EQUITY BANCSHARES INC — Call Transcript 2026

Good morning. My name is Audra, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Equity Bancshares, Inc. 2026 first quarter earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Brian Katzfey, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Good morning. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining Equity Bancshares' first quarter earnings call. A quick note before we dive in. Today's call is being recorded and is available via webcast at investor.equitybank.com, along with our earnings release and presentation materials. Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. After the presentation, we'll open the floor for questions and further discussion. With that, let me turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Brad Elliott. Thank you for being here with us today. We have a lot of exciting news to share today. Joining me are Rick Sems, our Bank CEO, and Chris Navratil, our CFO. We hit the ground running in 2026, welcoming new customers and team members in Nebraska on January 1st. Entering the Nebraska market has been a strategic priority for us, and I could not be more excited about what we will accomplish for the communities we now have the privilege to serve. The Frontier acquisition drove a 20% increase in assets and contributed to record quarterly revenue. It will be a great organic driver, setting us up for an exceptional 2026 and beyond. As we grow the teams in Nebraska, as we have been growing the teams throughout our entire footprint, this is going to be a great strategic platform for us to grow organically. In February, we completed the Frontier core system conversion on time and on plan. The ability of our team to align vendors, allocate resources, and execute complex integrations is a genuine competitive advantage. Julie Huber, David Pass, and every team member who works with them and made this possible, I want to say thank you. As reflected in the year-over-year changes, we have accomplished a great deal over the past 12 months. Compared to March 2025, our asset base has grown by more than 40%. While driving that level of growth through strategic acquisitions, we've grown tangible book value per share by 5% and just posted a quarter with core EPS of $1.32, a core return on average tangible equity of 16.1%, exceeding the same period of 2025 by 32% and 46%, respectively. Core net income for the quarter grew faster than modeled expectations for the combined company. When you put this with less tangible book value dilution than we expected, the result is an exceptional start to 2026. Having added Oklahoma City, Omaha, Lincoln, Des Moines, and many other exceptional community markets to our legacy markets, we are positioned to continue to provide exceptional shareholder returns. Beyond merger-driven momentum, our bankers entered 2026 with purpose and energy, focused on our mission, creating opportunities for growth, rolling out new products and processes to better serve our communities, staying laser-focused on delivering outstanding returns and driving a more efficient company. Serving our customers is the core of what we do, and we never lose sight of it. We're leveraging technology and continuously monitoring performance to ensure we're meeting the needs of every customer who relies on us. In the first quarter, we opened a record number of DDA accounts as a result of our Retail teams being led by Jonathan Roop, prioritizing customer needs and delivering differentiated, exceptional service. We began 2026 with a larger, stronger balance sheet and earnings that beat even our own expectations. We're deploying capital with conviction, driving toward our mission of being a premier community bank in our market while delivering exceptional returns for our shareholders. The market is competitive, but our value proposition is intact, and our balance sheet gives us the runway to execute. Capital is strong, capital generation capacity is at an all-time high, and we remain confident in our $5 per share target for 2026. Our Board, leadership, and team are aligned for continued growth. operating at a high level and see additional opportunities on the horizon. I am very excited about what lies ahead. Now let me hand it over to Chris to walk you through the numbers. Thank you, Brad. Last night we reported net income of $17.0 million, or $0.80 per diluted share. Adjusting for non-core items in the quarter, including merger expense of $5.7 million and Frontier-related provisioning of $6.1 million, adjusted earnings were $26.2 million or $1.23 per diluted share, up from adjusted earnings of $23.3 million or $1.21 per diluted share in the prior quarter. Purchase accounting accretion on the loan portfolio was $3.3 million in the current period, compared to $2.3 million in Q4 2025. Excluding the after-tax impact of core deposit and intangible amortization of $1.5 million and $1.0 million respectively, adjusted earnings on tangible common equity were $27.7 million versus $24.3 million. Adjusted return on average tangible common equity was a strong 16.1% for the quarter. Net interest income was $73.7 million, up $10.2 million linked-quarter. Margin came in at 4.33% versus 4.47% last quarter. That dynamic, higher earnings, slightly lower margin reflects the expected impact of integrating Frontier's balance sheet. Purchase accounting accretion came in $800,000 ahead of forecast. Normalizing for that, margin would have been 4.29%, right in line with expectations. Non-interest income held steady at $9.5 million. Expanding fee lines including debit card, credit card, mortgage, insurance, and trust and wealth offset declines in security transaction losses and swap fee revenue for the period. Non-interest expenses for the quarter were $55 million. Adjusting for M&A charges in both periods and the prior period's litigation settlement accrual, non-interest expenses were $49.2 million versus $44.1 million, an 11.5% increase linked-quarter, driven by the Frontier integration. On a normalized basis, adjusted non-interest expense as a percentage of average assets improved 25 basis points to 2.57%. Pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue excluding M&A costs and $748,000 in provisioning for unfunded commitments was $34.7 million or $1.63 per share. That's up from $28.8 million or $1.56 per share in the prior quarter. Comparing to the same period in 2025, the ratio has improved from $1.23 per share or 33.1%. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 23.7%, impacted by periodic items not expected to recur. We continue to forecast a full year effective rate of 22%-23%. Our GAAP net income included a $6 million provision for loan losses attributable to loan balances added through the Frontier acquisition. Ending ACL coverage was 1.18%. The ending reserve ratio, inclusive of merger-related discounts, closed at 1.77%, up from 1.67%. During the quarter, we were active under our repurchase authorization, buying back 500,000 shares at a weighted average cost of $44.74. 327,662 shares remain under the board's September 2025 authorization. TCE closed the quarter at 9.0%, while CET1 and total capital were 11.5% and 14.4% respectively. At the bank level, the TCE ratio closed at 9.8%. Now let me hand it to Rick to walk through asset quality. Thanks, Chris. Q1 delivered strong underlying credit. Non-performing assets closed at $58.3 million, up $11.6 million, primarily attributed to the addition of Frontier. As a percentage of total assets, they moved just three basis points higher to 0.8%. Non-accrual loans rose similarly to $52.4 million from $40.3 million, again, primarily driven by addition of Frontier assets. Our non-accrual exposure is granular, with only four relationships exceeding $1.5 million. Charge-offs reflect continued resolution activity on credits we previously flagged. Loans past due and non-accrual as a percentage of end of period loans increased to 1.86% from 1.53% linked quarter. The move is primarily in the 30-59-day bucket, concentrated in one acquired market. It's a merger process issue, not a credit issue. These bankers are simply navigating a new renewal process post-conversion. We anticipate full resolution in Q2. We see nothing systematic that would suggest that this becomes the new normal for our portfolio. Net charge-offs annualized were 10 basis points for the quarter as a percentage of average loans, up three basis points linked-quarter. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our credit trajectory. Despite macro uncertainty, credit quality trends across our portfolio are stable and running below historic norms. The Frontier portfolio is granular and well underwritten, as evidenced by their track record, and we do not expect a meaningful impact on our credit quality going forward. Thanks, Rick. As I mentioned, margin closed the quarter at 4.33%, ahead of expectations. Loan purchase accounting contributed $3.3 million or 19 basis points in the period. Absent near-term payoffs on acquired loans, we anticipate purchase accounting normalizing to approximately $2.5 million in future quarters. Adjusting March results for anticipated accretion yields a normalized margin of 4.29%. Frontier contributed a funding portfolio with a higher cost of funds as compared to legacy Equity, improving future liability sensitivity while creating the anticipated near-term margin tightening. The addition of Frontier balances drove average interest-earning asset growth of 22.2%, average interest-bearing liability growth of 25.6%, and the ending interest-bearing liabilities to interest-earning assets ratio of 76.4%. Our loan-to-deposit ratio closed the quarter at 86%. We continue to expect full-year results consistent with our outlook in the slide deck, including margin in the 420-435 range with periodic variability tied to purchase accounting. Rick? * Thanks, Chris. Before I get into loan production, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the extraordinary effort of the Equity Bank team over the last 180 days. This has been a truly transformational period for our company, and it would not have been possible without the best community bankers in the business showing up every single day. As we enter 2026, we operate in six states, including seven major metros and a deep network of strong communities. We have the tools, the products, and the motivated teams to deliver outstanding performance. During Q1, our production teams continued to fire on all cylinders across the footprint. Loan production was $267 million, up 21.7% linked quarter. Originations came on at an average rate of 6.87%, continuing to drive accretion to current coupon yield with a 10 basis point increase versus the prior period. Both our metro and community legacy markets contributed positively to the production outcome and were net positive for loans in the quarter. As we discussed, the first nine to 12 months following a merger involves intentional portfolio optimization and planned integration-related attrition, a dynamic we've managed proactively. We've recruited and hired new bankers in Wichita, Oklahoma City, Lincoln, and Omaha, and we'll keep adding talent across the footprint. The opportunity to deepen commercial relationships, both loans and deposits across these new markets is significant, and our teams are locked in on growing our organic engine. Our pipelines continue to build throughout the banker network. At quarter end, our 75% pipeline stands at $517 million. Line utilization was up slightly for the quarter at approximately 56%, with unfunded positions rising alongside production growth and the addition of Frontier, creating meaningful opportunity going forward. Total deposits increased approximately $1.2 billion during the quarter. In addition to the contribution of Frontier, the majority of our legacy markets saw growth as our retail teams continued to gain traction and execute on our aggressive goals. Outside of our administrative and Nebraska cost centers, balances increased to $191 million, including more than 5% growth in five of our community markets. I want to specifically call out our North Central Missouri market, including Kirksville, which saw a 7% increase in balances in the quarter. Acquired in the spring of 2024, I'm excited to see Norman Baylis and his team finding success to kick off the year. Frontier carried brokered funding positions that are now part of our balance sheet. We have a clear, disciplined plan to reprice and replace those with core relationship deposits over time. Non-interest-bearing accounts are at 20.2% of total deposits. Our retail teams are off to a terrific start in 2026, opening record levels of DDAs and executing on the Company's goal of deepening wallet share and delivering exceptional service. Heading into 2026, we are well-positioned to deploy available liquidity and drive growth across our markets. We continue to anticipate mid-single-digit organic loan growth. The addition of NBC and Frontier add asset generation depth to our footprint, while our community markets continue to provide strong funding opportunities. Management and team members are aligned and bought in. I'm genuinely excited about what we'll deliver in 2026. Brad? I take enormous pride in everything this team continues to accomplish. Growing our asset base by more than 40% across two transactions, both fully converted and integrated, is a remarkable achievement that speaks directly to the caliber of our people. I have never been more confident in what we will build together in 2026. We are committed to empowering our people, serving our customers and communities with excellence, and delivering strong, consistent returns for our shareholders. Our Board and Leadership Team are fully aligned, and we are ready to keep executing on our mission. Sourcing, negotiating, integrating franchise accretive M&A transactions is a core competency of Equity. Our team has significant experience in this area given the number of transactions we've completed. I'm proud to announce that we're consistently achieving results better than what was expected at the time of announcement. This is a testament to the team's hard work and prudent and realistic modeling assumptions. This outperformance allows us to drive enhanced earnings and shorter tangible book value earnbacks. We fully appreciate the importance of tangible book value growth over time as a key metric for shareholders' performance and are committed to executing M&A transactions that align with our goals. We're putting the right tools, strategies, and people in place to drive both organic and acquisitive growth. I genuinely believe we are setting ourselves up for sustained long-term success across the entire footprint. Thank you for joining us today. We're happy to take your questions. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. We'll go first to Jeff Rulis at D.A. Davidson. Thanks. Good morning. Just a question on the acquired loan balance. Do you have the Frontier loan balance at acquisition in millions? I know you said $1.3 billion, but also at acquisition end, at quarter end, trying to back into, sounds like some decent organic growth. If you had those Frontier balances, that'd be great. Yeah, Jeff, it was about $1.28 billion in terms of acquired assets, pre-purchase accounting mark. The decline period-over-period, excluding that, is about $40 million. As we talked about yesterday, and Rick can expand on here, is effectively what we saw is some short-term optimization decline in the Frontier footprint offset by what is positive production everywhere else in the footprint. Really a good outcome for us in our minds in terms of periodic production, but some of those headwinds exist at the beginning of the integration of that Frontier footprint. Maybe put another way, it's a combined company as of January one, but do you have legacy organic growth that you could also identify? Is that difficult to carve out? Chris, do you want to speak to that? Yeah. On the loan side specifically, we grew about just under 1% on our non-acquired markets if you take out Oklahoma and you take out Nebraska. We grew about 1% on a kind of point-to-point basis. That's 3% annualized or something like that, 3 point something annualized in those legacy markets on the loan side. Okay. Appreciate it. Maybe a similar question on the non-accrual increase. I think roughly eight added from Frontier, four from sort of the legacy unit. Maybe if you could put any color on the type of loans that were brought on. Second piece to that, I think, Rick, you mentioned, sorry, I missed the piece about, sounded like there was a past due. Maybe if you could just outline the balance of that one that was brought on that sounds like it's got a quick resolution ahead. Yeah. It really wasn't a loan. We have one specific market that didn't understand how to get renewals done and manage those during that time from Nebraska. Those are all correcting themselves or already have been corrected at this point, Jeff. Brad, what was the balance of those loans, if you could? It's a little over 30. About $30 million. Yeah. It's not one loan. It's about 10 or 15 different relationships. Relationships. Actually more than that, 30 or 40 relationships. Yeah. Okay. Maybe last one, if I could, the margin. Maybe Chris, you kind of talked about a 4.29% core. Do you know what that core NIM was for the month of March? It sounds like you've got an opportunity to kind of alter Frontier's funding mix a bit, and it sounded more leaning upward than not. Do you have a March figure that would compare to the 4.29% core for the quarter? Yeah, Jeff, March actually compares pretty consistently with that 429 figure. There are still some potential tailwinds as we look into Q2 and beyond as we're working to reprice some of those Frontier deposits. That's been happening kind of throughout the quarter and really accelerating towards the end of the quarter. We're not seeing that benefit in March. We'll see more of it in April and beyond. The range that's kind of provided in the outlook, I have some optimism that we can hit the high end of that range based on some of those dynamics. I think because of the periodicity of accretion and the challenges of continuing to work through a balance sheet, there's risk there as well. Somewhere in that range is fully accomplishable. I think the high end is also accomplishable based on some of those dynamics. We have to execute on it. Great. Makes sense. Thanks. We'll move next to Adam Cowell at Piper Sandler. Hi. I'm on for Nate Race. Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. Morning. Yeah. Maybe starting on funding costs, with deposit costs rising this quarter with the Frontier acquisition, and I know they had a piece of brokered deposits. I guess I'm curious. If you could provide some additional color into repricing opportunities you have on the deposit side from both DDA and a non-maturity? Yeah. Adam, I think there's an ample amount of repricing capacity. Just for some color, they had about $100 billion that did get repriced in Q1 that was at a weighted average cost of 450. So that's an aspect of their cost of funds that, again, it accelerated towards the end of the quarter that we've been able to reposition into what is comparatively cheaper. Even the newly issued brokered in the period is about 375. So you're picking up 75 basis points on $100 million. They brought in a relatively higher overall cost of funding base. So we'll continue to see opportunities to reprice. Some of that did have some duration on it. There is some lockout. So we'll continue to have some heavier cost over time, but we're going to continue to see opportunities to bring some of those things down and anticipate being able to do so. Got it. I appreciate the color there. Maybe moving to capital management, it's nice to see the step up in the buyback during the quarter, and you've obviously been active on the M&A front with the two deals over the past year. Do you expect to continue to be active on the buyback? Are you seeing opportunities on the M&A front as well? We look at capital utilization all the time. Yes, we continue to look opportunistically at buybacks. We also think we have plenty of capital for continued M&A. We've got good capital ratios. We're building capital at a little over $25 million of capital generation a quarter. We've got good capital generation from the operating company. We have lots of different prospects and lots of different opportunities we're talking to on the M&A front. We will still remain active if it works on the buyback side. Got it. Thanks for taking my question. We'll go next to Matt Olney at Stephens. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. I wanted to ask more about the expense outlook from here and get some updated thoughts around deal cost savings from Frontier. With that conversion now behind us, I'm curious how the cost savings are looking compared to the original expectations and would just love to get some thoughts on when you expect to get the fully loaded cost savings this year. Yeah. A couple things on that, Matt. On the technology side, so the integration as well as some of the people that we maintained through that conversion date, all of those items have been fully taken out of run rate at this point. The cost savings on technology and people there are in line with what we expected, and we started to realize in the back end of the first quarter, and we'll fully realize it in the second quarter. I think generally speaking, as it relates to the cost saves around this transaction, they were relatively conservative, something of 23%-ish on expected cost savings. I think our execution will realize that or better as we think into Q2 and beyond. We anticipate being in line to a little bit ahead of where we originally anticipated as we contemplated the transaction. Okay. I guess the other part to that is just there was a mention about reinvestments, new producer hires, just maybe an update on kind of what you're seeing thus far, new producer hires and what's in the pipeline. Yeah. Between Oklahoma City and Omaha and Lincoln, we've probably hired about 10 additional or new bankers. Some are replacements and others are adds at that point in time. All real positive there. The pipeline remains kind of consistent with where it was at the end of the year. That number really bodes well for second and third quarter with what that is. Production numbers look really good. We're actually seeing a number of additional projects and things that both Brad and I are getting out to see customers and prospects on things. It looks like it's going to be fairly robust opportunities for us. As we kind of mentioned before, pricing always comes into play on this. Every once in a while, you never count it till it's in. We do have a couple of crazy competitors on things, but for the most part, people are, I think, coming back to a little bit more in line with where we are on pricing. That's positive. That goes well. Okay, perfect. Thank you, guys. We'll take our next question from Damon Del Monte at KBW. Hey, good morning, guys. Hope everybody's doing well. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess first question is just kind of probably for Chris on the reserve and the kind of the provision outlook. The reserve came down six basis points quarter-over-quarter even though there was purchase marks against the acquired loans. Just trying to kind of get a feel for where you're comfortable with where the loan loss reserve can trend over the coming quarters. Yeah, Damon, I'd look at it as being consistent with where it is on a relative to assets basis. As we start to see depletion of those purchase accounting marks and looking at it on a relative total position to the portfolio, there may be opportunity or need to build back up to a 123 type of reserve. I think in the near term, thinking about it as 118 basis points from here plus whatever production is. My anticipation for need to provide, absent any significant specific reserve items, specific deterioration in credits, is that it's going to account for the production in the portfolio. As we grow the portfolio, so too will we grow the reserve. Okay. The $6 million-$8 million guidance for 2026 for the total provision, if you back out the one-time, the CECL impact on the first quarter, do we kind of just extrapolate the remaining three quarters to fall in between that range? Yeah, that's maybe a little bit less, Damon. I think thinking about it as kind of a million and a half to $2 million run rate, depending on growth, is a good way to continue to think about it. Got it. Okay. That's helpful. I guess just secondly here or lastly, on the fee income side of things, can you just talk about some of the opportunities to kind of tap into the Frontier franchise and what products and services you guys think have the best opportunity to kind of ramp up some revenues for you guys? Yeah. First and foremost, Treasury Management. Our product in there, we've actually brought in a new Head of Treasury Management, and we see that as a real opportunity. That wasn't something that was really in the forefront of what they were doing, number one. Number two, they had a decent-sized mortgage business, and so we're continuing to see some potential for mortgage fees going forward. We see that across the footprint. Continuing to get the team built out. We use that as a product for our core customers and for bringing in core customers. We're not really a mortgage shop just to bring in mortgages. The third piece of it is on the Wealth Management side of it. We're already seeing some real positive results there on being able to grow with Wealth Management. We're actually looking to add a couple of additional people in our markets. We do really well in the community markets. In Nebraska, Falls City, Pender, Norfolk, and Madison, where we are, we see those as real opportunities for growth for us in the future as well. Great. Thank you very much for the call. I appreciate it. Yep. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, press star one. We'll pause just a moment. At this time, we have no further questions. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Speaker 8: Good morning. My name is Audra, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Equity Bancshares, Inc. 2026 first quarter earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Brian Katzfey, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Good morning. good morning My name is Audra, and I will be your conference operator today. my name is audra and i will be your conference operator today At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Equity Bancshares, Inc. 2026 first quarter earnings conference call. at this time i would like to welcome everyone to the equity bancshares inc 2026 first quarter earnings conference call Today's conference is being recorded. today's conference is being recorded All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. after the speakers' remarks there will be a question and answer session If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. if you would like to ask a question during this time simply press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. if you would like to withdraw your question press star one again At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Brian Katzfey, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. at this time i would like to turn the conference over to brian katzfey vice president of corporate development and investor relations Please go ahead. please go ahead

