Operator
Greetings. Welcome to BOK Financial Corporation's Second Quarter 26 Earnings Conference Call.
All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a Q&A session.
If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the 1 in your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question.
As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Heather King, Director of Investor Relations for BOK Financial Corporation.
Please proceed.
Heather King
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining our discussion of BOK Financial. Second quarter 26 financial results.
Our CEO, Stacy C. Kymes, will provide opening comments and cover the loan portfolio, and related credit metrics.
Scott Bradley Grauer, Executive Vice President of Wealth Management, will cover our fee-based results. And our CFO, Martin E.
Grunst, will then discuss financial performance for the quarter. As well as our forward guidance.
Slide presentation and press release are available on our website at bokf.com. We refer you to the disclaimers on Slide 2 regarding any forward looking statements made during this call.
I will now turn the call over to Stacy C. Kymes, who will begin on Slide 4.
Stacy C. Kymes
Thank you, Heather. We appreciate you joining the call this afternoon.
We are pleased to report earnings of $176.5 million or EPS of $2.92 per diluted share for the second quarter. Adjusted for the net gain related to the exchange of the Visa Class B shares and a small amount of repositioning in the securities portfolio, earnings were $156.5 million or $2.59 per share.
This was an excellent quarter and 1 that reflects how we are positioning the franchise for continued growth. We delivered strong results, including record quarterly loan growth.
Record quarterly fiduciary and asset management revenue, continued expense discipline, with credit remaining outstanding, During the quarter, total loans grew 3.4% sequentially or 13.7% on an annualized basis. This resulted in a quarterly increase of $896 million representing record new loan production in a single quarter of the company's history.
Year over year, loans have grown an impressive 11.5%, Importantly, nearly 70% of year over year growth has been in our C&I portfolio. This reflects both the strength of our customer activity and the benefit of the investments we have made over time.
Our fee-based businesses contributed meaningfully with record quarterly revenue in our fiduciary and asset management business. During the last call, we discussed aligning expenses with market opportunities and customer needs.
Expenses this quarter remained well controlled. With total operating expenses excluding deferred compensation, being down slightly.
Notably, this was achieved while making significant investments in talent during the quarter. Capital levels remain very strong, with tangible common equity at 9.6% and CET1 at 12.9%.
Finally, we have talked over the past year about disruptions in the markets we serve. Periods like this tend to create opportunities for organizations like ours.
Those that are strong, stable, and focused on long term growth. Historically, these environments have represented some of our best opportunities.
The current period represents another such opportunity. We have added more than 25 new teammates as a result of the disruption across our markets.
More than 20 of those additions were in Texas, a market where we have been deeply involved for decades. We also saw success hiring in our Colorado and Arizona markets.
This talent acquisition strengthens our ability to serve customers across the spectrum. From large corporate relationships to small business.
Importantly, the loan activity this quarter was independent of these additions. As we have discussed, C and I is a longer sales cycle.
And we expect to see the benefits build over time. We are excited to welcome this talent, and we are confident in the role they will play in driving future results.
And now I will cover our loan portfolio in more detail starting on Slide 6. As I mentioned before, total outstanding loans grew nearly $900 million or 3.4% this quarter and we are up 11.5% year over year.
This growth was broad based across our business line and our footprint. Our core C&I loan portfolio which represents our combined services and general business portfolios, grew 3.9% sequentially and is up 11.1% year over year.
This level of growth in core C&I loans does not happen by accident. Our growth is a result of a disciplined, long term strategy centered on investing in top talent, and deepening customer relationships.
As we have often said, growth follows relationships. The momentum we are seeing today is a direct reflection of the trust we have earned from our customers.
Healthcare loans increased 3.2%. As we indicated last quarter, activity levels and pipeline strength in this segment were exceptionally strong entering the second quarter.
The growth we are reporting today reflects the successful execution of opportunities that have been building for some time. Energy loans grew again this quarter, increasing 1.6%.
Mortgage finance also contributed meaningfully to loan growth during the quarter. With current outstanding balances of $452 million an increase of $224 million.
