NBT BANCORP INC — Call Transcript 2026

Good day, everyone. Welcome to the conference call covering NBT Bancorp's first quarter 2026 financial results. This call is being recorded and has been made accessible to the public in accordance with the SEC Regulation FD. Corresponding presentation slides can be found on the company's website at nbtbancorp.com. Before the call begins, NBT's management would like to remind listeners that, as noted in slide two, today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ from those projected. In addition, certain non-GAAP measures will be discussed. Reconciliations for these numbers are contained within the appendix of today's presentation. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we'll conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to NBT Bancorp President and CEO, Scott Kingsley, for his opening remarks. Mr. Kingsley, please begin. Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for this earnings call covering NBT Bancorp's first quarter 2026 results. With me today are Annette Burns, NBT's Chief Financial Officer, Joe Stagliano, President of NBT Bank, and Joe Ondesko, our treasurer. Our solid operating performance for the first quarter was driven by disciplined balance sheet management, the growth of our diversified revenue streams, and the continued benefits of integrating Evans Bancorp into our franchise following the merger in May 2025. These factors have contributed to productive gains in operating leverage. Operating return on assets was 1.29% for the first quarter, with a return on tangible equity of 15.50%. These metrics represent meaningful improvement over the first quarter of last year and have provided incremental capital flexibility. Our tangible book value per share of $27.05 at quarter end was more than 9% higher than a year ago. The continued remix of earning assets, diligent management of funding costs, and the addition of the Evans balance sheet resulted in a 28 basis point improvement in net interest margin year-over-year. We got off to a slow start in January and February with the very difficult winter weather conditions, and we experienced a higher than expected level of commercial real estate payoffs. With that said, activity since then has been quite good, and we are very pleased with the types of customer opportunities we are seeing across our footprint, as well as our current pipeline levels. Growth in non-interest income continued to be positive, highlighted by a new all-time high in quarterly revenue generation from our retirement plan administration business. Our capital utilization priorities remain focused on supporting organic growth while continuing our long-standing commitment to annual dividend growth. In addition, our strong capital levels continue to allow us to evaluate a variety of M&A opportunities. Another component of our capital planning is to return capital to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases. Consistent with that approach, we repurchased 250,000 of our own shares again in the first quarter of 2026. One year in, the integration of our Evans Bank colleagues has gone smoothly and validated the strong cultural alignment we saw from the outset. Their customer and community-focused approach continues to enhance our franchise, and we remain excited about the opportunities ahead in the western region of New York. Momentum across Upstate New York's semiconductor corridor continues to build. Since Micron's groundbreaking late last year and the completion of its site acquisition from Onondaga County in the first quarter, development activity has accelerated. Site development and infrastructure build-out for the first fabrication facility are now underway, and we are already seeing tangible benefits, with more than a dozen of our customers securing contracts tied to the project. Stepping back more broadly, across our seven-state footprint, we continue to see encouraging activity tied to advanced manufacturing, infrastructure investment, housing development, and workforce-driven economic initiatives. These dynamics are evident across our core markets, including manufacturing and defense activity in New England, as well as construction and community revitalization efforts throughout our legacy regions. While activity levels can vary quarter to quarter, the depth and diversity of these initiatives reinforce our confidence in the markets we serve. We believe NBT is well positioned to support this activity through our relationship-driven model, significant balance sheet capacity, and a diversified set of financial solutions. I will now turn over the meeting to Annette to review our first quarter results with you in detail. Annette? Thank you, Scott, and good morning. Turning to the results overview page of our earnings presentation. For the first quarter, we reported net income of $51.1 million, or 98 cents per diluted common share. We have improved earnings 27% from the first quarter of 2025, with growth in our balance sheet, net interest margin improvement, and a 4.5% year-over-year growth in our fee-based income as well. Earnings were modestly lower than the prior quarter, consistent with seasonal expectations, two fewer days in the quarter, and a normalized effective tax rate. The next page shows trends in outstanding loans. Total loans at $11.5 billion were down $50.9 million from December 31st, 2025. With other consumer and residential solar portfolios in a planned runoff status representing half of that decline. In addition, we continued to experience an elevated level of commercial payoffs, similar to the prior two quarters. Our total loan portfolio remains purposely diversified and is comprised of 56% commercial relationships and 44% consumer loans. On page six, total deposits were up $244 million from December 2025, primarily due to the inflow of seasonal municipal deposits during the quarter, along with increases in consumer and commercial customer account balances. Generally, in most of our markets, municipal tax collections are concentrated in the first and third quarters of each year. We experienced a favorable change in our mix of deposits out of higher cost time deposits and into checking, savings, and money market products. 59% or $8 billion of our deposit portfolio consists of no and low-cost checking and savings accounts at a cost of 38 basis points. The next slide highlights the detailed changes in our net interest income and margin. Our net interest margin in the first quarter increased 7 basis points to 3.72% compared with the prior quarter. As the 9 basis point decrease in the cost of funds more than offset the 2 basis point decline in earning asset yields. Loan yields decreased 4 basis points from the prior quarter to 5.66% primarily due to the repricing of variable rate loans following the prior quarter's federal funds rate decreases. We were able to actively manage our funding costs downward to more than offset that impact, as evidenced by the 10 basis point decline in our total cost of deposits to 1.34% for the quarter. Net interest income for the first quarter was $134.3 million, a decrease of $1 million compared to the prior quarter, but more than 25% above the first quarter of 2025. The decrease in net interest income from the prior quarter was driven by two fewer days in the first quarter of 2026. The opportunity for further upward movement in earning asset yields and net interest margin will depend largely on the shape of the yield curve and how we reinvest loan and investment portfolio cash flows. The trends in non-interest income are outlined on page eight. Excluding securities gains, our fee income was $49.7 million, consistent with the prior quarter, and increased 4.5% from the first quarter of 2025. Our combined revenues from retirement plan services, wealth management, and insurance services exceeded $32 million in quarterly revenues. Non-interest income represented 27% of total revenues in the first quarter and reflects the strength of our diversified revenue base. Total operating expenses were $112 million for the quarter, a 0.5% increase from the prior quarter. Salaries and employee benefit costs were $68.8 million, an increase of $2.8 million from the prior quarter. This increase was primarily driven by seasonally higher payroll taxes and stock-based compensation, partially offset by lower medical expenses. In addition, annual merit increases occurred in mid-March at an average rate of 3.3%. The quarter-over-quarter increase in occupancy expenses was expected, driven by increases in seasonal costs, including utilities and higher maintenance costs. The effective tax rate for the first quarter was higher than the prior quarter at 23.3%, primarily due to the finalization of the deductibility of last year's merger-related expenses and the associated impact on the full year effective tax rate in 2025. Slide 10 provides an overview of key asset quality metrics. Provision expense for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $5.6 million compared to $3.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2025. The increase in provision for loan losses was primarily due to a slightly higher level of net charge-offs and non-performing loans, resulting in a higher level of allowance for loan losses. Reserves were 1.2% of total loans and covered more than 2x the level of non-performing loans. In closing, we believe the strength of our franchise positions us well for growth opportunities as they arise. We continue to see productive engagement across our markets, reflecting our ongoing investment in our people and communities. Thank you for your interest in our results. At this time, we welcome any questions you may have. Thank you. To ask a question please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announce. To withdraw your question please press star one one again. One moment please. Our first question comes from the line of Mark Shutley with KBW. Hey, good morning. Good morning. Morning. Expenses came in a little bit better than we were expecting despite sort of the seasonal factors there. I was wondering if you could maybe update us on your outlook there and sort of maybe what's an appropriate run rate for the year? Sure. I'll take that, Mark. Yes, there was some seasonality in our first quarter expenses, primarily higher levels of salaries and benefit costs related to payroll taxes and stock-based compensation, as well as some higher level of occupancy costs. As we look into the next quarter, and we think about salaries and benefit costs, we'll probably see some increased costs related to our merit increases, as well as an additional payroll day, as well as our occupancies expense seasonal increase will probably be offset in the second quarter by just increase in productivity across our markets, like higher travel training as well as technology initiatives. With all that being said, our run rate in the first quarter was right around $112 million. That'll probably be a good place to be in the second quarter. We still think our run rate or overall increase in occupancy or overall operating expenses is typically runs between 3% and 4% annually. We still think that is kind of where we're landing for 2026. Great. Mark, we had some costs in the third and the fourth quarter of last year on the operating expense side that were a little bit higher than sort of standard run rate. Some specific initiatives or some specific costs that we incurred in those quarters. Not unusual for sort of the other expense line to be a little bit lower in the first quarter with that, as Annette mentioned, with the cost associated with stock-based compensation and payroll taxes to kind of be the higher one. Great. That's helpful. Thank you. Maybe just look into the NIM. Deposit costs are really strong. Sort of given the current rate environment may be seemingly more flat. I was wondering if you're seeing increased deposit competition in your markets and what you expect for deposit costs from here. If I think about the margin over the last two quarters, I think it's kind of as we expected to see kind of with the federal funds rate cuts that our loan repricing was going to happen almost immediately, and then we were going to have a little bit of time to work through our deposit rate changes. We actively managed that, and I think we were successful through the first quarter of 2026. Our margin right now stands today at 372. We think that's a really great place to be in throwing off some really meaningful earnings. As we look forward, when we look at our funding costs, I think they're stabilized. There's probably a little bit of opportunity to work that down a little bit, but that'll probably be offset by some of our deposit growth initiatives as well. I would say stabilized there. As we look at our earning asset yields, there's probably some repricing opportunities as we primarily look at our investment securities book as well as our residential mortgage book. Really the shape of the yield curve will kind of influence margin improvements over the next couple of quarters, particularly where we reprice our assets in the 2-5-year range of that yield curve, which had seen some improvements and positively sloped starting in March. I think as we look forward, it's stabilization as well as maybe a few basis points of improvement depending on that yield curve. We think about deposit pricing, I think there is competition for deposits, but it's fairly disciplined or we don't see anything terribly crazy. Maybe a few pockets here and there. I'd add to that, Annette, that to your point, in most of our markets, and we've got some pretty diverse markets, but in most of them deposit gathering has not been focused on additional share grab in most of our markets. Most of the people we compete with find that even the large banks, that the cost of funding in our markets where we compete with them is probably lower than some of the larger metropolitan areas that they do business in. What we have seen on the asset pricing side is a competitive landscape. I think as people look for yielding assets there's been a little bit of give up in spread whether that's on the commercial side or business banking. In the first quarter, we thought that there were some people that mispriced indirect auto. We chose not to participate in that at the same level that historically we might have from a growth standpoint. In a difficult quarter for pure auto sales, I think there were certain other people out there that were trying to sustain their portfolios. We think we're really good at that portfolio from a total operational management standpoint. Remember the duration of that portfolio is somewhere between 24 and 28 months. Reengaging in that when the economics make a little bit more sense is kind of how we look at that. Awesome. Appreciate all the color. I'll step back in the queue. Thank you. Thanks. Our next question comes from the line of Feddie Strickland with Hovde Group. Hey, good morning. Hey, good morning. Scott, I think you addressed this in your opening comments, but I'm just wondering if you could talk generally about sentiment among commercial customers. Are you seeing clients pull back at all on some of the economic uncertainty and credit, or rather interest rate uncertainty? Or the trends in the footprint, like the chip manufacturing facilities still kind of pull the local economies forward regardless? Yeah, thanks for that opportunity. Across the markets, customers are feeling pretty good about themselves. I don't think that we started the year thinking that they could possibly have more uncertainty than they went through in 2025, but we appear to have topped that in early 2026. We've said this before, that uncertainty doesn't inspire action. I don't think things have been held up. I don't think we have customers who have said, "I'm going to pass on fulfilling capital expenditure projects that I had planned," either for capacity improvement in their businesses or just general recurring costs associated with being technically better. We haven't seen any of that. I will say this, in the first quarter, we had a number of really exciting and really robust construction projects that did not get underway in the timeline we expected. Most of them, as the grass is turning a little greener, they're finding their way to get out and start to work on some of that stuff. We think there was probably a little bit of a backup in the first quarter that'll get taken care of here in the second quarter. Nothing that we're seeing that is falling away. I do think that some of our very astute customers who use our capital and treasury management tools, in some cases are paying down some of their leverage because their opportunity to earn yield on that is not at the same level that it was 18 or 24 months ago. I think much like our balance sheet, there's a lot of tactical management going on in our customers today. Sentiment is quite good across the franchise. All right. That's great to hear, Scott. If you could also give us an update on the M&A conversations. It sounds like those are ongoing. Just curious, kind of a similar question, whether current conditions are maybe making that a little bit of a priority for some potential partners, or whether that's a little bit of a headwind. Yeah. Let me kind of tackle that a couple different ways, which is, we have ongoing conversations with like-minded smaller community banks across our seven-state footprint. Our priority is to try to do some fill-in work, and whether that's a practical M&A transaction or build out concentration in some of our markets ourselves. If I was to hit on that really quick, I would tell you that our strategy in greater Rochester, New York and into the Finger Lakes is a build-out strategy, that we recognize that we don't have the market coverage that we needed, so getting closer into the city of Rochester and maybe in the western and southern suburbs is a priority for us. Something you'll see us act on in the next 12-18 months. It feels a little bit similar to that in southern New Hampshire and southern Maine, where our concentration in terms of spots in the market is not that concentrated. We've got great commercial lending teams in both markets, so giving them a little bit more to work with. We opened another branch in Bayside in Portland during the quarter. We're going to make a commitment in Scarborough going into the second half of the year or early next year. We'd like to find a couple more spots in southern New Hampshire, again, just to give our folks some opportunity for enhanced branding. I think if you look at the rest of our franchise, there's spots where we're still missing some participation in markets that we think we would thrive in. It doesn't require us to move our geography another 100 or 200 miles. These are things that are either next door or within the existing footprint. That's where we've been spending our time. To your point about priority for certain other people, and maybe some people who are not necessarily experienced acquirers, there's been a handful of transactions in our marketplace that we think present a disruption opportunity. There was, for us in the market, a substantive transaction in the Mohawk Valley outside in the greater Utica area. We