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Item 7A — Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Axos Financial, Inc. · 10-K · FY 2026 · Period ended Jun 30, 2026
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Market risk is defined as the sensitivity of income and capital to changes in interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, commodity prices and other relevant market rates or prices. The primary market risk to which we are exposed is interest rate risk. Changes in interest rates can have a variety of effects on our business. In particular, changes in interest rates affect our net interest income, net interest margin, net income, the value of our securities portfolio and interest rate derivatives, the volume of loans originated, and the amount of gain or loss on the sale of our loans.
We are exposed to different types of interest rate risk. These risks include lag, repricing, basis, prepayment and lifetime cap risk, each of which is described in further detail below:
Lag Risk and Repricing Risk. Lag risk results from the inherent timing difference between the repricing of our adjustable rate assets and our liabilities. Repricing risk is caused by the mismatch of repricing methods between interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. Lag risk and repricing risk can produce short-term volatility in our net interest income during periods of interest rate movements even though the effect of this lag generally balances out over time. One example of lag risk is the repricing of assets indexed to the monthly treasury average (“MTA”). The MTA index is based on a moving average of rates outstanding during the previous 12 months. A sharp movement in interest rates in a month will not be fully reflected in the index for 12 months resulting in a lag in the repricing of our loans and securities based on this index. We expect more of our interest-earning assets will mature or reprice within one year than will our interest-bearing liabilities, resulting in a one year positive interest rate sensitivity gap (the difference between our interest rate sensitive assets maturing or repricing within one year and our interest rate sensitive liabilities maturing or repricing within one year, expressed as a percentage of total interest-earning assets). For example, in a falling interest rate environment, an institution with a positive gap would generally be expected, absent the effects of other factors, to experience a greater decrease in its yield on assets relative to its cost on liabilities, and thus a decrease in its net interest income. If our interest-bearing liabilities lag in repricing is shorter, or reprices faster, than our interest-earning assets lag, then it would result in an increase to our net interest income.
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Basis Risk. Basis risk occurs when assets and liabilities have similar repricing timing but repricing is based on different market interest rate indices. Our earning assets that reprice are directly tied to various indices, such as: U.S. Treasury, SOFR, Ameribor, Federal Funds (“Fed Funds”), Interest Rate on Excess Reserves (“IOER”) and Prime. Generally, our deposit rates are not directly tied to these same indices. A portion of the Bank’s deposits are based on administrative rates controlled by management and the remaining portion are directly tied to Fed Funds. Therefore, if liability-linked indices fall faster than asset-linked indices and there are no other changes in our asset/liability mix, our net interest income will likely increase due to basis risk.
Prepayment Risk. Prepayment risk results from the right of customers to pay their loans prior to maturity. Generally, loan prepayments increase in falling interest rate environments and decrease in rising interest rate environments. In addition, prepayment risk results from the right of customers to withdraw their time deposits before maturity. Generally, early withdrawals of time deposits increase during rising interest rate environments and decrease in falling interest rate environments. When estimating the future performance of our assets and liabilities, we make assumptions as to when and how much of our loans and deposits will be prepaid. If the assumptions prove to be incorrect, the asset or liability may perform differently than expected.
Lifetime Cap Risk. Our adjustable rate loans have lifetime interest rate caps. In periods of rising interest rates, it is possible for the fully indexed interest rate (index rate plus the margin) to exceed the lifetime interest rate cap. This feature prevents the loan from repricing to a level that exceeds the cap’s specified interest rate, thus adversely affecting net interest income in periods of relatively high interest rates. On a weighted-average basis, our adjustable rate loans at June 30, 2026 had lifetime rate caps that were 549 basis points greater than their current stated note rates. If market rates rise by more than the interest rate cap, we will not be able to increase these loan rates above the interest rate cap.
