管理層發言
Good day, and welcome to the USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. Quarter 2 2026 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by 0. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Luis F. de la Aguilera, President and CEO. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us for the USCB Financial Holdings second quarter 2026 earnings call. I am Luis F. de la Aguilera, Chairman, President and CEO of USCB Financial Holdings. Joining me today are Robert Anderson, our Chief Financial Officer, and Sergio E. Garrido, our Chief Credit Officer. Rob will walk you through our financial results in detail and Sergio will review credit quality. I am very pleased to report another strong quarter that marks an important milestone for our company as we surpassed $3 billion in total assets, driven by record loan production, meaningful margin expansion, and continued pristine credit quality. For the quarter ended 06/30/2026, the company generated net income of $9.1 million or $0.49 per diluted share, compared to $0.40 per diluted share in the second quarter of last year, a 22.5% increase year over year. Profitability metrics remain best in class with ROAA of 1.26%, ROAE of 15.9%, and an efficiency ratio that improved to 49.97%, in the low 50% for the first time and down from 52.34% in the first quarter. At a high level, total assets surpassed $3 billion, up 11% year over year. Loans grew to $2.3 billion, up 9.9% year over year, driven by record new loan fundings of $272 million, a 14.6% annualized increase over the prior quarter. Deposits reached $2.5 billion, up 5% year over year, with average DDA growing more than 32% annualized over the first quarter. Net interest margin expanded to 3.49%, up from 3.27% for the first quarter, reflecting the earnings power of a growing loan book and disciplined funding costs. Loan growth was broad based across our C&I, commercial real estate, correspondent banking, and consumer lending portfolios. Second quarter loan production continued to be diversified across broad asset classes, with 42% of total loan production classified as commercial real estate and 58% as non-CRE. Our concerted focus on diversifying the loan portfolio is evident in the bank's loan composition trend, which shows a steady decline in commercial real estate concentration from 63% in 2020 to 57% by mid-2026. Importantly, this growth has not come at the expense of credit quality. Nonperforming loans remain exceptionally low at 0.09% of total loans, and net charge-offs were a nominal 0.05% for the quarter. Our deposit-focused business verticals — association banking, our Private Client Group, and correspondent banking — represent approximately 30% of total deposits, underscoring the strength and diversification of our funding franchise. As I step back and review Q2, I see a milestone quarter for USCB. The kind of quarter that validates the strategy we have been executing consistently since recapitalization. Crossing $3 billion in assets is more than a number; it reflects years of disciplined, relationship-driven growth in one of the most attractive banking markets in the country. South Florida continues to attract capital, talent, and business formation at a pace that most markets can only envy, and we are exceptionally well positioned to serve that ecosystem. From a financial performance standpoint, three themes of the quarter speak for themselves: we crossed the $3 billion mark, we delivered net interest margin approaching 3.5%, and we generated record loan production, all while maintaining pristine credit quality and an efficiency ratio below 50%. Our branch-light, relationship-intensive model combined with our specialized deposit verticals gives us a funding advantage that is difficult to replicate. Our operating performance reflects our ongoing strategic decisions to invest in people, process, and products, leveraging technology to deliver best-in-class service as we continue to refine our delivery platforms. To this end, we operate an efficient branch-light business model, which over the past years has been optimally repositioned from 18 branches to 9, with the recently announced scheduled closure of the Miami Lakes branch later this year. Last quarter, we announced the launch of a new lending team headquartered in our Miami main office focused on developing the three contiguous municipalities of Doral, Medley, and Hialeah. Initially, the team commenced operating with a senior team leader, two business development officers, and a commercially focused business lender. Two additional lenders are in the process of being hired in the third quarter. Similarly, in Q2 we launched a new deposit-aggregating initiative focused on supporting 1031 exchange real estate transactions. In partnership with an experienced Florida-based qualified intermediary, US Century will serve as a depository bank for these real estate transactions, helping clients plan when selling and reinvesting in real estate. This new value-added service is initially being marketed internally to transactional law firms, CPAs, and title companies, quickly generating $22 million in deposits since launch. We believe our differentiated relationship banking model, combined with the attractive demographic and economic trends in South Florida, position us well to continue growing both loans and core deposits while maintaining disciplined risk management. These are not isolated results; they are the products of consistent execution by a very talented team in one of the strongest markets in the country. The Miami-Dade tri-county MSA remains exceptionally resilient because it continues to attract both people and capital at a pace few major U.S. markets can match. Florida's population reached approximately 23.7 million residents by 2026, growing by roughly 329,000 people annually, with virtually all growth coming from net migration rather than natural population increases. While some residents have migrated from Miami-Dade to more affordable areas within Florida, the county continues to benefit from substantial inflows of international residents, entrepreneurs, investors, and high-income households drawn to its unique position as a financial and commercial gateway to Latin America. The economic strength of Miami-Dade is also reflected in its labor market, housing market, and ongoing development activity. Unemployment remains exceptionally low at 2.6%, signaling near-full employment. At the same time, the median single-family home price remains between $680,000 and $700,000, while average home values exceeded $1.3 million, demonstrating significant household wealth and collateral strength. Residential