SmartFinancial (SMBK) Q3 2026 Earnings Call: Rekordumsatz und 15 % Kreditwachstum

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMBK) meldete für das dritte Quartal 2026 operative Rekorderträge und ein zweistelliges annualisiertes Bilanzwachstum. Höhere Einlagenkosten hielten die Nettozinsmarge bei 3,45 %, während die Neufestsetzung der Kreditzinsen und das anhaltende organische Wachstum den Ausblick des Managements stützten.

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Das operative Ergebnis lag bei 18,6 Millionen US-Dollar bzw. 1,10 US-Dollar je verwässerter Aktie, während die operativen Erträge einen Rekordwert erreichten von 57,5 Millionen US-Dollar.
• Das Kreditvolumen stieg um 174 Millionen US-Dollar, was einem organischen Wachstum von annualisiert 15 % entspricht. Die Kerneinlagen stiegen um 163 Millionen US-Dollar bzw. um annualisiert 12 %.
• Der Zinsüberschuss stieg im Vergleich zum Vorquartal um 1,3 Millionen US-Dollar auf 49,4 Millionen US-Dollar, während die Nettozinsmarge verharrte bei 3,45 % vor dem Hintergrund höherer Refinanzierungskosten.
• Der materielle Buchwert je Aktie lag zum Quartalsende bei 28,50 US-Dollar. Ohne das kumulierte sonstige Gesamtergebnis lag er bei 30,03 US-Dollar, was einem Plus von annualisiert 15 % im Vergleich zum Vorquartal entspricht.
• Die Kreditqualität blieb stabil, wobei die notleidenden Aktiva bei 0,25 % der Bilanzsumme lagen und die annualisierten Nettoabschreibungen bei 0,06 %.
• Das Management rechnet für das vierte Quartal mit einer Nettozinsmarge nahe 3,45 % und deutete an, dass der Zinsüberschuss im vierten Quartal zulegen dürfte um rund 3 %.

Wichtige Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Das Kreditwachstum war breit gefächert über Kategorien und Regionen hinweg, mit anhaltender Dynamik bei Unternehmenskrediten. Die durchschnittliche Rendite des Kreditportfolios, einschließlich Gebühren und Zuschreibungen, stieg auf 6,08 %. Neu vergebene Kredite wiesen eine gewichtete durchschnittliche Rendite von 6,37 % im Quartal auf sowie von 6,78 % im September.

Das Management erklärte, dass die Kredit-Pipelines solide blieben, und behielt seine Wachstumsprognose im hohen einstelligen Plusbereich bei, obwohl zusätzliche Zinserhöhungen neue Projekte im Jahr 2027 verlangsamen könnten. Das Unternehmen eröffnete im Laufe des Quartals ein Finanzzentrum mit Vollservice in Columbus, Georgia, als Teil seiner Strategie, die Marktdichte durch organisches Wachstum und die Anwerbung von Bankberatern auszubauen.

Die nicht vermittelten Einlagen stiegen um 163 Millionen US-Dollar, gestützt durch neue Konten und die Ausweitung bestehender Beziehungen. Die gewichteten durchschnittlichen Kosten des Einlagenneugeschäfts lagen bei 3,33 % für das Quartal und bei 3,36 % im September. Die Gesamteinlagenkosten stiegen um 11 Basispunkte auf 2,26 %, während die Kosten für verzinsliche Einlagen um 9 Basispunkte auf 2,71 % kletterten. Das Kredit-Einlagen-Verhältnis lag weiterhin bei 87 %.

Die Betriebsausgaben enthielten etwa 1 Million US-Dollar an Verlusten und Wertberichtigungen auf sichergestellte Ausrüstungen bei der Tochtergesellschaft für Ausrüstungsfinanzierung. Die Gehalts- und Zusatzleistungskosten stiegen ebenfalls aufgrund produktionsbezogener variabler Vergütung. Das Management führte die stärkere Entwicklung im Hypothekengeschäft teilweise auf zusätzliche Kreditreferenten und ein höheres Geschäftsvolumen zurück.

SmartFinancial erwarb 36 Millionen US-Dollar an übertragbaren Energie-Steuergutschriften mit einem Abschlag und erzielte dadurch einen Einkommensteuervorteil von 2,6 Millionen US-Dollar. Der Aufwand für Dienstleistungen Dritter umfasste ungefähr 300.000 US-Dollar an Beratungs- und Vermittlungskosten im Zusammenhang mit der Transaktion.

