NBT Bancorp Inc. (NBTB) Q3 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the conference call covering NBT Bancorp's Third Quarter 26 Financial Results. This call is being recorded and has been made accessible to the public in accordance with 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 on Slide 2, 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. Currently, all participants are in a listen only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session Instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. And now I would like to turn the call over to NBT Bancorp's President and CEO, Scott A. Kingsley, for his opening remarks. Mr. Kingsley, please begin.

Thank you, Jonathan. Good morning. And welcome to this earnings call covering MBT Bancorp's Third Quarter 2026 results. With me today are Annette L. Burns, NBT's Chief Financial Officer Joe Stagliano, President of NBT Bank and Joe Ondesco, our Treasurer. We are pleased with our solid third quarter operating performance, which demonstrates the strength and momentum of NBT's diversified financial services franchise. We generated noticeably stronger earnings than in both the third quarter of last year and the second quarter of this year. Productive loan growth across our markets contributed to record net interest income for the quarter. We also remained very disciplined in our cost of funds management while focusing on net new account growth. We are very pleased with the engaged and consistent approach of our teams across the company. Operating return on assets was 1.41% for the third quarter, while operating return on tangible equity was 16.53%. Tangible book value per share ended the quarter at $27.75 an increase of 8.8% from a year ago. Our capital utilization priorities remain focused on supporting organic growth while maintaining our long standing commitment to annual dividend increases. At $0.40 per share, NBT's quarterly dividend is 8.1% higher than the prior year and affirms our continued commitment to providing favorable long term returns to our shareholders. Our strong capital levels also allow us to continue to evaluate a variety of strategic opportunities as well as enable measured share repurchases. We remain encouraged by the opportunities we see across our 7-state footprint. Through NBT's support of economic development projects, customer expansion activity, and investments in new bank locations in several of our markets. We continue to position NBT for sustainable growth while supporting the communities we serve. Since 2019, the company has been able to successfully grow earnings at a 6% compounded annual growth rate while maintaining our conservative risk profile. And looking forward, we believe we are well positioned for the remainder of 2026 and beyond to continue executing on our diversified operating strategies. Before Annette reviews our third quarter results in greater detail, I will ask Joe Stagliano to provide a brief update on semiconductor related activities in our markets. Joe?

Thank you, Scott, and good morning. As we have discussed on prior calls, NBT Bank maintains a significant presence across many of the markets benefiting from New York's growing semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industry. With about 70 branches located across this corridor, we are already serving many of the businesses and communities connected to these developments. What stands out this quarter is the progress being made on several major projects and the growing evidence that their impact is extending beyond the project sites themselves. In Central New York, activity surrounding Micron continues to accelerate. Following the project's groundbreaking in January 2026, construction in Clay has advanced from site preparation into more visible phases of development. Infrastructure investments are moving forward, Crews began driving pilings for the first fabrication facility earlier this month. And an on-site concrete batch plant will support construction throughout the winter. While the first chip production is not expected until about 2030, but we are already seeing increased focus on workforce housing related development to support long term growth. Central New York businesses, including many NBT Bank customers, are participating in site development, engineering, environmental construction, and other support activities related to the project. While many of these projects are still taking shape, the pace and scale of activity support our positive outlook for Central New York. We are also excited to expand our presence in the area with a new branch expected to open in the first half of 2027. About 1 mile from the Micron campus. More broadly, Micron is 1 part of a larger semiconductor story unfolding across Upstate New York. The Mohawk Valley remains an important component of that story. Supported by ongoing activity around the Marcy site near Utica and continued interest in the region's manufacturing future. In the capital region, New York CREATES a leading semiconductor research and innovation organization supports research and development that strengthens New York's position within the industry. We were also encouraged by GlobalFoundries' recent announcement of plans to expand its campus in Saratoga County through the addition of 2 new semiconductor fabrication facilities. Further highlighting the scale of investment taking place across the state. Taken together, these developments highlight the breadth of activity occurring across a well established semiconductor corridor that spans Central New York, the Mohawk Valley, and the capital region. For NBT, the significance of these investments extends beyond manufacturing Projects of this scale can support housing and workforce development, infrastructure improvements, professional services, small business growth, and local investment. We are well positioned to support that growth as these opportunities continue to evolve. What we are seeing across these regions reinforce our confidence in the long term outlook for the markets we serve Importantly, this opportunity extends beyond New York, semiconductor related activity across our broader footprint. Including GlobalFoundries' facility in Burlington, Vermont, where CHIPS Act supported investments are advancing next generation semiconductor technologies and strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities. With that overview, I will turn the call over to Annette L. Burns to discuss our third quarter financial results in greater detail. Annette?

