Transcription
Hello, how are you? Hello Jordan, how are you doing today?
Doing good, not too bad for a Monday. How about yourself?
Yeah, I'm, I'm doing great. Um, I, I, I also using kind of like a background. I, for some second, I thought you are having a uh, a real R background over there. It's not. Yes, it's just a boring office, that's for sure. So, no, no, not at all. It's not that. Uh, yeah, definitely not that. But, um, having an awesome conversation, uh, with Victor. Um, I, good, good, good. Bet it's going to be interesting when discussing credit with you, Jordan. And then, um, wrap up with, uh, Tina. Um, so it's got to be great.
Yes, no, absolutely. I think so too. Yeah. Well, I'm glad that you had a good conversation with Tina. My, my interview is a little bit different. And then, yeah, and then you also will have a good interview with Tina as well. But how's it going? How's school going for you so far this semester?
Yeah, school has been awesome. Uh, I, I, I positive, I, I would get an A on all my classes. Um, very good, very good. I finished strong with a, um, I finished strong becoming a Corporate Affairs Officer for an organization, uh, Finance Association, uh, at University of Houston. Not sure where you graduate, uh, from, but, uh, looking forward to, um, an interview with America and with you today. But, uh, yeah, kind of curious, uh, where, where, where did you graduate from?
Yeah, I'll give you kind of a quick overview with myself. So I graduated from, uh, basically East Texas University, which is part of the A&M Commerce or the A&M system. Got it. It's just a satellite location of A&M. Yes, that was way back in 200, well, I say 2014 as if it was that long ago, but I mean, it wasn't too far away. But, uh, I have a total of about 16 years of banking experience. I did the first four years in retail when I was in school, and then about the last 11 years have been in, uh, commercial underwriting. And so I've seen a splattering of different deals and done all kinds of things in my career. But I have a strong love for banking and a strong love, passion for it. And so that's why I'm here today.
Awesome. Just curious, so are you on the relationship manager or side or a portfolio kind of, um, overseeing, uh, underwriting?
Yeah, so I am more on the underwriting side. So I'll give you a little bit of background of how this will work today. So I am the manager for our Commercial Banking, uh, development program. Yes. And so, uh, the reason why I do a lot of the internship interviews is because a lot of our interns actually kind of, they filter into our group, uh, for their careers. And so it is our job to build the next generation of future bankers. And so I have a strong passion for training. When I started my career in 2014, um, I basically just kind of landed in commercial underwriting. It was a little weird. I didn't really know a lot about, uh, the commercial banking side of things. But I had a, I, I worked for a small community bank based out of Oklahoma City, and our Chief Credit Officer, uh, reached out to me. She knew that I was about to finish school and she asked me if I wanted to become a credit analyst. And I was like, I have no idea what this is. And she's like, yeah, you probably want to become one. And so I took a chance on it, and she changed the course of my career in my entire life. And so, uh, I kind of want to repay that for the next generation of bankers and try to give them an experience as well. So, great. That's kind of that.
Yeah, absolutely. So that's why they have me running these, uh, technical interviews. This will be about, it's about a 45-minute long interview, kind of similar to Victor, but I kind of asked the more technical side of things just to kind of get a gauge of your financial acumen. Sure. Again, we're not looking for perfect answers by any means. We're just trying to really just gauge things and see if you would be a great fit for our program. And so, uh, why don't you give me a little bit of background about yourself? I know you have a little bit, uh, so far, but just kind of run me through. I saw that you did a, a mock loan committee last year, which was pretty cool. Uh, talk about that, and then we'll go ahead and get started with the technicals and we'll save some questions for the end.
