you can give on that securitization versus the one you just closed?

John McWhorter: Yes. Good question, Matt. So the first 2 that we did last year were very impactful because the fee income was in the $1 million range, which far offset the attorneys' fees. But the more recent one, it was a push at best. I mean we really didn't make anything from that perspective. Now of course, we have the earning assets. I mean, I'm not counting any of that. But if I look at noninterest income, noninterest expense, that securitization would have been a net negative for the quarter. Only slightly so.

Bart Caraway: But obviously, it was a strategic play for us. It was something we needed to do to manage concentrations. And sometimes you do that when we have such large customers that we want to make sure and accommodate. I think we look at this as customer service more than anything else and managing our own balance sheet. But I think John and I talked about the fact that it closed within 2 weeks of the start of the quarter. That was a drag from the fact that it happened so early in the quarter.

Matt Olney: I appreciate the details. And the second part of the question was on the securitization that you're working on now. I think it was implied this one could be more financially impactful. I know it's not closed yet, but any more color on that would be helpful.

John McWhorter: Yes. And I don't have numbers that we can give out yet, but I think this next one is going to look more similar to the first 2 than the more recent one that there will be more fee income associated with it. It will be a little bit higher yield on the securities that we buy back. I think it will be better all the way around.

Matt Olney: Okay. That is helpful. Appreciate the color there. And then I guess, Bart, you mentioned the progress you've made on the noninterest-bearing deposits in the third quarter, and it sounds like that's continued thus far early in the fourth quarter. Really impressive in this kind of environment. Any more color on just the customer wins and the investments you've made that have driven some of the strong results there?

Bart Caraway: Yes. I think almost everything is singles and doubles for the most part. One thing that, again, we highlight treasury management, they're opening probably more accounts than they ever have been. And I think part of this is just across the bank, the partnership, both the community and the commercial as well that's a really, really good sign of the synergies that are happening between the groups. We have some rather large customers, too, that, as you know, that we've been banking. And we have 25 accounts that are more than $1 million, which are significant high-quality customer accounts that we probably could not have onboarded on the old system.

And this is another reason why we converted to a higher-grade system is to be able to manage these type accounts and win these accounts, and that's part of the success story we're having.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Dave Storms with Stonegate.

David Storms: I wanted to go back to the Great Plains transaction. I know you mentioned in the slides there that you're expecting about 50% of the cost savings in 2027. Is there any -- is it too early to talk about maybe a cadence for that? Does the Keystone acquisition and some of the legacy infrastructure there front-load some of that? Or maybe just any color we could get there would be helpful.

John McWhorter: Yes, Dave, if anything, it's probably the opposite that it would be later in the quarter. And depending on when our conversion ends up being that the cadence of the savings could come a little bit later. We don't have a definitive date for conversion yet. So kind of pending what we find out about that, we'll have a lot to do with it.

David Storms: Understood. Appreciate that. And then maybe just one more. In the past, we've talked about the success of the Heritage rural branches as a source of growth. Maybe just any thoughts on how you expect that to continue maybe in the second -- last couple of months of the year here? And then again, if Great Plains maybe adds to that growth in any meaningful way?

Bart Caraway: That's a great observation because it really is an extension on our rural building. I think Great Plains has some fantastic history of being able to grow deposits. And they're truly a great marriage in that they do some things better than us. We do some things a little bit better than them. But together, the synergies are going to be fantastic. And we expect one of the stories that we're going to be able to tell is the ability to continue to grow these great core deposits even faster and a better rate with us together. And these deposits, particularly are both core and stable, which is part of the story of transforming our deposit base.

So I think this is one of the things that's hard to quantify, but I'm seeing it already from the dialogue that we're having internally, how well it fits together that I think big part of our core deposit production is going to be the contributions of us together in these particular markets. So -- and don't forget also North Texas, it greatly expands our footprint there. And whenever you look at the markets that they're in, in North Texas and the dynamism of that market, I think we're going to be able to grow a lot of market share there with the combined banks.

So overall, I think that's going to be a great story that we're going to be able to update and have you all follow over time.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Stephen Scouten with Piper Sandler.

Jackson Andrew: This is Jackson Andrew on for Stephen. I appreciate all the color so far. I just wanted to touch back on the pipeline, kind of what's kind of driving growth there going forward?

Bart Caraway: Yes. I think everybody is doing well and hitting on all cylinders. I do think it will be probably disproportionately in the C&I portfolio. I've just seen the pipelines and with the new lenders, most of them are on the C&I side. Again, what I didn't mention before some of the complexities are a lot of these are lines, and it depends on what the utilization is and as they ramp up. So even some of these that we've booked in the past, the utilization is going to start to rise and help contribute. So it may already actually be on our books.

So I think the -- what I would say is we'll see a little bit from every one of the verticals, but I think the C&I is probably going to be the biggest growth driver over the next quarter.

John McWhorter: Yes. And Jackson, I probably should have mentioned that this next securitization that we're working on is actually out of the commercial portfolio, which will be a first for us.

Jackson Andrew: Great. And then just one other question. Kind of how should we be thinking about loan and deposit betas for this upcoming cycle?

John McWhorter: That is a good question. We certainly consider ourselves to be slightly asset sensitive. But in saying that our cost of funds has not gone up nearly as much as market rates. I mean I think most people view us as being more sensitive to deposit costs, but market rates are up 50 to 100 basis points depending on where you look, and ours were certainly up far less than that. So I mean, -- some of our accounts are going to be very dependent on market rates and the betas are going to be close to 100%. But overall, in the portfolio, we're managing for the margin.

And even though ours may be higher than normal or higher than average, we see the same thing on the asset side. So we're managing towards the margin and think it will be up in the fourth quarter. And whether rates continue going up or not, we're confident about a higher margin for the fourth quarter.

Bart Caraway: I think we've worked well to position ourselves to be a little agnostic on the rate moves. We were prepared whether they went down or up. And sometimes for us, just movement actually helps. I think if you look at our history, we've been very adept at working our portfolio when there are changes. And I think this is going to be the same that for us, the market rates moving is just opportunities to us readjust our portfolio some. And we're -- I think we're going to be less impacted than most banks out there.

Operator: This concludes the question-and-answer session. And I'd like to turn the call back over to Bart Caraway for closing remarks.

Bart Caraway: Well, thank you, Joe, and thank you for everybody joining us on the call and your continued support of Third Coast Bancshares. We look forward to reporting back next quarter. Thank you all. Have a good day.

Operator: Thank you. This does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and enjoy the rest of your day.

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