Pathward Financial Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
July 26, 2023

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Password Financial's Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Investor Conference Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen only mode. Following the prepared remarks, We will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Darby Schoenfeld, Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and welcome. With me today are PathWord Financial's CEO, Brett Farr and CFO, Glenn Herrick, who will discuss Operating and financial results for the 3rd fiscal quarter of 2023, after which we will take your questions. Additional information, including the earnings release, the investor presentation that Our prepared remarks and supplemental slides may be found on our website at pathwordfinancial.com. As a reminder, our comments may include forward Looking statements, including with respect to anticipated results for future periods. Those statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause Actual and anticipated results to differ.

Speaker 1

The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statement. Please refer to the cautionary language in the earnings release, investor presentation and in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent filings for additional information covering factors that could cause Actual and anticipated results to differ materially from the forward looking statements. Additionally, today, we will be discussing certain non GAAP financial measures on this call. References to non GAAP measures are only provided to assist you in understanding the company's results and performance trends. Reconciliations for such non GAAP measures are included in the appendix of the investor presentation.

Speaker 1

Now let me turn the call over to Brett Farr, our CEO.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Darby, and thanks, everyone, for joining us. As we start today, not news to anyone, the Banking industry as a whole has come through some turbulent times. Last quarter, we talked about how our business model differentiated us, Especially in these times, this quarter, I really want to share how those differentials translate into our strengths. Just a few examples. The industry has suffered from unstable deposits.

Speaker 2

We have not. Compression on net interest margin from rising interest rates throughout the industry, But even counting the increase in card expenses, we have a growing net interest margin, not a lower one. There are general loan related concerns, both demand and credit, but we have a collateral managed portfolio with diverse asset classes built for whatever may And importantly, we typically do not do CRE purpose lending. During these times, our business model More about some details of this in the next few minutes. But first, the Q3.

Speaker 2

Pathwork once again produced solid results, Consistent with our performance so far in fiscal year 2023. Our net income for the quarter was $45,100,000 or 1 point 6 per diluted share. Both were significant increases when compared to the same quarter last year. We did this by growth in both net interest income and non interest income. Our net interest margin grew to 6.18 percent, It's an increase of 6 basis points from last quarter and a significant expansion 142 basis points from the Q3 last year.

Speaker 2

While 6 basis points and sequential quarter NIM growth doesn't seem as large as you might expect, remember that last quarter includes the impact of our seasonal tax business, which Our adjusted NIM considering rate related card processing fees was 4.88%. We are very pleased with this net interest margin performance and believe the steady trend upward will continue in 2024. Well, I turn my attention to the loan side of the business. We have a history of delivering proven solutions to small and medium sized businesses And helping them meet specific financial goals. We also understand the challenges these businesses may face right now and to in efforts to secure the funding they need.

Speaker 2

How do we do that? We have a set of methods We recently released a video on our LinkedIn page that we think tells the story well from the customer's perspective. So please take some time to check it out. Some specific asset highlights this quarter. We had significant growth in our insurance stream and finance loans.

Speaker 2

We had expansion in our term lending and SBA USDA balances when compared to last quarter. We We also saw an increase in the number of working capital originations. That's an area that we are especially optimistic about in this particular economic climate. I do want to make a comment on renewable energy loans. In recent times, we've had good demand, Increase in originations, but industry wide, we are experiencing a slowdown in the pipeline as projects become less attractive due to rising interest rates.

Speaker 2

We expect this to continue into 2024, which will likely lead to lower originations and therefore a This is already factored into the guidance we are introducing today. That being said, Our various asset classes provide us the diversity that is built for economic cycles. In order to deliver on our strategic initiatives of optimizing our earning asset Sometimes we may grow working capital, other times it will be equipment finance, others it may be insurance premium finance. This kind of optionality helps us meet our strategic goals in a variety of environments. Now a few words about BaaS Partnerships and our deposits.

