Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
In this document, please note that references to "we", "our", "us", or the "Company" mean Northrim BanCorp, Inc. and its subsidiaries, unless the context suggests otherwise.
General
We are a publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. The Company’s common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Stock Market (“NASDAQ”) under the symbol, “NRIM.” The Company is regulated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. We began banking operations in Anchorage in December 1990, and formed the Company as an Alaska corporation in connection with our reorganization into a holding company structure; that reorganization was completed effective December 31, 2001. The Company has grown to be the third largest commercial bank in Alaska in terms of deposits, with $2.5 billion in total deposits and $2.8 billion in total assets at December 31, 2023. Northrim Bank and Residential Mortgage are easily accessible to approximately 90% of the Alaska's population through our geographically dispersed 19 branches and 12 mortgage origination offices.
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The Company has three direct wholly-owned subsidiaries:
• Northrim Bank (the “Bank”), a state chartered, full-service commercial bank headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. The Bank is regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the "FDIC") and the State of Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, Division of Banking and Securities. The Bank has 19 branch locations in Alaska; eight in Anchorage, one in Wasilla, two in Juneau, two in Fairbanks, one in Ketchikan, one in Sitka, one in Eagle River, one in Nome, one in Soldotna, and one in Kodiak. Additionally, we have a loan production office in Homer. We operate in Washington State through Northrim Funding Services (“NFS”), a factoring business that the Bank started in 2004. We offer a wide array of commercial and consumer loan and deposit products, investment products, and electronic banking services over the Internet;
• Northrim Investment Services Company (“NISC”) was formed in November 2002. Through NISC, we own 22% of the total outstanding equity interest in Pacific Wealth Advisors, LLC (“PWA”), an investment advisory, trust, and wealth management business located in Seattle, Washington. PWA is a holding company that owns Pacific Portfolio Consulting, LLC and Pacific Portfolio Trust Company;
• Northrim Statutory Trust 2 (“NST2”), an entity that we formed in December 2005 to facilitate a trust preferred securities offering by the Company.
The Bank has three direct wholly-owned subsidiaries:
• Northrim Capital Investments Co. (“NCIC”) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank, which holds a 100% interest in a residential mortgage holding company, Residential Mortgage Holding Company, LLC, the parent company of Residential Mortgage, LLC (collectively “RML”). RML held a 30% investment in Homestate Mortgage, LLC until it dissolved in 2023.
• Northrim Building, LLC (“NBL”) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank that owns and operates the Company’s main office facility at 3111 C Street in Anchorage.
• Northrim Building LO, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank that owns and operates the Company’s community branch facilities at 2270 E. 37th Avenue in Anchorage and 2491 Tongass Avenue in Ketchikan.
Segments
The Company operates in two primary segments: Community Banking and Home Mortgage Lending. Measures of the revenues, profit or loss, and total assets for each of the Company's segments are included in Part II. Item 8. "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this report, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Business Strategy
The Company’s primary objective is to be Alaska's most trusted financial institution by adding value for our customers, communities, and shareholders. We aspire to be Alaska's premier bank and employer of choice as a leader in financial expertise, products, and services. We value our state, and we are proud to be Alaskan. We embody Alaska's frontier spirit and values, and we support our communities. We have a sincere appreciation for our customers, and we strive to deliver superior customer first service that is reliable, ethical, and secure. We look for growth opportunities for our customers, our institution, and our employees.
Our strategy is one of value-added growth. Management believes that calculated, sustainable organic and inorganic market share growth coupled with good asset quality, an appropriate core deposit and capital base, operational efficiency, diversified sources of other operating income, and improved profitability is the most appropriate means of increasing shareholder value.
Our business strategy emphasizes commercial lending products and services through relationship banking with businesses and professional individuals. Because of our relatively small size, our experienced senior management team can be more involved with serving customers and making credit decisions, all of which are made in Alaska, allowing us to compete more favorably with larger competitors for business lending relationships. Our business strategy also emphasizes the origination of a variety of home mortgage loan products, most of which we sell to the secondary market. We retain servicing for home mortgages that we originate and sell to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation ("AHFC"). We believe that there is opportunity to increase the Company’s loan portfolio, particularly in the commercial portion of the portfolio, in the Company’s
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current market areas through existing and new customers. In addition to lending products, in many cases commercial customers also require multiple deposit and affiliated services that add franchise value to the Company. We believe that these strategies will continue to benefit the Company in 2024, and we intend to continue to grow our balance sheet through increasing our market share.
The Company’s business strategy also stresses the importance of customer deposit relationships to support its lending activities. Our guiding principle is to serve our market areas by operating with a “Superior Customer First Service” philosophy, affording our customers the highest priority in all aspects of our operations. We believe that our adherence to this philosophy has created a strong core deposit franchise that provides a stable, low cost funding source for expanded growth in all of our lending areas. We have devoted significant resources to our treasury management products, including a corporate purchasing card and integrated payables, as well as expansion of electronic services for both personal and business customers, and enhancement of the Company's information security related to providing these services.