think that'll present some opportunities for us. A handful of things going on in sort of western New England, western Massachusetts and Connecticut. A couple large transactions. A couple small transactions where a couple small community banks are getting together. We've got some very specific and pointed initiatives attached to that from a disruption standpoint, and are pretty confident given past results that we'll see some productive gains from that. Thanks, Scott. Super helpful color. Just one more quick one for Annette. I apologize if I missed it somewhere, but did you have the loan discount accretion number for the quarter? I think I saw it was up, but not by how much, and maybe what expectations might be for that number going forward. Sure. Our loan accretion for the quarter was right around $6.5 million. That's kind of a little bit down from what we had in the fourth quarter. I would expect it to run somewhere in the $6 million-$6.5 million. That corresponds with our intangible asset amortization around $3.5 million a quarter, so aligned with that. As we think about accretion, where we mark those loans, we think we're capable of getting pretty close to those rates as we reinvest those cash flows in our loan book as well. Yeah. I would reinforce Annette's comment on that the size of the marks in either our residential mortgage portfolio or commercial portfolio from both Salisbury and Evans don't leave us with yields that are above current market yields. All right. Great colors. Thank you both. Our next question comes from the line of Manuel Navas with Piper Sandler. Hey, good morning. Can you speak to loan growth this year and the makeup of the loan pipeline? Just wondering how things look with the runoff portfolios, the pullback in indirect auto, just kind of level set things as we move across the year. Sure. Let's see if I can sort of accomplish this efficiently from those sort of four subsets of questions, Manuel. Runoff portfolio, primarily solar, residential. We've said before, that's roughly $100 million a year. That's exactly what we incurred in the first quarter, so $25 million in the quarter. Our expectation is that continues on. The prepayment patterns in that portfolio are more similar to the prepayment patterns of home mortgage. Probably not a really unexpected outcome since the equipment sits on top of the house. From a practical standpoint, that's kind of going according to plan. I think to the extent that we're incurring some losses in that portfolio from customers not paying us back timely, it's as expected. Not outside of that. Just as a reminder, we carry reserves around 4% of that portfolio. I think we're really well covered relative to the expectation of future results as that portfolio runs off. Indirect auto is an interesting one for us. Again, as I said before, we're really good at this portfolio. We really like the short duration of the portfolio. We like the asset because the customers in our market actually need that asset. Our performance from a quality standpoint has been really, really solid. Matter of fact, sub 30 basis point charge-off levels for quite a while now in that portfolio. In that portfolio, though, that if people are trying to get share to build to their book, and in the first quarter we saw a handful of institutions, probably more dominated by credit unions, that had really low rates. Rates that made no sense, rates barely above federal funds rates. That's not where we're going to participate and add to our portfolio. From the rest of the pipeline standpoint, nice mix of commercial real estate and C&I in our current portfolio in the pipeline for that. Like the construction projects that are out there, and as I said before, a couple of them probably got underway a little bit later than maybe we would have hoped from a progress standpoint. There's a lot of infrastructure build going on in our markets, not just Central New York, but across the footprint. Opportunities for our contracting clients and people who service those industries to move forward. We really think that in the first quarter for us historically is not our most robust quarter of growth. That was evidenced in this quarter. We think you start to get back to more of that low- to mid-single-digit% growth rates for the balance of the year. I thought that was a pretty fulsome answer. Can you remind me and level set a little bit on kind of fee growth expectations, where the largest opportunities are, where you'd like to see better growth, for example? Just kind of thoughts on that year-over-year. Sure. Our fee-based income does have some seasonality with the first and third quarter usually being the most robust and the second and fourth being a little lighter. I think we're really excited about the growth opportunities in our fee-based income, most excited about the performance of retirement plan services. They really had some really great wins in the first quarter of 2026, and that's evident in their numbers, really good trajectory there. We also feel that wealth and insurance have some really good opportunities as well, particularly as we bring the whole bank to some of our markets, like the Western New York region, as an example, feeling good about the trajectory there. I think as we think about full year growth expectations, I think we can look back to our historical performance over the past couple of years, which is somewhere in the mid-single-digit growth rates for our fee-based businesses. I think we still continue to expect that that's achievable for us. Deposit service charges and banking fees generally are a little lighter in the first quarter seasonality, and that'll continue to build as well as we get into the next few quarters. I appreciate that. My last question is, do you have any extra color on some of the NPL build here? Just anything we can disclose on that? Sure. I'll take that. Non-performing loans, the majority of our increase during the quarter was related to a C&I relationship in the Western New York region. We're actively working through that. It's really a specific customer circumstance. We have a handful of other non-performing loans that we're continually actively engaged and work through as well, which are primarily commercial real estate based. We feel pretty good about our capacity to work through those and feel very good where we are from a positioning as far as our allowance associated with those. I would just add that our consumer delinquencies have performed kind of in line with our expectations and in some cases better than our expectations. Those are really looking good through the first quarter as well. Yeah. Just where we are, and this is not just us, but we're coming off such a low base that one relationship or a couple of relationships can actually make a difference relative to the size of that non-performing. I think the important comment that Annette made was, we think we have the capacity to work through these. Not only do we have the stamina to work through it, but we have a really good job at identifying a customer that may be just going through a really difficult period of time. We like everything about what they do. This doesn't have to be us moving really quickly to sell assets and remove them from our portfolio. We have the stamina to work through stuff. I appreciate that. Thank you. I'll drop back into the queue. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Moss with Raymond James. Good morning. Morning, Steve. This is Scott. Morning, Scott. Most of my questions have been asked and answered here. Just following up, I'm not sure I caught this, or you might have spoken to this, Scott, but on the deposit cost side here, definitely a healthy step down. Just kind of curious, I know you operate in lower cost markets for sure, but is this the good bottom to your deposit costs? Or as you're entering maybe the little more relatively suburban markets in Upstate New York, do we see a little bit more of an upward pressure if it then holds flat here? It's a decent question, Steve. I would kind of reflect on this, that if you thought about the fourth quarter, where there were three Fed Funds changes in the last four months of the year, and the impact that had on our variable-rate assets, we knew that we had a responsibility to cover that and maybe a little bit more. It was difficult to get all that in the same quarter that all of those happened, and I would really focus on sort of the month of December. We had active management across all deposit portfolios and achieved that lower rate in the first quarter, arguably in January, to get back to levels of beta performance that we think are sustainable for us. Your question is a good one relative to if we end up in a little bit more suburban or light metro markets with some of our growth plans, will the cost of entry be a little bit higher? It might be. Again, if you think about the product we're really leading with is we're leading with a checking product. If it's necessary for some larger commercial customers or even municipal customers for us to have a higher rate to secure the win of that customer, long term, it's total cost of funds in the relationship. I don't think we think it's going to be outside of the norm that we can't handle. If you kind of think about a growth rate of, just pick a number, 4% or 5% on a $13.5 billion base, that's a half a billion dollars of new deposit balances on an annual basis. Even if those are a little bit above the blended cost of our existing deposit portfolio, we can probably handle that small dilution. Okay. That's helpful. Just in terms of the other thing I just want to touch base on in terms of cash flows, just kind of curious on the securities side, just maybe I missed in the deck, but what's the amount of cash flows that you guys have for the upcoming 12 months for securities? Securities cash flows probably run somewhere in the $20 million-$25 million a month. It's pretty consistently, maybe out in 2027, 2028, there might be a little bit more lumpiness to it, but pretty consistently over the next several quarters. Okay. On auto loans, other thing I wanted to ask about was just kind of, you guys mentioned competition with regard to pricing. Just kind of curious, was it just incrementally tighter that you guys weren't willing to put it on this quarter? Or was it kind of a meaningful step down and maybe we see that extend for a little bit here? In the first quarter, and I think we're actually seeing a little more rationality here in the second quarter already. In the first quarter, there were offerings out there that were 150-200 basis points below ours. Okay. Got it. I think you could combine that too with some lower auto sales, just generally, as well. Okay. Appreciate all that color there. Thank you very much. Thanks, Steve. Thank you. Again, if you have a question, please press star one one on your telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Breese with Stephens. Hey, good morning. Morning, Matt. A few from me. First, Annette, maybe you could help me out with new loan yield originations this quarter and what's some of the roll-on versus roll-off dynamics. To what extent is that positive still? Sure. I'll get us started here. If we look at our book, our residential mortgage probably still has somewhere around 120-125 basis points to reprice. Our commercial yields have come in a little bit, particularly with a 75 basis point drop in the yield curve over the past 12 months. It's probably still about somewhere in the 20-25 basis point range of repricing opportunities in our commercial book. If you look at our indirect auto book Our new origination rates are actually a little bit below where our portfolio yields are, so they're completely repriced and a little bit underwater at this point. I spoke about our investment securities portfolio. That's probably somewhere in the 150-175 from a repricing opportunity. Perfect. Okay. I guess if loan growth remains subdued, may we see some tactical changes? I'm thinking, do we see more consistent or even more aggressive buybacks, or do we see you perhaps, Connecticut is a really kind of heavily disrupted market right now with all the M&A. You have your toe in there. Maybe see you lead with lending to drive some better growth in that geography. I'm just curious, as you play this out, what might we see you do? I don't think the strategy holistically changes by a lot, Matt. Will there be tactical opportunities in markets with disruption where it is definitely faster to lead with the asset product from a loan standpoint? For sure. To your point, whether that's northwest, north central Connecticut, whether that's the Berkshires, or in fairness, whether that's in spots in central New York, honestly, today. You're not wrong about that. I don't think that we'll think that it's a holistic change in strategy. What we are experiencing is an opportunity to hire some very high-quality people in several of our markets today, either coming from some of our larger bank competitors or for people that have been displaced via disruption. That has been an opportunity, and we've probably added six people to our mix in the last six months that we probably two years ago weren't sure we'd ever get access to that level of quality of an individual. That's a net positive. Has that shown up on the balance sheet yet? Probably not. On a going-forward basis, we certainly expect some opportunities to come out of that. I think tactically, I think we're proving that we're pretty adept at moving with situations. As logical opportunities present themselves in the markets, we'll be there and we'll be in a position to win those opportunities. Should there be pricing dynamics that don't make sense for us on a long-term basis, we're unlikely to chase for those. Should we think about consistent buybacks here? I mean, it's been 250,000 the last couple of quarters. Is that something we should model in for one or two more quarters? Here's how I kind of look at that, Matt, is that generating and retaining capital is hard. You work really hard to get to that privilege to generate capital to use for future opportunities. We are not opposed to share buybacks. We don't think that that's top of our priority list. We can certainly fund what we've done for the last two quarters because our earnings generation has been so robust. I don't think that we need to think about that as we're probably never going to start one of our conference calls with we bought 9% of our shares this quarter. That's not us. A practical mechanism that says if the market's not recognizing our value, we want to be participatory in that. Absolutely. Yes. Okay, last one for me. Just an update on all things kind of chip manufacturing, not just Micron, but there's been $ tens of billions directed to NY CREATES and GlobalFoundries. Just curious, in terms of activity, what's going on? Two, when do we start to see that translate into a bit more loan growth than we're currently seeing? That's all I have. Thank you. Yeah. Really decent question, Matt. I think the build-out up at GlobalFoundries in Saratoga is a great model to watch relative to what one might expect in the future with other fabrication facilities coming online. The total sort of vendor environment that they had to create to be able to service that facility. You've watched housing development and demographic improvement exist in that area for a number of years now, so that ought to continue. To your point, we're engaged in not only a lending facility at NY CREATES, but just the throw off that the activity generates there. It's a really important feature for not only Micron and GlobalFoundries, but other people who are interested in pre-testing their products are using that facility. It's a very important economic stimulator for future development. All in all, like anything from these very, very large project base, I wouldn't say we're disappointed that the pace has been a little bit slower than we might have initially expected. Remember just the sheer size of these projects. When you think about what's really important there, we keep coming back to what's really important is the sponsor, right? GlobalFoundries is doing very well. Micron is doing exceptionally well. The strength of the sponsor is really, really important to this, and I think that they're committed to these build-outs on a long-term basis. Great. I'll leave it there. Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Annette. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jake Civiello with D.A. Davidson. Hey, good morning, Scott. Good morning, Matt. Good morning, Jake. Just two quick questions for me. I apologize if I missed this, but did you have a spot NIM for the month of March that you provided? It's pretty consistent with where we landed for the quarter. Okay. You talked about the commercial payoffs in the quarter being relatively consistent with the past couple quarters. As you kind of look ahead or think ahead, I know you talked about loan growth being kind of back to that low- to mid-single digit growth trajectory. Are the payoffs and pay downs factored into that? Are they slowing? Can you give us any perspective there? Sure, Jake. Absolutely. Just to give you a frame of reference here, in the first quarter of last year, we had about $45 million or $50 million worth of early payoffs. That was pretty consistent with the second quarter. Starting in the third quarter, the number went above $100 million, and for the first quarter, about $125 million for this year. Again, I think a lot of that has to do with the valuation of some of our customers' assets, whether it's the holistic business they're doing or a piece of real estate that they own. I think that as people look for yield from performing assets, all of those things have been in that consideration. I don't think that early payoffs are going to go back to zero. I also think we're seeing signs that our production levels are capable of handling a higher level of payoff and still demonstrating that balance sheet growth. I think we're already in that phase. Okay. Any particular geographies or customer types or loan size? Really big. Widespread. A couple of very attractive operating businesses. Some real estate projects that the owner probably thought that they were going to be the holder for five- seven years, and they were able to go into an agency. I was at a hockey game in Western New York and had a chat with one of our customers who moved to an agency instrument three years before he thought it would be available. Wide variety and a wide variety of geographies. As well as that is that there's none of our geographies today where we're not seeing good growth attributes or good opportunities coming through. Kind of balance that with it's widespread on the payoff side. It's pretty widespread on the growth side. All right. That's fair. Thank you, Scott. Thanks. Thanks, Jake. Thank you. I am not showing any further questions. I will now turn the call back to Scott Kingsley for his closing remarks. Thanks. In closing, I want to thank everyone on the call for participating today, and thanks for your continued interest in NBT. Talk to you next time. Thank you, Mr. Kingsley. This concludes our program. You may disconnect. Have a great day.