Thank you, Joe, and good morning. Starting on the results overview page of our earnings presentation, we reported third quarter net income of $58 million or $1.11 per diluted common share. Earnings benefited from continued balance sheet growth record net interest income, net interest margin expansion, and solid contributions from our diversified fee based businesses. We generated record quarterly earnings and maintained strong capital levels. Turning to loans on the next page. Total loans ended the quarter at $11.9 billion, increasing $427 million or 4% from December 31, 2025. Excluding our consumer runoff portfolios. All business lines experienced growth, with commercial loans increasing $234 million despite payoffs remaining elevated from last year's levels and consumer loans increasing $116 million during the first 9 months of the year. Commercial and consumer portfolios remain well balanced at 56%/44% of total loans respectively. The increase in commercial loans reflects continued customer activity across our footprint and a disciplined approach to growth. We continue to maintain a diversified C&I and CRE portfolio with balanced exposure across industries and property types. While preserving strong credit quality standards. New commercial originations during the quarter carried a yield of 6.41% providing for continued repricing opportunities. On Page 6, total deposits were $13.6 billion at quarter end and increased modestly from year end levels. Core deposits grew 2.6% in the first 9 months of 2026. We maintained a strong funding profile with almost 60% of total deposits in no and low cost checking and savings accounts at a blended cost of 38 basis points. Total deposit costs declined by 1 basis point during the quarter to 1.32%, while the total cost of funds increased by 1 basis point to 1.42%. From year end levels, we have experienced a favorable change in our mix of deposits out of higher cost time deposits and into checking, savings, and money market products. During the year, $99 million of brokered CDs matured and $25 million of subordinated debt was also redeemed. We continue to tactically manage funding strategies to grow relationships while maintaining better than peer cost of funds. Net interest income and margin trends are highlighted on the next slide. Our net interest income increased to a record $143 million, up $5 million from the second quarter and more than 5% above the third quarter of 2025. The increase from the second quarter was driven by organic loan growth, higher earning asset yields, including increased purchase accounting accretion, and the benefit of 1 additional calendar day in the quarter. Net interest margin increased 5 basis points to 3.78% compared with the prior quarter. Our balance sheet remains well positioned across a variety of interest rate environments. And continues to demonstrate low sensitivity to rate changes. The opportunity for further upward movement in earning asset yields and net interest margin will largely depend on the shape of the yield curve. With the reinvestment of loan and investment portfolio cash flows. The trends in non interest income are outlined on Page 8. Excluding securities gains, our fee income was $52.9 million, seasonally higher than the prior quarter with an increase of $3.3 million and increased 2.9% from the third quarter of 2025. Growth was led by retirement plan administration revenues, which increased 8.7% from the prior year. Combined revenues from retirement plan services, wealth management, and insurance services generated a approximately $34 million in quarterly revenues, a new high. Noninterest income represented approximately 27% of total revenues in the third quarter and reflects the strength of our diversified revenue base. As a reminder, consistent with historical trends, the fourth quarter is typically the lowest revenue generating quarter for these fee businesses, reflecting the seasonal decline in activity based fees. Total operating expenses increased 3% from the prior quarter, Salaries and employee benefit costs were $70 million a modest increase from the prior quarter. This increase was primarily driven by 1 additional payroll day and higher incentive compensation expenses, which were partially offset by lower employee benefit costs. The quarter over quarter increase in other operating expenses was primarily due to activity based costs and a higher reserve for unfunded loan commitments. Slide 10 provides an overview of key asset quality metrics Provision expense for the 3 months ended September 30, 2020, was $3.8 million compared to $6.1 million for the second quarter of 2026. The decrease in the provision for loan losses during the quarter was primarily due to a lower level of loan growth compared to the prior quarter and a decrease in the allowance for loan losses due to a modest improvement in the economic forecast and portfolio mix changes. Reserves were 1.17% of total loans and covered 2 times the level of nonperforming loans. We delivered record third quarter earnings, driven by broad based business activity and continued momentum across the franchise. Our diversified balance sheet, meaningful fee income, disciplined balance sheet management, and strong capital position continue to support consistent performance and position us well for sustainable growth. Thank you for your interest in our results. At this time, we welcome any questions you may have.