Prognose des Managements

Die Margenprognose des Managements beinhaltet eine angenommene Zinserhöhung im Dezember. Das Unternehmen beschrieb seine Bilanz als weitgehend zinsneutral mit einem Einlagen-Beta von etwa 70 %. Jede schrittweise Margenausweitung im Jahr 2027 dürfte voraussichtlich in erster Linie aus der Neufestsetzung der Zinsen im bestehenden Kreditportfolio resultieren.

Das Management gab an, dass auslaufende und sich verlängernde Kredite kürzlich um etwa 100 bis 110 Basispunkte über ihren ursprünglichen Zinssätzen neu festgesetzt wurden, bei einer Verlängerungsquote von etwa 80 % bis 85 %. Das Unternehmen geht davon aus, dass diese Möglichkeit zur Zinsneufestsetzung die Aktivrenditen zusätzlich stützen wird.

Risiken und Schwerpunkte

Der Wettbewerb um Einlagen bleibt intensiv. Das Management berichtete über mehr Anfragen nach Sonderkonditionen und gab an, dass neue Einlagen zu All-in-Kosten von rund 3,35 %.

Höhere Zinsen könnten letztlich die Kreditnachfrage schwächen. Das Management hatte zum Zeitpunkt der Telefonkonferenz noch keine wesentliche Verlangsamung der Pipelines festgestellt, erklärte jedoch, dass zwei oder drei zusätzliche Zinsanhebungen neue Projekte und das Wachstum im Jahr 2027 beeinträchtigen könnten.

Das Ausrüstungsportfolio von Fountain verzeichnete einen leichten Anstieg der Zahlungsrückstände, da höhere Dieselpreise kleinere Transportunternehmen unter Druck setzten. Das Portfolio belief sich auf insgesamt rund 145 Millionen US-Dollar. Das Management stufte das Problem als überschaubar ein und rechnet nicht mit erheblichen zusätzlichen Verlusten.

Steigende Zinsen verringerten zudem den beizulegenden Zeitwert des Anleiheportfolios, was das AOCI belastete und zum Rückgang der materiellen Eigenkapitalquote beitrug. Laut Management könnte das Wertpapierportfolio um etwa weitere 80 Millionen US-Dollar sinken, bevor es seine vorgesehene Untergrenze erreicht.

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse aus der Fragerunde für Analysten

• Ausblick auf Einlagen und Marge: Das Management geht davon aus, dass die kurzfristigen Einlagenkosten die sich verbessernden Aktivrenditen ausgleichen werden, sodass die Marge im vierten Quartal bei nahezu 3,45 % liegen wird. Längerfristige Verbesserungen werden eher durch die Neufestsetzung von Kreditzinsen als durch die Zinssensitivität erwartet.
• Kreditnachfrage: Die Pipelines blieben trotz höherer Fremdkapitalkosten stabil. Das Management erklärte, dass die Neukundengewinnung und die Rekrutierung von Bankern die schwächere Nachfrage nach neuen Projekten teilweise ausgleichen könnten, falls die Zinsen weiter steigen.
• Kostenentwicklung: Das Unternehmen rechnet mit fortlaufenden Investitionen in ertragswirksames Personal, Technologie und Standorte, während im Laufe der Zeit ein positiver operativer Hebel angestrebt wird.
• Hypothekengeschäft: Die Stärke im dritten Quartal spiegelte das höhere Neugeschäftsvolumen und den Beitrag jüngst eingestellter Kreditspezialisten wider. Das Management rechnet damit, dass die gewöhnliche Saisonalität das Provisionsergebnis im vierten Quartal schmälern wird.
• M&A-Strategie: Organisches Wachstum hat weiterhin Priorität. Das Management erklärte, eine Übernahme müsse außergewöhnlich attraktiv sein und das Unternehmen besser machen, statt es nur zu vergrößern.
• Kreditausblick: Das Management geht von stabilen Verlustquoten aus. Die jüngsten Kreditbelastungen konzentrierten sich auf die Ausrüstungsfinanzierung und nicht auf das breitere Gewerbeimmobilienportfolio.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz zu den Quartalszahlen

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the SmartFinancial Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Release and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over to Nate Strall, Director of Investor Relations, to begin. Please go ahead.

Nate Strall

Thanks, Erica. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for SmartFinancial's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Webcast and Conference Call. During today's call, we will reference the slides and earnings release available in the Investor Relations section of our website at smartbank.com.

Billy Carroll, our President and Chief Executive Officer, will begin the call, followed by Ron Gorczynski, our Chief Financial Officer, who will provide additional commentary. We will be available to answer your questions at the conclusion of our call. Our comments today include forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are described in our earnings release and SEC filings, which are available on our website. We undertake no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

During today's call, we may reference non-GAAP financial measures related to the company's performance. Reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the appendices to the earnings release and investor presentation filed with the SEC on October 19, 2026.