Thank you so much, Jordan. So, um, I, I, I would keep my story as short. I want to hit on the most important point, which is the credit, uh, discussion. But, uh, I, I would say my, I have a mathematics major. Um, later on in my career, I figured out, hey, I really want to do something related to business. Um, having no strong background in, in business, I know that I have to do something different. I become trying to be very good with classes and that, and new connections. That's how I got in the teacher assistant role, uh, that I have with finance and, uh, economics, successfully managing 300 plus students. So I also have a passion for training as well, but on a smaller, lower level, I would say. Um, then I have a, an internship experience. It's a non-paid internship with a private equity firm. The most valuable lesson is networking. Um, the most valuable, uh, lesson is the cold calling aspect, sending emails, building that rapport. Uh, that's how I, I got a lot of connections with bankers, coffee chats, and that's how I know about commercial, more about commercial banking. But I would say that is not enough. You have to be, um, in order to build up my business acumen, I have to join organizations. Um, recently is the finance association, which I'm now becoming an officer. So I'm grateful for the organization.
That's awesome. Congrats. But I gain connections with commercial bankers and that, and that's how I learn about banks as well. Um, know about different financial product teams, figured out, uh, commercial banking is what I want to get into. Um, I, I don't want to be just hours grinding, such as in investment banking. That's what driving me to commercial banking. But what got me another passion for commercial banking is after going through the real credit analysis project, where I kind of have a hands-on try it out if I might be a good fit. I love both the analytical parts, uh, which is observing financial, um, trends, uh, from all the way from income statement, balance sheets, to cash statement, observing what's their cash flows, is it positive, uh, cash flows, uh, how long have they in operations, uh, what's their, uh, financial covenants? Are they following their financial covenants? So love that aspect. But also love the networking part. Why? Because discussing credit, you want to discuss with people, and that's how you gain perspectives. I could imagine walking and talking with your clients, you don't want to be like, you know everything. Um, and it actually, you learn a ton from your client, as well as they are in the, they are the foot in the door, they, they are in the business. Um, so that's a little bit about me. Uh, going forward, I have some plans ahead, such as landing an internship. Um, I'm being flexible, any analyst teams. Um, I know that there's are different teams in commercial banking. Recently talked with Victor, he shared that there's nonprofit, their healthcare, C&I, so different teams. I'm able and flexible to use my skill and be, um, and use it to applicable to any roles. And that's a few things about me. Hope it's not too boring, Jordan. But I'm open up you asking questions.
No, that's great. No, I think that is very detailed. I may be looking to the side here. I'm just taking some notes. I, you're, you're my full attention. So it's just a way for me to write everything. And so, no, I think that's great. I think you're on the right track there. You have a good background there. So very good, good. Well, we'll go ahead and get started with some of the, and you kind of answered some of the questions already just organically by you telling me a little bit of background in yourself. You're kind of going through the committee process, but we'll dive a little bit deeper into the technical questions here. So there's a total of about eight of them, but I will say that most of them kind of coincide with each other. So they go pretty quickly. Got it. Uh, I'll let you know when we get to the halfway point, so that way you feel a little less stress. I always think that fills people. They know where they're exactly where they are in the process. And so we'll get through all these, and then at the very end, we'll, I will open up to see what questions you have. Yep. And then I'll save one final question for the very end, just to kind of bring everything back together before we go. Yes. Does that sound like a plan?
That, that sounds like an awesome plan. Like, perfect.
All righty. So I'll go ahead and get started here. If you ever, if you need me to repeat a question or anything, just let me know. Sometimes I can talk a little fast, so. But first up, so what is an audited financial statement and what value does it provide to a bank?
Oh, audited financial statement. So, Jordan, disclaimer, uh, if I answer, I will answer to my truest understanding. And if it's, if it's any part that needs clarification, please let me know. But my understanding is that sometimes, um, when companies, uh, they are, if they are like, kind of like small businesses, uh, their financial statement could be over places, and they even might probably don't have financial statements. Um, and so when you come to the banks, and banks, uh, in order to, well, let's say the business comes to the banks and asking for a loan, um, then the banks have to look at their numbers, um, at the company numbers to see if they are trustworthy, or are they saying what actually true, what their risk profile is going to be like, right? So you need a financial statements. And so audited financial statement just means that it's, um, following, I would say, following GAAP, um, rules, uh, GAAP accounting, uh, so that it's, um, like can be transparent, uh, in any institution, not just for banks, but also, I would say, the, the government, if they want to look at their financial statements as well. Um, so it's important is because it's follow the guidelines, uh, so that banks could see the actual things happening. Uh, and another thing is because you want to input those numbers into, like, each comp, each bank has different, um, systems for inputting numbers. So you want to input numbers correctly, uh, just make things work easier and more professional.