Speaker 2

If you listened to last quarter's call, you heard how we are different. Partnerships we have formed, continue to manage and continue to source are integral to our financial inclusion purpose, but also provide stable deposits and coveted fee income. As the banking industry is experiencing rising deposit with a core group of companies that contribute significantly to our deposit stability. These partnerships are pivotal to our success. Importantly, we are very careful and diligent in who we decide to work with.

Speaker 2

This is called smart defense. For example, During the recent expansion in FinTechs, we made sure that those we were partnering with had a strong understanding of regulatory requirements and could survive their cash burn phase. We added very limited partners during that time. And notably, we stayed away from concentrating in any one industry, even establishing internal industry specific limits. This allows us to focus on our current partners, maximize those partnerships, strengthen and deepen the existing relationships and work together to expand and enhance product offerings.

Speaker 2

But we have added a few new partners and recently Launched a few new programs or capabilities in conjunction with these new partners. We launched a new line of credit for consumers with Propel Holdings. I'd like to mention that we announced a new relationship with Finnex. We are their banking partner supporting their launch as a payment processor. These new programs and associations may take time to deliver a meaningful impact to our deposit balances and revenue.

Speaker 2

This is why our model is built on long term contracts. We are excited to strengthen our partnership network, and we continue to fulfill our purpose of increasing financial And because of the partnerships Pathway has formed and nurtured, most of our deposits are held in millions of retail card accounts With an average balance of less than $1,000 We have very few institutional accounts and those we do have are typically cash collateral tied to loans within our commercial finance group. As a result, our non interest bearing deposits on the balance sheet Have a weighted average life of over 6 years based on our decay study. Just to comment on BaaS industry trends. The value of these deposits is significant, and we believe others in the industry are realizing that in the wake of recent events in banking.

Speaker 2

There are more banks entering the banking of the service space, but as recent news has reflected, they have not always invested in the regulatory framework needed. I believe there will be a bit of a regulatory cycle as these new entrants adjust to the 3rd party demand, the cost of which will eventually be included in pricing. However, at the moment, we are seeing more competition on pricing, and we have continued to work very closely with our partners. This may lead to slightly higher card processing fees in 2024, but we believe we can continue to grow both our GAAP net interest margin and adjusted net interest margin, which includes these costs in 2024. This is So included in the guidance we introduced today.

Speaker 2

Before I turn things over to Glen, I want to comment on our CFO search. We've made a lot of progress. We've had some very substantive discussions and have a strong candidate pipeline. It's our hope to announce something in the coming months. Now I'll turn it over to Glenn to take us through our financial results.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Brett. For the quarter ended June 30, Net income totaled $45,100,000 or $1.68 per share, An increase from $22,400,000 or $0.76 per share in the prior year's quarter. Net interest income was $97,500,000 for the Q3 of fiscal year 2023, an increase of 35% from the prior year quarter. This was driven by expansion in the net interest margin to 6.18% from 4.76%. NIM expansion was driven by 162 basis points expansion in loan and lease portfolio yields and an 82 basis point expansion in the yield on the securities portfolio.

Speaker 3

Remember, the bulk of our deposit costs are recorded as card processing expenses. If you include those expenses in our Net interest margin calculation, our adjusted NIM would have been 4.88% compared to 4.89 percent last quarter and 4.62% in the Q3 of last year. Also keep in mind that the revenue we are earning on our off balance sheet deposits is not shown in the NIM, but in fee income. We expect our net interest margin to continue to expand as we deliver on our strategic initiative of optimizing the interest earning portfolio and repricing our assets in the current rate environment, targeting appropriate yields. Provision expense was $1,800,000 in the 3rd quarter.

Speaker 3

During the prior year quarter, the business recorded a credit of $1,300,000 to provision, primarily due to releases in the commercial finance portfolio. As of June 30, the company had an ACL coverage rate of 2.01% compared to 2.04% at the same time last year. ACL coverage in our commercial finance group was 1.35% compared to 1.56% in the Q3 last year and 1.53% last quarter. The sequential decrease was driven by a mix shift towards insurance premium finance and SBA loans, which have a lower allowance rate. Non interest income increased 25% from the prior year quarter to $67,700,000 in the 3rd quarter.

