SFDL 10-K
Security Federal Corp (SFDL)
10-K
2023-03-24
For: 2022-12-31
View Original
Added on
April 11, 2026
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
| ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | ||||||||||||||
For the fiscal year ended | ||||||||||||||
OR | ||||||||||||||
| TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | ||||||||||||||
| For the transition period _________ to _________ | ||||||||||||||
| Commission File Number: | | |||||||||||||
| (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter) | ||||||||||||||
| (State of incorporation) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |||||||||||||
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | |||||||||||||
(Registrants telephone number)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Common Stock , par value $0.01 per share
(Title of Class)
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 ☐ | Accelerated filer ☐ | ☒ | |||||||||||||||
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. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). YES ☐ NO ☒
As of March 24, 2023, there were issued and outstanding 3,253,210 shares of the registrant's Common Stock, which is traded on the OTC Pink Open Market under the symbol “SFDL ." The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the average of the bid and asked price of such stock as of June 30, 2022, was $50,198,148 . (The exclusion from such amount of the market value of the shares owned by any person shall not be deemed an admission by the registrant that such person is an affiliate of the registrant.)
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
1.Portions of the Registrant's Annual Report to Stockholders for the Year Ended December 31, 2022 (the "Annual Report") are incorporated by reference into Parts I and II of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Year Ended December 31, 2022 ("Form 10-K") where indicated.
2.Portions of the Registrant's Proxy Statement for the 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "2023 Proxy Statement") are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated. The 2023 Proxy Statement will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year to which this report relates.
Forward-Looking Statements
This Form 10-K, including information incorporated by reference herein, contains, and future filings by Security Federal Corporation ("Company") on Form 10-Q, and Form 8-K, and future oral and written statements by the Company and its management may contain, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance or business. Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact, are based on certain assumptions and are generally identified by use of the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "forecasts," "intends," "plans," "targets," "potentially," "probably," "projects," "outlook" or similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "may," "will," "should," "would" and "could." Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, assumptions and statements about, among other things, expectations of the business environment in which we operate, projections of future performance and operations or financial condition, perceived opportunities in the market, potential future credit experience, and statements regarding our mission and vision. These forward-looking statements are based upon current management's expectations and may, therefore, involve risk and uncertainties. Our actual results, performance, or achievements may differ materially from those suggested, expressed, or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of a wide variety or range of factors, including, but not limited to:
•potential adverse impacts to economic conditions in our local market areas, other markets where the Company has lending relationships, or other aspects of the Company’s business operations or financial markets, generally, resulting from the ongoing novel coronavirus 2019 (“COVID-19”) and any governmental or societal responses thereto;
•the credit risks of lending activities, including changes in the level and trend of loan delinquencies and write-offs and changes in our allowance for loan losses and provision for loan losses that may be affected by deterioration in the housing and commercial real estate markets which may lead to increased losses and non-performing assets in our loan portfolio, and may result in our allowance for loan losses not being adequate to cover actual losses, and require us to materially increase our reserves;
•changes in general economic conditions, either nationally or in our market areas;
•changes in the levels of general interest rates, and the relative differences between short and long term interest rates, deposit interest rates, our net interest margin and funding sources;
•the transition away from London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) toward new interest rate benchmarks;
•fluctuations in the demand for loans, the number of unsold homes, land and other properties and fluctuations in real estate values in our market areas;
•secondary market conditions for loans and our ability to sell loans in the secondary market;
•results of examinations of the Company by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("Federal Reserve") and the Bank by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") and the South Carolina State Board of Financial Institutions ("State Board"), or other regulatory authorities, including the possibility that any such regulatory authority may, among other things, require us to increase our reserve for loan losses, write-down assets, change our regulatory capital position or affect our ability to borrow funds or maintain or increase deposits, or impose additional requirements or restrictions on us, any of which could adversely affect our liquidity and earnings;
•legislative or regulatory changes that adversely affect our business, including changes in banking, securities and tax laws, and in regulatory policies and principles, or the interpretation of regulatory capital or other rules, and including changes as a result of COVID-19;
•our ability to attract and retain deposits;
•our ability to control operating costs and expenses;
•our ability to implement our business strategies;
•the use of estimates in determining the fair value of certain of our assets, which estimates may prove to be incorrect and result in significant declines in valuation;
•difficulties in reducing risk associated with the loans on our balance sheet;
•staffing fluctuations in response to product demand or the implementation of corporate strategies that affect our workforce and potential associated charges;
•disruptions, security breaches, or other adverse events, failures or interruptions in, or attacks on, our information technology systems or on the third-party vendors who perform several of our critical processing;
•our ability to retain key members of our senior management team;
•costs and effects of litigation, including settlements and judgments;
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•our ability to manage loan delinquency rates;
•increased competitive pressures among financial services companies;
•changes in consumer spending, borrowing and savings habits;
•the availability of resources to address changes in laws, rules, or regulations or to respond to regulatory actions;
•our ability to pay dividends on our common stock;
•adverse changes in the securities markets;
•inability of key third-party providers to perform their obligations to us;
•changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the financial institution regulatory agencies or the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB"), including additional guidance and interpretation on accounting issues and details of the implementation of new accounting methods;
•other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory, and technological factors affecting our operations, pricing, products and services; and
•the other risks described elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
These developments could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
Any of the forward-looking statements that we make may turn out to be inaccurate as a result of our beliefs and assumptions we make in connection with the factors set forth above or because of other unidentified and unpredictable factors. Because of these and other uncertainties, our actual future results may be materially different from the results indicated by these forward-looking statements and you should not rely on such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publish revised forward- looking statements to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances after the date hereof. These risks could cause our actual results for 2023 and beyond to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements by or on behalf of us, and could negatively affect the Company’s consolidated financial condition and consolidated results of operations, liquidity and stock price performance.
As used throughout this report, the terms "we," "our," or "us" refer to Security Federal Corporation and our consolidated subsidiary, Security Federal Bank.
Available Information
The Company provides a link on its investor information page at www.securityfederalbank.com to the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") website (www.sec.gov) for purposes of providing copies of its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we have electronically filed such material with, or furnished such material to, the SEC. Other than an investor’s own internet access charges, these filings are available free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The information contained on the Company’s website is not included as part of, or incorporated by reference into, this Form 10-K.
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PART I
Item 1. Business
Security Federal Corporation
Security Federal Corporation (the "Company") was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in July 1987 for the purpose of becoming the savings and loan holding company for Security Federal Bank ("Security Federal" or the "Bank") upon the Bank's conversion from mutual to stock form (the "Conversion"). Effective August 17, 1998, the Company changed its state of incorporation from Delaware to South Carolina. On December 28, 2011, the Company reorganized into a bank holding company in connection with the Bank's conversion from a federally chartered stock savings bank to a South Carolina chartered commercial bank. As a result of the reorganization, the Federal Reserve became the Company's primary federal regulator.
As a South Carolina corporation, the Company is authorized to engage in any activity permitted by South Carolina General Corporation Law. The Company is a one bank holding company. Through the bank holding company structure, it is possible to expand the size and scope of the financial services offered beyond those currently offered by the Bank. The holding company structure also provides the Company with greater flexibility than the Bank would have to diversify its business activities, through existing or newly formed subsidiaries, or through acquisitions or mergers of financial institutions as well as other companies. There are no current arrangements, understandings or agreements regarding any such acquisition. Future activities of the Company will be funded through the continuing operations of Security Federal and through borrowings from third parties. Activities of the Company may also be funded through sales of additional securities or income generated by other activities of the Company. At this time, there are no plans regarding sales of additional securities or other activities.
At December 31, 2022, the Company had assets of $1.4 billion, deposits of $1.1 billion and shareholders' equity of $160.2 million. The executive office of the Company is located at 238 Richland Avenue Northwest, Aiken, South Carolina 29801, and its telephone number is (803) 641-3000.
Security Federal Bank
Security Federal is a South Carolina chartered commercial bank headquartered in Aiken, South Carolina. Security Federal, with 18 branch offices in Aiken, Lexington, Richland and Saluda counties in South Carolina and Columbia and Richmond counties in Georgia, was originally chartered under the name Aiken Building and Loan Association on March 27, 1922. It received its federal charter and changed its name to Security Federal Savings and Loan Association of Aiken on March 7, 1962, and later changed its name to Security Federal Savings Bank of South Carolina, on November 11, 1986. Effective April 8, 1996, the Bank changed its name to Security Federal Bank. The Bank converted from the mutual to the stock form of organization on October 30, 1987. As mentioned above, effective December 28, 2011, Security Federal converted from a federally chartered stock savings bank to a South Carolina chartered commercial bank. As a result of the conversion to a South Carolina commercial bank, the Bank is regulated by the State Board and the FDIC. The Bank will open its 19th branch office, in Augusta, Georgia in 2023.
In 2010, the Bank and the Company applied for and became a Certified Community Development Financial Institution ("CDFI"). The designation enables the Bank to be eligible for certain grants from United States Treasury ("Treasury"). The Treasury administers CDFIs and the Bank and Company must re-certify as a CDFI every year. Re-certification currently depends on the Bank making 60% of its loans by dollar and number of loans in its Target Market, which consists primarily of low to moderate income census tracts in the Bank’s market area. The criteria to remain a CDFI can change from year to year.
On May 24, 2022, the Company entered into a Letter Agreement (“Agreement”) with the Treasury under the Emergency Capital Investment Program (“ECIP”). Established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, the ECIP was created to encourage CDFIs and minority depository institutions to provide loans, grants, and forbearance for small businesses, minority-owned businesses, and consumers, especially low-income and underserved communities, by providing direct and indirect capital investments in CDFIs. Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company agreed to issue and sell 82,949 shares of Preferred Stock for an aggregate purchase price of $82.9 million in cash. This ECIP investment is treated as tier 1 capital. The Preferred Stock bears no dividend for the first 24 months following the investment date. Thereafter, the dividend rate will be adjusted, not higher than 2%, based on the lending growth criteria listed in the Agreement. After the tenth anniversary of the investment date, the dividend rate will be fixed based on the average annual amount of lending in years 2 through 10. Dividends will be payable quarterly in arrears on March 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15. The Preferred Stock may be redeemed at the option of the Company on or after the fifth anniversary of issuance (or earlier in the event of loss of regulatory capital treatment), subject to the approval of the appropriate federal banking regulator and in accordance with the federal banking agencies’ regulatory capital regulations.
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The principal business of Security Federal is accepting deposits from the general public and originating commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, consumer loans, as well as mortgage loans to buy or refinance one-to-four family residential real estate. The Bank also originates construction loans on single-family residences, multi-family dwellings and projects, and commercial real estate, as well as loans for the acquisition, development and construction of residential subdivisions and commercial projects. Security Federal's income is derived primarily from interest and fees earned in connection with its lending activities, and its principal expenses are interest paid on savings deposits and borrowings and operating expenses. In addition, the Bank operates Security Federal Trust and Investments, a division of the Bank that offers trust, financial planning and financial management services.
Security Federal has two active wholly owned subsidiaries: Security Federal Investments, Inc. ("SFINV") and Security Federal Insurance, Inc. (“SFINS”). SFINV was formed to hold investment securities and allow for better management of the securities portfolio. SFINS is an insurance agency offering auto, business, and home insurance. Effective April 30, 2022, Collier Jennings Financial Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of SFINS, and its subsidiaries, Security Federal Auto Insurance, The Auto Insurance Store Inc., and Security Federal Premium Pay Plans Inc. ("SFPPP") and its wholly owned premium finance subsidiary were dissolved. SFPPP’s ownership interests in four other premium finance subsidiaries were disposed of at an immaterial gain. Additionally, effective April 30, 2022, previously inactive SFSC was dissolved.
Lending Activities
Security Federal's principal lending activities are making loans on commercial real estate and one-to-four family residential real estate. The Bank originates fixed rate residential real estate loans for sale in the secondary market and adjustable rate mortgage loans ("ARMS") to be held in its portfolio. The Bank also originates construction loans on single family residences, multi-family dwellings and commercial real estate, and loans for the acquisition, development and construction of residential subdivisions and commercial projects. To a lesser extent, the Bank originates consumer loans and commercial business loans.
The loan-to-value ratio, maturity and other provisions of loans made by the Bank reflect its policy of making the maximum loan permissible consistent with applicable regulations, established lending policies and market conditions. The Bank requires title insurance (or acceptable legal opinions on smaller loans secured by real estate), fire insurance, and flood insurance where applicable, on loans secured by improved real estate.
Loan Portfolio Composition
Loans receivable, net, including loans held for sale, increased to $549.9 million at December 31, 2022 from $499.5 million at December 31, 2021 primarily due to increases in real estate and consumer loans. For a detailed breakdown of the composition of our loan portfolio, see "Note 4 - Loans Receivable, Net" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
The following schedule illustrates the maturities of Security Federal's loan portfolio, excluding loans held for sale, at December 31, 2022. Mortgages which have adjustable or renegotiable interest rates are shown as maturing in the period when the contract is due. This schedule does not reflect the effects of possible prepayments or enforcement of due-on-sale clauses.
| Within One Year | After One Year Through Five Years | After Five Years Through Fifteen Years | After Fifteen Years | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Construction Real Estate | $ | 47,918 | $ | 57,275 | $ | 6,808 | $ | 793 | $ | 112,794 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Residential Real Estate | 5,931 | 45,564 | 13,364 | 45,198 | 110,057 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial Real Estate | 26,168 | 160,470 | 55,815 | 9,701 | 252,154 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial and Agricultural | 7,670 | 12,131 | 10,846 | — | 30,647 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consumer HELOC | 2,465 | 2,670 | 7,535 | 19,067 | 31,737 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other Consumer | 5,444 | 13,241 | 4,913 | — | 23,598 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 95,596 | $ | 291,351 | $ | 99,281 | $ | 74,759 | $ | 560,987 | |||||||||||||||||||
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The following table sets forth the amount of total loans due after December 31, 2023, with fixed or adjustable interest rates.
Fixed-Rate | Adjustable-Rate | Total | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
| Construction Real Estate | $ | 16,037 | $ | 48,838 | $ | 64,875 | |||||||||||
| Residential Real Estate | 43,923 | 60,203 | 104,126 | ||||||||||||||
| Commercial Real Estate | 187,615 | 38,371 | 225,986 | ||||||||||||||
| Commercial and Agricultural | 21,038 | 1,940 | 22,978 | ||||||||||||||
| Consumer HELOC | 145 | 29,127 | 29,272 | ||||||||||||||
| Other Consumer | 18,154 | 1 | 18,155 | ||||||||||||||
Total | $ | 286,912 | $ | 178,480 | $ | 465,392 | |||||||||||
Loan Originations/ Renewals, Purchases and Sales
In addition to interest earned on loans, the Bank receives loan origination fees or "points" for originating loans. Loan origination points are a percentage of the principal amount of the loan which are charged to the borrower for the creation of the loan. The Bank's loan origination fees are generally 1% on conventional residential mortgages, and 0.25% to 1% on commercial real estate loans and commercial and agricultural loans.
Loan origination and commitment fees are volatile sources of income. These fees vary with the volume and type of loans and commitments made and purchased and with competitive conditions in mortgage markets, which in turn are governed by the demand for and availability of money. The Bank also receives other fees and charges related to existing loans, conversion fees, assumption fees, late charges and other fees collected in connection with a change in borrower or other loan modifications.
