메트로폴리탄 커머셜 뱅크(MCB) 2026년 3분기 실적 발표회: 순이자마진(NIM) 4.36% 및 예금 증가

핵심 요약

• 메트로폴리탄 커머셜 은행(Metropolitan Commercial Bank)은 2026년 3분기 순이자마진(NIM)이 전분기 대비 28bp 상승한 4.36%를 기록했다고 발표했다. 경영진은 일시적으로 늘어난 중도상환 수수료와 이연수수료 인식을 제외한 정상화된 NIM을 4.20%~4.25% 수준으로 추정했다.
• 대출은 해당 분기 동안 약 2억 500만 달러(2.8%) 증가했으며, 연초 대비로는 7억 2,400만 달러(10.6%) 늘어났다. 경영진은 2026년 대출 성장 목표치를 10억 달러 안팎으로 유지했다.
• 예금은 전분기 대비 약 5억 8,900만 달러 증가했다. 무이자 예금은 약 2억 달러 늘어난 반면, 이자지급 예금은 약 3억 8,800만 달러 증가했다.
• 건전성 지표는 정상화 징후를 보였다. 순상각률은 18bp를 기록했으며, 부실채권 비율은 전체 대출의 1% 미만을 유지했다.
• 분기 배당금은 주당 0.40달러로 14% 인상되었다. MCB는 또한 9월에 약 1,000만 달러 규모의 자사주를 매입했으며, 4,000만 달러의 추가 매입 한도를 남겨두고 있다.
• 경영진은 AI 이니셔티브와 결제 플랫폼이 향후 효율성 개선과 매출 성장을 뒷받침할 것으로 기대하고 있으며, 결제, HUD 및 기타 이니셔티브를 통한 수수료 이익이 2027년 하반기부터 의미 있게 기여하는 것을 목표로 하고 있다.

주요 재무 데이터

사업 및 영업 실적

MCB는 금리 결정 및 심사 규율을 유지하면서 대출 포트폴리오를 지속적으로 확장했다. 은행은 약 7억 달러 규모의 조건협의서(term sheet) 체결을 완료했으며, 6억 달러 규모가 서명 대기 또는 검토 중에 있다. 신규 대출 금리는 연 7% 수준에서 형성되고 있다.

예금 유입 속도가 대출 성장을 앞질렀다. EB-5 부문이 3분기 예금 증가의 75%를 차지했으며, HOA(주택소유자협회), 수탁 및 리테일 부문도 증가세를 기록했다. 경영진은 신청 마감 시한의 영향으로 EB-5 부문의 실적이 이례적으로 호조를 보였으며, 동일한 성장률이 지속되지는 않을 수 있다고 설명했다.

잉여 유동성은 4억 달러 규모의 단기 국채 만기분산(laddered) 포트폴리오에 투자되었다. 경영진은 향후 재무제표상의 자금 조달 수요를 지원하기 위해 이들 투자의 만기가 도래하는 대로 활용할 수 있다고 밝혔다.

리테일 네트워크는 미국 서부, 플로리다, 뉴저지로 확장되었다. 노스캐롤라이나, 커네티컷 및 퀸즈 플러싱 지역의 추가 지점 개설은 2026년 하반기 또는 2027년 초로 예정되어 있다.

MCB의 결제 플랫폼 역시 진전을 보였다. 두 곳의 게이밍 운영업체가 연동 및 테스트를 위해 계약을 체결했으며, 경영진은 30~45일 이내에 테스트가 시작될 것으로 예상했다. 회사는 2027년 1분기에 이들 운영업체와 함께 서비스를 정식 개시하기를 희망하고 있다. 세 번째 운영업체도 진행에 동의했으나, 자체적인 우선순위 문제로 인해 2027년 1분기에 일정을 시작할 것으로 예상된다.