Speaker 3

This increase was primarily driven by $14,600,000 of deposit servicing fee income associated with off balance sheet deposit. Turning to expenses. Total non interest expenses grew 19% or $18,000,000 from the prior year quarter. The increase was primarily driven by $20,500,000 of contractual card processing expenses related to the higher rate environment. Total deposits, including on and off balance sheet, increased $158,000,000 or 2% from the prior year quarter to $7,100,000,000 Total deposits decreased from the linked quarter, primarily due to a seasonal decrease in tax return related deposits.

Speaker 3

During the Q3, we maintained an average of $1,200,000,000 of deposits off balance sheet, Earnings fee income roughly equal to the effective Fed funds rates. At June 30 period end, There were $781,000,000 of deposits off balance sheet. As mentioned last quarter, We service deposits related to government stimulus programs that will decline over the Q4 and throughout fiscal year 2024. At June 30, roughly $970,000,000 of these deposits remain. These deposits continue to be slowly spent down, while unclaimed balances are being returned to the U.

Speaker 3

S. Treasury. Between July 2020 3 and the end of fiscal year 2024, we expect to return close to $450,000,000 of unclaimed deposits. This reduction in our total deposit levels will lower the amount of funds we hold off balance sheet and service for partner banks. Total loans and leases ended at $4,100,000,000 as of June 30, Growing 9% from the last quarter and 10% from the prior year.

Speaker 3

The year over year increase was primarily driven by insurance premium finance, Term lending and SBA and USDA loans. Credit quality across the portfolio remains strong. Nonperforming loans of 93 basis points were up slightly from 76 basis points in the previous quarter, And our net charge off rates remain stable. We remain confident in our collateral management and the quality of our loan portfolio. From a liquidity perspective, Pathway continues to be in a good position.

Speaker 3

Our balance sheet is strong Equivalence of $515,000,000 unpledged investment securities of $124,000,000 FHLB borrowing capacity of $744,000,000 and funds available through the Fed discount window of $234,000,000 When factoring in unsecured funding and other wholesale funding options, This gives us over $3,000,000,000 in available liquidity. Our strong balance sheet and return levels allow us to continue to Turn value to shareholders. During the fiscal 2023 Q3, we repurchased approximately 490,000 shares at an average price of $43.83 an additional 249,000 shares Of common stock at an average price of $50.23 were purchased in July through July 21, 2023. We are increasing our guidance for fiscal year 2023 to a range of $5.60 and $6 in GAAP earnings per diluted share. We also expect the effective tax rate to be in the range of 10% to 14%.

Speaker 3

We are also introducing fiscal year 2024 guidance of $6.10 to $6.60 per diluted share. This guidance includes the impacts from declining EIP deposit balances. Additionally, As Brett mentioned, the market is seeing slowing demand for renewable energy fundings, which will impact tax credits, And we expect them to be lower in 2024. As a result, we expect our annual effective tax That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Please remember to pick up your handset before asking your question. Our first question comes from the line of Frank Schiraldi with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Hi, everyone. Wondered if you could talk about in terms of the 2024 guide, the initial guide here, Can you share with us any sort of macro backdrop that assumes including Interest rate outlook, do you just sort of follow the forward curve in terms of outlook here? And does it also Include the potential for continued capital return through the buyback?

Speaker 3

Hi, Frank. This is Glenn. I could start. Yes, it does include generally the forward curve. We were anticipating today's action by the FAD as part of that.

Speaker 3

That obviously factored into our guidance. We talked about We're being a little cautious on investment tax credits in the renewable energy lending For next year, so we wanted to call out that component in our guide as well as then the other business Conditions and macro events that Brett touched on in his section.