And now I'll turn the call over to Billy Carroll.

William Carroll

Thanks, Nate, and good morning, everyone. Great to be with you, and thank you for joining us today and for your interest in SMBK. As usual, I'll open our call with some commentary and then hand it over to Ron to walk through the numbers in greater detail. After our prepared comments, we'll open it up with Ron, Nate, Rhett, Miller and myself available for Q&A. The third quarter was another outstanding one for our company. We continue to build strong organic momentum, generated record operating revenue and expanded their return metrics. The foundation we have built over the past several years is producing the results we expected, and our team remains highly focused on disciplined growth and long-term shareholder value. So let me jump right into some of the highlights.

First, and as I always say, one of the most important metrics to me, we continue to increase the tangible book value of our company. Tangible book value per share was up, ending the quarter at $28.50. Tangible book value, excluding AOCI, increased to $30.03. That represents 15% annualized quarter-over-quarter growth, excluding AOCI. For the quarter, we posted operating earnings of $18.6 million or $1.10 per diluted share and record operating revenue of $57.5 million. We did have some -- we did have a few moving parts that netted out positive to operating earnings this quarter, including a nice credit -- tax credit transaction that Ron will discuss in a moment.

We again delivered excellent growth on both sides of the balance sheet with 15% annualized organic loan growth and 12% annualized core deposit growth. Our return metrics, though slightly aided this quarter, continued to strengthen. Operating return on average assets increased to 1.20% and operating return on average tangible common equity increased to 15.1%. Credit quality remains very sound. Nonperforming assets were only 25 basis points of total assets and annualized net charge-offs were 6 basis points. We did have a slight uptick in delinquencies in our Fountain Equipment subsidiary as higher diesel prices have strained some transportation business, but overall, very manageable as that continues to be a relatively small piece of our overall loan book.

And we were thrilled to open our full-service Columbus, Georgia Financial Center during the quarter. This is our first branch in this great state and an important step in building density in that market and supporting the strong start our Columbus team has made. Looking at the first few pages in our deck, you can see the continued progress in revenue, EPS, return metrics and tangible book value. The consistency of those trends demonstrates the strength of our organic strategy and the operating leverage we are building. A couple of additional high-level comments from me. On growth, we added $174 million in loans this quarter, representing 15% annualized. The growth remains broad-based with strong production across all regions and continued momentum in C&I lending. Our average loan portfolio yield, including fees and accretion, ticked up to 6.08%. Regarding deposits, core deposits increased $163 million or 12% annualized during the quarter. Our focus on both sides of the balance sheet continues to pay off and loan-to-deposit ratios maintained very manageable at 87%.

Deposit pricing remains competitive and higher funding costs pressured the margin modestly, but net interest income still increased nicely to $49.4 million as balance sheet growth more than offset that pressure. On expenses, operating noninterest expense was $36.4 million. The quarter included some slightly higher onetime items, along with continued investment in our people and franchise. Even with that increase, year-over-year operating revenue growth outpaced operating expense growth. We will maintain discipline around expenses, but we'll also continue making investments that support growth, including revenue-producing talent, technology and strategic facilities. So all in all, another excellent quarter of continued execution.

I'm going to stop there and hand it over to Ron to dive into the details. Ron?

Ronald Gorczynski

Thanks, Billy, and good morning, everyone. I'll start with deposits. During the quarter, our non-brokered deposits grew $163 million, driven by continued new account growth and strong relationship expansion. The weighted average cost of new deposit production increased 43 basis points to 3.33% for the quarter and was 3.36% for September.

Noninterest-bearing deposits were essentially unchanged at $920 million, representing approximately 70% of total deposits. Interest-bearing deposit costs increased 9 basis points to 2.71%, while total deposit costs increased 11 basis points to 2.26%. Loan balances increased $174 million with growth diversified across all loan categories and geographies. New loan production carried a weighted average yield of 6.37% for the quarter and was 6.78% for September. Our growth on both sides of the balance sheet reflects the consistent execution of our relationship-based strategy. Our bankers remain focused on pairing quality loan growth with broader client relationships, operating accounts and core deposits.