Speaker 7: Good day, everyone. Welcome to the conference call covering NBT Bancorp's first quarter 2026 financial results. This call is being recorded and has been made accessible to the public in accordance with the SEC Regulation FD. Corresponding presentation slides can be found on the company's website at nbtbancorp.com. Before the call begins, NBT's management would like to remind listeners that, as noted in slide two, today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ from those projected. In addition, certain non-GAAP measures will be discussed. Reconciliations for these numbers are contained within the appendix of today's presentation. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we'll conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Good day, everyone. good day everyone Welcome to the conference call covering NBT Bancorp's first quarter 2026 financial results. welcome to the conference call covering nbt bancorp's first quarter 2026 financial results This call is being recorded and has been made accessible to the public in accordance with the SEC Regulation FD. this call is being recorded and has been made accessible to the public in accordance with the sec regulation fd Corresponding presentation slides can be found on the company's website at nbtbancorp.com. corresponding presentation slides can be found on the company's website at nbtbancorp.com Before the call begins, NBT's management would like to remind listeners that, as noted in slide two, today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. before the call begins nbt's management would like to remind listeners that as noted in slide two today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the securities and exchange commission Actual results may differ from those projected. actual results may differ from those projected In addition, certain non-GAAP measures will be discussed. in addition certain non-gaap measures will be discussed Reconciliations for these numbers are contained within the appendix of today's presentation. reconciliations for these numbers are contained within the appendix of today's presentation At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. at this time all participants are in a listen-only mode Later, we'll conduct a question and answer session. later we'll conduct a question and answer session Instructions will follow at that time. instructions will follow at that time As a reminder, this call is being recorded. as a reminder this call is being recorded I will now turn the conference over to NBT Bancorp President and CEO, Scott Kingsley, for his opening remarks. Mr. Kingsley, please begin. I will now turn the conference over to NBT Bancorp President and CEO, Scott Kingsley, for his opening remarks. i will now turn the conference over to nbt bancorp president and ceo scott kingsley for his opening remarks Mr. Kingsley, please begin. mr kingsley please begin

Speaker 8: Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for this earnings call covering NBT Bancorp's first quarter 2026 results. With me today are Annette Burns, NBT's Chief Financial Officer, Joe Stagliano, President of NBT Bank, and Joe Ondesko, our treasurer. Our solid operating performance for the first quarter was driven by disciplined balance sheet management, the growth of our diversified revenue streams, and the continued benefits of integrating Evans Bancorp into our franchise following the merger in May 2025. These factors have contributed to productive gains in operating leverage. Operating return on assets was 1.29% for the first quarter, with a return on tangible equity of 15.50%. These metrics represent meaningful improvement over the first quarter of last year and have provided incremental capital flexibility. Our tangible book value per share of $27.05 at quarter end was more than 9% higher than a year ago. Thank you. thank you Good morning, and thank you for joining us for this earnings call covering NBT Bancorp's first quarter 2026 results. good morning and thank you for joining us for this earnings call covering nbt bancorp's first quarter 2026 results With me today are Annette Burns, NBT's Chief Financial Officer, Joe Stagliano, President of NBT Bank, and Joe Ondesko, our treasurer. with me today are annette burns nbt's chief financial officer joe stagliano president of nbt bank and joe ondesko our treasurer Our solid operating performance for the first quarter was driven by disciplined balance sheet management, the growth of our diversified revenue streams, and the continued benefits of integrating Evans Bancorp into our franchise following the merger in May 2025. our solid operating performance for the first quarter was driven by disciplined balance sheet management the growth of our diversified revenue streams and the continued benefits of integrating evans bancorp into our franchise following the merger in may 2025 These factors have contributed to productive gains in operating leverage. these factors have contributed to productive gains in operating leverage Operating return on assets was 1.29% for the first quarter, with a return on tangible equity of 15.50%. operating return on assets was 1.29% for the first quarter with a return on tangible equity of 15.50% These metrics represent meaningful improvement over the first quarter of last year and have provided incremental capital flexibility. these metrics represent meaningful improvement over the first quarter of last year and have provided incremental capital flexibility Our tangible book value per share of $27.05 at quarter end was more than 9% higher than a year ago. our tangible book value per share of $27.05 at quarter end was more than 9% higher than a year ago The continued remix of earning assets, diligent management of funding costs, and the addition of the Evans balance sheet resulted in a 28 basis point improvement in net interest margin year-over-year. We got off to a slow start in January and February with the very difficult winter weather conditions, and we experienced a higher than expected level of commercial real estate payoffs. With that said, activity since then has been quite good, and we are very pleased with the types of customer opportunities we are seeing across our footprint, as well as our current pipeline levels. Growth in non-interest income continued to be positive, highlighted by a new all-time high in quarterly revenue generation from our retirement plan administration business. Our capital utilization priorities remain focused on supporting organic growth while continuing our long-standing commitment to annual dividend growth. The continued remix of earning assets, diligent management of funding costs, and the addition of the Evans balance sheet resulted in a 28 basis point improvement in net interest margin year-over-year. the continued remix of earning assets diligent management of funding costs and the addition of the evans balance sheet resulted in a 28 basis point improvement in net interest margin year-over-year We got off to a slow start in January and February with the very difficult winter weather conditions, and we experienced a higher than expected level of commercial real estate payoffs. we got off to a slow start in january and february with the very difficult winter weather conditions and we experienced a higher than expected level of commercial real estate payoffs With that said, activity since then has been quite good, and we are very pleased with the types of customer opportunities we are seeing across our footprint, as well as our current pipeline levels. with that said activity since then has been quite good and we are very pleased with the types of customer opportunities we are seeing across our footprint as well as our current pipeline levels Growth in non-interest income continued to be positive, highlighted by a new all-time high in quarterly revenue generation from our retirement plan administration business. growth in non-interest income continued to be positive highlighted by a new all-time high in quarterly revenue generation from our retirement plan administration business Our capital utilization priorities remain focused on supporting organic growth while continuing our long-standing commitment to annual dividend growth. our capital utilization priorities remain focused on supporting organic growth while continuing our long-standing commitment to annual dividend growth In addition, our strong capital levels continue to allow us to evaluate a variety of M&A opportunities. Another component of our capital planning is to return capital to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases. Consistent with that approach, we repurchased 250,000 of our own shares again in the first quarter of 2026. One year in, the integration of our Evans Bank colleagues has gone smoothly and validated the strong cultural alignment we saw from the outset. Their customer and community-focused approach continues to enhance our franchise, and we remain excited about the opportunities ahead in the western region of New York. Momentum across Upstate New York's semiconductor corridor continues to build. Since Micron's groundbreaking late last year and the completion of its site acquisition from Onondaga County in the first quarter, development activity has accelerated. In addition, our strong capital levels continue to allow us to evaluate a variety of M&A opportunities. in addition our strong capital levels continue to allow us to evaluate a variety of m&a opportunities Another component of our capital planning is to return capital to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases. another component of our capital planning is to return capital to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases Consistent with that approach, we repurchased 250,000 of our own shares again in the first quarter of 2026. consistent with that approach we repurchased 250,000 of our own shares again in the first quarter of 2026 One year in, the integration of our Evans Bank colleagues has gone smoothly and validated the strong cultural alignment we saw from the outset. one year in the integration of our evans bank colleagues has gone smoothly and validated the strong cultural alignment we saw from the outset Their customer and community-focused approach continues to enhance our franchise, and we remain excited about the opportunities ahead in the western region of New York. their customer and community-focused approach continues to enhance our franchise and we remain excited about the opportunities ahead in the western region of new york Momentum across Upstate New York's semiconductor corridor continues to build. momentum across upstate new york's semiconductor corridor continues to build Since Micron's groundbreaking late last year and the completion of its site acquisition from Onondaga County in the first quarter, development activity has accelerated. since micron's groundbreaking late last year and the completion of its site acquisition from onondaga county in the first quarter development activity has accelerated Site development and infrastructure build-out for the first fabrication facility are now underway, and we are already seeing tangible benefits, with more than a dozen of our customers securing contracts tied to the project. Stepping back more broadly, across our seven-state footprint, we continue to see encouraging activity tied to advanced manufacturing, infrastructure investment, housing development, and workforce-driven economic initiatives. These dynamics are evident across our core markets, including manufacturing and defense activity in New England, as well as construction and community revitalization efforts throughout our legacy regions. While activity levels can vary quarter to quarter, the depth and diversity of these initiatives reinforce our confidence in the markets we serve. We believe NBT is well positioned to support this activity through our relationship-driven model, significant balance sheet capacity, and a diversified set of financial solutions. Site development and infrastructure build-out for the first fabrication facility are now underway, and we are already seeing tangible benefits, with more than a dozen of our customers securing contracts tied to the project. site development and infrastructure build-out for the first fabrication facility are now underway and we are already seeing tangible benefits with more than a dozen of our customers securing contracts tied to the project Stepping back more broadly, across our seven-state footprint, we continue to see encouraging activity tied to advanced manufacturing, infrastructure investment, housing development, and workforce-driven economic initiatives. stepping back more broadly across our seven-state footprint we continue to see encouraging activity tied to advanced manufacturing infrastructure investment housing development and workforce-driven economic initiatives These dynamics are evident across our core markets, including manufacturing and defense activity in New England, as well as construction and community revitalization efforts throughout our legacy regions. these dynamics are evident across our core markets including manufacturing and defense activity in new england as well as construction and community revitalization efforts throughout our legacy regions While activity levels can vary quarter to quarter, the depth and diversity of these initiatives reinforce our confidence in the markets we serve. while activity levels can vary quarter to quarter the depth and diversity of these initiatives reinforce our confidence in the markets we serve We believe NBT is well positioned to support this activity through our relationship-driven model, significant balance sheet capacity, and a diversified set of financial solutions. we believe nbt is well positioned to support this activity through our relationship-driven model significant balance sheet capacity and a diversified set of financial solutions I will now turn over the meeting to Annette to review our first quarter results with you in detail. Annette? I will now turn over the meeting to Annette to review our first quarter results with you in detail. i will now turn over the meeting to annette to review our first quarter results with you in detail Annette? annette