Speaker 2

Yes, it's about capital and buybacks.

Speaker 3

Yes. And Our plan, you can assume, we continue to try And to maintain a consistent balance sheet. And so with the return levels that we have, we would look to do continue buybacks At these price levels.

Speaker 4

Okay. And that's so that would be factored into guidance, Whatever your plans are there on the buyback

Speaker 3

side. Yes, that's correct.

Speaker 4

Okay. And then just touching on a couple of things, the fewer renewable energy projects in 2024, I guess I understand the higher interest rates and what that does for demand, but I thought that There was this backlog maybe, given that there wasn't anything getting done for a while that might sort of offset or overcome that. Is that Just any more color on just your thoughts what's driving you guys to decrease your expectations or give these expectations for decreased Energy projects and tax credits next year.

Speaker 2

Yes. Frank, this is Brad. I mean, what we're seeing is A lot of these deals were funded with a mix of equity and debt, the tax equity components of it. And What's happening is because there are higher rates in the marketplace, they'd have to have a whole lot more tax equity in it And investor capital is just not coming into it, at least at the size transactions that we generally operate with. So That's why the pipeline has slowed down.

Speaker 2

And these things, as you can imagine, they have a fairly long pipeline before they actually turn into a project. And We're just looking at our pipeline and having sort of realistic expectations about how much of that's going to happen next year.

Speaker 5

Okay.

Speaker 4

All right. Fair enough. And then on the interest rate outlook and the margin, Just wondering if you can talk about what sort of things you're doing to protect the margin here from A potential down rate environment, or are you at the point now with where the variable Loan book is and where the floors are that you can get some additional NIM Expansion even in some downward movement in rates if it comes to that next year. Just kind of any color on directionally if we do get The forward curve that we do get rates sort of lining up with where the forward curve is now. What are your thoughts on margin?

Speaker 2

Yes. So Frank, this is Brad. So one of the things that we like about our business model is we've got different asset classes And those different asset classes have different duration elements of it. You'll note that we've been a little And as we go into the year, we'll start trying to figure out how to do more of those because they have a longer life to do it. And keep in mind, I think Round numbers, only about 25% of our assets repriced in a given year or less.

Speaker 2

And so you've got quite a bit of opportunity to bring on longer term assets that have a longer duration to help. So Yes, we were pretty clear. We were slow on the way up in getting the margin, and we should be Slow on the way down on losing the margin. And so that's Glenn, anything you could ask?

Speaker 3

No. And then the other thing is recall, Frank, as If and when rates do come down, our card processing expenses that are rate related, those fall off immediately. So There's no lag to those. So those reset real time, which certainly give us a little tailwind as well.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. And then just lastly, if I could, just trying to get a handle on loan growth here. I think the linked quarter Growth in the commercial finance side was mostly insurance premium finance, which I assume that sort of growth rate isn't sustainable in that piece of the business. And we all hear about the manufacturing slowdown on the macro side. So how is that impacting the commercial finance business, Your expectations are for growth here, particularly in that business going forward?

Speaker 2

Yes, I think there's a few things. One is, banks are pulling back and we think of that as being an opportunity. So we are seeing a little bit of that. So hopefully that's why I mentioned for example equipment leasing at the right time, we might be able to get into that a little more. I've been saying for some time, the working capital class should pick up as this slowdown goes on.

Speaker 2

And And we're not seeing it in the pure numbers yet, but we're starting to see it in opportunities for origination. And those because of the diligence involved in them, you can take 90 to 120 days to start showing up as actual assets. So I mean, I think there's some opportunity. The Insurance Finance Group did very well this time, very impressed with what they've done. That kind of growth, you're correct, it's not sustainable.

Speaker 2

But we'd like to particularly with the yield we're getting to stay at that level for what is such a low risk asset class. So I think it's more of a steady as it goes. We'll be picking the asset classes that where we can get the yield and get the business And certainly thinking about that duration opportunity before rates start going down.