Certainly. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you do have a question at this time, please press 1-1 on your telephone. If your question has been answered and you would like to remove yourself from the queue, simply press 1-1 again. Our first question comes from the line of Feddie Strickland from Hovde Group. Your question please.

Hey, good morning, everyone.

Good morning, Feddie.

Just wanted to ask kind of thoughts about loan growth going into the fourth quarter. I mean, I know the residential solar and other consumer I guess, deceleration has been pretty consistent there. I know you have had some payoffs, but just, could loan growth potentially tick up a little bit into the fourth quarter? Or do we expect something similar to what you saw in the third?

Thanks for the question. I think we are thinking a consistent outcome going into the fourth quarter. We like where we are from a pipeline standpoint and we have a lot of really productive new construction projects in place across our markets. The fourth quarter is usually not the quarter of mass draws on construction projects because of where we sit from a weather standpoint. But I think you hit it on the head. we have demonstrated a 4% growth rate for the first 9 months of the year, excluding those consumer portfolios, but 3% including them. So I think consistent for the fourth quarter is our expectations.

Thanks. I appreciate that, Scott. And just in that, should we expect loan discount accretion to step back down from here after the little bit of an increase this quarter?

I would expect that. Our accretion related to purchase accounting kind of runs somewhere between $6 million and $6.5 million on average. It was a little bit higher this quarter. So it is all dependent on different levels of payoffs and things like that. But, you know, I would expect it probably normalize again next quarter.

And just 1 last 1 for me on the margin. I appreciate that the shape of the yield curve is kind of going to determine what happens there. But let's say we have a couple more rate hikes here, through early next year and the 5 year sort of holds where it is. I mean, in that scenario, does the back book repricing and pretty low cost deposits mean you will continue to see the margin rise in that scenario?

So we speak to us being fairly neutrally positioned So in the rising rate environment, scenario, we see our approximately $3 billion of earning assets reprice almost immediately. I think we have some ability to lag on the funding side where obviously, borrowings are repricing almost immediately while we can lag a little bit on our deposit costs. But we expect to probably respond to some deposit pricing pressures. So I think fairly neutrally positioned as it relates to rising interest rates. We really see the benefit on our net interest margin is the repricing of our assets both investment securities and loans. Continuing to see a favorable rate environment, especially where we price our loans in that 2 to 5 years, Scott. So that is where we see a few basis points of margin improvement continue as a trend.

Agreed. I think Annette hit it on the head there. We have got a big book of mortgage products, residential mortgage products. That we would love to have inflect a little bit faster from a repricing standpoint. But at current rates and I do not think our geographies are dissimilar to much in the country, you know, at current rates that are hovering around 7%. Activity is just at muted levels today.

Alright. Great. Thank you both for taking my questions. I will step back. Thank you.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of David Konrad from KBW. Your question please.