The principal objective of our asset/liability management is to manage the sensitivity of market value of equity (“MVE”) and net interest income to changing interest rates. Asset/liability management is governed by policies reviewed and approved annually by our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors has delegated the responsibility to oversee the administration of these policies to the Bank’s asset/liability committee (“ALCO”). The interest rate risk strategy currently deployed by ALCO is to primarily use on-balance sheet products for balance sheet hedging. ALCO makes adjustments to the overall MVE sensitivity by recommending investment and borrowing strategies. The management team then executes the recommended strategy by increasing or decreasing the duration of the investments and borrowings, resulting in the appropriate level of market risk the Board of Directors wants to maintain. Other examples of ALCO policies designed to reduce our interest rate risk include limiting the premiums paid to purchase mortgage loans or mortgage-backed securities. This policy addresses mortgage prepayment risk by capping the yield loss from an unexpected high level of mortgage loan prepayments. At least once a quarter, ALCO members report to our Board of Directors the status of our interest rate risk profile.
We measure interest rate sensitivity as the difference between amounts of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities that mature or contractually re-price within a given period of time. The difference, or the interest rate sensitivity gap, provides an indication of the extent to which an institution’s interest rate spread will be affected by changes in interest rates. A gap is considered positive (or asset sensitive) when the amount of interest rate sensitive assets exceeds the amount of interest rate sensitive liabilities and negative (or liability sensitive) when the amount of interest rate sensitive liabilities exceeds the amount of interest rate sensitive assets.
Absent any subsequent asset and liability actions by management, in a rising interest rate environment, an institution with a positive gap would be in a better position than an institution with a negative gap to invest in higher yielding assets or to have its asset yields adjusted upward, which would cause the yield on its assets to increase at a faster pace than the cost of its interest-bearing liabilities. Conversely, absent any subsequent asset and liability actions by management, during a period of falling interest rates, an institution with a positive gap would tend to have its assets reprice at a faster rate than one with a negative gap, which would tend to reduce the growth in its net interest income.
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Banking Business Segment
The following table sets forth the amounts of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities that were outstanding at June 30, 2026 and the portions of each financial instrument that are expected to mature or reset interest rates in each future period:
Term to Repricing, Repayment, or Maturity at
June 30, 2026
(Dollars in thousands) Six Months or Less Over Six Months Through One Year Over One Year through Five Years Over Five Years Total
Interest-earning assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $ 1,121,423 $ — $ — $ — $ 1,121,423
Mortgage-backed and other securities1 27,894 4,744 517,217 253,812 803,667
Stock of regulatory agencies 29,598 — — — 29,598
Loans2 19,596,257 1,114,030 4,442,139 442,977 25,595,403
Loans held for sale 20,066 — — — 20,066
Total interest-earning assets 20,795,238 1,118,774 4,959,356 696,789 27,570,157
Non-interest-earning assets — — — — 1,461,407
Total assets $ 20,795,238 $ 1,118,774 $ 4,959,356 $ 696,789 $ 29,031,564
Interest-bearing liabilities:
Interest-bearing deposits3 $ 20,757,099 $ 45,117 $ 122,643 $ — $ 20,924,859
Advances from the FHLB 94,000 — 60,000 — 154,000
Secured financings 113,374 97,852 364,323 1,131 576,680
Total interest-bearing liabilities 20,964,473 142,969 546,966 1,131 21,655,539
Other non-interest-bearing liabilities — — — — 4,385,908
Stockholders’ equity — — — — 2,990,117
Total liabilities and equity $ 20,964,473 $ 142,969 $ 546,966 $ 1,131 $ 29,031,564
Net interest rate sensitivity gap $ (169,235) $ 975,805 $ 4,412,390 $ 695,658 $ 5,914,618
Cumulative gap $ (169,235) $ 806,570 $ 5,218,960 $ 5,914,618 $ 5,914,618
Net interest rate sensitivity gap—as a % of total interest-earning assets (0.61) % 3.54 % 16.00 % 2.52 % 21.45 %
Cumulative gap—as a % of total cumulative interest-earning assets (0.61) % 2.93 % 18.93 % 21.45 % 21.45 %
1 Comprised of U.S. government securities, mortgage-backed securities and other securities. The table reflects contractual repricing dates.
2 Loans includes loan premiums, discounts and unearned fees. The table reflects either contractual repricing dates or expected maturities.
