UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
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ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021
or
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TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from ___________ to ___________
Commission File Number: 001-39165
BLUE RIDGE BANKSHARES, INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
Virginia |
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54-1470908 |
State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization |
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I.R.S. Employer Identification No. |
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1807 Seminole Trail, Charlottesville, Virginia |
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22901 |
Address of Principal Executive Offices |
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Zip Code |
(540) 743-6521
Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code
Former Name, Former Address and Former Fiscal Year, if Changed Since Last Report
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class |
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Trading Symbol(s) |
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Name of each exchange on which registered |
Common stock, no par value |
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BRBS |
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NYSE American |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer |
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Accelerated filer |
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Non-accelerated filer |
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Smaller reporting company |
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Emerging growth company |
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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
The aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant at June 30, 2021, based on the closing sale price of the registrant’s common stock on June 30, 2021, was approximately $292,341,611.
The registrant had 18,769,882 shares of common stock, no par value per share, outstanding as of March 7, 2022.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
The information required by Part III of this Form 10-K will be included in the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of shareholders and incorporated herein by reference or in an amendment to this Form 10-K filed within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year covered by this Form 10-K.
Auditor Firm Id: |
149 |
Auditor Name: |
Elliott Davis, LLC |
Auditor Location: |
Raleigh, NC, U.S.A. |
PART I
ITEM 1: BUSINESS
General
Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. (the “Company” ) is a bank holding company headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia. It provides commercial and consumer banking and financial services through its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, Blue Ridge Bank, National Association (the “Bank”), and its wealth and trust management subsidiary, BRB Financial Group, Inc. The Company was incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia in July 1988.
The Bank is a federally chartered national bank with its Main Office in Martinsville, Virginia that traces its roots to Page Valley Bank of Virginia, which opened for business in 1893. At December 31, 2021, the Bank operated twenty-six full-service banking offices across its footprint, which stretches from the Shenandoah Valley across the Piedmont region through Richmond and into the coastal peninsulas and Hampton Roads region of Virginia and north-central North Carolina.
The Bank serves businesses, professionals, consumers, nonprofits, and municipalities with a wide variety of financial services, including retail and commercial banking, mortgage banking, government guaranteed lending, employee benefit plans, and payroll processing. Banking products include checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, cash management accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, commercial and industrial loans, residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, home equity loans, consumer installment loans, credit cards, online banking, telephone banking, and mobile banking. Deposits of the Bank are insured by the Deposit Insurance Fund (the “DIF”) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) to the full extent of the limits of the DIF.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had total assets of approximately $2.67 billion, total gross loans of approximately $1.93 billion, total deposits of approximately $2.30 billion, and stockholders’ equity of approximately $277.1 million.
In March 2021, the Company’s board of directors approved a three-for-two stock split (“Stock Split”) effected in the form of a 50% stock dividend on the Company’s common stock outstanding. The shares of common stock relating to the Stock Split were distributed on April 30, 2021 to shareholders of record as of April 20, 2021. Cash was paid in lieu of fractional shares based on the closing price of common stock on the record date. References made to outstanding shares or per share amounts in the consolidated financial statements and disclosures in Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion & Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K have been adjusted to reflect the Stock Split for all periods presented, unless otherwise noted.
On January 31, 2021, the Company completed a merger with Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc. (“Bay Banks”), a bank holding company conducting substantially all its operations through its subsidiaries Virginia Commonwealth Bank and VCB Financial Group, Inc. Immediately following the Company’s merger with Bay Banks, Virginia Commonwealth Bank was merged with and into the Bank, while VCB Financial Group, Inc., subsequently renamed BRB Financial Group, Inc. and referred to herein as the “Financial Group”, became a subsidiary of the Company (collectively, the “Bay Banks Merger”). Pursuant to the terms of the Bay Banks Merger agreement, each share of Bay Banks common stock was converted into the right to receive 0.50 shares of the Company’s common stock plus cash in lieu of fractional shares. In the merger, the Company issued 6,627,558 shares of its common stock and paid $3.4 thousand in lieu of fractional shares. The Bay Banks Merger added $1.22 billion in assets and $1.03 billion in deposits and expanded the Bank’s operating footprint east through the greater Richmond region, the Northern Neck region, Middlesex County, and the Hampton Roads region of Virginia.
The Company, through the Financial Group, offers management services for personal and corporate trusts, including estate planning, estate settlement and trust administration, insurance products, and investment and wealth management. Payroll processing services are offered through the Bank’s majority owned subsidiary, MoneyWise Payroll Solutions, Inc. (“MoneyWise Payroll”), and employment benefit services are offered under the trade name BluePoint Benefits. The Company, through its minority investment in Hammond Insurance Agency, Incorporated (“Hammond Insurance”), offers property and casualty insurance to individuals and businesses. The Bank’s mortgage banking activities include a retail mortgage business operating as Monarch Mortgage and a wholesale mortgage business operating as LenderSelect Mortgage Group (“LenderSelect”). LenderSelect offers wholesale and third-party residential mortgage origination services to other financial institutions and credit unions.
The Company continues to grow its partnerships with financial technology (fintech) providers and ended the fourth quarter of 2021 with active partnerships including Unit, Flexible Finance, Increase, Upgrade, Kashable, Jaris, Aeldra, Grow Credit, MentorWorks, and Marlette. Fintech companies provide technologies to enable the delivery of digital bank services,
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which generate fees and deposits and increase the Bank’s customer reach beyond its traditional branch footprint. Two of the Company's fintech relationships provide the Bank access to other fintech companies and vastly expand the Bank's customer reach. Loans held for sale and loans held for investment related to fintech relationships totaled approximately $24.1 million and $10.3 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, while deposits related to these relationships were approximately $189 million and $42 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Interest and fee income related to fintech partnerships represented approximately $3.4 million and $680 thousand of revenue for the Company in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The Bank’s primary source of revenue is interest income from its lending activities. The Bank’s other major sources of revenue are interest and dividend income from investments, interest income from its interest-earning deposit balances in other depository institutions, mortgage banking income, transactions and fee income from its lending and deposit activities, including fintech, and income associated with wealth and trust management and payroll processing services. The Bank’s major expenses are interest on deposits and general and administrative expenses, such as employee salaries and benefits, federal deposit insurance premiums, data processing expenses, technology costs, and office occupancy expenses.
As a bank holding company incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Company is subject to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”) and the Bureau of Financial Institutions of the Virginia State Corporation Commission (the “Virginia SCC”). The Bank’s primary regulator is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”).
On December 31, 2020, the Bank acquired Precision Holdings, LLC (doing business as Precision Benefits & Insurance) located in Winchester, Virginia, for $340 thousand in cash, and rebranded it as BluePoint Benefits.
On December 31, 2019, the Bank acquired LenderSelect based in Richmond, Virginia, for an aggregate purchase price of $720 thousand in cash.
On December 15, 2019, the Company completed its acquisition of Virginia Community Bankshares, Inc. (“VCB”), the bank holding company of Virginia Community Bank based in Louisa, Virginia. Immediately following the merger, Virginia Community Bank, merged with and into the Bank. Pursuant to the acquisition, the Company acquired total assets of approximately $242.5 million and assumed total liabilities of approximately $219.2 million. In the merger, the Company issued 1,312,919 shares of its common stock and made cash payments to VCB shareholders totaling $16.6 million in the aggregate.
On February 1, 2019, the Bank acquired a 35% ownership interest in Hammond Insurance for an aggregate purchase price of $1.02 million.
On October 4, 2017, the Bank acquired an 80% ownership interest in MoneyWise Payroll, a payroll management services company located in Charlottesville, Virginia, for an aggregate price of $800 thousand.
The principal executive offices of the Company are located at 1807 Seminole Trail, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901, and its telephone number is (540) 743-6521.
The Company files annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Company’s SEC filings are filed electronically and are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. The Company’s website can be accessed at https://www.mybrb.com. The Company makes its SEC filings available through this website under “Investor Relations,” “Financial Documents,” “Documents” as soon as practicable after filing or furnishing the material to the SEC. Copies of documents can also be obtained free of charge by writing to the Company’s Corporate Secretary at P.O. Box 609, 17 West Main Street, Luray, market area Virginia 22835, or by calling (540) 743-6521. Information on the Company’s website does not constitute part of, and is not incorporated into, this report or any other filing the Company makes with the SEC.
The Company qualifies as an “emerging growth company”, as defined in federal securities laws. For as long as it continues to be an emerging growth company, the Company may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, as an emerging growth company, the Company has elected to take advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to a company that is not an issuer (as defined under Section 2(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act), if such
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standards apply to companies that are not issuers. This may make the Company’s financial statements not comparable with other public companies that are not emerging growth companies or that are emerging growth companies that have opted out of the extended transition period because of the potential differences in accounting standards used. The Company may be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although that status is lost sooner if gross revenues exceed $1.07 billion, if it issues more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt in a three-year period, or if the market value of common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case the Company would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31.
Market Area
The Bank currently has branches in Callao, Charlottesville, Chester, Colonial Heights, Culpeper, Fredericksburg, Gordonsville, Harrisonburg, Hartfield, Henrico, Kilmarnock, Louisa, Luray, Martinsville, Midlothian, Mineral, Montross, Orange, Petersburg, Richmond, Shenandoah, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Warsaw, and White Stone, Virginia, and in Greensboro, North Carolina. Interstates 40, 64, 66, 73, 74, 81, 85, and 95 and ancillary major highways pass through the Bank’s trade area and provide efficient access to other regions of Virginia, North Carolina, and beyond. The Company’s primary market area stretches from the Shenandoah Valley across the Piedmont region through Richmond and into the coastal peninsulas and Hampton Roads region of Virginia and north-central North Carolina. The Company’s retail mortgage operations are primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions of the United States, while the Company's wholesale mortgage operations are nationwide. The Company’s guaranteed government lending and fintech markets span across the United States.
Products and Services
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate. The Company’s mortgage loans on real estate comprise the largest segment of its loan portfolio. Mortgage loans on real estate include family residential properties, 1-4 family investment properties, home equity loans, commercial properties, and owner-occupied commercial properties. The Company also makes loans on properties under construction to qualified individuals and builders. These loans are generally for the construction period only and funds are disbursed as construction progresses and verified by the Company. Loans are for varying terms and may be at fixed or adjustable interest rates.
Residential Mortgage Loans. Residential mortgages are underwritten and documented within regulatory guidelines. The Company offers secondary market residential loan origination. Through the Bank, customers may apply for home mortgages that are generally underwritten in accordance with the guidelines of agencies including the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”), Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”), and Government National Mortgage Association (“Ginnie Mae”). These loans are then sold into the secondary market on a loan-by-loan basis, usually directly to Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and Ginnie Mae. The Bank earns origination fees and a premium on servicing rights, if the loans are sold with servicing retained.
Commercial Real Estate Loans. Loans in this category include loans on real estate used for commercial purposes. Loans in this segment are underwritten to mitigate declines in real estate values, changes in the underlying cash flows from the properties, and general economic conditions.
Commercial and Industrial Loans. Commercial lending activities of the Company include small business loans, asset-based loans, and other secured and unsecured loans and lines of credit. Commercial and industrial loans may entail greater risk than residential mortgage loans, and therefore are underwritten with strict risk management standards. Among the criteria for determining the borrower’s ability to repay is a cash flow analysis of the business and business collateral.
Guaranteed Government Loans. Loans in this category provide customers access to capital that avoid many of the challenges of conventional commercial lending. Loans are generally underwritten pursuant to U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) or U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) guidelines and afford the Company guarantees under these programs. The guaranteed portion of government guaranteed loans may be sold, in whole or in part, to secondary market buyers.
Consumer Loans. The Company’s consumer lending services include automobile lending, home improvement loans, credit cards, and other unsecured personal loans. These consumer loans historically entail greater risk than loans secured by real estate and also generate a higher return.
Consumer Deposit Services. Consumer deposit products offered by the Company include checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, online banking, mobile banking, and electronic statements.
Commercial Banking Services. The Company offers a variety of services to commercial customers. These services include analysis checking, cash management deposit accounts, wire services, direct deposit payroll service, online banking,
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telephone banking, remote deposit, payroll processing, and a full line of commercial lending options. The Company also offers property and casualty insurance and employee benefit plans and administration.
Wealth and Trust Services. The Company, through the Financial Group, offers management services for personal and corporate trusts, including estate planning, estate settlement and trust administration, insurance products, and investment and wealth management.
Banking as a Service. The Company, through the Bank, provides banking as a service ("BaaS") to its fintech partners. BaaS is a model that provides the fintech partners access to certain of the Bank’s products that are offered to a broad base of consumers and small businesses through internet-enabled connections.
Competition
The financial services industry is highly competitive. The Company competes for loans, deposits, and financial services directly with other bank and nonbank institutions, including credit unions, located within its markets, internet-based banks, out-of-market banks, fintech companies, and bank holding companies that advertise in or otherwise serve its markets, along with money market and mutual funds, brokerage houses, mortgage companies, and insurance companies or other commercial entities that offer financial services products. Competition involves efforts to retain current customers and to obtain new loans and deposits, and differentiators include the scope and type of services offered, interest rates paid on deposits and charged on loans, and the customer service experience. Many of the Company’s competitors enjoy competitive advantages, including greater financial resources, a wider geographic presence, more accessible branch office locations, greater technology, the ability to offer additional services, more favorable pricing alternatives and lower origination and operating costs. The Company believes that its competitive pricing, personalized service, and community involvement enable it to effectively compete in the communities in which it operates.
Environmental, Social and Governance
The Company is committed to promoting sound Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) practices through strong board of directors and management oversight. Management believes ESG initiatives are important to its customers, its employees, its shareholders, and the communities it serves. The Company’s board of directors approved an executive annual cash incentive plan for 2022 that incorporates accountability for progress on carbon neutrality and diversity and inclusion initiatives. The plan provides targets around progress on the Bank's carbon neutrality plan, implementation of a management diversity program, and the enhancement of ESG disclosures. Executives included in the plan have a material portion of their incentives at-risk for achievement of these objectives.
Environmental. During 2021, the Company began its initiative to contribute to curtailing the impacts of global climate change. The Company, through the Bank, joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance ("NZBA"), a United Nations convened and industry-led initiative to lead practices and accountability in carbon reduction plans. The Bank will align its operations and its lending and investment portfolios to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, while achieving intermediate performance targets by 2030. Additionally, during 2021, the Bank installed electric vehicle charging stations at two of its branch locations and is reviewing other locations for accessibility and utilization. The Company has a number of initiatives that are in various stages of study for feasibility.
Social. The Company’s board of directors and management are committed to employing a diverse workforce and will develop plans and metrics against which actions will be measured. Measures will also be developed for both lending and vendor relationships.
As further discussed in the Supervision and Regulation below, the Bank is subject to the Community Reinvestment Act (the "CRA"), under which the appropriate federal banking agency periodically assesses the Bank’s record in meeting the credit needs of the communities it serves, including low and moderate income neighborhoods. The Bank has a designated CRA officer that monitors the Bank’s compliance under this act.
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed strain on the Company’s workforce. The Bank reduced its banking hours during the critical period of the pandemic allowing employees to have more flexibility to manage their family situations. If the job function allowed, employees were afforded the opportunity to work from home, and in certain situations, employees could bring their children to work.