In addition to market share growth, a significant aspect of the Company’s business strategy is focused on managing the credit quality of our loan portfolio. As the Company continues to grow, management is committed to allocating more resources to the credit management function of the Bank to provide enhanced financial analysis of our largest, most complex loan relationships to further develop our processes for analyzing and managing various concentrations of credit within the overall loan portfolio. Continued success in maintaining the credit quality of our loan portfolio and managing our level of other real estate owned is a significant aspect of the Company’s strategy for attaining sustainable, long-term market growth to produce increased shareholder value.
Human Capital Resources
We believe that we provide a high level of customer service. To achieve our objective of providing “Superior Customer First Service”, in managing its human capital resources, management emphasizes the hiring and retention of competent and highly motivated employees at all levels of the organization. Management believes that a well-trained and highly motivated core of employees allows maximum personal contact with customers in order to understand and fulfill customer needs and preferences. This “Superior Customer First Service” philosophy is combined with our emphasis on personalized, local decision making. The Company continues to enhance our company-wide employee training program which focuses on Northrim culture, "Superior Customer First Service", general sales and management skills, and various technical areas. All applicants and employees are treated with the same high level of respect regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. The Company complies with all applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the Company operates.
The Company strives to continuously evaluate our human capital polices for improvement and alignment with current best practices. The Company recently added the Juneteenth National Independence Day and Indigenous People's Day to our lineup of paid holidays for employees. Additionally, effective January 1, 2022 the Company enhanced its paid parental leave program for employees following the birth of a child or the placement of a child in connection with an adoption. In the third quarter of 2022, the Company increased base wages for all Community Banking employees below the level of Senior Vice President. This pay increase was done outside of the normal annual salary review process in order to appropriately respond, in a timely manner, to inflationary and competitive wage pressures. Effective January 1, 2023, the Company increased its sick leave benefit from 32 to 40 hours per year and removed the legacy 3-day wait period to use this benefit.
Approximately 47% of the Company's employees are working remotely as of December 31, 2023 either on a full- or part-time basis, including employees that work remotely part-time and work in the office part-time, which we refer to as a "hybrid" work from home arrangement. Like many other entities, the percentage of the Company's work force that works remotely in some fashion increased during the pandemic and is expected to stay approximately consistent with current levels in the future as the Company has adjusted to the new environment. We also offer our employees other flexible work options, such as variable work hours, condensed workweeks and part-time hours. There have been no material impacts to our operations due to the increase in these alternative working arrangements, and we are pleased to provide our employees with more flexibility to accommodate their needs. In addition, Northrim provides for a strong work/life balance, including generous paid time off and paid parental leave.
Employee Profile
We consider our relations with our employees to be highly satisfactory. We had 472 full-time equivalent employees at December 31, 2023. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Of the 472 full-time equivalent employees, 332 were Community Banking employees and 140 were Home Mortgage Lending employees.
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Among the Company's full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2023, 66% identify as women and 34% as men. Approximately 34% of the workforce identify as a member of a racial minority, 3% identify as individuals with a disability, and 1% identify as veterans. In executive and senior management positions, 37% identify as women and 63% as men as of December 31, 2023. Approximately 9% of those in executive and senior management positions identify as a member of a racial minority, 6% identify as individuals with a disability, and 6% identify as veterans.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We strive to ensure a respectful, diverse, and inclusive environment and experience for all of our employees. We support and cultivate an open and respectful environment where everyone can actively contribute, have equal access to opportunities and resources, be themselves, and realize their potential. This is reflected in our policies, which encourage individual values, strengths and protections to provide gender diversity and equality in the workplace and are reinforced through our annual anti-harassment training. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we emphasize inclusion through hiring and compensation practices and consider a pool of diverse candidates for open positions and internal advancement opportunities and treat all our applicants with the same high level of respect regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. To address issues related to pay discrimination, we do not ask potential candidates about their current or previous compensation during the hiring process, and we incorporate equal and fair pay reviews into every employment compensation decision. Our annual Affirmative Action Plan continues to focus our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on increasing the number of veterans and persons with disabilities in our workforce.
Products and Services
Community Banking
Lending Services: We have an emphasis on commercial and real estate lending. Our loan products include short and medium-term commercial loans, commercial credit lines, construction and real estate loans, and consumer loans. We emphasize providing financial services to small and medium-sized businesses and to individuals. These types of lending products have provided us with market opportunities and generally provide higher net interest margins compared to other types of lending such as consumer lending. However, they also involve greater risks, including greater exposure to changes in local economic conditions.
Additionally, in 2021 and 2020, we originated a significant amount of Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loans. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief. and Economic Security ("CARES") Act established several new temporary U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loan programs to assist U.S. small businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic. PPP provided loans to small businesses who were affected by economic conditions as a result of COVID-19 and included loan forgiveness of all or a portion of the loan, subject to certain eligibility requirements and conditions.
Our lending operations are guided by loan policies, approval procedures, and amount limitations. Our loan policies outline the basic policies and procedures by which lending operations are conducted. Generally, the policies address our desired loan types, target markets, underwriting and collateral requirements, terms, interest rate and yield considerations, and compliance with laws and regulations. The policies are reviewed and approved annually by the board of directors of the Bank. Management has processes in place to analyze and manage various concentrations of credit within the overall loan portfolio. The Credit Administration Department monitors the procedures and processes for both the analysis and reporting of problem loans, and also develops strategies to resolve problem loans based on the facts and circumstances for each loan. Additionally, the Credit Administration Department performs a review of the loan portfolio for compliance with loan policy, as well as a review of credit quality. Loan review follows the FDIC sampling guidelines on an annual basis. Finally, our Internal Audit independently reviews loans for regulatory compliance and conformance to the Bank's policies and procedures.