경영진 가이던스

• 경영진은 12월 미국 연방준비제도(Fed)가 25bp 추가 금리 인상을 단행할 것으로 가정할 때, 2026년 4분기 NIM이 약 4.15%~4.20% 수준이 될 것으로 예상했다. 보통 25bp 금리 인상이 이뤄질 때마다 NIM은 약 5bp 축소되는 경향이 있다.
• 2026년 전체 순이자이익 성장률은 20% 이상일 것으로 전망된다.
• 기존 파이프라인과 예금 조달에 힘입어 2026년 대출 성장은 10억 달러에 근접하며 마감될 것으로 예상된다.
• 수탁 및 EB-5 예금 잔액이 증가하고 해당 수수료가 단기 금리에 연동되어 있기 때문에, 4분기 예금 관련 수수료 비용은 3분기보다 약 25% 늘어날 것으로 예상된다.
• 경영진은 결제, HUD 및 기타 활동을 포함한 수수료 이익 이니셔티브가 2027년 하반기부터 의미 있는 개선 효과를 낼 것으로 기대하고 있다.
• 회사는 2027년 중 AI 투자 수익률에 대한 평가 및 보고를 시작할 예정이다. 또한 경영진은 AI의 잠재적 편익을 제외하더라도 2027년 비용 증가율이 2026년보다 낮아지기를 기대하고 있다.

리스크 및 관전 포인트

MCB는 여전히 약간의 부채 민감적(liability-sensitive) 상태를 유지하고 있다. 2027년 전망에서는 유효 예금 베타를 65%로 가정하고 있으며, 스왑의 영향을 제외할 경우 약 75%까지 상승한다.

2027년 4월과 8월에 약 10억 달러 규모의 스왑 만기가 도래할 예정이어서 잠재적인 순이자마진 하락 압력으로 작용할 수 있다. 경영진은 또한 3분기 EB-5의 기여도가 이례적으로 높았던 만큼 향후 무이자 예금 증가세가 둔화될 것으로 예상한다.

예금 유치 경쟁은 여전히 존재하지만, 경영진은 이러한 압력이 제한적이며 특정 사업 부문의 일부 영역에 집중되어 있다고 설명했다. 또한 은행은 이러한 이니셔티브에 따른 재무적 성과가 본격적으로 가시화되기 전에 AI, 지점망, 운영 역량에 대한 투자를 진행하고 있다.

애널리스트 Q&A 주요 내용

경영진은 계절성 지방지자체 예금이 4분기에 회복될 것이라며, 예금 유입이 대출 성장을 지속적으로 상회할 것으로 전망했다. 4억 달러 규모의 단기 투자 포트폴리오는 재무제표 확장을 위한 자금 조달 측면에서 추가적인 유연성을 제공한다.

신용 건전성과 관련해 경영진은 규모가 큰 무수익여신 익스포저가 주로 구조조정이나 법적 절차가 진행된 기존 대출과 관련되어 있다고 설명했다. MCB는 2026년 4분기에 일부 회수가 이뤄질 것으로 기대하고 있으며, 남은 잔액은 협상된 합의서에 따라 분할 상환될 예정이다.

100억 달러 자산 임계치 규제와 관련해 경영진은 MCB의 현재 비용 구조가 이미 해당 규모의 은행을 지원할 수 있도록 갖춰져 있다고 밝혔다. 결제 플랫폼의 수수료 성장과 임계치 관련 비용을 직접적으로 연계시키지는 않았다.

경영진은 또한 주가가 매력적인 수준이라고 판단되는 동안 자사주 매입이 계속될 수 있음을 내비쳤다. MCB는 9월에 2026년 말 예상 장부가치의 약 109% 수준에서 약 1,000만 달러 규모의 자사주를 매입했으며, 승인된 한도 중 4,000만 달러가 남아있다.

실적발표 컨퍼런스 콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Welcome to Metropolitan Commercial Bank Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call.

[audio gap]

Mark DeFazio

[audio gap] was achieved while maintaining disciplined underwriting standards, NIM management, strong liquidity and robust capital levels. Credit quality remains sound, with nonperforming loans below 1% of total loans and both the company and the bank continued to maintain capital ratios well above regulatory requirements. Reflecting on our confidence in Metropolitan's performance earnings trajectory and long-term outlook, our Board approved an increase in the quarterly dividend of 14% to $0.40 per share.