Governance. The Company operates under a strong governance structure, starting with the chairman of the board of directors that is independent from management. Members of the board of directors routinely undergo evaluations to assess their effectiveness. Employees operate under policies approved by the Company’s or the Bank’s board of directors and
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complete as many as 33 courses per year, covering topics such as preventing harassment, confidentiality of data, and unfair banking practices.
Human Capital Resources
The success of the Company is directly attributable to its exceptional and dedicated team of employees. As part of the Company's strategic plan, management focuses on designing compensation, incentive, and benefit programs to ensure that the Company is competitive at attracting and retaining top talent in the market, while emphasizing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Management believes that the Company's compensation programs offer competitive pay and benefits including paid time off for vacations and sick leave, a 401(k) plan, an employee stock ownership plan, health, dental, and vision plans, life and disability coverage, wellness plans, paid training, including tuition reimbursement, and pre-tax flexible spending accounts. In 2021, the Company paid bonuses ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 to each employee earning less than $100,000 annually in recognition for the incredible amount of energy they poured into helping tens of thousands of small businesses obtain much needed funds from the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") during the economic crisis brought upon by the coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic. Also in 2021, the Company raised its minimum pay rate from $15 to $17 per hour as part of its commitment to maintain a living wage for all of its employees. Management believes that fostering an environment that values diversity, equity, and inclusion creates an organization that is able to embrace, leverage, and respect differences amongst the Company's employees and customers. Management believes that such an environment results in improved employee morale and higher levels of job satisfaction, which ultimately translates into a better customer experience.
Management also believes in giving back to the communities in which the Company serves. In 2021, the Company committed hundreds of thousands of dollars of financial donations to many community organizations and nonprofits including first responders, colleges and universities, youth athletics, and the arts. In addition, the Company's employees donate countless hours volunteering in business associations and helping the underserved.
The Company had 513 full-time and 43 part-time employees as of December 31, 2021. None of its employees are represented by any collective bargaining unit and the Company believes that relations with its employees are good.
Supervision and Regulation
The Company and the Bank are extensively regulated under federal and state law. The following information describes certain aspects of that regulation applicable to the Company and the Bank and does not purport to be complete. Proposals to change the laws, regulations, and policies governing the banking industry are frequently raised in the U.S. Congress, in state legislatures, and before the various bank regulatory agencies. The likelihood and timing of any changes and the impact such changes might have on the Company and the Bank are impossible to determine with any certainty. A change in applicable laws, regulations or policies, or a change in the way such laws, regulations, or policies are interpreted by regulatory agencies or courts, may have a material impact on the business, operations, and earnings of the Company and the Bank.
Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc.
The Company is qualified as a bank holding company within the meaning of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “BHC Act”), and is registered as such with the Federal Reserve. As a bank holding company, the Company is subject to supervision, regulation and examination by the Federal Reserve and is required to file various reports and additional information with the Federal Reserve. The Company is also registered under the bank holding company laws of Virginia and is subject to supervision, regulations and examination by the Virginia SCC.
Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (the “GLB Act”), a bank holding company may elect to become a financial holding company and thereby engage in a broader range of financial and other activities than are permissible for traditional bank holding companies. In order to qualify for the election, all of the depository institution subsidiaries of the bank holding company must be well capitalized, well managed, and have achieved a rating of “satisfactory” or better under the CRA. Financial holding companies are permitted to engage in activities that are “financial in nature” or incidental or complementary thereto as determined by the Federal Reserve. The GLB Act identifies several activities as “financial in nature,” including insurance underwriting and sales, investment advisory services, merchant banking and underwriting, and dealing or making a market in securities. The Company has not elected to become a financial holding company and has no immediate plans to become a financial holding company.
Blue Ridge Bank, National Association
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The Bank is a federally chartered national bank. The Bank is subject to supervision, regulation, and examination by the OCC and is required to file various reports and additional information with the OCC. The OCC has primary supervisory and regulatory authority over the operations of the Bank. Because the Bank accepts insured deposits from the public, it is also subject to examination by the FDIC.
Depository institutions, including the Bank, are subject to extensive federal and state regulations that significantly affect their businesses and activities. Regulatory bodies have broad authority to implement standards and initiate proceedings designed to prohibit depository institutions from engaging in unsafe and unsound banking practices. The standards relate generally to operations and management, asset quality, interest rate exposure, and capital. The bank regulatory agencies are authorized to take action against institutions that fail to meet such standards.
As with other financial institutions, the earnings of the Bank are affected by general economic conditions and by the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve exerts a substantial influence on interest rates and credit conditions, primarily through open market operations in U.S. Government securities, setting the reserve requirements of member banks, and establishing the discount rate on member bank borrowings. The policies of the Federal Reserve have a direct impact on loan and deposit growth and the interest rates charged and paid thereon. They also impact the source, cost of funds, and the rates of return on investments. Changes in the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies have had a significant impact on the operating results of the Bank and other financial institutions and are expected to continue to do so in the future.
The Dodd-Frank Act
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), signed into law in July 2010, significantly restructured the financial regulatory regime in the United States and has had a broad impact on the financial services industry as a result of the significant regulatory and compliance changes required under the act.
The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act of 2018 (the “EGRRCPA”), which became effective May 24, 2018, amended the Dodd-Frank Act to provide regulatory relief for certain smaller and regional financial institutions, such as the Company and the Bank. The EGRRCPA, among other things, provides financial institutions with less than $10 billion in total consolidated assets with relief from certain capital requirements and exempts banks with less than $250 billion in total consolidated assets from the enhanced prudential standards and the company-run and supervisory stress tests required under the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Act has had, and may in the future have, a material impact on the Company’s operations, particularly through increased compliance costs resulting from new and possible future consumer and fair lending regulations. The future changes resulting from the Dodd-Frank Act may affect the profitability of business activities, require changes to certain business practices, impose more stringent regulatory requirements, or otherwise adversely affect the business and financial condition of the Company and the Bank. These changes may also require the Company to invest significant management attention and resources to evaluate and make necessary changes to comply with new statutory and regulatory requirements.
Deposit Insurance
The deposits of the Bank are insured up to applicable limits by the DIF and are subject to deposit insurance assessments to maintain the DIF. The deposit insurance assessment base is based on average total assets minus average tangible equity, pursuant to a rule issued by the FDIC as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. Deposit insurance pricing is a “financial ratios method” based on “CAMELS” composite ratings to determine assessment rates for small established institutions with less than $10 billion in assets. The CAMELS rating system is a supervisory rating system designed to take into account and reflect all financial and operational risks that a bank may face, including capital adequacy, asset quality, management capability, earnings, liquidity, and sensitivity to market risk (“CAMELS”). CAMELS composite ratings set a maximum assessment for CAMELS 1 and 2 rated banks, and set minimum assessments for lower rated institutions.
The FDIC’s “reserve ratio” of the DIF to total industry deposits reached its 1.15% target effective June 30, 2016. On March 15, 2016, the FDIC implemented by final rule certain Dodd-Frank Act provisions by raising the DIF’s minimum reserve ratio from 1.15% to 1.35%. The FDIC imposed a 4.5 basis point annual surcharge on insured depository institutions with total consolidated assets of $10 billion or more. The new rule granted credits to smaller banks for the portion of their regular assessments that contributed to increasing the reserve ratio from 1.15% to 1.35%. The 1.35% target was achieved in the third quarter of 2018. In 2021 and 2020, the Company recorded expense of $1.0 million and $749 thousand, respectively, for FDIC insurance premiums.
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Capital Requirements
The Federal Reserve, the OCC, and the FDIC have issued substantially similar capital requirements applicable to all banks and bank holding companies. In addition, those regulatory agencies may from time to time require that a banking organization maintain capital above the minimum levels because of its financial condition or actual or anticipated growth.
The Bank is subject to the rules implementing the Basel III capital framework and certain related provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act (the “Basel III Capital Rules”). The Basel III Capital Rules, effective January 1, 2015, require the Company and the Bank to comply with the following minimum capital ratios: (i) a ratio of common equity Tier 1 to risk-weighted assets of at least 4.5%, plus a 2.5% “capital conservation buffer” (effectively resulting in a minimum ratio of common equity Tier 1 to risk-weighted assets of 7%), (ii) a ratio of Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets of at least 6.0%, plus the 2.5% capital conservation buffer (effectively resulting in a minimum Tier 1 capital ratio of 8.5%), (iii) a ratio of total capital to risk-weighted assets of at least 8.0%, plus the 2.5% capital conservation buffer (effectively resulting in a minimum total capital ratio of 10.5%), and (iv) a leverage ratio of 4%, calculated as the ratio of Tier 1 capital to average assets. The capital conservation buffer is designed to absorb losses during periods of economic stress. Banking institutions with a ratio of common equity Tier 1 to risk-weighted assets above the minimum but below the conservation buffer face constraints on dividends, equity repurchases, and compensation, based on the amount of the shortfall. The common equity Tier 1 capital ratio was 12.49% for the Bank as of December 31, 2021. The Tier 1 and total capital to risk-weighted asset ratios of the Bank were 12.49% and 13.11%, respectively, as of December 31, 2021. The Tier 1 Leverage ratio for the Bank was 10.05% as of December 31, 2021.
With respect to the Bank, the “prompt corrective action” regulations pursuant to Section 38 of the FDI Act incorporate a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio and increase certain other capital ratios. To be well capitalized under these regulations, a bank must have the following minimum capital ratios: (i) a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of at least 6.5%; (ii) a Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets ratio of at least 8.0%; (iii) a total capital to risk-weighted assets ratio of at least 10.0%; and (iv) a leverage ratio of at least 5.0%. The Bank exceeded the thresholds to be considered well capitalized as of December 31, 2021.
The Basel III Capital Rules also changed the risk weights of assets to better reflect credit risk and other risk exposures. These include a 150% risk weight for certain high volatility commercial real estate acquisition, development and construction loans, and nonresidential mortgage loans that are 90 days past due or otherwise on non-accrual status, a 20% credit conversion factor for the unused portion of a commitment with an original maturity of one year or less that is not unconditionally cancelable, a 250% risk weight for mortgage servicing rights and deferred tax assets that are not deducted from capital, and increased risk-weights for equity exposures.
In December 2017, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published standards that it described as the finalization of the Basel III post-crisis regulatory reforms (the standards are commonly referred to as “Basel IV”). Among other things, these standards revise the standardized approach for credit risk (including by recalibrating risk weights and introducing new capital requirements for certain “unconditionally cancellable commitments,” such as unused credit card lines of credit) and provide a new standardized approach for operational risk capital. Under the proposed framework, these standards will generally be effective on January 1, 2023, with an aggregate output floor phasing-in through January 1, 2027. Under the current capital rules, operational risk capital requirements and a capital floor apply only to advanced approaches institutions, and not to the Company. The impact of Basel IV on the Company and the Bank will depend on the manner in which it is implemented by the federal bank regulatory agencies.
In August 2018, the Federal Reserve issued an interim final rule required by the EGRRCPA that expands the applicability of the Federal Reserve’s Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement (the “SBHC Policy Statement”) to bank holding companies with total consolidated assets of less than $3 billion (up from the prior $1 billion threshold). Under the SBHC Policy Statement, qualifying bank holding companies have additional flexibility in the amount of debt they can issue and are also exempt from the Basel III Capital Rules (subsidiary depository institutions of qualifying bank holding companies are still subject to capital requirements). The Company currently has less than $3 billion in total consolidated assets and would likely qualify under the revised SBHC Policy Statement. However, the Company does not currently intend to issue a material amount of debt or take any other action that would cause its capital ratios to fall below the minimum ratios required by the Basel III Capital Rules.
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In September 2019, the federal banking agencies jointly issued a final rule required by the EGRRCPA that permits qualifying banks and bank holding companies that have less than $10 billion in consolidated assets to elect to be subject to a 9% leverage ratio that would be applied using less complex leverage calculations (commonly referred to as the community bank leverage ratio or “CBLR”). Under the rule, which became effective on January 1, 2020, banks and bank holding companies that opt into the CBLR framework and maintain a CBLR of greater than 9% are not subject to other risk-based and leverage capital requirements under the Basel III Capital Rules and would be deemed to have met the well capitalized ratio requirements under the “prompt corrective action” framework. These CBLR rules were modified in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. See “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021” below. The Company has not opted into the CBLR framework.
Dividends
The Company’s principal source of cash flow, including cash flow to pay dividends to its shareholders, is dividends it receives from the Bank. Statutory and regulatory limitations apply to the Bank’s payment of dividends to the Company. As a general rule, the amount of a dividend may not exceed, without prior regulatory approval, the sum of net income in the calendar year to date and the retained net earnings of the immediately preceding two calendar years. A depository institution may not pay any dividend if payment would cause the institution to become “undercapitalized” or if it already is “undercapitalized.” The OCC may prevent the payment of a dividend if it determines that the payment would be an unsafe and unsound banking practice. The OCC also has advised that a national bank should generally pay dividends only out of current operating earnings. In addition, under the current supervisory practices of the Federal Reserve, the Company should inform and consult with the Federal Reserve reasonably in advance of declaring or paying a dividend that exceeds earnings for the period (e.g., quarter) for which the dividend is being paid or that could result in a material adverse change to the Company’s capital structure.
Permitted Activities
As a bank holding company, the Company is limited to managing or controlling banks, furnishing services to or performing services for its subsidiaries, and engaging in other activities that the Federal Reserve determines by regulation or order to be so closely related to banking or managing or controlling banks as to be a proper incident thereto. In determining whether a particular activity is permissible, the Federal Reserve must consider whether the performance of such an activity reasonably can be expected to produce benefits to the public that outweigh possible adverse effects. Possible benefits include greater convenience, increased competition, and gains in efficiency. Possible adverse effects include undue concentration of resources, decreased or unfair competition, conflicts of interest, and unsound banking practices. Despite prior approval, the Federal Reserve may order a bank holding company or its subsidiaries to terminate any activity or to terminate ownership or control of any subsidiary when the Federal Reserve has reasonable cause to believe that a serious risk to the financial safety, soundness, or stability of any bank subsidiary of that bank holding company may result from such an activity.
Banking Acquisitions; Changes in Control
The BHC Act requires, among other things, the prior approval of the Federal Reserve in any case where a bank holding company proposes to (i) acquire direct or indirect ownership or control of more than 5% of the outstanding voting stock of any bank or bank holding company (unless it already owns a majority of such voting shares), (ii) acquire all or substantially all of the assets of another bank or bank holding company, or (iii) merge or consolidate with any other bank holding company. In determining whether to approve a proposed bank acquisition, the Federal Reserve will consider, among other factors, the effect of the acquisition on competition, the public benefits expected to be received from the acquisition, the projected capital ratios and levels on a post-acquisition basis, and the acquiring institution’s performance under the CRA, and its compliance with fair housing and other consumer protection laws.
Subject to certain exceptions, the BHC Act and the Change in Bank Control Act, together with the applicable regulations, require Federal Reserve approval (or, depending on the circumstances, no notice of disapproval) prior to any person or company acquiring “control” of a bank or bank holding company. A conclusive presumption of control exists if an individual or company acquires the power, directly or indirectly, to direct the management or policies of an insured depository institution or to vote 25% or more of any class of voting securities of any insured depository institution. A rebuttable presumption of control exists if a person or company acquires 10% or more but less than 25% of any class of voting securities of an insured depository institution and either the institution has registered its securities with the SEC under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or no other person will own a greater percentage of that class of voting securities immediately after the acquisition.