As of quarter end, we had active warehouse facilities of $870 million in commitments. This business continues to build momentum and achieved an important milestone during quarter by reporting its first month above breakeven.
Operating at a net profit less than a year after funding our first loan is a notable accomplishment by the team. Our CRE portfolio grew marginally compared to the prior quarter.
But is up 6.6% year over year. Moving to Slide 7.
Once again, credit quality remains excellent. NPAs not guaranteed by the U.S.
government increase $2.8 million to $55 million. The resulting nonperforming assets to period end loans and repossessed assets was consistent with the prior quarter at 20 basis points.
Committed criticized assets decreased this quarter remaining very low relative to historical standards. We had net charge-offs of just $500 thousand during the quarter, averaging 3 basis points over the last 12 months.
Once again, the limited charge offs we have seen show no patterns or concentrations that raise concerns around specific business lines or geographies. And we continue to have no exposure to private credit facilities.
In the long term, we expect credit metrics to normalize However, we expect net charge offs to remain below historical averages in the near term. Consistent with the prior quarter, no provision was required.
Improvement in economic forecast assumptions were offset by the impact of loan growth. Our combined allowance for credit losses is a healthy $323 million or 1.19% of outstanding loans.
Overall, credit performance this quarter remains very strong. And with that, I will turn the call over to Scott Bradley Grauer.
Scott Bradley Grauer
Thank you, Stacy. Turning to our operating results for the quarter on Slides 9 and 10, fee income was a solid contributor to total revenue again this quarter.
While total fee income was lower than the prior quarter, results remained healthy and reflected the strength and diversity of our fee-based businesses. Total fee income was $202 million, declining $7.8 million sequentially.
Total trading revenue, which includes trading related net interest income, decreased $9.7 million to $25 million. As a reminder, we saw some mix shift from trading fee income into trading net interest income during the quarter as the yield curve steepened.
From an activity standpoint, results in our fixed income business were impacted by lower customer activity particularly as longer term rates increased from Mark through May. As market conditions began to stabilize, activity improved.
We saw better trading performance in June. Overall, our activity levels were consistent with broader industry trends.
Which also saw a decline in MBS trading volumes during the quarter. Elevated long term rates are also affecting our mortgage banking business with revenue down $2 million compared to the prior quarter.
Syndication revenue grew $3 million sequentially. Supported by robust activity and continued customer demand resulting in a record second quarter for the business.
Turning to Slide 10 to discuss our asset management and transactions businesses. As you can see, these businesses continue to serve as consistent fee generators, delivering steady, long term growth diversification to our revenue base.
The biggest standout this quarter was fiduciary and asset management revenue. Which delivered record setting quarterly results growing $4.5 million over the prior quarter.
This reflects higher trust fees along with seasonal tax preparation fees. AUMA grew $5.7 billion during the quarter to $129.3 billion led by increased market valuations, and continued customer expansion.
Looking at annual growth, which is not affected by seasonality, AUMA increased $11.4 billion compared to the same period last year. Representing an annual growth rate of nearly 10% and highlighting the strength of customer activity.
Overall, our fee based businesses continue to demonstrate the value of diversity. While individual categories may fluctuate from quarter to quarter, the underlying franchise remains strong and capable of generating consistent long term growth.
With that, I will hand the call over to Martin E. Grunst to cover the financials.
Martin E. Grunst
Thank you, Scott. Turning to Slide 12.
Net interest income increased $9.3 million and reported net interest margin grew 1 basis point. Excluding trading, core net interest income increased $6.5 million and core margin decreased 2 basis points.
Core margin and NII benefited from loan and deposit growth as well as fixed rate asset repricing. However, the offset was a 3-basis-point negative impact related to cash margin we posted on behalf of our energy derivative customers as oil prices moved higher.
This impact is temporary in nature. As energy prices have declined, the majority of that margin has already been returned.
This item is, of course, market sensitive. During the quarter, we recognized a pretax gain of $30.9 million on the exchange of our Visa Class B shares.