Turning to margin. Net interest income increased $1.3 million to $49.4 million, and net interest margin was 3.45%, in line with our stated guidance. Looking ahead, we expect continued improvement in asset yields to support modest margin expansion over time. However, near-term deposit cost pressure is expected to continue to offset some of that benefit. As such, for the fourth quarter, we currently expect net interest margin to remain around current levels in the 3.45% range. Our provision for credit losses declined to $687,000 from $1.5 million in the prior quarter. This included approximately $1.1 million of provision, partially offset by a $371,000 release from our unfunded commitments liability. The provision also benefited from a $1.7 million net release of a loan-specific reserve driven by a loan payoff.

Overall, the allowance for credit losses increased slightly to $45.6 million, and our allowance to loans ratio declined to 94 basis points. We believe the allowance is appropriate for the portfolio and current environment. Operating noninterest income was $8.1 million, up $245,000 from the prior quarter, led by service charges and mortgage banking income, together with higher net interest income, drove operating revenue to $57.5 million, reflecting continued momentum across the company. Operating noninterest expense totaled $36.4 million, up $2.4 million from the prior quarter. Approximately $1 million of this increase was attributable to sale losses and valuation write-downs on repossessed equipment in our equipment finance subsidiary.

Salary and benefit expenses also increased primarily due to higher production-related variable compensation. Professional service expense included approximately $300,000 of consulting and placement costs associated with our tax credit purchase. Adjusting for the equipment finance and tax credit expenses, our noninterest expenses were in line with our stated guidance. Our operating efficiency ratio increased to approximately 63% from 60% in the prior quarter. Although the ratio was elevated this quarter due to the aforementioned items, we expect to generate positive operating leverage over time as our recent investments contribute more meaningfully to revenue. We will continue making targeted investments in our expanding markets while maintaining discipline across the broader expense base. For the fourth quarter, we expect operating noninterest income of approximately $7.5 million and operating noninterest expense of $35 million to $35.5 million. Salary and benefit expenses are expected to range from $21 million to $21.5 million, reflecting production-related incentive compensation and additional hiring. Incentive compensation accruals will vary with performance.

Turning to taxes. Income tax expense was $1.9 million compared with $4.2 million in the prior quarter. During the quarter, we purchased $36 million of transferable energy tax credits at a discount to pace, resulting in a $2.6 million income tax benefit. Looking ahead, we may consider similar transactions from time to time as part of our tax planning. Our effective tax rate going forward will be in the range of 19.5% to 20.5% I'll wrap up with capital. Our tangible common equity ratio was 7.8% compared with 8% in the second quarter. The decline in the tangible common equity ratio was primarily attributable to changes in AOCI as rising interest rates reduced the fair value of our bond portfolio during the quarter. In contrast, our estimated common equity Tier 1 ratio increased to 9.8% and our estimated total risk-based capital ratio was 12.6% at quarter end. Our capital position remains solid and provides flexibility to support organic growth, maintain balance sheet strength and continue building long-term shareholder value.

With that said, I'll turn it back over to Billy.

William Carroll

Thanks, Ron. As you can tell from Ron's comments, we continue to execute successfully in the leveraging phase of our company's growth. Our outlook remains centered on the strategy that has brought us here, getting deeper in our markets, growing share, expanding high-value relationships, recruiting great bankers and leveraging the infrastructure and capabilities we have built. Our pipelines remain solid, and we continue to see opportunities across our footprint. The higher rate forecast does present some added challenges as we look ahead, but I'm going to continue to stick to our high single digits plus growth guidance, even though we've bettered that in recent quarters.

Talent acquisition remains a high priority. Market disruption across the Southeast continues to create opportunities for us to add experienced revenue producers who fit our culture. We have added some strong bankers in several markets this year and our ability to recruit maintains one of our company's key competitive advantages. We had several very nice recruiting wins this quarter and have several other great talent members in the pipeline currently. Again, Columbus, Georgia is a good example of our strategy in action as we opened our full-service financial center during the quarter, right in the heart of Columbus' main business district. We're very bullish about the opportunity to build meaningful relationships and market share there.

To summarize, we're positioned very well. We are executing, posting record operating revenue this quarter. We are producing, posting double-digit organic growth on both sides of the balance sheet. We are managing risk as credit remains very sound, and we are winning on talent as we continue to add outstanding new team members. I also want to close with a huge shout out to our associates as our company was recently named to Great Place to Work list of top 50 midsized companies in the country. And we also ranked #11 nationally in the financial institutions category. This is another great statement on the culture that this team is creating.

Our future is bright, and I appreciate the work of our SmartFinancial and SmartBank team and the efforts of all of our associates. I'm extremely proud of what we're building here at SMBK.

I'll stop there, and we'll open it up for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Will Jones with KBW.