Purchase of accounts receivable: We provide short-term working capital to customers primarily in our Alaska markets as well as Washington, Oregon and some other states by purchasing their accounts receivable through NFS. Our purchased receivable activity is guided by policies that outline risk management, documentation, and approval limits. In 2024, we expect NFS to continue to operate in these markets and to continue to contribute to the Company’s profitability.
Deposit Services : Our deposit services include business and personal noninterest-bearing checking accounts and interest-bearing time deposits, checking accounts, savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts. Our interest-bearing accounts generally earn interest at rates established by management based on competitive market factors and management’s desire to increase or decrease certain types or maturities of deposits.
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Several of our deposit services and products are:
• A specialized business checking account customized to account activity;
• A money market deposit account;
• A “Jump-Up” certificate of deposit (“CD”) that allows additional deposits with the opportunity to increase the rate to the current market rate for a similar term CD;
• A savings account that is priced like a money market account that allows additional deposits, quarterly withdrawals without penalty, and tailored maturity dates;
• IntraFi® Network Deposits℠ and business sweep;
• Consumer online banking, mobile app, and mobile deposit;
• Business online banking, business mobile app, and business mobile deposit; and
• Instantly issued debit cards for business and consumer accounts at account opening.
Other Services : In addition to our traditional deposit and lending services, we offer our customers several convenience services: Mobile Web and Mobile APP Banking, consumer online account opening, Personal Finance, Online Documents, Consumer Debit Cards, Business Debit Cards, My Rewards for consumer debit cards, retail lockbox services, card controls, Consumer Credit Cards, Business Credit Cards, Corporate Purchase Cards, Integrated Payables, home equity advantage access cards, telebanking, and automated teller services. Other services include personalized checks at account opening, overdraft protection from a savings account, commercial drive-up banking at many locations, automatic transfers and payments, People Pay (a peer-to-peer payment functionality), external transfers, Bill Pay, wire transfers, direct payroll deposit, electronic tax payments, Automated Clearing House origination and receipt, remote deposit capture, account reconciliation and positive pay, merchant services, cash management programs and sweep options to meet the needs of business customers, annuity products, and long term investment portfolios.
Other Services Provided Through Affiliates: Our affiliate PWA provides investment advisory, trust, and wealth management services for customers who are primarily located in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. We plan to continue to leverage these affiliate relationships to strengthen our existing customer base and bring new customers into the Bank.
Significant Business Concentrations: No individual or single group of related accounts is considered material in relation to our total assets or total revenues, or to the total assets, deposits or revenues of the Bank, or in relation to our overall business. Based on classification by North American Industry Classification System ("NAICS"), there are no segments that exceed 10% of portfolio loans, except for real estate (see Note 5, Loans and Credit Quality, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II. Item 8 of this report for a breakout of real estate loans). The Company has $465.4 million non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans as of December 31, 2023 of which 17% are office class A or B, 14% are office / warehouse, 14% are retail centers, 10% are hotels, 10% are apartments, 8% are mini warehouse and self-storage, 7% are warehouse, and 20% are other.
In addition to its review of NAICS codes, the Company has also identified concentrations in various industries that may be adversely impacted by a future health pandemic and a decline in oil prices. We estimate that as of December 31, 2023 the Company had $123.3 million, or 7% of total portfolio loans, in the Healthcare sector; $100.4 million, or 6% of portfolio loans, in the Tourism sector; $84.2 million, or 5% in the Accommodations sector; $75.0 million, or 4% in the Fishing sector; $72.8 million, or 4% in Retail loans; $63.4 million, or 4% of portfolio loans, in the Aviation (non-tourism) sector; and $52.2 million, or 3% in the Restaurants and Breweries sector. Additionally, approximately 39% of our loan portfolio at December 31, 2023 is attributable to 50 large borrowing relationships. Moreover, our business activities are currently focused primarily in the state of Alaska. Consequently, our results of operations and financial condition are dependent upon the general trends in the Alaska economy and, in particular, the residential and commercial real estate markets in Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, the Kenai Peninsula, and to a lesser extent, Ketchikan, Sitka, Kodiak and Nome.
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Home Mortgage Lending
Lending Services: The Company originates 1-4 family residential mortgages, the majority of which are located in Alaska, most of which we sell to the secondary market. Residential mortgage choices include several products from AHFC including first-time homebuyer, veteran's and rural community programs; Federal Housing Authority, or "FHA" loans; Veterans Affairs, or "VA" loans; and various conventional mortgages. The Company retains servicing rights on loans sold to AHFC since implementing a loan servicing program in July 2015. The Company also originates loans funded for investment, including adjustable rate mortgages, a second home product, jumbo loans, and extended locks which are retained as consumer loans in the Company's loan portfolio.