Security Federal currently sells substantially all conforming fixed rate loans with terms of 15 years or greater in the secondary mortgage market. These loans are sold in order to provide a source of funds and as one of the strategies available to close the gap between the maturities of the Bank's interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. Currently, most fixed rate, long-term mortgage loans are being originated based on Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae") and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") underwriting standards.
Secondary market sales are made to other banks or institutional investors. Generally, all loans sold to investors are without recourse. For the past several years, substantially all loans have been sold on a servicing released basis. During the year ended December 31, 2022, Security Federal sold $48.5 million in fixed rate residential loans on a servicing released basis in the secondary market. Loans closed but not yet settled with banks or other investors, are carried in the Bank's "loans held for sale" portfolio. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $913,000 of loans held for sale. These loans are fixed rate residential loans that have been originated in the Bank's name and have closed. Virtually all of these loans have commitments to be purchased by investors and the majority of these loans were price locked with the investors on the same day or shortly after the loan was price locked with the Bank's customers. Therefore, these loans present very little market risk for the Bank. The Bank usually delivers loans to, and receives funding from, the investor within 30 days. Security Federal originates all of its loans held for sale on a "best efforts" basis which means that the Bank suffers no penalty if it is unable to deliver a loan to a potential investor.
Federal law restricts the Bank's permissible lending limits to one borrower to the greater of $500,000 or 15% of unimpaired capital and surplus. At December 31, 2022, the Bank's legal lending limit under this restriction was $22.9 million. At that date, the Bank's largest loan relationship to a single borrower was $15.6 million, comprised of three loans for commercial real estate properties and one construction loan. These loans were performing in accordance with their repayment terms at December 31, 2022.
South Carolina law restricts the Bank's permissible lending limits to one borrower to 10% of unimpaired capital, or $15.3 million at December 31, 2022, unless prior approval is granted by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors, in which case the limit is increased to 15% of unimpaired capital. During 2022, the Board approved the increased loan limits mentioned above.
Loan Solicitation and Processing
The Bank actively solicits mortgage loan applications from existing customers, real estate agents, builders, real estate developers and others. The Bank also receives mortgage loan applications as a result of customer referrals and from walk-in customers. Detailed loan applications are obtained to determine the borrower's creditworthiness and ability to repay. The more significant items on loan applications are verified through the use of credit reports, financial statements and
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confirmations. After analysis of the loan application and property or collateral involved, including an appraisal of the property (residential appraisals are obtained through independent fee appraisers), a lending decision is made in accordance with the underwriting guidelines of the Bank. These guidelines are generally consistent with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae guidelines for residential real estate loans. With respect to commercial real estate loans, the Bank also reviews the capital adequacy of the business, the income potential of the property, the ability of the borrower to repay the loan and honor its other obligations, and general economic and industry conditions.
Upon receipt of a loan application and all required related information from a prospective borrower, the loan application is submitted for approval or rejection. The residential mortgage loan underwriters approve loans which meet Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae underwriting requirements. The Chairman of the Company, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the Bank, the President of the Bank, the President of the Company, the Chief Financial Officer, the Executive Vice President/Business Development, the Senior Vice President/Chief Lending Officer and Senior Vice President/Mortgage Lending individually have the authority to approve loans of $500,000 or less, except as set forth above for conforming conventionally underwritten, single family mortgage loans, which are approved by the underwriters. Loans in excess of $500,000 and up to $1.0 million require the approval of any three of the following: Chairman of the Company, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the Bank, the President of the Bank, the President of the Company, the Chief Financial Officer, the Executive Vice President/Financial Services, the Chief Lending Officer, or the Secretary of the Executive Committee. Any loan in excess of $1.0 million must be approved by the Bank's Executive Committee, which operates as the Bank's Loan Committee. The loan approval limits discussed above are the aggregate of all loans to any one borrower or entity, not including loans that are secured by the borrower's primary residence, and are conventionally underwritten.
The general policy of Security Federal is to issue loan commitments to qualified borrowers for a specified term, generally for a period of 45 days or less. With management approval, commitments may be extended for up to an additional 45 days. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $1.0 million in outstanding commitments on mortgage loans not yet closed compared to $3.3 million at December 31, 2021. Security Federal had outstanding commitments available on all lines of credit (including letters of credit, commercial, undisbursed loans in process, home equity, credit cards and other consumer loans) totaling $173.3 million at December 31, 2022. For a more detailed discussion, see "Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
Residential and Construction Real Estate Lending
At December 31, 2022 the Bank had $110.1 million or 19.6% of the Bank's total outstanding loan portfolio in residential real estate loans. These loans have adjustable or fixed rates and include permanent one- to four-family and multi-family residential mortgage loans.
Security Federal offers a variety of ARMs with adjustable rates of interest which vary according to specified indices. The Bank's ARMs generally have a loan term of 15 to 30 years with initial rate adjustments every one, three, five or seven years during the term of the loan. After the initial rate adjustment, the loan rate then adjusts annually. Most of the Bank's ARMs contain a 200 basis point limit as to the maximum amount of change in the interest rate at any adjustment period and a 500 or 600 basis point limit over the life of the loan. The Bank generally originates ARMs to retain in its portfolio. These loans are generally made consistent with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae guidelines. The Bank sells the majority of its longer term fixed rate mortgage loans at origination.
Despite the benefits of ARMs to the Bank's asset/liability management program, these loans also pose potential additional risks, primarily because as interest rates rise, the underlying payment by the borrower rises, increasing the potential for default. At the same time, marketability of the underlying property may be adversely affected by higher interest rates.
When making a one- to four-family residential mortgage loan, the Bank evaluates both the borrower's creditworthiness and his or her general ability to make principal and interest payments, and the value of the property that will secure the loan. The Bank generally makes loans on one- to four-family residential properties in amounts of 95% or less of the appraised value of the collateral. When loans are made for amounts which exceed 80% of the appraised value of the underlying real estate, the Bank's general policy is to require private mortgage insurance on the portion of the loan in excess of 80% of the appraised value. In general, the Bank restricts its residential lending to South Carolina and the nearby Evans and Augusta, Georgia market.
Many of the one- to four-family residential mortgage loans we retain in our portfolio consist of loans that do not satisfy acreage limits, income, credit, conforming loan limits (i.e., jumbo mortgages) or various other requirements imposed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Some of these loans are also originated to meet the needs of borrowers who cannot otherwise satisfy Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae credit requirements because of personal and financial reasons (i.e., bankruptcy, length of time employed, etc.), and other aspects, which do not conform to their underwriting guidelines. Such borrowers may have higher debt-to-income
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ratios, or the loans are secured by unique properties in rural markets for which there are no sales of comparable properties to support the value according to secondary market requirements. We may require additional collateral or lower loan-to-value ratios to reduce the risk of these loans. We believe that these loans satisfy the needs of borrowers in our market area. As a result, subject to market conditions, we intend to continue to originate these types of loans. We also retain jumbo loans which exceed the conforming loan limits and therefore, are not eligible to be purchased by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.
Construction real estate loans include commercial lots and one- to four-family construction loans, which are generally made for periods of six months to one year with either adjustable or fixed rates. At December 31, 2022, construction real estate loans totaled $112.8 million, or 20.1%, of the Bank's loan portfolio. On loans of this type, the Bank seeks to evaluate the financial condition and prior performance of the builder, as well as the borrower's creditworthiness and his or her general ability to make principal and interest payments, and the value of the property that will secure the loan. On construction loans offered to individuals (non-builders), the Bank offers a construction/permanent loan. The borrower pays interest on the loan during the one year construction phase. After construction, the loan then automatically converts, depending on the borrower's upfront selection, to a one year ARM, a three year/one year ARM, or a five year/one year ARM loan in which the borrower will pay principal and interest. The borrower also has the option, after the construction period only, to convert the loan to a fixed rate residential mortgage loan which the Bank immediately sells on the secondary market on a servicing released basis.
Commercial Real Estate
The commercial real estate loans originated by the Bank are primarily secured by non-residential commercial properties, churches, hotels, residential developments, and single family speculative dwellings. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $252.2 million, or 44.9% of its total loan portfolio, in commercial real estate loans.
Loans secured by commercial real estate are typically written for amortization terms of 10 to 20 years and are originated on adjustable or fixed rate terms. Adjustable rates are tied to the prime rate as quoted in The Wall Street Journal and typically adjust on a daily basis. Since 2009, the Bank has instituted floors of typically 4% to 6% on newly originated adjustable rate commercial real estate loans. If ceilings are used, the loan will typically require a balloon payment in 60 months or less. Fixed rate loans on commercial real estate usually require a balloon payment in 36 to 60 months.
Commercial real estate lending entails significant additional credit risk when compared to residential lending. Commercial real estate loans typically involve large loan balances to single borrowers or groups of related borrowers. Because payments on loans secured by commercial properties often depend upon the successful operation and management of the properties, repayment of these loans may be affected by adverse conditions in the real estate market or the economy. In order to minimize the risks associated with this type of loan, the Bank generally limits the maximum loan-to-value ratio for commercial real estate to a range of 65% to 80%, based on appraisals of the property at the time of the loan by appraisers designated by the Bank, and strictly scrutinizes the credit history, financial condition and cash flow of the borrower, the quality of the collateral and the expertise of management of the property securing the loan. Although the creditworthiness of the business and its principals is of primary consideration, the underwriting process also includes a comparison of the value of the security, if any, in relation to the proposed loan amount.
Commercial and Agricultural Business Loans (Non Real Estate)
The commercial and agricultural business loans originated by the Bank are primarily secured by business equipment, furniture and fixtures, inventory and receivables, or are unsecured. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $30.6 million, or 5.5% of its total loan portfolio, in commercial and agricultural business loans.
Commercial and agricultural business loans are typically originated on terms of three to 60 months and with adjustable or fixed interest rate terms. Adjustable rates are tied to the prime rate as quoted in The Wall Street Journal and typically adjust on a daily basis. Since 2009, the Bank has instituted floors of typically 4% to 6% on newly originated adjustable rate commercial and agricultural business loans. If ceilings are used, the loan will typically require a balloon payment in 60 months or less. Fixed rate commercial and agricultural business loans are generally amortizing in five years or less.
Commercial and agricultural business lending generally involves greater risk than residential mortgage lending and involves risks that are different from those associated with lending that is secured by real estate. Real estate lending is generally considered to be collateral based lending with loan amounts based on predetermined loan-to-collateral values, and liquidation of the underlying real estate collateral is viewed as the primary source of repayment in the event of borrower default. Although commercial and agricultural business loans often have equipment, inventory, accounts receivable or other business assets as collateral, the liquidation of collateral in the event of a borrower default is often not a sufficient source of repayment because accounts receivable may be uncollectible and inventories and equipment may be obsolete or of limited use, among other conditions. Accordingly, the repayment of a commercial and agricultural business loan depends primarily on the
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creditworthiness of the borrower (and any guarantors), while liquidation of collateral is a secondary and often insufficient source of repayment. The Bank seeks to minimize these risks by strictly scrutinizing the borrower's current financial condition, ability to pay, past earnings and payment history. In addition, the current financial condition and payment history of all principals are reviewed. Typically, the Bank requires the principal or owners of a business to guarantee all loans made to their business by the Bank. Although the creditworthiness of the business and its principals is of primary consideration, the underwriting process also includes a comparison of the value of the security, if any, in relation to the proposed loan amount.
HELOC and Consumer Loans
The Bank originates consumer loans for any personal, family or household purpose, including the financing of home improvements, loans to individuals for residential lots for a future home, automobiles, boats, mobile homes, recreational vehicles and education. The Bank also offers home equity lines of credit (HELOC). HELOCs are open end lines of credit, secured by mortgage liens on the borrower's principal or second residence, where the borrowers pay a minimum of interest only monthly on drawn lines. The terms are for a maximum period of 20 years and the rate is a variable rate tied to prime and floats monthly.
In 2012, the Bank instituted interest rate floors, which currently range from 3.00% to 6.00%, on new home equity line originations and a maximum loan-to-value ratio of 80%. The Bank also makes secured and unsecured lines of credit available. Although consumer loans involve a higher level of risk than one- to four-family residential mortgage loans, they generally provide higher yields and have shorter terms to maturity than one- to four-family residential mortgage loans. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $31.7 million, or 5.7% of its loan portfolio, in outstanding HELOC loans.
The Bank's underwriting standards for consumer loans include a determination of the applicant's payment history on other debts and an assessment of ability to meet existing obligations and payments on the proposed loan. The stability of the applicant's monthly income is determined by verification of gross monthly income from primary employment, and from any verifiable secondary income. Although creditworthiness of the applicant is of primary consideration, the underwriting process also includes a comparison of the value of the security, if any, in relation to the proposed loan amount. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $23.6 million, or 4.2% of its loan portfolio, in consumer loans.
Credit cards and personal lines of credit are also included in consumer loans. As of December 31, 2022, the Bank had issued approved credit card lines of $13.8 million, of which $3.2 million was outstanding on that date.
Loan Delinquencies and Defaults
The Bank's collection procedures provide that when a real estate loan is approximately 20 days past due, the borrower is contacted by mail and payment is requested. If the delinquency continues for another 10 days, subsequent efforts are made to contact the delinquent borrower and establish a program to bring the loan current. In certain instances, the Bank may modify the loan or grant a limited moratorium on loan payments to enable the borrower to reorganize his financial affairs. If the loan continues in a delinquent status for 60 days or more, the Bank generally initiates foreclosure proceedings after the customer has been notified by certified mail. The Bank institutes the same collection procedure for its commercial real estate loans. The Bank’s non-accrual loans were $6.3 million at December 31, 2022 compared to $2.7 million at December 31, 2021. For a more detailed discussion of our non-accrual loans, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Note 4 - Loans Receivable, Net" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” respectively, of this Form 10-K.
Classified Assets
Federal regulations provide for the classification of loans and other assets such as debt and equity securities considered to be of lesser quality as "substandard," "doubtful" or "loss" assets. The regulations require commercial banks to classify their own assets and to establish prudent general allowances for loan losses for assets classified "substandard" or "doubtful." For the portion of assets classified as "loss," an institution is required to either establish specific allowances of 100% of the amount classified or charge off such amount. In addition, the State Board and/or FDIC may require the establishment of a general allowance for losses based on assets classified as "substandard" and "doubtful" or based on the general quality of the asset portfolio of a Bank. See "Regulation - Regulation of the Bank."
The Company uses a risk-based approach based on the following credit quality measures consistent with regulatory guidelines when analyzing the loan portfolio: pass, caution, special mention, and substandard. For a more detailed discussion of our credit quality measures, see "Note 4- Loans Receivable, Net - Credit Quality Indicators" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
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At December 31, 2022, $9.2 million of the total loan balance was classified "substandard" compared to $6.9 million at December 31, 2021. At December 31, 2022, $7.1 million of the total loan balance was designated as "special mention" compared to $15.1 million at December 31, 2021. At December 31, 2022, $105.4 million of the total loan balance was designated as “caution” compared to $89.2 million at December 31, 2021. The Bank had no loans classified as "doubtful" or "loss" at December 31, 2022 and 2021.
Troubled Debt Restructurings ("TDRs")
The Bank identifies and reviews all loans to be restructured based on an assessment of the borrower's credit status. This assessment is a continuous process that involves a review of the financial statements and prospects for repayment, payment delinquency, non-accrual status, and risk rating. Not all loan modifications are TDRs. The Bank designates a loan modification as a TDR when the following two conditions are present: the borrower is experiencing financial difficulty, and because of this difficulty, the Bank grants a concession it would not otherwise consider. For a more detailed discussion of our TDRs, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations- Financial Condition - Non-Performing Assets" and "Note 4- Loans Receivable, Net -Troubled Debt Restructurings and Loan Modifications" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” respectively, of this Form 10-K.