Speaker 4

Okay. So it sounds like you still expect growth in the commercial finance business going forward. Is that fair? I do. From the level of next year?

Speaker 2

I think that's right. I just don't know which asset classes we'd be in. Yes, that's right.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. That's all I had. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Frank.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Michael Perito with KBW. Your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 6

Hey. I

Speaker 5

had a couple few things I wanted to touch on with you guys. Number 1, Yes, I appreciate some of this color on some of these new partnerships that you guys are launching. I was wondering if you can maybe and I realize this might be a little hard There aren't a lot of them yet, but just on these the line of credit for consumers with PROPEL and just generally kind of on just credit Agreements or contracts that you guys maybe are starting to consider a bit more, than you have historically. Can you give us a sense of how you're Trying to structure the credit risk within these, is there like a lot of indemnification built in? Or should we expect kind of As these things ramp up over time that there'll be some noise in the income statement in terms of maybe like higher yields on the NII, but then some indemnification on losses to like Spencer or fees, like just trying to get a better sense of how you're structuring these and how we should think about them as they ramp realizing there's some time, but just trying to get ahead of it.

Speaker 2

Yes, Mike, appreciate the question. We've been very consistent that we do not want to be exposed to naked consumer credit risk. And so these agreements and any agreements like that that we're going to enter into are going to have appropriate credit enhancements. Those might be of Different varieties, some might be they're just short term on our balance sheet and then they get securitized away, some might be waterfall structures, Some might actually have credit enhancement guarantees that we can rely on. We do this because these consumer credit products Are needed by our partners in the marketplace, and they want to have a way to offer it.

Speaker 2

And we don't want to get disintermediated with our other products because we don't have one. And so that's one of the main reasons that we're in it. Now we're very optimistic about, Think about, for example, the Propel Holdings Partnership and what it's going to do, and we do make some economics on it. But as you fully understand, when you give up the Credit risk, you also give up the bulk of the economics. It will be an income stream for us, but it won't be huge.

Speaker 5

Got it. And then I was also interested to see you guys mentioned the earned wage advanced space with Claire. It's an interesting space. I've been starting to spend I've been spending some more time there over the last 9 months or so. It seems like there's not a lot of bank market share.

Speaker 5

Like I know there's daily There's a couple of guys, non banks that have some share. I know Green Dot talked about doing stuff. But can you maybe give us a sense of is that a sizable opportunity for you guys? Do you think there's room for a bank Kind of take some share and make some money in the EWA space and just would love some high level thoughts as we think about you guys growing maybe with other partnerships in that area That type of the magnitude of that opportunity.

Speaker 2

This is a new business and I think there's a lot Yet to be learned in the industry, how big is it going to be, how well it's going to be received. I think there are Certain regulatory questions that are going to be around it. I think employers are going to have some perspective on it. We like CLARE as a partner. They're one of the few fintech startups that we engage with.

Speaker 2

And right now, we're just going to ride this out with them And understand how well they can grow. Obviously, it turns into a huge industry and a huge business. We might take those learnings and do it with others. But Right now, this is these are the things we do. We watch things, we plant seeds, we let them grow for a long time and that's why We think 5, 7 years, not necessarily next year for a lot of these programs what they're going to produce.

Speaker 5

Yes. So it sounds like between some of the credit stuff you're doing in the EWA, at this point, it's more about protecting your share with Critical customers that you have, but eyeing to the future, you're certainly keeping a pulse on how the products perform and how the market evolves and you would You willing to push forward in a larger way with some of those things, if you felt the opportunity was worthwhile?

Speaker 2

Yes, I think that's right. And we're also We're placing a bet on what we think is a really good partner that has the potential to grow significantly, but it's yet to be seen if that happens.

Speaker 5

Yes. Cool. Thanks, Brad. That's good color. And then just on the Maybe a question for Glenn, since we get to only get to pester you with these questions for so much longer here.