Looking ahead, we are very optimistic about 2027. We believe it has the potential to be a transformative year for MTB. Alongside the continued strength and momentum of our core commercial banking franchise, we expect our enterprise-wide AI initiatives and the rollout of our payments platform to become meaningful drivers of future earnings and efficiency. These investments are designed to enhance the client experience, improve productivity strengthen operating leverage and expand revenue opportunities. We believe they position MTB for continued success and long-term value creation for our shareholders.

As always, our strategy remains straightforward disciplined growth, prudent risk management, a tech-focused strong capital generation and a relentless focus on serving our clients. The financial performance we continue to deliver and the investments we are making give us the confidence in our ability to continue creating value for shareholders. I would like to thank our employees and directors for their dedication and commitment our clients for their trust and especially our shareholders for their continued support.

With that, I will turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer to review the quarter in greater detail.

Daniel Dougherty

Thank you, Mark. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining the call. I'm very pleased to report a very strong third quarter for MCV. We printed a low-teen ROTCE, an impressive NIM of 4.36% and an efficiency ratio below 50%. Our funding platform continues to outperform, and we continue to deliver on our significant planned loan growth. Our operating expenses are well managed and for the first time, we realized the benefit from an investment tax credits.

Importantly, bank's credit performance reflected a definite trend toward normalization. Now let's walk through third quarter balance sheet and income statement activities. In the third quarter, we grew the loan book by about $205 million or 2.8%. Year-to-date, loan growth has been about $724 million or 10.6%. The pace of loan growth continues to be aligned with our guidance of $1 billion in growth for the year. What is truly remarkable about our continued loan growth is that we are simultaneously and intentionally, allowing for healthy payoffs. And importantly, we are not chasing any deals that do not meet our price and underwriting discipline.

During the quarter, we originated loans totaling almost $1 billion, while payoffs, paydowns and prepayments totaled almost $800 million. The takeaway, we're being very selective about the credits that we are funding for the portfolio. Looking forward a bit, our loan pipeline is robust. We currently have signed term sheets of about $700 million, with another $600 million [ outfro ] signature or under review. Our pipeline pricing construct is still driving new volume coupons of approximately 7%.

Remaining on the asset side of the balance sheet, our securities portfolio grew noticeably in the third quarter. The growth in the securities book is primarily related to the purchase of $400 million in short-term investments. As I will discuss below, our deposit gathering efforts have been outpacing our loan growth. As such, we invested excess cash into a laddered portfolio of T-bills. So now let's move on to the MCB's deposit gathering efforts.

Quarter-over-quarter, deposit balances were up about $589 million. Our noninterest-bearing deposits increased by about $200 million or more than 12% and our interest-bearing deposits increased by about $388 million or more than 6%. Growth in the E5 vertical drove the lion's share and 75% of the increase in deposits during Q3. However, the HOA, trustee and retail verticals were also solidly in the black. The third quarter deposit gathering results are emblematic of our strategic planning and balanced but flexible approach to funding.

During Q3, municipal deposits were relatively flat as the seasonal outflows experienced in the prior period are not expected to return until this quarter. In the third quarter, the overall cost of our deposits was 2.49%, an 8 basis point decline from the prior period. The primary driver of the decline in the cost of deposits was product mix. The outlook for continued deposit growth in our existing verticals remains strong and our intent to continue to funding all 2026 and future loan growth with deposits remains unchanged.

As well, we are continually seeking new niche funding verticals. The deposit competition is certainly a prevalent theme in our space. And while we are not immune to such pressures, so far exposure has been limited in scope and isolated to discrete subsets of certain verticals. Let's move on to the net interest margin. Our reported net interest margin was a very robust 4.36% in the third quarter, up 28 basis points from the prior period.

However, conservatively adjusting for elevated prepayment penalties and deferred fee recognition primarily as a result of the previously mentioned paydown activity, the normalized NIM would have been around 4.20% to 4.25%. I think before we discuss expectations for the fourth quarter, we need to discuss at the very minimum, the outlook for the administered Fed funds target rate. Of course, our internal analytics need to ponder numerous other features of the yield environment, but for now, let's stick to Fed funds.