Hey, good morning. And I just had a follow-up question. On kind of the asset yields, specifically on the securities book. You know, you had about 6 bps improvement there, but still relatively low yielded. You know, 2.76%. So just wondering what your currently investing in, the yield there? And would you expect if the 5-year kind of 10-year stays in this range, is kind of 6 bps a good progression going forward, or how do you think security's portfolio will reprice?

Yeah. I do not think it is I do not think it is wildly out of line, David. What I think is that we are at $300 million of cash flows on an annual basis, you know, so you are probably in the $65 million to $75 million a quarter. You know, we have a little bit of our portfolio that is in a variable rate status, and we got probably a little tiny bump in September for that. Maybe that continues a little bit into the fourth quarter, you know, relative to inflection. But we are probably targeting stuff that is in the 4%, 6-year duration when we replace, and it is typically mortgage backed instruments of some fashion or form. You know, so very consistent and really consistent with what our pledging requirements are for, you know, our municipal deposit base. So, you know, like where that is headed, you know, I think I have said this before. I think we are the lone person in our peer group that did not do a portfolio reconstruction or restructuring. And, you know, and I will say this out loud, you know, if we would have been 1 of those people considering or doing that in the first 6 months of the year, we probably would not would not feel good about the assets we bought then. You know, they would argue we would probably be underwater already. So I think we can stay the course on that. We know that you know, it is it is probably holding back, you know, total asset yields a little bit. But that is all coming back to us over time.

Great. Thank you. And then 1 follow-up. Just the expenses were a little bit higher than what I was looking for. Maybe any commentary on your expectations next quarter for expenses?

Sure. Expenses ticked up in the third quarter. For us, typically, the first half of the year is a little bit lighter for us, and we typically see a little bit higher expenses in the back half of the year. that is really activity related, timing of some initiatives, So I think we will continue to see probably a similar level in the fourth quarter. that is about a 3% increase over where we were this time last year. So that is kind of in line with our expectations, and, you know, it might not be all the same expense lines, but, you know, there is probably some different activities expensing related to, you know, occupancy, maybe professional and marketing, and that might offset lower OpEx. So similar levels we are expecting.

Got it. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Manuel Navas from Piper Sandler. Your question please.

I appreciate the update on kind of the CHIPS Act momentum. Seems like you are you are trying to make sure you have branches in the right places. On the other side of that, I mean, that. That will help you with deposit growth. On the other side of that, at some point, would there be an expectation of loan growth acceleration And do you have the talent in place for that, or is that something you will add as needed?

So really good question. I think from a team standpoint, we really like where we are positioned today. And if you think of where that momentum is, it is Central New York into the Mohawk Valley in the capital region. And in fairness, we have really strong teams in those areas, arguably the strongest teams in the market. And so I think we are really well positioned to take advantage of those from an opportunity standpoint. I think what we will see first through the construction phase of Micron and the second fab build out at GlobalFoundries, honestly might be a need for more lending for some of our customers who are in the contracting side of the world. You know, maybe before we see household growth, that we would expect to generate deposit growth. So I feel good about that. You know, we have said this for a long time, and it is really hard to sort of, you know, prognosticate when this actually happens. But if you have heard from us that in our marketplaces and kind of the way we think about disciplined sustainable growth, it is kind of in that 3% to 5% or 4% to 6% growth. If we get some outsized activities, you know, in the markets we just described, might that move us to 5% to 6%, you know, 5% to 7%? I think that would be our hope. I think the activity, you know, sort of lists all boats, but we are really, really well positioned to get our requisite share of that activity.

I appreciate that. With that kind of in mind, do you have a sense of early thoughts on 2027? It seems like that is the 3% to 5%, 4% to 6% growth pace seems consistent. You talked a little bit about NIM. OpEx next quarter is about 3% year over year increase. Is that a similar pace into 2027? Any kind of broad items you can offer on those metrics in 2027?