investment remains robust as well, with approximately 36,300 multifamily units in the South Florida development pipeline, much of it concentrated in and around Miami's urban core, supporting construction employment, consumer spending, and long-term housing supply. Perhaps the most compelling from a banking perspective is Miami-Dade's emergence as one of the nation's fastest-growing corporate and financial centers. More than 74 major national and international companies relocated headquarters to Florida between 2020 and 2025, with South Florida capturing a significant share of that growth, including major firms such as Citadel, JPMorgan, Amazon, Blackstone, and Microsoft Latin America. In late 2024, FIFA relocated its legal compliance division to the same building where US Century has our Coral Gables banking center. Similarly, FC Barcelona has relocated significant operations to Miami, and a growing number of technology, private equity, and financial services companies have expanded their Miami presence. Combined with Port Miami's throughput of more than 1 million containers annually, Miami-Dade continues to generate strong demand for commercial lending, trade finance, treasury management, owner-occupied real estate financing, and wealth management services. Taken together, low unemployment, substantial residential development, corporate relocations, population growth, and expanding international trade provide a powerful and sustainable foundation for both the Miami-Dade economy and the banking industry it serves. With that overview, I will now turn the call over to Robert to review financial results in greater detail.
Thank you, Luis, and good morning, everyone. Looking at pages 6 and 7, you will see an excellent quarter for Team USCB, notably a quarter that will power earnings in the back half of 2026. First, total assets surpassed $3 billion. Average loans grew 15% annualized from the prior quarter; this was at the higher end of our stated guidance, powered by record new loan production. The strong loan growth drove an additional $1.3 million in provision expense which weighed on current quarter earnings because the provision is recognized upfront, while the earnings benefit from the new loans will be more fully realized in Q3. Net interest income rose 20% up to $24.4 million, up $2.3 million or 42.6% annualized from the prior quarter. Net interest margin expanded 22 basis points to 3.49%. Credit remained pristine with a very small charge-off. Expenses remained controlled with the efficiency ratio just below 50%. Taxes are higher in the second quarter due to changes in our deferred tax inventory, including utilization of our current net operating loss. Year to date, the tax rate is 24% and we project a 25% rate for the remainder of the year. While we booked a return on average assets of 1.26%, the headline metric for this quarter is the pretax pre-provision return on average assets of 1.93%. Pretax pre-provision income was just under $14 million, up 47.9% annualized over the prior quarter. Return on average equity was 15.9%. Diluted earnings per share was $0.49, up 22.5% over the prior year. Tangible book value per share increased to $12.64, up 3.35% over the prior quarter. With that overview, let's go to deposits on the next page. Average deposits for the quarter totaled approximately $2.5 billion, an increase of $61.9 million or 10.2% annualized over the first quarter, and up $198 million or 8.7% year over year. The real story this quarter was the quality of our funding mix. Average noninterest-bearing DDA increased $47.4 million or 32.5% annualized, pushing average DDA above the $600 million threshold. This mix shift was a key driver in bringing our total deposit cost down 4 basis points to 2.16%, a 30 basis point improvement year over year. On an end-of-period basis, deposits were modestly lower relative to the prior quarter. This was a deliberate strategic decision. We actively exited brokered CDs and other high-cost, non-relationship deposits from the balance sheet, replacing that funding with lower-cost FHLB advances. In a disciplined rate environment, we would rather fund the balance sheet with wholesale advances at attractive rates than retain expensive deposits that do not carry the relationship depth and stability of our core franchise. This is exactly the kind of funding optimization we will continue to maintain to improve profitability. Let's move on to the loan portfolio. On an average basis, loans increased $81.2 million quarter-over-quarter, 15% annualized, and grew $211 million or 9.8% year over year. Importantly, loan yield increased to 6.20%, up from 6.11% in the first quarter, driven by full-quarter impact of prior quarter originations and new loans added during the period. This is the earnings normalization we discussed last quarter beginning to materialize. Turning to new loan production, we had a record quarter — $272 million in new loan production — and consistent with prior patterns, the new loan closings were weighted to the back half of the quarter, with June accounting for $116 million or 42.6% of total production. Correspondent banking loans represented $83 million or 30.6% of quarterly closings, carrying a new loan yield of 5.22%. These are typically 180-day notes tied to SOFR. They add asset sensitivity and optionality and will be among the first assets to reprice higher in a rising rate environment. Excluding correspondent banking, the weighted average yield on the new loan production was 6.20%, which is consistent with the overall portfolio yield. While Q3 is typically a slower period in the market, the current pipeline is robust, and we will reiterate our guidance of high single-digit to low double-digit net loan growth for the back half of 2026. Turning to margin, net interest margin expanded to 3.49%, up 22 basis points from the first quarter. Net interest income increased $2.3 million or 42.6% annualized quarter over quarter and $3.4 million or 15.9% year over year. The expansion was driven by a favorable shift toward higher-yielding earning assets, improving loan yields, and disciplined funding costs. As recently originated loans continue to season into earnings, we expect the margin trajectory to remain constructive. We are managing a balance sheet that is generating real earnings momentum. A NIM approaching 3.50% is a meaningful milestone for this franchise, and we believe underlying drivers support a continued constructive outlook, though ongoing rate volatility and the competitive deposit environment will be factors we continue to manage carefully. Looking forward, I would suggest a 3.40% to 3.50% NIM for near-term modeling.