Fragen und Antworten

William Jones

Another really strong quarter of growth, both sides of the balance sheet, loans and deposits. I know last quarter, we spoke about some deposit seasonality that we would see in the back half of the quarter that may be supporting some of the growth we saw. Could you speak to maybe any seasonality in this quarter's results and what you would expect that to maybe flow through into the balance of this year?

William Carroll

Ron, do you want to jump in on that one?

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes. We did get a pickup really for Q3 is throughout the board, not only new relationships, but building of the old -- building of the existing client base. So I think we're still looking for a good growth quarter for fourth, and we're out of our seasonality trend, our historical trend to that.

William Jones

Yes. Got it. Okay. And then I think Ron, I heard you say the new deposits in the quarter were 3.30%. Is that -- did I hear that right?

Ronald Gorczynski

Correct. 3.33% for the quarter, yes.

William Jones

Okay. And as we just kind of model out and think about deposit betas moving forward, could you just maybe walk us through where you would level set expectations there and hear you that margin may be more stable over the near term as some of your repricing on the asset side is offset by deposit costs. Is that how we should kind of think about additional incremental hikes from here?

I know the forward curve would imply maybe a few more hikes coming into 2027. Is kind of a stable margin where you would kind of peg margin performance as we think about additional hikes in the future?

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes. First, we're about -- since the new -- since the rates hiked again, we're probably running around 70% beta at this point of time. We're really so neutral. We're really not going to be affected by rate hikes or rate decreases at this point. A lot of our expansion that's our modest expansion throughout 2027 is really due to our repricing book. We will see incremental lift going through 2027. So as far as rate hikes, we should be fairly neutral throughout each rate hike, which, by the way, our guidance does include a rate hike in December.

William Jones

Yes. Okay. And then just fair to say, I know we talked about a $1 EPS target by the end of this year. It feels like things are still kind of trending in that direction if we normalize some of the expenses from this quarter. Is that kind of a fair comment? Is that the way that you guys are kind of viewing the business?

William Carroll

Yes. Will, I think you're spot on. Really, you shake out kind of the ebbs and flows of this quarter, really a solid quarter. And we still feel very good about our ability to kind of hit that 4x4 challenge that we've stated publicly hitting that dollar run rate. We're still on that trajectory and feel really good about our ability, not just hit that, but our ability to continue to move EPS higher as we look into next year. Again, we talked about it a lot. I mean our focus on just continuing to grow EPS and revenue and book value, that's kind of where we're sitting. And the team has done a great job on that. So yes, I think we're moving in that direction and feel pretty good about the chances of getting that here pretty soon.

William Jones

Yes, certainly. Well, the momentum is certainly still very much evident.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Russell Gunther with Stephens.

Russell Elliott Gunther

I wanted to start on the loan growth side of things. Another enviable organic growth quarter and guide. Maybe a more intermediate question on my end. As you guys think about potential Fed rate hikes and the absolute level of interest rates, is there a threshold where you would expect to see some pipeline fallout that would put that kind of high single, low double-digit growth profile at risk?

William Carroll

Yes, that's a really good question, Russell. Yes, obviously, if rates edge up and we're -- quite frankly, we're talking about that a lot with our division and regional leadership. We're talking about pipelines and thinking about '27 and starting to lay out our forecast. And right now, even with kind of the current rate environment, we've not -- pipelines still feel pretty good. Now I do agree. I think if you're going to see another 2 to 3 hikes, could that have some impact as we look into '27?

Absolutely. I think the macro is the macro. And so we've got to deal with that just like everybody else. What I will say is that I call it the hustle factor that our guys and guys have across our board of just getting out and bringing in new relationships. I don't think that will slow down. So it might slow a little bit of just what I call just maybe some of the new projects that are going on that we see. But I still think we have got a great shot at continuing to bring in new relationships, new deposit accounts and new funded debt as we hopefully move things from other entities.

Russell Elliott Gunther

Got it. That's very helpful. And then I always have that great slide in the deck that flushes out your back book repricing opportunity. Ron, you mentioned the reinvestment rates on the loan side. Could you just share where you're reinvesting on the investment securities front? And then on the other side, it would be helpful to get a sense for just kind of where spot end-of-period deposit rates ended the quarter.

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes. At this point, our -- we're buying bonds SOFR plus 85, so in the 5-plus range. Again, a lot of our -- we're just kind of just keeping our balance of our investments pretty stable over time. And the spot deposit pricing, our CDs were today around 4.10% for 7-month CDs. Our 13-month CDs are 4.15% and our money markets are in the 3.60% to 3.70% range at this point. We try to target 95% of Fed funds.