Speaker 1: Thank you, Scott, and good morning. Turning to the results overview page of our earnings presentation. For the first quarter, we reported net income of $51.1 million, or 98 cents per diluted common share. We have improved earnings 27% from the first quarter of 2025, with growth in our balance sheet, net interest margin improvement, and a 4.5% year-over-year growth in our fee-based income as well. Earnings were modestly lower than the prior quarter, consistent with seasonal expectations, two fewer days in the quarter, and a normalized effective tax rate. The next page shows trends in outstanding loans. Total loans at $11.5 billion were down $50.9 million from December 31st, 2025. With other consumer and residential solar portfolios in a planned runoff status representing half of that decline. In addition, we continued to experience an elevated level of commercial payoffs, similar to the prior two quarters. Thank you, Scott, and good morning. thank you scott and good morning Turning to the results overview page of our earnings presentation. turning to the results overview page of our earnings presentation For the first quarter, we reported net income of $51.1 million, or 98 cents per diluted common share. for the first quarter we reported net income of $51.1 million or 98 cents per diluted common share We have improved earnings 27% from the first quarter of 2025, with growth in our balance sheet, net interest margin improvement, and a 4.5% year-over-year growth in our fee-based income as well. we have improved earnings 27% from the first quarter of 2025 with growth in our balance sheet net interest margin improvement and a 4.5% year-over-year growth in our fee-based income as well Earnings were modestly lower than the prior quarter, consistent with seasonal expectations, two fewer days in the quarter, and a normalized effective tax rate. earnings were modestly lower than the prior quarter consistent with seasonal expectations two fewer days in the quarter and a normalized effective tax rate The next page shows trends in outstanding loans. the next page shows trends in outstanding loans Total loans at $11.5 billion were down $50.9 million from December 31st, 2025. With other consumer and residential solar portfolios in a planned runoff status representing half of that decline. total loans at $11.5 billion were down $50.9 million from december 31st 2025. with other consumer and residential solar portfolios in a planned runoff status representing half of that decline In addition, we continued to experience an elevated level of commercial payoffs, similar to the prior two quarters. in addition we continued to experience an elevated level of commercial payoffs similar to the prior two quarters Our total loan portfolio remains purposely diversified and is comprised of 56% commercial relationships and 44% consumer loans. On page six, total deposits were up $244 million from December 2025, primarily due to the inflow of seasonal municipal deposits during the quarter, along with increases in consumer and commercial customer account balances. Generally, in most of our markets, municipal tax collections are concentrated in the first and third quarters of each year. We experienced a favorable change in our mix of deposits out of higher cost time deposits and into checking, savings, and money market products. 59% or $8 billion of our deposit portfolio consists of no and low-cost checking and savings accounts at a cost of 38 basis points. The next slide highlights the detailed changes in our net interest income and margin. Our total loan portfolio remains purposely diversified and is comprised of 56% commercial relationships and 44% consumer loans. our total loan portfolio remains purposely diversified and is comprised of 56% commercial relationships and 44% consumer loans On page six, total deposits were up $244 million from December 2025, primarily due to the inflow of seasonal municipal deposits during the quarter, along with increases in consumer and commercial customer account balances. on page six total deposits were up $244 million from december 2025 primarily due to the inflow of seasonal municipal deposits during the quarter along with increases in consumer and commercial customer account balances Generally, in most of our markets, municipal tax collections are concentrated in the first and third quarters of each year. generally in most of our markets municipal tax collections are concentrated in the first and third quarters of each year We experienced a favorable change in our mix of deposits out of higher cost time deposits and into checking, savings, and money market products. 59% or $8 billion of our deposit portfolio consists of no and low-cost checking and savings accounts at a cost of 38 basis points. we experienced a favorable change in our mix of deposits out of higher cost time deposits and into checking savings and money market products 59% or $8 billion of our deposit portfolio consists of no and low-cost checking and savings accounts at a cost of 38 basis points The next slide highlights the detailed changes in our net interest income and margin. the next slide highlights the detailed changes in our net interest income and margin Our net interest margin in the first quarter increased 7 basis points to 3.72% compared with the prior quarter. As the 9 basis point decrease in the cost of funds more than offset the 2 basis point decline in earning asset yields. Loan yields decreased 4 basis points from the prior quarter to 5.66% primarily due to the repricing of variable rate loans following the prior quarter's federal funds rate decreases. We were able to actively manage our funding costs downward to more than offset that impact, as evidenced by the 10 basis point decline in our total cost of deposits to 1.34% for the quarter. Our net interest margin in the first quarter increased 7 basis points to 3.72% compared with the prior quarter. our net interest margin in the first quarter increased 7 basis points to 3.72% compared with the prior quarter As the 9 basis point decrease in the cost of funds more than offset the 2 basis point decline in earning asset yields. as the 9 basis point decrease in the cost of funds more than offset the 2 basis point decline in earning asset yields Loan yields decreased 4 basis points from the prior quarter to 5.66% primarily due to the repricing of variable rate loans following the prior quarter's federal funds rate decreases. loan yields decreased 4 basis points from the prior quarter to 5.66% primarily due to the repricing of variable rate loans following the prior quarter's federal funds rate decreases We were able to actively manage our funding costs downward to more than offset that impact, as evidenced by the 10 basis point decline in our total cost of deposits to 1.34% for the quarter. we were able to actively manage our funding costs downward to more than offset that impact as evidenced by the 10 basis point decline in our total cost of deposits to 1.34% for the quarter Net interest income for the first quarter was $134.3 million, a decrease of $1 million compared to the prior quarter, but more than 25% above the first quarter of 2025. The decrease in net interest income from the prior quarter was driven by two fewer days in the first quarter of 2026. The opportunity for further upward movement in earning asset yields and net interest margin will depend largely on the shape of the yield curve and how we reinvest loan and investment portfolio cash flows. The trends in non-interest income are outlined on page eight. Excluding securities gains, our fee income was $49.7 million, consistent with the prior quarter, and increased 4.5% from the first quarter of 2025. Net interest income for the first quarter was $134.3 million, a decrease of $1 million compared to the prior quarter, but more than 25% above the first quarter of 2025. net interest income for the first quarter was $134.3 million a decrease of $1 million compared to the prior quarter but more than 25% above the first quarter of 2025 The decrease in net interest income from the prior quarter was driven by two fewer days in the first quarter of 2026. the decrease in net interest income from the prior quarter was driven by two fewer days in the first quarter of 2026 The opportunity for further upward movement in earning asset yields and net interest margin will depend largely on the shape of the yield curve and how we reinvest loan and investment portfolio cash flows. the opportunity for further upward movement in earning asset yields and net interest margin will depend largely on the shape of the yield curve and how we reinvest loan and investment portfolio cash flows The trends in non-interest income are outlined on page eight. the trends in non-interest income are outlined on page eight Excluding securities gains, our fee income was $49.7 million, consistent with the prior quarter, and increased 4.5% from the first quarter of 2025. excluding securities gains our fee income was $49.7 million consistent with the prior quarter and increased 4.5% from the first quarter of 2025 Our combined revenues from retirement plan services, wealth management, and insurance services exceeded $32 million in quarterly revenues. Non-interest income represented 27% of total revenues in the first quarter and reflects the strength of our diversified revenue base. Total operating expenses were $112 million for the quarter, a 0.5% increase from the prior quarter. Salaries and employee benefit costs were $68.8 million, an increase of $2.8 million from the prior quarter. This increase was primarily driven by seasonally higher payroll taxes and stock-based compensation, partially offset by lower medical expenses. In addition, annual merit increases occurred in mid-March at an average rate of 3.3%. The quarter-over-quarter increase in occupancy expenses was expected, driven by increases in seasonal costs, including utilities and higher maintenance costs. Our combined revenues from retirement plan services, wealth management, and insurance services exceeded $32 million in quarterly revenues. our combined revenues from retirement plan services wealth management and insurance services exceeded $32 million in quarterly revenues Non-interest income represented 27% of total revenues in the first quarter and reflects the strength of our diversified revenue base. non-interest income represented 27% of total revenues in the first quarter and reflects the strength of our diversified revenue base Total operating expenses were $112 million for the quarter, a 0.5% increase from the prior quarter. total operating expenses were $112 million for the quarter a 0.5% increase from the prior quarter Salaries and employee benefit costs were $68.8 million, an increase of $2.8 million from the prior quarter. salaries and employee benefit costs were $68.8 million an increase of $2.8 million from the prior quarter This increase was primarily driven by seasonally higher payroll taxes and stock-based compensation, partially offset by lower medical expenses. this increase was primarily driven by seasonally higher payroll taxes and stock-based compensation partially offset by lower medical expenses In addition, annual merit increases occurred in mid-March at an average rate of 3.3%. in addition annual merit increases occurred in mid-march at an average rate of 3.3% The quarter-over-quarter increase in occupancy expenses was expected, driven by increases in seasonal costs, including utilities and higher maintenance costs. the quarter-over-quarter increase in occupancy expenses was expected driven by increases in seasonal costs including utilities and higher maintenance costs The effective tax rate for the first quarter was higher than the prior quarter at 23.3%, primarily due to the finalization of the deductibility of last year's merger-related expenses and the associated impact on the full year effective tax rate in 2025. Slide 10 provides an overview of key asset quality metrics. Provision expense for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $5.6 million compared to $3.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2025. The increase in provision for loan losses was primarily due to a slightly higher level of net charge-offs and non-performing loans, resulting in a higher level of allowance for loan losses. Reserves were 1.2% of total loans and covered more than 2x the level of non-performing loans. The effective tax rate for the first quarter was higher than the prior quarter at 23.3%, primarily due to the finalization of the deductibility of last year's merger-related expenses and the associated impact on the full year effective tax rate in 2025. the effective tax rate for the first quarter was higher than the prior quarter at 23.3% primarily due to the finalization of the deductibility of last year's merger-related expenses and the associated impact on the full year effective tax rate in 2025 Slide 10 provides an overview of key asset quality metrics. slide 10 provides an overview of key asset quality metrics Provision expense for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $5.6 million compared to $3.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2025. provision expense for the three months ended march 31 2026 was $5.6 million compared to $3.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2025 The increase in provision for loan losses was primarily due to a slightly higher level of net charge-offs and non-performing loans, resulting in a higher level of allowance for loan losses. the increase in provision for loan losses was primarily due to a slightly higher level of net charge-offs and non-performing loans resulting in a higher level of allowance for loan losses Reserves were 1.2% of total loans and covered more than 2x the level of non-performing loans. reserves were 1.2% of total loans and covered more than 2x the level of non-performing loans In closing, we believe the strength of our franchise positions us well for growth opportunities as they arise. We continue to see productive engagement across our markets, reflecting our ongoing investment in our people and communities. Thank you for your interest in our results. At this time, we welcome any questions you may have. In closing, we believe the strength of our franchise positions us well for growth opportunities as they arise. in closing we believe the strength of our franchise positions us well for growth opportunities as they arise We continue to see productive engagement across our markets, reflecting our ongoing investment in our people and communities. we continue to see productive engagement across our markets reflecting our ongoing investment in our people and communities Thank you for your interest in our results. thank you for your interest in our results At this time, we welcome any questions you may have. at this time we welcome any questions you may have

Speaker 7: Thank you. To ask a question please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announce. To withdraw your question please press star one one again. One moment please. Our first question comes from the line of Mark Shutley with KBW. Thank you. To ask a question please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announce. To withdraw your question please press star one one again. One moment please. Our first question comes from the line of Mark Shutley with KBW. thank you. to ask a question please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announce. to withdraw your question please press star one one again. one moment please. our first question comes from the line of mark shutley with kbw

Speaker 5: Hey, good morning. Hey, good morning. hey good morning

Speaker 1: Good morning. Good morning. good morning

Speaker 8: Morning. Morning. morning

Speaker 5: Expenses came in a little bit better than we were expecting despite sort of the seasonal factors there. I was wondering if you could maybe update us on your outlook there and sort of maybe what's an appropriate run rate for the year? Expenses came in a little bit better than we were expecting despite sort of the seasonal factors there. expenses came in a little bit better than we were expecting despite sort of the seasonal factors there I was wondering if you could maybe update us on your outlook there and sort of maybe what's an appropriate run rate for the year? i was wondering if you could maybe update us on your outlook there and sort of maybe what's an appropriate run rate for the year

Speaker 1: Sure. I'll take that, Mark. Yes, there was some seasonality in our first quarter expenses, primarily higher levels of salaries and benefit costs related to payroll taxes and stock-based compensation, as well as some higher level of occupancy costs. As we look into the next quarter, and we think about salaries and benefit costs, we'll probably see some increased costs related to our merit increases, as well as an additional payroll day, as well as our occupancies expense seasonal increase will probably be offset in the second quarter by just increase in productivity across our markets, like higher travel training as well as technology initiatives. With all that being said, our run rate in the first quarter was right around $112 million. That'll probably be a good place to be in the second quarter. Sure. sure I'll take that, Mark. i'll take that mark Yes, there was some seasonality in our first quarter expenses, primarily higher levels of salaries and benefit costs related to payroll taxes and stock-based compensation, as well as some higher level of occupancy costs. yes there was some seasonality in our first quarter expenses primarily higher levels of salaries and benefit costs related to payroll taxes and stock-based compensation as well as some higher level of occupancy costs As we look into the next quarter, and we think about salaries and benefit costs, we'll probably see some increased costs related to our merit increases, as well as an additional payroll day, as well as our occupancies expense seasonal increase will probably be offset in the second quarter by just increase in productivity across our markets, like higher travel training as well as technology initiatives. as we look into the next quarter and we think about salaries and benefit costs we'll probably see some increased costs related to our merit increases as well as an additional payroll day as well as our occupancies expense seasonal increase will probably be offset in the second quarter by just increase in productivity across our markets like higher travel training as well as technology initiatives With all that being said, our run rate in the first quarter was right around $112 million. with all that being said our run rate in the first quarter was right around $112 million That'll probably be a good place to be in the second quarter. that'll probably be a good place to be in the second quarter We still think our run rate or overall increase in occupancy or overall operating expenses is typically runs between 3% and 4% annually. We still think that is kind of where we're landing for 2026. We still think our run rate or overall increase in occupancy or overall operating expenses is typically runs between 3% and 4% annually. we still think our run rate or overall increase in occupancy or overall operating expenses is typically runs between 3% and 4% annually We still think that is kind of where we're landing for 2026. we still think that is kind of where we're landing for 2026

Speaker 8: Great. Mark, we had some costs in the third and the fourth quarter of last year on the operating expense side that were a little bit higher than sort of standard run rate. Some specific initiatives or some specific costs that we incurred in those quarters. Not unusual for sort of the other expense line to be a little bit lower in the first quarter with that, as Annette mentioned, with the cost associated with stock-based compensation and payroll taxes to kind of be the higher one. Great. great Mark, we had some costs in the third and the fourth quarter of last year on the operating expense side that were a little bit higher than sort of standard run rate. mark we had some costs in the third and the fourth quarter of last year on the operating expense side that were a little bit higher than sort of standard run rate Some specific initiatives or some specific costs that we incurred in those quarters. some specific initiatives or some specific costs that we incurred in those quarters Not unusual for sort of the other expense line to be a little bit lower in the first quarter with that, as Annette mentioned, with the cost associated with stock-based compensation and payroll taxes to kind of be the higher one. not unusual for sort of the other expense line to be a little bit lower in the first quarter with that as annette mentioned with the cost associated with stock-based compensation and payroll taxes to kind of be the higher one

Speaker 5: Great. That's helpful. Thank you. Maybe just look into the NIM. Deposit costs are really strong. Sort of given the current rate environment may be seemingly more flat. I was wondering if you're seeing increased deposit competition in your markets and what you expect for deposit costs from here. Great. great That's helpful. that's helpful Thank you. thank you Maybe just look into the NIM. maybe just look into the nim Deposit costs are really strong. deposit costs are really strong Sort of given the current rate environment may be seemingly more flat. sort of given the current rate environment may be seemingly more flat I was wondering if you're seeing increased deposit competition in your markets and what you expect for deposit costs from here. i was wondering if you're seeing increased deposit competition in your markets and what you expect for deposit costs from here