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In addition, Virginia law requires the prior approval of the Virginia SCC for (i) the acquisition of more than 5% of the voting shares of a Virginia bank or any holding company that controls a Virginia bank, or (ii) the acquisition by a Virginia bank holding company of a bank or its holding company domiciled outside Virginia.
Source of Strength
Federal Reserve policy has historically required bank holding companies to act as a source of financial and managerial strength to their subsidiary banks. The Dodd-Frank Act codified this policy as a statutory requirement. Under this requirement, the Company is expected to commit resources to support the Bank, including at times when the Company may not be in a financial position to provide such resources. Any capital loans by a bank holding company to any of its subsidiary banks are subordinate in right of payment to depositors and to certain other indebtedness of such subsidiary banks. In the event of a bank holding company’s bankruptcy, any commitment by the bank holding company to a federal bank regulatory agency to maintain the capital of a subsidiary bank will be assumed by the bankruptcy trustee and entitled to priority of payment.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act
Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (“FDICIA”), the federal bank regulatory agencies possess broad powers to take prompt corrective action to resolve problems of insured depository institutions. The extent of these powers depends upon whether the institution is “well capitalized,” “adequately capitalized,” “undercapitalized,” “significantly undercapitalized,” or “critically undercapitalized,” as defined by the law.
The final rules implementing the Basel III Capital Rules phased-in over a multi-year schedule and was fully phased-in at January 1, 2019. Under the rules, banks must hold a capital conservation buffer above the adequately capitalized risk-based capital ratios of 2.50% for all ratios, except the tier 1 leverage ratio. If a banking organization dips into its capital conservation buffer, it is subject to limitations on certain activities, including payment of dividends, share repurchases, and discretionary compensation to certain officers. Management believes, as of December 31, 2021, the Bank met all capital adequacy requirements to which it is subject.
As required by FDICIA, the federal bank regulatory agencies also have adopted guidelines prescribing safety and soundness standards relating to, among other things, internal controls and information systems, internal audit systems, loan documentation, credit underwriting, and interest rate exposure. In general, the guidelines require appropriate systems and practices to identify and manage the risks and exposures specified in the guidelines. In addition, the agencies adopted regulations that authorize, but do not require, an institution that has been notified that it is not in compliance with safety and soundness standard to submit a compliance plan. If, after being so notified, an institution fails to submit an acceptable compliance plan, the agency must issue an order directing action to correct the deficiency and may issue an order directing other actions of the types to which an undercapitalized institution is subject under the prompt corrective action provisions described above.
Transactions with Affiliates
Pursuant to Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act and Regulation W, the authority of the Bank to engage in transactions with related parties or “affiliates” or to make loans to insiders is limited. Loan transactions with an affiliate generally must be collateralized and certain transactions between the Bank and its affiliates, including the sale of assets, the payment of money or the provision of services, must be on terms and conditions that are substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the Bank, as those prevailing for comparable nonaffiliated transactions. In addition, the Bank generally may not purchase securities issued or underwritten by affiliates.
Loans to executive officers, directors, or to any person who directly or indirectly, or acting through or in concert with one or more persons, owns, controls or has the power to vote more than 10% of any class of voting securities of a bank, are subject to Sections 22(g) and 22(h) of the Federal Reserve Act and their corresponding regulations (Regulation O) and Section 13(k) of the Exchange Act relating to the prohibition on personal loans to executives (which exempts financial institutions in compliance with the insider lending restrictions of Section 22(h) of the Federal Reserve Act). Among other things, these loans must be made on terms substantially the same as those prevailing on transactions made to unaffiliated individuals, and certain extensions of credit to those persons must first be approved in advance by a disinterested majority of the entire board of directors. Section 22(h) of the Federal Reserve Act prohibits loans to any of those individuals where the aggregate amount exceeds an amount equal to 15% of an institution’s unimpaired capital and surplus plus an additional 10% of unimpaired capital and surplus in the case of loans that are fully secured by readily marketable collateral, or when the aggregate amount on all of the extensions of credit outstanding to all of these persons would exceed the Bank’s unimpaired
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capital and unimpaired surplus. Section 22(g) of the Federal Reserve Act identifies limited circumstances in which the Bank is permitted to extend credit to executive officers.
Consumer Financial Protection
The Company is subject to a number of federal and state consumer protection laws that extensively govern its relationship with its customers. These laws include the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Truth in Savings Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Expedited Funds Availability Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Service Members Civil Relief Act, laws governing flood insurance, federal and state laws prohibiting unfair and deceptive business practices, foreclosure laws, and various regulations that implement some or all of the foregoing. These laws and regulations mandate certain disclosure requirements and regulate the manner in which financial institutions must deal with customers when taking deposits, making loans, collecting loans and providing other services. If the Company fails to comply with these laws and regulations, it may be subject to various penalties. Failure to comply with consumer protection requirements may also result in failure to obtain any required bank regulatory approval for merger or acquisition transactions the Company may wish to pursue or being prohibited from engaging in such transactions even if approval is not required.
The Dodd-Frank Act centralized responsibility for consumer financial protection by creating a new agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB"), and giving it responsibility for implementing, examining, and enforcing compliance with federal consumer protection laws. The CFPB focuses on (i) risks to consumers and compliance with the federal consumer financial laws, (ii) the markets in which firms operate and risks to consumers posed by activities in those markets, (iii) depository institutions that offer a wide variety of consumer financial products and services, and (iv) non-depository companies that offer one or more consumer financial products or services. The CFPB has broad rule making authority for a wide range of consumer financial laws that apply to all banks, including, among other things, the authority to prohibit “unfair, deceptive or abusive” acts and practices. Abusive acts or practices are defined as those that materially interfere with a consumer’s ability to understand a term or condition of a consumer financial product or service or take unreasonable advantage of a consumer’s (i) lack of financial savvy, (ii) inability to protect himself in the selection or use of consumer financial products or services, or (iii) reasonable reliance on a covered entity to act in the consumer’s interests. The CFPB can issue cease-and-desist orders against banks and other entities that violate consumer financial laws. The CFPB may also institute a civil action against an entity in violation of federal consumer financial law in order to impose a civil penalty or injunction.
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Community Reinvestment Act
The CRA requires the appropriate federal banking agency, in connection with its examination of a bank, to assess the bank’s record in meeting the credit needs of the communities served by the bank, including low and moderate income neighborhoods. Furthermore, such assessment is also required of banks that have applied, among other things, to merge or consolidate with or acquire the assets or assume the liabilities of an insured depository institution, or to open or relocate a branch. In the case of a bank holding company applying for approval to acquire a bank or bank holding company, the record of each subsidiary bank of the applicant bank holding company is subject to assessment in considering the application. Under the CRA, institutions are assigned a rating of “outstanding,” “satisfactory,” “needs to improve,” or “substantial non-compliance.” The Bank was rated “satisfactory” in its most recent CRA evaluation.
Anti-Money Laundering Legislation
The Company is subject to several federal laws that are designed to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and transactions with persons, companies or foreign governments designated by U.S. authorities (“AML laws”). This category of laws includes the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020.
The AML laws and their implementing regulations require insured depository institutions, broker-dealers, and certain other financial institutions to have policies, procedures, and controls to detect, prevent, and report money laundering and terrorist financing. The AML laws and their regulations also provide for information sharing, subject to conditions, between federal law enforcement agencies and financial institutions, as well as among financial institutions, for counter-terrorism purposes. Federal banking regulators are required, when reviewing bank holding company acquisition and bank merger applications, to take into account the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering activities of the applicants. To comply with these obligations, the Company has implemented internal practices, procedures, and controls.
Office of Foreign Assets Control
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) is responsible for administering and enforcing economic and trade sanctions against specified foreign parties, including countries and regimes, foreign individuals, and other foreign organizations and entities. OFAC publishes lists of prohibited parties that are regularly consulted by the Company in the conduct of its business in order to assure compliance. The Company is responsible for, among other things, blocking accounts of, and transactions with, prohibited parties identified by OFAC, avoiding unlicensed trade and financial transactions with such parties, and reporting blocked transactions after their occurrence. Failure to comply with OFAC requirements could have serious legal, financial, and reputational consequences for the Company.
Privacy Legislation
Several recent laws, including the Right to Financial Privacy Act, and related regulations issued by the federal bank regulatory agencies, also provide new protections against the transfer and use of customer information by financial institutions. A financial institution must provide to its customers information regarding its policies and procedures with respect to the handling of customers’ personal information. Each institution must conduct an internal risk assessment of its ability to protect customer information. These privacy provisions generally prohibit a financial institution from providing a customer’s personal financial information to unaffiliated parties without prior notice and approval from the customer.
Incentive Compensation
In June 2010, the federal bank regulatory agencies issued the Interagency Guidance on Sound Incentive Compensation Policies, the final guidance on incentive compensation policies. The guidance is intended to ensure that the incentive compensation policies of financial institutions do not undermine the safety and soundness of such institutions by encouraging excessive risk-taking. The Interagency Guidance on Sound Incentive Compensation Policies covers all employees that have the ability to materially affect the risk profile of a financial institutions, either individually or as part of a group, and is based upon the key principles that a financial institution’s incentive compensation arrangements should (i) provide incentives that do not encourage risk-taking beyond the institution’s ability to effectively identify and manage risks, (ii) be compatible with effective internal controls and risk management, and (iii) be supported by strong corporate governance, including active and effective oversight by the financial institution’s board of directors.
The Dodd-Frank Act requires the federal banking agencies and the SEC to establish joint regulations or guidelines prohibiting incentive-based payment arrangements at specified regulated entities that encourage inappropriate risk-taking by providing an executive officer, employee, director, or principal shareholder with excessive compensation, fees, or benefits or
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that could lead to material financial loss to the entity. The federal banking agencies issued such proposed rules in March 2011 and issued a revised proposed rule in June 2016 implementing the requirements and prohibitions. The revised proposed rule would apply to all banks, among other institutions, with at least $1 billion in average total consolidated assets for which it would go beyond the existing Interagency Guidance on Sound Incentive Compensation Policies to (i) prohibit certain types and features of incentive-based compensation arrangements for senior executive officers, (ii) require incentive-based compensation arrangements to adhere to certain basic principles to avoid a presumption of encouraging inappropriate risk, (iii) require appropriate board or committee oversight, (iv) establish minimum recordkeeping, and (v) mandate disclosures to the appropriate federal banking agency. The comment period for these proposed rules has closed and final rules have not yet been published.
The Federal Reserve will review, as part of the regular, risk-focused examination process, the incentive compensation arrangements of financial institutions, such as the Company, that are not “large, complex banking organizations.” These reviews will be tailored to each financial institution based on the scope and complexity of the institution’s activities and the prevalence of incentive compensation arrangements. The findings of the supervisory initiatives will be included in reports of examination. Deficiencies will be incorporated into the institution’s supervisory ratings, which can affect the institution’s ability to make acquisitions and take other actions. Enforcement actions may be taken against a financial institution if its incentive compensation arrangements, or related risk-management control or governance processes, pose a risk to the institution’s safety and soundness and the financial institution is not taking prompt and effective measures to correct the deficiencies. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not been made aware of any instances of non-compliance with the guidance.
Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rule
Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB issued a final rule effective in January 2014, amending Regulation Z as implemented by the Truth in Lending Act, requiring mortgage lenders to make a reasonable and good faith determination based on verified and documented information that a consumer applying for a mortgage loan has a reasonable ability to repay the loan according to its terms. Mortgage lenders are required to determine consumers’ ability to repay in one of two ways. The first alternative requires the mortgage lender to consider the following eight underwriting factors when making the credit decision: (i) current or reasonably expected income or assets; (ii) current employment status; (iii) the monthly payment on the covered transaction; (iv) the monthly payment on any simultaneous loan; (v) the monthly payment for mortgage-related obligations; (vi) current debt obligations, alimony, and child support; (vii) the monthly debt-to-income ratio or residual income; and (viii) credit history. Alternatively, the mortgage lender can originate “qualified mortgages,” which are entitled to a presumption that the creditor making the loan satisfied the ability-to-repay requirements. In general, a “qualified mortgage” is a mortgage loan without negative amortization, interest-only payments, balloon payments, or terms exceeding 30 years. In addition, a qualified mortgage generally must meet certain price-based thresholds, and the points and fees paid by a consumer cannot exceed 3% of the total loan amount. Qualified mortgages that are “higher-priced” (e.g. subprime loans) garner a rebuttable presumption of compliance with the ability-to-repay rules, while qualified mortgages that are not “higher-priced” (e.g. prime loans) are given a safe harbor of compliance. The Company is predominantly an originator of compliant qualified mortgages.
Cybersecurity
In March 2015, federal regulators issued two related statements regarding cybersecurity. One statement indicates that financial institutions should design multiple layers of security controls to establish lines of defense and to ensure that their risk management processes also address the risk posed by compromised customer credentials, including security measures to reliably authenticate customers accessing internet-based services of the financial institution. The other statement indicates that a financial institution’s management is expected to maintain sufficient business continuity planning processes to ensure the rapid recovery, resumption, and maintenance of the institution’s operations after a cyber-attack involving destructive malware. A financial institution is also expected to develop appropriate processes to enable recovery of data and business operations and address rebuilding network capabilities and restoring data if the institution or its critical service providers fall victim to this type of cyber-attack. If the Company fails to observe the regulatory guidance, it could be subject to various regulatory sanctions, including financial penalties.
In November 2021, the federal banking agencies approved a final rule that, among other things, would require banking organizations to notify their primary regulator within 36 hours of becoming aware of a “computer-security incident” that rises to the level of a “notification incident.” The rule also requires bank service providers to notify their banking organization customers as soon as possible after becoming aware of similar incidents.
The Company’s systems and those of its customers and third-party service providers are under constant threat. Risks and exposures related to cybersecurity attacks are expected to remain high for the foreseeable future due to the rapidly evolving
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nature and sophistication of these threats, as well as due to the expanding use of internet banking, mobile banking, and other technology-based products and services by the Company and its customers.
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CARES Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“Appropriations Act”) was signed into law on December 27, 2020. Among other things, the CARES Act and Appropriations Act include the following provisions impacting financial institutions.
Community Bank Leverage Ratio. The CARES Act directed federal banking agencies to adopt interim final rules to lower the threshold under the CBLR from 9% to 8% and to provide a reasonable grace period for a community bank that falls below the threshold to regain compliance, in each case until the earlier of the termination date of the national emergency or December 31, 2020. In October 2020, the federal bank regulatory agencies issued two interim final rules implementing this directive. The interim final rules provide that, as of the second quarter 2020, banking organizations with leverage ratios of 8% or greater (and that meet the other existing qualifying criteria) may elect to use the CBLR framework. The leverage ratio requirement increases to 8.5% effective January 1, 2021 and 9% effective January 1, 2022. The final rules also establish a two-quarter grace period for qualifying community banking organizations who fail to meet the qualifying criteria, including the leverage ratio, so long as the banking organization maintains a leverage ratio of 7% or greater effective the second quarter of 2020, 7.5% effective January 1, 2021, and 8% effective January 1, 2022.
