FIBK

Hello, and thank you for standing by. My name is Dennis, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. Q1 2026 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. I would now like to turn the call over to Nancy Vermeulen. Please go ahead.

Thanks very much. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our Q1 earnings conference call. As we begin, please note that the information provided during this call will contain forward-looking statements, and actual results or outcomes might differ materially from those expressed by those statements. I'd like to direct all listeners to read the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements contained in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and in our earnings release, as well as the risk factors identified in the annual report and our more recent periodic reports filed with the SEC. Relevant factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements are included in the earnings release and in our SEC filings, and the company does not undertake to update any of the forward-looking statements made today.

A copy of our earnings release, which contains non-GAAP financial measures, is available on our website at fibk.com. Information regarding our use of the non-GAAP financial measures may be found in the body of the earnings release and a reconciliation to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the earnings release for your reference. Again, this quarter, along with our earnings release, we've published an updated investor presentation that has additional disclosures that we believe will be helpful.

The presentation can be accessed on our investor relations website, and if you have not downloaded a copy yet, we encourage you to do so. Please also note that as we discuss our financials today, unless otherwise noted, all of the prior period comparisons will be with the Q4 of 2025. Joining us from management this morning are Jim Reuter, our Chief Executive Officer, David Della Camera, our Chief Financial Officer, and other members of our management team. I'll turn the call over to Jim Reuter. Jim.

Thank you, Nancy, and thank you for joining us on our earnings call today. In the Q1 of 2026, we completed the redesign of our banking organization, which was a major step forward in the ongoing strategic focus on full relationship banking. This, along with the expansion of our teams in key markets such as Colorado, is translating into an increase in production as we move into the Q2. As a reminder, we initiated the redesign in the Q4 of last year with the intent of changing our banking organization from a layered structure to a flatter, more streamlined model, resulting in a better client experience. We completed the transition in the Q1, successfully integrating top performers from within the company with exceptional external talent to create a more agile structure focused on delivering the full capabilities of the bank.

We remain focused on disciplined earning asset growth, supporting earning asset repricing to drive the value inherent in our best-in-class deposit base. Over the course of 2025, we began reorienting our branch network to geographies that have high growth potential for us, which entailed divestitures of some of our lower density markets and planned branch openings in areas where we have opportunities to gain market share. We completed the previously announced consolidations of four branches in Eastern Nebraska, the closures of the single branches in Minnesota and North Dakota, and the opening of an additional branch in Montana in the Q1. On April 10th, after quarter end, we completed the sale of 11 branches in rural Nebraska, and later in the month completed a major upgrade of our branch location in Sheridan, Wyoming.

We are currently consolidating two locations in Iowa and Oregon, which will close early in the Q3. We have made significant progress optimizing our branch network in the past 18 months, and while we believe most of the large activity is behind us, branch optimization will always be an ongoing process to ensure we can serve our customers most effectively and efficiently. Our overall objective is disciplined growth, placing assets on the balance sheet that are accretive to our return profile as we work to unlock the underlying value in our balance sheet. As we focus our capital investment in 2025, we initiated a share repurchase authorization and have purchased about six million shares since announcing the program last August. We continue to see value in share buybacks and are in a position to return capital as well as grow organically.

Turning to credit, in the Q1 of 2026, credit quality was generally stable with a modest decline in criticized loans. We experienced a modest increase in non-performing loans that was driven by one individual credit. Net charge-offs were 6 basis points of average loans. In addition to efforts to optimize our physical branch network mentioned earlier, we are also investing in digital channels to meet customers where they are, whether that be in a branch or online. We have made improvements to our online account opening experience and our Zelle P2P service. Both of these changes have produced positive results that are supporting our efforts to attract and retain customers.

We are making investments in our management of data to ensure we are able to leverage new technologies and integrate the use of AI, which are key to many of our strategic initiatives. We brought a new marketing partner on board in the Q1, and this firm is now developing a creative campaign across consumer and business platforms. Given that the transformation at First Interstate is now visible in our footprint, our balance sheet, and our delivery of first-class services and products, the timing is right to increase brand presence. You'll begin to see that across our footprint over the summer months. Now I will hand the call over to David to discuss our results and our guidance in more detail. David?

Thanks, Jim. I'll start with our results for the quarter. The company reported Net Interest Income of $60.2 million or $0.61 per diluted share in the Q1, compared to $108.8 million or $1.08 per diluted share in the Q4. Net Interest Income decreased by $5.7 million compared to the prior quarter or 2.8% to $200.7 million. This was driven primarily by fewer accrual days in the Q1 compared to the Q4, a reduction in earning assets due mostly to seasonally lower deposits, and a reduction in the yield on earning assets due to Q4 rate movement. These impacts were partially offset by a reduction in the cost of interest-bearing liabilities.

Yield on average loans decreased 7 basis points to 5.60%. Total deposit costs declined 10 basis points compared to the prior quarter. Total funding costs decreased 8 basis points compared to the Q4. Results were broadly in line with our initial expectations shared on the prior earnings call. Our fully tax-equivalent net interest margin was 3.43% for the Q1, compared to 3.38% during the Q4 and to 3.22% during the Q1 of 2025. This is the eighth consecutive quarter in which we have seen margin expansion. We continue to anticipate sequential expansion over the near and medium term. Non-interest income was $41.1 million, a decrease of $65.5 million from the prior quarter.

The decline was driven by a gain on sale of $62.7 million associated with our divestiture from Arizona and Kansas, and a $1.4 million gain from the sale of certain equity securities, both of which were recognized in the Q4. The remainder of the decline was generally driven by seasonality in our fee businesses, including payment services. Non-interest expense was $157.6 million for the Q1 of 2026, a decrease of $9.1 million from the prior quarter. Severance expense totaled $1.3 million during the quarter and was primarily related to the redesign of the banking organization and branch closures.

As a reminder, Q4 results included $4.2 million in severance expense, $2.3 million in expenses related to the pending branch closures, and a $1.2 million reversal related to the FDIC special assessment accrual. Results this quarter benefited from medical expense favorability to expectations, as well as an OREO valuation adjustment, which benefited expenses by just over $1 million. We continue to exhibit discipline across expense categories while reinvesting in areas to support accretive organic growth, including the addition of relationship managers and increased advertising expense, which is included in our forward expense guidance. Moving to the balance sheet.

Loans decreased by $473.2 million in the Q1, which included $58.1 million of continued amortization of the indirect portfolio and a decline in agricultural loans, as well as loan paydowns and payoffs. Total deposits decreased $205.3 million to $21.9 million as of March 31st, 2026. Year-over-year, excluding the impact of the Arizona and Kansas sold deposits were a little changed. Our deposit performance in the Q1 reflected what we view as normal seasonality and was modestly favorable to our initial expectations. We effectively captured beta on our interest-bearing deposits, with the cost declining 12 basis points compared to the prior quarter.