Speaker 1: If I think about the margin over the last two quarters, I think it's kind of as we expected to see kind of with the federal funds rate cuts that our loan repricing was going to happen almost immediately, and then we were going to have a little bit of time to work through our deposit rate changes. We actively managed that, and I think we were successful through the first quarter of 2026. Our margin right now stands today at 372. We think that's a really great place to be in throwing off some really meaningful earnings. As we look forward, when we look at our funding costs, I think they're stabilized. There's probably a little bit of opportunity to work that down a little bit, but that'll probably be offset by some of our deposit growth initiatives as well. I would say stabilized there. If I think about the margin over the last two quarters, I think it's kind of as we expected to see kind of with the federal funds rate cuts that our loan repricing was going to happen almost immediately, and then we were going to have a little bit of time to work through our deposit rate changes. if i think about the margin over the last two quarters i think it's kind of as we expected to see kind of with the federal funds rate cuts that our loan repricing was going to happen almost immediately and then we were going to have a little bit of time to work through our deposit rate changes We actively managed that, and I think we were successful through the first quarter of 2026. we actively managed that and i think we were successful through the first quarter of 2026 Our margin right now stands today at 372. our margin right now stands today at 372 We think that's a really great place to be in throwing off some really meaningful earnings. we think that's a really great place to be in throwing off some really meaningful earnings As we look forward, when we look at our funding costs, I think they're stabilized. as we look forward when we look at our funding costs i think they're stabilized There's probably a little bit of opportunity to work that down a little bit, but that'll probably be offset by some of our deposit growth initiatives as well. there's probably a little bit of opportunity to work that down a little bit but that'll probably be offset by some of our deposit growth initiatives as well I would say stabilized there. i would say stabilized there As we look at our earning asset yields, there's probably some repricing opportunities as we primarily look at our investment securities book as well as our residential mortgage book. Really the shape of the yield curve will kind of influence margin improvements over the next couple of quarters, particularly where we reprice our assets in the 2-5-year range of that yield curve, which had seen some improvements and positively sloped starting in March. I think as we look forward, it's stabilization as well as maybe a few basis points of improvement depending on that yield curve. We think about deposit pricing, I think there is competition for deposits, but it's fairly disciplined or we don't see anything terribly crazy. Maybe a few pockets here and there. As we look at our earning asset yields, there's probably some repricing opportunities as we primarily look at our investment securities book as well as our residential mortgage book. as we look at our earning asset yields there's probably some repricing opportunities as we primarily look at our investment securities book as well as our residential mortgage book Really the shape of the yield curve will kind of influence margin improvements over the next couple of quarters, particularly where we reprice our assets in the 2-5-year range of that yield curve, which had seen some improvements and positively sloped starting in March. really the shape of the yield curve will kind of influence margin improvements over the next couple of quarters particularly where we reprice our assets in the 2-5-year range of that yield curve which had seen some improvements and positively sloped starting in march I think as we look forward, it's stabilization as well as maybe a few basis points of improvement depending on that yield curve. i think as we look forward it's stabilization as well as maybe a few basis points of improvement depending on that yield curve We think about deposit pricing, I think there is competition for deposits, but it's fairly disciplined or we don't see anything terribly crazy. we think about deposit pricing i think there is competition for deposits but it's fairly disciplined or we don't see anything terribly crazy Maybe a few pockets here and there. maybe a few pockets here and there

Speaker 8: I'd add to that, Annette, that to your point, in most of our markets, and we've got some pretty diverse markets, but in most of them deposit gathering has not been focused on additional share grab in most of our markets. Most of the people we compete with find that even the large banks, that the cost of funding in our markets where we compete with them is probably lower than some of the larger metropolitan areas that they do business in. What we have seen on the asset pricing side is a competitive landscape. I think as people look for yielding assets there's been a little bit of give up in spread whether that's on the commercial side or business banking. In the first quarter, we thought that there were some people that mispriced indirect auto. I'd add to that, Annette, that to your point, in most of our markets, and we've got some pretty diverse markets, but in most of them deposit gathering has not been focused on additional share grab in most of our markets. i'd add to that annette that to your point in most of our markets and we've got some pretty diverse markets but in most of them deposit gathering has not been focused on additional share grab in most of our markets Most of the people we compete with find that even the large banks, that the cost of funding in our markets where we compete with them is probably lower than some of the larger metropolitan areas that they do business in. most of the people we compete with find that even the large banks that the cost of funding in our markets where we compete with them is probably lower than some of the larger metropolitan areas that they do business in What we have seen on the asset pricing side is a competitive landscape. what we have seen on the asset pricing side is a competitive landscape I think as people look for yielding assets there's been a little bit of give up in spread whether that's on the commercial side or business banking. i think as people look for yielding assets there's been a little bit of give up in spread whether that's on the commercial side or business banking In the first quarter, we thought that there were some people that mispriced indirect auto. in the first quarter we thought that there were some people that mispriced indirect auto We chose not to participate in that at the same level that historically we might have from a growth standpoint. In a difficult quarter for pure auto sales, I think there were certain other people out there that were trying to sustain their portfolios. We think we're really good at that portfolio from a total operational management standpoint. Remember the duration of that portfolio is somewhere between 24 and 28 months. Reengaging in that when the economics make a little bit more sense is kind of how we look at that. We chose not to participate in that at the same level that historically we might have from a growth standpoint. we chose not to participate in that at the same level that historically we might have from a growth standpoint In a difficult quarter for pure auto sales, I think there were certain other people out there that were trying to sustain their portfolios. in a difficult quarter for pure auto sales i think there were certain other people out there that were trying to sustain their portfolios We think we're really good at that portfolio from a total operational management standpoint. we think we're really good at that portfolio from a total operational management standpoint Remember the duration of that portfolio is somewhere between 24 and 28 months. remember the duration of that portfolio is somewhere between 24 and 28 months Reengaging in that when the economics make a little bit more sense is kind of how we look at that. reengaging in that when the economics make a little bit more sense is kind of how we look at that

Speaker 5: Awesome. Appreciate all the color. I'll step back in the queue. Thank you. Awesome. awesome Appreciate all the color. appreciate all the color I'll step back in the queue. i'll step back in the queue Thank you. thank you

Speaker 8: Thanks. Thanks. thanks

Speaker 7: Our next question comes from the line of Feddie Strickland with Hovde Group. Our next question comes from the line of Feddie Strickland with Hovde Group. our next question comes from the line of feddie strickland with hovde group

Speaker 2: Hey, good morning. Hey, good morning. hey good morning

Speaker 8: Hey, good morning. Hey, good morning. hey good morning

Speaker 2: Scott, I think you addressed this in your opening comments, but I'm just wondering if you could talk generally about sentiment among commercial customers. Are you seeing clients pull back at all on some of the economic uncertainty and credit, or rather interest rate uncertainty? Or the trends in the footprint, like the chip manufacturing facilities still kind of pull the local economies forward regardless? Scott, I think you addressed this in your opening comments, but I'm just wondering if you could talk generally about sentiment among commercial customers. scott i think you addressed this in your opening comments but i'm just wondering if you could talk generally about sentiment among commercial customers Are you seeing clients pull back at all on some of the economic uncertainty and credit, or rather interest rate uncertainty? are you seeing clients pull back at all on some of the economic uncertainty and credit or rather interest rate uncertainty Or the trends in the footprint, like the chip manufacturing facilities still kind of pull the local economies forward regardless? or the trends in the footprint like the chip manufacturing facilities still kind of pull the local economies forward regardless

Speaker 8: Yeah, thanks for that opportunity. Across the markets, customers are feeling pretty good about themselves. I don't think that we started the year thinking that they could possibly have more uncertainty than they went through in 2025, but we appear to have topped that in early 2026. We've said this before, that uncertainty doesn't inspire action. I don't think things have been held up. I don't think we have customers who have said, "I'm going to pass on fulfilling capital expenditure projects that I had planned," either for capacity improvement in their businesses or just general recurring costs associated with being technically better. We haven't seen any of that. I will say this, in the first quarter, we had a number of really exciting and really robust construction projects that did not get underway in the timeline we expected. Yeah, thanks for that opportunity. yeah thanks for that opportunity Across the markets, customers are feeling pretty good about themselves. across the markets customers are feeling pretty good about themselves I don't think that we started the year thinking that they could possibly have more uncertainty than they went through in 2025, but we appear to have topped that in early 2026. i don't think that we started the year thinking that they could possibly have more uncertainty than they went through in 2025 but we appear to have topped that in early 2026 We've said this before, that uncertainty doesn't inspire action. we've said this before that uncertainty doesn't inspire action I don't think things have been held up. i don't think things have been held up I don't think we have customers who have said, "I'm going to pass on fulfilling capital expenditure projects that I had planned," either for capacity improvement in their businesses or just general recurring costs associated with being technically better. i don't think we have customers who have said "i'm going to pass on fulfilling capital expenditure projects that i had planned," either for capacity improvement in their businesses or just general recurring costs associated with being technically better We haven't seen any of that. we haven't seen any of that I will say this, in the first quarter, we had a number of really exciting and really robust construction projects that did not get underway in the timeline we expected. i will say this in the first quarter we had a number of really exciting and really robust construction projects that did not get underway in the timeline we expected Most of them, as the grass is turning a little greener, they're finding their way to get out and start to work on some of that stuff. We think there was probably a little bit of a backup in the first quarter that'll get taken care of here in the second quarter. Nothing that we're seeing that is falling away. I do think that some of our very astute customers who use our capital and treasury management tools, in some cases are paying down some of their leverage because their opportunity to earn yield on that is not at the same level that it was 18 or 24 months ago. I think much like our balance sheet, there's a lot of tactical management going on in our customers today. Sentiment is quite good across the franchise. Most of them, as the grass is turning a little greener, they're finding their way to get out and start to work on some of that stuff. most of them as the grass is turning a little greener they're finding their way to get out and start to work on some of that stuff We think there was probably a little bit of a backup in the first quarter that'll get taken care of here in the second quarter. we think there was probably a little bit of a backup in the first quarter that'll get taken care of here in the second quarter Nothing that we're seeing that is falling away. nothing that we're seeing that is falling away I do think that some of our very astute customers who use our capital and treasury management tools, in some cases are paying down some of their leverage because their opportunity to earn yield on that is not at the same level that it was 18 or 24 months ago. i do think that some of our very astute customers who use our capital and treasury management tools in some cases are paying down some of their leverage because their opportunity to earn yield on that is not at the same level that it was 18 or 24 months ago I think much like our balance sheet, there's a lot of tactical management going on in our customers today. i think much like our balance sheet there's a lot of tactical management going on in our customers today Sentiment is quite good across the franchise. sentiment is quite good across the franchise

Speaker 2: All right. That's great to hear, Scott. If you could also give us an update on the M&A conversations. It sounds like those are ongoing. Just curious, kind of a similar question, whether current conditions are maybe making that a little bit of a priority for some potential partners, or whether that's a little bit of a headwind. All right. all right That's great to hear, Scott. that's great to hear scott If you could also give us an update on the M&A conversations. if you could also give us an update on the m&a conversations It sounds like those are ongoing. it sounds like those are ongoing Just curious, kind of a similar question, whether current conditions are maybe making that a little bit of a priority for some potential partners, or whether that's a little bit of a headwind. just curious kind of a similar question whether current conditions are maybe making that a little bit of a priority for some potential partners or whether that's a little bit of a headwind

Speaker 8: Yeah. Let me kind of tackle that a couple different ways, which is, we have ongoing conversations with like-minded smaller community banks across our seven-state footprint. Our priority is to try to do some fill-in work, and whether that's a practical M&A transaction or build out concentration in some of our markets ourselves. If I was to hit on that really quick, I would tell you that our strategy in greater Rochester, New York and into the Finger Lakes is a build-out strategy, that we recognize that we don't have the market coverage that we needed, so getting closer into the city of Rochester and maybe in the western and southern suburbs is a priority for us. Something you'll see us act on in the next 12-18 months. Yeah. yeah Let me kind of tackle that a couple different ways, which is, we have ongoing conversations with like-minded smaller community banks across our seven-state footprint. let me kind of tackle that a couple different ways which is we have ongoing conversations with like-minded smaller community banks across our seven-state footprint Our priority is to try to do some fill-in work, and whether that's a practical M&A transaction or build out concentration in some of our markets ourselves. our priority is to try to do some fill-in work and whether that's a practical m&a transaction or build out concentration in some of our markets ourselves If I was to hit on that really quick, I would tell you that our strategy in greater Rochester, New York and into the Finger Lakes is a build-out strategy, that we recognize that we don't have the market coverage that we needed, so getting closer into the city of Rochester and maybe in the western and southern suburbs is a priority for us. if i was to hit on that really quick i would tell you that our strategy in greater rochester new york and into the finger lakes is a build-out strategy that we recognize that we don't have the market coverage that we needed so getting closer into the city of rochester and maybe in the western and southern suburbs is a priority for us Something you'll see us act on in the next 12-18 months. something you'll see us act on in the next 12-18 months It feels a little bit similar to that in southern New Hampshire and southern Maine, where our concentration in terms of spots in the market is not that concentrated. We've got great commercial lending teams in both markets, so giving them a little bit more to work with. We opened another branch in Bayside in Portland during the quarter. We're going to make a commitment in Scarborough going into the second half of the year or early next year. We'd like to find a couple more spots in southern New Hampshire, again, just to give our folks some opportunity for enhanced branding. I think if you look at the rest of our franchise, there's spots where we're still missing some participation in markets that we think we would thrive in. It doesn't require us to move our geography another 100 or 200 miles. It feels a little bit similar to that in southern New Hampshire and southern Maine, where our concentration in terms of spots in the market is not that concentrated. it feels a little bit similar to that in southern new hampshire and southern maine where our concentration in terms of spots in the market is not that concentrated We've got great commercial lending teams in both markets, so giving them a little bit more to work with. we've got great commercial lending teams in both markets so giving them a little bit more to work with We opened another branch in Bayside in Portland during the quarter. we opened another branch in bayside in portland during the quarter We're going to make a commitment in Scarborough going into the second half of the year or early next year. we're going to make a commitment in scarborough going into the second half of the year or early next year We'd like to find a couple more spots in southern New Hampshire, again, just to give our folks some opportunity for enhanced branding. we'd like to find a couple more spots in southern new hampshire again just to give our folks some opportunity for enhanced branding I think if you look at the rest of our franchise, there's spots where we're still missing some participation in markets that we think we would thrive in. i think if you look at the rest of our franchise there's spots where we're still missing some participation in markets that we think we would thrive in It doesn't require us to move our geography another 100 or 200 miles. it doesn't require us to move our geography another 100 or 200 miles These are things that are either next door or within the existing footprint. That's where we've been spending our time. To your point about priority for certain other people, and maybe some people who are not necessarily experienced acquirers, there's been a handful of transactions in our marketplace that we think present a disruption opportunity. There was, for us in the market, a substantive transaction in the Mohawk Valley outside in the greater Utica area. We think that'll present some opportunities for us. A handful of things going on in sort of western New England, western Massachusetts and Connecticut. A couple large transactions. A couple small transactions where a couple small community banks are getting together. We've got some very specific and pointed initiatives attached to that from a disruption standpoint, and are pretty confident given past results that we'll see some productive gains from that. These are things that are either next door or within the existing footprint. these are things that are either next door or within the existing footprint That's where we've been spending our time. that's where we've been spending our time To your point about priority for certain other people, and maybe some people who are not necessarily experienced acquirers, there's been a handful of transactions in our marketplace that we think present a disruption opportunity. to your point about priority for certain other people and maybe some people who are not necessarily experienced acquirers there's been a handful of transactions in our marketplace that we think present a disruption opportunity There was, for us in the market, a substantive transaction in the Mohawk Valley outside in the greater Utica area. there was for us in the market a substantive transaction in the mohawk valley outside in the greater utica area We think that'll present some opportunities for us. we think that'll present some opportunities for us A handful of things going on in sort of western New England, western Massachusetts and Connecticut. a handful of things going on in sort of western new england western massachusetts and connecticut A couple large transactions. a couple large transactions A couple small transactions where a couple small community banks are getting together. a couple small transactions where a couple small community banks are getting together We've got some very specific and pointed initiatives attached to that from a disruption standpoint, and are pretty confident given past results that we'll see some productive gains from that. we've got some very specific and pointed initiatives attached to that from a disruption standpoint and are pretty confident given past results that we'll see some productive gains from that