Yeah. So let's start those in sort of, you know, back in, you know, order of the ask I think we think 2027 from a loan growth standpoint, knowing where we are with the expected early payoffs and, you know, the runoff of some of our, you know, consumer portfolios, think 3% to 5% is a really good starting point for that. Annette may have some other color on that. But I think as we think about going forward into 2027, broadly speaking, you know, we think that merit changes for our people are probably in the 3% to 3.5% range. I think we think other operating expenses do not probably. You know, are not radically different from that. We do have some branch expansion activities in our plan, and so that may push that up, you know, a little bit, 0.5% or something. And I think the only other thing that seems outsized for us, and we have now weathered this 3 or 4 years in a row, probably like most people, is we kind of expect medical costs for our people to be a double-digit increase again. And so, you know, we are doing lots of things you know, to try to mitigate that outcome. But in fairness, we need our people to be healthy, and we need to have a robust program for them in order for them to be successful. So you know, for today, we continue to look at solutions for that, but we think that is the expectation going forward.

I appreciate that. I will step back into the queue. Thank you.

A reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question at this time, please press 1-1. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Moss from Raymond James. Your question please.

Good morning. Morning, team. Hey, Scott. Maybe just starting off on the retirement plan income. You know, that was up about 9% year over year. Just kind of, like, curious if you guys are thinking that is probably a good year over year run rate growth rate for that in the fourth quarter.

Yeah. I do not. I think in the fourth quarter, remember that the fourth quarter for us in that business is generally lower than the third quarter. You know, there is there is a bunch of activity based you know, necessary outcomes, you know, tax filings, and other related things that we do on behalf of our customers. So typically, we see a slight dip in revenue in the fourth quarter in that business. And that is been pretty consistent for the last several years. Think if you are to think about that on a going forward basis, because I think our 8% or 9% growth was a year over year outcome. We would probably be a little bit more tempered for that into 2027, probably think that is more in the sort of 5% to 7% range, going forward next year. We had a really great year this year. Of onboarding some larger plans and some books of business you know, that certain of our adviser partners moved to us early in the year. We would expect some of that for 2027. But, you know, we do not have, you know, sight lines on some of that we might have had a year ago today. Okay. Appreciate that. And then in terms of, you know, just the curious on the driver of payoffs here with regard to loans. You know, is it, you know, higher coupon stuff that is paying off, or, you know, was it just expected you know, maturities and things going to the current market? Any color you can give on the payoff you guys are seeing? Yeah. You know, Steve, we would like to tell you that there is something that is really running the front of that. But I will tell you, you know, just from, you know, our perspective as we have tried to work through that, there is a handful of things which is as rates have inflected up a little bit, you know, we certainly have customers that have decided to use their liquidity, you know, to take the take away maybe a high 6% or 7% yielding instrument on the debt side. The second thing is the asset values have remained very, very high. So we have a number of customers probably in advance of maybe their planning have monetized themselves out of certain assets, whether that be on the real estate side or even on the operating business side. And that continues to be. You know, I there is a lot of investable dollars chasing, you know, return and I think those businesses have been an example of that And from a logical standpoint, we do a fair amount of construction financing. We are essentially at the end of the project or at some general term after the end of the project, we expect to be, you know, taken out as well. And maybe the last thing I have seen, and maybe it is just a couple recent transactions, is some of the people we compete with on the government finance side, on the agency side, have been very, very assertive. You know, We have had a couple instances of being displaced by farm credit in the last quarter. With terms and conditions that may make sense for them from a. For from their entity, but we cannot validate as, you know, as carrying them on the balance sheet of the bank. So, you know, kind of a combination of a lot of things and I think good for us. I think we thought if it was more systematic and, you know, directed at 1 particular cause, we would be. Have a little bit more concern on future growth.

Okay. Appreciate that. And then guess the other thing I am curious on here is, you know, the auto loan originations at about 5.5%. Pretty tight relative to the treasury. Just kind of curious what are your thoughts on that book of business going forward? And how should we think about pricing there in terms?