So is it answer a question, Jordan?
No, absolutely. Yeah, no, I think you hit the right notes there. So audited statements, they do follow a GAAP standard. They're within a third party, and so it makes the banks feel really good. And you're exactly right. We just, we turn around and we put those into our spreading software and just makes a little bit everything more unified for us to do a financial analysis. So, no, very good. Thank you. All righty. So let's say that we have five years of financial statements. Which line items do you think would be the most important and can you explain why?
Yes, uh, five years. I would say, uh, I immediately would go to cash flow statements, especially the, uh, net operating cash flows, um, because why is it important? Because you want to observe, all right, just by operating this business, is it generating, is it positive cash flows? If it's positive cash flow, it means that it's, um, it's, uh, in, it's gain, it's gain, uh, money, it's not losing money by just operating, if it makes sense. But why is it five years important? The reason is, well, me personally, I would say more than five years, I, I would look that, but five years, um, the reason is because we want to observe if they are consistent in operating their businesses. If, for instance, if you see like some bump there, some positive, and then negative, and then positive, then, um, it could present some risk with the banks. And it's not just say that we are going to decline the the clients, it's just that we might want to help our clients in out in, in the way that help them the most. Um, and so that, that's what I think. Um, if it's positive all the way, then that, that's a good indication that they are kind of good. And then you might ask a question, all right, so what the money that they want to use for, since they are positive cash flow already, uh, what they're going to use this money for? Um, yeah. So I would say my professor always say, cash flow is king.
No, absolutely. Cash is king. No, I think you're exactly right. You, you describe free cash flow in its purest form, making sure that they are generating enough cash to service their expenses. And so, and then, yeah, you're exactly right. When we have more years of financial statements, we just want to make sure that we see those trends, making sure that they're being consistent. If they're not being consistent, we need to know why. So I think you're perfect. Thank you. Very good, sir. Let all right. So what?
Yeah, no, I will let you. No, no, you're good. So what are some key financial statements, uh, or I'm, excuse me, let me back up a little bit. So what are some key financial ratios that might be used to assess the financial condition of a company? So what are some financial, uh, ratios that you can assist, uh, the financial condition of a company?
Yes, absolutely. So I would say, uh, on, well, let's say first with the balance sheet, uh, we would want to go with, well, if you throw a company at me, I'm just going to skim through it real quick, just to identify what industry feels like or what this company is going to look like. Then we're looking at, um, the quick ratios, uh, liquidity ratios, just to see, um, the, the higher the number, the, the better, uh, which means that they have more of kind of like a quick, uh, quick, uh, quick asset compared to, uh, liability within one year that I have to pay it off. Uh, and, and another important piece, I would say, is I'm going to look at, well, diving a little bit more, then I will probably look at the, um, how their working capital, um, operates. Uh, we want to see, so let's say we want to see how's their receivable day, receivable look like, uh, how their inventory, um, uh, how, how, how their inventory turnover they look like, uh, they payable. Uh, there's might be problems in, in, in that, uh, in those, um, in terms of profitability, I would mostly look at the, um, net income, well, net profit margin, uh, profit margins, uh, the EBITDA, uh, EBITDA growth over time, just want to see if this company is, um, how, how they generate monies. Um, but I would say these ratios have to look together. It's, um, so let's say profit margins and net, uh, net profit margins only tell one part of the story. It doesn't tell us about how their position in terms of like cash they're holding. Um, so they could make a lot of money, but if they don't hold any cash on hand, that could present a risk because, uh, if things happen too quickly, then how, how can they pay off their liabilities? Uh, another, well, there's are a couple more ratios, I would say for now, those are the things that I would look.