To begin, on September 16, the FOMC raised the Fed funds target rate by 25 basis points. For a variety of reasons, the impact of that hike will not be apparent until this quarter. As we update our forecast model, we are assuming the hike in December and another in March 2027. Our assumptions are slightly more conservative than the futures market, which currently prices in 3 hikes by September '27. In a single hike in December, we forecast that our NIM will decline by about 5 basis points from the normalized indications noted previously. So we expect approximately 4.15% to 4.20% fourth quarter.

Now let's move on to some high-level comments on our income statement. Our third quarter interest income was up by about $6.3 million or 4.4% compared to the prior quarter. Importantly, on the other side of the ledger, interest expense was down by about $900,000 or almost 2% and resulted in exceptional unannualized top line growth of $7.2 million or 7.9%. Going forward, it is our expectation that top line growth will continue with more than 20% net interest income growth forecast for the full year.

I am convinced that our credit performance has begun to revert to a level in line with our long-term performance. Our third quarter charge-offs were a very manageable 18 basis points. I am very comfortable with our reserves for both performing and nonperforming credits. We do not detect any emerging systemic issues within the loan book. For the quarter, our noninterest income increased by about $400,000 or 15%. We remain optimistic that our new initiatives related to payments, HUD and other activities will drive a meaningful uplift in fee income beginning in the back half of 2027.

For the third quarter, noninterest expense was $49.5 million, down $2.3 million or 4.5% versus the prior quarter. Our efficiency ratio for the quarter was below 50%. We continue to diligently manage operating expenses. But as I've said previously, we are also actively investing in the franchise. An OpEx item that warrants review is deposit-related fees. These fees are associated with trustee and EB5 deposits. We have seen a material uptick in these deposit balances -- importantly -- and please note that the fees are for those balances are indexed to short-term interest rates.

As such, our forecast for this quarter is certainly above the Q3 result and I estimate the increase to be on the order of about 25% higher. We continue to move forward with our investment in AI and the expansion of the branch network. The AI team is currently 6 FTEs with at least 1 more in the pipeline we were higher in the pipeline. We expect that through the course of next year, we will begin to frame and report on a return on the AI investment.

Our retail expansion has accelerated. Our initiatives in the Western U.S. and branches in Florida and New Jersey are fully operational. New branches in North Carolina, Connecticut and Flush and Queens are planned for opening later this year or early 2027. These investments in operational scale and efficiency and human capital which appear as experiences today are critical pillars of our strategic plan and demonstrate our willingness to make targeted investments to enhance the value of our franchise.

Now a quick comment on taxes. During Q3, we made an initial investment in energy tax credits. The tax credit initiative is expected to become a programmatic feature of our reported earnings. As we typically do, we are proceeding at a measured pace. We expect that by employing additional tax credit investments, our effective tax rate can and will be managed lower through turn.

And finally, I note on stock buybacks. During September, we repurchased about $10 million of MCB shares at a weighted average price of about 109% and of our estimated 2026 year-end book value. Buying shares north of book value is new to MCB. Our outlook for the earnings growth of our franchise gives us great curve that additional buybacks make great sense. Our current buyback authorization has $40 million of available capacity.

With that, I'll turn the call back to our operator.

Operator

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. [Operator Instructions] First question today comes from Feddie Strickland with Hovde Group.

질의응답

Feddie Strickland

And just wanted to start on the deposit growth, really strong growth this quarter, particularly from EB5. Just wanted to clarify that there's no particular single driver there or anything that could reverse in future quarters, right? That's just simply the deposit pipeline materializing.

Mark DeFazio

Well, I think there's a combination of things there. It is the accelerating momentum of the team. But indeed, there was a cutoff date for certain applications that certainly caused some of the oversized uptick. But the momentum that we have there, we fully expect that, that will continue, perhaps not at the same pace, but we continue to expect more growth there.