Provision for Losses on Loans
Security Federal recognizes that it will experience credit losses during the course of making loans and that the risk of loss will vary with, among other things, the type of loan being made, the creditworthiness of the borrower over the term of the loan and, in the case of a secured loan, the quality of the underlying security for the loan. The Bank seeks to establish and maintain sufficient reserves for estimated losses on specifically identified loans and real estate where such losses can be estimated. Additionally, general reserves for estimated possible losses are established on specified portions of the Bank's portfolio such as consumer loans and higher risk residential construction mortgage loans based on management's estimate of the potential loss for loans which normally can be classified as higher risk. Specific and general reserves are based on, among other criteria: (1) the risk characteristics of the loan portfolio, (2) current economic conditions on a local as well as a statewide basis, (3) actual losses experienced historically and (4) the level of reserves for possible losses in the future.
In determining the adequacy of the reserve for loan losses, management reviews past experience of loan charge-offs, the level of past due and non-accrual loans, the size and mix of the portfolio, general economic conditions in the market area, and individual loans to identify potential credit problems. The level of reserves reflects management's continuing evaluation of this risk based on the Bank's past loss experience. The reserve is management's best estimate for offsetting risk for our estimated possible losses. There can be no guarantee that the estimate is adequate or accurate.
Management believes that reserves for loan losses are at a level adequate to provide for inherent loan losses. Although management believes that it has considered all relevant factors in its estimation of future losses, future adjustments to reserves may be necessary if conditions change substantially from the assumptions used in making the original estimations. Regulators will from time to time evaluate the allowance for loan losses which is subject to adjustment based upon the information available to the regulators at the time of their examinations.
For a breakdown of the activity within the allowance for loan losses by loan category for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, see "Note 4- Loans Receivable, Net - Allowance for Loan Losses" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
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The following table summarizes annual net (recoveries) charge-offs as a percentage of average loans outstanding in each loan category for the years indicated.
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Dollars in Thousands) | Net Charge-offs (Recoveries) | Average Loans | Ratio | Net Charge-offs (Recoveries) | Average Loans | Ratio | |||||||||||||||||
| Construction | $ | (35) | $ | 104,516 | (0.03) | % | $ | (188) | $ | 82,816 | (0.23) | % | |||||||||||
| Residential Mortgage | (46) | 94,075 | (0.05) | (65) | 85,008 | (0.08) | |||||||||||||||||
| Commercial Real Estate: | (132) | 243,104 | (0.05) | (420) | 219,548 | (0.19) | |||||||||||||||||
| Other Commercial and Agricultural Loans | 62 | 31,338 | 0.20 | 4 | 67,883 | 0.01 | |||||||||||||||||
| HELOC | (52) | 29,652 | (0.18) | (15) | 28,059 | (0.05) | |||||||||||||||||
| Other Consumer | 112 | 23,563 | 0.48 | 36 | 22,588 | 0.16 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | (91) | $ | 526,248 | (0.02) | % | $ | (648) | $ | 505,902 | (0.13) | % | |||||||||||
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Subsidiaries
At December 31, 2022, the Company had two subsidiaries, Security Federal, its wholly owned operating bank subsidiary, and Security Federal Statutory Trust (the “Trust”), which issued and sold fixed and floating rate capital securities of the Trust. Under current accounting guidance, the Trust is not consolidated in the Company’s financial statements.
At December 31, 2022, Security Federal had two subsidiaries, SFINV and SFINS. SFINV was formed to hold investment securities and allow for better management of the securities portfolio. SFINS is an insurance agency offering auto, business and home insurance. Security Federal's net investment in its subsidiaries totaled $17.1 million at December 31, 2022.
Investment Activities
The Bank has authority to invest in various types of liquid assets, including U.S. Treasury obligations and securities of various federal agencies, certificates of deposit at insured institutions, mutual funds, bankers' acceptances and federal funds. The Bank may also invest a portion of its assets in certain commercial paper and corporate debt securities. See "Regulation - Regulation of the Bank."
As a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank ("FHLB") System, Security Federal must maintain minimum levels of investments that are liquid assets as defined in Federal regulations. See "Regulation - Regulation of the Bank - Federal Home Loan Bank System." Liquidity may increase or decrease depending upon the availability of funds and comparative yields on investments in relation to the return on loans. Historically, the Bank has maintained its liquid assets at a level believed adequate to meet requirements of normal daily activities, repayment of maturing debt and potential deposit outflows. Management regularly reviews and updates cash flow projections to assure that adequate liquidity is provided.
At December 31, 2022, our investment portfolio totaled $717.6 million. Security Federal has a portfolio of available for sale ("AFS") and held to maturity ("HTM") investments, the majority of which are mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"). MBS can serve as collateral for borrowings and, through repayments, as a source of liquidity. MBS investments do not have a fixed maturity date. Under the Bank's risk-based capital requirement, MBS have a risk weight of 20% (or 0% in the case of Government National Mortgage Association ("Ginnie Mae") securities) compared to the 50% risk weight carried by residential loans. SBA bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and carry a zero percent risk base when calculating risk-based assets for regulatory capital purposes. Student Loan Pools are typically 97% guaranteed by the U.S. government. The FHLB, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government sponsored enterprises ("GSEs") and the securities and bonds issued by GSEs are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. AFS investments are carried at fair value.
HTM investments are carried at amortized cost, adjusted for the amortization of any related premiums or the accretion of any related discounts into interest income. At December 31, 2022, these securities had a combined book value of $167.4 million and an average book yield of 4.22%, which was calculated by multiplying the carrying value of each HTM investment by its yield and dividing the sum of these results by the total carrying value. The following table includes a summary of the amortized cost and average book yield of HTM investment securities by contractual maturity at December 31, 2022. Since MBS investments do not have fixed maturity dates, they are disclosed separately.
| Carrying Value | Average Book Yield | ||||||||||
| HTM Investments: | |||||||||||
| Due in less than one year | — | — | % | ||||||||
| Due in one year to five years | 36,463,713 | 3.21 | |||||||||
| Due in five to ten years | 3,521,293 | 4.39 | |||||||||
| Due in ten years or more | 16,387,997 | 6.04 | |||||||||
| MBS | 111,064,613 | 4.28 | |||||||||
| Total HTM Investments | 167,437,616 | 4.22 | % | ||||||||
For more detailed information regarding the Bank's securities portfolios, see "Note 2 - Investments, Available for Sale" and "Note 3 - Investments, Held to Maturity" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
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Sources of Funds
Deposit accounts have traditionally been a principal source of the Bank's funds for use in lending and for other general business purposes. The Bank attracts both short-term and long-term deposits from the general public by offering a wide assortment of account types and rates. The Bank offers regular savings accounts, checking accounts, various money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, and individual retirement accounts. In addition to deposits, the Bank derives funds from loan repayments, cash flows generated from operations (including interest credited to deposit accounts), FHLB of Atlanta advances, borrowings from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, sales of investment securities, sales of securities under agreements to repurchase, and loan sales. See "Borrowings" below. Scheduled loan payments are a relatively stable source of funds while deposit inflows and outflows and the related cost of such funds have varied widely. FHLB of Atlanta advances, borrowings from the Federal Reserve Bank and the sale of securities under agreements to repurchase, referred to as retail repurchase agreements, may be used on a short-term basis to compensate for seasonal reductions in deposits or deposit inflows at less than projected levels and may be used on a longer-term basis in support of expanded lending activities. The availability of funds from loan and investment sales is influenced by general interest rates. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this Form 10-K.
Deposits
The Bank attracts both short-term and long-term deposits from the general public by offering a wide assortment of account types and rates. The Bank offers regular savings accounts, checking accounts, various money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, negotiated rate $100,000 or above jumbo certificates of deposit ("Jumbo CDs") and individual retirement accounts. The Bank believes that, based on its experience over the past several years, its savings and transaction accounts are stable sources of deposits. The Bank relies upon locally obtained Jumbo CDs to maintain its deposit levels. At December 31, 2022 deposits totaled $1.1 billion. At that date, approximately $30.3 million of our deposit portfolio was uninsured. The uninsured amounts are estimates based on the methodologies and assumptions used for the Bank’s regulatory reporting requirements.
The following table includes deposit accounts and associated weighted average interest rates for each category of deposit at the dates indicated.
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Average Balance | % of Total | Weighted Avg Rate | Average Balance | % of Total | Weighted Avg Rate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest bearing checking | $ | 114,065 | 10 | % | 0.60 | % | $ | 97,466 | 10 | % | 0.23 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Savings and money market | 589,849 | 53 | % | 0.27 | % | 518,632 | 52 | % | 0.11 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Certificates of deposit | 143,619 | 13 | % | 0.42 | % | 172,995 | 17 | % | 0.51 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total interest bearing deposits | 847,533 | 76 | % | 0.34 | % | 789,093 | 79 | % | 0.21 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Non-interest checking | 267,246 | 24 | % | 208,822 | 21 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Deposits | $ | 1,114,779 | 100 | % | $ | 997,915 | 100 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For additional information regarding our deposits, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Note 9 - Deposits" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” respectively, of this Form 10-K.
Borrowings
At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $44.1 million in borrowings from the "discount window" of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Depository institutions may borrow from the discount window for periods as long as 90 days, and borrowings are prepayable and renewable by the borrower on a daily basis. At December 31, 2022, the borrowing rate was 4.50%.
As a member of the FHLB of Atlanta, the Bank is required to own capital stock in the FHLB of Atlanta and is authorized to apply for advances from the FHLB of Atlanta. Each FHLB credit program has its own interest rate, which may be fixed or variable, and range of maturities. The FHLB of Atlanta may prescribe the acceptable uses to which these advances may be
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utilized as well as limitations on the size of the advances and repayment provisions. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had no outstanding advances from the FHLB of Atlanta.
At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $27.6 million in other borrowings consisting of retail repurchase agreements with an average rate of 0.75%.
For additional information regarding our borrowings, see "Note 10 - FHLB Advances and FRB Borrowings" and “Note 11 - Other Borrowings” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K. See also, "Regulation - Regulation of the Bank - Federal Home Loan Bank System" in this Form 10-K.
At December 31, 2022, the Company had $5.2 million in junior subordinated debentures. The debentures accrue and pay distributions quarterly at a floating rate of three-month LIBOR plus 170 points which was equal to 6.47% at December 31, 2022. The debentures were callable by the Company in September 2011, and quarterly thereafter, with a final maturity date of December 15, 2036. See "Note 12 - Junior Subordinated Debentures" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
On November 22, 2019, the Company sold and issued to certain institutional investors $17.5 million in aggregate principal amount of 5.25% fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes due 2029 (the “10-Year Notes”) and $12.5 million in aggregate principal amount of 5.25% fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes due 2034 (the “15-Year Notes”, and together with the 10-Year Notes, the “Notes”). The Notes are unsecured, subordinated obligations of the Company and rank junior in right to payment to the Company’s current and future senior indebtedness, and each Note is equal in right to payment with respect to the other Notes. The Company may redeem the 10-Year Notes and the 15-Year Notes at its option, in whole at any time, or in part from time to time, after November 22, 2024 and November 22, 2029, respectively. See "Note 14 – Subordinated Debentures" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
Competition
The Bank serves the counties of Aiken, Lexington, Richland and Saluda, South Carolina, and the counties of Columbia and Richmond, Georgia through its 18 full service branch offices located in Aiken, Ballentine, Clearwater, Columbia, Graniteville, Langley, Lexington, North Augusta, Ridge Spring, Wagener, and West Columbia, South Carolina, and Augusta and Evans, Georgia.
Security Federal faces strong competition both in originating loans and in attracting deposits. Competition in originating loans comes primarily from other commercial banks, federal savings institutions, mortgage bankers and credit unions who also make loans in the Bank's market area, and more recently, financial technology (or “FinTech”) companies.
The Bank competes for loans principally on the basis of the interest rates and loan fees it charges, the types of loans it makes and the quality of services it provides to borrowers. The Bank faces substantial competition in attracting deposits from federal savings institutions, commercial banks, money market and mutual funds, credit unions and other investment vehicles.
The ability of the Bank to attract and retain deposits depends on its ability to provide an investment opportunity that satisfies the requirements of investors as to rate of return, liquidity, risk and other factors. The Bank attracts a significant amount of deposits through its branch offices primarily from the communities in which those branch offices are located. Therefore, competition for those deposits is principally from federal savings institutions, credit unions and commercial banks located in the same communities. FinTech companies also compete for consumer deposit relationships. The Bank competes for these deposits by offering a variety of deposit accounts at competitive rates, convenient business hours, online/mobile services, and convenient branch locations with interbranch deposit and withdrawal privileges at each.
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Human Capital
We continually strive to recruit the most talented, motivated employees in their respective fields. By providing opportunities for personal and professional growth coupled with an environment that values teamwork and work-life balance, we are able to attract and retain outstanding individuals. We pride ourselves on providing excellent benefits, competitive salaries and the opportunity for participation in the company's long-term success.
At December 31, 2022, the Company employed 258 (247 full-time and 11 part-time) employees. The Bank's employees are not represented by any collective bargaining agreement. Management of the Bank is committed to providing equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment through a comprehensive affirmative action plan that is updated annually. As of December 31, 2022, our workforce was 72% female and 28% male, and women held 64% of the Bank’s management roles. The ethnicity of our workforce was 76% White, 17% Black, 3% Asian, 3% Hispanic or Latino, 1% Indian and less than 1% Two or More Races.
The following chart depicts the percentage of self-identified females and minorities in our workforce at December 31, 2022, by job classification as defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”):
| Job Classification | Female | Minority (1) | Distribution by EEOC Job Classification | ||||||||
| Executive / Senior level officers | 3.8 | % | 3.2 | % | 8.1 | % | |||||
| Mid-level officers and managers | 22.7 | % | 15.9 | % | 21.3 | % | |||||
| Professionals | 19.5 | % | 22.2 | % | 24.0 | % | |||||
| Sales | 1.6 | % | — | % | 1.6 | % | |||||
| Administrative support | 52.4 | % | 58.7 | % | 45.0 | % | |||||
| Total | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | |||||
(1) Includes employees self-disclosed as Asian, Black, Hispanic or Latino, Indian, or Two or More Races. | |||||||||||
Benefits - The Company provides competitive comprehensive benefits to employees. The Company values the health and well-being of its employees and strives to provide programs to support this. Benefit programs available to eligible employees may include 401(k) savings plan, employee stock ownership plan, health and life insurance, employee assistance program, paid holidays, paid time off, and other leave as applicable.
Board of Directors - The Company’s board of directors is comprised of the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, President and nine non-employee directors. The non-employee directors are represented by 11% female and 11% minority.
Training and Education - The Company recognizes that the skills and knowledge of its employees are critical to the success of the organization, and promotes training and continuing education as an ongoing function for employees. The Bank’s compliance training program provides annual training courses to assure that all employees and officers know the rules applicable to their jobs.