Speaker 3: Good morning. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining Equity Bancshares' first quarter earnings call. A quick note before we dive in. Today's call is being recorded and is available via webcast at investor.equitybank.com, along with our earnings release and presentation materials. Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. After the presentation, we'll open the floor for questions and further discussion. With that, let me turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Brad Elliott. Good morning. good morning Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining Equity Bancshares' first quarter earnings call. welcome everyone and thank you for joining equity bancshares' first quarter earnings call A quick note before we dive in. a quick note before we dive in Today's call is being recorded and is available via webcast at investor.equitybank.com, along with our earnings release and presentation materials. today's call is being recorded and is available via webcast at investor.equitybank.com along with our earnings release and presentation materials Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. today's presentation contains forward-looking statements which are subject to certain risks uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed After the presentation, we'll open the floor for questions and further discussion. after the presentation we'll open the floor for questions and further discussion With that, let me turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Brad Elliott. with that let me turn the call over to our chairman and ceo brad elliott

Speaker 2: Thank you for being here with us today. We have a lot of exciting news to share today. Joining me are Rick Sems, our Bank CEO, and Chris Navratil, our CFO. We hit the ground running in 2026, welcoming new customers and team members in Nebraska on January 1st. Entering the Nebraska market has been a strategic priority for us, and I could not be more excited about what we will accomplish for the communities we now have the privilege to serve. The Frontier acquisition drove a 20% increase in assets and contributed to record quarterly revenue. It will be a great organic driver, setting us up for an exceptional 2026 and beyond. As we grow the teams in Nebraska, as we have been growing the teams throughout our entire footprint, this is going to be a great strategic platform for us to grow organically. Thank you for being here with us today. thank you for being here with us today We have a lot of exciting news to share today. we have a lot of exciting news to share today Joining me are Rick Sems, our Bank CEO, and Chris Navratil, our CFO. joining me are rick sems our bank ceo and chris navratil our cfo We hit the ground running in 2026, welcoming new customers and team members in Nebraska on January 1st. we hit the ground running in 2026 welcoming new customers and team members in nebraska on january 1st Entering the Nebraska market has been a strategic priority for us, and I could not be more excited about what we will accomplish for the communities we now have the privilege to serve. entering the nebraska market has been a strategic priority for us and i could not be more excited about what we will accomplish for the communities we now have the privilege to serve The Frontier acquisition drove a 20% increase in assets and contributed to record quarterly revenue. the frontier acquisition drove a 20% increase in assets and contributed to record quarterly revenue It will be a great organic driver, setting us up for an exceptional 2026 and beyond. it will be a great organic driver setting us up for an exceptional 2026 and beyond As we grow the teams in Nebraska, as we have been growing the teams throughout our entire footprint, this is going to be a great strategic platform for us to grow organically. as we grow the teams in nebraska as we have been growing the teams throughout our entire footprint this is going to be a great strategic platform for us to grow organically In February, we completed the Frontier core system conversion on time and on plan. The ability of our team to align vendors, allocate resources, and execute complex integrations is a genuine competitive advantage. Julie Huber, David Pass, and every team member who works with them and made this possible, I want to say thank you. As reflected in the year-over-year changes, we have accomplished a great deal over the past 12 months. Compared to March 2025, our asset base has grown by more than 40%. While driving that level of growth through strategic acquisitions, we've grown tangible book value per share by 5% and just posted a quarter with core EPS of $1.32, a core return on average tangible equity of 16.1%, exceeding the same period of 2025 by 32% and 46%, respectively. Core net income for the quarter grew faster than modeled expectations for the combined company. In February, we completed the Frontier core system conversion on time and on plan. in february we completed the frontier core system conversion on time and on plan The ability of our team to align vendors, allocate resources, and execute complex integrations is a genuine competitive advantage. the ability of our team to align vendors allocate resources and execute complex integrations is a genuine competitive advantage Julie Huber, David Pass, and every team member who works with them and made this possible, I want to say thank you. julie huber david pass and every team member who works with them and made this possible i want to say thank you As reflected in the year-over-year changes, we have accomplished a great deal over the past 12 months. as reflected in the year-over-year changes we have accomplished a great deal over the past 12 months Compared to March 2025, our asset base has grown by more than 40%. compared to march 2025 our asset base has grown by more than 40% While driving that level of growth through strategic acquisitions, we've grown tangible book value per share by 5% and just posted a quarter with core EPS of $1.32, a core return on average tangible equity of 16.1%, exceeding the same period of 2025 by 32% and 46%, respectively. while driving that level of growth through strategic acquisitions we've grown tangible book value per share by 5% and just posted a quarter with core eps of $1.32 a core return on average tangible equity of 16.1% exceeding the same period of 2025 by 32% and 46% respectively Core net income for the quarter grew faster than modeled expectations for the combined company. core net income for the quarter grew faster than modeled expectations for the combined company When you put this with less tangible book value dilution than we expected, the result is an exceptional start to 2026. Having added Oklahoma City, Omaha, Lincoln, Des Moines, and many other exceptional community markets to our legacy markets, we are positioned to continue to provide exceptional shareholder returns. Beyond merger-driven momentum, our bankers entered 2026 with purpose and energy, focused on our mission, creating opportunities for growth, rolling out new products and processes to better serve our communities, staying laser-focused on delivering outstanding returns and driving a more efficient company. Serving our customers is the core of what we do, and we never lose sight of it. We're leveraging technology and continuously monitoring performance to ensure we're meeting the needs of every customer who relies on us. When you put this with less tangible book value dilution than we expected, the result is an exceptional start to 2026. when you put this with less tangible book value dilution than we expected the result is an exceptional start to 2026 Having added Oklahoma City, Omaha, Lincoln, Des Moines, and many other exceptional community markets to our legacy markets, we are positioned to continue to provide exceptional shareholder returns. having added oklahoma city omaha lincoln des moines and many other exceptional community markets to our legacy markets we are positioned to continue to provide exceptional shareholder returns Beyond merger-driven momentum, our bankers entered 2026 with purpose and energy, focused on our mission, creating opportunities for growth, rolling out new products and processes to better serve our communities, staying laser-focused on delivering outstanding returns and driving a more efficient company. beyond merger-driven momentum our bankers entered 2026 with purpose and energy focused on our mission creating opportunities for growth rolling out new products and processes to better serve our communities staying laser-focused on delivering outstanding returns and driving a more efficient company Serving our customers is the core of what we do, and we never lose sight of it. serving our customers is the core of what we do and we never lose sight of it We're leveraging technology and continuously monitoring performance to ensure we're meeting the needs of every customer who relies on us. we're leveraging technology and continuously monitoring performance to ensure we're meeting the needs of every customer who relies on us In the first quarter, we opened a record number of DDA accounts as a result of our Retail teams being led by Jonathan Roop, prioritizing customer needs and delivering differentiated, exceptional service. We began 2026 with a larger, stronger balance sheet and earnings that beat even our own expectations. We're deploying capital with conviction, driving toward our mission of being a premier community bank in our market while delivering exceptional returns for our shareholders. The market is competitive, but our value proposition is intact, and our balance sheet gives us the runway to execute. Capital is strong, capital generation capacity is at an all-time high, and we remain confident in our $5 per share target for 2026. Our Board, leadership, and team are aligned for continued growth. In the first quarter, we opened a record number of DDA accounts as a result of our Retail teams being led by Jonathan Roop, prioritizing customer needs and delivering differentiated, exceptional service. in the first quarter we opened a record number of dda accounts as a result of our retail teams being led by jonathan roop prioritizing customer needs and delivering differentiated exceptional service We began 2026 with a larger, stronger balance sheet and earnings that beat even our own expectations. we began 2026 with a larger stronger balance sheet and earnings that beat even our own expectations We're deploying capital with conviction, driving toward our mission of being a premier community bank in our market while delivering exceptional returns for our shareholders. we're deploying capital with conviction driving toward our mission of being a premier community bank in our market while delivering exceptional returns for our shareholders The market is competitive, but our value proposition is intact, and our balance sheet gives us the runway to execute. the market is competitive but our value proposition is intact and our balance sheet gives us the runway to execute Capital is strong, capital generation capacity is at an all-time high, and we remain confident in our $5 per share target for 2026. capital is strong capital generation capacity is at an all-time high and we remain confident in our $5 per share target for 2026 Our Board, leadership, and team are aligned for continued growth. our board leadership and team are aligned for continued growth operating at a high level and see additional opportunities on the horizon. I am very excited about what lies ahead. Now let me hand it over to Chris to walk you through the numbers. operating at a high level and see additional opportunities on the horizon. operating at a high level and see additional opportunities on the horizon I am very excited about what lies ahead. i am very excited about what lies ahead Now let me hand it over to Chris to walk you through the numbers. now let me hand it over to chris to walk you through the numbers