Those are great. Well, yeah, another, I would say this is crucial. I don't know why I messed that up, but, uh, definitely, uh, debt to cover, well, debt to EBITDA to total debt to EBITDA, which is leverage ratio, fairly important because you want to compare how they're leveraged compared to the industries. Most of the time, well, and then fixed charge coverage ratio as well. You want to see how much of their EBITDA would cover, how many times their EBITDA covers their interest expense. Uh, is important as well because sometimes they are at, they are putting as a covenant, um, so you want to observe them as well. I hope that answers your question, Jordan. I've been all over the place.
No, absolutely. No, I think you hit all the right spots there. You, you mentioned some good ones here with, you know, such as capital, and then you broke that down between inventory days, accounts payable days, and so, yeah, I think that's very good. Debt to EBITDA, we look on that. We look at their leverage ratios pretty much for every deal to make sure that they're not becoming what's called bank finance, making sure that they're financing their growth through operations and not through a bank. And so that's very important to us, making sure that we're looking at those trends and making sure that they're tracking the right way comparably to the industry as well. So, yeah, no, I think that's great. Yeah, thank you. I'm, uh, I'm halfway through.
Yes, you are. Yeah, you're getting there. Yep. Absolutely. So let's say, so let's say that we have a customer and this customer is coming to you and they want a new $5 million loan. Yeah. And with this new five, with this new $5 million loan, they're going to get a new piece of equipment. So what impacts would this new loan and new piece of equipment, uh, will have on the borrower's financial statement?
Yes, this is, um, I just had accounting classes and I hope, uh, my answer is in line with my grade. Um, but I would, I would say, so when you buy equipment, it's going to not going to be recorded on the net income. It's recorded on the net income as the equipment. Well, uh, I would say first time recording it, you're not depreciating it yet, so it's not going to be depreciation expense yet on the net income. But then for the next, um, um, for the next accounting, uh, like quarters, then it's going to be recorded as an, um, depreciation expense on equipment, um, of course, on the, um, balance sheet, there's going to be accumulated, um, depreciation. Well, my apologies, um, equipment, uh, which is the, uh, long, it's, uh, it's under plan property and equipment. Uh, it's going to be debit, I would say debit, yeah, asset is debit, so it's going to be debit of five million in terms of equipment. Uh, accumulated depreciation is not going to happen yet because I say the next time around when depreciation expense on the net income increase, then it's accumulated depreciation on the balance is going to increase, but then it's going to be a decrease, which is credit on the equipment. Well, that's wrong because, um, you, you, you just only need to increase the, um, um, accumulated depreciation. My apologies, um, on.
Got it. Thank you so much. Um, on to the, uh, cash flow statements, uh, of course, on the cash flow statement, it's going to be under investing activities. Um, it's, it's considered a cash outflow, so you're spending, so it's going to be a negative of five million. Um, which makes sense because it's, uh, yeah, uh, it's going to be a, a negative, uh, five million under the investing activities, uh, which leads to a lower cash, um, in the end, cash account in the end. I hope that answers, Jordan.
Yeah, no, that's great. No, you hit the right, you hit the right notes there. You know, depreciation that will happen going forward, and so PP&E will increase, property, plant, equipment will increase, and then, yeah, you're exactly right. We'll get that outflow in cash and the cash flow statement. So good job there. All right. So what, you know, speaking on the lines of of cash flows, um, what is some, um, what are some aspects of the cash flow that you would take into consideration and why?
Uh, my apologies, Jordan, but if you could elaborate a little bit more, that would be helpful.
Yeah, so on the company's cash flow statement, what are some aspects you would take into consideration and why?