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Executive Officers
The following table sets forth information regarding the executive officers of the Company and the Bank at December 31, 2022.
| Age at December 31, | Position | |||||||||||||||||||
| Name | 2022 | Company | Bank | |||||||||||||||||
| J. Chris Verenes | 66 | Chief Executive Officer | Chief Executive Officer Chairman of the Board | |||||||||||||||||
| Roy G. Lindburg | 62 | President | — | |||||||||||||||||
| Philip R. Wahl | 59 | — | President | |||||||||||||||||
| Darrell Rains | 66 | Chief Financial Officer | Chief Financial Officer | |||||||||||||||||
The following is a description of the principal occupation and employment of the executive officers of the Company and the Bank during at least the past five years:
J. Chris Verenes is Chief Executive Officer of the Company and Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, positions he has held since January 1, 2012 and January 1, 2011, respectively. Prior to that, he served as President of the Bank since 2004. Before joining the Bank, Mr. Verenes held a variety of management positions with Washington Group International, from 1996 to 2004. Prior to his employment by Washington Group International, Mr. Verenes served as Controller for Riegel Textile Corporation, as Director of Control Data and Business and Technology Center, and as Executive Director of the South Carolina Democratic Party.
Roy G. Lindburg was appointed President of the Company in June 2014. Prior to that, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company and the Bank since January 1995. Mr. Lindburg was named Executive Vice President and appointed to the Company's and the Bank's Boards of Directors in 2005. Prior to joining Security Federal, Mr. Lindburg was employed by Keokuk Bancshares/First Community Bank in Keokuk, Iowa from 1986 to 1994. Mr. Lindburg is a Certified Public Accountant.
Philip R. Wahl was appointed President of the Bank effective August 2019. Prior to that, he served as the Bank's Augusta Market President since 2017. Prior to joining the Bank, Mr. Wahl held a variety of management positions with local and national banks in the Augusta area during his 35 year banking career. Most recently, he was employed by First Community Bank from 2012 to 2016. He currently serves on the Georgia Health Sciences Foundation Board of Trustees and is Chairman of the Board of the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Darrell Rains was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Company and the Bank effective July 2020. Prior to that, he served as the Bank's Executive Vice President of Insurance, Mortgage and Trust Services since June 2019. Before joining the Bank, he was the Chief Financial Officer at Woodside Communities from 2017 to 2019 and the Chief Financial Officer of Southeastern Bank Financial Corporation and successors from 2005 to 2017. Mr. Rains has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
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REGULATION
The following is a brief description of certain laws and regulations which are applicable to the Company and the Bank. Descriptions of laws and regulations here and elsewhere in this Form 10-K do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the actual laws and regulations. Legislation is introduced from time to time in the United States Congress or in the South Carolina State Legislature that may affect the operations of the Company and the Bank. In addition, the regulations governing the Company and the Bank may be amended from time to time by the State Board, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, the SEC and the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (“CFPB”). Any such legislation or regulatory changes in the future could have an adverse effect on our operations and financial condition. We cannot predict whether any such changes may occur.
As a bank holding company, the Company is subject to examination and supervision by, and is required to file certain reports with, the Federal Reserve. The Company also is subject to the rules and regulations of the SEC under the federal securities laws. The Bank, as a state-chartered commercial bank, is subject to regulation and oversight by the State Board, the applicable provisions of South Carolina law and by the regulations of the State Board adopted thereunder. In some circumstances, the law and regulations of other states can apply. The Bank also is subject to regulation and examination by the FDIC, which insures its deposits to the maximum extent permitted by law.
Regulation of the Company
The Bank is an FDIC-insured, state-chartered commercial bank and is subject to various statutory requirements and rules and regulations promulgated and enforced primarily by the FDIC and the State Board. These statutes, rules, and regulations relate to insurance of deposits, required reserves, allowable investments, loans, mergers, consolidations, issuance of securities, payment of dividends, establishment of branches and other aspects of the business of the Bank. The FDIC has broad authority to prohibit the Bank from engaging in what it determines to be unsafe or unsound banking practices. In addition, federal law imposes a number of restrictions on state-chartered, FDIC-insured banks, and their subsidiaries. These restrictions cover many matters, examples of which include prohibitions against engaging as a principal in certain activities and the requirement of prior notification of branch closings. The Bank is not a member of the Federal Reserve System.
The Bank is required to file periodic reports with the FDIC and the State Board and is subject to periodic examinations and evaluations by those regulatory authorities. Based on these evaluations, the regulators may revalue the assets of an institution and require that it establish specific reserves to compensate for the differences between the determined value and the book value of these assets. The FDIC and the State Board may each accept the results of an examination by the other in lieu of conducting an independent examination.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Deposit Insurance Fund ("DIF") of the FDIC insures deposits in the Bank up to $250,000 per separately insured deposit ownership right or category and such insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government. As insurer, the FDIC imposes deposit insurance premiums (assessments) and is authorized to conduct examinations of and to require reporting by FDIC-insured institutions. For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Bank paid $375,000 in FDIC premiums.
The FDIC assesses deposit insurance premiums quarterly on each FDIC-insured institution applied to its deposit base, which is its average consolidated total assets minus its Tier 1 capital. No institution may pay a dividend if it is in default on its federal deposit insurance assessment. At December 31, 2022, total base assessment rates ranged from 3 to 30 basis points subject to certain adjustments.
Extraordinary growth in insured deposits during the first and second quarters of 2020 caused the DIF reserve ratio to decline below the statutory minimum of 1.35% as of June 30, 2020. In September 2020, the FDIC Board of Directors adopted a Restoration Plan to restore the reserve ratio to at least 1.35% within eight years, absent extraordinary circumstances, as required by the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. The Restoration Plan maintained the assessment rate schedules in place at the time and required the FDIC to update its analysis and projections for the deposit insurance fund balance and reserve ratio at least semiannually. In the semiannual update for the Restoration Plan in June 2022, the FDIC projected that the reserve ratio was at risk of not reaching the statutory minimum of 1.35% by September 30, 2028, the statutory deadline to restore the reserve ratio. Based on this update, the FDIC Board approved an Amended Restoration Plan, and concurrently proposed an increase in initial base deposit insurance assessment rate schedules uniformly by 2 basis points, applicable to all insured depository institutions.
In October 2022, the FDIC Board finalized the increase with an effective date of January 1, 2023, applicable to the first quarterly assessment period of 2023. The revised assessment rate schedules are intended to increase the likelihood that the reserve ratio of the DIF reaches the statutory minimum level of 1.35% by September 30, 2028. Revised assessment rate
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schedules will remain in effect unless and until the reserve ratio meets or exceeds 2%, absent further action by the FDIC Board. A significant increase in insurance premiums or a special assessment levied by the FDIC could likely have an adverse effect on the operating expenses and results of operations of the Bank. There can be no prediction as to what changes in insurance assessment rates may be made in the future.
The FDIC may terminate the deposit insurance of any insured depository institution if it determines after a hearing that the institution has engaged or is engaging in unsafe or unsound practices, is in an unsafe or unsound condition to continue operations, or has violated any applicable law, regulation, order or any condition imposed by an agreement with the FDIC. It also may suspend deposit insurance temporarily during the hearing process for the permanent termination of insurance if the institution has no tangible capital. If insurance of accounts is terminated, the accounts at the institution at the time of the termination, less subsequent withdrawals, shall continue to be insured for a period of six months to two years, as determined by the FDIC. Management is not aware of any existing circumstances which would result in termination of the Bank's deposit insurance. A significant increase in insurance premiums would likely have an adverse effect on the operating expenses and results of operations of the Bank. There can be no prediction as to what changes in insurance assessment rates may be made in the future.
Prompt Corrective Action
Federal statutes establish a supervisory framework based on five capital categories: well capitalized, adequately capitalized, undercapitalized, significantly undercapitalized and critically undercapitalized. An institution's category depends upon where its capital levels are in relation to relevant capital measures, which include risk-based capital measures, a common equity Tier 1 ("CET1") measure, a leverage ratio measure and certain other factors. The well-capitalized category is described below in "Capital Requirements". An institution that is not well capitalized is subject to certain restrictions on brokered deposits, including restrictions on the rates it can offer on its deposits, generally. Any institution which is neither well capitalized nor adequately capitalized is considered undercapitalized.
Undercapitalized institutions are subject to certain prompt corrective action requirements, regulatory controls and restrictions that become more extensive as an institution becomes more severely undercapitalized. Failure by institutions to comply with applicable capital requirements would, if unremedied, result in progressively more severe restrictions on their activities and lead to enforcement actions, including, but not limited to, the issuance of a capital directive to ensure the maintenance of required capital levels and, ultimately, the appointment of the FDIC as receiver or conservator. Banking regulators will take prompt corrective action with respect to depository institutions that do not meet minimum capital requirements. Additionally, approval of any regulatory application filed for review by the banking agencies may be dependent on compliance with capital requirements.
At December 31, 2022, the Bank was categorized as "well capitalized" under the prompt corrective action regulations of the FDIC. For additional information, see "Capital Requirements" below and "Note 16 - Regulatory Matters" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
Capital Requirements
In September 2019, the regulatory agencies, including the FDIC and Federal Reserve adopted a final rule, effective January 1, 2020, creating a community bank leverage ratio ("CBLR") for institutions with total consolidated assets of less than $10 billion, and that meet other qualifying criteria related to off-balance sheet exposures and trading assets and liabilities. The CBLR provides for a simple measure of capital adequacy for qualifying institutions. Management has elected to use the CBLR framework for the Bank. Consolidated regulatory capital requirements identical to those applicable to subsidiary banks generally apply to bank holding companies. However, the Federal Reserve Board has provided a “Small Bank Holding Company” exception to its consolidated capital requirements, and bank holding companies with less than $3.0 billion of consolidated assets are not subject to the consolidated holding company capital requirements unless otherwise directed by the Federal Reserve Board.
The CBLR is calculated as Tier 1 Capital to average consolidated assets as reported on an institution's regulatory reports. Tier 1 Capital, for the Company and the Bank, generally consists of common stock plus related surplus and retained earnings, adjusted for goodwill and other intangible assets. For some financial institutions it also includes accumulated and other comprehensive amounts (“AOCI”); however, the Company and the Bank made a one-time election to exclude AOCI as permitted by the regulators. Qualifying institutions that elect to use the CBLR framework and that maintain a leverage ratio of greater than 9% will be considered to have satisfied the generally applicable risk-based and leverage capital requirements in the regulatory agencies' capital rules, and to have met the well-capitalized ratio requirements. A qualifying institution utilizing the CBLR framework whose leverage ratio does not fall more than one percent below the required percentage is allowed a two-quarter grace period in which to increase its leverage ratio back above the required percentage. During the grace period, a qualifying
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institution will still be considered well capitalized so long as its leverage ratio does not fall more than one percent below the required percentage. If an institution either fails to meet all the qualifying criteria within the grace period or has a leverage ratio that falls more than one percent below the required percentage, it becomes ineligible to use the CBLR framework and must instead comply with generally applicable capital rules, sometimes referred to as Basel III rules. A bank may also opt out of the framework at any time, without restriction, by reverting to the generally applicable capital rules.
The FASB has adopted a new accounting standard, referred to as Current Expected Credit Loss, or CECL. Upon adoption of CECL, a banking organization must record a one-time adjustment to its credit loss allowances as of the beginning of the fiscal year of adoption equal to the difference, if any, between the amount of credit loss allowances under the current methodology and the amount required under CECL. The federal banking regulators (the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC) have adopted a rule that gives a banking organization the option to phase in over a three-year period the day-one adverse effects of CECL on its regulatory capital. For more on this new accounting standard, see "Note 1- Significant Accounting Policies-Recently Issued or Adopted Accounting Standards" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
Federal Home Loan Bank System
The Bank is a member of the FHLB of Atlanta, which is one of 11 regional FHLBs that administer the home financing credit function of financial institutions. The FHLBs are subject to the oversight of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and each FHLB serves as a reserve or central bank for its members within its assigned region. The FHLBs are funded primarily from proceeds derived from the sale of consolidated obligations of the FHLB System and make loans or advances to members in accordance with policies and procedures established by the Board of Directors of the FHLB, which are subject to the oversight of the Federal Housing Finance Board. All advances from the FHLB of Atlanta are required to be fully secured by sufficient collateral as determined by the FHLB of Atlanta. In addition, all long-term advances are required to provide funds for residential home financing. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had no outstanding advances from the FHLB of Atlanta under an available credit facility of $388.3 million, which is limited to available collateral. See "Business - Sources of Funds - Borrowings."
As a member, the Bank is required to purchase and maintain stock in the FHLB of Atlanta. At December 31, 2022, the Bank had $650,600 in FHLB of Atlanta stock, which was in compliance with this requirement. In past years, the Bank has received substantial dividends on its FHLB of Atlanta stock. These dividend yields have averaged 4.88% for the year ended December 31, 2022; 3.69% for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 4.40% for the year ended December 31, 2020.
The FHLBs continue to contribute to low- and moderately-priced housing programs through direct loans or interest subsidies on advances targeted for community investment and low- and moderate-income housing projects. These contributions have in the past affected adversely the level of FHLB dividends paid and could continue to do so in the future. These contributions could also have an adverse effect on the value of FHLB of Atlanta stock in the future. A reduction in value of the Bank's FHLB of Atlanta stock may result in a decrease in net income and possibly the Bank's capital.
Affiliate Transactions
The Company and the Bank are separate and distinct legal entities. Federal laws strictly limit the ability of banks to engage in certain transactions with their affiliates, including their bank holding companies. Transactions deemed to be "covered transactions" under Section 23A of the Federal Reserve Act and between a subsidiary bank and its parent company or the nonbank subsidiaries of the bank holding company are limited to 10% of the bank subsidiary's capital and surplus and, with respect to the parent company and all such nonbank subsidiaries, to an aggregate of 20% of the bank subsidiary's capital and surplus. Further, covered transactions that are loans and extensions of credit generally are required to be secured by eligible collateral in specified amounts. Federal law also requires that covered transactions and certain other transactions listed in Section 23B of the Federal Reserve Act between a bank and its affiliates be on terms as favorable to the bank as transactions with non-affiliates.
Community Reinvestment Act
The Bank is also subject to the provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 ("CRA"), which requires the appropriate federal bank regulatory agency to assess a bank’s performance under the CRA in meeting the credit needs of the community serviced by the Bank, including low and moderate income neighborhoods. The regulatory agency's assessment of a bank's record is made available to the public. Further, a bank’s CRA performance rating must be considered in connection with a bank’s application to, among other things, establish a new branch office that will accept deposits, relocate an existing office or merge or consolidate with, or acquire the assets or assume the liabilities of, a federally regulated financial institution, and in connection with certain applications by a bank holding company, such as bank acquisitions. The Bank received an "outstanding" rating during its most recent CRA examination.
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Dividends
Dividends from the Bank constitute the major source of funds for dividends which may be paid by the Company to shareholders. The amount of dividends payable by the Bank to the Company depends upon the Bank's earnings and capital position, and is limited by federal and state laws, regulations and policies, including the capital conservation buffer requirement discussed above. South Carolina banking regulations restrict the amount of dividends that the Bank can pay to the Company, and may require prior approval before declaration and payment of any excess dividend.
The amount of dividends actually paid during any one period will be strongly affected by the Bank's management policy of maintaining a strong capital position. Federal law further provides that no insured depository institution may pay a cash dividend if it would cause the institution to be "undercapitalized," as defined in the prompt corrective action regulations. Moreover, the federal bank regulatory agencies also have the general authority to limit the dividends paid by insured banks if such payments should be deemed to constitute an unsafe and unsound practice.