The ratio of loans held for investment to deposits was 67.3% at the end of the quarter, compared to 68.8% at the end of the prior quarter and 76.4% at the end of the Q1 of the prior year. As a note, the previously disclosed sale of 11 branches in Western Nebraska that closed in April contained approximately $244 million in sold deposits. Turning to credit. Net charge-offs decreased by $19.7 million in the Q1 to $2.4 million or 6 basis points of average loans. Total provision for credit losses was $6.7 million in the Q1. Criticized loans decreased $18.6 million or 1.8% from the prior quarter.

Our total funded provision increased to 1.33% of loans held for investment from 1.26% in the Q4. The increase in coverage this quarter broadly reflects specific credit activity within non-performing loans. We repurchased approximately 2.4 million shares in the Q1, totaling approximately $84 million, and repurchases since initiation of the program in August total about $202 million. We continue to view share repurchases as our immediate capital allocation priority. We believe the accretive combination of earning asset growth, share repurchases, fixed asset repricing, and the stabilization and improvement of our earning asset mix will drive shareholder value. Finally, we declared a dividend of $0.47 per common share, which equates to a 5.3% annualized yield based on the average closing price of the company's common stock during the Q1.

Our Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio ended the Q1 at 14.30%, a decrease of 8 basis points from the prior quarter. Our leverage ratio was 9.56% at the end of the Q1, compared to 9.61%. Moving to our guidance. Our guidance continues to include the impact of the sale of 11 branches in Nebraska, which closed subsequent to the end of the Q1, while excluding the anticipated gain on sale from the transaction, which we expect will total approximately $19 million. Broadly, our guidance is generally consistent with the prior quarter, with little change to our ranges for net interest income, non-interest income, and non-interest expense.

Our guidance continues to anticipate a decline in loan balances in the Q2, with stabilization and modest growth in the back half of the year. We continue to anticipate a benefit from fixed asset repricing over the next couple of years. As outlined in our investor presentation through 2027, we anticipate $2.6 billion of fixed and adjustable rate loans with a weighted average yield of 4.5% to mature or reprice. We expect an additional $2 billion of securities cash flows over the same period at a weighted average yield of 2.7%.

Both the dollar amount and rate of anticipated investment portfolio cash flows have increased over the prior two quarters as we continue to target a short to mid-duration profile for new purchases. Similar to prior periods, we also continue to expect sequential improvement in our net interest margin each quarter in 2026 and into 2027, given the expectation for improving spread between loans and deposits and due to the loan repricing dynamic and continued amortization of lower yielding investment securities. With that, I will hand the call back to Jim. Jim?

Thanks, David. First Interstate strengths are in our low-cost deposit base, supported by dominant share and growing markets. Our balance sheet exhibits strong liquidity and capital flexibility, and we anticipate benefiting from earning asset repricing over the coming years. We are pleased with the underlying momentum in the business, and we anticipate meaningful improvement to our return profile as we move forward. We would like to open the call up for questions.

At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. Your first question is from the line of Andrew Terrell with Stephens Inc. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning.

Morning, Andrew.

Hey, I wanted to start off just on loan growth. You know, I see on the guidance slide you're kind of assuming some improving production, informed by, you know, strong commercial pipeline. I was hoping you could just quantify. I know there's been a lot of moving pieces recently, but maybe give us some color on what's building in the pipeline. You know, how optimistic you are on returning to your flat balance sheet or growth, just given the decline we've seen recently as you guys have worked through some credit. Just maybe love to unpack the pipeline build a little bit more.

Yeah, sounds good, Andrew. Good question. I would just say that we expected as we put out our forward guidance for 2026 that we would see this decline, the first part leveling off mid-year and then growing in the back half. What I can tell you is we're seeing good pipeline activity. I'm not gonna give you an exact number because as you know, pull-through rates are always something that you have to make an assumption on. I will say it's the best activity I've seen in the 18 months since I've been here. You know, post the banking reorg, we have a flatter org chart with more people in production roles. We actually increased the number of bankers on the ground. We have clear scorecards and goals, it's driving really strong sales activity.

The bankers are doing not only a great job with that loan pipeline, I know that's the focus of your question, but they're bringing full relationships. I sit in loan committee every week, and it's become the default that you're talking about the deposits that are coming with the loan. You know, with that said though, we won't chase growth for the sake of growth. It'll be smart growth that provides the appropriate return credit profiles that's accretive to our bottom line and build shareholder value. Best pipeline I've seen. It's coming from all parts of the footprint, but they're not all created equal. We're seeing stronger activity in the Rocky Mountain region, Colorado in particular, given the opportunity we have there.

Great. I appreciate it, Jim. If I could move over to the margin quickly. Was there any NPL interest reversal that negatively impacted loan yields this quarter? You guys have, you know, obviously done a good job in improving loan yield in the face of rate cuts, but this quarter loan yields were down 7 basis points. Was there any anything one time in the loan yields and any other headwinds we should contemplate when we think about, you know, the fixed asset dynamics, going throughout the year?

Nothing material there, Andrew Terrell. I think the decline you saw quarter-over-quarter was essentially the impact of the 4Q rate cuts. Each rate cut, all else equal, is about a 5 basis point impact on our loan yields. About 20% of the portfolio is variable. That was really just that quarter-over-quarter impact there.

Got it. Okay. On the securities front, looks like you built the bond book a little bit this quarter. You still got a pretty healthy cash position and it's elevated versus, you know, where you ran at several years ago. I guess, you know, updated thoughts on where you'd like to run cash at, David, Should we expect incremental securities purchases going forward?

Yeah. I think a couple of comments there. You know, Q2 we had the branch transaction that closed early in the period. A little bit of a use of cash there, which is part of that. I think you'll see our cash position move around a little bit just given deposit seasonality as we try to smooth investment purchases over time. We will continue to be active in the investment space just given the securities cash flow we have coming over the next few years, but probably a little outsized growth this period, just given that change in loans that we anticipated.

Yep, fair enough. Okay, thank you for taking the questions.

Our next question is from the line of Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. I want to start with the weighted average rate on new loans and securities as we think through the cash flows coming off both those portfolios going forward.

Yep. Q1 for loans, kind of low sixes. I think later in the quarter a little bit higher as the base rate moved higher. On new securities, I would think in that five-year plus about 60 basis points, give or take, is kind of where the market is right now for those new purchases.

Okay. Okay. Then spot rate on deposits at the end of March and your outlook for deposit costs with the Fed on hold, are there any other opportunities to kind of reduce some higher cost deposits?