We used a portion of this gain to reposition a small amount of the securities portfolio realizing $4.6 million of pretax losses. This will improve yields on the $268 million of reinvested securities going forward.
Turning to Slide 13. Total expenses increased $7.5 million during the quarter.
The increase was driven by an $8.9 million rise in deferred compensation expense, which was offset by gains recorded in other gains and losses. Excluding deferred compensation, total expenses declined $1.4 million reflecting a $6 million decrease in personnel expense partially offset by a $4.6 million increase in non personnel expense.
The decline in personnel expense was primarily driven by lower cash based incentive compensation reflecting reduced trading activity as well as seasonally lower employee benefits costs. The increase in non personnel expense was largely attributable to higher business promotion costs.
Slide 14 provides our outlook for full year 2026. Similar to last quarter, our guidance assumes no rate changes from the Federal Reserve, and longer term rates aligned with the current forward curve.
Loan growth in the first half of 26 has been strong. And well diversified across the portfolio.
We are increasing our guidance as we now expect full year 2026 loan growth to be over 10%. On total revenue, our guidance of mid single digit growth is unchanged.
However, we now expect to be in the upper portion of that range. As a reminder, with this somewhat steeper rate curve versus a quarter ago, we will see the mix of trading related revenue shift from fees to net interest income.
Consequently, we expect net interest income to be in the upper half of our range of $1.42 billion to $1.45 billion and we expect fee income to be in the lower half of our range of $820 million to $845 million On expenses, we continue to anticipate growth in the low single digits and likely toward the lower end of that range. The Visa gain we recognized in the second quarter will impact the full year efficiency ratio, and we now expect that metric to be approximately 62%.
If adjusted for the Visa gain, our guidance for that ratio would be near 63% unchanged from the prior quarter. Turning to credit.
Portfolio quality remains very strong. We continue to see very low levels of nonperforming assets and no tangible evidence of broad based normalization at this point.
We believe provision expense will be below $20 million for full year 2026. With that, I would like to hand the call back to the operator for Q&A which will be followed by closing remarks from Stacy.
Operator
Thank you. We will now begin the Q&A session.
If you have dialed in and would like to ask a please press 1 and your telephone keypad to raise your hand and enter the queue. You are called upon to ask your question and are listening via loud speaker on your device, Please pick up your handset and ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question.
And your first question comes from the line of David Chiaverini with Jefferies. Your line is now open.
David Chiaverini
Hi. Thanks for taking the questions.
So to start on the net interest margin, up 1 basis point here in the second quarter. How should we think about the go forward on the NIM?
Martin E. Grunst
Yes. Thanks for the question, David.
So we feel good about seeing some-- we are happy with the basically stable margin in the quarter. We see drivers to see some margin expansion for the back half of the year.
You know, kind of the typical drivers that have been, you know, long standing positives securities portfolio, fixed rate asset repricing And then that derivative margin piece-- you know, that was a negative 3 basis points in going into Q2, and we are going to get that back over the next you know, quarter or 2. You know, a lot of that margin's been returned to customers already.
Or returned to us already. So those are high confidence items.
And then typically, we have DDA grow in the back half of the year as well. So there is some pretty good support to see margin expansion back half of 26.
David Chiaverini
Brett. And related to that deposit pricing, is a hot topic this quarter.
Can you talk about the competitive environment where deposit costs could trend going forward?
Martin E. Grunst
Yes. So deposits are always competitive.
there is really never a situation where deposits are not highly competitive. They are today.
They have been previously. I would note that, you know, the bid pressure is probably rising there rather than falling.
But, you know, within our market, we are we are really not seeing anything irrational. I mean, there are some areas that have a rush, but we are not seeing irrational in our markets.
And just as we think about deposit pricing and the guidance, we are not relying on any improvements in that rate. We will seek to get To get improvements in that cost of funds.
But we are not relying on improvements there to drive our guidance. Just a reminder, we still have a, relative to others low loan to deposit ratio, so that gives us a lot of flexibility managing rate seeking deposits.
Very helpful.
David Chiaverini
Thank you.