Activities and Investments of Insured State-Chartered Financial Institutions
Federal law generally limits the activities and equity investments of FDIC-insured, state-chartered banks to those that are permissible for national banks. An insured state bank is not prohibited from, among other things, (i) acquiring or retaining a majority interest in a subsidiary, (ii) investing as a limited partner in a partnership the sole purpose of which is direct or indirect investment in the acquisition, rehabilitation or new construction of a qualified housing project, provided that such limited partnership investments may not exceed 2% of the bank's total assets, (iii) acquiring up to 10% of the voting stock of a company that solely provides or reinsures directors', trustees' and officers' liability insurance coverage or bankers' blanket bond group insurance coverage for insured depository institutions, (iv) acting as agent for a customer in many capacities, and (v) acquiring or retaining the voting shares of a depository institution if certain requirements are met.
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve requires that all depository institutions maintain reserves on transaction accounts, primarily checking accounts. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve reduced reserve requirement ratios to zero percent effective on March 26, 2020, to support lending to households and businesses. At December 31, 2022, the Bank was in compliance with the reserve requirements in place at that time.
Standards for Safety and Soundness
The federal banking regulatory agencies have prescribed, by regulation, guidelines for all insured depository institutions relating to internal controls, information systems and internal audit systems; loan documentation; credit underwriting; interest rate risk exposure; asset growth; asset quality; earnings; and compensation, fees and benefits. The guidelines set forth the safety and soundness standards that the federal banking agencies use to identify and address problems at insured depository institutions before capital becomes impaired. Each insured depository institution must implement a comprehensive written information security program that includes administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the institution’s size and complexity and the nature and scope of its activities. The information security program must be designed to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information, protect against any unanticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of such information, protect against unauthorized access to or use of such information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any customer, and ensure the proper disposal of customer and consumer information. Each insured depository institution must also develop and implement a risk-based response program to address incidents of unauthorized access to customer information in customer information systems. If the FDIC determines that an institution fails to meet any of these guidelines, it may require an institution to submit to the FDIC an acceptable plan to achieve compliance. Management of the Bank is not aware of any conditions relating to these safety and soundness standards which would require submission of a plan of compliance.
Environmental Issues Associated with Real Estate Lending
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA"), a federal statute, generally imposes strict liability on all prior and present "owners and operators" of sites containing hazardous waste. However, Congress acted to protect secured creditors by providing that the term "owner and operator" excludes a person whose ownership is limited to protecting its security interest in the site. Since the enactment of the CERCLA, this "secured creditor exemption" has been the subject of judicial interpretations which have left open the possibility that lenders could be liable for cleanup costs on contaminated property that they hold as collateral for a loan. To the extent that legal uncertainty exists in this area, all creditors, including the Bank, that have made loans secured by properties with potentially hazardous waste contamination (such as petroleum contamination) could be subject to liability for cleanup costs, which costs often substantially exceed the value of the collateral property.
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Privacy Standards
The Bank is subject to FDIC regulations implementing the privacy protection provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. These regulations require the Bank to disclose its privacy policy, including informing consumers of its information sharing practices and informing consumers of their rights to opt out of certain practices.
Bank Secrecy Act / Anti-Money Laundering Laws
The Bank is subject to the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. These laws and regulations require the Bank to implement policies, procedures, and controls to detect, prevent, and report money laundering and terrorist financing and to verify the identity of their customers. Violations of these requirements can result in substantial civil and criminal sanctions. In addition, provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act require the federal financial institution regulatory agencies to consider the effectiveness of a financial institution’s anti-money laundering activities when reviewing mergers and acquisitions.
Other Consumer Protection Laws and Regulations
The Dodd-Frank Act established the CFPB and empowered it to exercise broad regulatory, supervisory and enforcement authority with respect to both new and existing consumer financial protection laws. The Bank is subject to consumer protection regulations issued by the CFPB, but as a financial institution with assets of less than $10 billion, the Bank is generally subject to supervision and enforcement by the FDIC and the State Board with respect to our compliance with federal and state consumer financial protection laws and regulations.
The Bank is subject to a broad array of federal and state consumer protection laws and regulations that govern almost every aspect of its business relationships with consumers. While the list set forth below is not exhaustive, these include the Truth-in-Lending Act, the Truth in Savings Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Expedited Funds Availability Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Right to Financial Privacy Act, the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act, the Consumer Leasing Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Homeowners Protection Act, the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, laws governing flood insurance, laws governing consumer protections in connection with the sale of insurance, federal and state laws prohibiting unfair and deceptive business practices, 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. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations can subject the Bank to various penalties, including but not limited to, enforcement actions, injunctions, fines, civil liability, criminal penalties, punitive damages, and the loss of certain contractual rights.
Regulation of the Company
The Company, as the sole shareholder of the Bank, is a registered bank holding company with the Federal Reserve. Bank holding companies are subject to comprehensive regulation by the Federal Reserve under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended ("BHCA"), and the regulations promulgated thereunder. This regulation and oversight is generally intended to ensure that the Company limits its activities to those allowed by law and that it operates in a safe and sound manner without endangering the financial health of the Bank.
As a bank holding company, the Company is required to file with the Federal Reserve semi-annual and periodic reports and such additional information as the Federal Reserve may require and is subject to regular examinations by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve may examine the Company, and any of its subsidiaries, and charge the Company for the cost of the examination. The Federal Reserve also has extensive enforcement authority over bank holding companies, including, among other things, the ability to assess civil money penalties, to issue cease and desist or removal orders and to require that a holding company divest subsidiaries (including its bank subsidiaries). In general, enforcement actions may be initiated for violations of law and regulations and unsafe or unsound practices.
The Bank Holding Company Act
Under the BHCA, the Company is supervised by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve has a policy that a bank holding company is required to serve as a source of financial and managerial strength to its subsidiary banks and may not conduct its operations in an unsafe or unsound manner. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act and earlier Federal Reserve policy provide that a bank holding company should serve as a source of strength to its subsidiary bank by having the ability to provide financial assistance to its subsidiary bank during periods of financial distress to the bank, and should maintain the financial flexibility and capital raising capacity to obtain additional resources for assisting its subsidiary bank. A bank holding company's failure to meet its obligation to serve as a source of strength to its subsidiary banks will generally be considered by the Federal Reserve to be an unsafe and unsound banking practice or a violation of the Federal Reserve's regulations or both. No regulations have yet been proposed by the Federal Reserve to implement the source of strength provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Company
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and any subsidiaries that it may control are considered "affiliates" within the meaning of the Federal Reserve Act, and transactions between the Bank and affiliates (except subsidiaries of the Bank) are subject to numerous restrictions. With some exceptions, the Company and its subsidiaries, are prohibited from tying the provision of various services, such as extensions of credit, to other services offered by the Company, or by its affiliates.
Acquisitions
The BHCA prohibits a bank holding company, with certain exceptions, from acquiring direct or indirect ownership or control of more than 5% of the voting shares of any company that is not a bank or bank holding company and from engaging directly or indirectly in activities other than those of banking, managing or controlling banks, or providing services for its subsidiaries. Under the BHCA, the Federal Reserve is authorized to approve the ownership of shares by a bank holding company in any company, the activities of which the Federal Reserve has determined to be so closely related to the business of banking or managing or controlling banks as to be a proper incident thereto. The list of activities determined by regulation to be closely related to banking within the meaning of the BHCA includes, among other things: operating a savings institution, mortgage company, finance company, credit card company or factoring company; performing certain data processing operations; providing certain investment and financial advice; underwriting and acting as an insurance agent for certain types of credit-related insurance; leasing property on a full-payout, non-operating basis; selling money orders, travelers' checks and U.S. Savings Bonds; real estate and personal property appraising; providing tax planning and preparation services; and, subject to certain limitations, providing securities brokerage services for customers. The Federal Reserve must approve the acquisition (or acquisition of control) of a bank or other FDIC-insured depository institution by a bank holding company, and the appropriate federal banking regulator must approve a bank’s acquisition (or acquisition of control) of another bank or other FDIC-insured institution.
Capital Requirements
As discussed above, pursuant to the Act, effective August 30, 2018, bank holding companies with less than $3.0 billion in consolidated assets are generally no longer subject to the Federal Reserve’s capital regulations, which are essentially the same as the capital regulations applicable to the Bank described under the caption “Capital Requirements” above. If the Company were subject to regulatory guidelines for bank holding companies with $3.0 billion or more in assets at December 31, 2022, the Company would have exceeded all regulatory requirements. The Federal Reserve expects a holding company's subsidiary banks to be well capitalized under the prompt corrective action regulations. For additional information, see "Note 16 - Regulatory Matters" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
Dividends
As a South Carolina corporation, the Company is subject to restrictions on the payment of dividends under South Carolina law. In addition, the Company is an entity separate and distinct from its principal subsidiary, Security Federal Bank, and derives substantially all of its revenue in the form of dividends from this subsidiary. Accordingly, the Company is, and will be, dependent upon dividends from the Bank to pay the principal of and interest on its indebtedness, to satisfy its other cash needs and to pay dividends on its common stock. The Company is also subject to certain federal regulatory considerations. The Federal Reserve has issued a policy statement on the payment of cash dividends by bank holding companies, which expresses the Federal Reserve's view that a bank holding company should pay cash dividends only to the extent that the company's net income for the past year is sufficient to cover both the cash dividends and a rate of earnings retention that is consistent with the company's capital needs, asset quality and overall financial condition, and that it is inappropriate for a company experiencing serious financial problems to borrow funds to pay dividends. Dividends are also subject to restriction if the capital conservation buffer requirement is not met.
Stock Repurchases
Bank holding companies, except for certain "well-capitalized" and highly rated bank holding companies, are required to give the Federal Reserve prior written notice of any purchase or redemption of its outstanding equity securities if the consideration for the purchase or redemption, when combined with the net consideration paid for all such purchases or redemptions during the preceding 12 months, is equal to 10% or more of their consolidated net worth. The Federal Reserve may disapprove a purchase or redemption if it determines that the proposal would constitute an unsafe or unsound practice or would violate any law, regulation, Federal Reserve order, or any condition imposed by, or written agreement with, the Federal Reserve.
Federal Securities Laws
The Company’s common stock is registered with the SEC under Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). We are subject to information, proxy solicitation, insider trading restrictions and other requirements under the Exchange Act.
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Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
As a public company that files periodic reports with the SEC under the Exchange Act, the Company is subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), which addresses, among other issues, corporate governance, auditing and accounting, executive compensation and enhanced and timely disclosure of corporate information. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act represents significant federal involvement in matters traditionally left to state regulatory systems, such as the regulation of the accounting profession, and to state corporate law, such as the relationship between a board of directors and management and between a board of directors and its committees. Our policies and procedures have been updated to comply with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Jumpstart Our Business Startups ("JOBS") Act
The JOBS Act was signed into law on April 5, 2012 and allows banks and bank holding companies to terminate the registration of a class of securities under Section 12(g) and Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act if such class is held of record by less than 1,200 persons. The Company's Board continues to evaluate the costs and advantages and disadvantages of being an SEC registered company and the effects of deregistering its shares of common stock, including among other things, the resulting decrease in the liquidity of its shares.
TAXATION
Federal Taxation
The Company and the Bank report their income on a calendar year basis using the accrual method of accounting and are subject to federal income taxation in the same manner as other corporations with some exceptions, including particularly the Bank's reserve for bad debts discussed below. The following discussion of tax matters is intended only to summarize certain pertinent federal income tax matters and is not a comprehensive description of the tax rules applicable to the Bank or the Company.
To the extent that the Bank makes "nondividend distributions" to the Company, these distributions will be considered to result in distributions from the balance of its bad debt reserve as of December 31, 1987 (or a lesser amount if the Bank's loan portfolio decreased since December 31, 1987) and then from the supplemental reserve for losses on loans ("Excess Distributions"), and an amount based on the Excess Distributions will be included in the Bank's taxable income. Nondividend distributions include distributions in excess of the Bank's current and accumulated earnings and profits, distributions in redemption of stock and distributions in partial or complete liquidation. However, dividends paid out of the Bank's current or accumulated earnings and profits, as calculated for federal income tax purposes, will not be considered to result in a distribution from the Bank's bad debt reserve. The amount of additional taxable income created from an Excess Distribution is an amount that, when reduced by the tax attributable to the income, is equal to the amount of the distribution. Thus, if the Bank makes a "nondividend distribution," then approximately one and one-half times the Excess Distribution would be includable in gross income for federal income tax purposes, assuming a 21% corporate income tax rate (exclusive of state and local taxes). See "Regulation - Regulation of the Bank - Dividends” for limits on the payment of dividends by the Bank. The Bank does not intend to pay dividends that would result in a recapture of any portion of its tax bad debt reserve.
The Company may carryforward net operating losses indefinitely. As of December 31, 2022, management determined it is more likely than not that the total deferred tax asset will be realized except for the deferred tax asset associated with state net operating loss carryforwards, and, accordingly, has established a valuation allowance only for this item. The change in the valuation allowance was $4,084.
The Company may exclude from its income dividends received from the Bank as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company that files a consolidated return with the Bank. The corporate dividends-received deduction is 100%, or 80%, in the case of dividends received from corporations with which a corporate recipient does not file a consolidated tax return, depending on the level of stock ownership of the payer of the dividend. Corporations that own less than 20% of the stock of a corporation distributing a dividend may deduct 70% of dividends received or accrued on their behalf.
The Company, the Bank and its consolidated subsidiaries have been audited or their books closed without audit by the IRS with respect to consolidated federal income tax returns through December 31, 2021. For additional information regarding income taxes, see "Note 15 - Income Taxes" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
State Taxation
South Carolina has adopted the Internal Revenue Code as it relates to commercial banks, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1986. The Bank is subject to South Carolina income tax at the rate of 4.5%. The Bank has not been audited by the State of South Carolina during the past five years. The Company's income tax returns have not been audited by federal or state authorities within the last five years. For additional information regarding income taxes, see "Note 15 - Income Taxes" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
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Item 1A. Risk Factors.
An investment in our common stock involves various risks which are particular to Security Federal Corporation, our industry, and our market area. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information included in this report and out filings with the SEC. In addition to the risks and uncertainties described below, other risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, capital levels, liquidity, cash flows, results of operations and prospects. The market price of our common stock could decline significantly due to any of these identified or other risks, and you could lose some or all of your investment.
Risks Related to Macroeconomic Conditions
Our business may be adversely affected by downturns in the national economy and in the economies in our market areas.
Our operations are significantly affected by the general economic conditions of the states of South Carolina and Georgia and the specific local markets in which we operate. Our entire real estate portfolio consists primarily of loans secured by properties located in Aiken, Richland, and Lexington Counties in South Carolina and Columbia and Richmond Counties in Georgia. Weakness in the global economy and global supply chain issues have adversely affected many businesses operating in our markets that are dependent upon international trade. Changes in agreements or relationships between the United States and other countries may also affect these businesses.