Alaska Economy
Our growth and operations are impacted by the economic conditions of Alaska and the specific markets we serve. Significant changes in the Alaska economy and the markets we serve eventually could have a positive or negative impact on the Company. Alaska is strategically located on the Pacific Rim, within nine hours by air from 95% of the northern hemisphere, and Anchorage is a worldwide air cargo and transportation link between the United States and international business in Asia and Europe. The economy of Alaska is dependent upon natural resource industries. Key sectors of the Alaska economy are the oil industry, government and military spending, and the fishing, mining, tourism, air cargo, transportation, and construction industries, as well as health services.
Recent Economic Developments
The Alaska Department of Labor ("DOL") has reported Alaska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in November of 2023 was 4.4% compared to the U.S. rate of 3.7%. The total number of payroll jobs in Alaska, not including uniformed military, increased 1.6% or 5,000 jobs between November of 2022 and November of 2023.
According to the DOL, Health Care had the largest growth in new jobs in Alaska through November compared to the prior year. The sector added 1,300 positions for a year over year growth rate of 3.3%. The Oil & Gas sector had the largest percentage growth rate at 5.6% or 400 new jobs. Leisure and Hospitality added 800 jobs for a 2.6% growth rate. Professional & Business Services and Trade, Transportation & Utilities both added 700 jobs year over year through November of 2023. The Government sector grew by 500 jobs for 0.6% growth due to more federal positions in Alaska, which offset declines in Alaska state government jobs.
Alaska’s Gross State Product (“GSP”) in the third quarter of 2023, was estimated to be $67.7 billion in current dollars, according to the Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis ("BEA"). Alaska’s inflation adjusted “real” GSP grew 3.6% at annualized rates in the third quarter of 2023, compared to the average U.S. rate of 4.9%. Alaska’s real GSP improvement in the third quarter of 2023 was aided by gains in the Transportation & Warehousing and Construction sectors.
The BEA also calculated Alaska’s seasonally adjusted personal income at $52.3 billion in the third quarter of 2023. This was an annualized improvement of 2.2% for Alaska over the second quarter of 2023, compared to the national average of 3.5%.
The monthly average price of Alaska North Slope (“ANS”) crude oil was in a range between $75.64 and $95.05 in 2023. The Alaska Department of Revenue (“DOR”) calculated ANS crude oil production was 479 thousand barrels per day (“bpd”) in Alaska’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. The DOR has forecast production to decline slightly to 470 thousand bpd in Alaska’s fiscal year 2024. That number is projected to grow by the DOR to 663 thousand bpd by fiscal year 2033. This is primarily a result of new production coming on line in and around the NPR-A region west of Prudhoe Bay.
According to the Alaska Multiple Listing Services, the average sales price of a single family home in Anchorage rose 5.4% in 2023 to $481,181, following a 7.6% increase in 2022. This was the sixth consecutive year of price increases.
Average sales prices for single family homes in the Matanuska Susitna Borough rose 4% in 2023 to $397,858, after increasing 9.9% in 2022. This continues a trend of average price increases for more than a decade in the region. These two markets represent where the vast majority of the Bank’s residential lending activity occurs.
However, the Alaska Multiple Listing Services reported a large decrease in the number of units sold in both communities. There were 2,162 housing units sold in Anchorage in 2023, down 24.1% compared to 2,849 in 2022. In the Matanuska Susitna Borough there were 1,632 homes sold in 2023, compared to 2,103 in 2022, a decrease of 22.4%.
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A material portion of our loans at December 31, 2023, were secured by real estate located in greater Anchorage, Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Fairbanks, and Southeast Alaska. In 2023, 24% of our revenue was derived from the residential housing market in the form of loan fees and interest on residential construction and land development loans and income from our Home Mortgage Lending segment as compared to 25% and 38% in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Real estate values generally are affected by economic and other conditions in the area where the real estate is located, fluctuations in interest rates, changes in tax and other laws, and other matters outside of our control. A decline in real estate values in the greater Anchorage, Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Fairbanks, and Southeast Alaska areas could significantly reduce the value of the real estate collateral securing our real estate loans and could increase the likelihood of defaults under these loans.
Long Term Economic Factors
We believe the long-term growth of the Alaska economy will most likely be determined by large scale natural resource development projects. Several multi-billion dollar projects can potentially advance in the moderate-term. Some of these projects include copper, gold and molybdenum production at the proposed Donlin Gold mine and continued exploration in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska. Two significant oil production projects, Willow and Pikka, have been sanctioned and are under development, however the Willow project still faces legal challenges. Because of their size, we believe each of these projects faces tremendous challenges. We believe various political decisions need to be made by government regulators, issues need to be resolved in the court system, and multi-billion dollar financial commitments need to be made by the private sector if these large natural resource projects are to advance. If none of these projects moves forward in the next ten years, we believe state revenues will continue to decline with falling oil production from older fields on the North Slope of Alaska. We anticipate the decline in state revenues will likely have a negative effect on Alaska’s economy.