Speaker 4: Thank you, Brad. Last night we reported net income of $17.0 million, or $0.80 per diluted share. Adjusting for non-core items in the quarter, including merger expense of $5.7 million and Frontier-related provisioning of $6.1 million, adjusted earnings were $26.2 million or $1.23 per diluted share, up from adjusted earnings of $23.3 million or $1.21 per diluted share in the prior quarter. Purchase accounting accretion on the loan portfolio was $3.3 million in the current period, compared to $2.3 million in Q4 2025. Excluding the after-tax impact of core deposit and intangible amortization of $1.5 million and $1.0 million respectively, adjusted earnings on tangible common equity were $27.7 million versus $24.3 million. Adjusted return on average tangible common equity was a strong 16.1% for the quarter. Net interest income was $73.7 million, up $10.2 million linked-quarter. Margin came in at 4.33% versus 4.47% last quarter. Thank you, Brad. thank you brad Last night we reported net income of $17.0 million, or $0.80 per diluted share. last night we reported net income of $17.0 million or $0.80 per diluted share Adjusting for non-core items in the quarter, including merger expense of $5.7 million and Frontier-related provisioning of $6.1 million, adjusted earnings were $26.2 million or $1.23 per diluted share, up from adjusted earnings of $23.3 million or $1.21 per diluted share in the prior quarter. adjusting for non-core items in the quarter including merger expense of $5.7 million and frontier-related provisioning of $6.1 million adjusted earnings were $26.2 million or $1.23 per diluted share up from adjusted earnings of $23.3 million or $1.21 per diluted share in the prior quarter Purchase accounting accretion on the loan portfolio was $3.3 million in the current period, compared to $2.3 million in Q4 2025. purchase accounting accretion on the loan portfolio was $3.3 million in the current period compared to $2.3 million in q4 2025 Excluding the after-tax impact of core deposit and intangible amortization of $1.5 million and $1.0 million respectively, adjusted earnings on tangible common equity were $27.7 million versus $24.3 million. excluding the after-tax impact of core deposit and intangible amortization of $1.5 million and $1.0 million respectively adjusted earnings on tangible common equity were $27.7 million versus $24.3 million Adjusted return on average tangible common equity was a strong 16.1% for the quarter. adjusted return on average tangible common equity was a strong 16.1% for the quarter Net interest income was $73.7 million, up $10.2 million linked-quarter. net interest income was $73.7 million up $10.2 million linked-quarter Margin came in at 4.33% versus 4.47% last quarter. margin came in at 4.33% versus 4.47% last quarter That dynamic, higher earnings, slightly lower margin reflects the expected impact of integrating Frontier's balance sheet. Purchase accounting accretion came in $800,000 ahead of forecast. Normalizing for that, margin would have been 4.29%, right in line with expectations. Non-interest income held steady at $9.5 million. Expanding fee lines including debit card, credit card, mortgage, insurance, and trust and wealth offset declines in security transaction losses and swap fee revenue for the period. Non-interest expenses for the quarter were $55 million. Adjusting for M&A charges in both periods and the prior period's litigation settlement accrual, non-interest expenses were $49.2 million versus $44.1 million, an 11.5% increase linked-quarter, driven by the Frontier integration. On a normalized basis, adjusted non-interest expense as a percentage of average assets improved 25 basis points to 2.57%. That dynamic, higher earnings, slightly lower margin reflects the expected impact of integrating Frontier's balance sheet. that dynamic higher earnings slightly lower margin reflects the expected impact of integrating frontier's balance sheet Purchase accounting accretion came in $800,000 ahead of forecast. purchase accounting accretion came in $800,000 ahead of forecast Normalizing for that, margin would have been 4.29%, right in line with expectations. normalizing for that margin would have been 4.29% right in line with expectations Non-interest income held steady at $9.5 million. non-interest income held steady at $9.5 million Expanding fee lines including debit card, credit card, mortgage, insurance, and trust and wealth offset declines in security transaction losses and swap fee revenue for the period. expanding fee lines including debit card credit card mortgage insurance and trust and wealth offset declines in security transaction losses and swap fee revenue for the period Non-interest expenses for the quarter were $55 million. non-interest expenses for the quarter were $55 million Adjusting for M&A charges in both periods and the prior period's litigation settlement accrual, non-interest expenses were $49.2 million versus $44.1 million, an 11.5% increase linked-quarter, driven by the Frontier integration. adjusting for m&a charges in both periods and the prior period's litigation settlement accrual non-interest expenses were $49.2 million versus $44.1 million an 11.5% increase linked-quarter driven by the frontier integration On a normalized basis, adjusted non-interest expense as a percentage of average assets improved 25 basis points to 2.57%. on a normalized basis adjusted non-interest expense as a percentage of average assets improved 25 basis points to 2.57% Pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue excluding M&A costs and $748,000 in provisioning for unfunded commitments was $34.7 million or $1.63 per share. That's up from $28.8 million or $1.56 per share in the prior quarter. Comparing to the same period in 2025, the ratio has improved from $1.23 per share or 33.1%. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 23.7%, impacted by periodic items not expected to recur. We continue to forecast a full year effective rate of 22%-23%. Our GAAP net income included a $6 million provision for loan losses attributable to loan balances added through the Frontier acquisition. Ending ACL coverage was 1.18%. The ending reserve ratio, inclusive of merger-related discounts, closed at 1.77%, up from 1.67%. During the quarter, we were active under our repurchase authorization, buying back 500,000 shares at a weighted average cost of $44.74. Pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue excluding M&A costs and $748,000 in provisioning for unfunded commitments was $34.7 million or $1.63 per share. pre-tax pre-provision net revenue excluding m&a costs and $748,000 in provisioning for unfunded commitments was $34.7 million or $1.63 per share That's up from $28.8 million or $1.56 per share in the prior quarter. that's up from $28.8 million or $1.56 per share in the prior quarter Comparing to the same period in 2025, the ratio has improved from $1.23 per share or 33.1%. comparing to the same period in 2025 the ratio has improved from $1.23 per share or 33.1% The effective tax rate for the quarter was 23.7%, impacted by periodic items not expected to recur. the effective tax rate for the quarter was 23.7% impacted by periodic items not expected to recur We continue to forecast a full year effective rate of 22%-23%. we continue to forecast a full year effective rate of 22%-23% Our GAAP net income included a $6 million provision for loan losses attributable to loan balances added through the Frontier acquisition. our gaap net income included a $6 million provision for loan losses attributable to loan balances added through the frontier acquisition Ending ACL coverage was 1.18%. ending acl coverage was 1.18% The ending reserve ratio, inclusive of merger-related discounts, closed at 1.77%, up from 1.67%. the ending reserve ratio inclusive of merger-related discounts closed at 1.77% up from 1.67% During the quarter, we were active under our repurchase authorization, buying back 500,000 shares at a weighted average cost of $44.74. during the quarter we were active under our repurchase authorization buying back 500,000 shares at a weighted average cost of $44.74 327,662 shares remain under the board's September 2025 authorization. TCE closed the quarter at 9.0%, while CET1 and total capital were 11.5% and 14.4% respectively. At the bank level, the TCE ratio closed at 9.8%. Now let me hand it to Rick to walk through asset quality. 327,662 shares remain under the board's September 2025 authorization. 327,662 shares remain under the board's september 2025 authorization TCE closed the quarter at 9.0%, while CET1 and total capital were 11.5% and 14.4% respectively. tce closed the quarter at 9.0% while cet1 and total capital were 11.5% and 14.4% respectively At the bank level, the TCE ratio closed at 9.8%. at the bank level the tce ratio closed at 9.8% Now let me hand it to Rick to walk through asset quality. now let me hand it to rick to walk through asset quality

Speaker 9: Thanks, Chris. Q1 delivered strong underlying credit. Non-performing assets closed at $58.3 million, up $11.6 million, primarily attributed to the addition of Frontier. As a percentage of total assets, they moved just three basis points higher to 0.8%. Non-accrual loans rose similarly to $52.4 million from $40.3 million, again, primarily driven by addition of Frontier assets. Our non-accrual exposure is granular, with only four relationships exceeding $1.5 million. Charge-offs reflect continued resolution activity on credits we previously flagged. Loans past due and non-accrual as a percentage of end of period loans increased to 1.86% from 1.53% linked quarter. The move is primarily in the 30-59-day bucket, concentrated in one acquired market. It's a merger process issue, not a credit issue. These bankers are simply navigating a new renewal process post-conversion. We anticipate full resolution in Q2. Thanks, Chris. thanks chris Q1 delivered strong underlying credit. q1 delivered strong underlying credit Non-performing assets closed at $58.3 million, up $11.6 million, primarily attributed to the addition of Frontier. non-performing assets closed at $58.3 million up $11.6 million primarily attributed to the addition of frontier As a percentage of total assets, they moved just three basis points higher to 0.8%. as a percentage of total assets they moved just three basis points higher to 0.8% Non-accrual loans rose similarly to $52.4 million from $40.3 million, again, primarily driven by addition of Frontier assets. non-accrual loans rose similarly to $52.4 million from $40.3 million again primarily driven by addition of frontier assets Our non-accrual exposure is granular, with only four relationships exceeding $1.5 million. our non-accrual exposure is granular with only four relationships exceeding $1.5 million Charge-offs reflect continued resolution activity on credits we previously flagged. charge-offs reflect continued resolution activity on credits we previously flagged Loans past due and non-accrual as a percentage of end of period loans increased to 1.86% from 1.53% linked quarter. loans past due and non-accrual as a percentage of end of period loans increased to 1.86% from 1.53% linked quarter The move is primarily in the 30-59-day bucket, concentrated in one acquired market. the move is primarily in the 30-59-day bucket concentrated in one acquired market It's a merger process issue, not a credit issue. it's a merger process issue not a credit issue These bankers are simply navigating a new renewal process post-conversion. these bankers are simply navigating a new renewal process post-conversion We anticipate full resolution in Q2. we anticipate full resolution in q2 We see nothing systematic that would suggest that this becomes the new normal for our portfolio. Net charge-offs annualized were 10 basis points for the quarter as a percentage of average loans, up three basis points linked-quarter. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our credit trajectory. Despite macro uncertainty, credit quality trends across our portfolio are stable and running below historic norms. The Frontier portfolio is granular and well underwritten, as evidenced by their track record, and we do not expect a meaningful impact on our credit quality going forward. We see nothing systematic that would suggest that this becomes the new normal for our portfolio. we see nothing systematic that would suggest that this becomes the new normal for our portfolio Net charge-offs annualized were 10 basis points for the quarter as a percentage of average loans, up three basis points linked-quarter. net charge-offs annualized were 10 basis points for the quarter as a percentage of average loans up three basis points linked-quarter Looking ahead, we remain confident in our credit trajectory. looking ahead we remain confident in our credit trajectory Despite macro uncertainty, credit quality trends across our portfolio are stable and running below historic norms. despite macro uncertainty credit quality trends across our portfolio are stable and running below historic norms The Frontier portfolio is granular and well underwritten, as evidenced by their track record, and we do not expect a meaningful impact on our credit quality going forward. the frontier portfolio is granular and well underwritten as evidenced by their track record and we do not expect a meaningful impact on our credit quality going forward