So I will start with that, Annette. Feel free to jump in. I think when we look at that portfolio is in our markets across our 7 states, it is an asset our customers need. And so the financing of something that they use every day is still, you know, paramount to meeting our customer needs. From a pricing standpoint, to your point, you know, think about that having to price at a spread somewhere above the 2-year point of the curve. From a duration standpoint, we are starting to see that portfolio be sort of in the 30 to 36 month duration on a consistent basis. So, quote, early pay downs and accelerated return of principal is noticeable in that portfolio. Think about what we like about is it really lines up well for us from an ALCO standpoint. So know, if you are going to make those commitments to your point in the mid 5 range, you better expect the duration to be a little bit lower than something you might make a commitment on for 5, 7 or 10. So still very happy with that from a performance standpoint. You know, You know, we still have a charge off and a delinquency level in that portfolio. it is very attractive for us. And, you know, we continue to move forward. We have aspirations to make sure that we are banking that customer on both sides of the balance sheet. And that is not the easiest thing to do from a systematic standpoint. But we are dedicated to making, you know, making sure that holistically, it is more than a car loan.

Right. Okay. Appreciate that there. And then, you know, just on deposit costs, good to see them basically stable here. Plus or minus. Just kinda curious, like, how you guys thinking, like, you know, is there going to be a lower deposit beta this cycle? Or, you know, just given that we are at a 4% Fed funds rate, maybe we go to 4.25%, 4.5%. You know, a higher beta.

You know, I think it is going to be similar to potentially higher. Just our customers are starting off at a much higher level than they were this last interest rate increase cycle. So they are already used to getting some yield for their excess cash. And I think the competition out there is probably a little bit stronger, for good deposit relationships. For us, I think we will be actively managing that and continuing to focus on full relationships. But, you know, I think should be similar and has the potential to be at maybe just a little bit higher beta. This cycle.

Yep. And I would probably argue that this is probably the right time that if we are gonna allow for some inflection in deposit increases, is we have, you know, $3 billion of variable rate assets that are getting a boost, you know, with changes in fed funds rates. So this is actually probably the time to allow a little bit to that to happen. You know, and to make sure we have got a product suite that our customers or that our people in our branches and our people on the commercial team you know, can actually deliver solutions that make sense for the customer. You know, we have resisted that and done a great job with that for the last you know, 9 to 10 to 11 quarters. But given the fact that we are getting a little bit of push and a little bit of benefit of the asset inflection this might be the right time to consider that.

Okay. Appreciate that. I will step back in the queue here. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Steve.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Matthew Breese from Stephens Inc. Your question, please.

Hey, good morning.

Morning, Matthew.

Few questions for me. Maybe start with Slide 5. Annette, I really appreciate the new origination yields. The footnote states that it is for the third quarter. So I am curious how did those origination yields change by the end of the quarter versus for the average, just given some of the rate movement we had And are you starting to see more deals you know, not pencil out because of higher rates? Are there instances where you or the borrower are starting to walk away?

So that is a great observation, Matthew. Especially when you think about residential mortgage and maybe some of our commercial loans, the average for the quarter based compared to our new origination yields today, we probably moved up as the yield curve also moved up, so you are probably seeing some additional positive repricing opportunities there. I would say we probably are seeing a little bit of tightening in spreads given just where the overall higher level of rates are. So it is probably not a 1 for 1 with the movement of the curve.

And then your question around Yeah.

In terms of your question around is this slowing volume and demand, absolutely. Is it profound? Not yet. But there are certainly projects and maybe more of the things that is on the real estate side, you know, that have strained some of these things that. You know? And it is not because the project handle another 25 basis points. It would be because when the project was penciled out, maybe rates were actually 75 basis lower than they are today from a standpoint of a similar spot on the curve. So you are exactly right on that. I think, you know, really solid projects because in most of our marketplaces, housing demand is still necessary. You know, what we have not seen in our markets is a is a return back single family housing in any significant way. So multifamily housing projects have led the way. And, you know, as I am sort of fond of saying, our people in our markets have to live somewhere You know, so I still think there is demand you know, but at. But to your point, the rates are putting that at a. At an outcome. That means rents are having to go up, and there probably is a ceiling there.