The oil industry plays a significant role in the economy of Alaska, but revenues for the State of Alaska are less dependent on the oil industry than they have been historically due to the implementation of a percent of market value (“POMV”) concept that has balanced and created more certainty in state revenue streams. Part of the POMV concept creates an allocation of a portion of investment earnings to unrestricted revenue instead of restricted revenue. According to the DOR, in 2023 and 2022, investment earnings allocated from the Alaska Permanent Fund under the POMV represented $3.5 billion, or 49%, and $3.0 billion, or 43%, respectively, of unrestricted State revenues. As of December 31, 2023, Alaska's Constitutional Budget Reserve was $2.8 billion and the Alaska Permanent Fund had a balance of $77.4 billion. Investment revenue generated by the Alaska Permanent Fund is also used to pay an annual dividend to every eligible Alaskan citizen.
Even though we believe that the implementation of the POMV concept is a positive for the state of Alaska's financial well-being, we anticipate that if oil prices drop to lower levels in the longer term it will be a concern for Alaska's long-term economic growth. However, we believe Alaska's economy is less sensitive to oil price volatility within a six- to twelve-month time frame than Alaska's state government budget. While state government revenue from oil royalties is immediately and directly impacted by a drop in oil prices, we believe that the large scale and nature of oil wells in Alaska are such that project commitments that currently exist will most likely not be disrupted by short-term price volatility.
We believe our exposure to the tourism industry diversifies the Company's customer base in the long-term. We believe this helps mitigate the effect that a decline in natural resource industries, specifically the oil industry, in Alaska would have on the Company's operations. Southeast Alaska is the primary destination for cruise ships that visit Alaska. Based on the latest information from Rain Coast Data, approximately one million cruise ship tourists have visited Southeast Alaska annually in recent years, including 1.2 million in 2022, except in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 29, 2023 the Juneau Empire reported that 1.65 million cruise ship passengers visited Alaska in 2023, and the totals for 2024 and 2025 are expected to be similar to 2023.
Alaska’s residents are not subject to any state income or state sales taxes. For over 40 years, Alaska residents have received annual distributions payable in October of each year from the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, which is supported by royalties from oil production and earnings from its investments. The distribution was $1,312 per eligible resident in 2023 for an aggregate distribution of approximately $819.2 million. The Anchorage Economic Development Corporation estimates that, for most Anchorage households, distributions from the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation exceed other Alaska taxes to which those households are subject.
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Competition
We operate in a highly competitive and concentrated banking environment. We compete not only with other commercial banks, but also with many other financial competitors, including credit unions (including Global Credit Union, formerly Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, one of the nation’s largest credit unions), finance companies, mortgage banks and brokers, securities firms, insurance companies, private lenders, and other financial intermediaries, many of which have a state-wide or regional presence, and in some cases, a national presence. Many of our competitors have substantially greater resources and capital than we do and offer products and services that are not offered by us. Our non-bank competitors also generally operate under fewer regulatory constraints, and in the case of credit unions, are not subject to income taxes. Changes in credit union operating practices have effectively eliminated the “common bond” of membership requirement and liberalized their lending authority to include business and real estate loans on par with commercial banks. The differences in resources and regulation may make it harder for us to compete profitably, to reduce the rates that we can earn on loans and investments, to increase the rates we must offer on deposits and other funds, and adversely affect our financial condition and earnings.
As our industry becomes increasingly dependent on and oriented toward technology-driven delivery systems, permitting transactions to be conducted electronically, non-bank institutions are able to attract funds and provide lending and other financial services even without offices located in our primary service area. Some insurance companies and brokerage firms compete for deposits by offering rates that are higher than may be appropriate for the Company in relation to its asset and liability management objectives. However, we offer a wide array of deposit products and services and believe we can compete effectively through relationship based pricing and effective delivery of “Superior Customer First Service”. We also compete with full service investment firms for non-bank financial products and services offered by PWA and through retail investment advisory services and annuity investment products that we offer through a third-party vendor.
Currently, there are seven commercial banks operating in Alaska. At June 30, 2023, the date of the most recently available information, from the FDIC, Northrim Bank had approximately a 15% share of the Alaska bank deposits, 19% in the Anchorage area, 22% in Juneau, 19% in Matanuska-Susitna, 15% in Sitka, 12% in Fairbanks, 10% in Ketchikan, 10% in the Kenai Peninsula, 2% in Kodiak, and 8% in Nome.
The following table sets forth market share data for the banks and credit unions having a presence in Alaska as of June 30, 2023, the most recent date for which comparative deposit information is available.
Financial institution Number of branches Total deposits (in thousands) Market share of total bank deposits
Northrim Bank (1)
19 $2,328,743 15.0 %
Wells Fargo Bank Alaska (1)
38 6,482,757 41.9 %
First National Bank Alaska (1)
27 3,874,988 25.0 %
Key Bank (1)
10 1,116,909 7.2 %
First Bank (1)
9 741,643 4.8 %
Mt. McKinley Bank (1)
5 521,186 3.4 %
Denali State Bank (1)
5 420,906 2.7 %
Total bank branches 113 $15,487,132 100 %
(1) FDIC Summary of Deposits as of June 30, 2023.