Speaker 4: Thanks, Rick. As I mentioned, margin closed the quarter at 4.33%, ahead of expectations. Loan purchase accounting contributed $3.3 million or 19 basis points in the period. Absent near-term payoffs on acquired loans, we anticipate purchase accounting normalizing to approximately $2.5 million in future quarters. Thanks, Rick. thanks rick As I mentioned, margin closed the quarter at 4.33%, ahead of expectations. as i mentioned margin closed the quarter at 4.33% ahead of expectations Loan purchase accounting contributed $3.3 million or 19 basis points in the period. loan purchase accounting contributed $3.3 million or 19 basis points in the period Absent near-term payoffs on acquired loans, we anticipate purchase accounting normalizing to approximately $2.5 million in future quarters. absent near-term payoffs on acquired loans we anticipate purchase accounting normalizing to approximately $2.5 million in future quarters Adjusting March results for anticipated accretion yields a normalized margin of 4.29%. Frontier contributed a funding portfolio with a higher cost of funds as compared to legacy Equity, improving future liability sensitivity while creating the anticipated near-term margin tightening. The addition of Frontier balances drove average interest-earning asset growth of 22.2%, average interest-bearing liability growth of 25.6%, and the ending interest-bearing liabilities to interest-earning assets ratio of 76.4%. Our loan-to-deposit ratio closed the quarter at 86%. We continue to expect full-year results consistent with our outlook in the slide deck, including margin in the 420-435 range with periodic variability tied to purchase accounting. Rick? * Adjusting March results for anticipated accretion yields a normalized margin of 4.29%. adjusting march results for anticipated accretion yields a normalized margin of 4.29% Frontier contributed a funding portfolio with a higher cost of funds as compared to legacy Equity, improving future liability sensitivity while creating the anticipated near-term margin tightening. frontier contributed a funding portfolio with a higher cost of funds as compared to legacy equity improving future liability sensitivity while creating the anticipated near-term margin tightening The addition of Frontier balances drove average interest-earning asset growth of 22.2%, average interest-bearing liability growth of 25.6%, and the ending interest-bearing liabilities to interest-earning assets ratio of 76.4%. the addition of frontier balances drove average interest-earning asset growth of 22.2% average interest-bearing liability growth of 25.6% and the ending interest-bearing liabilities to interest-earning assets ratio of 76.4% Our loan-to-deposit ratio closed the quarter at 86%. our loan-to-deposit ratio closed the quarter at 86% We continue to expect full-year results consistent with our outlook in the slide deck, including margin in the 420-435 range with periodic variability tied to purchase accounting. we continue to expect full-year results consistent with our outlook in the slide deck including margin in the 420-435 range with periodic variability tied to purchase accounting Rick? * rick? *

Speaker 9: Thanks, Chris. Before I get into loan production, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the extraordinary effort of the Equity Bank team over the last 180 days. This has been a truly transformational period for our company, and it would not have been possible without the best community bankers in the business showing up every single day. As we enter 2026, we operate in six states, including seven major metros and a deep network of strong communities. We have the tools, the products, and the motivated teams to deliver outstanding performance. During Q1, our production teams continued to fire on all cylinders across the footprint. Loan production was $267 million, up 21.7% linked quarter. Originations came on at an average rate of 6.87%, continuing to drive accretion to current coupon yield with a 10 basis point increase versus the prior period. Thanks, Chris. thanks chris Before I get into loan production, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the extraordinary effort of the Equity Bank team over the last 180 days. before i get into loan production i wanted to take a moment to recognize the extraordinary effort of the equity bank team over the last 180 days This has been a truly transformational period for our company, and it would not have been possible without the best community bankers in the business showing up every single day. this has been a truly transformational period for our company and it would not have been possible without the best community bankers in the business showing up every single day As we enter 2026, we operate in six states, including seven major metros and a deep network of strong communities. as we enter 2026 we operate in six states including seven major metros and a deep network of strong communities We have the tools, the products, and the motivated teams to deliver outstanding performance. we have the tools the products and the motivated teams to deliver outstanding performance During Q1, our production teams continued to fire on all cylinders across the footprint. during q1 our production teams continued to fire on all cylinders across the footprint Loan production was $267 million, up 21.7% linked quarter. loan production was $267 million up 21.7% linked quarter Originations came on at an average rate of 6.87%, continuing to drive accretion to current coupon yield with a 10 basis point increase versus the prior period. originations came on at an average rate of 6.87% continuing to drive accretion to current coupon yield with a 10 basis point increase versus the prior period Both our metro and community legacy markets contributed positively to the production outcome and were net positive for loans in the quarter. As we discussed, the first nine to 12 months following a merger involves intentional portfolio optimization and planned integration-related attrition, a dynamic we've managed proactively. We've recruited and hired new bankers in Wichita, Oklahoma City, Lincoln, and Omaha, and we'll keep adding talent across the footprint. The opportunity to deepen commercial relationships, both loans and deposits across these new markets is significant, and our teams are locked in on growing our organic engine. Our pipelines continue to build throughout the banker network. At quarter end, our 75% pipeline stands at $517 million. Line utilization was up slightly for the quarter at approximately 56%, with unfunded positions rising alongside production growth and the addition of Frontier, creating meaningful opportunity going forward. Both our metro and community legacy markets contributed positively to the production outcome and were net positive for loans in the quarter. both our metro and community legacy markets contributed positively to the production outcome and were net positive for loans in the quarter As we discussed, the first nine to 12 months following a merger involves intentional portfolio optimization and planned integration-related attrition, a dynamic we've managed proactively. as we discussed the first nine to 12 months following a merger involves intentional portfolio optimization and planned integration-related attrition a dynamic we've managed proactively We've recruited and hired new bankers in Wichita, Oklahoma City, Lincoln, and Omaha, and we'll keep adding talent across the footprint. we've recruited and hired new bankers in wichita oklahoma city lincoln and omaha and we'll keep adding talent across the footprint The opportunity to deepen commercial relationships, both loans and deposits across these new markets is significant, and our teams are locked in on growing our organic engine. the opportunity to deepen commercial relationships both loans and deposits across these new markets is significant and our teams are locked in on growing our organic engine Our pipelines continue to build throughout the banker network. our pipelines continue to build throughout the banker network At quarter end, our 75% pipeline stands at $517 million. at quarter end our 75% pipeline stands at $517 million Line utilization was up slightly for the quarter at approximately 56%, with unfunded positions rising alongside production growth and the addition of Frontier, creating meaningful opportunity going forward. line utilization was up slightly for the quarter at approximately 56% with unfunded positions rising alongside production growth and the addition of frontier creating meaningful opportunity going forward Total deposits increased approximately $1.2 billion during the quarter. In addition to the contribution of Frontier, the majority of our legacy markets saw growth as our retail teams continued to gain traction and execute on our aggressive goals. Outside of our administrative and Nebraska cost centers, balances increased to $191 million, including more than 5% growth in five of our community markets. I want to specifically call out our North Central Missouri market, including Kirksville, which saw a 7% increase in balances in the quarter. Acquired in the spring of 2024, I'm excited to see Norman Baylis and his team finding success to kick off the year. Frontier carried brokered funding positions that are now part of our balance sheet. We have a clear, disciplined plan to reprice and replace those with core relationship deposits over time. Non-interest-bearing accounts are at 20.2% of total deposits. Total deposits increased approximately $1.2 billion during the quarter. total deposits increased approximately $1.2 billion during the quarter In addition to the contribution of Frontier, the majority of our legacy markets saw growth as our retail teams continued to gain traction and execute on our aggressive goals. in addition to the contribution of frontier the majority of our legacy markets saw growth as our retail teams continued to gain traction and execute on our aggressive goals Outside of our administrative and Nebraska cost centers, balances increased to $191 million, including more than 5% growth in five of our community markets. outside of our administrative and nebraska cost centers balances increased to $191 million including more than 5% growth in five of our community markets I want to specifically call out our North Central Missouri market, including Kirksville, which saw a 7% increase in balances in the quarter. i want to specifically call out our north central missouri market including kirksville which saw a 7% increase in balances in the quarter Acquired in the spring of 2024, I'm excited to see Norman Baylis and his team finding success to kick off the year. acquired in the spring of 2024 i'm excited to see norman baylis and his team finding success to kick off the year Frontier carried brokered funding positions that are now part of our balance sheet. frontier carried brokered funding positions that are now part of our balance sheet We have a clear, disciplined plan to reprice and replace those with core relationship deposits over time. we have a clear disciplined plan to reprice and replace those with core relationship deposits over time Non-interest-bearing accounts are at 20.2% of total deposits. non-interest-bearing accounts are at 20.2% of total deposits Our retail teams are off to a terrific start in 2026, opening record levels of DDAs and executing on the Company's goal of deepening wallet share and delivering exceptional service. Heading into 2026, we are well-positioned to deploy available liquidity and drive growth across our markets. We continue to anticipate mid-single-digit organic loan growth. The addition of NBC and Frontier add asset generation depth to our footprint, while our community markets continue to provide strong funding opportunities. Management and team members are aligned and bought in. I'm genuinely excited about what we'll deliver in 2026. Brad? Our retail teams are off to a terrific start in 2026, opening record levels of DDAs and executing on the Company's goal of deepening wallet share and delivering exceptional service. our retail teams are off to a terrific start in 2026 opening record levels of ddas and executing on the company's goal of deepening wallet share and delivering exceptional service Heading into 2026, we are well-positioned to deploy available liquidity and drive growth across our markets. heading into 2026 we are well-positioned to deploy available liquidity and drive growth across our markets We continue to anticipate mid-single-digit organic loan growth. we continue to anticipate mid-single-digit organic loan growth The addition of NBC and Frontier add asset generation depth to our footprint, while our community markets continue to provide strong funding opportunities. the addition of nbc and frontier add asset generation depth to our footprint while our community markets continue to provide strong funding opportunities Management and team members are aligned and bought in. management and team members are aligned and bought in I'm genuinely excited about what we'll deliver in 2026. i'm genuinely excited about what we'll deliver in 2026 Brad? brad