All right, I, I, I'll just go on my hunt here and then I, I'll ask you a few things more just to. Yeah, absolutely. So back to your very first question, I think first or second, but when looking at cash flows, I, I would, um, go to the, uh, operating cash flows, just to see how this company, um, operates over time. Are they a profitable business? Are they struggling with their by just operating? Um, then also, um, on to the investing. Let me see, let me see. Do you mind if I just browse through my, um, kind of projects just to grasp my my thoughts again?
Okay. No, take your time. I would say this is an interesting piece because the companies that I'm looking at, um, on their investing activities is also important as well because why? So let's say the $5 million equipment that you gave, right? Um, it's considered a good investment. But, um, but you want to ensure that however, if you see they continuously, let's say the scenario where they continuously build up equipment, um, and then return is like super slow or might not be there, then you might have to ask a question, so why do they step up of spending on their equipment? Um, also, you want to find, you want to observe the interest expense. Um, so something in, in the operating, I'm not, well, let me double check. I'm kind of forgot where the interest expense, uh, I, I, I, my suggestion is in the operating, um, cash flow, but, uh, that's right. Thank you so much. But I would say if it's increasing, then you have to ask a question because it's interesting how the market before, interest rate is super high, then you might want to ask a question, so why, why don't you try to like lower your borrowing and you continue like borrowing, right? And in terms of borrowing, you want to see under the financing activities, you want to see, right, how much borrowings are they hopping on? Um, I think that's interesting. Last piece I want to say out is, um, under, let's say, now we're looking also under the, um, investing activities, uh, if they spend less on their capital expenditures, it could mean, uh, they are trying to expand, uh, later, which could mean bad things, but, not all cases. But I, I would say, uh, if they're expanding, like buying new things, right, but they are lowering their capital expenditure, could mean it, it could hurt their back, uh, in the future because you have to spend capital expenditure kind of like annually on a basis. Um, hope that helps.
Yeah, no, I think that's great. I think you hit the right notes there again. We're going back to operating cash flow, which is basically free cash flow when you put in capital expenditures in there. So what's we take operating cash flows minus capex, we got free cash flow, and that's very important for us to look at. You mentioned interest expense again, that's part of operating cash flows, so that's another thing that we take into consideration. So I think that's good. All right. So we're going to move on to our last two questions here, which are going to be more bank specific. So typically banks, we, we lend on a secure basis, so collateral is important to us. Yeah. So can you explain why collateral is important? And then the second part of this question is, is there any collateral that is more valuable than others?
Interesting. I, I, I would hit first the questions, but, uh, the second questions, I'm, um, I will elaborate kind of like on the go. Um, sure. I would say collateral is super, well, the reason why banks are able to offer these, uh, lower, uh, rates, um, compared to, uh, other institutions is because we are having collateral in there. And also, we could see that when, when we, when we come to a bank for commercial banking, like products, uh, there's a relationship in, like, um, I just talked with Victor, and he would say that, that we are more like an advisor. We go and help our clients. We don't want our clients to, um, leverage so much. Um, and also, we want, because most of the time, I, I think that businesses, they cherish their, um, their business. And in order for us to really be able to like look out for them, is, um, having collateral because why? Because with collateral, it just makes us safer, and we could offer them lower interest rates, and in turn, we will look out for them as well because we care about this company, we care about this collateral. Um, and so that's why I think collateral is so important, uh, for especially with commercial banking products. Um, but in terms of different collateral, um, I would first, I would say that, um, the first item you want to look at is the cash flows, right? Right, as a source of repayment. I forgot. Okay. The second, I would say is coming from the more liquidity, um, stuff such as accounts receivable, and then inventory. Uh, yeah, so onto that end, I say collateral on the receivable and the inventory is definitely helpful. One tricky thing is on those things, you want to actually evaluate the value of it and if it's actually there. That's some interesting aspect to that. More than that, then I would say, um, some, some industries, some companies, they are heavy on assets on fixed assets, so you could take collateral on the fixed asset itself, like on machineries, uh, warehouse, and yeah. And so that's my thought as, as this point, Jordan. But if you have any, um, any more points, you could add, I, I would cherish that.