Feddie Strickland

Got it. And then just switching gears to the margin. I mean I appreciate the detail on what the normalized rate was there and the guidance for the fourth quarter. I had a similar thinking about the high schedule here. I mean if we see another hike in March, I mean what is the trajectory for the margin as far as you can see it through '27 in general? I mean do you think we can eat a little higher here just with new portfolio yields? Or do you think the pressure on deposit costs will drive a little bit of margin compression.

Mark DeFazio

I would say that best case scenario is maintaining typically, it's kind of linear in both directions, each 25 basis points would typically be about 5 basis points in compression. But again, so I would say that the best case scenario is to maintain that 4.15% kind of 4.15%, 4.20% NIM guidance. We'll have more on that down the road.

Feddie Strickland

Understood. And just on the credit side, great to see the charge-offs kind of come back down to a little bit lower levels here. But could you talk through some of the bigger nonaccrual credits have come on over the past year? Maybe what the remaining major pieces are what workout looks like both in terms of timing and also whether there's possible recoveries on any of these.

Daniel Dougherty

Yes. Yes. Freddie, as I mentioned in the past, we expect to experience some recoveries in the fourth quarter. we're seasoning some of the restructured loans. So -- and on the loans that you're all referring to are legacy loans that have been NPLs for quite a while that have now just been either fully negotiated through restructuring and/or gotten through the legal process, and we have some rejudgment or we have the foreclosure in sight.

So we're pretty confident we're going to realize some recoveries in 2027. I'm sorry, fourth quarter '26. And on any remaining balances on those loans, they'll be amortized subject to a settlement agreement that we've already negotiated on all -- I guess, in all cases.

Feddie Strickland

Got it. And just 1 last 1 for me and I'll step back. Just on expenses, I want to make sure I heard correctly that the deposit program fee expense line, I think you're supposed to go up by about 25% next quarter. And then as we think out into '27, I mean, is the low teens expense growth rate, still the idea here? Or how are you thinking about expenses? I know it's a little early to get in the '27 guidance, but just want to get a general picture after all these digital transformation investments and everything else.

Mark DeFazio

It's a little early for that, but I think that our ability to control expense growth going forward, is going to be -- we're going to be able to do that because we have -- we're pretty much ahead of the curve here. We've made great investments across the organization in bodies and in technology. So I think 2027 as we formulate the expense plan there, I'm hopeful that we can show a lower year-over-year growth in expenses, and that does not include any thoughts around what we -- the AI initiative.

So AI initiative is on the come, and we are hopeful -- ever hopeful that, that is going to show a great return on investment which will primarily show itself through the expense line.

Operator

Our next question comes from David Konrad with KBW.

David Konrad

Great. Dan, just want to dig in a little bit more on the NIM. I mean, I guess we understand that you're a little bit liability sensitive here, but yes, with the strong noninterest-bearing deposit growth, that's kind of funding a lot of your growth. So just maybe kind of assumption of what you're thinking about nonspring deposit growth and then also maybe the deposit betas that you're kind of thinking in the rate hike cycle.

Daniel Dougherty

So noninterest-bearing deposit growth this quarter was impressive, right? And that was largely driven by the EB5 vertical. Repeating that quarter after quarter going forward, I think, would be a challenge. I think they're going to see a little bit of a deceleration in the growth there. I think it's just reasonable to expect that. They are slightly liability sensitive.

And then at the end of the day, I've got $1 billion worth of swaps that are going to roll off in April and August next year. Another headwind to the forecast, but not insurmountable. And at the end -- so we have an effective beta within the current forecast model for 2027 of 65% and -- if you pull those swaps out of there, it's probably closer to 75%.

Operator

We'll go next to Timur Braziler with UBS.

Timur Braziler

Following up on that line of questioning, just in terms of deposit momentum into 4Q. I think there's some typical seasonality that happens kind of 1Q on the public fund side, and then E5 had a blowout quarter in 3Q, that likely slow as you just said in 4Q. I guess in terms of broader balance sheet growth through the rest of the year and maybe early next year, does that moderate some? Or do you think you can still outgrow some of the seasonality over these next couple of quarters and growing the balance sheet still?