Speaker 5

Just on the OpEx side, you got one more quarter in fiscal 2023 here. Obviously, you guys have given the guide. My guess is you're looking to reasonably hold the efficiency ratio fairly stable, maybe improve it a little bit. But just What's kind of the order of magnitude of things on the list to invest in for next year? Like what are some of the key areas where you are allocating dollars?

Speaker 5

And just generally, I mean, how are you thinking about expense growth? As an industry, obviously, there's been a pretty tight lid on it. But as Brett, as you pointed out, I mean, you guys really are insulated from a lot So there's definitely room to invest. And I'm just curious what you guys maybe might be investing in as we think to next year and what that rate of growth could look like?

Speaker 3

So as you recall, Mike, we really think about Operating leverage here and at least over time growing our revenues at least 2x Of expenses. Now certain periods and some of the spaces that we play in, yes, we have to make investments in those. But I think in this environment, at least as it is today, you could expect As to maintain expenses fairly tight to where we're at today and they will slowly grow as our revenues grow, But not get too far ahead of that. Many of our expenses are variable in nature. And so those will go consistently with revenue.

Speaker 3

And then the rest of our expenses and where we make investments, You can think of technology and risk management, primarily compliance.

Speaker 5

And has the just sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 3

I was just going to add, staying on top of both of those and a lot of the technology investments are made in the compliance space As more and more attention is focused on banking as a service providers And consumer protection and small business protection, making sure you have Up to date compliance systems, we believe is going to continue to be a competitive advantage and incredibly important.

Speaker 5

Yes. Yes. I mean, it certainly seems that way when you just look at the kind of headlines. So that makes sense. And then just lastly for me, one kind of financial follow-up to Frank's line of questioning, and I apologize if I missed this, but just Are you able to give us just kind of like a broad indication of the type of provisioning you assume in that 24 guide, is it reasonable to assume it's similar year on year plus or minus to 23 based on kind of the macro and the forward curve and everything you're assuming?

Speaker 5

Is that A reasonable assumption without getting too specific around numbers or is there something that could alter that?

Speaker 4

We feel really good about our

Speaker 3

credit positioning today. And we are looking hard to see if there's something we're missing, but We feel comfortable. I think Brett did a good job explaining we're not taking credit risk in the consumer space. We feel confident in the way we manage our collateral in the commercial finance space. So yes, roughly similar levels of provisioning As some of that will depend on loan growth with the CECL, you have to take a lot of that upfront.

Speaker 3

So where that lands will depend on how new originations are a little bit year over year, but yes, the similar provisioning is a good assumption.

Speaker 5

Okay. Very good guys. I really appreciate all the color and thanks for taking my question.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Mike.

Operator

Thank you. The next Question comes from the line of David Feaster with Raymond James. Your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Hi. Good afternoon, everybody.

Speaker 4

Hey, David.

Speaker 6

Maybe just kind of following up on that last line of questioning. Obviously, so just looking at the 2024 guidance. I'm curious from your perspective, obvious I mean, look, your crystal ball is as clear as mine is right now. And appreciate the commentary about assuming the forward curve and some of the thoughts on provisioning and expenses. But I'm just curious what you think of Is really the key driver of the differences between the achievability of the top end versus the low end of the range?

Speaker 6

Is it growth? Is it this credit cycle? I'm just curious, what do you see as the biggest drivers between the top end and the low end of that range?

Speaker 2

David, there's so many factors, which is the reason we have that kind of a wide of a range. But I would say The first thing is yield and margin. Throughout this particular cycle, I think we've been surprised on How thin we had to price loans compared to the way rates have risen. And so it took a while for yield to really show up. If in fact Banks are slowing down on our lending and we're able to do the kind of living I want to do, which I would say is working capital.

Speaker 2

We'll get the margin and we'll be at the Higher end of that, that's one big thing. I'm not worried about credit. If there's ever a time that we're strength For credit, it's our collateral. No unsecured debt. We collateral manage everything.