Got it. Okay. And then I was hoping for a little bit more detail, service charges on deposit accounts, just quarter took a really nice step higher. The earnings release talks about maybe some account level fee based changes. Curious when that was implemented if there is. You know, if we might see some continuation in the fourth quarter. Growth wise for that line item.

Yeah. Maybe just start there. Sure. Most of that was put in place right at the beginning of the quarter. So, you know, from a trajectory, you probably would see similar levels in the fourth quarter and moving forward. And it was really a result of some, you know, comparison to market and responding to, you know, being in line with market. Rates on those fronts.

Got it. Okay. Last 1 for me, and I asked another Upstate New York bank this question, this question, but it applies to you as well. You know, we are feeling a lot more questions around the risk to deposit basis like yours. Because of generative AI and products like moves more efficiently moving dollars around Now I am just curious how you would respond to that and if you feel like, you know, franchises like yours are more or less at risk. And why?

Well, let's start with that on 2 fronts, which is you know, as much as there might be additional tools out there that would allow for, you know, better optics for the consumer. We have those similar products today. So if a customer has reached a point where their, their short-term balances have gotten to a level above their, you know, utilization and an emergency base sitting in their, you know, small money market account, they can make that change. And truthfully, we have instruments out there in our suite of products that can bring them a lot of, you know, a more significant yield than they might be enjoying on the base today. So 1, we think we can do some of that stuff. Number 2, given our granularity, I think there is less of that you know, with our current base. But clearly, you know, we have long term, you know, have had a lower funding cost and probably our peers in Upstate New York have had a similar outcome. So it is the difference between an acceptable yield and where we are priced today can. You know, different than maybe in certain other markets, so that beta might look a little bit larger. But I think we have been through multiple cycles on this. You know, and we have been able to actually be, you know, very consistent and sustain those type of movements. But are we focused on the fact that, hey, listen, our customer needs to know that they have got choices inside our products that are on the balance sheet? Absolutely. And, you know, we continue to think about you know, the profile and the suite of products to make sure that they are happy with where they are.

Appreciate all that. I will leave it there. Thank you. Thanks, Matt.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Jacob Civiello from D.A. Davidson. Your question please.

Hey. Good morning. it is Scott, Annette, and Joe.

Morning, Jake.

Morning. I apologize if I missed this, but did you have an exit NIM for the month of September?

We did not share that. I would say it is not dissimilar from what you saw for the quarter. And so just think ex the accretion impact is about 3 basis points. Yep.

Okay. Okay. Then is there so on. I am make sure I get the right page of the deck. So on Page 6 of the deck on deposits, is there any particular reason for the sequential decline in the absolute number consumer deposit accounts in the quarter?

it is an interesting question. I think as we have looked at across the level of what our product mix is, in terms of the types of accounts that we offer, There may have been some, you know, some selection out of certain of our accounts. And I think as Annette mentioned earlier, you know, we did add some fee structures to some of our accounts, and maybe that is, you know, you know, allowed the customer to consolidate in some of that And I think those accounts that, you know, we have. You know, that probably had you know, the fee changes on were low balance in nature. So Okay.

Makes sense. Thank you. Thanks, Jake.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Daniel Cardenas from Freedman Capital. Your question please. Good morning, guys.

Hey. Good morning.

So just a quick question on nonperformers. I mean, levels seem to be normalizing here over the last 3 quarters or so. Just kinda wondering if there is any trends emerging as it relates to maybe to specific industries, or is this kind of just a broad base, you know, type of increase that we are seeing?