March interest-bearing deposit cost was 155, so a few basis points lower than the full quarter. I think as we go into the Q2, we feel like we're generally kind of where we will be without Fed moves. Again, a few basis points of improvement. We anticipate quarter-over-quarter just given ending versus average. You know, I think we've moved our rates where we think they will be given where the Fed is. Without additional movements, I think you should expect us to settle around where that is.

Okay. Just on criticized, any line of sight on, you know, a more material decline in those balances? Any, you know, resolutions coming up that you can see or upgrades?

Yeah, good question, Matt. You know, as I mentioned it in my opening comments, we've continued to see stabilization in the credit bucket. That's a result of the proactive credit management and the great work by our bankers and credit teams. You know, it's a dynamic part of the bank, it won't move in a straight linear path quarter to quarter. Directionally, over the long term, I'm confident we'll see continued improvement.

Okay, thanks. Just one minor housekeeping item. Is your full year NII guide on a taxable equivalent basis or GAAP basis?

It's a GAAP basis, Matt.

Okay, thank you.

Your next question is from the line of Jared Shaw with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. I guess, maybe a little more specifically on the payment services revenue. How should we think about that going forward, given the branch restructuring? Should, you know, should we expect to see growth in that this year, going forward?

Good question again, Jared, on. I would just say that the pipeline activity I mentioned, the bankers are doing a great job of bringing deposits. They're also given incentives to bring along partners in the bank, both in treasury management as well as payments. That's happening in spades. In talking to folks in treasury management, they've never been busier accompanying bankers on calls. That should give us some help in that area.

Mm-hmm.

Jared, I would just add as well, as you think about the year-over-year impact, would just remind about the impact of the consumer credit card outsourcing last year, which happened in the Q2. Then would note the Q1 is generally seasonally lower for us. Just actual seasonality as well as day count impacting that.

One other thing I would add, Jared, is just from a payment standpoint, philosophically, I've always had the mindset that payments are a key service a bank offers. In fact, my philosophy is if you make the First Interstate Bank the easiest account to move money to and from, you end up with more idle funds in those operating accounts. Those operating accounts tend to be your lowest cost deposit source. It's a priority from a strategy standpoint to lean into that space.

Yeah. Thanks. That's, that's great color. Jim, you talked about spending time on data management and making sure that that's in the place where you need it to be to take advantage of future opportunities. Can you give us an update on where are you sort of in that journey, and how are you looking at the opportunity of AI and maybe some other sort of, you know, newer to come tech, and to help you with that progress of restructuring the bank?

Yeah. Shortly after I started, we kicked off a project to get to one clean data source. Like any bank of our size, and then through a series of merger and acquisition transactions, you end up with data in a lot of different places. Having one source of truth is really important, not just in the past, but when you think about the future with AI. If you don't have a good data source, you'll just make bad decisions faster. That, that project wraps up early summer, we will have finished and be ready to go. That hasn't slowed our efforts of looking at AI solutions. You know, we have, as all banks do, a lot of jobs that are stare and compare, in audit compliance, different parts of the bank.

Those are ripe for AI to make you more efficient. We're also piloting a business development tool that helps gather industry data that we have within our own four walls, and really build a story and a playbook for a business development officer as they're out on a client call, which we think from our pilot work will increase the success of those efforts. In addition to the data, we are moving forward with AI efforts.

Okay. Thank you. Finally, you mentioned a specific non-performer impact or a specific loan impacting non-performers this quarter. Any color around that? Can you share any color around broader Ag trends that you're seeing or any areas of concern there with higher energy prices?

Yeah. The loan that we called out is one we've had on our radar really for better part of the time that I've been here, and we're just like, you know, I mentioned earlier, proactive credit management. Sometimes those end the way you want, sometimes they end in ways that you don't necessarily want. We're appropriately reserved for various outcomes, and it's just part of the resolution. That's all the color I would share on that. As far as, I think your second question was on Ag lending, you saw we had about almost $100 million in Ag leave us this quarter. Those were tied to annual reviews that when we looked at the loan, just not the type of credit we wanna make.

Ag will always be an important part of our footprint, you know, part of our portfolio, given our footprint. If you look, it's not a large part. As far as the energy prices, fertilizer, different things in the Midwest, you know, when we put together our ACL, there's all these qualitative factors. Just know that we take a look at those macroeconomic issues as we layer in those qualitative factors on our ACL. We're not seeing any acute stress, but there's certainly more conversations going on with customers and there'll be some customers advantaged by it as well. Like, we have a customer that does refurbished parts for combines and heavy equipment, and they're seeing an uptick in their business. It's mixed, but no doubt going to have an impact on the especially the Midwest grain part of our market.

Thank you.

Your next question is from the line of Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Good morning. Question on the, I know you've given us a few pieces on the around NII, but, maybe on the earning asset side, would seem to back into something in the range of $24.5 billion by year end. Is that plus or minus a good figure to use?

Yeah, I think just the pieces of our guide probably imply kind of maybe a few hundred million below that, depending on kind of where you use on the ranges. It implies from Q1 higher through the year just as deposit seasonality would, and modest deposit growth would drive earning asset improvement, assuming we're able to see that.

Okay. David, and not to get too specific, but on that margin lift then, you know, we've seen kind of 3-5 basis points to quarter expansion. Would you expect a similar decelerate, accelerate type movement? I know you've talked about into 2027, so that's a pretty good visibility. Just I guess in the near term next couple quarters, is that 3-5 move in the ballpark?

It is, yes. I think we still think about it sequentially. You know, I think again, the back half we probably have a little bit more of a tailwind given two things. One, that earning asset repricing. Two, the deposit seasonality. Three, we have the branch transaction. While not a large transaction, that does provide a modest headwind in the Q2. We do think of it as sequential expansion, and that's an appropriate range from our view to think about it.

Appreciate it. Thanks. You did mention the buyback. I mean, you're over a couple million shares a quarter kind of pace, and it seems like a very, again, your highlighted capital tool at this point. Also a figure to maybe roll forward if that's a kind of in that ballpark of where you've been on the, on the buyback, barring significant valuation change or other opportunities coming around. Is that a, is that a good pace?

I think it, you know, it's a good question. We think about it on a long-term basis, obviously. We are always looking at market conditions, et cetera, as we deploy capital. I don't think we're necessarily solving for a specific amount each quarter as much as we are trying to move our capital deployment over time towards our targets. I think you should expect us to continue to be active, but the actual dollar amount will obviously depend on facts and circumstances. To your point, we view it as an important tool in the near and long term to make sure we have the right capital level and drive value.

Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Our next question is from the line of Timur Braziler with UBS. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. First question, just a follow-up on the cadence of NII. The guidance was left unchanged, implying that 1Q is the trough. I'm just wondering, is more of that growth back-end loaded corollary to the margin comments that David, you just made, or is the expectation with the fixed asset repricing and some steady margin improvement that to get to that guide is gonna be kind of stairstep throughout the rest three of the three quarters there?

Yeah, good question. I would say we do think about the sequential improvement. Note that we think the back half is a little bit better than 2Q, with the branch transaction kind of being the driver of that. I think just a couple of additional notes I'd make as well. Day count does have an impact, of course, just given a lot of our assets are day count earners. 3Q, 4Q have 2 more days than 1Q, for example. Seasonality obviously matters as that drives our expectation for higher earning assets. Generally, kind of summer into fall are better seasonal deposit quarters for us. If that recurs, that would drive higher earning assets in that period. To your point, that fixed asset repricing we view as something that continues over time. Those would be the factors how we think about them.

Okay, got it. Then maybe, circling back to credit. The criticized portfolio, you know, is still fairly large, and then you have the good chunk of your loan book coming due over the next 24 months. Are those two related? Should we think that as you have a larger portion of the loan book repricing and/or maturing, that's gonna lead to the curing kind of at a faster pace of some of the criticized?

No, Timur, I wouldn't tie those two together because we have a very robust process when we put a loan on a watch or criticized level that we're looking at them every quarter. Renewal will not make a big difference there because we're asking borrowers to do things as we travel throughout the term of the loan. We don't wait until it's up for renewal before we'll ask for concessions or things that we need from the borrower.

Thanks, Jim. Maybe to that point, can you just provide us an update kind of on what the 1 Q renewals were, what the retention rate was, and what the uptake on the spread had been?

We don't tend to provide that level of detail on renewals and different things because it just doesn't make sense. It could lead to, frankly, folks making leaps that don't correlate with results.

Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Your next question is from the line of Kelly Motta with KBW. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for the question. My first few, I'd like to circle back to the commentary around deposits. I appreciate the color that the March spot was about 1.55 for interest bearing. Just as we think about the Nebraska deposits that were sold early this quarter, wondering how the cost of those compared relative to the overall book.

Yeah, sure. I would say, slightly lower, but not materially different and, you know, represented about 1% of the total deposit base, so it won't have a material impact on 2Q cost of deposits. It will, of course, impact earning assets, earning asset levels, but not a material total deposit cost impact.

Got it. That's helpful. With where your deposits are now, you know, slightly inclusive of the sale, they're slightly below kind of your 22 to 22.5 EOP guide. Wondering to get back to that range, is that mostly seasonality, or are you assuming some organic growth with the changes you've made on the front lines to drive relationship banking? Thank you.

Sure. I think it's going to be mostly seasonality Q2, late Q2 into third and Q4. There is an assumption of some slight year-over-year growth when you kind of adjust, if you will, for the different branch sales and things like that. We view it as quite a bit lower than what we would like to be growing over kind of the medium and long term, but there's some modest year-over-year growth by the end of the year in the underlying.

Got it. Then, on the criticized, they remain elevated, although the overall level hasn't changed much. Just kind of within that, can you provide any color in terms of have you has that pool of loans stayed relatively consistent? It's the same ones you're watching, or is there have there been movements, you know, significantly in and out kind of offsetting one another? Just trying to get a sense of the dynamics here.

Yeah. No, that's a good question, Kelly. You know, loan portfolios are dynamic by nature. I can tell you, there's a set of loans in there that has been in there most of the time, but there is some movement in and out, just as you would expect. You know, we see payoffs, we see borrowers cure, we see projects, you know, we see the primary source of repayment showing up and meeting expectations. Then there's some new ones that get added to it. It's a living, breathing part, but I think we're doing the right job of proactively managing it. I still am confident directionally over the long term you'll see that number come down.

Got it. Last one, if I could just slip it in real quick. I heard the additional call around, you know, buybacks very active this quarter. Just wanna confirm, in the past, there's been no appetite for securities restructuring. Just wanted to confirm that's still the case here. Thank you.

Yeah, sure. I don't think we've changed our view there. We still think we have a strong tailwind there over the long term as that portfolio cash flows. I would say we would still have the same kind of view and thought process there.

Great. Thank you so much. I'll step back.

There's a follow-up question from the line of Andrew Terrell with Stephens Inc. Please go ahead.

Thanks for taking the follow-up. I just wanted to clarify on the discussion around the average earning assets at the end of the year. I think we were, you know, the $24.5 million range was mentioned. It feels like you're, you know, $23.7-ish million today on average earning on end-of-period basis or earning assets on end of period. You've got the branch sale, you know, that'll take a little bit away from that. It feels like, you know, $24-ish million is probably closer range on average earning. I just wanna, you know, I think you said $200 million below $24.5 million. I just wanted to get updated expectations there, a more kind of fine point on it.

Yeah. I think the pieces of the guide together, Andrew, is kind of in the, we'll call it 24-24.5 million range. You know, it kind of depends on when the growth comes in from an average perspective with deposits. I think you're right. It's, we'll call it 24-24.5.

Okay, great. Thank you.

At this time, there are no further questions, and that will conclude the question and answer session. I will now turn the call over to Jim for closing remarks.

All right. Thank you. Thank you for the questions today. As always, we welcome calls from investors and analysts. Please reach out if you have any follow-up questions. Thank you for tuning in to the call today. Have a great day.

This concludes the First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. Q1 2026 earnings call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the First Interstate BancSystem Inc. Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Thursday, January 29, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nancy Vermeulen. Please go ahead.

Thanks very much. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. As we begin, please note that the information provided during this call will contain forward-looking statements, and actual results or outcomes might differ materially from those expressed by those statements. I'd like to direct all listeners to read the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements contained in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and in our earnings release as well as the risk factors identified in the annual report and in our more recent periodic reports filed with the SEC. Relevant factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements are included in the earnings release and in our SEC filings. And the company does not undertake to update any of the forward-looking statements made today. A copy of our earnings release, which contains non-GAAP financial measures, is available on our website at fibk.com. Information regarding our use of non-GAAP financial measures may be found in the body of the earnings release, and a reconciliation to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the earnings release for your reference. And again, this quarter, along with our earnings release, we've published an updated investor presentation that has additional disclosures that we believe will be helpful. The presentation can be accessed on our Investor Relations website. And if you have not downloaded a copy yet, we encourage you to do so. Please also note that as we discuss our financials today, unless otherwise noted, all of the prior period comparisons will be with the third quarter of 2025. Joining us from management this morning are Jim Reuter, our Chief Executive Officer; David Della Camera, our Chief Financial Officer; and other members of our management team. And now, I'll turn the call over to Jim Reuter. Jim?