3 The table assumes that the principal balances for demand deposit and savings accounts will reprice in the first year.
The above table provides an approximation of the projected re-pricing of assets and liabilities at June 30, 2026 on the basis of contractual maturities, adjusted for anticipated prepayments of principal and scheduled rate adjustments. The loan and securities prepayment rates reflected herein are primarily based on modeled cash flows. For the non-maturity deposit liabilities, we use decay rates and rate adjustments based upon our historical experience and the implied forward rate curve, respectively. Actual repayments of these instruments could vary substantially if future experience differs from our historical experience.
Although “gap” analysis is a useful measurement device available to management in determining the existence of interest rate exposure, its static focus as of a particular date makes it necessary to utilize other techniques in measuring exposure to changes in interest rates. For example, gap analysis is limited in its ability to predict trends in future earnings and makes no assumptions about changes in prepayment tendencies, deposit or loan maturity preferences or repricing time lags that may occur in response to a change in the interest rate environment.
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The following table indicates the sensitivity of net interest income movements to parallel instantaneous shocks in interest rates for the 1-12 months’ and 13-24 months’ time periods. For purposes of modeling net interest income sensitivity the Bank assumes no growth in the balance sheet other than for retained earnings:
As of June 30, 2026
First 12 Months Next 12 Months
(Dollars in thousands) Percentage Change from Base Percentage Change from Base
Up 200 basis points 9.2 % 12.2 %
Up 100 Basis points 4.9 % 6.1 %
Down 100 basis points (3.7) % (6.0) %
Down 200 basis points (4.8) % (11.2) %
We attempt to measure the effect market interest rate changes will have on the net present value of assets and liabilities, which is defined as market value of equity. We analyze the MVE sensitivity to an immediate parallel and sustained shift in interest rates derived from the underlying interest rate curves.
The following table indicates the sensitivity of MVE to the interest rate movement as described above:
As of June 30, 2026
(Dollars in thousands) Percentage Change from Base
Up 200 basis points 11.2 %
Up 100 basis points 6.5 %
Down 100 basis points (7.9) %
Down 200 basis points (16.6) %
The computation of the prospective effects of hypothetical interest rate changes is based on numerous assumptions, including relative levels of interest rates, asset prepayments (including replacing floating rate loan run-off with loans having similar spread and floor features), runoffs in deposits and changes in repricing levels of deposits to general market rates, and should not be relied upon as indicative of actual results. Furthermore, these computations do not take into account any actions that we may undertake in response to future changes in interest rates. Those actions include, but are not limited to, making changes in loan and deposit interest rates and changes in our asset and liability mix.
Securities Business Segment
Our Securities Business Segment is exposed to market risk primarily due to its role as a financial intermediary in customer transactions, which may include purchases and sales of securities, securities lending activities, and in our trading activities, which are used to support sales, underwriting and other customer activities. We are subject to the risk of loss that may result from the potential change in value of a financial instrument as a result of fluctuations in interest rates, market prices, investor expectations and changes in credit ratings of the issuer.
Our Securities Business Segment is primarily exposed to interest rate risk as a result of generating interest-earning assets including customer and correspondent margin loans, and its securities borrowing activities. Our exposure to interest rate risk is also from our funding sources including customer and correspondent cash balances, bank borrowings and securities lending activities. Interest rates on customer and correspondent balances and securities produce a positive spread with rates generally fluctuating in parallel.
With respect to securities held, our interest rate risk is managed by setting and monitoring limits on the size and duration of positions and on the length of time securities can be held. The majority of the interest rates on customer and correspondent margin loans are generally indexed and can vary daily. Our funding sources are generally short term with interest rates that can vary daily.
Our Securities Business Segment is engaged in various brokerage and trading activities that expose us to credit risk arising from potential non-performance from counterparties, customers or issuers of securities. This risk is managed by setting and monitoring position limits for each counterparty, conducting periodic credit reviews of counterparties, reviewing concentrations of securities and conducting business through central clearing organizations.
Collateral underlying margin loans to customers and correspondents, and with respect to securities lending activities, is marked to market daily and additional collateral is obtained or refunded, as necessary.
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