Temporary Troubled Debt Restructurings (“TDRs”) Relief. The CARES Act allowed banks to elect to suspend requirements under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for loan modifications related to the COVID-19 pandemic (for loans that were not more than 30 days past due as of December 31, 2019) that would otherwise be categorized as a TDR, including impairment for accounting purposes, until the earlier of 60 days after the termination date of the national emergency or December 31, 2020. Federal banking agencies are required to defer to the determination of the banks making such suspension. The Appropriations Act extended this temporary relief until the earlier of 60 days after the termination date of the national emergency or January 1, 2022.
Paycheck Protection Program. The CARES Act created the PPP, administered by the SBA, and it was extended by the Appropriations Act. Under the PPP, a total of $953 billion of relief was made available through May 31, 2021, and the money was authorized for small business loans to pay payroll and group health costs, salaries and commissions, mortgage and rent payments, utilities, and interest on other debt. The loans are provided through participating financial institutions, such as the Bank, that process loan applications and service the loans.
Future Legislation and Regulation
Congress may enact legislation from time to time that affects the regulation of the financial services industry, and state legislatures may enact legislation from time to time affecting the regulation of financial institutions chartered by or operating in those states. Federal and state regulatory agencies also periodically propose and adopt changes to their regulations or change the manner in which existing regulations are applied. The substance or impact of pending or future legislation or regulation, or the application thereof, cannot be predicted, although enactment of the proposed legislation could impact the regulatory structure under which the Company and the Bank operate and may significantly increase costs, impede the efficiency of internal business processes, require an increase in regulatory capital, require modifications to business strategy, and limit the ability to pursue business opportunities in an efficient manner. A change in statutes, regulations or regulatory policies applicable to the Company or the Bank could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, and results of operations of the Company and the Bank.
ITEM 1A: RISK FACTORS
An investment in the Company’s common stock involves certain risks, including those described below. In addition to the other information set forth in this report, investors in the Company’s securities should carefully consider the factors discussed below. These factors, either alone or taken together, could materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, capital position, and prospects. One or more of these could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from its historical results or the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this report, in which case the trading price of the Company’s securities could decline.
Market Conditions
The COVID-19 pandemic and measures intended to prevent its spread have adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect, the Company’s business, financial condition, and operations; the extent of such impacts are highly uncertain and difficult to predict.
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Global health and economic concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and government actions taken to reduce the spread of the virus have had a material adverse impact on the macroeconomic environment, and the outbreak has significantly increased economic uncertainty. The pandemic has resulted in federal, state and local authorities, including those who govern the markets in which the Company operates, implementing numerous measures to try to contain the virus. These measures, including shelter in place orders and business limitations and shutdowns, have contributed to higher unemployment and have negatively impacted consumer and business spending during 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the Company’s workforce and operations and the operations of the Company’s customers and business partners. While the spread of COVID-19 decreased substantially throughout the spring and summer of 2021 and restrictive measures taken by governments, businesses, and individuals were lifted or eased, the spread of new, more transmissible variants has resulted in continued economic disruption and uncertainty, interest rate and monetary policy impacts, and trade and supply chain disruption. New developments as a consequence of the pandemic could cause adverse effects on the Company due to a number of operational factors impacting it or its customers or business partners, including but not limited to:
The extent to which the pandemic impacts the Company’s business, liquidity, financial condition, and operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and are difficult to predict, including, but not limited to, its duration and severity, the actions to contain it or treat its impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions resume. In addition, the rapidly changing and unprecedented nature of COVID-19 heightens the inherent uncertainty of forecasting future economic conditions and their impact on the Company’s loan portfolio, thereby increasing the risk that the assumptions, judgments, and estimates used to determine the allowance for loan losses and other estimates are incorrect. As a result of these and other conditions, the ultimate impact of the pandemic is highly uncertain and subject to change, and the Company cannot predict the full extent of the impacts on its business and operations. To the extent any of the foregoing risks or other factors that develop as a result of COVID-19 materialize, it could exacerbate the other risk factors discussed in this section, or otherwise materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, liquidity, financial condition, and results of operations.
Changes in economic conditions, especially in the areas in which the Company conducts operations, could materially and negatively affect its business.
The Company’s business is directly impacted by economic conditions, legislative and regulatory changes, changes in government monetary and fiscal policies, and inflation, all of which are beyond its control. A deterioration in economic conditions, whether caused by global, national, or local concerns (including the COVID-19 pandemic, rising wages in a tight labor market, geopolitical uncertainty, and supply chain complications), especially within the Company’s market area, could result in the following potentially material consequences: loan delinquencies increasing; problem assets and foreclosures
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increasing; demand for products and services decreasing; low cost or non-interest bearing deposits decreasing; and collateral for loans, especially real estate, declining in value, in turn reducing customers’ borrowing power, and reducing the value of assets and collateral associated with existing loans. A continued economic downturn could result in losses that materially and adversely affect the Company’s business.
The Company may be adversely impacted by changes in market conditions.
The Company is directly and indirectly affected by changes in market conditions. Market risk generally represents the risk that values of assets and liabilities or revenues will be adversely affected by changes in market conditions. As a financial institution, market risk is inherent in the financial instruments associated with the Company’s operations and activities, including loans, deposits, securities, short-term borrowings, long-term debt, and trading account assets and liabilities. A few of the market conditions that may shift from time to time, thereby exposing the Company to market risk, include fluctuations in interest rates, equity and futures prices, and price deterioration or changes in value due to changes in market perception or actual credit quality of issuers. The Company’s investment securities portfolio, in particular, may be impacted by market conditions beyond its control, including rating agency downgrades of the securities, defaults of the issuers of the securities, lack of market pricing of the securities, and inactivity or instability in the credit markets. Any changes in these conditions, in current accounting principles or interpretations of these principles could impact the Company’s assessment of fair value and thus the determination of other-than-temporary impairment of the securities in the investment securities portfolio, which could adversely affect the Company’s financial condition, capital ratios, and results of operations.
The Company’s mortgage banking revenue is cyclical and is sensitive to the level of interest rates, changes in economic conditions, decreased economic activity, and slowdowns in the housing market, any of which could adversely impact the Company’s profits.
Residential mortgage banking income, net, represented approximately 32.5% of total noninterest income for the year ended December 31, 2021. The success of the Company’s mortgage division is dependent upon its ability to originate loans and sell them to investors at or near current volumes. Loan production levels are sensitive to changes in the level of interest rates and changes in economic conditions. Revenues from mortgage banking have increased due to a lowering interest rate environment that resulted in a high volume of mortgage loan refinancing activity. Conversely, revenues are adversely affected by rising interest rates, home affordability and inventory, increases in competitive pressures, and changing incentives for homeownership. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, mortgage rates have generally fallen, creating the potential for renewed refinancing activity, but economic conditions have also deteriorated. Loan production levels may suffer if there is a sustained slowdown in the housing markets in which the Company conducts business or tightening credit conditions. Any sustained period of decreased activity caused by an economic downturn, fewer refinancing transactions, higher interest rates, housing price pressure, or loan underwriting restrictions would adversely affect the Company’s mortgage originations and, consequently, could significantly reduce its income from mortgage banking activities. As a result, these conditions would also adversely affect the Company’s results of operations.
The Company’s business and earnings are impacted by governmental, fiscal, and monetary policy over which it has no control.
The Company is affected by domestic monetary policy. The Federal Reserve regulates the supply of money and credit in the United States and its policies determine in large part the Company’s cost of funds for lending, investing, and capital raising activities and the return it earns on those loans and investments, both of which affect the Company’s net interest margin. The actions of the Federal Reserve also can materially affect the value of financial instruments that the Company holds, such as loans and debt securities, and also can affect the Company’s borrowers, potentially increasing the risk that they may fail to repay their loans. The Company’s business and earnings also are affected by the fiscal or other policies that are adopted by various regulatory authorities of the United States. Changes in fiscal or monetary policy are beyond the Company’s control and hard to predict.
The Company faces strong and growing competition from financial services companies and other companies that offer banking and other financial services, which could negatively affect the Company’s business.
The Company encounters substantial competition from other financial institutions in its market area and competition is increasing. Ultimately, the Company may not be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors. Many competitors offer the same banking services that the Company offers in its service area. These competitors include national, regional, and community banks. The Company also faces competition from many other types of financial institutions, including finance companies, mutual and money market fund providers, brokerage firms, insurance companies, credit unions,
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financial subsidiaries of certain industrial corporations, financial technology companies, and mortgage companies. Increased competition may result in reduced business for the Company.
Additionally, banks and other financial institutions with larger capitalization and financial intermediaries not subject to bank regulatory restrictions have larger lending limits and are thereby able to serve the credit needs of larger customers. Areas of competition include interest rates for loans and deposits, efforts to obtain loans and deposits, and range and quality of products and services provided, including new technology-driven products and services. If the Company is unable to attract and retain banking customers, it may be unable to continue to grow loan and deposit portfolios and its results of operations and financial condition may otherwise be adversely affected.
Consumers may increasingly decide not to use banks to complete their financial transactions, which would have a material adverse impact on the Company’s financial condition and operations.
Technology and other changes are allowing parties to complete financial transactions through alternative methods that historically have involved banks. For example, consumers can now maintain funds that would have historically been held as bank deposits in brokerage accounts, mutual funds, or general-purpose reloadable prepaid cards. Consumers can also complete transactions such as paying bills or transferring funds directly without the assistance of banks. The process of eliminating banks as intermediaries, known as “disintermediation,” could result in the loss of fee income, as well as the loss of customer deposits and the related income generated from those deposits. The loss of these revenue streams and the lower cost of deposits as a source of funds could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
The Company’s common stock is thinly traded, and a more liquid market for its common stock may not develop, which may limit the ability of shareholders to sell their shares and may increase price volatility.
The Company’s common stock is listed on the NYSE American market under the symbol “BRBS”. The Company’s common stock is thinly traded and has substantially less liquidity than the trading markets for many other bank holding companies. The Company may be unable to maintain the listing of its common stock in the future. In addition, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for shares of the Company’s common stock will develop or if one develops, that it can be sustained. The development of a liquid public market depends on the existence of willing buyers and sellers, the presence of which is not within the Company’s control. Therefore, the Company’s shareholders may not be able to sell their shares at the volume, prices, or times that they desire. Shareholders should be financially prepared and able to hold shares for an indefinite period.
In addition, thinly traded stocks can be more volatile than more widely traded stocks. The Company’s stock price has been volatile in the past and several factors could cause the price to fluctuate substantially in the future. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in analysts’ recommendations or projections, developments related to the Company’s business and operations, stock performance of other companies deemed to be peers, news reports of trends, concerns, and irrational exuberance on the part of investors, geopolitical uncertainty, and other issues related to the financial services industry. The Company’s stock price may fluctuate significantly in the future, and these fluctuations may be unrelated to its performance. General market declines or market volatility in the future, especially in the financial institutions sector of the economy, could adversely affect the price of the Company’s common stock, and the current market price may not be indicative of future market prices.
Credit Risk
The Company’s credit standards and its on-going credit assessment processes might not protect it from significant credit losses.
The Company assumes credit risk by virtue of making loans and extending loan commitments and letters of credit. The Company manages credit risk through a program of underwriting standards, the review of certain credit decisions, and a continuous quality assessment process of credit already extended. The Company’s exposure to credit risk is managed through the use of consistent underwriting standards that emphasize local lending while avoiding highly leveraged transactions, as well as excessive industry and other concentrations. The Company’s credit administration function employs risk management techniques to help ensure that problem loans and leases are promptly identified. While these procedures are designed to provide the Company with the information needed to implement policy adjustments where necessary and to take appropriate corrective actions, there can be no assurance that such measures will be effective in avoiding undue credit risk.
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The Bank’s allowance for loan losses may be insufficient and any increases in the allowance for loan losses may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
The Bank maintains an allowance for loan losses, which is a reserve established through a provision for loan losses charged to expense, that represents the Bank’s best estimate of probable losses that have been incurred within the existing portfolio of loans. The allowance for loan losses is necessary to reserve for estimated loan losses and risks inherent in the loan portfolio.
The level of the allowance reflects management’s evaluation of the level of loans outstanding, the level of nonperforming loans, historical loan loss experience, delinquency trends, underlying collateral values, the amount of actual losses charged to the reserve in a given period and assessment of present and anticipated economic conditions. The determination of the appropriate level of the allowance for loan losses inherently involves a high degree of subjectivity and requires the Bank to make significant estimates of current credit risks and future trends, all of which may undergo material changes. The COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented governmental response have made these subjective judgements even more difficult. Although the Company believes the allowance for loan losses is a reasonable estimate of known and inherent losses in the loan portfolio, it cannot precisely predict such losses or be certain that the loan loss allowance will be adequate in the future. Deterioration of economic conditions affecting borrowers, new information regarding existing loans, identification of additional problem loans and other factors, both within and outside the Bank’s control, may require an increase in the allowance for loan losses. In addition, bank regulatory agencies and the Bank’s auditors periodically review its allowance for loan losses and may require an increase in the provision for loan losses or the recognition of further loan charge-offs, based on judgments different than those of management. Further, if charge-offs in future periods exceed the allowance for loan losses, the Bank will need additional provisions to increase the allowance for loan losses.
Nonperforming assets take significant time to resolve and adversely affect the Company’s results of operations and financial condition.
The Company’s nonperforming assets adversely affect its net income in various ways. Nonperforming assets, which include nonaccrual loans and loans past due 90 days and still accruing interest (excluding purchased credit-impaired loans and accruing TDRs) and other real estate owned (“OREO”), were $16.3 million, or 0.61% of total assets, as of December 31, 2021. When the Company receives collateral through foreclosures and similar proceedings, it is required to record the related loan to the then fair market value of the collateral less estimated selling costs, which may result in a loss. An increased level of nonperforming assets also increases the Company’s risk profile and may impact the capital levels regulators believe are appropriate in light of such risks. The Company utilizes various techniques such as workouts, restructurings, and loan sales to manage problem assets. Increases in, or negative changes in, the value of these problem assets, the underlying collateral, or in the borrowers’ performance or financial condition, could adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations, and financial condition. In addition, the resolution of nonperforming assets requires significant commitments of time from management and staff, which can be detrimental to the performance of their other responsibilities, including generation of new loans. There can be no assurance that the Company will avoid increases in non-performing loans in the future.
The Company’s focus on lending to small to mid-sized community-based businesses may increase its credit risk.
Most of the Company’s commercial business and commercial real estate loans are made to small business or middle market customers. These businesses generally have fewer financial resources in terms of capital or borrowing capacity than larger entities and have a heightened vulnerability to economic conditions. If general economic conditions in the market areas in which the Company operates negatively impact this important customer sector, the Company’s results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected. Moreover, a portion of these loans have been made by the Company in recent years and the borrowers may not have experienced a complete business or economic cycle. Any deterioration of the borrowers’ businesses may hinder their ability to repay their loans with the Company, which could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations.
The Company’s concentration in loans secured by real estate may increase its future credit losses, which would negatively affect the Company’s financial results.