Operator
Next question comes from the line of Peter Winter with D.A. Davidson.
Peter Winter
Thanks. Good afternoon.
Just on loan growth, if I think about loan growth for the industry, it is been coming in better than expected, but a lot of the banks that are giving updated guidance, it does assume growth to moderate. In the second half of the year.
But when I look at your updated guidance of period end loans, over 10%, and pipelines consistent with the first half of the year, It does not seem like you are expecting a slowdown. In the second half of the year.
Stacy C. Kymes
This is Stacy. I think look, we grew loans 11.5% year over year very diverse.
With not a big contribution from real estate and energy, 2 big drivers for us historically. You know, they are hard to forecast, you know, so it is hard to know exactly what those numbers are in the last half of the year.
We still have a lot of tailwind to come from mortgage finance. I think that is going to help us out.
there is some seasonality there that could make some of that a little bit lumpy. But if you look kind of straight through to the end of the fourth quarter, I think you have got really positive tailwind there.
But we are not we feel comfortable with the guidance that we have provided. predicated on, you know, some things that are intrinsic to us.
If I look at sales pipelines, frankly, at this point, they are not as strong as they were heading into the second quarter. But they are stronger than they were heading into the first quarter.
And so obviously, we had a record second quarter loan production. The pipelines remain very strong, and we remain very confident in our ability to grow.
Even absent the talent acquisitions we have done, which should only add to that in some future period. Got it.
Very helpful.
Peter Winter
And then on credit, it is what can you say? it is been excellent.
You have got peer-leading low net charge offs consistently. And rightly so, you have taken a zero provision in 6 out of the last 7 quarters.
But the ACL ratio at 1.19%, it has reached the CECL day 1 level. If we assume a stable economy, stable credit trends, would you let the ACL ratio continue to fall?
Stacy C. Kymes
Peter, this is Stacy. Look.
You know, we are our credit metrics are better than CECL day 1. If you look at criticized levels and classified levels, nonperforming levels, and things like that, And so given what we know about credit today, then the percentage could continue to fall.
Okay.
Peter Winter
And then just 1 quick housekeeping. Does the fee income outlook include the $31 million Visa gain and thus the total revenue comment likely coming in at the upper end of mid single digit range that include the $31 million.
Yes.
Martin E. Grunst
So Peter, in for the total revenue guide, that does include both that gain. And there was a another gain last year.
So both in the 25 number the 26 number, we both have those in there. that is correct.
Peter Winter
Okay. Thanks, Martin.
Operator
I am Your next question comes from the line of Jon Arfstrom with RBC. K.
Jon Arfstrom
Thanks. Good afternoon.
Hey, Jon.
Scott Bradley Grauer
Scott, maybe a question for you. there is been maybe some hand wringing over the trading fees this quarter.
How unusual is that environment? In your mind?
And can you help us a little bit with what June and maybe July look like? Is it does the business, you know, in aggregate total trading revenue kind of trend back to that mid-30s type level?
Yeah, sure. So good question.
So as we you know, as I commented, really, where we got off to a solid start in Q1. We saw in March and mostly in April and May we saw a significant dislocation.
And as I mentioned, we saw an improvement in June. So, really, the kind of the key contributors there you think about our trading activity, it is nearly a 100% fixed income.
So it is mortgage-backed securities, munis, corporates, and treasuries in that order. With mortgage backed securities being at the dominant chunk of that.
So as the dislocation and uncertainty has occurred in the markets, that is what causes the challenges there with that segment. But we did see an improvement in June versus the previous 2 months.
Okay. So maybe potentially back to normal or an improvement from what you saw earlier in the quarter, certainly.
Stacy C. Kymes
Okay. Yep.
Jon, I just wanna add, we have been in the fixed income trading business for decades. And, you know, every once in a while, you get 1 of these dips, and they are inevitably followed by a bounce back.
it is a solid customer base that we have got a long history with. Yep.
Okay. Good.