Yeah, absolutely. No, I think you hit on in the right spots. And so the way that I like to look at it is if you were to take a balance sheet, so companies or balance sheet, and if you were to look at it as if it was a pyramid, you have the most valuable at the top. So first, I'm going to start with your first comment here. So you said cash flow, absolutely right. The first, the first, uh, source of repayment is going to be the borrower's ability to generate cash flow to pay us back. So that's what we love. And so secondly, so if you were to start at the top of the balance sheet, you have cash. Cash is king. So if we get security on cash, that's great. And then as you move down, you get a little bit less liquid, but we have accounts receivable. We love our, we love our AR and inventory. So we also, that will be the next thing. And then last, as you said, there is the PP&E, which is such as our real estate, our equipment, and whatever it might be. So those are kind of less liquid, but they appreciate in value over time. Yeah, most in most cases. And so that kind of helps us out there. And then kind of fourth, and kind of trust, you know, you know, the fourth level that we don't typically lend on, but we might, is kind of goodwill, intangible assets. Yeah. You know, we do make loans on those type of deals, but those are kind of more on the rare side of things. And so I think you hit the right notes there. So great job. Thank you.
Jordan, I, I'm interested about the goodwill though. Gonna ask you, uh, yeah, at the end of quick question. Well, we could go ahead and kind of dive more into that because we've gotten to the technical. So good job there. Yes. Uh, so we are good there. So, yeah, I will turn it over to you for any questions you have. We can deep dive more into that goodwill or whatever you got. I'm an open book. So fire away.
Absolutely, Jordan. So, um, oh, I thought we have one more question. Is it not? So the last one's kind of a two-fer. So you, you made it all the way through. Yeah. So, okay. Yep. That's awesome. Thank you, Jordan, so much. Um, yeah, I'm, um, I'm just curious on that goodwill, um, industry, usually what, where, where do you see that banks are, uh, loaning and have collateral on the goodwill?
So, good way to describe that. And we, so we have a leverage underwriting group, and so a lot of those deals are kind of your M&A, so those are going to be your mergers and acquisition type deals. And so as you probably have learned in school, when a company acquires another company, there's usually a goodwill aspect to that. And so when those are bank financed, uh, the bank will typically will make a what is called a UCC filing. So that is a, a universal collateral code. So making that we, we making sure that we are taking a first lien on that business. And so, and typically in those cases, those companies don't have a lot of hard assets, hard assets such as physical assets. And so those loans are what we considered unsecured in nature because in the event of liquidation, the value of that company is pretty much undetermined, and we're not sure if we'll be able to basically make good on our loan at that aspect. And so a lot of times you'll see that on our, on our service-based companies. And so we have our C&I, which that's our commercial and industrial type business. Yep. And so those, those are the ones that have a lot of, a lot of inventory, a lot of accounts receivable, and they have some pretty good fixed assets. And then you go to the other side of things, and then you have your service-based businesses where they have a lot of revenue, but their balance sheets are pretty lacking. They're pretty much, there's not a lot of things going on. They may lease an office space, and everything is basically rented. So there is no physical asset. So those type of deals, you'll see it in a lot of times in, you know, your M&A or private equity firms where they're financing these type of deals. And so those are where you get the EBITDA multipliers. So those are the, you know, the business's ability to generate revenue. There's a value there, and that value usually correlates directly with goodwill. Uh, and so that's just basically saying that this company that they're buying, you know, has the ability to generate X amount of revenue or X amount of net income per year. And so that means if you were to do it over like a 10 or 20 year, you know, amortization schedule, there's a value to be had there, which the bank can take. They could take collateral on that. Now, as I said before, in the event of actual liquidation, of us getting that value, it's, it's kind of open, it's open-ended. We may get it back, we may not. It just kind of depends. And so I see that's, yeah, that's kind of how that works.
I'm just kind of curious, is it because, um, most time in the M&A, so you, you get all the fees, so it's make it, um, it's make it more lucrative, um, so banks are more willing to do that? Is it true?