The Company offers a variety of secured loans, including commercial lines of credit, commercial term loans, real estate, construction, home equity, consumer and other loans. Credit risk and credit losses can increase if its loans are concentrated to borrowers who, as a group, may be uniquely or disproportionately affected by economic or market conditions. As of December 31, 2021, approximately 77.8% of the Company’s loans were secured by real estate, both residential and commercial, substantially all of which are located in its market area. A major change in the region’s real estate market, resulting in a deterioration in real estate values, or in the local or national economy, including changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, could adversely affect the Company’s customers’ ability to pay these loans, which in turn could adversely
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impact the Company. Risk of loan defaults and foreclosures are inherent in the banking industry, and the Company tries to limit its exposure to this risk by carefully underwriting and monitoring its extensions of credit. The Company cannot fully eliminate credit risk, and as a result, losses may occur in the future.
The Company has a moderate concentration of credit exposure in commercial real estate and loans with this type of collateral are viewed as having more risk of default.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $701.5 million in loans secured by commercial real estate, representing approximately 38.8% of total loans outstanding at that date. The real estate consists primarily of non-owner-occupied properties and other commercial properties. These types of loans are generally viewed as having more risk of default than residential and owner-occupied real estate loans. They are also typically larger than residential real estate loans and consumer loans and depend on cash flows from the owner’s business or the property to service the debt. It may be more difficult for commercial real estate borrowers to repay their loans in a timely manner, as commercial real estate borrowers ability to repay their loans frequently depends on the successful rental of their properties. Cash flows may be affected significantly by general economic conditions, and a sustained downturn in the local economy or in occupancy rates in the local economy where the property is located could increase the likelihood of default. Because the Company’s loan portfolio contains a number of commercial real estate loans with relatively large balances, the deterioration of one or a few of these loans could cause a significant increase in its percentage of nonperforming loans. An increase in nonperforming loans could result in a loss of earnings from these loans, an increase in the provision for loan losses, and an increase in charge-offs, all of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
The Company’s banking regulators generally give commercial real estate lending greater scrutiny, and may require banks with higher levels of commercial real estate loans to implement improved underwriting, internal controls, risk management policies, and portfolio stress testing, as well as possibly higher levels of allowances for losses and capital, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations.
A portion of the Company’s loan portfolio consists of construction and land development loans, and a decline in real estate values and economic conditions would adversely affect the value of the collateral securing the loans and could have an adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition.
At December 31, 2021, approximately 11.4% of the Company’s loan portfolio, or $205.4 million consisted of construction and land development loans. Construction financing typically involves a higher degree of credit risk than financing on improved, owner-occupied real estate and improved, income producing real estate. Risk of loss on a construction or land development loan is largely dependent upon the accuracy of the initial estimate of the property’s value at completion of construction or development, the marketability of the property, and the bid price and estimated cost (including interest) of construction or development. If the estimate of construction or development costs proves to be inaccurate, the Company may be required to advance funds beyond the amount originally committed to permit completion of the project. If the estimate of the value proves to be inaccurate, it may be confronted, at or prior to the maturity of the loan, with a project whose value is insufficient to assure full repayment. When lending to builders and developers, the cost breakdown of construction or development is provided by the builder or developer. Although the Company’s underwriting criteria are designed to evaluate and minimize the risks of each construction or land development loan, there can be no guarantee that these practices will have safeguarded against material delinquencies and losses to the Company’s operations. In addition, construction and land development loans are dependent on the successful completion of the projects they finance. Loans secured by vacant or unimproved land are generally riskier than loans secured by improved property. These loans are more susceptible to adverse conditions in the real estate market and local economy.
The Company’s results of operations are significantly affected by the ability of borrowers to repay their loans.
A significant source of risk for the Company is the possibility that losses will be sustained because borrowers, guarantors, and related parties may fail to perform in accordance with the terms of their loan agreements. Most of the Company’s loans are secured but some loans are unsecured. With respect to the secured loans, the collateral securing the repayment of these loans may be insufficient to cover the obligations owed under such loans. Collateral values may be adversely affected by changes in economic, environmental, and other conditions, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, declines in the value of real estate, changes in interest rates, changes in monetary and fiscal policies of the federal government, terrorist activity, environmental contamination, and other external events. In addition, collateral appraisals that are out of date or that do not meet industry recognized standards may create the impression that a loan is adequately collateralized when it is not. The Company has adopted underwriting and credit monitoring procedures and policies, including regular reviews of appraisals and borrower financial statements, that management believes are appropriate to mitigate the risk of loss. An increase in non-performing loans could result in a net loss of earnings from these loans, an
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increase in the provision for loan losses and an increase in loan charge-offs, all of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
The Company depends on the accuracy and completeness of information about clients and counterparties and the Company’s financial condition could be adversely affected if it relies on misleading or incorrect information.
In deciding whether to extend credit or to enter into other transactions with clients and counterparties, the Company may rely on information furnished to it by or on behalf of clients and counterparties, including financial statements and other financial information, which it does not independently verify. The Company also may rely on representations of clients and counterparties as to the accuracy and completeness of that information and, with respect to financial statements, on reports of independent auditors. For example, in deciding whether to extend credit to clients, the Company may assume that a client’s audited financial statements conform with GAAP and present fairly, in all material respects, the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of that client. The Company’s financial condition and results of operations could be negatively impacted to the extent it relies on financial statements that do not comply with GAAP or are materially misleading.
The Company relies upon independent appraisals to determine the value of the real estate that secures a significant portion of its loans and the value of foreclosed properties carried on its books, and the values indicated by such appraisals may not be realizable if it is forced to foreclose upon such loans or liquidate such foreclosed property.
As indicated above, a significant portion of the Company’s loan portfolio consists of loans secured by real estate and it also holds a portfolio of foreclosed properties. The Company relies upon independent appraisers to estimate the value of such real estate. Appraisals are only estimates of value and the independent appraisers may make mistakes of fact or judgment that adversely affect the reliability of their appraisals. In addition, events occurring after the initial appraisal may cause the value of the real estate to increase or decrease. As a result of any of these factors, the real estate securing some of the Company’s loans and the foreclosed properties held by the Company may be more or less valuable than anticipated. If a default occurs on a loan secured by real estate that is less valuable than originally estimated, the Company may not be able to recover the outstanding balance of the loan. It may also be unable to sell its foreclosed properties for the values estimated by their appraisals.
The Company is exposed to risk of environmental liabilities with respect to properties to which it takes title.
In the course of its business, the Company may foreclose and take title to real estate, potentially becoming subject to environmental liabilities associated with the properties. The Company may be held liable to a governmental entity or to third parties for property damage, personal injury, investigation, and clean-up costs, or the Company may be required to investigate or clean up hazardous or toxic substances or chemical releases at a property. Costs associated with investigation or remediation activities can be substantial. If the Company is the owner or former owner of a contaminated site, it may be subject to common law claims by third parties based on damages and costs resulting from environmental contamination emanating from the property. These costs and claims could adversely affect the Company’s business.
Mergers and Acquisitions and Growth Strategy
The Company may not be able to successfully manage its long-term growth, which may adversely affect its results of operations and financial condition.
A key aspect of the Company’s long-term business strategy is its continued growth and expansion. The Company’s ability to continue to grow depends, in part, upon its ability to (i) open new branch offices or acquire existing branches or other financial institutions, (ii) attract deposits, and (iii) identify attractive loan and investment opportunities.
The Company may not be able to successfully implement its growth strategy, if it is unable to identify attractive markets, locations, or opportunities to expand in the future, or if the Company is subject to regulatory restrictions on growth or expansion of its operations. The Company’s ability to manage its growth successfully also will depend on whether it can maintain capital levels adequate to support its growth, maintain cost controls and asset quality, maintain regulatory requirements, and successfully integrate any businesses the Company acquires or partners with into its organization. As the Company identifies opportunities to implement its growth strategy by opening new branches or acquiring branches or other banks, it may incur increased personnel, occupancy, and other operating expenses. In the case of new branches, the Company must absorb those higher expenses while it begins to generate new deposits, and there is a further time lag involved in redeploying new deposits into attractively priced loans and other higher yielding assets. In the case of business combinations, the Company may incur significant costs even if the transaction is not completed, experience deposit attrition, customer
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losses, and other disruptions to its business, or fail effectively integrate other banks’ operations or realize the anticipated benefits or cost savings as a result of a combination.
The Company has acquired and expanded into new product lines and may consider additional acquisitions and expansion into other businesses that it believes will help it fulfill its strategic objectives. The Company expects that other banking and financial companies, some of which have significantly greater resources, will compete with it to acquire financial services businesses. This competition could increase prices for potential acquisitions that the Company believes are attractive. Acquisitions may also be subject to various regulatory approvals. If the Company fails to receive the appropriate regulatory approvals, it will not be able to consummate acquisitions that it believes are in its best interests.
When the Company enters into new markets or new lines of business, its lack of history and familiarity with those markets, clients and lines of business may lead to unexpected challenges or difficulties that inhibit its success. The Company’s plans to expand could depress earnings in the short run, even if it efficiently executes a growth strategy leading to long-term financial benefits.
The Company’s strategy also includes growing partnerships with fintech companies, which serve as a source of loan and deposit growth, fee income, and technology-related solutions for the Bank. These initiatives may require the Bank to employ additional qualified personnel and additional operational and control systems to oversee and manage operational, legal, and compliance risks associated with these partnerships. In certain cases, the Company also has made and may continue to make investments in these third-party fintech companies, which may be unseasoned, unprofitable, or have limited established operating histories or earnings and may be more vulnerable to financial failure. Any failure to successfully manage these partnerships and related Bank operations, or the failure of these fintech companies to perform, may subject the Bank to supervisory or compliance risks, subject the Company to a loss of its investment, or delay or otherwise adversely affect the Company’s expansion, future financial condition, and results of operations.
Interest Rate Risk
The Company’s business is subject to interest rate risk, and variations in interest rates and inadequate management of interest rate risk may negatively affect financial performance.
Changes in the interest rate environment may reduce the Company’s profits. It is expected that the Company will continue to realize income from the differential or “spread” between the interest earned on loans, securities, and other interest earning assets, and interest paid on deposits, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities. Net interest spreads are affected by the difference between the maturities and repricing characteristics of interest earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. In addition, loan volume and yields are affected by market interest rates on loans, and the current interest rate environment encourages extreme competition for new loan originations from qualified borrowers. The Company’s management cannot ensure that it can minimize interest rate risk. If the interest rates paid on deposits and other borrowings increase at a faster rate than the interest rates received on loans and other investments, the Company’s net interest income, and therefore earnings, could be adversely affected. Earnings could also be adversely affected if the interest rates received on loans and other investments fall more quickly than the interest rates paid on deposits and other borrowings. Accordingly, changes in levels of market interest rates could materially and adversely affect the net interest spread, asset quality, loan origination volume, and the Company’s overall profitability.
Liquidity and Capital
The Company’s liquidity needs could adversely affect results of operations and financial condition.
The Company’s primary sources of funds are deposits and loan repayments. While scheduled loan repayments are a relatively stable source of funds, they are subject to the ability of borrowers to repay the loans. The ability of borrowers to repay loans can be adversely affected by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, changes in economic conditions, adverse trends or events affecting business industry groups, reductions in real estate values or markets, availability of, and/or access to, sources of refinancing, business closings or lay-offs, pandemics or endemics, inclement weather, natural disasters and geopolitical uncertainty. Additionally, deposit levels may be affected by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, rates paid by competitors, general interest rate levels, regulatory capital requirements, returns available to customers on alternative investments and general economic conditions. Accordingly, the Company may be required from time to time to rely on secondary sources of liquidity to meet withdrawal demands or otherwise fund operations. Such sources include Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (“FHLB”) advances, sales of securities and loans, federal funds lines of credit from correspondent banks, and borrowings from the Federal Reserve Discount Window, as well as additional out-of-market time deposits and brokered deposits. While the Company believes that these sources are currently adequate, there can be no
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assurance they will be sufficient to meet future liquidity demands, particularly if the Company continues to grow experiences increasing loan demand or is unable to maintain its deposit base. The Company may be required to slow or discontinue loan growth, capital expenditures or other investments, liquidate assets, or pay higher rates on deposits should such sources not be adequate.
The Company may need to raise additional capital in the future and may not be able to do so on acceptable terms, or at all.
Access to sufficient capital is critical in order to enable the Company to implement its business plan, support its business, expand its operations, and meet applicable capital requirements. The inability to have sufficient capital, whether internally generated through earnings or raised in the capital markets, could adversely impact the Company’s ability to support and to grow its operations. If the Company grows its operations faster than it generates capital internally, it will need to access the capital markets. The Company may not be able to raise additional capital in the form of additional debt or equity on acceptable terms, or at all. The Company’s ability to raise additional capital, if needed, will depend on, among other things, conditions in the capital markets at that time, the Company’s financial condition and its results of operations. Economic conditions and a loss of confidence in financial institutions may increase the Company’s cost of capital and limit access to some sources of capital. Further, if the Company needs to raise capital in the future, it may have to do so when many other financial institutions are also seeking to raise capital and would then have to compete with those institutions for investors. An inability to raise additional capital on acceptable terms when needed could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s business, financial condition, and capital ratios.
Future issuances of the Company’s common stock could adversely affect the market price of the common stock and could be dilutive.
The Company’s board of directors, without the approval of shareholders, could from time to time decide to issue additional shares of common stock or shares of preferred stock, which may adversely affect the market price of the shares of common stock and could be dilutive to the Company’s shareholders. Any sale of additional shares of the Company’s common stock may be at prices lower than the current market value of the Company’s shares. In addition, new investors may have rights, preferences, and privileges that are senior to, and that could adversely affect, the Company’s existing shareholders. For example, preferred stock would be senior to common stock in right of dividends and as to distributions in liquidation. The Company cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of its future offerings of equity securities. Thus, the Company’s shareholders bear the risk of future offerings diluting their stock holdings, adversely affecting their rights as shareholders, and/or reducing the market price of the Company’s common stock.
Regulatory capital standards, including the Basel III Capital Rules, may require the Company and the Bank to maintain higher levels of capital and liquid assets, which could adversely affect the Company’s profitability and return on equity.
The Company is subject to capital adequacy guidelines and other regulatory requirements specifying minimum amounts and types of capital that the Company and the Bank must maintain. From time to time, regulators implement changes to these regulatory capital adequacy guidelines. If the Company fails to meet these minimum capital guidelines and/or other regulatory requirements, its financial condition would be materially and adversely affected. The Basel III Capital Rules require bank holding companies and their subsidiaries to maintain significantly more capital as a result of higher required capital levels and more demanding regulatory capital risk weightings and calculations. While the Company is exempt from these capital requirements under the Federal Reserve’s SBHC Policy Statement, the Bank is not exempt and must comply. The Bank must also comply with the capital requirements set forth in the “prompt corrective action” regulations pursuant to Section 38 of the FDI Act. Satisfying capital requirements may require the Company to limit its banking operations, reduce dividends, or raise additional capital to improve regulatory capital levels, which could negatively affect its business, financial condition, and results of operations. The EGRRCPA, which became effective May 24, 2018, amended the Dodd-Frank Act to, among other things, provide relief from certain of these requirements. Although the EGRRCPA is still being implemented, the Company does not expect the EGRRCPA and the related rulemakings to materially reduce the impact of capital requirements on its business.