Speaker 2

I don't have any particular concerns about that. And I did mention the banking as a service partners, they're putting pressure on us. We have long term contracts, but it's a function of them bringing new business. Do we have to make some concessions for them to get new business in here that might impact margins as well. So those are my big ones.

Speaker 2

Glenn, anything to add?

Speaker 3

Yes, I think you're right. It's the macro is if we start seeing more Normalized loan beta yields and that will certainly drive us to that top end As well as just where demand for loan volume is and when that picks up. And so we're certainly being somewhat cautious on how much loan demand there will be In this environment, and so you're kind of what you would expect your typical drivers, David.

Speaker 6

Okay. And then maybe just following up on the Parker conversation.

Speaker 3

I just want to point out, The income tax credit, obviously, we're pretty cautious there. That's a pretty good A chunk of earnings there year over year. And so to the extent that Renewable energy projects pick up the pace again, that could be an opportunity as well.

Speaker 6

Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just switching gears to the partner conversation again. I'm just curious, have you seen any impact On your partners from the bank failures at all and just the impact of the venture capital side? And maybe just more broadly, how does the Pipeline of partnerships look at this point and how negotiations for contracts are going today.

Speaker 6

It sounds like just listening to you, Brett, That maybe the partners to some extent are getting a little bit of more aggressive in terms and Maybe a bit more pricing power, is that a fair characterization?

Speaker 2

Yes, I think in my comments, What I was alluding to is there's a lot more competitors that have jumped into the banking as a service business and they've done some thin pricing. Now, a lot of cases they did it with FinTech startups and fairly small things, and we'll see Kind of what happens there, but some of the bigger partners are 1, are seeing some of the thin pricing that's out there And 2, the fact that rates have moved up gives them a greater interest in the deposits we have and that now all of a sudden they care about that a whole lot. So I think those are the things that are kind of putting pressure on it. Now, I mentioned and I believe this that part of this is going to be a regulatory cycle. You can read all the newspaper articles about what's going on in this and some of the things have happened that are even very public reflected.

Speaker 2

So I think there'll be a reversion back to the mean in 12 to 18 months, but in the short term, there's certainly some pressure here. Yes, we have Partners in the pipeline, we have them all the time. We have some running to us because of Issues at other institutions, and so we try to take advantage of that. And one of the problems for them when they come to us though is they get a bit of sticker shock, Because we don't do it as cheaply as people that did it before because they don't have the risk and compliance framework. So there's negotiations that go on in that.

Speaker 2

So it's not All doom and gloom. We just want to be sure people understood there is some margin pressure going on in the short term.

Speaker 6

That makes sense. And then I'm just curious, you've got an unique and interesting perspective. You play in a very broad set of segments across the country. I'm just curious, maybe as you step back and look at some of the trends and consumer behaviors maybe within your FinTech partnerships, The demand that you're seeing for credit from SBA and the commercial finance portfolio, is there anything interesting that you're seeing just, I guess in terms of the health of the consumer or the economy more broadly, other I'm just curious as you look at tea leaves, just How do you think the health of the economy is and anything interesting you're seeing?

Speaker 2

Well, on the consumer side, what I would Remember that the bulk of our business is at the lower end of the economy. And as one of my consumer credit people once told me, they're always in a recession. And so There's no real difference in the transactions. They're still buying their groceries, still going to the drugstore, buying gas, etcetera. And so we're not really seeing anything particular around that.

Speaker 2

The deposits that are coming down are more because of EIP And the runoff of tax deposits than anything else. Conversely, on the commercial finance side, there are industries that we So, where they're not borrowing as much because they don't have as much activity going on. Our transportation factoring business is off a bit and it's not Because there's not available to borrow, there's just less business that's out there and less need for it. And so you see some of that in certain areas, seeing some slowdown. But I would not say we see anything that is dramatic or certainly not anything that we saw like when COVID first hit.

Speaker 2

It's fairly mild.

Operator

Thank you. And that

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