Or, yeah, you're, you're exactly right. Yeah. So there, there's, you know, the high risk, high reward type scenarios. And so as we said, we do have a leverage, so for co-America, we do have a leverage lending team. But with that being said, the amount of those loans is definitely on the smaller side of our bank. But we do like doing them because they, you know, we do get a lot of fees and they're usually high interest rates. Those are high-risk loans, and so we are able to generate a profit on most of those loans. And so we're willing to do them. But I will say for the most part, that's kind of, you know, more on the rarity side of things that we, we'll do them. So thank you so much, Jordan. On on on that text, um, I'm just kind of be wise on time. Um, we are having, um, kind of like 10 more minutes. Is it correct?
Yeah, more minutes. And so I, I am good to go if you are.
Yes, yes, yes. I'm, I'm definitely have a few more questions under my belt. Want to want to ask you. Um, toward Jordan, I'm in this point that I am, um, I have a credit analysis under my belt. I have some accounting concepts under my belt. But then I also want to continuously to be, um, curious and to want to learn more. Do you have any advice for me on how I, uh, on how I should continue to prepare myself and bring myself to the next level, um, just to be more ready walking into commercial banking, um, roles?
Yeah, I think you're on the right on the right track there, especially with the curiosity. I'm a huge believer in being curious, especially in the in the path that you currently are taking within your career. Uh, mainly because you never know where you might end up. And so, as I said before, I just happened into credit analysis, uh, by chance. You know, I took a risk, uh, because I knew nothing about it, and, you know, that, that person that offered me that job changed my entire career. And so that's kind of my same recommendation for y'all. You know, if you were to come into the internship and let's say that you want to experience something different within the bank, you know, I would let the person that is leading the internship know that, which is mostly Tina and some of our other group managers, such as Victor. They're the ones that run our internship programs. And so would get with them and say, Hey, you know, I want to spend some time with this group. Can you make it happen? And most of the time, you can, especially within Houston. So if you become a Houston intern, uh, one of the main benefits of being within the Houston market is that everyone is located at two Riverway, but they're also located on the 14th floor. So our underwriting groups, our loan manager groups, our senior, you know, our lending assistants, everyone is located within that one floor. Yeah. So it's real easy to go to, let's say that you want to shadow somebody for a day. All you have to do is just go down the hall and shadow that person. And that's what makes our Houston group so great is because everything is located centrally. I think, you know, on top of that, you know, being curious and saying, hey, you're being proactive that you, because this is your career, and you have to take charge of that. And so on top of being curious and proactive, if you want to go down more of a commercial lending or a, you know, credit analyst role, my biggest recommendation, especially for Hero America, is to deep dive and learn as much as you can about the balance sheet. That will go a significant way, both with being a relationship manager or being a credit underwriter within this bank. So we, our institution is a large C&I bank, so a commercial and industrial bank. That means we make a lot of working capital type, uh, revolvers. And so with that, a lot of times we have inventory and accounts receivable as collateral. And fully understanding all the different line items within the balance sheet and knowing how it flows to the other financial statements, uh, will make your life so much easier if you fully understand that process from start to finish. I like to say the balance sheet speaks the loudest out of all the financial statements, uh, because it's the one that you don't really need a lot of context from our borrowers from, because it speaks so loudly. And so I really recommend deep diving into that, learning as much as you can, uh, from that. And so I know we, I'm want to keep, I want to keep us on time here, so I'll, I'll end there. So if you have any other questions regarding that, I can expand.
So no, no, no, definitely helpful, Jordan. But before, um, I have also one important question I want to ask you. So do you have your LinkedIn profile by any chance?
Yes, yeah, it's just my name. I can, let's see here. I don't know if I have it pulled up, but I can also email it to you.
Oh, that would be awesome because I, I, I tried to look you up on LinkedIn, but for some reason, I couldn't. I couldn't really find.