A deterioration in economic conditions in the market areas we serve, as a result of inflation, a recession, the effects of COVID-19 variants or other factors could result in loan losses beyond that which is provided for in our allowance for loan losses and could result in the following consequences, any of which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations:
•loan delinquencies, problem assets and foreclosures may increase;
•we may increase our allowance for loan losses;
•demand for our products and services may decline, possibly resulting in a decrease in our total loans or assets;
•collateral for our loans, especially real estate, may decline in value, exposing us to increased risk of loss on existing loans, reducing customers’ borrowing power, and reducing the value of assets and collateral associated with existing loans;
•the net worth and liquidity of loan guarantors may decline, impairing their ability to honor commitments to us; and
•the amount of our low-cost or noninterest-bearing deposits may decrease
A decline in local economic conditions may have a greater effect on our earnings and capital than on the earnings and capital of larger financial institutions whose real estate loan portfolios are geographically diverse. Many of the loans in our portfolio are secured by real estate. Deterioration in the real estate markets where collateral for a mortgage loan is located could negatively affect the borrower’s ability to repay the loan and the value of the collateral securing the loan. Real estate values are affected by various other factors, including changes in general or regional economic conditions, governmental rules or policies and natural disasters such as earthquakes. If we are required to liquidate a significant amount of collateral during a period of reduced real estate values, our financial condition and profitability could be adversely affected. Adverse changes in the regional and general economy could reduce our growth rate, impair our ability to collect loans and generally have a negative effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
External economic factors, such as changes in monetary policy and inflation, may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our financial condition and results of operations are affected by credit policies of monetary authorities, particularly the Federal Reserve. Actions by monetary and fiscal authorities, including the Federal Reserve, could lead to inflation, deflation, or other economic phenomena that could adversely affect our financial performance. Inflation has risen sharply since the end of 2021 and throughout 2022 at levels not seen for over 40 years. Inflationary pressures are currently expected to remain elevated throughout 2023. Small to medium-sized businesses may be impacted more during periods of high inflation as they are not able to leverage economics of scale to mitigate cost pressures compared to larger businesses. Consequently, the ability of our business customers to repay their loans may deteriorate, and in some cases this deterioration may occur quickly, which would adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, a prolonged period of inflation could cause wages and other costs to the Company to increase, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. Virtually all of our assets and liabilities are monetary in nature. As a result, interest rates tend to have a more significant impact on our performance than general levels of inflation or deflation. Interest rates do not necessarily move in the same direction or by the same magnitude as the prices of goods and services.
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Risks Related to Our Lending Activities
Our allowance for loan losses may prove to be insufficient to absorb losses in our loan portfolio.
Lending money is a substantial part of our business and each loan carries a certain risk that it will not be repaid in accordance with its terms or that any underlying collateral will not be sufficient to assure repayment. This risk is affected by, among other things:
•cash flow of the borrower and/or the project being financed;
•the changes and uncertainties as to the future value of the collateral, in the case of a collateralized loan;
•the duration of the loan;
•the character and creditworthiness of a particular borrower; and
•changes in economic and industry conditions.
We maintain an allowance for loan losses, which is a reserve established through a provision for loan losses charged to expense, which we believe is appropriate to provide for probable losses in our loan portfolio. The amount of this allowance is determined by our management through periodic reviews and consideration of several factors, including, but not limited to:
•our general reserve, based on our historical default and loss experience and certain macroeconomic factors based on management's expectations of future events;
•our specific reserve, based on our evaluation of impaired loans and their underlying collateral; and
•an unallocated reserve to provide for other credit losses inherent in our portfolio that may not have been contemplated in the other loss factors.
The determination of the appropriate level of the allowance for loan losses inherently involves a high degree of subjectivity and requires us to make significant estimates of current credit risks and future trends, all of which may undergo material changes. If our estimates are incorrect, the allowance for loan losses may not be sufficient to cover losses inherent in our loan portfolio, resulting in the need for additions to our allowance through an increase in the provision for loan losses. Deterioration in economic conditions affecting borrowers, new information regarding existing loans, identification of additional problem loans and other factors, both within and outside of our control, may increase our loan charge-offs and/or may otherwise require an increase in the allowance for loan losses. Our allowance for loan losses was 2.09% of total loans outstanding (excluding loans held for sale) at December 31, 2022.
For additional information concerning our allowance for loan losses, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition - Comparison of Results of Operations for the Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 - Provision for Loan Losses” contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation” of this Form 10-K.
Effective January 1, 2023, the Bank adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, also known as CECL. CECL replaces the incurred loss impairment framework in current GAAP. Adoption of this guidance resulted in a $2.0 million increase in the allowance for credit losses, comprised of increases in the allowance for loan losses of $800,000 and the reserve for unfunded commitments of $1.2 million. The cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings was $1.6 million, net of tax. For additional information on CECL, see “Note 1 - Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies – Recently Issued or Adopted Accounting Standards” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
In addition, bank regulatory agencies periodically review our allowance for loan losses and may require us to increase our provision for loan losses or recognize additional loan charge-offs. Any increases in the provision for loan losses may result in a decrease in net income and may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and capital.
If our non-performing assets increase, our earnings will be adversely affected.
At December 31, 2022, our non-performing assets (which consist of non-accrual loans and OREO) were $6.4 million, or 0.46% of total assets. Our non-performing assets adversely affect our net income in various ways:
•we record interest income only on a cash basis for nonaccrual loans and any non-performing investment securities;
•we do not record interest income for OREO;
•we provide for probable loan losses through a current period charge to the provision for loan losses;
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•non-interest expense increases when we write down the value of properties in our OREO portfolio to reflect changing market values or recognize other-than-temporary impairment on non-performing investment securities;
•there are legal fees associated with the resolution of problem assets, as well as carrying costs, such as taxes, insurance, and maintenance fees related to our OREO; and
•the resolution of non-performing assets requires the active involvement of management, which can distract them from more profitable activity.
If additional borrowers become delinquent and do not pay their loans and we are unable to successfully manage our non-performing assets, our losses and troubled assets could increase significantly, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Our level of commercial real estate loans may expose us to increased lending risks.
While commercial real estate lending may potentially be more profitable than single-family residential lending, it is generally more sensitive to regional and local economic conditions, making loss levels more difficult to predict. Collateral evaluation and financial statement analysis in these types of loans requires a more detailed analysis at the time of loan underwriting and on an ongoing basis. At December 31, 2022, we had $252.2 million of commercial real estate loans, representing 44.9% of our total loan portfolio. Commercial real estate loans typically involve higher principal amounts than other types of loans and some of our commercial borrowers have more than one loan outstanding with us. Consequently, an adverse development with respect to one loan or one credit relationship can expose us to a significantly greater risk of loss compared to an adverse development with respect to a one‑to‑four family residential loan. Repayment on these loans is dependent upon income generated, or expected to be generated, by the property securing the loan in amounts sufficient to cover operating expenses and debt service that may be adversely affected by changes in the economy or local market conditions. For example, if the cash flow from the borrower’s project is reduced as a result of leases not being obtained or renewed, the borrower’s ability to repay the loan may be impaired. Commercial real estate loans also expose a lender to greater credit risk than loans secured by one-to-four family residential real estate because the collateral securing these loans typically cannot be sold as easily as residential real estate. In addition, many of our commercial real estate loans are not fully amortizing and contain large balloon payments upon maturity. Such balloon payments may require the borrower to either sell or refinance the underlying property in order to make the payment that may increase the risk of default or non-payment.
A secondary market for most types of commercial real estate loans is not readily available, so we have less opportunity to mitigate credit risk by selling part or all of our interest in these loans. As a result of these characteristics, if we foreclose on a commercial real estate loan, our holding period for the collateral typically is longer than for one‑to‑four family residential loans because there are fewer potential purchasers of the collateral. Accordingly, charge-offs on commercial real estate loans may be larger on a per loan basis than those incurred with our residential or consumer loan portfolios.
Our construction real estate loans are based upon estimates of costs and the value of the completed project.
We originate construction loans on single-family residences, multi-family dwellings and projects, and commercial real estate, as well as loans for the acquisition and development and construction of residential subdivisions and commercial projects. We originate these loans whether or not the collateral property underlying the loan is under contract for sale.
Construction lending involves additional risks when compared with permanent residential lending because funds are advanced upon the collateral for the project based on an estimate of costs that will produce a future value at completion. Because of the uncertainties inherent in estimating construction costs, as well as the market value of the completed project and the effects of governmental regulation on real property, it is relatively difficult to evaluate accurately the total funds required to complete a project and the completed project loan-to-value ratio. Changes in the demand, such as for new housing and higher than anticipated building costs, may cause actual results to vary significantly from those estimated. For these reasons, this type of lending also typically involves higher loan principal amounts and is often concentrated with a small number of builders. A downturn in housing, or the real estate market, could increase loan delinquencies, defaults and foreclosures, and significantly impair the value of our collateral and our ability to sell the collateral upon foreclosure. Some of our builders have more than one loan outstanding with us and also have residential mortgage loans for rental properties with us. Consequently, an adverse development with respect to one loan or one credit relationship can expose us to a significantly greater risk of loss.
These loans often involve the disbursement of funds with repayment substantially dependent on the success of the ultimate project and the ability of the borrower to sell or lease the property or obtain permanent take-out financing, rather than the ability of the borrower or guarantor to repay principal and interest. If our appraisal of the value of a completed project proves to be overstated, we may have inadequate security for the repayment of the loan upon completion of construction of the project and may incur a loss. Because construction loans require active monitoring of the building process, including cost comparisons and
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on-site inspections, these loans are more difficult and costly to monitor. Increases in market rates of interest may have a more pronounced effect on construction loans by rapidly increasing the end-purchasers’ borrowing costs, thereby reducing the overall demand for the project. Properties under construction are often difficult to sell and typically must be completed in order to be successfully sold which also complicates the process of working out problem construction loans. This may require us to advance additional funds and/or contract with another builder to complete construction. Furthermore, in the case of speculative construction loans, there is the added risk associated with identifying an end-purchaser for the finished project. Land loans also pose additional risk because of the lack of income being produced by the property and the potential illiquid nature of the collateral. These risks can also be significantly impacted by supply and demand conditions.
Construction acquisition and development (A&D) loans pose additional risk because of the lack of income being produced by the property and the potential illiquid nature of the collateral. These risks can be significantly impacted by supply and demand conditions. As a result, this type of lending often involves the disbursement of substantial funds with repayment dependent on the success of the ultimate project and the ability of the borrower to develop, sell or lease the property, rather than the ability of the borrower or guarantor to independently repay principal and interest. There were no non-performing A&D loans at December 31, 2022. A material increase in our non-performing construction and development loans could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operation.
Repayment of our commercial and agricultural business loans is often dependent on the cash flows of the borrower, which may be unpredictable, and the collateral securing these loans may fluctuate in value.
At December 31, 2022, $30.6 million or 5.5% of our total loans were commercial and agricultural business loans. These loans involve risks that are different from those associated with residential and commercial real estate lending. Real estate lending is generally considered to be collateral based lending with loan amounts based on predetermined loan to collateral values and liquidation of the underlying real estate collateral being viewed as the primary source of repayment in the event of borrower default. Our commercial and agricultural business loans are primarily made based on the cash flow of the borrower and secondarily on the underlying collateral provided by the borrower. The borrowers' cash flow may be unpredictable, and collateral securing these loans may fluctuate in value. Although commercial and agricultural business loans are often collateralized by equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, or other business assets, the liquidation of collateral in the event of default is often an insufficient source of repayment because accounts receivable may be uncollectible and inventories may be obsolete or of limited use, among other things. Accordingly, the repayment of commercial and agricultural business loans depends primarily on the cash flow and credit worthiness of the borrower and secondarily on the underlying collateral provided by the borrower.
Our real estate lending also exposes us to the risk of environmental liabilities.
In the course of our business, we may foreclose and take title to real estate, and we could be subject to environmental liabilities with respect to these properties. We may be held liable to a governmental entity or to third persons for property damage, personal injury, investigation, and clean-up costs incurred by these parties in connection with environmental contamination, or may be required to investigate or clean up hazardous or toxic substances, or chemical releases at a property. The costs associated with investigation or remediation activities could be substantial. In addition, as the owner or former owner of a contaminated site, we may be subject to common law claims by third parties based on damages and costs resulting from environmental contamination emanating from the property. If we ever become subject to significant environmental liabilities, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
If our investments in real estate are not properly valued or sufficiently reserved to cover actual losses, or if we are required to increase our valuation reserves, our earnings could be reduced.
We obtain updated valuations in the form of appraisals and broker price opinions when a loan has been foreclosed upon and the property taken in as OREO, and at certain other times during the assets holding period. Our net book value in the loan at the time of foreclosure and thereafter is compared to the updated market value of the foreclosed property less estimated selling costs (fair value). A charge-off is recorded for any excess in the asset's net book value over its fair value. If our valuation process is incorrect, or if the property declines in value after foreclosure, the fair value of our investments in OREO may not be sufficient to recover our net book value in such assets, resulting in the need for additional charge-offs. Additional material charge-offs to our investments in OREO could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, bank regulators periodically review our OREO and may require us to recognize further charge-offs. Significant charge-offs, as required by such regulators, may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
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We may incur losses on our securities portfolio as a result of changes in interest rates.
Factors beyond our control can significantly influence the fair value of securities in our portfolio and can cause potential adverse changes to the fair value of these securities. These factors include, but are not limited to, rating agency actions in respect of the securities, defaults by, or other adverse events affecting, the issuer or with respect to the underlying securities, and changes in market interest rates and continued instability in the capital markets. Any of these factors, among others, could cause other-than-temporary impairments and realized and/or unrealized losses in future periods and declines in other comprehensive income, which could have a material effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The process for determining whether impairment of a security is other-than-temporary usually requires complex, subjective judgments about the future financial performance and liquidity of the issuer and any collateral underlying the security to assess the probability of receiving all contractual principal and interest payments on the security. There can be no assurance that the declines in market value will not result in other-than-temporary impairments of these assets, and would lead to accounting charges that could have a material adverse effect on our net income and capital levels. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we did not incur any other-than-temporary impairments on our securities portfolio.
Risk Related to Changes in Market Interest Rates
Changes in interest rates may reduce our net interest income, and may result in higher defaults in a rising rate environment.
As with most financial institutions, our earnings and cash flows are largely dependent upon our net interest income. Interest rates are sensitive to many factors that are beyond our control, including general economic conditions and policies of various governmental and regulatory agencies, and in particular, the Federal Reserve. Since March 2022, in response to inflation, the Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) of the Federal Reserve has increased the target range for the federal funds rate by 425 basis points, including 125 basis points during the fourth calendar quarter of 2022, to a range of 4.25% to 4.50% as of December 31, 2022. As it seeks to control inflation without creating a recession, the FOMC has indicated further increases are to be expected during 2023. If the FOMC further increases the targeted federal funds rate, interest rates will likely continue to rise, which will positively impact our net interest income but may negatively impact both the housing market, by reducing refinancing activity and new home purchases, and the U.S. economy.
We principally manage interest rate risk by managing our volume and mix of our earning assets and funding liabilities. In a changing interest rate environment, we may not be able to manage this risk effectively. If we are unable to manage interest rate risk effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially affected.
Changes in interest rates could also have a negative impact on our results of operations by reducing the ability of borrowers to repay their current loan obligations or by reducing our margins and profitability. Our net interest margin is the difference between the yield we earn on our assets and the interest rate we pay for deposits and our other sources of funding. Changes in interest rates-up or down-could adversely affect our net interest margin and, as a result, our net interest income. Although the yield we earn on our assets and our funding costs tend to move in the same direction in response to changes in interest rates, one can rise or fall faster than the other, causing our net interest margin to expand or contract. Our liabilities tend to be shorter in duration than our assets, so they may adjust faster in response to changes in interest rates. As a result, when interest rates rise, our funding costs may rise faster than the yield we earn on our assets, causing our net interest margin to contract until the yields on interest-earning assets catch up.
Changes in the slope of the “yield curve”, or the spread between short-term and long-term interest rates-could also reduce our net interest margin. Normally, the yield curve is upward sloping, meaning short-term rates are lower than long-term rates. Because our liabilities tend to be shorter in duration than our assets, when the yield curve flattens or even inverts, we could experience pressure on our net interest margin as our cost of funds increases relative to the yield we can earn on our assets. Also, interest rate decreases can lead to increased prepayments of loans and mortgage-backed securities as borrowers refinance their loans to reduce borrowing costs. Under these circumstances, we are subject to reinvestment risk as we may have to redeploy such repayment proceeds into lower yielding investments, which would likely hurt our income.