Supervision and Regulation
The Company is a bank holding company within the meaning of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the “BHC Act”) registered with and subject to examination by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “FRB”). The Company’s bank subsidiary is an Alaska-state chartered commercial bank and is subject to examination, supervision, and regulation by the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, Division of Banking and Securities (the “Division”). The FDIC insures the Bank’s deposits and also examines, supervises, and regulates the Bank. The Company’s affiliated investment advisory and wealth management company, Pacific Portfolio Consulting, LLC, is subject to and regulated under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940 and applicable state investment advisor rules and regulations. The Company’s affiliated trust company, Pacific Portfolio Trust Company, is regulated as a non-depository trust company under the trust company laws of the State of Washington and is subject to supervision and examination by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions.
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The Company’s earnings and activities are affected, among other things, by legislation, by actions of the FRB, the Division, the FDIC and other regulators, by local legislative and administrative bodies, and decisions of courts. These include limitations on the ability of the Bank to pay dividends to the Company, numerous federal and state consumer protection laws imposing requirements on the making, enforcement, and collection of consumer loans, and restrictions on and regulation of the sale of mutual funds and other uninsured investment products to customers.
The Dodd-Frank Act significantly modified and expanded the legal and regulatory requirements imposed on banks and other financial institutions. The Dodd-Frank Act permanently increased the maximum amount of deposit insurance coverage to $250,000 per depositor and deposit insurance assessments paid by the Bank are now based on the Bank’s total assets. Other Dodd-Frank Act changes include: (i) tightened capital requirements for the Bank and the Company; (ii) new requirements on parties engaged in residential mortgage origination, brokerage, lending and securitization; (iii) expanded restrictions on affiliate and insider transactions; (iv) enhanced restrictions on management compensation and related governance procedures; (v) creation of a federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the "CFPB") with broad authority to regulate consumer financial products and services; and (vi) restrictions and prohibitions on the ability of banking entities to engage in proprietary trading and to invest in or have certain relationships with hedge funds and private equity funds.
Bank holding companies, such as the Company, are subject to a variety of restrictions on the activities in which they can engage and the acquisitions they can make. The activities or acquisitions of bank holding companies, such as the Company, that are not financial holding companies, are limited to those which constitute banking, managing or controlling banks or which are closely related activities. A bank holding company is required to obtain the prior approval of the FRB for the acquisition of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of any class of voting securities or substantially all of the assets of any bank or bank holding company. Nonbank acquisitions and activities of a bank holding company are also generally limited to the acquisition of up to 5% of the outstanding shares of any class of voting securities of a company unless the FRB has previously determined that the nonbank activities are closely related to banking, or prior approval is obtained from the FRB.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (the “GLB Act”) also included extensive consumer privacy provisions. These provisions, among other things, limit the ability of banks and other financial institutions to disclose nonpublic consumer information to non-affiliated third parties. The regulations require disclosure of privacy policies and allow consumers to prevent certain personal information from being shared with non-affiliated third parties. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (“FACT Act”) requires financial institutions to develop and implement an identity theft prevention program to detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft “red flags” to reduce the risk that customer information will be misused to conduct fraudulent financial transactions. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act, the rule-making authority for the privacy provisions of the GLB Act has been transferred to the CFPB. In addition, the states are permitted to adopt more extensive privacy protections through legislation or regulation.
There are various legal restrictions on the extent to which a bank holding company and certain of its nonbank subsidiaries can borrow or otherwise obtain credit from their banking subsidiaries or engage in certain other transactions with or involving those banking subsidiaries. With certain exceptions, federal law imposes limitations on, and requires collateral for, extensions of credit by insured depository institutions, such as the Bank, to their non-bank affiliates, such as the Company. In addition, new capital rules may affect the Company's ability to pay dividends.
Subject to certain limitations and restrictions, a bank holding company, with prior approval of the FRB, may acquire an out-of-state bank. Banks in states that do not prohibit out-of-state mergers may merge with the approval of the appropriate federal banking agency. A state bank may establish a de novo branch out of state if such branching is permitted by the other state for state banks chartered by such other state.
Among other things, applicable federal and state statutes and regulations which govern a bank’s activities relate to minimum capital requirements, required reserves against deposits, investments, loans, legal lending limits, mergers and consolidations, borrowings, issuance of securities, payment of dividends, establishment of branches and other aspects of its operations. The Division and the FDIC also have authority to prohibit banks under their supervision from engaging in what they consider to be unsafe or unsound practices.
There also are certain limitations on the ability of the Company to pay dividends to its shareholders. It is the policy of the FRB that bank holding companies should pay cash dividends on common stock only out of net income available over the past year and only if the prospective rate of earnings retention is consistent with the organization’s current and expected future capital needs, asset quality and overall financial condition. The policy provides that bank holding companies should not maintain a level of cash dividends that undermines a bank holding company’s ability to serve as a source of strength to its
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banking subsidiaries. Additionally, the Alaska Corporations Code generally prohibits the Company from making any distributions to the Company's shareholders unless the amount of the retained earnings of the Company immediately before the distribution equals or exceeds the amount of the proposed distribution. The Alaska Corporations Code also prohibits the Company from making any distribution to the Company's shareholders if the Company or a subsidiary of the Company making the distribution is, or as a result of the distribution would be, likely to be unable to meet its liabilities as they mature. Under Alaska law, the Bank is not permitted to pay or declare a dividend in an amount greater than its undivided profits.
