Oct 20, 2026 earnings call — Empire State Bank acquisition and record quarter
Dime signed a definitive agreement to acquire Empire State Bank, a $600 million asset bank, and reported record revenues of 135 million this quarter.
Revenue $0.1B (est $0.1B) · EPS $0.91 (est $0.86)
Key quotes
"The reported third quarter NIM increased to 3.35% excluding the benefits from purchase accounting and prepayment fees, the run rate NIM for the third quarter would have been closer to 3.32%."
"Our loan pipeline continues to be very strong and has an approximately $1.4 billion with a weighted average rate of approximately 6.5%."
"By way of background, Empire is a $600 million asset-sized commercial bank with a very granular low cost deposit base, that is headquartered in Staten Island."
Analyst Q&A 4
Net interest margin and deposit costs
Q (Stephen Moss · Raymond James): He asked how management sees getting to a 3.60% margin by end of 2027, given industry spread compression and higher rates, and asked about assumptions behind that margin.
A: Management said they increased NIM guidance and are more confident now. They cited stable deposit costs near 1.68% and a rise in weighted average loan rates from 5.50% to 5.58%, and noted core non-interest DDA is over 32% which supports NIM expansion.
"We are actually increasing the NIM guidance here." — Avinash Reddy (CFO)
Loan growth mix and trajectory
Q (Manuel Navas · Piper Sandler): He asked which businesses drove the strong loan growth this quarter and how the pace should evolve into the fourth quarter.
A: Management showed a clear quarterly growth trend: Q1 net loan growth about $125 million, Q2 $275 million, and Q3 $350 million, and they expect Q4 probably flat to Q3 with Q1 typically lower. They said growth is diverse: C&I led at about 25%, specialty finance contributed about 20%, business loans should run roughly $200 to $250 million per quarter (this quarter was $350 million), and they still expect around $500 million of multifamily runoff while restarting selective CRE originations.
"So if you go back and take a look at the year, right, on the business loan side, Q1 net loan growth was about $125 million, Q2 was $275 million, and then Q3 was $350 million." — Thomas X. Geisel
NPA moves and provisioning outlook
Q (David Konrad · KBW): He asked for color on the NPA increase this quarter (business loans and multifamily) and what to expect for provisions and NPAs in the fourth quarter.
A: Management said one CRE relationship prompted a $6 million specific reserve and one multifamily relationship that had been slow paying was charged down after an updated appraisal. They noted substandard loans were down 7% and the 30-89 day bucket fell substantially, and they expect provisioning similar to the last couple of quarters while working out those credits.
"We took, you know, $6 million specific reserve on this." — Avinash Reddy (CFO)
Multifamily NPAs, deposit beta, cash use, deal details
Q (Matthew Breese · Stephens): He asked whether the multifamily NPA was tied to rent-regulated buildings and for portfolio health, then asked about deposit beta for NIM guidance, cash deployment plans, and metrics for the recent deal.
A: Management said the NPAs in multifamily were rent regulated; free-market multifamily had no NPAs, the rent-regulated pool is over 50% and declined about $40 million this quarter, and substandard multifamily fell from about $135 million to about $125 million. On deposits, they said cost of deposits ended the quarter at 1.68% and sat around 1.72% today, with modest creep on initial rate hikes and bigger pickup on later hikes; they did not buy securities in Q3 and the 3.60% NIM guide does not assume much cash deployment (deploying cash could push NIM toward 3.80%–3.90% at higher loan-to-deposit ratios). They also said the deal is about 4% of assets, should run a ROA in excess of 2%, rate and credit marks around 4%–5% (closer to 4.5%–5%), assumed CDI of 3%, and pretax deal costs around $12 to $13 million.
"Anything that is free market, you know, we do not have anything there that is NPA at this point." — Avinash Reddy (CFO)