During today's quarterly earnings call, we will reference the slides and press release that are available within the investor relations section of our website, pnfp.com. In our first 90 days together, we focused on what has always mattered at Pinnacle, building the best team, delivering exceptional client experiences, and translating that into sustainable, profitable growth. For the first quarter, Pinnacle delivered diluted earnings per share of $0.89 and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.39. On an organic basis, we generated over $2 billion in loan growth and almost $2 billion in core deposit growth, right in line with our 2026 expectations.
The net interest margin expanded into the top half of our target range, and adjusted non-interest revenue grew over 20% versus combined results in the first quarter of 2025. Moreover, credit remained stable, and we continue to see strength in key metrics and ratios such as adjusted return on tangible common equity and adjusted tangible efficiency. We added 50 experienced revenue producers during the quarter, up 22% on a combined basis from the fourth quarter of 2025 and up 11% on a combined basis from the prior year. We remain focused on top-quartile organic growth, disciplined hiring of experienced revenue producers, and sustained earnings expansion.
As a result, we will make selected references to combined results for legacy Pinnacle and Synovus in prior quarters to give you a clear view of our organic growth in the first quarter. The primary driver between our reported EPS and adjusted EPS in the first quarter was $275 million of merger-related expenses. Net interest income was $933 million in the first quarter, driven by excellent balance sheet growth. The majority of the organic loan growth was in C&I credits, with contributions from our geographic markets as well as in our specialty lending lines.
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Period-end loan growth (ex purchase accounting mark) | FY2026 | 9%-11%, unchanged, versus combined year-end 2025 balances |
| Total deposit growth | FY2026 | 8%-10% versus combined year-end 2025 balances |
| Adjusted revenue | FY2026 | $5 billion-$5.2 billion |
| Net interest margin | FY2026 | approximately 3.5% |
| Adjusted non-interest revenue | FY2026 | approximately $1.1 billion |
| BHG investment income | FY2026 | approximately $105 million-$115 million |
| Adjusted non-interest expense | FY2026 | $2.675 billion-$2.775 billion |
| Merger-related expense savings realized | FY2026 | approximately 40% or $100 million |
| Non-recurring merger-related and LFI charges (of $720 million total) | FY2026 | $400 million-$450 million, excluding equity acceleration cost |
| Net charge-offs | FY2026 | 20-25 basis points |
| CET1 ratio target | FY2026 | toward 10.25% |
| Adjusted effective tax rate | FY2026 | approximately 20%-21% |
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Adjusted non-interest revenue | +20% (combined basis) | Strong core banking, wealth management, and capital markets fee growth |
| Core banking fees | +11% | Continued fee momentum entering the year |
| Wealth management fees | +14% | Continued execution in wealth management |
| Capital markets fees | more than doubled | Larger balance sheet and client base drove lead arranger fees and investment banking advisory, including six capital markets deals totaling $10 million in revenue |
| Revenue producers hired | +11% (combined basis) | Recruiting engine continued to win despite merger, including a roughly 50% increase in hiring within the legacy Synovus footprint |
| Net charge-offs | 23 basis points versus 19 basis points for the combined firm in full-year 2025 | Credit trends remained very healthy in a constructive credit environment |
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synovus merger integration | Merger closed January 1, 2026 | Progressing ahead of plan; leadership accountability clear, technology decisions largely complete, on track for operational and brand conversion by March 2027 | — |
| Revenue producer hiring model | Combined companies grew double digits in Q4 2025 | 50 producers added in Q1 (28 geographic, 22 specialty), legacy Synovus leaders adopting the Pinnacle model with a ~50% year-over-year increase in that footprint | — |
| Revenue synergies | $100 million-$130 million target over 2-3 years | Early wins in accelerated RM hiring and specialty cross-sell (equipment finance, dealer finance, ABL, capital markets); expected to achieve a modest ~$20 million in 2026 | — |
| BHG strategy | Prior BHG income estimate | Shift toward securitizations and whole-loan sales to optimize funding, accepting lower near-term premium to improve long-term profitability and enterprise value | — |
| NDFI and private credit exposure | Not previously broken out | New appendix disclosure: NDFI exposure ~$7.3 billion (9%), private credit less than $1.7 billion; ~$700 million of music catalog loans reclassified from C&I to NDFI | — |
| Capital management | CET1 ~10% at close | CET1 ended at 9.8%; intent to build toward 10.25% target while prioritizing deployment to client growth | — |