Various federal and state statutory provisions also limit the amount of dividends that subsidiary banks can pay to their holding companies without regulatory approval. The FDIC or the Division could take the position that paying a dividend would constitute an unsafe or unsound banking practice. In addition, recent capital rules may affect the Bank's ability to pay dividends.
Under longstanding FRB policy and under the Dodd-Frank Act, a bank holding company is required to act as a source of financial strength for its subsidiary banks. The Company could be required to commit resources to its subsidiary bank in circumstances where it might not do so, absent such requirement.
Both the Company and the Bank are required to maintain minimum levels of regulatory capital. In July 2013, federal banking regulators (including the FDIC and the FRB) adopted new capital requirement rules (the “Rules”). The Rules apply to both depository institutions (such as the Bank) and their holding companies (such as the Company). The Rules reflect, in part, certain standards initially adopted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in December 2010 (which standards are commonly referred to as “Basel III”) as well as requirements contemplated by the Dodd-Frank Act.
The Rules recognize three types, or tiers, of capital: common equity Tier 1 capital, additional Tier 1 capital and Tier 2 capital. Common equity Tier 1 capital generally consists of retained earnings and common stock instruments (subject to certain adjustments), as well as accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”), except to the extent that the Company and the Bank exercise a one-time irrevocable option to exclude certain components of AOCI. Additional Tier 1 capital generally includes noncumulative perpetual preferred stock and related surplus subject to certain adjustments and limitations. Tier 2 capital generally includes certain capital instruments (such as subordinated debt) and portions of the amounts of the allowance for loan and lease losses, subject to certain requirements and deductions. The term "Tier 1 capital" means common equity Tier 1 capital plus additional Tier 1 capital, and the term "total capital" means Tier 1 capital plus Tier 2 capital.
The Rules generally measure an institution's capital using four capital measures or ratios. The common equity Tier 1 capital ratio is the ratio of the institution's common equity Tier 1 capital to its total risk-weighted assets. The Tier 1 capital ratio is the ratio of the institution's total Tier 1 capital to its total risk-weighted assets. The total capital ratio is the ratio of the institution's total capital to its total risk-weighted assets. The leverage ratio is the ratio of the institution's Tier 1 capital to its average total consolidated assets. To determine risk-weighted assets, assets of an institution are generally placed into a risk category and given a percentage weight based on the relative risk of that category. The percentage weights range from 0% to 1,250%. An asset's risk-weighted value will generally be its percentage weight multiplied by the asset's value as determined under generally accepted accounting principles. In addition, certain off-balance-sheet items are converted to balance-sheet credit equivalent amounts, and each amount is then assigned to one of the risk categories. An institution's federal regulator may require the institution to hold more capital than would otherwise be required under the Rules if the regulator determines that the institution's capital requirements under the Rules are not commensurate with the institution's credit, market, operational or other risks.
Both the Company and the Bank are required to have a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 4.5% as well as a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 4.0%, a Tier 1 risk-based ratio of 6.0% and a total risk-based ratio of 8.0%. In addition to the preceding requirements, both the Company and the Bank are required to have a “conservation buffer,” consisting of common equity Tier 1 capital, which is at least 2.5% above each of the preceding common equity Tier 1 capital ratio, the Tier 1 risk-based ratio and the total risk-based ratio. An institution that does not meet the conservation buffer will be subject to restrictions on certain activities including payment of dividends, stock repurchases and discretionary bonuses to executive officers.
The Rules set forth the manner in which certain capital elements are determined, including but not limited to, requiring certain deductions related to mortgage servicing rights and deferred tax assets. The Rules permit holding companies with less than $15 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2009 (which includes the Company) to continue to include trust preferred securities issued prior to May 19, 2010 in Tier 1 capital, generally up to 25% of other Tier 1 capital.
The Rules made changes in the methods of calculating certain risk-based assets, which in turn affects the calculation of risk- based ratios. Higher or more sensitive risk weights are assigned to various categories of assets, among which are commercial real estate, credit facilities that finance the acquisition, development or construction of real property, certain
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exposures or credits that are 90 days past due or are nonaccrual, foreign exposures, certain corporate exposures, securitization exposures, equity exposures and in certain cases mortgage servicing rights and deferred tax assets. We believe that the current capital levels of the Company and the Bank are in compliance with the standards under the Rules including the conservation buffer.
Following the enactment of certain federal legislation in 2018, the federal banking regulators (including the FDIC and FRB) proposed a rule intended to simplify capital rules for certain community banks and their holding companies, the Community Bank Leverage Ratio (“CBLR”). Qualifying community banking organizations can elect to opt-into the CBLR and be under a new capital requirement rather than the current capital framework. To be eligible to make this election, the community banking organization would have to have less than $10 billion in assets, have a community bank leverage ratio of at least 9.00% and meet certain other criteria (including limits on off-balance sheet exposures and trading assets and liabilities). The CBLR would generally be the ratio of the organization's total bank equity capital to average assets, subject to certain adjustments. The intent of the CBLR is to simplify but not weaken capital requirements for qualifying community banks. Management has not elected to opt in to these new capital rules.