Thank you, Nancy. And good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our call today. Over the course of 2025, we made meaningful progress to improve core profitability, refocus capital investment and optimize our balance sheet through reorienting our footprint to geographies where we have brand density, strong market share and high potential for growth. We announced branch divestitures in Arizona, Kansas and Nebraska, outsourced our consumer credit card product and discontinued originations in indirect lending. We have intentionally allowed certain larger transactional loans to run off in favor a disciplined effort to grow full banking relationships. That includes deposits, loans and corresponding fee generating services. These strategic actions among others we have taken have generated capital for us over the past year. In August of 2025, we announced a share repurchase authorization and began executing under that plan repurchasing approximately 3.7 million shares through year-end for a total of approximately $118 million. Our Board has approved an incremental $150 million share repurchase authorization bringing the total authorization to $300 million to provide further capacity to continue executing under that plan. Additionally, our balance sheet remains strong and flexible. We reduced our other borrowed funds from $1.6 billion at the end of 2024 to 0 at the end of 2025. Throughout 2025, we maintained a proactive approach to credit, and we are now beginning to see favorable results in our reported credit quality. Following stabilization in the third quarter, credit quality metrics improved in the fourth quarter. Criticized loans decreased by $112.3 million or 9.6% in the fourth quarter and non-performing assets decreased by $47.3 million or 26%. Net charge-offs were elevated in the fourth quarter driven by one larger credit for which we had already set a specific reserve of $11.6 million. For the full year of 2025, net charge-offs were 24 basis points of average loans, which is in line with our long-term expectations. We also continued to execute on our ongoing branch network optimization, focusing our capital deployment in markets where we have existing density or high growth potential. We closed on the sale of our branches in Arizona and Kansas in the fourth quarter, exiting those states. Subsequent to that transaction, in October, we announced the sale of 11 branches in Nebraska, which we expect to close early in the second quarter of 2026, and we will consolidate four additional branches in Nebraska in February. The company will have 29 branches remaining in Nebraska after the pending sale in closures. We will also close the single branches we have in North Dakota and Minnesota in the first quarter, which will consolidate our footprint from 14 states to 10 contiguous states. To drive profitable organic growth, we have made a series of investments, including building out a new commercial banking team in Colorado, and we have new branch openings underway in the state of Montana. We have a new fully operational branch in Columbia Falls and another branch opening soon in Billings. We are also relocating one of our branches in Sheridan, Wyoming to a location that will better serve the needs of our customers in that market. The full optimization of our remaining 10 states is an ongoing effort as we perform state-to-state reviews. In the fourth quarter, we began a transformation of the banking organization. We are changing the organization from a layered, regional and market structure to a flatter model. Our new State Presidents represent high performers, a majority of which are from within bank and select external talent, bringing proven track records of expertise, energy and strong commitment to our institution. We believe the combination of the right internal and external talent will support our growth. Along with other talented leaders throughout the organization, these leaders will play a critical role in our drive to allocate our resources as efficiently as possible for profitable organic expansion, focusing on areas where we have density or potential for growth. This new, more streamlined chain of responsibility is designed to speed up our local decision-making processes and align the decision framework with our organic growth and return on capital discipline. We expect this redesign to be nearly complete in the first quarter, and we view it as a significant driver of our expectation for improved organic growth. Loan balances declined during the year due to a variety of factors, including intentional non-relationship loan run-off, branch transactions, indirect lending run-off and the outsourcing of our consumer credit card product. Additionally, as we have discussed in prior quarters, production was lower than initially estimated during the year. This is partially influenced by continued competition in the market, both on a spread and credit basis. With that said, we are optimistic that the recent actions we have taken, most specifically the banking organization redesign will drive increased activity. Our net interest margin also continued to improve in the fourth quarter as we saw more sequential improvement in the spread between loans and deposits, and we continue to reinvest lower yielding cash flows from our investment portfolio. Our FTE net interest margin, excluding purchase accounting accretion improved 4 basis points in the fourth quarter, increasing from 3.3% at the end of the prior quarter to 3.34% at year-end. That level represents a 26 basis point increase from the fourth quarter of 2024. Our organic growth focus, elevating best-in-class talent from within, while adding select external talent and serving our customers with what they typically expect from a large bank, but with a personal community-oriented purpose, is designed to create a competitive advantage for us over the long term. And with that, I will hand the call over to David to discuss our financial results in more detail. David?