Speaker 2: I take enormous pride in everything this team continues to accomplish. Growing our asset base by more than 40% across two transactions, both fully converted and integrated, is a remarkable achievement that speaks directly to the caliber of our people. I have never been more confident in what we will build together in 2026. We are committed to empowering our people, serving our customers and communities with excellence, and delivering strong, consistent returns for our shareholders. Our Board and Leadership Team are fully aligned, and we are ready to keep executing on our mission. Sourcing, negotiating, integrating franchise accretive M&A transactions is a core competency of Equity. Our team has significant experience in this area given the number of transactions we've completed. I'm proud to announce that we're consistently achieving results better than what was expected at the time of announcement. I take enormous pride in everything this team continues to accomplish. i take enormous pride in everything this team continues to accomplish Growing our asset base by more than 40% across two transactions, both fully converted and integrated, is a remarkable achievement that speaks directly to the caliber of our people. growing our asset base by more than 40% across two transactions both fully converted and integrated is a remarkable achievement that speaks directly to the caliber of our people I have never been more confident in what we will build together in 2026. i have never been more confident in what we will build together in 2026 We are committed to empowering our people, serving our customers and communities with excellence, and delivering strong, consistent returns for our shareholders. we are committed to empowering our people serving our customers and communities with excellence and delivering strong consistent returns for our shareholders Our Board and Leadership Team are fully aligned, and we are ready to keep executing on our mission. our board and leadership team are fully aligned and we are ready to keep executing on our mission Sourcing, negotiating, integrating franchise accretive M&A transactions is a core competency of Equity. sourcing negotiating integrating franchise accretive m&a transactions is a core competency of equity Our team has significant experience in this area given the number of transactions we've completed. our team has significant experience in this area given the number of transactions we've completed I'm proud to announce that we're consistently achieving results better than what was expected at the time of announcement. i'm proud to announce that we're consistently achieving results better than what was expected at the time of announcement This is a testament to the team's hard work and prudent and realistic modeling assumptions. This outperformance allows us to drive enhanced earnings and shorter tangible book value earnbacks. We fully appreciate the importance of tangible book value growth over time as a key metric for shareholders' performance and are committed to executing M&A transactions that align with our goals. We're putting the right tools, strategies, and people in place to drive both organic and acquisitive growth. I genuinely believe we are setting ourselves up for sustained long-term success across the entire footprint. Thank you for joining us today. We're happy to take your questions. This is a testament to the team's hard work and prudent and realistic modeling assumptions. this is a testament to the team's hard work and prudent and realistic modeling assumptions This outperformance allows us to drive enhanced earnings and shorter tangible book value earnbacks. this outperformance allows us to drive enhanced earnings and shorter tangible book value earnbacks We fully appreciate the importance of tangible book value growth over time as a key metric for shareholders' performance and are committed to executing M&A transactions that align with our goals. we fully appreciate the importance of tangible book value growth over time as a key metric for shareholders' performance and are committed to executing m&a transactions that align with our goals We're putting the right tools, strategies, and people in place to drive both organic and acquisitive growth. we're putting the right tools strategies and people in place to drive both organic and acquisitive growth I genuinely believe we are setting ourselves up for sustained long-term success across the entire footprint. i genuinely believe we are setting ourselves up for sustained long-term success across the entire footprint Thank you for joining us today. thank you for joining us today We're happy to take your questions. we're happy to take your questions

Speaker 8: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. We'll go first to Jeff Rulis at D.A. Davidson. Thank you. thank you We will now begin the question and answer session. we will now begin the question and answer session If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. if you have dialed in and would like to ask a question please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. if you would like to withdraw your question simply press star one again We'll go first to Jeff Rulis at D.A. we'll go first to jeff rulis at d.a Davidson. davidson

Speaker 6: Thanks. Good morning. Just a question on the acquired loan balance. Do you have the Frontier loan balance at acquisition in millions? I know you said $1.3 billion, but also at acquisition end, at quarter end, trying to back into, sounds like some decent organic growth. If you had those Frontier balances, that'd be great. Thanks. thanks Good morning. good morning Just a question on the acquired loan balance. just a question on the acquired loan balance Do you have the Frontier loan balance at acquisition in millions? do you have the frontier loan balance at acquisition in millions I know you said $1.3 billion, but also at acquisition end, at quarter end, trying to back into, sounds like some decent organic growth. i know you said $1.3 billion but also at acquisition end at quarter end trying to back into sounds like some decent organic growth If you had those Frontier balances, that'd be great. if you had those frontier balances that'd be great

Speaker 2: Yeah, Jeff, it was about $1.28 billion in terms of acquired assets, pre-purchase accounting mark. The decline period-over-period, excluding that, is about $40 million. As we talked about yesterday, and Rick can expand on here, is effectively what we saw is some short-term optimization decline in the Frontier footprint offset by what is positive production everywhere else in the footprint. Really a good outcome for us in our minds in terms of periodic production, but some of those headwinds exist at the beginning of the integration of that Frontier footprint. Yeah, Jeff, it was about $1.28 billion in terms of acquired assets, pre-purchase accounting mark. yeah jeff it was about $1.28 billion in terms of acquired assets pre-purchase accounting mark The decline period-over-period, excluding that, is about $40 million. the decline period-over-period excluding that is about $40 million As we talked about yesterday, and Rick can expand on here, is effectively what we saw is some short-term optimization decline in the Frontier footprint offset by what is positive production everywhere else in the footprint. as we talked about yesterday and rick can expand on here is effectively what we saw is some short-term optimization decline in the frontier footprint offset by what is positive production everywhere else in the footprint Really a good outcome for us in our minds in terms of periodic production, but some of those headwinds exist at the beginning of the integration of that Frontier footprint. really a good outcome for us in our minds in terms of periodic production but some of those headwinds exist at the beginning of the integration of that frontier footprint

Speaker 6: Maybe put another way, it's a combined company as of January one, but do you have legacy organic growth that you could also identify? Is that difficult to carve out? Maybe put another way, it's a combined company as of January one, but do you have legacy organic growth that you could also identify? maybe put another way it's a combined company as of january one but do you have legacy organic growth that you could also identify Is that difficult to carve out? is that difficult to carve out

Speaker 2: Chris, do you want to speak to that? Chris, do you want to speak to that? chris do you want to speak to that

Speaker 4: Yeah. On the loan side specifically, we grew about just under 1% on our non-acquired markets if you take out Oklahoma and you take out Nebraska. We grew about 1% on a kind of point-to-point basis. That's 3% annualized or something like that, 3 point something annualized in those legacy markets on the loan side. Yeah. yeah On the loan side specifically, we grew about just under 1% on our non-acquired markets if you take out Oklahoma and you take out Nebraska. on the loan side specifically we grew about just under 1% on our non-acquired markets if you take out oklahoma and you take out nebraska We grew about 1% on a kind of point-to-point basis. we grew about 1% on a kind of point-to-point basis That's 3% annualized or something like that, 3 point something annualized in those legacy markets on the loan side. that's 3% annualized or something like that 3 point something annualized in those legacy markets on the loan side

Speaker 6: Okay. Appreciate it. Maybe a similar question on the non-accrual increase. I think roughly eight added from Frontier, four from sort of the legacy unit. Maybe if you could put any color on the type of loans that were brought on. Second piece to that, I think, Rick, you mentioned, sorry, I missed the piece about, sounded like there was a past due. Maybe if you could just outline the balance of that one that was brought on that sounds like it's got a quick resolution ahead. Okay. okay Appreciate it. appreciate it Maybe a similar question on the non-accrual increase. maybe a similar question on the non-accrual increase I think roughly eight added from Frontier, four from sort of the legacy unit. i think roughly eight added from frontier four from sort of the legacy unit Maybe if you could put any color on the type of loans that were brought on. maybe if you could put any color on the type of loans that were brought on Second piece to that, I think, Rick, you mentioned, sorry, I missed the piece about, sounded like there was a past due. second piece to that i think rick you mentioned sorry i missed the piece about sounded like there was a past due Maybe if you could just outline the balance of that one that was brought on that sounds like it's got a quick resolution ahead. maybe if you could just outline the balance of that one that was brought on that sounds like it's got a quick resolution ahead

Speaker 9: Yeah. It really wasn't a loan. We have one specific market that didn't understand how to get renewals done and manage those during that time from Nebraska. Those are all correcting themselves or already have been corrected at this point, Jeff. Yeah. yeah It really wasn't a loan. it really wasn't a loan We have one specific market that didn't understand how to get renewals done and manage those during that time from Nebraska. we have one specific market that didn't understand how to get renewals done and manage those during that time from nebraska Those are all correcting themselves or already have been corrected at this point, Jeff. those are all correcting themselves or already have been corrected at this point jeff

Speaker 6: Brad, what was the balance of those loans, if you could? Brad, what was the balance of those loans, if you could? brad what was the balance of those loans if you could

Speaker 2: It's a little over 30. It's a little over 30. it's a little over 30 About $30 million. About $30 million. about $30 million

Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: It's not one loan. It's about 10 or 15 different relationships. It's not one loan. it's not one loan It's about 10 or 15 different relationships. it's about 10 or 15 different relationships

Speaker 9: Relationships. Relationships. relationships

Speaker 2: Actually more than that, 30 or 40 relationships. Actually more than that, 30 or 40 relationships. actually more than that 30 or 40 relationships

Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah. yeah Okay. Maybe last one, if I could, the margin. Maybe Chris, you kind of talked about a 4.29% core. Do you know what that core NIM was for the month of March? It sounds like you've got an opportunity to kind of alter Frontier's funding mix a bit, and it sounded more leaning upward than not. Do you have a March figure that would compare to the 4.29% core for the quarter? Okay. okay Maybe last one, if I could, the margin. maybe last one if i could the margin Maybe Chris, you kind of talked about a 4.29% core. maybe chris you kind of talked about a 4.29% core Do you know what that core NIM was for the month of March? do you know what that core nim was for the month of march It sounds like you've got an opportunity to kind of alter Frontier's funding mix a bit, and it sounded more leaning upward than not. it sounds like you've got an opportunity to kind of alter frontier's funding mix a bit and it sounded more leaning upward than not Do you have a March figure that would compare to the 4.29% core for the quarter? do you have a march figure that would compare to the 4.29% core for the quarter

Speaker 4: Yeah, Jeff, March actually compares pretty consistently with that 429 figure. There are still some potential tailwinds as we look into Q2 and beyond as we're working to reprice some of those Frontier deposits. That's been happening kind of throughout the quarter and really accelerating towards the end of the quarter. We're not seeing that benefit in March. We'll see more of it in April and beyond. The range that's kind of provided in the outlook, I have some optimism that we can hit the high end of that range based on some of those dynamics. I think because of the periodicity of accretion and the challenges of continuing to work through a balance sheet, there's risk there as well. Somewhere in that range is fully accomplishable. I think the high end is also accomplishable based on some of those dynamics. Yeah, Jeff, March actually compares pretty consistently with that 429 figure. yeah jeff march actually compares pretty consistently with that 429 figure There are still some potential tailwinds as we look into Q2 and beyond as we're working to reprice some of those Frontier deposits. there are still some potential tailwinds as we look into q2 and beyond as we're working to reprice some of those frontier deposits That's been happening kind of throughout the quarter and really accelerating towards the end of the quarter. that's been happening kind of throughout the quarter and really accelerating towards the end of the quarter We're not seeing that benefit in March. we're not seeing that benefit in march We'll see more of it in April and beyond. we'll see more of it in april and beyond The range that's kind of provided in the outlook, I have some optimism that we can hit the high end of that range based on some of those dynamics. the range that's kind of provided in the outlook i have some optimism that we can hit the high end of that range based on some of those dynamics I think because of the periodicity of accretion and the challenges of continuing to work through a balance sheet, there's risk there as well. i think because of the periodicity of accretion and the challenges of continuing to work through a balance sheet there's risk there as well Somewhere in that range is fully accomplishable. somewhere in that range is fully accomplishable I think the high end is also accomplishable based on some of those dynamics. i think the high end is also accomplishable based on some of those dynamics We have to execute on it. We have to execute on it. we have to execute on it

Speaker 6: Great. Makes sense. Thanks. Great. great Makes sense. makes sense Thanks. thanks

Speaker 8: We'll move next to Adam Cowell at Piper Sandler. We'll move next to Adam Cowell at Piper Sandler. we'll move next to adam cowell at piper sandler

Speaker 1: Hi. I'm on for Nate Race. Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. Hi. hi I'm on for Nate Race. i'm on for nate race Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. good morning and thanks for taking my questions

Speaker 2: Morning. Morning. morning

Speaker 1: Yeah. Maybe starting on funding costs, with deposit costs rising this quarter with the Frontier acquisition, and I know they had a piece of brokered deposits. I guess I'm curious. Yeah. yeah Maybe starting on funding costs, with deposit costs rising this quarter with the Frontier acquisition, and I know they had a piece of brokered deposits. maybe starting on funding costs with deposit costs rising this quarter with the frontier acquisition and i know they had a piece of brokered deposits I guess I'm curious. i guess i'm curious If you could provide some additional color into repricing opportunities you have on the deposit side from both DDA and a non-maturity? If you could provide some additional color into repricing opportunities you have on the deposit side from both DDA and a non-maturity? if you could provide some additional color into repricing opportunities you have on the deposit side from both dda and a non-maturity

Speaker 4: Yeah. Adam, I think there's an ample amount of repricing capacity. Just for some color, they had about $100 billion that did get repriced in Q1 that was at a weighted average cost of 450. So that's an aspect of their cost of funds that, again, it accelerated towards the end of the quarter that we've been able to reposition into what is comparatively cheaper. Even the newly issued brokered in the period is about 375. So you're picking up 75 basis points on $100 million. They brought in a relatively higher overall cost of funding base. So we'll continue to see opportunities to reprice. Some of that did have some duration on it. There is some lockout. So we'll continue to have some heavier cost over time, but we're going to continue to see opportunities to bring some of those things down and anticipate being able to do so. Yeah. yeah Adam, I think there's an ample amount of repricing capacity. adam i think there's an ample amount of repricing capacity Just for some color, they had about $100 billion that did get repriced in Q1 that was at a weighted average cost of 450. just for some color they had about $100 billion that did get repriced in q1 that was at a weighted average cost of 450 So that's an aspect of their cost of funds that, again, it accelerated towards the end of the quarter that we've been able to reposition into what is comparatively cheaper. so that's an aspect of their cost of funds that again it accelerated towards the end of the quarter that we've been able to reposition into what is comparatively cheaper Even the newly issued brokered in the period is about 375. even the newly issued brokered in the period is about 375 So you're picking up 75 basis points on $100 million. so you're picking up 75 basis points on $100 million They brought in a relatively higher overall cost of funding base. they brought in a relatively higher overall cost of funding base So we'll continue to see opportunities to reprice. so we'll continue to see opportunities to reprice Some of that did have some duration on it. some of that did have some duration on it There is some lockout. there is some lockout So we'll continue to have some heavier cost over time, but we're going to continue to see opportunities to bring some of those things down and anticipate being able to do so. so we'll continue to have some heavier cost over time but we're going to continue to see opportunities to bring some of those things down and anticipate being able to do so

Speaker 1: Got it. I appreciate the color there. Maybe moving to capital management, it's nice to see the step up in the buyback during the quarter, and you've obviously been active on the M&A front with the two deals over the past year. Do you expect to continue to be active on the buyback? Are you seeing opportunities on the M&A front as well? Got it. got it I appreciate the color there. i appreciate the color there Maybe moving to capital management, it's nice to see the step up in the buyback during the quarter, and you've obviously been active on the M&A front with the two deals over the past year. maybe moving to capital management it's nice to see the step up in the buyback during the quarter and you've obviously been active on the m&a front with the two deals over the past year Do you expect to continue to be active on the buyback? do you expect to continue to be active on the buyback Are you seeing opportunities on the M&A front as well? are you seeing opportunities on the m&a front as well

Speaker 2: We look at capital utilization all the time. Yes, we continue to look opportunistically at buybacks. We also think we have plenty of capital for continued M&A. We've got good capital ratios. We're building capital at a little over $25 million of capital generation a quarter. We've got good capital generation from the operating company. We have lots of different prospects and lots of different opportunities we're talking to on the M&A front. We will still remain active if it works on the buyback side. We look at capital utilization all the time. we look at capital utilization all the time Yes, we continue to look opportunistically at buybacks. yes we continue to look opportunistically at buybacks We also think we have plenty of capital for continued M&A. we also think we have plenty of capital for continued m&a We've got good capital ratios. we've got good capital ratios We're building capital at a little over $25 million of capital generation a quarter. we're building capital at a little over $25 million of capital generation a quarter We've got good capital generation from the operating company. we've got good capital generation from the operating company We have lots of different prospects and lots of different opportunities we're talking to on the M&A front. we have lots of different prospects and lots of different opportunities we're talking to on the m&a front We will still remain active if it works on the buyback side. we will still remain active if it works on the buyback side

Speaker 1: Got it. Thanks for taking my question. Got it. got it Thanks for taking my question. thanks for taking my question

Speaker 8: We'll go next to Matt Olney at Stephens. We'll go next to Matt Olney at Stephens. we'll go next to matt olney at stephens

Speaker 7: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. I wanted to ask more about the expense outlook from here and get some updated thoughts around deal cost savings from Frontier. With that conversion now behind us, I'm curious how the cost savings are looking compared to the original expectations and would just love to get some thoughts on when you expect to get the fully loaded cost savings this year. Hey, guys. hey guys Thanks for taking the question. I wanted to ask more about the expense outlook from here and get some updated thoughts around deal cost savings from Frontier. thanks for taking the question. i wanted to ask more about the expense outlook from here and get some updated thoughts around deal cost savings from frontier With that conversion now behind us, I'm curious how the cost savings are looking compared to the original expectations and would just love to get some thoughts on when you expect to get the fully loaded cost savings this year. with that conversion now behind us i'm curious how the cost savings are looking compared to the original expectations and would just love to get some thoughts on when you expect to get the fully loaded cost savings this year

Speaker 4: Yeah. A couple things on that, Matt. On the technology side, so the integration as well as some of the people that we maintained through that conversion date, all of those items have been fully taken out of run rate at this point. The cost savings on technology and people there are in line with what we expected, and we started to realize in the back end of the first quarter, and we'll fully realize it in the second quarter. I think generally speaking, as it relates to the cost saves around this transaction, they were relatively conservative, something of 23%-ish on expected cost savings. I think our execution will realize that or better as we think into Q2 and beyond. We anticipate being in line to a little bit ahead of where we originally anticipated as we contemplated the transaction. Yeah. yeah A couple things on that, Matt. a couple things on that matt On the technology side, so the integration as well as some of the people that we maintained through that conversion date, all of those items have been fully taken out of run rate at this point. on the technology side so the integration as well as some of the people that we maintained through that conversion date all of those items have been fully taken out of run rate at this point The cost savings on technology and people there are in line with what we expected, and we started to realize in the back end of the first quarter, and we'll fully realize it in the second quarter. the cost savings on technology and people there are in line with what we expected and we started to realize in the back end of the first quarter and we'll fully realize it in the second quarter I think generally speaking, as it relates to the cost saves around this transaction, they were relatively conservative, something of 23%-ish on expected cost savings. i think generally speaking as it relates to the cost saves around this transaction they were relatively conservative something of 23%-ish on expected cost savings I think our execution will realize that or better as we think into Q2 and beyond. i think our execution will realize that or better as we think into q2 and beyond We anticipate being in line to a little bit ahead of where we originally anticipated as we contemplated the transaction. we anticipate being in line to a little bit ahead of where we originally anticipated as we contemplated the transaction