Yeah, so yeah, I will actually, let me see if I can find you. Oh, actually, it is coming up. I didn't know that I was logged into this. Normally I don't log on to it at work, but I do have it. But I have it pulled up. So don't worry. Don't worry.
Jordan, actually, I, I just be able to find it just now. I don't know why.
Oh, did. Oh, well, there you go. You found it. Yes.
Oh, gosh. Um, then I have another question for you by just looking through your LinkedIn profile. Yeah. But, um, yeah, wow. I saw you that you, you are with, um, City, um, years ago as well. So, um, been a couple of banks. So I'm kind of curious on what your takes on how the culture has been like at Co-America and what, um, do you continue to see yourself, uh, to be with Co-America?
Yeah, that's, you know, that's a great question. Yeah, as I said, be or I always say this is that some of my biggest strengths and my biggest weaknesses is that I have worked for different banks. And my biggest, I see that as a big strength is because I know exactly what I like. And, you know, when I was at, so I started my career at a small community bank that was based out of Oklahoma City. There are about 250 million in assets. And so that is a very tiny, tiny bank, if you know anything about banking. Yep. And then I worked, I spent some time at City, which is a 1.4 trillion bank. And so on the complete opposite side of that, you know, very large operations. We had a centralized underwriting. And so anyway, so that brings me to Co-America, where Co-America, I really did get, I do get the best of both worlds here in terms of, yes, we're a great regionalized bank, but at the flip side of that, I get the best of, you know, being, you know, working for a large institution, but I also get the best of the community banking atmosphere. As you probably just heard from Victor, we love building commercial relationships and, you know, making sure that we're managing those relationships within a local level. Yep. And so that means a lot to me that I was able to find an institution that where I still had the amount of resources that City gave me, but also have that very local and community feel. And with that all being said, you know, that is my favorite part about being this bank is because we're the best of both worlds. Yep. But also because our executive management really believes in that as well. I think there's a lot of banks, especially including my last institution, where the executive management doesn't fully believe in that. Yeah. But here at Co-America, they are 100% invested into that. And that speaks loudly with the group that I'm currently in. The group that I'm the manager of is that in our last earnings call, they actually brought up the group that I work for and how, you know, making that investment into our future bankers is one of the key things for Co-America's growth. And I think that is truly fantastic. And I see that every day. And so I have full faith within this company because of that.
Oh, gosh. Um, thank you, Jordan, uh, so much. Uh, uh, can I ask you just one last question?
Sure. Absolutely. I have time.
I always, um, try to tie people with the stories that I had, just so that I make it, um, it's memorable. Um, so kind of curious, what stories do you have that is, uh, interesting? Could be past story, or could be future events, future stories that you about to be made.
Yeah, let's see here. I'm a new father. So I guess that's probably. Thank you. I just had my first little one about two months ago. So not only have I taken on a new manager lifestyle, but I've also taken on fatherhood at the same time. And so, uh, so super excited about that. I, I'm managing two different types of teams. I'm managing my family team and my my corporate team. That's probably, yeah, so that's my two. That's probably the best story that I have right now because it's such a, both of them take up so much of my time, but I, I love it. I wouldn't change it for the world.
Gosh. But, uh, Jordan, um, once again, congratulations on on your hopping on your new teams as well. Um, you absolutely must be very busy from now on. But you take a time, um, talking with me. It's mean a lot to my professional development. And one last thing I want to say before we go is that I'm flexible, coachable. My skills could be transparent to any, uh, commercial banking teams at Co-America. Um, and with that, I hope you, Jordan, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Merry Christmas and also Happy New Year.
Yes, thank you so much for taking your time again. The same sentiments. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. You have my email, so if you have any questions, just let me know. You can just shoot me an email there. And also, I'm more than willing to get on another Teams call if you want to. But if you have anything, yeah, just let me know. And, uh, I hope the rest of the semester of finishing out the semester goes good for you.
Yeah, it's gonna be strong. All right, Jordan, have a great rest of your day.
Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.
See you next time.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
See you.