Speaker 2: Thanks, Scott. Super helpful color. Just one more quick one for Annette. I apologize if I missed it somewhere, but did you have the loan discount accretion number for the quarter? I think I saw it was up, but not by how much, and maybe what expectations might be for that number going forward. Thanks, Scott. thanks scott Super helpful color. super helpful color Just one more quick one for Annette. just one more quick one for annette I apologize if I missed it somewhere, but did you have the loan discount accretion number for the quarter? i apologize if i missed it somewhere but did you have the loan discount accretion number for the quarter I think I saw it was up, but not by how much, and maybe what expectations might be for that number going forward. i think i saw it was up but not by how much and maybe what expectations might be for that number going forward

Speaker 1: Sure. Our loan accretion for the quarter was right around $6.5 million. That's kind of a little bit down from what we had in the fourth quarter. I would expect it to run somewhere in the $6 million-$6.5 million. That corresponds with our intangible asset amortization around $3.5 million a quarter, so aligned with that. As we think about accretion, where we mark those loans, we think we're capable of getting pretty close to those rates as we reinvest those cash flows in our loan book as well. Sure. sure Our loan accretion for the quarter was right around $6.5 million. our loan accretion for the quarter was right around $6.5 million That's kind of a little bit down from what we had in the fourth quarter. that's kind of a little bit down from what we had in the fourth quarter I would expect it to run somewhere in the $6 million-$6.5 million. i would expect it to run somewhere in the $6 million-$6.5 million That corresponds with our intangible asset amortization around $3.5 million a quarter, so aligned with that. that corresponds with our intangible asset amortization around $3.5 million a quarter so aligned with that As we think about accretion, where we mark those loans, we think we're capable of getting pretty close to those rates as we reinvest those cash flows in our loan book as well. as we think about accretion where we mark those loans we think we're capable of getting pretty close to those rates as we reinvest those cash flows in our loan book as well

Speaker 8: Yeah. I would reinforce Annette's comment on that the size of the marks in either our residential mortgage portfolio or commercial portfolio from both Salisbury and Evans don't leave us with yields that are above current market yields. Yeah. yeah I would reinforce Annette's comment on that the size of the marks in either our residential mortgage portfolio or commercial portfolio from both Salisbury and Evans don't leave us with yields that are above current market yields. i would reinforce annette's comment on that the size of the marks in either our residential mortgage portfolio or commercial portfolio from both salisbury and evans don't leave us with yields that are above current market yields

Speaker 2: All right. Great colors. Thank you both. All right. all right Great colors. great colors Thank you both. thank you both

Speaker 7: Our next question comes from the line of Manuel Navas with Piper Sandler. Our next question comes from the line of Manuel Navas with Piper Sandler. our next question comes from the line of manuel navas with piper sandler

Speaker 4: Hey, good morning. Hey, good morning. hey good morning Can you speak to loan growth this year and the makeup of the loan pipeline? Just wondering how things look with the runoff portfolios, the pullback in indirect auto, just kind of level set things as we move across the year. Can you speak to loan growth this year and the makeup of the loan pipeline? can you speak to loan growth this year and the makeup of the loan pipeline Just wondering how things look with the runoff portfolios, the pullback in indirect auto, just kind of level set things as we move across the year. just wondering how things look with the runoff portfolios the pullback in indirect auto just kind of level set things as we move across the year

Speaker 8: Sure. Let's see if I can sort of accomplish this efficiently from those sort of four subsets of questions, Manuel. Runoff portfolio, primarily solar, residential. We've said before, that's roughly $100 million a year. That's exactly what we incurred in the first quarter, so $25 million in the quarter. Our expectation is that continues on. The prepayment patterns in that portfolio are more similar to the prepayment patterns of home mortgage. Probably not a really unexpected outcome since the equipment sits on top of the house. From a practical standpoint, that's kind of going according to plan. I think to the extent that we're incurring some losses in that portfolio from customers not paying us back timely, it's as expected. Not outside of that. Just as a reminder, we carry reserves around 4% of that portfolio. Sure. sure Let's see if I can sort of accomplish this efficiently from those sort of four subsets of questions, Manuel. let's see if i can sort of accomplish this efficiently from those sort of four subsets of questions manuel Runoff portfolio, primarily solar, residential. runoff portfolio primarily solar residential We've said before, that's roughly $100 million a year. we've said before that's roughly $100 million a year That's exactly what we incurred in the first quarter, so $25 million in the quarter. that's exactly what we incurred in the first quarter so $25 million in the quarter Our expectation is that continues on. our expectation is that continues on The prepayment patterns in that portfolio are more similar to the prepayment patterns of home mortgage. the prepayment patterns in that portfolio are more similar to the prepayment patterns of home mortgage Probably not a really unexpected outcome since the equipment sits on top of the house. probably not a really unexpected outcome since the equipment sits on top of the house From a practical standpoint, that's kind of going according to plan. from a practical standpoint that's kind of going according to plan I think to the extent that we're incurring some losses in that portfolio from customers not paying us back timely, it's as expected. i think to the extent that we're incurring some losses in that portfolio from customers not paying us back timely it's as expected Not outside of that. not outside of that Just as a reminder, we carry reserves around 4% of that portfolio. just as a reminder we carry reserves around 4% of that portfolio I think we're really well covered relative to the expectation of future results as that portfolio runs off. Indirect auto is an interesting one for us. Again, as I said before, we're really good at this portfolio. We really like the short duration of the portfolio. We like the asset because the customers in our market actually need that asset. Our performance from a quality standpoint has been really, really solid. Matter of fact, sub 30 basis point charge-off levels for quite a while now in that portfolio. In that portfolio, though, that if people are trying to get share to build to their book, and in the first quarter we saw a handful of institutions, probably more dominated by credit unions, that had really low rates. Rates that made no sense, rates barely above federal funds rates. I think we're really well covered relative to the expectation of future results as that portfolio runs off. i think we're really well covered relative to the expectation of future results as that portfolio runs off Indirect auto is an interesting one for us. indirect auto is an interesting one for us Again, as I said before, we're really good at this portfolio. again as i said before we're really good at this portfolio We really like the short duration of the portfolio. we really like the short duration of the portfolio We like the asset because the customers in our market actually need that asset. we like the asset because the customers in our market actually need that asset Our performance from a quality standpoint has been really, really solid. our performance from a quality standpoint has been really really solid Matter of fact, sub 30 basis point charge-off levels for quite a while now in that portfolio. matter of fact sub 30 basis point charge-off levels for quite a while now in that portfolio In that portfolio, though, that if people are trying to get share to build to their book, and in the first quarter we saw a handful of institutions, probably more dominated by credit unions, that had really low rates. in that portfolio though that if people are trying to get share to build to their book and in the first quarter we saw a handful of institutions probably more dominated by credit unions that had really low rates Rates that made no sense, rates barely above federal funds rates. rates that made no sense rates barely above federal funds rates That's not where we're going to participate and add to our portfolio. From the rest of the pipeline standpoint, nice mix of commercial real estate and C&I in our current portfolio in the pipeline for that. Like the construction projects that are out there, and as I said before, a couple of them probably got underway a little bit later than maybe we would have hoped from a progress standpoint. There's a lot of infrastructure build going on in our markets, not just Central New York, but across the footprint. Opportunities for our contracting clients and people who service those industries to move forward. We really think that in the first quarter for us historically is not our most robust quarter of growth. That was evidenced in this quarter. That's not where we're going to participate and add to our portfolio. that's not where we're going to participate and add to our portfolio From the rest of the pipeline standpoint, nice mix of commercial real estate and C&I in our current portfolio in the pipeline for that. from the rest of the pipeline standpoint nice mix of commercial real estate and c&i in our current portfolio in the pipeline for that Like the construction projects that are out there, and as I said before, a couple of them probably got underway a little bit later than maybe we would have hoped from a progress standpoint. like the construction projects that are out there and as i said before a couple of them probably got underway a little bit later than maybe we would have hoped from a progress standpoint There's a lot of infrastructure build going on in our markets, not just Central New York, but across the footprint. there's a lot of infrastructure build going on in our markets not just central new york but across the footprint Opportunities for our contracting clients and people who service those industries to move forward. opportunities for our contracting clients and people who service those industries to move forward We really think that in the first quarter for us historically is not our most robust quarter of growth. we really think that in the first quarter for us historically is not our most robust quarter of growth That was evidenced in this quarter. that was evidenced in this quarter We think you start to get back to more of that low- to mid-single-digit% growth rates for the balance of the year. We think you start to get back to more of that low- to mid-single-digit% growth rates for the balance of the year. we think you start to get back to more of that low- to mid-single-digit% growth rates for the balance of the year

Speaker 4: I thought that was a pretty fulsome answer. Can you remind me and level set a little bit on kind of fee growth expectations, where the largest opportunities are, where you'd like to see better growth, for example? Just kind of thoughts on that year-over-year. I thought that was a pretty fulsome answer. i thought that was a pretty fulsome answer Can you remind me and level set a little bit on kind of fee growth expectations, where the largest opportunities are, where you'd like to see better growth, for example? can you remind me and level set a little bit on kind of fee growth expectations where the largest opportunities are where you'd like to see better growth for example Just kind of thoughts on that year-over-year. just kind of thoughts on that year-over-year

Speaker 1: Sure. Our fee-based income does have some seasonality with the first and third quarter usually being the most robust and the second and fourth being a little lighter. I think we're really excited about the growth opportunities in our fee-based income, most excited about the performance of retirement plan services. They really had some really great wins in the first quarter of 2026, and that's evident in their numbers, really good trajectory there. We also feel that wealth and insurance have some really good opportunities as well, particularly as we bring the whole bank to some of our markets, like the Western New York region, as an example, feeling good about the trajectory there. Sure. sure Our fee-based income does have some seasonality with the first and third quarter usually being the most robust and the second and fourth being a little lighter. our fee-based income does have some seasonality with the first and third quarter usually being the most robust and the second and fourth being a little lighter I think we're really excited about the growth opportunities in our fee-based income, most excited about the performance of retirement plan services. i think we're really excited about the growth opportunities in our fee-based income most excited about the performance of retirement plan services They really had some really great wins in the first quarter of 2026, and that's evident in their numbers, really good trajectory there. they really had some really great wins in the first quarter of 2026 and that's evident in their numbers really good trajectory there We also feel that wealth and insurance have some really good opportunities as well, particularly as we bring the whole bank to some of our markets, like the Western New York region, as an example, feeling good about the trajectory there. we also feel that wealth and insurance have some really good opportunities as well particularly as we bring the whole bank to some of our markets like the western new york region as an example feeling good about the trajectory there I think as we think about full year growth expectations, I think we can look back to our historical performance over the past couple of years, which is somewhere in the mid-single-digit growth rates for our fee-based businesses. I think we still continue to expect that that's achievable for us. Deposit service charges and banking fees generally are a little lighter in the first quarter seasonality, and that'll continue to build as well as we get into the next few quarters. I think as we think about full year growth expectations, I think we can look back to our historical performance over the past couple of years, which is somewhere in the mid-single-digit growth rates for our fee-based businesses. i think as we think about full year growth expectations i think we can look back to our historical performance over the past couple of years which is somewhere in the mid-single-digit growth rates for our fee-based businesses I think we still continue to expect that that's achievable for us. i think we still continue to expect that that's achievable for us Deposit service charges and banking fees generally are a little lighter in the first quarter seasonality, and that'll continue to build as well as we get into the next few quarters. deposit service charges and banking fees generally are a little lighter in the first quarter seasonality and that'll continue to build as well as we get into the next few quarters

Speaker 4: I appreciate that. My last question is, do you have any extra color on some of the NPL build here? Just anything we can disclose on that? I appreciate that. i appreciate that My last question is, do you have any extra color on some of the NPL build here? my last question is do you have any extra color on some of the npl build here Just anything we can disclose on that? just anything we can disclose on that

Speaker 1: Sure. I'll take that. Non-performing loans, the majority of our increase during the quarter was related to a C&I relationship in the Western New York region. We're actively working through that. It's really a specific customer circumstance. We have a handful of other non-performing loans that we're continually actively engaged and work through as well, which are primarily commercial real estate based. We feel pretty good about our capacity to work through those and feel very good where we are from a positioning as far as our allowance associated with those. I would just add that our consumer delinquencies have performed kind of in line with our expectations and in some cases better than our expectations. Those are really looking good through the first quarter as well. Sure. sure I'll take that. i'll take that Non-performing loans, the majority of our increase during the quarter was related to a C&I relationship in the Western New York region. non-performing loans the majority of our increase during the quarter was related to a c&i relationship in the western new york region We're actively working through that. we're actively working through that It's really a specific customer circumstance. it's really a specific customer circumstance We have a handful of other non-performing loans that we're continually actively engaged and work through as well, which are primarily commercial real estate based. we have a handful of other non-performing loans that we're continually actively engaged and work through as well which are primarily commercial real estate based We feel pretty good about our capacity to work through those and feel very good where we are from a positioning as far as our allowance associated with those. we feel pretty good about our capacity to work through those and feel very good where we are from a positioning as far as our allowance associated with those I would just add that our consumer delinquencies have performed kind of in line with our expectations and in some cases better than our expectations. i would just add that our consumer delinquencies have performed kind of in line with our expectations and in some cases better than our expectations Those are really looking good through the first quarter as well. those are really looking good through the first quarter as well