A sustained increase in market interest rates could adversely affect our earnings. As is the case with many banks and savings institutions, our emphasis on increasing the development of core deposits, those deposits bearing no or a relatively low rate of interest with no stated maturity date, has resulted in an increasing percentage of our deposits being comprised of deposits bearing no or a relatively low rate of interest and having a shorter duration than our assets. We would incur a higher cost of funds to retain these deposits in a rising interest rate environment. 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, our net interest income, and therefore earnings, could be adversely affected.
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Changes in interest rates also affect the value of our investment securities portfolio. Generally, the fair value of fixed-rate securities fluctuates inversely with changes in interest rates. Unrealized gains and losses on securities available for sale are reported as a separate component of equity, net of tax. Decreases in the fair value of securities available for sale resulting from increases in interest rates could have an adverse effect on stockholders’ equity. At December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated other comprehensive loss of $40.8 million, which is reflected as a reduction to stockholders’ equity.
Although management believes it has implemented effective asset and liability management strategies to reduce the potential effects of changes in interest rates on our results of operations, any substantial, unexpected or prolonged change in market interest rates could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Also, our interest rate risk modeling techniques and assumptions likely may not fully predict or capture the impact of actual interest rate changes on our balance sheet. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Asset and Liability Management and Market Risk” included in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this Form 10-K.
An increase in interest rates, change in the programs offered by governmental sponsored entities ("GSE"), or our ability to qualify for such programs may reduce our mortgage revenues, which would negatively impact our non-interest income.
Our mortgage banking operations provide a portion of our non-interest income. We generate mortgage revenues primarily from gains on the sale of single-family mortgage loans underwritten pursuant to programs currently offered by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. These entities account for a substantial portion of the secondary market in residential mortgage loans. Any future changes in these programs, our eligibility to participate in such programs, the criteria for loans to be accepted or laws that significantly affect the activity of such entities could, in turn, materially adversely affect the success of our mortgage banking program and, consequently, our results of operations.
Mortgage loan production levels are sensitive to changes in economic conditions and can suffer from decreased economic activity, a slowdown in the housing market or higher interest rates. Generally, any sustained period of decreased economic activity or higher interest rates could adversely affect mortgage originations and, consequently, adversely affect income from mortgage lending activities.
Our results of operations will also be affected by the amount of non-interest expense associated with mortgage banking activities, such as salaries and employee benefits, occupancy, equipment and data processing expense and other operating costs. If we cannot generate a sufficient volume of loans for sale, our results of operations may be adversely affected. In addition, during periods of reduced loan demand, our results of operations may be adversely affected to the extent that we are unable to reduce expenses commensurate with the decline in loan originations. Finally, deteriorating economic conditions may also increase the potential for home buyers to default on their mortgages. In certain of these cases where we have originated loans and sold them to investors, we may be required to repurchase loans or provide a financial settlement to investors if it is proven that the borrower failed to provide full and accurate information on or related to their loan application or for which appraisals have not been acceptable or when the loan was not underwritten in accordance with the loan program specified by the loan investor. If repurchase and indemnity demands increase on loans that we sell from our portfolios, our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Risk Related to Regulatory and Compliance Matters
New or changing tax, accounting, and regulatory rules and interpretations could significantly impact strategic initiatives, results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition.
The financial services industry is extensively regulated. Federal and state banking regulations are designed primarily to protect the deposit insurance funds and consumers, not to benefit our shareholders. These regulations may sometimes impose significant limitations on operations. Regulatory authorities have extensive discretion in connection with their supervisory and enforcement activities, including the imposition of restrictions on an institution's operations, the classification of assets by the institution and the adequacy of an institution's allowance for loan losses. These bank regulators also have the ability to impose conditions in the approval of merger and acquisition transactions.
The significant federal and state banking regulations that affect us are described in this report under “Business - Regulation” in Item 1 of this Form 10-K. These regulations, along with the currently existing tax, accounting, securities, insurance, and monetary laws, regulations, rules, standards, policies, and interpretations control the methods by which financial institutions conduct business, implement strategic initiatives and tax compliance, and govern financial reporting and disclosures. These laws, regulations, rules, standards, policies, and interpretations are constantly evolving and may change significantly over time. Any new regulations or legislation, change in existing regulations or oversight, whether a change in regulatory policy or a change in a regulator’s interpretation of a law or regulation, could have a material impact on our operations, increase our costs
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of regulatory compliance and of doing business and/or otherwise adversely affect us and our profitability. Additionally, actions by regulatory agencies or significant litigation against us and may lead to penalties that materially affect us. Further, changes in accounting standards can be both difficult to predict and involve judgment and discretion in their interpretation by us and our independent registered public accounting firm. These changes could materially impact, potentially even retroactively, how we report our financial condition and results of our operations as could our interpretation of those changes. We cannot predict what restrictions may be imposed upon us with future legislation.
Non-compliance with the USA PATRIOT Act, Bank Secrecy Act, or other laws and regulations could result in fines or sanctions.
The USA PATRIOT Act and Bank Secrecy Acts and related regulations require financial institutions to develop programs to prevent financial institutions from being used for money laundering and terrorist activities. If such activities are detected, financial institutions are obligated to file suspicious activity reports with the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. These rules require financial institutions to establish procedures for identifying and verifying the identity of customers seeking to open new financial accounts and beneficial owners of accounts. Failure to comply with these regulations could result in fines or sanctions. During the last few years, several banking institutions have received large fines for non-compliance with these laws and regulations. While we have developed policies and procedures designed to assist in compliance with these laws and regulations, no assurance can be given that these policies and procedures will be effective in preventing violations of these laws and regulations. If our policies and procedures are deemed deficient, we would be subject to liability, including fines and regulatory actions, which may include restrictions on our ability to pay dividends and the denial of regulatory approvals to proceed with certain aspects of our business plan, including acquisitions.
Failure to maintain and implement adequate programs to combat money laundering and terrorist financing could also have serious reputational consequences for us. Any of these results could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
The Company’s reported financial results depend on management’s selection of accounting methods and certain assumptions and estimates, which, if incorrect, could cause unexpected losses in the future.
The Company’s accounting policies and methods are fundamental to how the Company records and reports its financial condition and results of operations. The Company’s management must exercise judgment in selecting and applying many of these accounting policies and methods so they comply with generally accepted accounting principles and reflect management’s judgment regarding the most appropriate manner to report the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, management must select the accounting policy or method to apply from two or more alternatives, any of which might be reasonable under the circumstances, yet might result in the Company’s reporting materially different results than would have been reported under a different alternative.
Certain accounting policies are critical to presenting the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. They require management to make difficult, subjective or complex judgments about matters that are uncertain. Materially different amounts could be reported under different conditions or using different assumptions or estimates. These critical accounting policies include, but are not limited to the allowance for credit losses on loans, securities and unfunded commitments; the valuation of real estate acquired in connection with foreclosures or in satisfaction of loans; income taxes, including tax provisions and realization of deferred tax assets; and the fair value of assets and liabilities. Because of the uncertainty of estimates involved in these matters, the Company may be required, among other things, to significantly increase the allowance for credit losses and/or sustain credit losses that are significantly higher than the reserve provided. For more information, refer to “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Critical Accounting Estimates” contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this Form 10-K.
Our growth or future losses may require us to raise additional capital in the future, but that capital may not be available when it is needed, or the cost of that capital may be very high.
We are required by federal regulatory authorities to maintain adequate levels of capital to support our operations. We anticipate that our capital resources will satisfy our capital requirements for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, we may at some point need to raise additional capital to support continued growth or be required by our regulators to increase our capital resources. Our ability to raise additional capital, if needed, will depend on conditions in the capital markets at that time, which are outside our control, and on our financial condition and performance. Accordingly, we may not be able to raise additional capital, if needed, on terms that are acceptable to us. If we cannot raise additional capital when needed, our operations could be materially impaired and our financial condition and liquidity could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, if we are unable to raise additional capital when required by our banking regulators, we may be subject to additional adverse regulatory action.
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Risks Related to Cybersecurity, Third Parties and Technology
We are subject to certain risks in connection with our use of technology.
Our security measures may not be sufficient to mitigate the risk of a cyber-attack. Communications and information systems are essential to the conduct of our business, as we use such systems to manage our customer relationships, our general ledger and virtually all other aspects of our business. Our operations rely on the secure processing, storage, and transmission of confidential and other information in our computer systems and networks. Although we take protective measures and endeavor to modify them as circumstances warrant, the security of our computer systems, software, and networks may be vulnerable to breaches, unauthorized access, misuse, computer viruses, or other malicious code and cyber-attacks that could have a security impact. If one or more of these events occur, this could jeopardize our or our customers' confidential and other information processed and stored in, and transmitted through, our computer systems and networks, or otherwise cause interruptions or malfunctions in our operations or the operations of our customers or counterparties. We may be required to expend significant additional resources to modify our protective measures or to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures, and we may be subject to litigation and financial losses that are either not insured against or not fully covered through any insurance maintained by us. We could also suffer significant reputational damage.
Security breaches in our internet banking activities could further expose us to possible liability and damage our reputation.
Increases in criminal activity levels and sophistication, advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries, vulnerabilities in third party technologies (including browsers and operating systems) or other developments could result in a compromise or breach of the technology, processes and controls that we use to prevent fraudulent transactions and to protect data about us, our customers and underlying transactions. Any compromise of our security could deter customers from using our internet banking services that involve the transmission of confidential information. We rely on standard internet security systems to provide the security and authentication necessary to effect secure transmission of data. Although we have developed and continue to invest in systems and processes that are designed to detect and prevent security breaches and cyber-attacks and periodically test our security, these precautions may not protect our systems from compromises or breaches of our security measures, and could result in losses to us or our customers, our loss of business and/or customers, damage to our reputation, the incurrence of additional expenses, disruption to our business, our inability to grow our online services or other businesses, additional regulatory scrutiny or penalties, or our exposure to civil litigation and possible financial liability, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our security measures may not protect us from system failures or interruptions.
While we have established policies and procedures to prevent or limit the impact of systems failures and interruptions, there can be no assurance that such events will not occur or that they will be adequately addressed if they do. In addition, we outsource certain aspects of our data processing and other operational functions to certain third-party providers. While we select third-party vendors carefully, we do not control their actions. If our third-party providers encounter difficulties including those resulting from breakdowns or other disruptions in communication services provided by a vendor, failure of a vendor to handle current or higher transaction volumes, cyber-attacks and security breaches or if we otherwise have difficulty in communicating with them, our ability to adequately process and account for transactions could be affected, and our ability to deliver products and services to our customers and otherwise conduct business operations could be adversely impacted. Replacing these third-party vendors could also entail significant delay and expense. Threats to information security also exist in the processing of customer information through various other vendors and their personnel.
We cannot assure you that such breaches, failures or interruptions will not occur or, if they do occur, that they will be adequately addressed by us or the third parties on which we rely. We may not be insured against all types of losses as a result of third party failures and insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover all losses resulting from breaches, system failures or other disruptions. If any of our third-party service providers experience financial, operational or technological difficulties, or if there is any other disruption in our relationships with them, we may be required to identify alternative sources of such services, and we cannot assure you that we could negotiate terms that are as favorable to us, or could obtain services with similar functionality as found in our existing systems without the need to expend substantial resources, if at all. Further, the occurrence of any systems failure or interruption could damage our reputation and result in a loss of customers and business, could subject us to additional regulatory scrutiny, or could expose us to legal liability. Any of these occurrences could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. The board of directors oversees the risk management process, including the risk of cybersecurity, and engages with management on cybersecurity issues.
Our business may be adversely affected by an increasing prevalence of fraud and other financial crimes.
As a bank, we are susceptible to fraudulent activity that may be committed against us or our customers which may result in financial losses or increased costs to us or our customers, disclosure or misuse of our information or our customer’s
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information, misappropriation of assets, privacy breaches against our customers, litigation or damage to our reputation. Such fraudulent activity may take many forms, including check fraud, electronic fraud, wire fraud, phishing, social engineering and other dishonest acts. Nationally, reported incidents of fraud and other financial crimes have increased. We have also experienced losses due to apparent fraud and other financial crimes. While we have policies and procedures designed to prevent such losses, there can be no assurance that such losses will not occur.
We are subject to certain risks in connection with our data management or aggregation.
We are reliant on our ability to manage data and our ability to aggregate data in an accurate and timely manner to ensure effective risk reporting and management. Our ability to manage data and aggregate data may be limited by the effectiveness of our policies, programs, processes and practices that govern how data is acquired, validated, stored, protected and processed. While we continuously update our policies, programs, processes and practices, many of our data management and aggregation processes are manual and subject to human error or system failure. Failure to manage data effectively and to aggregate data in an accurate and timely manner may limit our ability to manage current and emerging risks, as well as to manage changing business needs.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry Generally
We will be required to transition from the use of LIBOR in the future.
We have certain loans, investment securities, subordinated debentures and trust preferred securities indexed to LIBOR to calculate the interest rate. ICE Benchmark Administration, the authorized and regulated administrator of LIBOR, ended publication of the one-week and two-month U. S. Dollar (“USD”) LIBOR tenors on December 31, 2021 and the remaining USD LIBOR tenors will end publication in June 2023. Financial services regulators and industry groups have collaborated to develop alternate reference rate indices or reference rates. The transition to a new reference rate requires changes to contracts, risk and pricing models, valuation tools, systems, product design and hedging strategies. At this time, no consensus exists as to what rate or rates may become acceptable alternatives to LIBOR (with the exception of overnight repurchase agreements, which are expected to be based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR). Uncertainty as to the nature of such potential changes, alternative reference rates, the elimination or replacement of LIBOR, or other reforms may adversely affect the value of and the return on our loans and our investment securities, and may impact the availability and cost of hedging instruments and borrowings, including the rates we pay on our subordinated debentures and trust preferred securities. The language in our LIBOR-based contracts and financial instruments has developed over time and may have various events that trigger when a successor rate to the designated rate would be selected. If a trigger is satisfied, contracts and financial instruments may give the calculation agent discretion over the substitute index or indices for the calculation of interest rates to be selected. The implementation of a substitute index or indices for the calculation of interest rates under our loan agreements with our borrowers or our existing borrowings may result in our incurring 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 clients and creditors over the appropriateness or comparability to LIBOR of the substitute index or indices, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
We are dependent on key personnel and the loss of one or more of those key personnel may materially and adversely affect our prospects.
Competition for qualified employees and personnel in the banking industry is intense and there are a limited number of qualified persons with knowledge of, and experience in, the community banking industry where Security Federal conducts its business. The process of recruiting personnel with the combination of skills and attributes required to carry out our strategies is often lengthy. Our success depends to a significant degree upon our ability to attract and retain qualified management, loan origination, finance, administrative, marketing and technical personnel and upon the continued contributions of our management and personnel. In particular, our success has been and continues to be highly dependent upon the abilities of key executives, including our Chief Executive Officer, J. Chris Verenes, and certain other employees. In addition, our success has been and continues to be highly dependent upon the services of our directors, many of whom are at or nearing retirement age, and we may not be able to identify and attract suitable candidates to replace such directors.
Ineffective liquidity management could impair our ability to fund operations and jeopardize our financial condition, growth and prospects.