Thank you, Robert. Good morning, everyone. Asset quality improved during the quarter, highlighted by the decline in classified loans to 20 basis points of total loans from 30 basis points on March 31. Nonperforming loans also decreased to $2.1 million or 9 basis points of total loans, compared with $3.6 million or 16 basis points of total loans in the prior quarter. The allowance for credit losses increased to $26.7 million at 06/30/2026. While the allowance ratio declined modestly to 1.15% from 1.16% in the prior quarter, we recorded provision for credit loss of $1.3 million with a net ACL increase of about $600,000. This was driven primarily by portfolio growth and partially offset by a $288,000 charge-off. Net charge-offs represented just 5 basis points of average loans. Overall, credit metrics remain strong, with nonperforming assets at 7 basis points of total assets. Asset quality remains sound, and credit performance continues to support our disciplined growth strategy. Now let me turn it back over to Robert.
Thank you, Sergio. Total noninterest income for the second quarter was $3.6 million, representing 12.7% of total revenue. As anticipated, this was down from the first quarter primarily due to elevated swap activity in the prior period. Swap fees normalized to $572,000 from $1.6 million in Q1. Other service fee income increased $488,000, driven largely by loan prepayment penalties, a direct reflection of embedded protections in our loan portfolio. Overall, the quarter highlights the diversification and resilience of our fee-based revenue streams. Let's look at expenses. Total noninterest expense was $14 million, up just $255,000 from the prior quarter. That increase was driven primarily by a $312,000 excise tax on share repurchases executed in 2025. The efficiency ratio improved to 49.97%, supported by higher net interest income. Full-time headcount increased to 216, and we have additional hires planned in support of continued growth. You should expect expenses to rise at a measured pace with the efficiency ratio remaining in the low 50% range going forward. With that, let's turn to capital. Capital ratios remain robust with total risk-based capital of 13.88%. On July 20, our Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share, payable September 4 to shareholders of record as of August 17. AOCI stood at a negative $31.4 million, or $1.70 per share in tangible book value, and tangible book value per share grew to $12.64. Given our earnings and capital generation profile, we anticipate continued capital accretion while preserving flexibility to support balance sheet growth. With that, I will turn it back to Luis for some closing comments.
Thank you, Robert. Looking ahead, we remain optimistic about the opportunities before us. South Florida continues to benefit from favorable demographic, economic, and business migration trends, and we believe USCB is uniquely positioned to capitalize on that growth. Our investment in people, technology, new lending teams, and innovative deposit initiatives is creating additional avenues for sustainable growth. We remain committed to delivering long-term value to our shareholders while serving the evolving needs of our clients and communities. With that said, I would like to open the floor to Q&A.
分析師問答
We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. At any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then 2. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question today comes from Feddie Strickland with Hovde Group. Please go ahead.
Hey. Good morning, and congrats on crossing the $3 billion asset threshold. I wanted to start on loans here. Do you expect additional correspondent banking growth in the third quarter at kind of a similar level to what you saw this quarter? The reason I ask is I'm trying to get a sense of the new production yield. I know it is a little lower given the amount of growth there, and I'm trying to get a sense for whether it will be closer to the 5.90% this quarter or closer to the 6.20% yield that excludes those correspondent banking loans?
Good morning, Feddie. That's a good question. In new loan production we had a fair amount of correspondent banking loans; those are typically 180-day notes, so they revolve pretty quickly and are at lower yields, usually in the mid-5% range. As interest rates have moved up, I think those yields will move up as well. Our core franchise is originating loans around the 6% mark. So I would think new loan production yield would be similar to 5.90% to 6.0% on new loan production, and I would anticipate new loan production to be more moderate and consistent with prior quarters. This quarter was $272 million; we could go back to a $175 million to $190 million quarterly range. The pipeline is pretty robust, but there is a lot of vacation seasonality that can drag activity a bit. We anticipate a strong third quarter.