Speaker 8: Yeah. Just where we are, and this is not just us, but we're coming off such a low base that one relationship or a couple of relationships can actually make a difference relative to the size of that non-performing. I think the important comment that Annette made was, we think we have the capacity to work through these. Not only do we have the stamina to work through it, but we have a really good job at identifying a customer that may be just going through a really difficult period of time. We like everything about what they do. This doesn't have to be us moving really quickly to sell assets and remove them from our portfolio. We have the stamina to work through stuff. Yeah. yeah Just where we are, and this is not just us, but we're coming off such a low base that one relationship or a couple of relationships can actually make a difference relative to the size of that non-performing. just where we are and this is not just us but we're coming off such a low base that one relationship or a couple of relationships can actually make a difference relative to the size of that non-performing I think the important comment that Annette made was, we think we have the capacity to work through these. i think the important comment that annette made was we think we have the capacity to work through these Not only do we have the stamina to work through it, but we have a really good job at identifying a customer that may be just going through a really difficult period of time. not only do we have the stamina to work through it but we have a really good job at identifying a customer that may be just going through a really difficult period of time We like everything about what they do. we like everything about what they do This doesn't have to be us moving really quickly to sell assets and remove them from our portfolio. this doesn't have to be us moving really quickly to sell assets and remove them from our portfolio We have the stamina to work through stuff. we have the stamina to work through stuff

Speaker 4: I appreciate that. Thank you. I'll drop back into the queue. I appreciate that. i appreciate that Thank you. thank you I'll drop back into the queue. i'll drop back into the queue

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Moss with Raymond James. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from the line of Steve Moss with Raymond James. our next question comes from the line of steve moss with raymond james

Speaker 9: Good morning. Good morning. good morning

Speaker 8: Morning, Steve. Morning, Steve. morning steve

Speaker 9: This is Scott. Morning, Scott. Most of my questions have been asked and answered here. Just following up, I'm not sure I caught this, or you might have spoken to this, Scott, but on the deposit cost side here, definitely a healthy step down. Just kind of curious, I know you operate in lower cost markets for sure, but is this the good bottom to your deposit costs? Or as you're entering maybe the little more relatively suburban markets in Upstate New York, do we see a little bit more of an upward pressure if it then holds flat here? This is Scott. this is scott Morning, Scott. morning scott Most of my questions have been asked and answered here. most of my questions have been asked and answered here Just following up, I'm not sure I caught this, or you might have spoken to this, Scott, but on the deposit cost side here, definitely a healthy step down. just following up i'm not sure i caught this or you might have spoken to this scott but on the deposit cost side here definitely a healthy step down Just kind of curious, I know you operate in lower cost markets for sure, but is this the good bottom to your deposit costs? just kind of curious i know you operate in lower cost markets for sure but is this the good bottom to your deposit costs Or as you're entering maybe the little more relatively suburban markets in Upstate New York, do we see a little bit more of an upward pressure if it then holds flat here? or as you're entering maybe the little more relatively suburban markets in upstate new york do we see a little bit more of an upward pressure if it then holds flat here

Speaker 8: It's a decent question, Steve. I would kind of reflect on this, that if you thought about the fourth quarter, where there were three Fed Funds changes in the last four months of the year, and the impact that had on our variable-rate assets, we knew that we had a responsibility to cover that and maybe a little bit more. It was difficult to get all that in the same quarter that all of those happened, and I would really focus on sort of the month of December. We had active management across all deposit portfolios and achieved that lower rate in the first quarter, arguably in January, to get back to levels of beta performance that we think are sustainable for us. It's a decent question, Steve. it's a decent question steve I would kind of reflect on this, that if you thought about the fourth quarter, where there were three Fed Funds changes in the last four months of the year, and the impact that had on our variable-rate assets, we knew that we had a responsibility to cover that and maybe a little bit more. i would kind of reflect on this that if you thought about the fourth quarter where there were three fed funds changes in the last four months of the year and the impact that had on our variable-rate assets we knew that we had a responsibility to cover that and maybe a little bit more It was difficult to get all that in the same quarter that all of those happened, and I would really focus on sort of the month of December. it was difficult to get all that in the same quarter that all of those happened and i would really focus on sort of the month of december We had active management across all deposit portfolios and achieved that lower rate in the first quarter, arguably in January, to get back to levels of beta performance that we think are sustainable for us. we had active management across all deposit portfolios and achieved that lower rate in the first quarter arguably in january to get back to levels of beta performance that we think are sustainable for us Your question is a good one relative to if we end up in a little bit more suburban or light metro markets with some of our growth plans, will the cost of entry be a little bit higher? It might be. Again, if you think about the product we're really leading with is we're leading with a checking product. If it's necessary for some larger commercial customers or even municipal customers for us to have a higher rate to secure the win of that customer, long term, it's total cost of funds in the relationship. I don't think we think it's going to be outside of the norm that we can't handle. Your question is a good one relative to if we end up in a little bit more suburban or light metro markets with some of our growth plans, will the cost of entry be a little bit higher? your question is a good one relative to if we end up in a little bit more suburban or light metro markets with some of our growth plans will the cost of entry be a little bit higher It might be. it might be Again, if you think about the product we're really leading with is we're leading with a checking product. again if you think about the product we're really leading with is we're leading with a checking product If it's necessary for some larger commercial customers or even municipal customers for us to have a higher rate to secure the win of that customer, long term, it's total cost of funds in the relationship. if it's necessary for some larger commercial customers or even municipal customers for us to have a higher rate to secure the win of that customer long term it's total cost of funds in the relationship I don't think we think it's going to be outside of the norm that we can't handle. i don't think we think it's going to be outside of the norm that we can't handle If you kind of think about a growth rate of, just pick a number, 4% or 5% on a $13.5 billion base, that's a half a billion dollars of new deposit balances on an annual basis. Even if those are a little bit above the blended cost of our existing deposit portfolio, we can probably handle that small dilution. If you kind of think about a growth rate of, just pick a number, 4% or 5% on a $13.5 billion base, that's a half a billion dollars of new deposit balances on an annual basis. if you kind of think about a growth rate of just pick a number 4% or 5% on a $13.5 billion base that's a half a billion dollars of new deposit balances on an annual basis Even if those are a little bit above the blended cost of our existing deposit portfolio, we can probably handle that small dilution. even if those are a little bit above the blended cost of our existing deposit portfolio we can probably handle that small dilution

Speaker 9: Okay. That's helpful. Just in terms of the other thing I just want to touch base on in terms of cash flows, just kind of curious on the securities side, just maybe I missed in the deck, but what's the amount of cash flows that you guys have for the upcoming 12 months for securities? Okay. okay That's helpful. that's helpful Just in terms of the other thing I just want to touch base on in terms of cash flows, just kind of curious on the securities side, just maybe I missed in the deck, but what's the amount of cash flows that you guys have for the upcoming 12 months for securities? just in terms of the other thing i just want to touch base on in terms of cash flows just kind of curious on the securities side just maybe i missed in the deck but what's the amount of cash flows that you guys have for the upcoming 12 months for securities

Speaker 1: Securities cash flows probably run somewhere in the $20 million-$25 million a month. It's pretty consistently, maybe out in 2027, 2028, there might be a little bit more lumpiness to it, but pretty consistently over the next several quarters. Securities cash flows probably run somewhere in the $20 million-$25 million a month. securities cash flows probably run somewhere in the $20 million-$25 million a month It's pretty consistently, maybe out in 2027, 2028, there might be a little bit more lumpiness to it, but pretty consistently over the next several quarters. it's pretty consistently maybe out in 2027 2028 there might be a little bit more lumpiness to it but pretty consistently over the next several quarters

Speaker 9: Okay. On auto loans, other thing I wanted to ask about was just kind of, you guys mentioned competition with regard to pricing. Just kind of curious, was it just incrementally tighter that you guys weren't willing to put it on this quarter? Or was it kind of a meaningful step down and maybe we see that extend for a little bit here? Okay. okay On auto loans, other thing I wanted to ask about was just kind of, you guys mentioned competition with regard to pricing. on auto loans other thing i wanted to ask about was just kind of you guys mentioned competition with regard to pricing Just kind of curious, was it just incrementally tighter that you guys weren't willing to put it on this quarter? just kind of curious was it just incrementally tighter that you guys weren't willing to put it on this quarter Or was it kind of a meaningful step down and maybe we see that extend for a little bit here? or was it kind of a meaningful step down and maybe we see that extend for a little bit here

Speaker 8: In the first quarter, and I think we're actually seeing a little more rationality here in the second quarter already. In the first quarter, there were offerings out there that were 150-200 basis points below ours. In the first quarter, and I think we're actually seeing a little more rationality here in the second quarter already. in the first quarter and i think we're actually seeing a little more rationality here in the second quarter already In the first quarter, there were offerings out there that were 150-200 basis points below ours. in the first quarter there were offerings out there that were 150-200 basis points below ours

Speaker 9: Okay. Got it. Okay. okay Got it. got it

Speaker 1: I think you could combine that too with some lower auto sales, just generally, as well. I think you could combine that too with some lower auto sales, just generally, as well. i think you could combine that too with some lower auto sales just generally as well

Speaker 9: Okay. Appreciate all that color there. Thank you very much. Okay. okay Appreciate all that color there. appreciate all that color there Thank you very much. thank you very much

Speaker 8: Thanks, Steve. Thanks, Steve. thanks steve

Speaker 7: Thank you. Again, if you have a question, please press star one one on your telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Breese with Stephens. Thank you. thank you Again, if you have a question, please press star one one on your telephone. again if you have a question please press star one one on your telephone Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Breese with Stephens. our next question comes from the line of matthew breese with stephens

Speaker 6: Hey, good morning. Hey, good morning. hey good morning

Speaker 8: Morning, Matt. Morning, Matt. morning matt

Speaker 6: A few from me. First, Annette, maybe you could help me out with new loan yield originations this quarter and what's some of the roll-on versus roll-off dynamics. To what extent is that positive still? A few from me. a few from me First, Annette, maybe you could help me out with new loan yield originations this quarter and what's some of the roll-on versus roll-off dynamics. first annette maybe you could help me out with new loan yield originations this quarter and what's some of the roll-on versus roll-off dynamics To what extent is that positive still? to what extent is that positive still

Speaker 1: Sure. I'll get us started here. If we look at our book, our residential mortgage probably still has somewhere around 120-125 basis points to reprice. Our commercial yields have come in a little bit, particularly with a 75 basis point drop in the yield curve over the past 12 months. It's probably still about somewhere in the 20-25 basis point range of repricing opportunities in our commercial book. If you look at our indirect auto book Sure. sure I'll get us started here. i'll get us started here If we look at our book, our residential mortgage probably still has somewhere around 120-125 basis points to reprice. if we look at our book our residential mortgage probably still has somewhere around 120-125 basis points to reprice Our commercial yields have come in a little bit, particularly with a 75 basis point drop in the yield curve over the past 12 months. our commercial yields have come in a little bit particularly with a 75 basis point drop in the yield curve over the past 12 months It's probably still about somewhere in the 20-25 basis point range of repricing opportunities in our commercial book. it's probably still about somewhere in the 20-25 basis point range of repricing opportunities in our commercial book If you look at our indirect auto book if you look at our indirect auto book Our new origination rates are actually a little bit below where our portfolio yields are, so they're completely repriced and a little bit underwater at this point. I spoke about our investment securities portfolio. That's probably somewhere in the 150-175 from a repricing opportunity. Our new origination rates are actually a little bit below where our portfolio yields are, so they're completely repriced and a little bit underwater at this point. our new origination rates are actually a little bit below where our portfolio yields are so they're completely repriced and a little bit underwater at this point I spoke about our investment securities portfolio. i spoke about our investment securities portfolio That's probably somewhere in the 150-175 from a repricing opportunity. that's probably somewhere in the 150-175 from a repricing opportunity

Speaker 6: Perfect. Okay. I guess if loan growth remains subdued, may we see some tactical changes? I'm thinking, do we see more consistent or even more aggressive buybacks, or do we see you perhaps, Connecticut is a really kind of heavily disrupted market right now with all the M&A. You have your toe in there. Maybe see you lead with lending to drive some better growth in that geography. I'm just curious, as you play this out, what might we see you do? Perfect. perfect Okay. okay I guess if loan growth remains subdued, may we see some tactical changes? i guess if loan growth remains subdued may we see some tactical changes I'm thinking, do we see more consistent or even more aggressive buybacks, or do we see you perhaps, Connecticut is a really kind of heavily disrupted market right now with all the M&A. i'm thinking do we see more consistent or even more aggressive buybacks or do we see you perhaps connecticut is a really kind of heavily disrupted market right now with all the m&a You have your toe in there. you have your toe in there Maybe see you lead with lending to drive some better growth in that geography. maybe see you lead with lending to drive some better growth in that geography I'm just curious, as you play this out, what might we see you do? i'm just curious as you play this out what might we see you do