Daniel Dougherty

No, I see the pace of balance sheet growth remaining according to plan, we fully expect to get to very close to $1 billion in loan growth for the year. Seasonal municipal deposits are expected to flow back in this quarter. And as I mentioned earlier, our plans for not only this quarter but for the future are that growth across our stack or the vertical stack are going to fund loan growth going forward.

Don't forget, I've got a big chunk of short-term investments on the balance sheet as well that I'm fully prepared to roll off to fund deposit growth. That's $400 million. So I've got Q4 covered already. And as we continue to grow the deposit vertical experience, I do, in fact, expect that the pace of deposit gathering will exceed loan growth.

Timur Braziler

Okay. That's good color there. And then I know this gets asked every quarter, but just any update on just the gaming initiative. And I'm wondering is there any overhang between consideration of crossing $10 billion in assets and the pickup on the fee side? Are you trying to kind of land the plane here with increase in fees kind of offsetting some of the $10 billion related expenses? Or in your mind, are those 2 not really related.

Mark DeFazio

Yes. So working backwards there. So we don't see them related at all. Our run rate, we're pretty much well positioned to be a $10 billion bank from an expense structure perspective. So that sort of in the run rate. As it relates to gaming, as I mentioned, I was prepared to mention on this call that we would have up to 3 gaming operators in the queue for testing this quarter. I'm happy to report that we have 2 signed up.

So we are starting the process of getting them integrated so we can start testing and hopefully be live in the first quarter of next year. The third operator has agreed to go forward with us. But because of competing priorities in their own organization, it looks like a first quarter. I would have been very satisfied with just 1 operator because our goal here is to show proof of concept coming out of the end of the year that our payments platform is really efficient and transformative to the gaming industry. So we're excited about it and more to come on it. But yes, we'll be in testing with 2 operators in the next 30 to 45 days.

Operator

Thank you. And we do have a follow-up coming from Feddie Strickland with Hovde Group.

Feddie Strickland

Just had 1 follow-up just on kind of lending outside of New York and Florida Exco nursing. Are you still originating new C&I and CRE kind of outside that footprint or not as much? Is that just on legacy stuff on the books?

Mark DeFazio

A little bit of both. Most of it is legacy. We're retaining some of that exposure. But -- we continue to look at opportunities where our clients -- clients that we know really well that are considering other emerging markets around the country. So the answer is yes. We will stay in those markets, but it's going to be driven by our relationship with existing clients primarily and their appetite to enter emerging markets that we can understand and follow our discipline around credit.

Feddie Strickland

Got it. And then just 2 more follow-ups for me. One, I just wanted to ask on the fees. Were there any fee schedule changes driving the service charge line higher in noninterest income? Or is that just a product of a really strong deposit growth in the quarter.

Daniel Dougherty

Primarily as a result of the growth.

Feddie Strickland

Got it. And last 1 just on the repurchases. Is that something we can see continue from here? Or was that more of an opportunity to stick thing this quarter?

Daniel Dougherty

I am committed to continue buying back the stock for as long as I think the shares are on sale, and I think they're very much on fill right now. So yes, I would expect that we will execute on further purchases going forward yes.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes the allotted time for questions. I would now like to turn the call over to Mark DeFazio for any additional or closing remarks.

Mark DeFazio

Thank you. So in closing, I'd just like to say we remain confident in the strength of our growth strategy, the diversification of our commercial business model and the earnings power of the franchise. Our core banking business remains robust and profitable, and we are making targeted investments that we believe will enhance operating efficiency, expand revenue opportunities and support long-term shareholder value.

The reengagement of our payments platform is expected to be accretive to earnings, further diversifying our revenue streams and enhanced deposit liquidity over time. Thank you again. And again, we very much appreciate our shareholder support. Have a nice day.

Operator

This does conclude today's conference call and webcast. A webcast archive of this call can be found at www.mcbankny.com. Please disconnect your line at this time, and have a wonderful day.