Russell Elliott Gunther

Okay. Fantastic. And then just last one for me, if you don't mind. I appreciate the near-term expense outlook. But how are you guys thinking about a core expense growth rate on a more intermediate-term basis as you guys balance franchise investment and talent and tech with the goal of delivering positive operating leverage?

William Carroll

Yes, great question. We -- and again, we're having these exact same conversations, Russell, as we're kind of going through our '27 forecast. We -- again, you used the word, it is balanced. We're continuing to grow, continuing to add team members. When we look at -- we kind of look at it almost in a little bit of, I call it, same-store sales when you kind of factor out some of the new adds. I think if you factor out kind of some of that and you just look at where we are moving forward, I think we can stay pretty reasonable on the expense growth.

Now Ron, I know we're talking about, you've got -- we're probably not prepared to really lay -- I know we're working through forecast right now, probably not ready to give '27 guidance. But I mean, percentage-wise, you got a range that you could maybe share?

Ronald Gorczynski

For both, I think we're going to be in the 5% to 6% growth range going off of a fourth quarter's run rate. But again, we will be providing continuous leverage and sustainability in our workforce and our franchise. We benefited from keeping our expenses to a tight band, but our franchise is growing. So we will have incremental growth in our noninterest expenses.

Operator

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

Stephen Scouten

Ron, I appreciate the information you gave there on CD and money market costs there. Can you talk a little bit about maybe what you're seeing all-in kind of blended rates come in at on the deposit side and kind of how you're seeing spreads overall and any sort of directional trends there, whether you're seeing spreads compress given competition or what have you?

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes. We've always -- over the last couple of quarters, we were probably on our side of the house, kind of quiet getting the phone calls of pricing to get the pricing competition is real. We're coming into the 3.35% range all in. That's kind of what we expect. I don't know how much incrementally higher we're going to go at this point, but that's to be determined. The market is real, and we're getting more calls every day for exception pricing. So -- that's about the best I can tell you at this point.

William Carroll

But I'll add, too, Stephen. I think the team is also doing a really nice job on the asset side. We're sitting down and really looking at watching that and kind of fighting for every basis point on the asset side. Loan growth is competitive, too, but we've been able to continue to eke out pretty nice incremental rates on our loan growth as well. So while -- yes, a little more deposit funding than we'd like to see, we're doing a nice job balancing it with the growth that we're getting.

Stephen Scouten

Yes. Yes. I mean the growth is a huge tailwind there. And I think that the average yield is what 6.08% currently. And I'm not sure if you noted this or if it's in the slide deck, apologies if I missed it, but new loan yields are coming on around where all in?

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes. September was 6.78%. So for the quarter it was 6.37%. So we are getting some nice lift from the rate increase.

Stephen Scouten

Yes, that's fantastic. Okay. Great. Appreciate that. And I think, Billy, you mentioned the $1 run rate and your progression there. Do you guys have or do you think you'll maybe be putting out some longer-term profitability targets from here? You guys have made just obviously tremendous strides over the last couple of years. Just kind of curious where you think you can continue to head from here? What's possible for the franchise?

William Carroll

Yes. Yes, Stephen, we will. I think we're spending a lot of time. We've worked through kind of our executive team's planning meetings over the last few weeks and got Board strategy coming up here in a couple of weeks. And so we're laying out the forecast. We -- as you all know, we're pretty transparent. We've demonstrated our ability to kind of challenge ourselves internally and execute on that. That's worked pretty well. So we're kind of working through what that next challenge is going to be for our group, but we will. We'll be sharing that at the appropriate time.

But again, I remain so excited about what we're seeing in this company. The energy, the -- again, I mentioned the recruitment. I mean we're adding some great bankers to this platform just strategically, just strategically and in some key markets. So I love our ability to continue executing. And so yes, we'll be laying out. We've got Nate kind of our marketing guy when it comes to kind of crafting these -- the mantra for the challenges. So we're trying to figure out exactly what we want to lay out for '27, but stay tuned.

Nate Strall

And I do think the whole team is up for the challenge. I mean, they push us...

William Carroll

Absolutely.

Nate Strall

They want us to stay on that. It's a good mix of driving for hire.

Stephen Scouten

Yes. It seems like you have a group that likes the challenge. So that's fantastic. I guess last thing for me, and I think I kind of asked you this last quarter as well, but M&A possibilities, I mean, does any of this change? You continue to have strength from a pricing power perspective. You're now in Columbus. I mean, do you think about maybe changing direction at all or putting that back on the table in any way, shape or form, given maybe a desire to get more scale and density in newer markets?