Jon Arfstrom
On the expense outlook, I see the guide, and it looks good Martin, can you maybe talk a little bit about where you are finding opportunities to hold the line on expenses and then maybe touch a little bit on the hiring that you are doing if there is more to come and kind of the profile of what you are looking for and who you are hiring. Thanks.
Martin E. Grunst
Yeah. I would just say on expenses, you know, if you let me give you a little bit of color on the expenses.
And talk a little bit about deferred comp and then kind of get back to that question. As a reminder, you know, there is 2 components in deferred comp, and they are inextricably linked because they come from the same source.
They are you know, there is actually assets specifically invested for deferred compensation. Those investments are mark to market every quarter, and that gain or loss shows up in the other gains and losses item.
That we call out on Slide 13 in the footnote, $8.8 million in gain in Q2. That gain plus some trivial administrative impact is how the $9.1 million of deferred comp expense number is determined.
So by definition, those must net effectively to zero or something close to zero, you each quarter. So to get an accurate understanding of the core run rate of the company, you have got to adjust for both those impact or neither of them.
Which I appreciate the fact that, Jon, you did. This quarter.
But to understand the core trends in NII, sorry for that long preamble, but you need to understand that context as well. So personnel expense, was down excluding deferred comp by $6 million.
2 drivers there, though, with trading revenue down, trading commissions were commensurately down. And then a seasonal decline in payroll taxes is the other piece that explains that $6 million decline quarter over quarter.
So basically, the base regular compensation was really steady quarter over quarter. Now as you start from kind of that starting place when you look over the next couple of quarters, You will see some expense increase within the personnel line items just due to the ads.
And but importantly, that is contemplated in the expense guidance that we provided. K.
Jon Arfstrom
And, Stacy, this is middle market commercial lenders that is who you are after?
Stacy C. Kymes
Yeah. Yeah, we have hired kind of a range from commercial to corporate to small business.
Substantially, all revenue producers, not exclusively, but substantially all are revenue producers. Obviously, you know, the disruption in our key markets is created an opportunity, and it is a playbook we have used many times in the past.
And we have got a great brand. And excited to welcome new teammates to help us grow the company.
Okay.
Jon Arfstrom
Thank you.
Operator
Next question comes from the line of Matt Olney with Stephens. Your line is now open.
Matt Olney
Hey. Good afternoon.
Thanks for taking the questions. Given the Visa share sale, just looking for updated thoughts around capital and capital deployment.
Thanks.
Martin E. Grunst
Yes. No, thanks for the question.
Yes. So capital, we have got a strong capital position, and that just makes it a little bit stronger.
We are well aware of that. that is an opportunity for us to be very thoughtful about how we deploy capital.
But as you know, we are always very opportunistic about how we do that. We are always thinking about what is the best long term action to take and when to take it.
And at the end of the day, we are willing to be patient to find that. Okay.
Appreciate that, Martin.
Matt Olney
And then I guess, Martin, on your puts and takes around the margin outlook, I think you mentioned getting back that 3 bps back from that cash margin of the hedging activity from the energy customers. Any more color on that dynamic what happened in Q2?
And then would I see this more specifically in the financials? Thanks.
Stacy C. Kymes
Yeah. Let me just explain the dynamic there, and then Martin can explain maybe how that runs through.
But so we hedge on behalf of our customers. We do not take commodity risk.
But because we have mortgages on their collateral, we hedge, we offset the commodity risk with the third party or most predominantly with an exchange. The exchange requires cash margin when both initial margin and cash margin when the trades move.
So when commodity prices moved up significantly, customers who had previously hedged Those hedges were underwater. We had to post cash margin to the exchange and do not get a return for that.
So that dilutes our net interest margin. As those positions season and mature and roll off, or as commodity prices roll back down, we get a return to that margin.
Which improves our net interest margin in that process. At 1 point during the quarter, I think we had over $900 million that was posted to the exchange.
Much of that has been returned back to us. But understand that, obviously, the conflict remains.
And as oil prices move, that number could change over time. But both with time decay and then prices staying at this level, we expect that to return to a more normalized level.
It really has with some degree of uncertainty around where commodity prices go from here.