Yeah. We had a slight uptick in our nonperforming loans We were able to kind of resolve some and maybe 1 or 2 came back in on the commercial loan portfolio front. We are not seeing any specific trends, industry, regions, it is really more tied to some very borrower specific events. And we are able to kind of manage through those and, you know, we think we have the right reserve levels against those credits as well.

Okay. And then maybe thoughts on criticized and classified levels. How are those looking coming out of the third quarter?

Criticized and classified levels are ticking down a little bit from where we were last quarter and significantly lower from where we were about a year ago. You know, we had a little bit of uptick in criticized and classified related to when we onboarded Evans Bancorp, and we have been very successful in managing through some of those credits and some upgrades, some strategic exits. So we are kinda feeling good about where we are as far as the management of those levels. And a little bit down from where they were last quarter.

Great. And then last question for me is tax rate came in a little bit higher than what I was looking for this quarter. How should we be thinking about that coming into Q4?

I think we are kind of in a good spot in especially if you look at where we are from a year to date basis, we probably had a little bit of true up. And it is just really around our overall revenue expectations, you know, versus, you know, taxable income based expectations. So just really just our overall level of growth and truing it up for the quarter.

Okay. Great. Thanks, guys. Thanks.

Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, Our next question is a follow-up from the line of Feddie Strickland from Hovde Group. Your question please.

Just 2 quick follow ups. 1 on the expenses. Annette, you were saying that the overall expense number of that $115 million or so is flat linked quarter? Or are you saying we would see a repeat of the roughly 3% growth in the expense line?

I think you can expect to see relatively similar levels, so right around that $114 million to $115 million in the fourth quarter that you saw in the third?

Yeah, I think Annette's other comment, Feddie, just for clarification was that those levels represented a 3% or 3.5% increase over where we were at the same time last year, which is in line with our expectations.

Got it. Thanks for that. Hey. Just 1 last piece on M&A conversations, Has the rate environment changed those at all from potential partners? Just anything there.

So I do not think the rate environment has changed anything. And, you know, our approach to M&A which is it is relationship building You know, we spend a lot of time in the field with like minded smaller community banks. And typically, you know, maybe much like the industry in general, you know, the current shape of the yield curve and where demand is, is that most smaller banks feel pretty good about where they are today. I think they believe that with the yield curve with some shape to it, that they are capable of sustaining their earnings. I think for us a lot of times, whether it is succession planning, whether it is technology initiatives, you know, or just, you know, the need for liquidity for some in their shareholder base. Those tend to be the items that typically drive decision timing for the people that we are probably interested in partnering with. But I would say our conversations are always productive. You know, I think people are really interested in our strategies, you know, and when the time comes where independent might not be for them, we want them to understand the value proposition of partnering with NBT Bank. So that is our general thought in, you know, generally in the market today. We believe we have, you know, whether that is through organic growth characteristics or that is through some M&A, you know, we have got some spots that you know, we can fill in our franchise. You know, Buffalo, New York to Portland, Maine, you know, it is a long ride. So do not travel behind Joe in the winter months. You. You are not gonna enjoy it. But that being said, there is lots of spots in that franchise for us to fill in. Our concentration in several places could be improved. And we are working on that. And we are working on that with you know, different sites organically and build out some of our teams. And we are always on the lookout with who is in the markets that would help us do that a little more quickly.

Alright. Great. that is all I had. Thank you both so much. Appreciate it.

Thank you. This does conclude the question and answer session of today's program. I would like to hand the program back to Scott A. Kingsley for any further remarks.

Thanks, Jonathan, and appreciate everyone's attendance here. I think we talked about this in our comments, but we want to make sure everybody has the takeaway that we are in a really, really great spot from a capital standpoint. Capital levels at almost 10% from a leverage standpoint, you know, 12.5% for CET 1, and north of 14% for risk based capital gives us so much flexibility. And I think we will be able to use that flexibility in our markets over the coming years and really, you know, for the for the net benefit of the shareholder. So look forward to future conversations. Thanks everyone for participating today. And, again, we appreciate your continued interest in NBT. Thanks.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.