William Carroll

I think our focus continues to be, A, on what we've done. This organic strategy and just adding great regional bankers is really where we want to focus. We're watching what's going on in the world. I mean it's a -- we -- there are opportunities out there. And I've said it before, and I kind of -- I'll reiterate it. I think it would have to be something that was really unique that made us better and not just bigger if we were ever to look at something because, again, we've kind of got this thing built to where we can punch up. And we've got -- when you look at our products and our services and our ability to compete against the larger regional banks. We can do that now at $6 billion. And so I think for us, it would have to be really unique for us to consider it. But we're always keeping our eye open on what's happening, but organic continues to be one.

Rhett Jordan

I think it's intriguing to look at, obviously, always fun to run the numbers. But man, we are pretty darn focused on what we're doing now. And I echo what Billy said, it would have to be super, super attractive for us to deviate from the current strategy.

Operator

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

Brett Rabatin

If I heard the guidance correct, the guidance for 4Q fee income was $7.5 million. One, is that the right number? And then two, it's a little softer than 3Q, if so? And just any thoughts on the fourth quarter level of fee income?

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes, Brett. Yes, fourth quarter, we're projecting $7.5 million, and it is softer. It's really the mortgage -- our mortgage unit, the seasonality of it. Could we do better? Maybe from what's in the pipeline. But right now, we're -- usually, we do start slowing down, and that's been a pretty decent lift for us quarter-over-quarter. So that's really the only item that's really causing that.

Brett Rabatin

Okay. And any thoughts on the third quarter strength versus what I've seen from some other banks on mortgage has been tough given rates?

William Carroll

I'm sorry, Brett, was that mortgage that was your mortgage specific?

Brett Rabatin

Yes. Just the mortgage banking line item was stronger in 3Q than 2Q and 1Q. And it just seems like others have had some pretty tough comps in 3Q, just given rates. So I was just curious what the strength was related to 3Q.

William Carroll

Yes. I'll do that and then Ron or I mean, any chime in. But yes, overall, I think a lot of it has just been -- our mortgage group has really had just an overall really good year. We've continued to add some really good mortgage bankers over the course, especially early in the year. Those folks have kind of ramped up and have kind of gained momentum even in an environment, we're actually talking with one of our mortgage team members yesterday about kind of prospects. And Ron said, you do get a little bit of seasonality as you don't have as many closings usually in Q4.

But our pipelines feel pretty good. We're still getting while some 1 to 4 pockets may be a little bit softer in some different spots, we've been able to continue to eke out really good growth been real pleased with what we've been able to accomplish this year on mortgage. So I think a lot of it is just, number one, the team is very focused and sales side is doing a great job there. And then probably number two is just we've been able to do it with some really good new mortgage banker additions this year. I don't know, Ron, any additional color on that from you guys?

Ronald Gorczynski

No, you're spot on. I mean our volume -- we have been putting more originators out on the deal. So our volume has increased. So we just -- it's been working for us.

Rhett Jordan

The production side, to your point, Bill, the new hires has been a key driver. And then I think that team's ability to just continue to process activity very efficiently is also -- it helps with the new producer. We're able to get deals turned around quickly, get responses back and business.

Brett Rabatin

Okay. That's super helpful. And then the other question I had was just around Slide 14. And if you could just refresh my memory on -- you've got nearly $0.5 billion of fixed rate loans yielding slightly under 5% that mature by the end of next year and a little over $100 million of adjustable rate loans at a similar rate. Do those loans -- I mean, I assume those are all kind of more fixed rate commercial real estate type properties. Do those loans, do you think reprice to a higher level? Or do you think that those loans end up repricing someplace else with another institution? Or just any thoughts on that Slide 14, those loans that are repricing over the next year?

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes, I'll start. What we have seen for our renewals and repricing, we are getting -- one, we're getting about 100, 110 basis points over the original rate. Two, for the renewal side, we are keeping around 80%, 85% of those in-house. So we're very successful in keeping those nice retention and a lot better rates than what we've had. So it's been something we've been working at for a while and quarter-over-quarter. So we don't see why that would defer or change going forward either. So...

Brett Rabatin

Okay. If I can ask one last quick one just around demand. And I've had folks asking about maybe demand being quelled by higher rates, and you guys obviously have an origination rate in September close to 7%. Have you guys seen any of that where higher rates might be starting to slow demand a little bit? Or is it just not a factor at this point?

William Carroll

We're watching it, Brett. I know, I know we talk about pipelines a lot and just trying to project growth over the near term as good as you can project off the pipelines. But we've usually been pretty accurate around that. We're not seeing it slow yet. I think if you do get a couple of more rate increases in there, could you see some slowdown as we look into '27? Absolutely.