The Company is not obligated to pay dividends and its ability to pay dividends is limited.
The Company’s ability to make dividend payments on its common stock depends primarily on certain regulatory considerations and the receipt of dividends and other distributions from the Bank. There are various regulatory restrictions on the ability of banks, such as the Bank, to pay dividends or make other payments to their holding companies. Although the Company has historically paid a cash dividend to the holders of its common stock, holders of its common stock are not entitled to receive dividends, and the Company is not obligated to pay dividends in any particular amounts or at any
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particular times. Regulatory, economic, and other factors may cause the Company’s board of directors to consider, among other things, the reduction of dividends paid on its common stock. See “Business – Supervision and Regulation – Dividends.”
Regulatory and Operational
The Company operates in a highly regulated industry and the laws and regulations that govern the Company’s operations, corporate governance, executive compensation and financial accounting or reporting, including changes in them or the Company’s failure to comply with them, may adversely affect the Company.
The Company is subject to extensive regulation and supervision that govern almost all aspects of its operations. These laws and regulations, among other matters, prescribe minimum capital requirements, impose limitations on the Company’s business activities, limit the dividends or distributions that it can pay, restrict the ability of institutions to guarantee its debt, and impose certain specific accounting requirements that may be more restrictive and may result in greater or earlier charges to earnings or reductions in its capital than GAAP. Compliance with laws and regulations can be difficult and costly, and changes to laws and regulations often impose additional compliance costs.
The Company faces increasing regulation and supervision of its industry. The Dodd-Frank Act instituted major changes to the banking and financial institutions regulatory regimes. Other changes to statutes, regulations, or regulatory policies, or supervisory guidance, including changes in interpretation or implementation of statutes, regulations, policies or supervisory guidance, could affect the Company in substantial and unpredictable ways. Such additional regulation and supervision has increased, and may continue to increase, the Company’s costs and limit its ability to pursue business opportunities. Further, the Company’s failure to comply with these laws and regulations, even if the failure was inadvertent or reflects a difference in interpretation, could subject it to restrictions on its business activities, fines and other penalties, any of which could adversely affect the Company’s results of operations, capital base and the price of its securities. Further, any new laws, rules and regulations could make compliance more difficult or expensive or otherwise adversely affect the Company’s business and financial condition.
Regulations issued by the CFPB could adversely impact earnings due to, among other things, increased compliance costs or costs due to noncompliance.
The CFPB has broad rulemaking authority to administer and carry out the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act with respect to financial institutions that offer covered financial products and services to consumers. The CFPB has also been directed to write rules identifying practices or acts that are unfair, deceptive, or abusive in connection with any transaction with a consumer for a consumer financial product or service, or the offering of a consumer financial product or service. For example, the CFPB has issued a final rule, requiring mortgage lenders to make a reasonable and good faith determination based on verified and documented information that a consumer applying for a mortgage loan has a reasonable ability to repay the loan according to its terms, or to originate “qualified mortgages” that meet specific requirements with respect to terms, pricing and fees. The rule also contains additional disclosure requirements at mortgage loan origination and in monthly statements. The requirements under the CFPB’s regulations and policies could limit the Company’s ability to make certain types of loans or loans to certain borrowers or could make it more expensive and/or time consuming to make these loans, which could adversely impact the Company’s profitability.
The Company is subject to laws regarding the privacy, information security, and protection of personal information and any violation of these laws or another incident involving personal, confidential, or proprietary information of individuals could damage the Company’s reputation and otherwise adversely affect its business.
The Company’s business requires the collection and retention of large volumes of customer data, including personally identifiable information (“PII”) in various information systems that the Company maintains and in those maintained by third- party service providers. The Company also maintains important internal company data such as PII about its employees and information relating to its operations. The Company is subject to complex and evolving laws and regulations governing the privacy and protection of PII of individuals (including customers, employees and other third parties). For example, the Company’s business is subject to the GLB Act, which, among other things: (i) imposes certain limitations on the Company’s ability to share nonpublic PII about its customers with nonaffiliated third parties; (ii) requires that the Company provide certain disclosures to customers about its information collection, sharing, and security practices and afford customers the right to “opt out” of any information sharing by it with nonaffiliated third parties (with certain exceptions); and (iii) requires that the Company develop, implement, and maintain a written comprehensive information security program containing appropriate safeguards based on the Company’s size and complexity, the nature and scope of its activities, and the sensitivity of customer information it processes, as well as plans for responding to data security breaches. Various federal and state banking regulators and states have also enacted data breach notification requirements with varying levels of individual,
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consumer, regulatory, or law enforcement notification in the event of a security breach. Ensuring that the Company’s collection, use, transfer, and storage of PII complies with all applicable laws and regulations can increase the Company’s costs. Furthermore, the Company may not be able to ensure that customers and other third parties have appropriate controls in place to protect the confidentiality of the information that they exchange with us, particularly where such information is transmitted by electronic means. If personal, confidential, or proprietary information of customers or others were to be mishandled or misused, the Company could be exposed to litigation or regulatory sanctions under privacy and data protection laws and regulations. Concerns regarding the effectiveness of the Company’s measures to safeguard PII, or even the perception that such measures are inadequate, could cause the Company to lose customers or potential customers and thereby reduce its revenues. Accordingly, any failure, or perceived failure, to comply with applicable privacy or data protection laws and regulations may subject the Company to inquiries, examinations, and investigations that could result in requirements to modify or cease certain operations or practices or in significant liabilities, fines or penalties, and could damage the Company’s reputation and otherwise adversely affect its operations, financial condition, and results of operations.
Changes in accounting standards could impact reported earnings.
The authorities that promulgate accounting standards, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), the SEC and other regulatory authorities, periodically change the financial accounting and reporting standards that govern the preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements. These changes are difficult to predict and can materially impact how the Company records and reports its financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, the Company could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, resulting in the restatement of financial statements for prior periods. Such changes could also require the Company to incur additional personnel or technology costs. For information regarding recent accounting pronouncements and their effects on the Company, see “Recent Accounting Pronouncements” in Note 2 of the Company’s audited financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Failure to maintain effective systems of internal and disclosure controls could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operation and financial condition.
Effective internal and disclosure controls are necessary for the Company to provide reliable financial reports and effectively prevent fraud and to operate successfully as a public company. If the Company cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, its reputation and operating results would be harmed. As part of the Company’s ongoing monitoring of internal controls, it may discover material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in its internal controls that require remediation. A “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal controls over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
The Company’s inability to maintain the operating effectiveness of the controls described above could result in a material misstatement to the Company’s financial statements or other disclosures, which could have an adverse effect on its business, financial condition, or results of operations. In addition, any failure to maintain effective controls in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and FDIC regulations or to timely effect any necessary improvement of the Company’s internal and disclosure controls could, among other things, result in losses from fraud or error, harm the Company’s reputation, or cause investors to lose confidence in its reported financial information, all of which could have a material adverse effect on its results of operations and financial condition.
The Company’s success depends on its management team, and the unexpected loss of any of these personnel could adversely affect operations.
The Company’s success is, and is expected to remain, highly dependent on its management team. The Company’s growth will continue to place significant demands on management, and the loss of any such person’s services may have an adverse effect upon growth and profitability. If the Company fails to retain or continue to recruit qualified employees, growth, and profitability could be adversely affected.
The success of the Company’s strategy depends on its ability to identify and retain individuals with experience and relationships in its markets.
In order to be successful, the Company must identify and retain experienced key management members and sales staff with local expertise and relationships. Competition for qualified personnel is intense and there is a limited number of qualified persons with knowledge of and experience in the community banking and mortgage industry in the Company’s chosen geographic market. Even if the Company identifies individuals that it believes could assist it in building its franchise, it may be unable to recruit these individuals away from their current employers. In addition, the process of identifying and
23
recruiting individuals with the combination of skills and attributes required to carry out the Company’s strategy is often lengthy. The Company’s inability to identify, recruit, and retain talented personnel could limit its growth and could materially adversely affect its business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The Company relies on other companies to provide key components of its business infrastructure.
Third parties provide key components of the Company’s business operations such as data processing, recording, and monitoring transactions, online banking interfaces and services, internet connections, and network access. While the Company has selected these third-party vendors carefully, it does not control their actions. Any problem caused by these third parties, including poor performance of services, failure to provide services, disruptions in communication services provided by a vendor and failure to handle current or higher volumes, could adversely affect the Company’s ability to deliver products and services to its customers and otherwise conduct its business, and may harm its reputation. Financial or operational difficulties of a third-party vendor could also hurt the Company’s operations if those difficulties interface with the vendor’s ability to serve the Company. Replacing these third-party vendors could also create significant delay and expense. Accordingly, use of such third parties creates an unavoidable inherent risk to the Company’s business operations.
The soundness of other financial institutions could adversely affect the Company.
The Company’s ability to engage in routine funding transactions could be adversely affected by the actions and commercial soundness of other financial institutions. Financial services institutions are interrelated as a result of trading, clearing, counterparty, or other relationships. The Company has exposure to many different industries and counterparties, and routinely executes transactions with counterparties in the financial industry. As a result, defaults by, or even rumors or questions about, one or more financial services institutions, or the financial services industry generally, have led to market-wide liquidity problems and could lead to losses or defaults by the Company or by other institutions. Many of these transactions expose the Company to credit risk in the event of default of its counterparty or client. In addition, credit risk may be exacerbated when the collateral held cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices insufficient to recover the full amount of the financial instrument exposure due. There is no assurance that any such losses would not materially and adversely affect results of operations.
The Company is subject to a variety of operational risks, including reputational risk, legal, and compliance risk, and the risk of fraud or theft by employees or outsiders.
The Company is exposed to many types of operational risks, including reputational risk, legal and compliance risk, the risk of fraud or theft by employees or outsiders, unauthorized transactions by employees, operational errors, clerical or record-keeping errors, and errors resulting from faulty or disabled computer or communications systems.
Reputational risk, or the risk to the Company’s earnings and capital from negative public opinion, could result from the Company’s actual or alleged conduct in any number of activities, including lending practices, corporate governance, and from actions taken by government regulators and community organizations in response to those activities. Negative public opinion can adversely affect the Company’s ability to attract and keep customers and employees and can expose it to litigation and regulatory action.
Further, if any of the Company’s financial, accounting, or other data processing systems fail or have other significant issues, the Company could be adversely affected. The Company depends on internal systems and outsourced technology to support these data storage and processing operations. The Company’s inability to use or access these information systems at critical points in time could unfavorably impact the timeliness and efficiency of the Company’s business operations. It could be adversely affected if one of its employees causes a significant operational break-down or failure, either as a result of human error or where an individual purposefully sabotages or fraudulently manipulates its operations or systems. The Company is also at risk of the impact of natural disasters, terrorism, and international hostilities on its systems and from the effects of outages or other failures involving power or communications systems operated by others. The Company may also be subject to disruptions of its operating systems arising from events that are wholly or partially beyond its control (for example, computer viruses, or electrical or communications outages), which may give rise to disruption of service to customers and to financial loss or liability. In addition, there have been instances where financial institutions have been victims of fraudulent activity in which criminals pose as customers to initiate wire and automated clearinghouse transactions out of customer accounts. Although the Company has policies and procedures in place to verify the authenticity of its customers, it cannot guarantee that such policies and procedures will prevent all fraudulent transfers. Such activity can result in financial liability and harm to the Company’s reputation. If any of the foregoing risks materialize, it could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, and results of operations.
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Increasing scrutiny and evolving expectations from customers, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders with respect to ESG practices may impose additional costs on the Company or expose it to new or additional risks.
Companies are facing increasing scrutiny from customers, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders related to ESG practices and disclosure. Investor advocacy groups, investment funds, and influential investors are also increasingly focused on these practices, especially as they relate to climate risk, hiring practices, the diversity of the work force, and racial and social justice issues. Increased ESG related compliance costs could result in increases to the Company’s overall operational costs. Failure to adapt to or comply with regulatory requirements or investor or stakeholder expectations and standards could negatively impact the Company’s reputation, ability to do business with certain partners, and the Company’s stock price. New government regulations could also result in new or more stringent forms of ESG oversight and expanding mandatory and voluntary reporting, diligence, and disclosure.
Pending litigation could result in a judgment against the Company resulting in the payment of damages.
On August 12, 2019, a former employee of VCB and participant in its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the “VCB ESOP”) filed a class action complaint against VCB, Virginia Community Bank, and certain individuals associated with the VCB ESOP in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Charlottesville Division (Case No. 3:19-cv-00045-GEC). The complaint alleges, among other things, that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties to ESOP participants in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended. The complaint alleges that the ESOP incurred damages “that approach or exceed $12 million.” The Company automatically assumed any liability of VCB in connection with this litigation as a result of the Company’s acquisition of VCB. The outcome of this litigation is uncertain, and the plaintiff and other individuals may file additional lawsuits related to the VCB ESOP. The defense, settlement, or adverse outcome of any such lawsuit or claim could have a material adverse financial impact on the Company. The Company believes the claims are without merit.
The Company may be required to transition from the use of the LIBOR index in the future.
In 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority announced that after 2021 it would no longer compel banks to submit the rates required to calculate LIBOR. In November 2020, the administrator of LIBOR announced it will consult on its intention to extend the retirement date of certain offered rates whereby the publication of the one-week and two-month LIBOR offered rates will cease after December 31, 2021, but the publication of the remaining LIBOR offered rates will continue until June 30, 2023. Given consumer protection, litigation, and reputation risks, federal bank regulators have indicated that entering into new contracts that use LIBOR as a reference rate after December 31, 2021 would create safety and soundness risks and that they will examine bank practices accordingly. Therefore, the agencies encouraged banks to cease entering into new contracts that use LIBOR as a reference rate as soon as practicable and in any event by December 31, 2021.
Regulators, industry groups, and certain committees (e.g., the Alternative Reference Rates Committee) have, among other things, published recommended fall-back language for LIBOR-linked financial instruments, identified recommended alternatives for certain LIBOR rates (e.g., SOFR, as the recommended alternative to U.S. Dollar LIBOR), and proposed implementations of the recommended alternatives in floating rate instruments. At this time, it is not possible predict whether these specific recommendations and proposals will be broadly accepted, whether they will continue to evolve, and what the effect of any such alternatives may be on the value of LIBOR-based variable-rate loans, as well as LIBOR-based securities, subordinated notes, trust preferred securities, or other securities or financial arrangements. The implementation of a substitute index or indices for the calculation of interest rates under the Company’s loan agreements with borrowers, subordinated notes that it has issued, or other financial arrangements may cause the Company to incur significant expenses in effecting the transition, may result in reduced loan balances if borrowers do not accept the substitute index or indices, and may result in disputes or litigation with customers or other counter-parties over the appropriateness or comparability to LIBOR of the substitute index or indices, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations.
The Company’s operations may be adversely affected by cybersecurity risks.