Great. Thanks for that, Robert. I wanted to ask a similar question: should we expect additional mix shift this quarter from cash into loans and securities? Or is that $87 million you mentioned on an average basis expected to be pretty stable? I'm trying to capture loan growth versus earning asset growth appropriately.
The $87 million was probably a little high. We would like to see that around $50 million. We do have some clients that will bring in funds over the weekend that can make that go up. There is always some quarter-end window dressing and volatility. I like the mix shift we've done and think that will continue to improve as we shift more cash and securities into loans.
Great. And one more: Luis, I think I heard you talk about a new 1031 exchange vertical, and you're already seeing some deposits from that. Can you talk a little bit more about the opportunity set for that business?
Sure, Feddie. We have identified a significant number of transactional law firms, title companies, and CPAs. We are approaching them directly, marketing and letting them know that the service exists. We launched it a couple months ago and received $22 million in deposits initially. Money in 1031 exchanges typically stays for about 180 days, but the plan is to market it so that instead of the money going elsewhere, it comes here. The response has been very good, and we are excited about it.
Alright. Great. Thanks for taking the questions. I will step back.
The next question comes from Michael Rose with Raymond James. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Robert, I think I heard you mention a margin range of 3.40% to 3.50%. Can you walk us through what would bring you toward the lower end versus the higher end? Given the dynamics at play with rates, loan growth, and deposit funding, what are the drivers?
On the lower end, we could see some funds price a little bit higher — competitive pressures as banks focus on deposit costs could push our deposit cost up a bit. Maintaining DDA is important. On the bright side, we have $100 million of loan maturities this quarter at 5.84% and another $78 million maturing in the fourth quarter at 5.35%. We think we can reprice those at higher levels, perhaps around 6.25% or so, which would push us to the higher end of the range. Overall, we profile fairly neutral on interest rate risk, and assuming rates are flatter on the front end, we think 3.40% to 3.50% is a sustainable range for the balance of the year.
Okay, that is helpful. One follow-up related to wholesale funding and FHLB advances, which are up this quarter: is that something you would expect to continue, or was that a one-quarter optimization given pricing dynamics?
In general, as we attract new deposits and relationships, we review those relationships. We do not mind paying a little bit higher funding cost upfront on the premise that a relationship is coming in. If the relationship does not materialize, we will normalize that rate on their book and sometimes that leads to attrition. There is some hot money from time to time; we would rather backfill with wholesale funding in those cases. It will not be as steep going forward. The main point is we know we have to grow our deposit book with granular, low-cost deposits to keep funding costs manageable.
Very helpful. Thanks. I will step back.
Thank you, Michael.
Next question comes from Christopher Marinac with Janney Capital. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. Robert, given the pipeline you talked about on the loan side, any change in the average size of loans you are doing? Is the opportunity still primarily sub-$5 million credits, or are you seeing bigger opportunities?
What we are seeing is greater growth in total credit exposure. In the past, we probably kept total exposure in the $10 million to $15 million range for many clients; now we are working with profiles that have internal limits upwards of $40 million. We are getting more clients bringing us more loans, but we shy away from one large loan. If you have $40 million in total credit exposure, it's likely comprised of four or five loans. The average size of loans has not materially changed; the presentation shows the average loan size is about $2 million. Regarding new entrants in the Miami marketplace, we have seen disruption that is advantageous to us. On the M&A side, when two banks combine, talent and clients migrate, and that disruption tends to be beneficial. There are new de novos with low lending limits; a few have approached us on participation opportunities. We don't see that impacting us. On deposit initiatives, our association banking team, correspondent banking team, the 1031 Exchange initiative, Jurist Advantage focused on the attorney business, Private Client Group, and business banking are all doing well. We are encouraging them, giving them tools, and I am optimistic they will deliver.
Great. Thanks for taking my questions.
Thank you, Christopher. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. de la Aguilera for any closing remarks. Thank you.
As we conclude, I would like to thank our shareholders, customers, employees, and Board of Directors for their continued confidence and support. Our second quarter results reflect the strength of our relationship-driven franchise, the dedication of our team, and our disciplined approach to growth and risk management. While the operating environment remains competitive, we are well positioned to capitalize on opportunities across our markets and continue creating long-term value for our shareholders. We remain focused on serving our clients, investing in our communities, and executing our strategic objectives with prudence and purpose. Thank you for joining us today, and we look forward to updating you on our continued progress next quarter. Thank you.
The conference has concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.