Liquidity is essential to our business. An inability to raise funds through deposits, borrowings, the sale of loans and investments or other sources could have a substantial negative effect on our liquidity. Our primary sources of liquidity are increases in deposits, advances, as needed, from the FHLB, borrowings, as needed, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond ("FRB") and other borrowings to fund our operations. Historically, we have been able to replace maturing deposits and advances if desired; however, we may not be able to replace such funds in the future if, among other things, our financial condition, the
29
financial condition of the FHLB or FRB, or market conditions change. Factors that could detrimentally impact our access to liquidity sources include a decrease in the level of our business activity as a result of a downturn in the South Carolina or Georgia markets where our loans are concentrated, negative operating results, or adverse regulatory action against us. Our ability to borrow could also be impaired by factors that are not specific to us, such as a disruption in the financial markets or negative views and expectations about the prospects for the financial services industry in light of the recent turmoil faced by banking organizations or deterioration in credit markets. Deposit flows, calls of investment securities and wholesale borrowings, and the prepayment of loans and mortgage-related securities are also strongly influenced by such external factors as the direction of interest rates, whether actual or perceived, and competition for deposits and loans in the markets we serve. Furthermore, changes to the FHLB's underwriting guidelines for wholesale borrowings or lending policies may limit or restrict our ability to borrow, and could therefore have a significant adverse impact on our liquidity. In addition, the need to replace funds in the event of large-scale withdrawals of brokered deposits could require us to pay significantly higher interest rates on retail deposits or other wholesale funding sources, which would have an adverse impact on our net interest income and net income. A decline in available funding could adversely impact our ability to originate loans, invest in securities, meet our expenses, or to fulfill such obligations as repaying our borrowings or meeting deposit withdrawal demands.
Our financial flexibility will be severely constrained if we are unable to maintain our access to funding or if adequate financing is not available to accommodate future growth at acceptable interest rates. Although we consider our sources of funds adequate for our liquidity needs, we may seek additional debt in the future to achieve our long-term business objectives. Additional borrowings, if sought, may not be available to us or, if available, may not be available on reasonable terms. If additional financing sources are unavailable, or are not available on reasonable terms, our financial condition, results of operations, growth and future prospects could be materially adversely affected. Finally, if we are required to rely more heavily on more expensive funding sources to support future growth, our revenues may not increase proportionately to cover our costs. Additionally, collateralized public funds are bank deposits of state and local municipalities. These deposits are required to be secured by certain investment grade securities to ensure repayment, which on the one hand, tends to reduce our contingent liquidity risk by making these funds somewhat less credit sensitive, but on the other hand, reduces standby liquidity by restricting the potential liquidity of the pledged collateral. Although these have historically been a relatively stable source of funds for us, availability depends on the individual municipality's fiscal policies and cash flow needs. At December 31, 2022, $120.4 million of our deposits were public funds.
If we fail to meet the expectations of our stakeholders with respect to our environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) practices, including those relating to sustainability, it may have an adverse effect on our reputation and results of operation.
Our reputation may also be negatively impacted by our diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) efforts if they fall short of expectations. In addition, various private third-party organizations have developed ratings processes for evaluating companies on their approach to ESG and DEI matters. These ratings may be used by some investors to assist with their investment and voting decisions. Any unfavorable ratings may lead to reputational damage and negative sentiment among our investors and other stakeholders. Furthermore, increased ESG related compliance costs could result in increases to our overall operational costs. Failure to adapt to or comply with regulatory requirements or investor or stakeholder expectations and standards could negatively impact our reputation, ability to do business with certain partners, and our 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.
The Company’s ability to pay dividends and make subordinated debt payments is subject to the ability of the Bank to make capital distributions to the Company.
The Company is a separate legal entity from its subsidiary and does not have significant operations of its own. The long-term ability of the Company to pay dividends to its stockholders and debt payments is based primarily upon the ability of the Bank to make capital distributions to the Company, and also on the availability of cash at the holding company level. The availability of dividends from the Bank is limited by the Bank’s earnings and capital, as well as various statutes and regulations. In the event, the Bank is unable to pay dividends to the Company, the Company may not be able to pay dividends on its common stock or make payments on its outstanding debt. Consequently, the inability to receive dividends from the Bank could adversely affect the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, and future prospects. At December 31, 2022, the Company had $28.8 million in unrestricted cash to support dividend and debt payments.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
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Item 2. Properties
At December 31, 2022, the Company owned the buildings and land for 11 of its branch offices and the operations center; leased the land and owned the improvements thereon for one of its offices; and leased five of the remaining six offices, including its main office. The remaining branch, located in Ridge Spring, is owned by the Town of Ridge Spring; however, Security Federal has made some capital improvements to the building. In addition to the properties related to current Company offices, Security Federal owned five other properties at December 31, 2022. The five properties consist of (i) two lots originally purchased for future branch sites located in Aiken County and Richland County, South Carolina, which are currently for sale and recorded as land held for sale at December 31, 2022, (ii) another lot in Aiken County, South Carolina that was originally purchased to be used for a new Operations Center, which is also currently for sale and included in land held for sale at December 31, 2022, (iii) a property consisting of land and a building that is located adjacent to our 1705 Whiskey Road office that is currently leased at December 31, 2022, and (iv) a property consisting of land and a building located in Augusta, Georgia, which will be a future branch opening in 2023. The Company also rents the building located at 234 Richland Avenue, which is adjacent to our main office, and then subleases it to another business. See "Note 5 - Premises and Equipment, Net and Leases" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the Annual Report and incorporated by reference into “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
The Company is involved as plaintiff or defendant in various legal actions arising in the course of its business. It is the opinion of management, after consultation with counsel, that the resolution of these legal actions will not have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition and results of operations.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
General. The Company’s stock is traded on the OTC Pink Open Market under the symbol “SFDL.OB.” As of March 24, 2023, the Company had approximately 291 shareholders of record, not including shares held in street name, and 3,253,210 outstanding shares of common stock.
Our Board of Directors has declared quarterly cash dividends on our common stock for 125 consecutive quarters. Our cash dividend payout policy is reviewed regularly by management and the Board of Directors. Any dividends declared and paid in the future would depend upon a number of factors, including capital requirements, our financial condition and results of operations, tax considerations, statutory and regulatory limitations, and general economic conditions. No assurances can be given that any dividends will be paid or that, if paid, will not be reduced or eliminated in future periods. Our future payment of dividends may depend, in part, upon receipt of dividends from the Bank, which are restricted by federal regulations.
Stock Repurchases. The Company had no stock repurchases of its outstanding common stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2022, and did not have an authorized stock repurchase program in place as of or during the year ended December 31, 2022.
Equity Compensation Plan Information. The equity compensation plan information presented under subparagraph (d) in Part III, Item 12 of this report is incorporated herein by reference.
Performance Graph. The following graph compares the cumulative total shareholder return on the Company's Common Stock with the cumulative total return on the NASDAQ Composite Index and a peer group of the S&P Regional Bank Index. Total return assumes the reinvestment of all dividends and that the value of Common Stock and each index was $100 on December 31, 2017.
| Period Ending | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Index | 12/31/2017 | 12/31/2018 | 12/31/2019 | 12/31/2020 | 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Security Federal Corporation | $ | 100.00 | $ | 91.23 | $ | 114.13 | $ | 85.24 | $ | 107.36 | $ | 87.51 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NASDAQ Composite | $ | 100.00 | $ | 97.16 | $ | 132.81 | $ | 192.47 | $ | 235.15 | $ | 158.65 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| S&P 600 Regional Banks | $ | 100.00 | $ | 90.15 | $ | 108.69 | $ | 95.59 | $ | 129.76 | $ | 119.53 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
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Item 6. Selected Financial Data
[Reserved]
Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The information contained in the section captioned "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Annual Report is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Market risk is the risk of loss from adverse changes in market prices and rates. Our market risk arises principally from interest rate risk inherent in our lending, investing, deposit and borrowings activities. Management actively monitors and manages its interest rate risk exposure. In addition to other risks that we manage in the normal course of business, such as credit quality and liquidity, management considers interest rate risk to be a significant market risk that could potentially have a material effect on our financial condition and result of operations. The information contained in the section captioned "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Asset and Liability Management" in the Annual Report is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm*
Consolidated Balance Sheets at December 31, 2022 and 2021*
Consolidated Statements of Income for the Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021*
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive (Loss) Income for the Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021*
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders' Equity for the Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021*
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021*
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements*
* Contained in the Annual Report filed as an exhibit to this Form 10-K and incorporated herein by reference.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
(a) Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures: An evaluation of the Company's disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Section 13a-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Act")) was carried out as of December 31, 2022 under the supervision and with the participation of the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and several other members of the Company's senior management as of the end of the period covered by this report. The Company's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that based on their evaluation at December 31, 2022, the Company's disclosure controls and procedures were effective in ensuring that the information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports it files or submits under the Act is (i) accumulated and communicated to the Company's management (including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer) in a timely manner to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure, specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and (ii) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms.
(b) Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting: The management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. The internal control process has been designed under our supervision to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of the Company's financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Management conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, utilizing the framework established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on this assessment, management has determined that the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022 is effective.
33
Our internal control over financial reporting includes policies and procedures that pertain to the maintenance of records that accurately and fairly reflect, in reasonable detail, transactions and dispositions of assets; and provide reasonable assurances that: (1) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States; (2) receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and the directors of the Company; and (3) unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the Company's assets that could have a material effect on the Company's financial statements are prevented or timely detected.
All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
This Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of the Company's independent registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management's report was not subject to attestation by the Company's independent registered public accounting firm pursuant to rules of the SEC that permit the Company to provide only management's report in this Form 10-K.
(c) Changes in Internal Controls: There have been no changes in the Company's internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2022 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company's internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. Other Information
None.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
Not applicable.
PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Directors. The information contained under the section captioned "Proposal 1 - Election of Directors" in the 2023 Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference.
Executive Officers. For information regarding the executive officers of the Company and the Bank, see the information contained herein under the section captioned "Item 1. Business - Executive Officers."
Nominating Procedures. There have been no material changes to the procedures by which stockholders may recommend nominees to our Board of Directors since last disclosed to stockholders.
Audit Committee and Audit Committee Financial Expert. The Company has a separately-designated standing Audit Committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Exchange Act. The Audit Committee of the Company is composed of Directors Moore (Chairperson), Alexander, Clyburn, Thomas, Simmons and Cummins. Directors Moore, Alexander, Clyburn and Thomas are independent, as independence is defined for audit committee members in the listing standards of The Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC. Although Security Federal’s common stock is not listed on Nasdaq, it has chosen to apply Nasdaq’s definition of independence, as permitted by the SEC. The Board of Directors has determined there is no "audit committee financial expert" as defined by the SEC; however, the Board believes that the current members of the Audit Committee are qualified to serve based on their collective experience and background.
Code of Ethics. The Board of Directors has adopted a Code of Ethics for the Company's officers (including its senior financial officers), directors and employees. The Code is applicable to the Company's principal executive officer and senior financial officers. The Company has posted its Code of Ethics on its website www.securityfederalbank.com.
Item 11. Executive Compensation
The information contained in the section captioned "Executive Compensation" in the 2023 Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference.
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Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
(a)Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners. The information contained in the section captioned "Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management" in the 2023 Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference.
(b)Security Ownership of Management. The information contained in the section captioned "Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management" in the 2023 Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference.
(c) Changes in Control. The Company is not aware of any arrangements, including any pledge by any person of securities of the Company, the operation of which may at a subsequent date result in a change in control of the Company.
(d) Equity Compensation Plan Information. There were no securities remaining to be granted or issued upon exercise of outstanding options, warrants and rights under the Company's equity compensation plans as of December 31, 2022.
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
Related Transactions. The information contained in the section captioned "Meetings and Committees of the Board of Directors and Corporate Governance Matters - Corporate Governance - Related Party Transactions" in the 2023 Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference.
Director Independence. The information contained in the section captioned "Meetings and Committees of the Board of Directors and Corporate Governance Matters - Corporate Governance - Director Independence" in the 2023 Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The information contained under the section captioned "Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm" in the 2023 Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference.
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PART IV
Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
1. Financial Statements. For a list of the financial statements filed as part of this report see Part II - Item 8.
2. Financial Statement Schedules. All schedules have been omitted as the required information is either inapplicable or contained in the Consolidated Financial Statements or related Notes contained in the Annual Report filed as an exhibit hereto.
3. Exhibit Index:
| 3.1 | |||||
| 3.2 | |||||
| 4.1 | Form of Stock Certificate of the Company and other instruments defining the rights of security holders, including indentures (3) | ||||
| 4.2 | |||||
| 10.1 | |||||
| 10.2 | |||||
| 10.3 | |||||
| 10.4 | |||||
| 13 | |||||
| 14 | |||||
| 21 | |||||
| 23 | |||||
| 31.1 | |||||
| 31.2 | |||||
| 32 | |||||
| 101 | The following materials from Security Federal Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, formatted in Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL): (1) Consolidated Balance Sheets; (2) Consolidated Statements of Income; (3) Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive (Loss) Income; (4) Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders' Equity; (5) Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows; and (6) Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements | ||||
| 104 | Cover Page Interactive Date File (formatted as inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) | ||||
(1)Filed on June 26, 1998, as an exhibit to the Company's Proxy Statement and incorporated herein by reference.
(2)Incorporated herein by reference to the Registrant's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 16, 2015.
(3)Filed on August 12, 1987 as an exhibit to the Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A and incorporated herein by reference.
(4)Filed on May 24, 2006 as an exhibit to the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K dated May 18, 2006 and incorporated herein by reference.
(5)Filed on March 28, 2018, as an exhibit to the Company’s Proxy Statement and incorporated herein by reference.
(6)Filed on June 8, 2022, as an exhibit to the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K dated May 24, 2022 and incorporated herein by reference.
(7)The Company elects to satisfy Regulation S-K §229.406(c) by posting its Code of Ethics on its website at www.securityfederalbank.com.
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary
None.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
SECURITY FEDERAL CORPORATION
| Date: March 24, 2023 | /s/ J. Chris Verenes | |||||||
| J. Chris Verenes | ||||||||
| Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||||||||
| (Duly Authorized Representative) | ||||||||
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| By: | /s/ J. Chris Verenes | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| J. Chris Verenes | ||||||||
| Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||||||||
| (Principal Executive Officer) | ||||||||
| By: | /s/Darrell Rains | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Darrell Rains | ||||||||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||
| (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) | ||||||||
| By: | /s/Roy G. Lindburg | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Roy G. Lindburg | ||||||||
| President and Director | ||||||||
| By: | /s/Timothy W. Simmons | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Timothy W. Simmons | ||||||||
| Chairman of the Board and Director | ||||||||
| By: | /s/Frank M. Thomas, Jr. | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Frank M. Thomas, Jr. | ||||||||
| Director | ||||||||
| By: | /s/Frampton W. Toole III | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Frampton W. Toole III | ||||||||
| Director | ||||||||
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| By: | /s/Richard T. Harmon | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Richard T. Harmon | ||||||||
| Director | ||||||||
| By: | /s/Robert E. Alexander | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Robert E. Alexander | ||||||||
| Director | ||||||||
| By: | /s/Jessica T. Cummins | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Jessica T. Cummins | ||||||||
| Director | ||||||||
| By: | /s/Thomas L. Moore | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| Thomas L. Moore | ||||||||
| Director | ||||||||
| By: | /s/William Clyburn | March 24, 2023 | ||||||
| William Clyburn | ||||||||
| Director | ||||||||
| By: | ______ __, 2023 | |||||||
| Harry O. Weeks, Jr. | ||||||||
| Director | ||||||||
38