Martin E. Grunst
Yeah. So the majority of that has come back, you know, as we sit here today already.
And to your question about how do you see that in the financials, you will see that it is essentially a nonearning asset or a low earning asset that grows temporarily and then comes back. And you see that in the nonearning assets, and we can walk you through the specific line items later if that is useful.
Okay.
Matt Olney
Perfect. Thanks, guys.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Michael Rose with Raymond James.
Michael Rose
Good afternoon, guys. Thanks for taking my questions.
Hey. Just wanted to get an update on the mortgage business, where you guys stand at this point, and if there is any, updated, you know, kind of thoughts around expectations versus where you are tracking?
Stacy C. Kymes
No. I think I told you, I think, in the last 6 months or so, I indicated, I think our goal is to be at a billion in commitments by the end of the year.
We are obviously tracking well ahead of that. As we ended the second quarter.
I am not going to give any updated goalposts there other than to say we have lots of headroom and those guys are running awfully fast, and we are seeing lots of opportunity there. So we remain very excited about that business.
As I mentioned, we broke even. First month of breakeven was in June, so that is going to be a tailwind for us as we go into the latter half of the year.
But they are going to be a tailwind to us as we close the year for sure. there is some seasonality in that business just like there is in the mortgage business.
But net, between now and the end of the year, we think that is going to continue to grow. Very helpful, Stacy.
Michael Rose
And then maybe just 1 follow-up going back to deposits. The NIB mix has remained pretty stable here, but I think we all know it is competitive in a lot of your markets.
And you know, with the updated, loan growth guide, it is probably some incremental pressure. You guys do have a lower loan to deposit ratio.
Just as we think about interest-bearing deposit costs as we move forward, just given that competitive dynamic, What do you see as kind of the puts and takes, either under a base case with no rate hikes or if we do get 1 or 2? Thanks.
Martin E. Grunst
Yeah. So non-interest-bearing or interest bearing deposit costs, you know, is probably going to be closer to stable than it has been in the last couple quarters in a scenario where you have got no rate hikes or rate cuts either way.
And then in a rate cut a rate hike scenario, probably does not happen till later in the year if it does. But our deposit beta has been, you know, in the upper 60s for the down cycle.
It was right about the same place in the up cycle. So we would think about that as kind of a starting place for how you think about deposit costs.
However, when you go from cutting to flat and then to increasing, you are probably gonna be able to beat that just based on, you know, any time that direction changes. That gives the industry the ability to do a little bit of lags here and there.
So we would probably beat that as how we think about it. Okay.
Michael Rose
Brett. Thanks for taking my questions.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Woody Lay with KBW. Your line is now open.
Wood Lay
Hey. Thanks for taking my questions.
Just had 1 quick follow-up question related to the Visa gain and how it relates to the guidance. So you said that is included in the revenue, but is that also included in the fee guidance?
Because when I look at last year's $801 million, that looks like a operating number. So I just want to make sure I am looking at things apples to apples.
Martin E. Grunst
that is right. it is not in the fee number.
Yeah. Thanks for that follow-up.
've said that earlier. Yeah.
that is not in the fees and commissions guidance. Correct.
Got it. But it is included in the total revenue?
that is correct.
Wood Lay
Okay. Alright.
Thank you for that. And then maybe just last for me.
I wanted to touch on the fiduciary and asset revenue. And as you noted, there was some impact of seasonal tax prep But I was just curious how much of that bump up was from the seasonal impact just versus strong organic trends?
It was roughly a third of the quarter over quarter increase was due to the tax prep.
Martin E. Grunst
The onetime a year. Got it.
Wood Lay
Alright. that is all for me.
Thanks for taking my questions.
Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Jared Shaw with Barclays.
Your line is now open.
Jared Shaw
Thanks. Good afternoon.
I guess just for me, maybe where are you seeing the most loan competition whether it is, you know, geographically focused or certain subsectors? Are you seeing are you seeing anything unusual on the competition side?
Stacy C. Kymes
No. I would not say we are seeing anything unusual.