Again, I'll kind of go back to my comment that I made earlier, it is not slowing our team's calling efforts down and our prospecting efforts. And so even though you might get a little bit of softness maybe in some new projects, I think our ability to move clients over and to move deals over remains pretty good. I don't know, Rhett, anything that you would add to that?

Rhett Jordan

No, I think that's spot on, Bill. I would say our -- what we're seeing in opportunities, I don't think has really slowed when you combine our calling efforts and our new team members and visions we've had across the footprint. We're still seeing a very steady pipeline.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Steve Moss with Raymond James.

Stephen Moss

Maybe to start on the -- on the equipment finance here, just with Fountain, I think I heard you Billy talk about some challenges within that portfolio regarding higher default. Just kind of curious how large is that portfolio? And any color you can give there?

William Carroll

Yes. I'll give a just a little high level and Rhett, maybe you can walk through specifics on portfolio balances. Yes, overall, yes, my comments were you saw -- we saw a little bit of delinquency creep in that book. A lot of that's just some of these smaller mom-and-pop transports, just a little bit of strain there. We've been able to kind of navigate that pretty well internally. So with diesel prices up, it might stay -- we might have a little bit more delinquency. But overall, we think it continues to be very manageable as it's a small piece of the book. Rhett, any portfolio specifics?

Rhett Jordan

No, I'd just say it's about $145 million or so is the entire, I would say.

Stephen Moss

Okay. Great. Appreciate that color there. And then just on thinking about NII growth here going forward, given the 70% deposit beta, it sounds like you'll have another good quarter of loan growth. So obviously, like a mid-teens type year for you guys. For NII in the upcoming quarter, margin only 3.45%, is that like a 2% type NII number for you guys here?

William Carroll

NII growth, we probably had -- we were probably a little better than that this quarter. I think we probably haven't looked at it from a percentage standpoint. We probably calculate pretty quick. But I think it's probably -- I think we're a little better than that this last quarter, but that's probably in the right range. Ron, you got a quick math on that.

Ronald Gorczynski

We're probably looking at the NII change about pretty closer to 3% growth for Q4.

Stephen Moss

Okay. So maybe a little bit -- so maybe loan growth similar to the current quarter for the fourth quarter here?

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes, yes. Probably maybe a high, but yes sir.

Stephen Moss

Okay. And just in terms of -- you guys have managed down your securities and liquidity a bit. It kind of seems like we're hitting the floor here. Just curious, are you guys willing to run it a bit lower to fund loan growth? Or have we hit the floor, I should what I'm trying to say ask.

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes. I still think we have a little bit. Probably we can probably go $80 million less, but we're getting near our floor at this point. So we've got a little bit more ammo, but we just keep reinvesting in the portfolio. So...

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Christopher Adamo with Brean Capital.

Christopher Adamo

This is Chris Adamo on for Chris Marinac. I got a quick one for you on the credit front. So I guess what would you guys -- could you provide any color, I guess, into the CRE loss rate for the quarter? And also, I guess, how do you kind of see that going forward and impacting future provision and overall reserve levels going forward as well?

William Carroll

I guess just to make sure I had to clarify the right question, Chris. It was -- you're saying loss levels. Is that what, I guess, just -- how do we view loss levels going forward? Is that correct?

Ronald Gorczynski

Yes, yes, yes. That's correct.

William Carroll

I'll just -- yes, I'll make a high-level comment and then let Rhett jump in. Overall, we still feel really good about the credit book. Again, when you look at what little we had in the way of losses so far this year, most of that has been our equipment finance subrelated, which is usually typical. We'll have a little bit more than that just because we get the yield for it. But I don't anticipate anything unusual going forward, Rhett. Anything on your side as far as just kind of expected thoughts around credit in the next couple of quarters?

Rhett Jordan

No. Billy, I would say absolutely for purposes of the outlook, I mean, I think it's really, to your point, I mean, our strain is in that equipment portfolio and wouldn't anticipate to see any significant changes there as far as larger additional losses. I mean it's -- we'll work through that book as we go through this cycle in the transportation space, but don't anticipate it having any significant impact. I mean we feel like our allowance is positioned very well with where we are today. So I don't see it being significant.

William Carroll

So yes, I think, Chris, loss rate stable moving forward.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Miller Wellborn, Chairman of the Board, for closing remarks.

William Carroll

We really appreciate you all joining us today. Thank you for your interest in what we're building here at the bank and for our team. And I hope you all each have a great day. Talk to you soon. Thanks.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.