Speaker 7: Okay. I guess the other part to that is just there was a mention about reinvestments, new producer hires, just maybe an update on kind of what you're seeing thus far, new producer hires and what's in the pipeline. Okay. okay I guess the other part to that is just there was a mention about reinvestments, new producer hires, just maybe an update on kind of what you're seeing thus far, new producer hires and what's in the pipeline. i guess the other part to that is just there was a mention about reinvestments new producer hires just maybe an update on kind of what you're seeing thus far new producer hires and what's in the pipeline

Speaker 9: Yeah. Between Oklahoma City and Omaha and Lincoln, we've probably hired about 10 additional or new bankers. Some are replacements and others are adds at that point in time. All real positive there. The pipeline remains kind of consistent with where it was at the end of the year. That number really bodes well for second and third quarter with what that is. Production numbers look really good. We're actually seeing a number of additional projects and things that both Brad and I are getting out to see customers and prospects on things. It looks like it's going to be fairly robust opportunities for us. As we kind of mentioned before, pricing always comes into play on this. Every once in a while, you never count it till it's in. Yeah. yeah Between Oklahoma City and Omaha and Lincoln, we've probably hired about 10 additional or new bankers. between oklahoma city and omaha and lincoln we've probably hired about 10 additional or new bankers Some are replacements and others are adds at that point in time. some are replacements and others are adds at that point in time All real positive there. all real positive there The pipeline remains kind of consistent with where it was at the end of the year. the pipeline remains kind of consistent with where it was at the end of the year That number really bodes well for second and third quarter with what that is. that number really bodes well for second and third quarter with what that is Production numbers look really good. production numbers look really good We're actually seeing a number of additional projects and things that both Brad and I are getting out to see customers and prospects on things. we're actually seeing a number of additional projects and things that both brad and i are getting out to see customers and prospects on things It looks like it's going to be fairly robust opportunities for us. it looks like it's going to be fairly robust opportunities for us As we kind of mentioned before, pricing always comes into play on this. as we kind of mentioned before pricing always comes into play on this Every once in a while, you never count it till it's in. every once in a while you never count it till it's in We do have a couple of crazy competitors on things, but for the most part, people are, I think, coming back to a little bit more in line with where we are on pricing. That's positive. That goes well. We do have a couple of crazy competitors on things, but for the most part, people are, I think, coming back to a little bit more in line with where we are on pricing. we do have a couple of crazy competitors on things but for the most part people are i think coming back to a little bit more in line with where we are on pricing That's positive. that's positive That goes well. that goes well

Speaker 7: Okay, perfect. Thank you, guys. Okay, perfect. okay perfect Thank you, guys. thank you guys

Speaker 8: We'll take our next question from Damon Del Monte at KBW. We'll take our next question from Damon Del Monte at KBW. we'll take our next question from damon del monte at kbw

Speaker 5: Hey, good morning, guys. Hope everybody's doing well. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess first question is just kind of probably for Chris on the reserve and the kind of the provision outlook. The reserve came down six basis points quarter-over-quarter even though there was purchase marks against the acquired loans. Just trying to kind of get a feel for where you're comfortable with where the loan loss reserve can trend over the coming quarters. Hey, good morning, guys. hey good morning guys Hope everybody's doing well. hope everybody's doing well Thanks for taking my questions. thanks for taking my questions I guess first question is just kind of probably for Chris on the reserve and the kind of the provision outlook. i guess first question is just kind of probably for chris on the reserve and the kind of the provision outlook The reserve came down six basis points quarter-over-quarter even though there was purchase marks against the acquired loans. the reserve came down six basis points quarter-over-quarter even though there was purchase marks against the acquired loans Just trying to kind of get a feel for where you're comfortable with where the loan loss reserve can trend over the coming quarters. just trying to kind of get a feel for where you're comfortable with where the loan loss reserve can trend over the coming quarters

Speaker 4: Yeah, Damon, I'd look at it as being consistent with where it is on a relative to assets basis. As we start to see depletion of those purchase accounting marks and looking at it on a relative total position to the portfolio, there may be opportunity or need to build back up to a 123 type of reserve. I think in the near term, thinking about it as 118 basis points from here plus whatever production is. My anticipation for need to provide, absent any significant specific reserve items, specific deterioration in credits, is that it's going to account for the production in the portfolio. As we grow the portfolio, so too will we grow the reserve. Yeah, Damon, I'd look at it as being consistent with where it is on a relative to assets basis. yeah damon i'd look at it as being consistent with where it is on a relative to assets basis As we start to see depletion of those purchase accounting marks and looking at it on a relative total position to the portfolio, there may be opportunity or need to build back up to a 123 type of reserve. as we start to see depletion of those purchase accounting marks and looking at it on a relative total position to the portfolio there may be opportunity or need to build back up to a 123 type of reserve I think in the near term, thinking about it as 118 basis points from here plus whatever production is. i think in the near term thinking about it as 118 basis points from here plus whatever production is My anticipation for need to provide, absent any significant specific reserve items, specific deterioration in credits, is that it's going to account for the production in the portfolio. my anticipation for need to provide absent any significant specific reserve items specific deterioration in credits is that it's going to account for the production in the portfolio As we grow the portfolio, so too will we grow the reserve. as we grow the portfolio so too will we grow the reserve

Speaker 5: Okay. The $6 million-$8 million guidance for 2026 for the total provision, if you back out the one-time, the CECL impact on the first quarter, do we kind of just extrapolate the remaining three quarters to fall in between that range? Okay. okay The $6 million-$8 million guidance for 2026 for the total provision, if you back out the one-time, the CECL impact on the first quarter, do we kind of just extrapolate the remaining three quarters to fall in between that range? the $6 million-$8 million guidance for 2026 for the total provision if you back out the one-time the cecl impact on the first quarter do we kind of just extrapolate the remaining three quarters to fall in between that range

Speaker 4: Yeah, that's maybe a little bit less, Damon. I think thinking about it as kind of a million and a half to $2 million run rate, depending on growth, is a good way to continue to think about it. Yeah, that's maybe a little bit less, Damon. yeah that's maybe a little bit less damon I think thinking about it as kind of a million and a half to $2 million run rate, depending on growth, is a good way to continue to think about it. i think thinking about it as kind of a million and a half to $2 million run rate depending on growth is a good way to continue to think about it

Speaker 5: Got it. Okay. That's helpful. I guess just secondly here or lastly, on the fee income side of things, can you just talk about some of the opportunities to kind of tap into the Frontier franchise and what products and services you guys think have the best opportunity to kind of ramp up some revenues for you guys? Got it. got it Okay. okay That's helpful. that's helpful I guess just secondly here or lastly, on the fee income side of things, can you just talk about some of the opportunities to kind of tap into the Frontier franchise and what products and services you guys think have the best opportunity to kind of ramp up some revenues for you guys? i guess just secondly here or lastly on the fee income side of things can you just talk about some of the opportunities to kind of tap into the frontier franchise and what products and services you guys think have the best opportunity to kind of ramp up some revenues for you guys

Speaker 2: Yeah. First and foremost, Treasury Management. Our product in there, we've actually brought in a new Head of Treasury Management, and we see that as a real opportunity. That wasn't something that was really in the forefront of what they were doing, number one. Number two, they had a decent-sized mortgage business, and so we're continuing to see some potential for mortgage fees going forward. We see that across the footprint. Continuing to get the team built out. We use that as a product for our core customers and for bringing in core customers. We're not really a mortgage shop just to bring in mortgages. The third piece of it is on the Wealth Management side of it. We're already seeing some real positive results there on being able to grow with Wealth Management. Yeah. yeah First and foremost, Treasury Management. first and foremost treasury management Our product in there, we've actually brought in a new Head of Treasury Management, and we see that as a real opportunity. our product in there we've actually brought in a new head of treasury management and we see that as a real opportunity That wasn't something that was really in the forefront of what they were doing, number one. that wasn't something that was really in the forefront of what they were doing number one Number two, they had a decent-sized mortgage business, and so we're continuing to see some potential for mortgage fees going forward. number two they had a decent-sized mortgage business and so we're continuing to see some potential for mortgage fees going forward We see that across the footprint. we see that across the footprint Continuing to get the team built out. continuing to get the team built out We use that as a product for our core customers and for bringing in core customers. we use that as a product for our core customers and for bringing in core customers We're not really a mortgage shop just to bring in mortgages. we're not really a mortgage shop just to bring in mortgages The third piece of it is on the Wealth Management side of it. the third piece of it is on the wealth management side of it We're already seeing some real positive results there on being able to grow with Wealth Management. we're already seeing some real positive results there on being able to grow with wealth management We're actually looking to add a couple of additional people in our markets. We do really well in the community markets. In Nebraska, Falls City, Pender, Norfolk, and Madison, where we are, we see those as real opportunities for growth for us in the future as well. We're actually looking to add a couple of additional people in our markets. we're actually looking to add a couple of additional people in our markets We do really well in the community markets. we do really well in the community markets In Nebraska, Falls City, Pender, Norfolk, and Madison, where we are, we see those as real opportunities for growth for us in the future as well. in nebraska falls city pender norfolk and madison where we are we see those as real opportunities for growth for us in the future as well

Speaker 5: Great. Thank you very much for the call. I appreciate it. Great. great Thank you very much for the call. thank you very much for the call I appreciate it. i appreciate it

Speaker 2: Yep. Yep. yep

Speaker 8: As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, press star one. We'll pause just a moment. At this time, we have no further questions. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, press star one. as a reminder if you would like to ask a question press star one We'll pause just a moment. we'll pause just a moment At this time, we have no further questions. at this time we have no further questions This concludes today's conference call. this concludes today's conference call Thank you for your participation. thank you for your participation You may now disconnect. you may now disconnect