In the ordinary course of business, the Company collects and stores sensitive data, including proprietary business information and personally identifiable information of its customers and employees in systems and on networks. The secure processing, maintenance, and use of this information is critical to operations and the Company’s business strategy. The Company has invested in accepted technologies and continually reviews processes and practices that are designed to protect its networks, computers, and data from damage or unauthorized access. Despite these security measures, the Company’s computer systems and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to employee error, malfeasance, or other disruptions. A breach of any kind could compromise systems and the information stored there could be
25
accessed, damaged, or disclosed. A breach in security could result in legal claims, regulatory penalties, disruption in operations, and damage to the Company’s reputation, which could adversely affect its business and financial condition. Furthermore, as cyber threats continue to evolve and increase, the Company may be required to expend significant additional financial and operational resources to modify or enhance its protective measures, or to investigate and remediate any identified information security vulnerabilities.
In addition, multiple major U.S. companies have experienced data systems incursions reportedly resulting in the thefts of credit and debit card information, online account information, and other financial or privileged data. These incursions affect cards issued and deposit accounts maintained by many banks, including the Bank. Although the Company’s systems are not breached in these incursions, these events can cause it to reissue a significant number of cards and take other costly steps to avoid significant theft loss to the Company and its customers. In some cases, the Company may be required to reimburse customers for the losses they incur. Other possible points of intrusion or disruption not within the Company’s control include internet service providers, electronic mail portal providers, social media portals, distant-server (cloud) service providers, electronic data security providers, telecommunications companies, and smart phone manufacturers.
The Company’s ability to operate profitably may be dependent on its ability to integrate or introduce various technologies into its operations.
The market for financial services, including banking and consumer finance services, is increasingly affected by advances in technology, including developments in telecommunications, data processing, computers, automation, online banking, and tele-banking. The Company’s ability to compete successfully in its market may depend on the extent to which it is able to implement or exploit such technological changes. If the Company is not able to afford such technologies, properly or timely anticipate or implement such technologies, or effectively train its staff to use such technologies, its business, financial condition, or operating results could be adversely affected.
Severe weather, natural disasters, acts of war or terrorism, geopolitical instability, public health issues, and other external events could significantly impact the Company's business.
Severe weather, natural disasters, acts of war or terrorism, geopolitical instability, public health issues, and other adverse external events could have a significant impact on the Company's ability to conduct business. In addition, such events could affect the stability of the Company’s deposit base, impair the ability of borrowers to repay outstanding loans, impair the value of collateral securing loans, cause significant property damage, result in loss of revenue, and/or cause the Company to incur additional expenses. The occurrence of any such events in the future and the economic impact from such events could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations.
Climate change and related legislative and regulatory initiatives may result in operational changes and expenditures that could significantly impact the Company’s business.
The current and anticipated effects of climate change are creating an increasing level of concern for the state of the global environment. As a result, political and social attention to the issue of climate change has increased. Federal and state legislatures and regulatory agencies have continued to propose and advance numerous legislative and regulatory initiatives seeking to mitigate the effects of climate change. The federal banking agencies, including the OCC, have emphasized that climate-related risks are faced by banking organizations of all types and sizes and are in the process of enhancing supervisory expectations regarding banks’ risk management practices. In December 2021, the OCC published proposed principles for climate risk management by banking organizations with more than $100 billion in assets. The OCC also has appointed its first ever Climate Change Risk Officer and established an internal climate risk implementation committee in order to assist with these initiatives and to support the agency’s efforts to enhance its supervision of climate change risk management. Similar and even more expansive initiatives are expected, including potentially increasing supervisory expectations with respect to banks’ risk management practices, accounting for the effects of climate change in stress testing scenarios and systemic risk assessments, revising expectations for credit portfolio concentrations based on climate-related factors and encouraging investment by banks in climate-related initiatives and lending to communities disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change. To the extent that these initiatives lead to the promulgation of new regulations or supervisory guidance applicable to the Company, the Company would likely experience increased compliance costs and other compliance-related risks.
The lack of empirical data surrounding the credit and other financial risks posed by climate change render it impossible to predict how specifically climate change may impact the Company’s financial condition and results of operations; however, the physical effects of climate change may also directly impact the Company. Specifically, unpredictable and more frequent
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weather disasters may adversely impact the value of real property securing the loans in the Bank’s loan portfolio. Additionally, if insurance obtained by borrowers is insufficient to cover any losses sustained to the collateral, or if insurance coverage is otherwise unavailable to borrowers, the collateral securing loans may be negatively impacted by climate change, which could impact the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. Further, the effects of climate change may negatively impact regional and local economic activity, which could lead to an adverse effect on customers and impact the communities in which the Company operates. Overall, climate change, its effects and the resulting, unknown impact could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
ITEM 1B: UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Not required.
ITEM 2: PROPERTIES
The Company, through its subsidiaries, owns or leases buildings and office space that are used in the normal course of business. The headquarters of the Company is located at 1807 Seminole Trail, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901 in a building leased by the Bank. The Main Office of the Bank is located at 1 East Market Street, Martinsville, Virginia 24112 in a building leased by the Bank. The Company's subsidiaries own or lease various other offices in the counties and cities in which they operate. As of December 31, 2021, the Company's employees occupied an additional 45 properties, of which 18 were owned by the Company. Additional information with respect to the amounts at which Company premises and equipment are carried and commitments under long-term leases is set forth in Part II, Item 8 - "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data", Note 6 - "Premises and Equipment" and Note 13 - "Leases", respectively, in this Form 10-K.
The Company’s properties are maintained in good operating condition and the Company believes the properties are suitable and adequate for its operational needs.
ITEM 3: LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
In the ordinary course of its operations, the Company is a party to various legal proceedings. As of the date of this report, there are no pending or threatened proceedings against the Company, other than as set forth below, that, if determined adversely, would have a material effect on the business, financial position, or results of operations of the Company.
On August 12, 2019, a former employee of VCB and participant in the VCB ESOP filed a class action complaint against VCB, Virginia Community Bank, and certain individuals associated with the VCB ESOP in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Charlottesville Division (Case No. 3:19-cv-000450-GEC). The complaint alleges, among other things, that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties to VCB ESOP participants in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended. The complaint alleges that the VCB ESOP incurred damages “that approach or exceed $12 million.” The Company automatically assumed any liability of VCB in connection with this litigation as a result of its 2019 acquisition of VCB. The outcome of this litigation is uncertain, and the plaintiff and other individuals may file additional lawsuits related to the VCB ESOP. The Company believes the claims are without merit and no loss has been accrued for this lawsuit.
ITEM 4: MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
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PART II
ITEM 5: MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED SHAREHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
General
The Company’s common stock is listed on the NYSE American market under the symbol “BRBS”. There were 18,769,882 shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding at the close of business on March 7, 2022, which were held by approximately 2,785 shareholders of record. The closing price of the Company's common stock on December 31, 2021 was $17.78 per common share compared to $11.47 per common share as of December 31, 2020.
Five-Year Stock Performance Graph
The following five-year stock performance graph compares the cumulative total shareholder return (assuming reinvestment of dividends) on the Company's common stock to the Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF (NASDAQ ticker: "KBWR") and the Russell 2000® Index (ticker: "RUT"). This comparison assumes $100.00 was invested on December 31, 2016 in the Company’s common stock and the comparison indices and the cumulative return is measured as of each subsequent fiscal year-end.
Index |
12/31/2016 |
|
12/31/2017 |
|
12/31/2018 |
|
12/31/2019 |
|
12/31/2020 |
|
12/31/2021 |
|
||||||
Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. |
$ |
100.00 |
|
$ |
113.86 |
|
$ |
118.93 |
|
$ |
147.71 |
|
$ |
129.17 |
|
$ |
200.23 |
|
Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF |
|
100.00 |
|
|
101.82 |
|
|
83.17 |
|
|
102.77 |
|
|
93.58 |
|
|
127.32 |
|
Russell 2000® Index |
|
100.00 |
|
|
113.14 |
|
|
99.37 |
|
|
122.94 |
|
|
145.52 |
|
|
165.45 |
|
The performance graph above does not constitute soliciting material and should not be deemed filed or incorporated by reference into any other Company filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Exchange Act, except to the extent the Company specifically incorporates the performance graph by reference therein.
Dividends
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The Company paid four quarterly dividends totaling $0.435 per common share during 2021. On January 5, 2022, the board of directors of the Company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per common share to shareholders of record as of the close of business on January 19, 2022, which was paid on January 31, 2022.
The dividend type, amount, and timing are established by the Company’s board of directors. In making its decisions regarding the payment of dividends on the Company’s common stock, the board of directors considers the Company's operating results, financial condition, capital adequacy, regulatory requirements, shareholders' return, and other factors.
A discussion of certain restrictions and limitations on the ability of the Bank to pay dividends to the Company, and the ability of the Company to pay dividends to shareholders of its common stock, is set forth in Part I, Item 1, Business, of this Form 10-K under the heading “Supervision and Regulation.”
Stock Repurchases
There were no repurchases of the Company's common stock during the fourth quarter of 2021.
ITEM 6: [RESERVED]
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ITEM 7: MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following presents management’s discussion and analysis of the Company’s consolidated financial condition and the results of the Company’s operations. This discussion should be read in conjunction with the Company’s consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto presented in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, of this Form 10-K.
Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements
The Company makes certain forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements represent plans, estimates, objectives, goals, guidelines, expectations, intentions, projections, and statements of management’s beliefs concerning future events, business plans, objectives, expected operating results, and the assumptions upon which those statements are based. Forward-looking statements include without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate, or imply future results, performance or achievements, and are typically identified with words such as “may,” “could,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “aim,” “intend,” “plan,” or words or phases of similar meaning. The Company cautions that the forward-looking statements are based largely on management’s expectations and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that are subject to change based on factors which are, in many instances, beyond the its control. Actual results, performance, or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed, or implied by the forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause the Company’s financial performance to differ materially from that expressed in such forward-looking statements:
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The foregoing factors should not be considered exhaustive and should be read together with other cautionary statements that are included in this Form 10-K, including those discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Item 1A above. If one or more of the factors affecting forward-looking information and statements proves incorrect, then actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, forward-looking information and statements contained in this Form 10-K. Therefore, the Company cautions you not to place undue reliance on its forward-looking information and statements. The Company will not update the forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in the factors affecting the forward-looking statements. New risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict their occurrence or how these risks and uncertainties will affect it.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
General
The accounting principles the Company applies under GAAP are complex and require management to apply significant judgment to various accounting, reporting, and disclosure matters. Management must use assumptions, judgments, and estimates when applying these principles where precise measurements are not possible or practical. The Company views these policies as critical because they are highly dependent upon subjective or complex judgments, assumptions, and estimates. Changes in such judgments, assumptions, and estimates may have a significant impact on the consolidated financial statements. Actual results, in fact, could differ from initial estimates.
Accounting for Business Combinations
Business combinations are accounted for under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 805. ASC 805 requires that the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination be recorded based on their estimated fair values at the date of acquisition. The excess of the cost of an acquired entity over the net of the amounts assigned to assets acquired and liabilities assumed, including identifiable intangibles, is recorded as goodwill. The determination of fair values requires management to make estimates about future expected cash flows, market conditions, and other future events that are highly subjective in nature and subject to actual results that may differ materially from the estimates made.
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Allowance for Loan Losses
The allowance for loan losses is maintained at a level believed to be adequate to absorb probable losses inherent in the portfolio and is based on the size and current risk characteristics of the loan portfolio, an assessment of individual problem loans and actual loss experience, current economic events in specific industries, and other pertinent factors, such as regulatory guidance and general economic conditions. The Company’s allowance for loan losses is established through a provision for loan losses charged to earnings. Loans identified as losses and deemed uncollectible by management are charged to the allowance. Subsequent recoveries, if any, are credited to the allowance for loan losses. The allowance for loan losses is evaluated on a periodic basis by management, but no less than quarterly.
The allowance for loan losses consists of specific and general components. The specific component relates to loans that are determined to be impaired and, therefore, individually evaluated for impairment. The Company considers a loan to be impaired when 1) the risk grade of the loan is special mention or worse and the balance of the loan exceeds $500,000 or 2) the loan is a TDR, regardless of balance. A loan is not considered impaired during a period of delay in payment if the Company expects to collect all amounts due, including past-due interest. Measurement of impairment is based on the expected future cash flows of an impaired loan, discounted at the loan's effective interest rate, or measured based on an observable market value, if one exists, or the fair value of the collateral underlying the loan, discounted to consider estimated costs to sell the collateral for collateral-dependent loans. If the net collateral value is less than the loan balance (including accrued interest and any unamortized premium or discount associated with the loan) an impairment is recognized and a specific reserve is established for the impaired loan. The general component of the allowance for loan losses covers those loans not classified as impaired and those loans classified as impaired that are not individually evaluated for impairment. Loans in the general component population are segmented into homogenous groups that share similar characteristics and receive a loss factor that is based on historical loss experience adjusted for other internal or external influences on credit quality that are not fully reflected in the historical data. Internal and external factors include, but are not limited to, internal underwriting standards, loan portfolio composition and concentrations, and local and national economic conditions.
The determination of the allowance for loan losses is inherently subjective as it requires significant estimates, including the amounts and timing of expected future cash flows on impaired loans, estimated losses on pools of homogeneous loans based on historical loss experience, and consideration of current economic trends, all of which may be susceptible to significant change.
Credit losses are an inherent part of the Company’s business. Management believes the methodologies for determining the allowance for loan losses and the current level of the allowance are appropriate; however, it is possible that there may be unidentified losses in the portfolio at any particular time that may become evident at a future date pursuant to additional internal analysis or regulatory comment. Additional provisions for such losses, if necessary, would be recorded, as a charge to earnings.
Accounting for Acquired Loans
Loans acquired pursuant to a business combination are recorded at fair value, with no allowance for loan losses carrying over at the effective date of the transaction. The difference between contractually required amounts receivable and the acquisition date fair value of the loans that are not deemed credit-impaired at acquisition is accreted (recognized) into income over the life of the loan either on a level yield or interest method in accordance to ASC 310-20, Receivables-Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs.
Subsequent to the acquisition date, an allowance for loan losses may be established through a provision for loan losses, based upon a process that is similar to the evaluation process used for originated loans. This evaluation, which includes a review of loans on which full collectability may not be reasonably assured, considers, among other factors, the estimated fair value of the underlying collateral, economic conditions, historical net loan loss experience, carrying value of the loans, which includes the remaining net purchase discount or premium, and other factors that warrant recognition in determining the allowance for loan losses.
Loans are designated purchased credit-impaired ("PCI") on the effective date of a business combination when there is evidence of credit deterioration after origination and for which it is probable that all contractually required principal and interest payments will not be collected. The applicable accounting guidance for PCI loans is ASC 310-30, Loans and Debt Securities Acquired with Deteriorated Credit Quality. PCI loans are initially recorded at fair value (as determined by the present value of expected future cash flows) with no allowance for loan losses. The Company recognizes interest income on all loans acquired at a discount (that is due, in part, to credit quality) based on the acquired loans' expected cash flows. The
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acquired loans may be aggregated and accounted for as a pool of loans if the loans being aggregated have common risk characteristics. A pool is accounted for as a single asset with a single composite interest rate and an aggregate expectation of cash flow. The difference between the cash flows expected at acquisition and the investment in the loans, or the accretable yield, is recognized as interest income utilizing the level-yield method over the life of each pool. Increases in expected cash flows subsequent to the acquisition are recognized prospectively through adjustment of the yield on the pool over its remaining life, while decreases in expected cash flows are recognized as impairment through a loss provision and an increase in the allowance for loan losses. Therefore, the allowance for loan losses on these impaired pools reflects only losses incurred after the acquisition (representing the present value of all cash flows that were expected at acquisition but currently are not expected to be received).