Speaker 8: I don't think the strategy holistically changes by a lot, Matt. Will there be tactical opportunities in markets with disruption where it is definitely faster to lead with the asset product from a loan standpoint? For sure. To your point, whether that's northwest, north central Connecticut, whether that's the Berkshires, or in fairness, whether that's in spots in central New York, honestly, today. You're not wrong about that. I don't think that we'll think that it's a holistic change in strategy. What we are experiencing is an opportunity to hire some very high-quality people in several of our markets today, either coming from some of our larger bank competitors or for people that have been displaced via disruption. I don't think the strategy holistically changes by a lot, Matt. i don't think the strategy holistically changes by a lot matt Will there be tactical opportunities in markets with disruption where it is definitely faster to lead with the asset product from a loan standpoint? will there be tactical opportunities in markets with disruption where it is definitely faster to lead with the asset product from a loan standpoint For sure. for sure To your point, whether that's northwest, north central Connecticut, whether that's the Berkshires, or in fairness, whether that's in spots in central New York, honestly, today. to your point whether that's northwest north central connecticut whether that's the berkshires or in fairness whether that's in spots in central new york honestly today You're not wrong about that. you're not wrong about that I don't think that we'll think that it's a holistic change in strategy. i don't think that we'll think that it's a holistic change in strategy What we are experiencing is an opportunity to hire some very high-quality people in several of our markets today, either coming from some of our larger bank competitors or for people that have been displaced via disruption. what we are experiencing is an opportunity to hire some very high-quality people in several of our markets today either coming from some of our larger bank competitors or for people that have been displaced via disruption That has been an opportunity, and we've probably added six people to our mix in the last six months that we probably two years ago weren't sure we'd ever get access to that level of quality of an individual. That's a net positive. Has that shown up on the balance sheet yet? Probably not. On a going-forward basis, we certainly expect some opportunities to come out of that. I think tactically, I think we're proving that we're pretty adept at moving with situations. As logical opportunities present themselves in the markets, we'll be there and we'll be in a position to win those opportunities. Should there be pricing dynamics that don't make sense for us on a long-term basis, we're unlikely to chase for those. That has been an opportunity, and we've probably added six people to our mix in the last six months that we probably two years ago weren't sure we'd ever get access to that level of quality of an individual. that has been an opportunity and we've probably added six people to our mix in the last six months that we probably two years ago weren't sure we'd ever get access to that level of quality of an individual That's a net positive. that's a net positive Has that shown up on the balance sheet yet? has that shown up on the balance sheet yet Probably not. probably not On a going-forward basis, we certainly expect some opportunities to come out of that. on a going-forward basis we certainly expect some opportunities to come out of that I think tactically, I think we're proving that we're pretty adept at moving with situations. i think tactically i think we're proving that we're pretty adept at moving with situations As logical opportunities present themselves in the markets, we'll be there and we'll be in a position to win those opportunities. as logical opportunities present themselves in the markets we'll be there and we'll be in a position to win those opportunities Should there be pricing dynamics that don't make sense for us on a long-term basis, we're unlikely to chase for those. should there be pricing dynamics that don't make sense for us on a long-term basis we're unlikely to chase for those

Speaker 6: Should we think about consistent buybacks here? I mean, it's been 250,000 the last couple of quarters. Is that something we should model in for one or two more quarters? Should we think about consistent buybacks here? should we think about consistent buybacks here I mean, it's been 250,000 the last couple of quarters. i mean it's been 250,000 the last couple of quarters Is that something we should model in for one or two more quarters? is that something we should model in for one or two more quarters

Speaker 8: Here's how I kind of look at that, Matt, is that generating and retaining capital is hard. You work really hard to get to that privilege to generate capital to use for future opportunities. We are not opposed to share buybacks. We don't think that that's top of our priority list. We can certainly fund what we've done for the last two quarters because our earnings generation has been so robust. I don't think that we need to think about that as we're probably never going to start one of our conference calls with we bought 9% of our shares this quarter. That's not us. A practical mechanism that says if the market's not recognizing our value, we want to be participatory in that. Absolutely. Here's how I kind of look at that, Matt, is that generating and retaining capital is hard. here's how i kind of look at that matt is that generating and retaining capital is hard You work really hard to get to that privilege to generate capital to use for future opportunities. you work really hard to get to that privilege to generate capital to use for future opportunities We are not opposed to share buybacks. we are not opposed to share buybacks We don't think that that's top of our priority list. we don't think that that's top of our priority list We can certainly fund what we've done for the last two quarters because our earnings generation has been so robust. we can certainly fund what we've done for the last two quarters because our earnings generation has been so robust I don't think that we need to think about that as we're probably never going to start one of our conference calls with we bought 9% of our shares this quarter. i don't think that we need to think about that as we're probably never going to start one of our conference calls with we bought 9% of our shares this quarter That's not us. that's not us A practical mechanism that says if the market's not recognizing our value, we want to be participatory in that. a practical mechanism that says if the market's not recognizing our value we want to be participatory in that Absolutely. absolutely

Speaker 6: Yes. Okay, last one for me. Just an update on all things kind of chip manufacturing, not just Micron, but there's been $ tens of billions directed to NY CREATES and GlobalFoundries. Just curious, in terms of activity, what's going on? Two, when do we start to see that translate into a bit more loan growth than we're currently seeing? That's all I have. Thank you. Yes. yes Okay, last one for me. okay last one for me Just an update on all things kind of chip manufacturing, not just Micron, but there's been $ tens of billions directed to NY CREATES and GlobalFoundries. just an update on all things kind of chip manufacturing not just micron but there's been $ tens of billions directed to ny creates and globalfoundries Just curious, in terms of activity, what's going on? just curious in terms of activity what's going on Two, when do we start to see that translate into a bit more loan growth than we're currently seeing? two when do we start to see that translate into a bit more loan growth than we're currently seeing That's all I have. that's all i have Thank you. thank you

Speaker 8: Yeah. Really decent question, Matt. I think the build-out up at GlobalFoundries in Saratoga is a great model to watch relative to what one might expect in the future with other fabrication facilities coming online. The total sort of vendor environment that they had to create to be able to service that facility. You've watched housing development and demographic improvement exist in that area for a number of years now, so that ought to continue. To your point, we're engaged in not only a lending facility at NY CREATES, but just the throw off that the activity generates there. It's a really important feature for not only Micron and GlobalFoundries, but other people who are interested in pre-testing their products are using that facility. It's a very important economic stimulator for future development. Yeah. yeah Really decent question, Matt. really decent question matt I think the build-out up at GlobalFoundries in Saratoga is a great model to watch relative to what one might expect in the future with other fabrication facilities coming online. i think the build-out up at globalfoundries in saratoga is a great model to watch relative to what one might expect in the future with other fabrication facilities coming online The total sort of vendor environment that they had to create to be able to service that facility. the total sort of vendor environment that they had to create to be able to service that facility You've watched housing development and demographic improvement exist in that area for a number of years now, so that ought to continue. you've watched housing development and demographic improvement exist in that area for a number of years now so that ought to continue To your point, we're engaged in not only a lending facility at NY CREATES, but just the throw off that the activity generates there. to your point we're engaged in not only a lending facility at ny creates but just the throw off that the activity generates there It's a really important feature for not only Micron and GlobalFoundries, but other people who are interested in pre-testing their products are using that facility. it's a really important feature for not only micron and globalfoundries but other people who are interested in pre-testing their products are using that facility It's a very important economic stimulator for future development. it's a very important economic stimulator for future development All in all, like anything from these very, very large project base, I wouldn't say we're disappointed that the pace has been a little bit slower than we might have initially expected. Remember just the sheer size of these projects. When you think about what's really important there, we keep coming back to what's really important is the sponsor, right? GlobalFoundries is doing very well. Micron is doing exceptionally well. The strength of the sponsor is really, really important to this, and I think that they're committed to these build-outs on a long-term basis. All in all, like anything from these very, very large project base, I wouldn't say we're disappointed that the pace has been a little bit slower than we might have initially expected. all in all like anything from these very very large project base i wouldn't say we're disappointed that the pace has been a little bit slower than we might have initially expected Remember just the sheer size of these projects. remember just the sheer size of these projects When you think about what's really important there, we keep coming back to what's really important is the sponsor, right? when you think about what's really important there we keep coming back to what's really important is the sponsor right GlobalFoundries is doing very well. globalfoundries is doing very well Micron is doing exceptionally well. micron is doing exceptionally well The strength of the sponsor is really, really important to this, and I think that they're committed to these build-outs on a long-term basis. the strength of the sponsor is really really important to this and i think that they're committed to these build-outs on a long-term basis

Speaker 6: Great. I'll leave it there. Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Annette. Great. great I'll leave it there. i'll leave it there Thank you, Scott. thank you scott Thank you, Annette. thank you annette

Speaker 8: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jake Civiello with D.A. Davidson. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from the line of Jake Civiello with D.A. our next question comes from the line of jake civiello with d.a Davidson. davidson

Speaker 3: Hey, good morning, Scott. Good morning, Matt. Hey, good morning, Scott. hey good morning scott Good morning, Matt. good morning matt

Speaker 8: Good morning, Jake. Good morning, Jake. good morning jake

Speaker 3: Just two quick questions for me. I apologize if I missed this, but did you have a spot NIM for the month of March that you provided? Just two quick questions for me. just two quick questions for me I apologize if I missed this, but did you have a spot NIM for the month of March that you provided? i apologize if i missed this but did you have a spot nim for the month of march that you provided

Speaker 1: It's pretty consistent with where we landed for the quarter. It's pretty consistent with where we landed for the quarter. it's pretty consistent with where we landed for the quarter

Speaker 3: Okay. You talked about the commercial payoffs in the quarter being relatively consistent with the past couple quarters. As you kind of look ahead or think ahead, I know you talked about loan growth being kind of back to that low- to mid-single digit growth trajectory. Are the payoffs and pay downs factored into that? Are they slowing? Can you give us any perspective there? Okay. okay You talked about the commercial payoffs in the quarter being relatively consistent with the past couple quarters. you talked about the commercial payoffs in the quarter being relatively consistent with the past couple quarters As you kind of look ahead or think ahead, I know you talked about loan growth being kind of back to that low- to mid-single digit growth trajectory. as you kind of look ahead or think ahead i know you talked about loan growth being kind of back to that low- to mid-single digit growth trajectory Are the payoffs and pay downs factored into that? are the payoffs and pay downs factored into that Are they slowing? are they slowing Can you give us any perspective there? can you give us any perspective there

Speaker 8: Sure, Jake. Absolutely. Just to give you a frame of reference here, in the first quarter of last year, we had about $45 million or $50 million worth of early payoffs. That was pretty consistent with the second quarter. Starting in the third quarter, the number went above $100 million, and for the first quarter, about $125 million for this year. Again, I think a lot of that has to do with the valuation of some of our customers' assets, whether it's the holistic business they're doing or a piece of real estate that they own. I think that as people look for yield from performing assets, all of those things have been in that consideration. I don't think that early payoffs are going to go back to zero. Sure, Jake. sure jake Absolutely. absolutely Just to give you a frame of reference here, in the first quarter of last year, we had about $45 million or $50 million worth of early payoffs. just to give you a frame of reference here in the first quarter of last year we had about $45 million or $50 million worth of early payoffs That was pretty consistent with the second quarter. that was pretty consistent with the second quarter Starting in the third quarter, the number went above $100 million, and for the first quarter, about $125 million for this year. starting in the third quarter the number went above $100 million and for the first quarter about $125 million for this year Again, I think a lot of that has to do with the valuation of some of our customers' assets, whether it's the holistic business they're doing or a piece of real estate that they own. again i think a lot of that has to do with the valuation of some of our customers' assets whether it's the holistic business they're doing or a piece of real estate that they own I think that as people look for yield from performing assets, all of those things have been in that consideration. i think that as people look for yield from performing assets all of those things have been in that consideration I don't think that early payoffs are going to go back to zero. i don't think that early payoffs are going to go back to zero I also think we're seeing signs that our production levels are capable of handling a higher level of payoff and still demonstrating that balance sheet growth. I think we're already in that phase. I also think we're seeing signs that our production levels are capable of handling a higher level of payoff and still demonstrating that balance sheet growth. i also think we're seeing signs that our production levels are capable of handling a higher level of payoff and still demonstrating that balance sheet growth I think we're already in that phase. i think we're already in that phase

Speaker 3: Okay. Any particular geographies or customer types or loan size? Okay. okay Any particular geographies or customer types or loan size? any particular geographies or customer types or loan size

Speaker 8: Really big. Widespread. A couple of very attractive operating businesses. Some real estate projects that the owner probably thought that they were going to be the holder for five- seven years, and they were able to go into an agency. I was at a hockey game in Western New York and had a chat with one of our customers who moved to an agency instrument three years before he thought it would be available. Wide variety and a wide variety of geographies. As well as that is that there's none of our geographies today where we're not seeing good growth attributes or good opportunities coming through. Kind of balance that with it's widespread on the payoff side. It's pretty widespread on the growth side. Really big. really big Widespread. widespread A couple of very attractive operating businesses. a couple of very attractive operating businesses Some real estate projects that the owner probably thought that they were going to be the holder for five- seven years, and they were able to go into an agency. some real estate projects that the owner probably thought that they were going to be the holder for five- seven years and they were able to go into an agency I was at a hockey game in Western New York and had a chat with one of our customers who moved to an agency instrument three years before he thought it would be available. i was at a hockey game in western new york and had a chat with one of our customers who moved to an agency instrument three years before he thought it would be available Wide variety and a wide variety of geographies. wide variety and a wide variety of geographies As well as that is that there's none of our geographies today where we're not seeing good growth attributes or good opportunities coming through. as well as that is that there's none of our geographies today where we're not seeing good growth attributes or good opportunities coming through Kind of balance that with it's widespread on the payoff side. kind of balance that with it's widespread on the payoff side It's pretty widespread on the growth side. it's pretty widespread on the growth side

Speaker 3: All right. That's fair. Thank you, Scott. Thanks. All right. all right That's fair. that's fair Thank you, Scott. thank you scott Thanks. thanks

Speaker 8: Thanks, Jake. Thanks, Jake. thanks jake

Speaker 7: Thank you. I am not showing any further questions. I will now turn the call back to Scott Kingsley for his closing remarks. Thank you. thank you I am not showing any further questions. i am not showing any further questions I will now turn the call back to Scott Kingsley for his closing remarks. i will now turn the call back to scott kingsley for his closing remarks

Speaker 8: Thanks. In closing, I want to thank everyone on the call for participating today, and thanks for your continued interest in NBT. Talk to you next time. Thanks. thanks In closing, I want to thank everyone on the call for participating today, and thanks for your continued interest in NBT. in closing i want to thank everyone on the call for participating today and thanks for your continued interest in nbt Talk to you next time. talk to you next time

Speaker 7: Thank you, Mr. Kingsley. This concludes our program. You may disconnect. Have a great day. Thank you, Mr. Kingsley. thank you mr kingsley This concludes our program. this concludes our program You may disconnect. you may disconnect Have a great day. have a great day