Thanks, Jim. I'll start with our results for the quarter. The company reported net income of $108.8 million or $1.08 per diluted share in the fourth quarter compared to $71.4 million or $0.69 per diluted share in the third quarter. Net interest income decreased by $0.4 million compared to the prior quarter or 0.2% to $206.4 million. Net interest income decreased $7.9 million or 3.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, primarily due to a reduction in earning assets and a reduction in the yield on earning assets. These effects on NII were partially offset by a decrease in interest expense on other borrowed funds. The closing of the Arizona and Kansas branch sale in early October, drove a decline in interest-earning assets in the fourth quarter of 2025. Yield on average loans decreased 1 basis point to 5.67%. Total deposit costs declined 5 basis points and total funding costs decreased 10 basis points, all compared to the third quarter. Our fully tax equivalent net interest margin was 3.38% for the fourth quarter compared to 3.36% during the third quarter and compared to 3.20% during the fourth quarter of 2024. Excluding purchase accounting accretion, the adjusted FTE net interest margin was 3.34%, an increase of 4 basis points from the prior quarter. Non-interest income was $106.6 million, an increase of $62.9 million from the prior quarter, driven by a gain on sale of $62.7 million associated with our divestiture from Arizona and Kansas. Non-interest expense was $166.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of $8.8 million from the prior quarter. This includes $2.3 million of costs associated with branch closures in Nebraska, North Dakota and Minnesota. Severance expense totaled $4.2 million during the quarter and was related primarily to the redesign of the banking organization and branch closures. Incentive accruals in the fourth quarter increased by $5.6 million compared to the prior quarter. Turning to credit. Net charge-offs increased by $19.8 million to $22.1 million, driven mainly by one credit for which we had an $11.6 million specific reserve. As Jim mentioned, for the full year of 2025, net charge-offs were 24 basis points of average loans. Total provision for credit losses was $7.1 million for the fourth quarter. Criticized loans decreased $112.3 million or 9.6%. Our total funded provision decreased to 1.26% of loans held for investment from 1.30% in the third quarter. Moving to the balance sheet. Loans decreased by $632.8 million in the fourth quarter, which included $62.8 million of continued amortization of the indirect portfolio and $72.5 million in loans moved to held for sale as a result of the Nebraska branch sale as well as larger loan payoffs, which included some criticized loans. Total deposits decreased $516.7 million to $22.1 billion as of December 31, 2025, driven by the sale of $641.6 million of deposits in the Arizona and Kansas transaction. Excluding sold deposits, deposits increased in the quarter. The ratio of loans held for investment to deposits was 68.8% at the end of the quarter compared to 70.1% at the end of the prior quarter and 77.5% at the end of December the prior year. We repurchased approximately 2.8 million shares in the fourth quarter, totaling approximately $90 million and repurchases since initiation of the program in August totaled approximately $118 million. Our regulatory capital ratios continued to improve in the fourth quarter, driven by a reduction in risk-weighted assets related to the Arizona and Kansas divestiture, the decline in loans and higher net income due mostly to the closing of the branch sale, partially offset by our deployment of capital through share repurchases. In the fourth quarter, we returned approximately $138 million of capital to shareholders, consisting of $90 million from the repurchase of shares and $48 million in dividends. Tangible common equity was approximately flat in the period, and tangible book value per share increased 2.9% in the fourth quarter to $22.40 per share. We continue to view share repurchases as our immediate capital allocation priority in addition to our ongoing focus on organic growth, which provides us the opportunity to drive EPS growth in excess of net income growth. We have increased our share repurchase authorization by $150 million to $300 million and roughly $180 million of capacity remains under the program. Finally, we declared a dividend of $0.47 per common share, which equates to a 5.7% annualized yield based on the average closing price of the company's common stock during the fourth quarter. Our common equity Tier 1 capital ratio ended the fourth quarter at 14.38%, an increase of 48 basis points from the prior quarter. Our leverage ratio was 9.61% at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 9.60% at the end of the prior quarter. Moving to our guidance. Our guidance includes the impact of the sale of 11 branches in Nebraska and the closure of 6 additional branches in Nebraska, North Dakota and Minnesota, while excluding the anticipated gain on sale related to the Nebraska branch sale. For reference, the North Dakota and Minnesota branches totaled roughly $30 million in combined deposits at the end of 2025. Starting with our balance sheet. We are including an assumption of low single-digit deposit growth for 2026 with normal seasonality. Turning to loans. Our guidance assumes an assumption of roughly flat to slightly lower total loans for 2026, excluding the continued run-off of our indirect portfolio, which will contribute an additional 1% to 2% in total loan decline. Our guidance has an underlying assumption that loans declined in the first half of the year while modestly growing in the back half. As we have outlined in our investor presentation, we anticipate an increased quantity of lower rate loan maturities over the next couple of years. This provides us a powerful reinvestment dynamic, and we believe it protects our net interest income dependent on a supportive rate environment. The pace of our NII expansion will be dependent upon our ability to renew and/or add new customer relationships to the bank. We are optimistic about our ability to see success here, and we'll continue to exercise discipline, ensuring that assets placed on our balance sheet are accretive to our return profile. We also continue to expect sequential improvement in our net interest margin given the expectation for improving spread between loans and deposits and due to the loan repricing dynamic and continued amortization of lower-yielding investment securities. To discuss timing in 2026 specifically, as we look to the first quarter due to fewer accrual days and the expectation for normal deposit seasonality in the first quarter, our guidance, as displayed includes an assumption that reported NII is approximately 3% lower in the first quarter than the fourth quarter level of 2025. Moving to expenses. We anticipate approximately flat to slightly lower expenses in 2026 compared to the reported full year 2025 level. We continue to exercise discipline across our controllable expenses to support reinvestment and growth initiatives. Our guidance assumes reinvestment into the business, such as the addition of relationship managers to our teams, the new branches we discussed previously and increasing our advertising expenditure as compared to 2025 levels. We also anticipate normalization in medical insurance expense in 2026, and our guidance includes an assumption that total 2026 expenses are about 1% higher due to this normalization. With that, I'll hand the call back to Jim. Jim?

Thanks, David. And as we look to 2026, we are in a position of strength. Our strong balance sheet and capital position, disciplined approach to credit risk management, focused franchise and redesigned banking organization positions us for success as we continue to execute our client-first community banking strategy. And now, I would like to open up the call for questions.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson.

I wanted to check in on the -- just the loan balances. And Jim, just kind of bigger picture, I guess, if you exclude the branch sales, the indirect runoff, I think maybe the under toe of other runoff is maybe greater than maybe perceived kind of mid last year. It sounds as if that was sort of a production issue. And I know, Jim, one of the tenets of your approach is sort of motivating rallying that organic growth. Just to try to course correct on maybe the other runoff is that we've got the guide for this year, but I wanted to check in on maybe what you've seen in '25 versus kind of as we entered it from a production standpoint?

Jeff, that's a good question. If you peel it back, a good portion of the decline in loan balances are related to payoffs of criticized loans, which we consider that to be good news. And/or you're right, there's some larger loans in there that were financed in the secondary market, but that was the intention of those loans when they were originally booked. I would put out or point out that even with the decline in loans, our deposits went up over $100 million, net of the sale of Arizona and Kansas. So I think that shows you that the loans leaving are not significant relationships with big deposits. We did see improved loan production in the month of December and some parts of the footprint. As I've talked to folks, we have some good pipeline activity. I also mentioned in the opening comments, the re-org of the banking organization, which I consider a very important catalyst for growth. It's a flatter org structure. We have, have more people in production roles, faster decisions and, frankly, a better client experience. We also added some new team members in Colorado, where we see a real good opportunity for growth. And with that said, I will tell you, Jeff, the adjustments to our credit culture in 2025 and the most recent reset of the banking org has in the short-term impact of new loan production. But from my past experience, it gives me confidence because the model we put in place, which combines disciplined credit management and a flatter and powered accountable leadership team has led to good organic growth. And when you combine that with our more focused franchise and brand density and growth markets, it gives me confidence in our ability to produce more in 2026.

Appreciate it. And David, just on the margin, maybe check it back in, I think there was a somewhat of an assumption of maybe approaching 3.5% or north of that by the end of '26. Could you -- it sounds like maybe Q1 we're treading water. I don't want to put words in your mouth. We got the NII guide. But the pace of margin expansion still left to go, at least for this year? Any commentary there?

Yes. Sure. Good morning, Jeff. So, a couple of comments there. I think we still see kind of north of 350 by year-end '26. So really no change there. The mix is a little bit different in the short run, given the change in loans, but trajectory, we still see the same way. We still think of it as sequential margin improvement every quarter. Our first quarter commentary on NII, that's really driven by as noted, the lower accrual days and also lower average balances quarter-over-quarter on the deposit side, so a little bit lower on the earning asset side. But on an underlying basis, we expect NIM to be higher in the first quarter than it is in the fourth quarter.