Management periodically evaluates the remaining contractual required payments due and estimates of cash flows expected to be collected. These evaluations, performed no less than semi-annually, require the continued use of key assumptions and estimates, similar to the initial estimate of fair value. Changes in the contractual required payments due and estimated cash flows expected to be collected may result in changes in the accretable yield and non-accretable difference or reclassifications between accretable yield and the non-accretable difference.
Fair Value Measurements
The Company determines the fair values of financial instruments based on the fair value hierarchy, which requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. The hierarchy describes three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value. For example, the Company’s available-for-sale investment securities are recorded at fair value using reliable and unbiased evaluations by an industry-wide valuation service. This service uses evaluated pricing models that vary based on asset class and include available trade, bid, and other market information. Generally, the methodology includes broker quotes, proprietary models, vast descriptive terms and conditions databases, as well as extensive quality control programs. Depending on the availability of observable inputs and prices, different valuation models could produce materially different fair value estimates. The values presented may not represent future fair values and may not be realizable.
Derivatives
Derivatives are recognized as assets and liabilities on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets and measured at fair value. The Company’s derivatives consist of forward sales of to-be-announced mortgage-backed securities and interest rate lock commitments. The Company’s hedging policies permit the use of various derivative financial instruments to manage interest rate risk or to hedge specified assets and liabilities. The Company may be required to recognize certain contracts and commitments as derivatives when the characteristics of those contracts and commitments meet the definition of a derivative. If derivative instruments are designated as hedges of fair values, both the change in the fair value of the hedge and the hedged item are included in current earnings.
During the normal course of business, the Company enters into commitments to originate mortgage loans, whereby the interest rate on the loan is determined prior to funding (“rate lock commitments”). For commitments issued in connection with potential loans intended for sale, the Bank enters into positions of forward month mortgage-backed securities to be announced (“TBA”) contracts on a mandatory basis or on a one-to-one forward sales contract on a best efforts basis. The Company enters into TBA contracts in order to control interest rate risk during the period between the rate lock commitment and mandatory sale of the mortgage loan. Both the rate lock commitment and the forward TBA contract are considered derivatives. A mortgage loan sold on a best efforts basis is locked into a forward sales contract with a counterparty on the same day as the rate lock commitment to control interest rate risk during the period between the commitment and the sale of the mortgage loan. Both the rate lock commitment and the forward sales contract are considered derivatives.
The market values of rate lock commitments and delivery commitments are not readily ascertainable with precision because rate lock commitments and best efforts contracts are not actively traded in stand-alone markets. The Company determines the fair value of rate lock commitments, delivery contracts, and forward sales contracts of mortgage backed securities (“MBS”) by measuring the change in the value of the underlying asset, while taking into consideration the probability that the rate lock commitments will close or will be funded. Certain risks arise from the forward delivery contracts in that the counterparties to the contracts may not be able to meet the terms of the contracts. Additional risks inherent in mandatory delivery programs include the risk that, if the Company does not close the loans subject to rate lock commitments, it will still be obligated to deliver MBS to the counterparty under the forward sales agreements.
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Income Taxes
Income taxes are accounted for using the balance sheet method in accordance with ASC 740, Accounting for Income Taxes. Per ASC 740, the objective is to recognize (a) the amount of taxes payable or refundable for the current year, and (b) defer tax liabilities and assets for the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in the financial statements or federal income tax returns. A net deferred tax asset or liability is determined based on the tax effects of the temporary differences between the book (i.e., financial statement) and tax bases of the various balance sheet assets and liabilities and gives current recognition to changes in tax rates and laws. Temporary differences are reversed in the period in which an amount or amounts become taxable or deductible.
A deferred tax liability is recognized for all temporary differences that will result in future taxable income; a deferred tax asset is recognized for all temporary differences that will result in future tax deductions, potentially reduced by a valuation allowance. A valuation allowance is recognized if, based on an analysis of available evidence, management determines that it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax asset will not be realized. In making this assessment, all sources of taxable income available to realize the deferred tax asset are considered including taxable income in prior carryback years, future releases of existing temporary differences, tax planning strategies, and future taxable income exclusive of reversing temporary differences and carryforwards. The predictability that future taxable income, exclusive of revering temporary differences, will occur is the most subjective of these four sources. Additionally, cumulative losses in recent years, if any, are considered negative evidence that may be difficult to overcome to support a conclusion that future taxable income, exclusive of reversing temporary differences and carryforwards, is sufficient to realize a deferred tax asset. Adjustments to increase or decrease the valuation allowance are charged or credited, respectively, to income tax expense. The evaluation of the recoverability of deferred tax assets requires management to make significant judgements regarding the releases of temporary differences and future profitability, among other items. Management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2021, no valuation allowance is required on the Company's deferred tax assets.
Mortgage Servicing Rights ("MSR")
MSR assets represent the economic value associated with servicing a borrower during the life of the mortgage. The assets are separate from the underlying mortgage and may be retained or sold by the Company when the related mortgage is sold. In accordance with ASC 860-50, Transfers and Servicing, MSR assets are initially recognized at fair value and subsequently accounted for using either the amortization method or the fair value measurement method. The Company elected to account for MSR assets using the amortization method, which requires that the servicing asset be amortized in proportion to and over the period of estimated net servicing income. ASC 860-50 also requires that MSR assets accounted for using the amortization method be evaluated for impairment each reporting period and reported at the lower of amortized cost or fair market value. MSR assets and income servicing, net of amortization and impairment, if any, are reported on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets and consolidated statements of income, respectively.
34
Five Year Summary of Selected Financial Data
(Dollars and shares in thousands, except per share data) |
|
2021 |
|
|
2020 |
|
|
2019 |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
2017 |
|
|||||
Income Statement Data: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Interest income |
|
$ |
103,546 |
|
|
$ |
54,460 |
|
|
$ |
30,888 |
|
|
$ |
22,437 |
|
|
$ |
18,481 |
|
Interest expense |
|
|
11,065 |
|
|
|
9,950 |
|
|
|
9,520 |
|
|
|
5,152 |
|
|
|
3,931 |
|
Net interest income |
|
|
92,481 |
|
|
|
44,510 |
|
|
|
21,368 |
|
|
|
17,285 |
|
|
|
14,550 |
|
Provision for loan losses |
|
|
117 |
|
|
|
10,450 |
|
|
|
1,742 |
|
|
|
1,225 |
|
|
|
1,095 |
|
Net interest income after provision for loan losses |
|
|
92,364 |
|
|
|
34,060 |
|
|
|
19,626 |
|
|
|
16,060 |
|
|
|
13,455 |
|
Noninterest income |
|
|
87,955 |
|
|
|
56,824 |
|
|
|
18,796 |
|
|
|
10,123 |
|
|
|
7,799 |
|
Noninterest expense |
|
|
112,142 |
|
|
|
68,387 |
|
|
|
32,845 |
|
|
|
20,464 |
|
|
|
15,847 |
|
Income before income taxes |
|
|
68,177 |
|
|
|
22,497 |
|
|
|
5,577 |
|
|
|
5,719 |
|
|
|
5,407 |
|
Income tax expense |
|
|
15,697 |
|
|
|
4,800 |
|
|
|
973 |
|
|
|
1,147 |
|
|
|
2,057 |
|
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest |
|
|
(3 |
) |
|
|
(1 |
) |
|
|
(24 |
) |
|
|
(13 |
) |
|
|
— |
|
Net income attributable to Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. |
|
$ |
52,477 |
|
|
$ |
17,696 |
|
|
$ |
4,580 |
|
|
$ |
4,559 |
|
|
$ |
3,350 |
|
Per Common Share Data: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Earnings per share, basic and diluted (1) |
|
$ |
2.94 |
|
|
$ |
2.07 |
|
|
$ |
0.74 |
|
|
$ |
1.09 |
|
|
$ |
0.81 |
|
Dividends declared per share (1) (2) |
|
|
0.4350 |
|
|
|
0.2850 |
|
|
|
0.3800 |
|
|
|
0.3600 |
|
|
|
0.2133 |
|
Book value per common share (1) |
|
|
14.76 |
|
|
|
12.61 |
|
|
|
10.88 |
|
|
|
9.41 |
|
|
|
8.73 |
|
Balance Sheet Data: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Assets |
|
$ |
2,665,139 |
|
|
$ |
1,498,258 |
|
|
$ |
960,811 |
|
|
$ |
539,590 |
|
|
$ |
424,122 |
|
Loans held for investment, gross (including PPP) |
|
|
1,807,578 |
|
|
|
1,016,694 |
|
|
|
646,834 |
|
|
|
414,868 |
|
|
|
330,805 |
|
Loans held for sale |
|
|
121,943 |
|
|
|
152,931 |
|
|
|
55,646 |
|
|
|
29,233 |
|
|
|
17,220 |
|
Securities |
|
|
396,050 |
|
|
|
120,648 |
|
|
|
128,897 |
|
|
|
58,750 |
|
|
|
48,995 |
|
Deposits |
|
|
2,297,771 |
|
|
|
945,109 |
|
|
|
722,030 |
|
|
|
415,027 |
|
|
|
339,290 |
|
Subordinated notes, net |
|
|
39,986 |
|
|
|
24,506 |
|
|
|
9,800 |
|
|
|
9,766 |
|
|
|
9,733 |
|
FHLB borrowings |
|
|
10,111 |
|
|
|
115,000 |
|
|
|
124,800 |
|
|
|
73,100 |
|
|
|
36,045 |
|
FRB borrowings |
|
|
17,901 |
|
|
|
281,650 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
Stockholders' equity |
|
|
277,139 |
|
|
|
108,200 |
|
|
|
92,337 |
|
|
|
39,621 |
|
|
|
36,442 |
|
Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic (1) |
|
|
17,840 |
|
|
|
8,535 |
|
|
|
6,221 |
|
|
|
4,169 |
|
|
|
4,128 |
|
Weighted average common shares outstanding - diluted (1) |
|
|
17,840 |
|
|
|
8,535 |
|
|
|
6,221 |
|
|
|
4,169 |
|
|
|
4,128 |
|
Financial Ratios: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Return on average assets |
|
|
1.86 |
% |
|
|
1.44 |
% |
|
|
0.61 |
% |
|
|
0.95 |
% |
|
|
0.80 |
% |
Return on average equity |
|
|
21.50 |
% |
|
|
17.65 |
% |
|
|
6.94 |
% |
|
|
12.02 |
% |
|
|
9.56 |
% |
Net interest margin |
|
|
3.51 |
% |
|
|
3.49 |
% |
|
|
3.34 |
% |
|
|
3.88 |
% |
|
|
3.73 |
% |
Efficiency ratio |
|
|
62.15 |
% |
|
|
67.49 |
% |
|
|
81.78 |
% |
|
|
74.66 |
% |
|
|
70.91 |
% |
Dividend payout ratio |
|
|
14.80 |
% |
|
|
13.75 |
% |
|
|
51.61 |
% |
|
|
32.92 |
% |
|
|
26.29 |
% |
Capital and Credit Quality Ratios: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Average equity to average assets |
|
|
8.65 |
% |
|
|
7.08 |
% |
|
|
8.79 |
% |
|
|
7.89 |
% |
|
|
8.32 |
% |
Allowance for loan losses to loans held for investment, excluding PPP |
|
|
0.68 |
% |
|
|
1.90 |
% |
|
|
0.71 |
% |
|
|
0.86 |
% |
|
|
0.85 |
% |
Nonperforming loans to total assets |
|
|
0.60 |
% |
|
|
0.44 |
% |
|
|
0.54 |
% |
|
|
1.39 |
% |
|
|
1.78 |
% |
Nonperforming assets to total assets |
|
|
0.61 |
% |
|
|
0.44 |
% |
|
|
0.54 |
% |
|
|
1.42 |
% |
|
|
1.83 |
% |
Net charge-offs to total loans held for investment |
|
|
0.10 |
% |
|
|
0.12 |
% |
|
|
0.12 |
% |
|
|
0.11 |
% |
|
|
0.09 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
(1) Share and per share figures have been adjusted for all periods presented to reflect the Company's 3-for-2 stock split effective April 30, 2021. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
(2) Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020, the quarterly dividends have been declared and paid subsequent to the applicable quarter-end. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Comparison of Results of Operations for the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company reported net income of $52.5 million compared to $17.7 million reported for 2020. Basic and diluted earnings per share were $2.94 for 2021 compared to $2.07 for 2020.
35
Net Interest Income. Net interest income is the excess of interest earned on loans, investments, and other interest-earning assets over the interest paid on deposits and borrowings and is the Company’s primary revenue source. Net interest income is thereby affected by overall balance sheet growth, changes in interest rates, and changes in the mix of investments, loans, deposits, and borrowings.
The following table presents the average balance sheets for each of the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. In addition, the amounts of interest earned on interest-earning assets, with related yields, and interest expense on interest-bearing liabilities, with related rates, are presented.
|
|
For the Years Ended December 31, |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
2021 |
|
|
2020 |
|
|
2019 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(Dollars in thousands) |
|
Average |
|
|
Interest |
|
|
Yield/ |
|
|
Average |
|
|
Interest |
|
|
Yield/ |
|
|
Average |
|
|
Interest |
|
|
Yield/ |
|
|||||||||
Assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Taxable securities |
|
$ |
304,685 |
|
|
$ |
5,192 |
|
|
|
1.70 |
% |
|
$ |
106,228 |
|
|
$ |
2,582 |
|
|
|
2.43 |
% |
|
$ |
103,698 |
|
|
$ |
3,286 |
|
|
|
3.17 |
% |
Tax-exempt securities (1) |
|
|
12,518 |
|
|
|
302 |
|
|
|
2.41 |
% |
|
|
6,175 |
|
|
|
178 |
|
|
|
2.88 |
% |
|
|
7,832 |
|
|
|
285 |
|
|
|
3.64 |
% |
Total securities |
|
|
317,203 |
|
|
|
5,494 |
|
|
|
1.73 |
% |
|
|
112,403 |
|
|
|
2,760 |
|
|
|
2.46 |
% |
|
|
111,530 |
|
|
|
3,571 |
|
|
|
3.20 |
% |
Interest-earning deposits in other banks |
|
|
114,316 |
|
|
|
135 |
|
|
|
0.12 |
% |
|
|
108,587 |
|
|
|
169 |
|
|
|
0.16 |
% |
|
|
15,530 |
|
|
|
266 |
|
|
|
1.71 |
% |
Federal funds sold |
|
|
45,314 |
|
|
|
47 |
|
|
|
0.10 |
% |
|
|
596 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
0.34 |
% |
|
|
313 |
|
|
|
10 |
|
|
|
3.19 |
% |
Loans held for sale |
|
|
145,075 |
|
|
|
4,162 |
|
|
|
2.87 |
% |
|
|
140,496 |
|
|
|
3,922 |
|
|
|
2.79 |
% |
||||||||||||