I think the great part about our footprint is it is growing rapidly. If you think about Texas and Arizona and Colorado and even our home state of Oklahoma is growing at a great pace.
And so that is happening, everybody gets a part of the pie. it is easier to be part of a growing pie than it is to be part of a stable or shrinking pie.
And so what I would say is, from my perspective, we are seeing lots of opportunities for loan growth. I have never seen a more resilient kind of American business enterprise in the face of so much economic volatility really moving forward with their businesses.
And so that is obviously creating opportunity for us. I think structurally, I think I am really impressed with this stage of the cycle, how strong competitively structures are hanging in there.
I think pricing continues to grind competitively. As you would expect it to in this kind of environment.
But lots of lending opportunities as we look forward. Brett.
Jared Shaw
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Brett Rabatin with Stonex Group. Your line is now open.
Brett Rabatin
Hey. Good afternoon, everyone.
Thanks for the questions. Wanted to ask, I noticed a lot of the loan growth was in Oklahoma.
Was there anything unique about that? Was it the domicile just being at the headquarters or anything that drove Oklahoma to be a lot stronger?
Obviously, the company is based in Oklahoma, but I thought we would see a little more broad based growth from the other geographies this quarter given the overall strength in loan growth?
Stacy C. Kymes
Yeah. Sometimes those tables can be a little bit misleading because it is not necessarily where the borrower is, but where the lending activity is headquartered.
And so that as we look at it that internally, you know, our growth was very broad based, and that was part of what we were most proud about. Is both by geography and by lending type, very, very diverse.
Particularly, if you look at C&I, what we have been defining for a long time now is core C&I. Think that was up 11% year over year.
I mean, that is that is really outstanding and really, really proud of the team here at the bank that is delivering that kind of outcome because, as you know, that is the hardest lending to be successful at. But yet, it is important to us because it feeds so many of our fee based businesses.
And so it is it is really been fun to watch these guys have success. Okay.
I appreciate that, Stacy.
Brett Rabatin
And then and then just the other question I had was you mentioned 25 new teammates, 20 in Texas. you know, did you kind of view this as just a, you know, a kind of unique opportunity given some recent disruption, or do you have a pipeline that says you can you will be continuing to add folks to the team?
Or, you know, any thoughts on just if this was kind of more of a 1-off situation relative to what you might do from here?
Stacy C. Kymes
Yeah. So for us, I would say talent acquisition is almost a line of business for us just like other vertical line of business.
The way we are going to grow is organic in virtually all of our markets particularly outside of Oklahoma. We need more boots on the ground.
And so we have our market leader in Texas particularly, but David, who leads our markets outside of Texas, we have pipelines of talent in all of our markets that we are consistently recruiting. In these periods of disruption, obviously, the receptiveness of our phone call and the opportunity we have to pull people across into our company is enhanced, and we are taking advantage of that.
But in many cases, the people that are coming across are people that we have been talking to for a very long time. And so, you know, just like with the sales process, the recruiting process also is a very long sales cycle.
But we are open for business for talented folks with or without, you know, kind of a budget for it. We like revenue producers.
We are going to have to grow with more talent on the ground in all of our key locations, and we do not see that any different. Obviously, the disruption has created a disproportional opportunity in the near term, but talent acquisition is a line of business for us.
Okay. that is great color.
Appreciate it.
Operator
That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Stacy for closing remarks.
Stacy C. Kymes
To conclude, I am incredibly proud of the results the team delivered this quarter. The record pace of loan growth, continued strength in our fee based businesses, outstanding credit performance reflects the quality of our franchise and dedication of our team.
Our consistent performance is rooted in the strong risk management culture. That foundation, combined with the unique geographic footprint, continues to create opportunities to grow faster than peers while maintaining our disciplined approach.
We are entering the second half of the year from a position of strength, With strong business momentum and a solid foundation for continued growth. We appreciate your interest in BOK Financial and your willingness to spend time with us this afternoon.
Please reach out to Heather King if you have any questions at [email protected].
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining.
You may now disconnect.