Okay. And David, the pace over the course of the year to get to that, I mean, a moderate increase in Q4, we shouldn't read into the fact that -- I guess, that would suggest greater expansion from the metric over the course of the year to get north of 3.5%. Is that fair?

Yes. So we're starting the 3.34x purchase accounting in the fourth quarter. So kind of in that 5-ish basis point range a quarter, we'll have -- obviously, it will be a little bit different each quarter, but something like that sequentially is how we're thinking about it. That's right.

Your next question comes from Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler.

Just a little more on the margin there. What kind of reinvestment rates are you getting on new loans and securities these days?

Yes, sure. So, on the security side, we talked last quarter, a 5-year plus 80% to 90%. That's come in a little bit in recent periods. So we think of that more in the 5-year plus 60% to 70% on that side. And then on the loan side, new production kind of in the low to mid-6s is kind of on a weighted average basis, it will of course be composition dependent. But somewhere in that range is what we're seeing.

Okay. And on the buyback, you bought over 75% of the $150 million that you authorized in two quarters. You've got a new one now. CET1 up to 14.4%. And I think you've mentioned in the past that you don't want to run with capital in excess of peers. So, is it fair to assume that we'll see a similar cadence of buyback activity here this year?

Yes. I think like you mentioned, we said last quarter, we want to approach that peer median over time. And I think we mentioned capital will lag the balance sheet movements a little bit. So that will continue to happen. But as you noted, we've been meaningfully executing there, and we plan to continue executing. Of course, pace will be dependent on market conditions and things like that, but we absolutely intend to be -- continue to be active on that buyback.

Okay. And then last one for me on criticized, down 10% this quarter. How much more improvement do you think you can make this year? Do you have any line of sight on kind of how much of a reduction we might see and the timing around that?

Yes, Matt, that's a good question. Credit is a living, breathing part of a bank. Our proactive approach, I think you've seen for the last two quarters has stabilized that and trended it down. But for me to make absolute predictions, there's a lot of assumptions in that. But you can expect us to continue to make good progress. That's the best I can say on that.

Your next question comes from Kelly Motta with KBW.

Maybe turning it around to the expense side of things. Q4 was impacted by several different kind of noisy year-end items and some one-timers. Can you -- as we look to 1Q, with your guide kind of assuming flattish expenses year-over-year, wondering kind of what's a good jumping off point in 1Q? And then as we think ahead and kind of consider the glide path through the year, how should we be thinking about the cadence of expenses off of that and the puts and takes?

Yes, sure. So to your point, a number of moving parts, I think to specifically answer that, we think expense seasonality is actually relatively flat next year given some of the timing on taxes in the first quarter, offsetting kind of the normal merit and other increases as we go through the year. So, kind of the underlying assumption, if you were just to use the midpoint of the expense guide would kind of be that $159 million to $160 million range each quarter.

Okay. That's really helpful. And then kind of with the loan outlook, like as was mentioned by another analyst, I think the balance is lower than maybe what we had expected. In terms of your guidance, for next year. Obviously, some of the reduction in loan balances is payoffs of criticized, which is good. Does your guidance contemplate additional room for payoffs? Or should that continue to occur, which would obviously help your credit, could there be downside to that loan number?

Sure. So I'll make a couple of comments on that. I think broadly, the short answer is, yes, we are assuming that we do see some larger payoffs within there. And again, I think our view is the first quarter, we see lower loans and then optimistic about some modest growth as we get into the back half of the year. But our underlying assumption does include we think we'll see some more larger payoffs within that.

Your next call comes from Andrew Terrell with Stephens, Inc. Andrew, go ahead.

I wanted to follow up just on the criticized point. I think, Jim, you mentioned earlier, just a lot of the payoffs we've seen over the past year have been on criticized loans. But when I look at just criticized balances overall, I mean they're basically flat to where we started this year. They're still off relative to 2024 levels. I guess I'm curious what's driving kind of the refill in that bucket? And I guess, do you feel like you've worked through everything at this point and we should just see balances moderate from here?

Yes, Andrew, that's a good question. So when I was talking about criticized going down, it's specific to this quarter, loans move from watch to criticized -- and I just want to reiterate what criticized is. I mean it's basically a loan, we feel good about the underlying collateral, the guarantors, different things, but it's missed some of its targets. And so, we're taking that proactive approach to managing credit, which I think you can see it produces good outcomes. So that's what you'll continue to see from us, Andrew, but there will be movement up and down. But if you look at the overall trajectory, it's going in the right direction. I'd also say new loans and renewals, we have a really good process in place with a loan committee. We're making fast, good decisions and everybody is on the same page. So kind of back to that loan production question that was asked by Jeff at the beginning of the call, that clear direction of what we want to do is given our bankers even more confidence as they're out talking to customers about what we can and can't do. But I feel good about our credit culture today.

Yes. And then, I wanted to ask more specifically on just -- I mean, it sounds like loans down a bit, in the first quarter. But you're optimistic about kind of back half. But then you also referenced just the level of competition, you mentioned credit rate-related competition, maybe some slower production from the team than kind of what you're expecting. So I'm just trying to figure out kind of what's driving the back half of the year optimism around production and kind of net growth increasing?

What drives my confidence is I talked about the banking re-org and the structure we put in place. And we did a lot of things, Andrew, in 2025 to recalibrate and change our approach to the business. And I feel like those things are pretty much behind us, and we can go on the offense at this point in time. We are seeing increased competition on rates and terms and things. And I will tell you, we're not going to grow for the sake of growth. We're going to put on disciplined credits that are profitable because that's what will ultimately enhance long-term shareholder value. We're 20 years without a credit cycle. And so, I just think discipline matters and I would say that's where gray hairs and some years of experience probably are beneficial today.

Yes. And just one last one, just to confirm on the guidance, the expense guidance, $630 million, $645 million for the year that does incorporate -- any actions from sold or closed branches net of reinvestment? I just want to make sure that's an all-in guide.

That's correct, Andrew. All the figures displayed in the guidance assume that the Nebraska branch transaction closes early in the second quarter.

Your next call comes from Jared Shaw with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Maybe just looking at the -- more specifically the markets that you do like versus the ones that you're exiting when you look at like Colorado, do you feel that you have the overall physical footprint you need there? Or is there an expectation that you could potentially reinvest some of the savings into adding a few locations? And then you talked about hiring some teams there. What's the -- what's sort of the outlook for continued hiring going forward?

Yes, Jared, that's a good question. I'll speak to the overall franchise and footprint. When you look at Page 5 of our investor presentation, I think when you look at that map, it looks very logical, they're contiguous. And specifically -- and you also look on the bottom of that page, you'll see we're in markets that have better growth prospects than the national average. So, we feel good about the overall footprint. To Colorado specifically, we do have the branch network we need right now. And we've also built out a really strong team that I'm confident is the right team, and they're seeing good activity, and they're on the ground calling on customers, building relationships. We will look at some additional locations in Colorado as we will, throughout the rest of our footprint. I mentioned in the opening comments, a new location in Billings. And then we're actually -- the relocation of the branch in Sheraton is branch #1 for First Interstate Bank and we built a new facility with better visibility and to better meet our customers' needs. But Colorado continues to be an exciting opportunity for us, and I like our chances and like the team we have there.

And then just, sort of, sticking with the Colorado. As you look at growing there, are you -- is this going to be full relationships, sort of, at the beginning? Or are you going to be leading with loan growth and it's going to take a little while for deposit growth to backfill in your mind?

As I've said from, I think, almost earnings call day 1, it will be focused on full relationships. But with that said, Jared, I know from experience that sometimes you make your first loan, you build the relationship and you deliver, you get some deposits and then over time through your consistent execution, you get the full relationship. So, I'm not naive to think that day 1, you get everything. So, it will be a mix of leading with some loans, but with the eye towards getting deposits and full relationships.

Your next call comes from Timur Braziler with Wells Fargo.

Can you give us a sense of the $3 billion of loan maturities and resets over the next 2 years? What portion of that $3 billion would you characterize as sort of non-relationship?

Yes, Timur, I think we think about relationships a couple of ways. I mean, there's the loans that today we have the full relationship and then there's some where we have an opportunity to develop a full relationship. So everything is going to be situationally dependent. And as you look at those loans, the rate coming off there is some new production. And obviously, we'd want to deploy those into higher-yielding assets. But I think holistically, we have some downside protection to net interest income. And then of course, as we -- as we're optimistic about additional loan production, we're looking to replace that with market assets. But every loan that comes due gives us an opportunity to either expand or retain their relationship.

Okay. And for those that you're looking to retain that have come up to date, just the competitive landscape for being able to keep those on your own balance sheet. I mean, are you getting a little bit of a home field advantage given that these are already your customers to begin with? Or do you feel as though it's kind of full fisticuffs and in terms of battling to keep these clients on board?

Timur, it really depends. I will tell you that we had a few more in this last quarter that their intention from day 1 was to go to the secondary market. And so, that's going to be hard for us to compete with. But on a go-forward basis, like David said, our goal is to expand the relationship. And if we don't get that completely done with this loan, that doesn't preclude us from renewing it, because like I said in the earlier comment, sometimes you have to do a couple of things for a customer before they're like, okay, I want to bring everything over to you.

Yes. Okay. And then just one more for me on credit. The charge-off wording still includes long-term charge-off guidance of 20 to 30 basis points. I'm just wondering what does this imply that there is maybe some more variability here in the near term? And just that in the context with the allowance ratio, we saw a little bit of release here as you had a specific credit kind of charged off. How do we think about those two components?

Yes, Timur. I think, a couple of things. So from an allowance coverage perspective, relatively similar quarter-over-quarter total funded ACL, but of course, an improvement in NPL coverage. So that ticked up during the quarter. And I think as we think about that coverage going forward, I think as we said before, it's kind of situationally dependent based on fact and circumstances of each quarter. As Jim said, we're optimistic for credit improvement. But each quarter, the committee and -- and internally, we look at facts and circumstances and determine what's appropriate at that time.

Your next call comes from Tim Coffey with Janney.

Jim, a question for you on kind of what is a targeted long-term loan-to-deposit ratio?

That's a good question. Obviously, we're lower than our peers right now. We like that flexibility. And I think that actually speaks to one of the strongest aspects of First Interstate, which is a low-cost granular deposit base. Long term, I don't really like to set a target. I can tell you it's north of where we are today, because I think to the extent we can find high-quality loans at the right price, that's our preference over investment securities. But we would like it higher than it is today. That's probably the best answer I can give you right now.

Okay. And then more near term, do you anticipate the exit loan deposit ratio in '26 will be higher than where it is right now?

So, I think just our underlying guidance says loans down slightly and deposits up slightly. So all else equal, we view it as slightly lower in the near term and then would just echo kind of Jim's comments on the longer term as we kind of look to grow the book.

Okay. And then a question about the fee income guide. What are some of the puts and takes in that?

So, I think, it implies some modest growth year-over-year, kind of puts and takes modest impact from the reduced branches, just lower associated customer activity there. I think longer term, we think there's opportunities in some of the underlying areas such as swap fees and things like that. But we're not assuming material acceleration in those type of items in 2026. As we kind of grow the full relationship banking, we're optimistic about areas like TM, long term, et cetera. So a couple of different areas that we're very focused on.

One more question. We have a question from Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson.

Yes. Just maybe fair or unfair. I just wanted to check into initial thoughts on maybe '27 on three fronts. It seems like a lot of momentum would be building on the margin and the loan growth front. Just your thoughts on the trends as it rolls into '27 on those two areas. And then, you touched on the buyback. I know we're, if you got a flat balance sheet into growing capital, if you've got any commentary as you get into '27 on those trends would be helpful.

Sure, Jeff. I'll start on kind of the margin. I think given the cash flow profile, what's rolling off the balance sheet, we continue to think margins sequentially improved in '27. Obviously, that's a little bit with out, and it's going to depend on the rate curve at that time. But broadly, we would continue to expect improvement and the cash flow profile from loans is actually a little bit more favorable in '27 and then continued favorability in the investment cash flow profile based on what we see today. From a capital front, I think I'd just reiterate capital is always an ongoing conversation. I think we've demonstrated and we'll continue to demonstrate our approach there to enhance shareholder value. So we'll continue to look at that as time goes on and ensure we have the right capital stack to support the company.

And Jeff, as to loan growth, David touched on this, that we show a slight decline in the first part of the year and then leveling off and picking up towards the end. So, our hope would be we'd be building on that in '27. But, if you have a crystal ball as to the economy and what it's going to look like in '27, I'd love you to send that over to me because that would give me more confidence of what to predict. You look at the job numbers. And while unemployment is somewhat stable, new jobs actually haven't been that great. And then yesterday, the Fed gave some mixed reviews, which they're good at doing these days and understandably so. But assuming what we project in '26 happens, we would expect to build on that into '27, Jeff.

Yes. Thanks, Jim. I know that was more bank specific understanding the macro swings. So thank you. Appreciate it.

There are no further questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to Jim Reuter.

Thank you, and thank you, everybody, for your questions today. And as always, we welcome calls from our investors and analysts. So, please reach out if you have any follow-up questions, and thank you for tuning into the call today, and have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.