In addition to the minimum capital standards, the federal banking agencies have issued regulations to implement a system of "prompt corrective action." These regulations apply to the Bank but not the Company. The regulations establish five capital categories; under the Rules, a bank generally is:
“well capitalized” if it has a total risk-based capital ratio of 10.0% or more, a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 8.0% or more, a common equity Tier 1 risk-based ratio of 6.5% or more, and a leverage capital ratio of 5.0% or more, and is not subject to any written agreement, order or capital directive to meet and maintain a specific capital level for any capital measure;
“adequately capitalized” if it has a total risk-based capital ratio of 8.0% or more, a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 6.0% or more, a common equity Tier 1 risk-based ratio of 4.5% or more, and a leverage capital ratio of 4.0% or more;
“undercapitalized” if it has a total risk-based capital ratio less than 8.0%, a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio less than 6.0%, a common equity risk-based ratio less than 4.5% or a leverage capital ratio less than 4.0%;
“significantly undercapitalized” if it has a total risk-based capital ratio less than 6.0%, a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio less than 4.0%, a common equity risk-based ratio less than 3.0% or a leverage capital ratio less than 3.0%; and
“critically undercapitalized” if it has a ratio of tangible equity to total assets that is equal to or less than 2.0%.
A bank that, based upon its capital levels, is classified as “well capitalized,” “adequately capitalized” or “undercapitalized” may be treated as though it were in the next lower capital category if the appropriate federal banking agency, after notice and opportunity for a hearing, determines that an unsafe or unsound condition, or an unsafe or unsound practice, warrants such treatment.
At each successive lower capital category, a bank is subject to increasing supervisory restrictions. For example, being “adequately capitalized” rather than “well-capitalized” affects a bank’s ability to accept brokered deposits without the prior approval of the FDIC, and may cause greater difficulty obtaining retail deposits. Banks in the “adequately capitalized” classification may have to pay higher interest rates to continue to attract those deposits, and higher deposit insurance rates for those deposits. This status also affects a bank’s eligibility for a streamlined review process for acquisition proposals.
Management intends to maintain capital ratios for the Bank in 2024 that exceed the FDIC’s requirements for the “well-capitalized” capital requirement classification. The dividends that the Bank pays to the Company will be limited to the extent necessary for the Bank to meet the regulatory requirements of a “well-capitalized” bank.
The Bank is required to file periodic reports with the FDIC and the Division and is subject to periodic examinations and evaluations by those regulatory authorities. These examinations must be conducted every 12 months, except that certain “well-capitalized” banks may be examined every 18 months. The FDIC and the Division may each accept the results of an examination by the other in lieu of conducting an independent examination.
In the liquidation or other resolution of a failed insured depository institution, claims for administrative expenses (including certain employee compensation claims) and deposits are afforded a priority over other general unsecured claims,
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including non-deposit claims, and claims of a parent company such as the Company. Such priority creditors would include the FDIC, which succeeds to the position of insured depositors to the extent it has made payments to such depositors.
The Bank is subject to the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (“CRA”). The CRA requires that the Bank help meet the credit needs of the communities it serves, including low and moderate income neighborhoods, consistent with the safe and sound operation of the institution. The FDIC assigns one of four possible ratings to the Bank’s CRA performance and makes the rating and the examination reports publicly available. The four possible ratings are outstanding, satisfactory, needs to improve and substantial noncompliance. A financial institution’s CRA rating can affect an institution’s future business. For example, a federal banking agency will take CRA performance into consideration when acting on an institution’s application to establish or move a branch, to merge or to acquire assets or assume liabilities of another institution. In its most recent CRA examination, the Bank received a “Satisfactory” rating from the FDIC.
On October 24, 2023, the FDIC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), and the FRB jointly issued a final rule to strengthen and modernize the existing CRA regulations. Under the final rule, the agencies will evaluate a bank’s CRA performance based upon the varied activities that it conducts and the communities in which it operates. CRA evaluations and data collection requirements will be tailored based on bank size and type. The Bank would be considered a large bank with assets of greater than $2 billion under the final rule and therefore will be evaluated under new lending, retail services and products, community development financing, and community development services tests. The final rule includes CRA assessment areas associated with mobile and online banking, and new metrics and benchmarks to assess retail lending performance. In addition, the final rule emphasizes smaller loans and investments that can have a high impact and be more responsive to the needs of low and moderate income communities. The final rule will take effect on April 1, 2024; however, compliance with the majority of the final rule's provisions will not be required until January 1, 2026, and the data reporting requirements of the final rule will not take effect until January 1, 2027.
The Bank is also subject to the Bank Secrecy Act (the “BSA”) and other anti-money laundering laws and regulations including the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the “USA PATRIOT Act”) and the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the “AMLA”). The BSA is intended to require financial institutions to develop policies, procedures, and practices to prevent and deter money laundering. The regulations implementing the BSA require financial institutions to establish risk-based procedures for conducting ongoing customer due diligence and procedures for understanding the nature and purpose of customer relationships for the purpose of developing a customer risk profile. In addition, FinCEN has promulgated customer due diligence and customer identification rules that require banks to identify and verify the identity of the beneficial owners. In addition to complying with the BSA, the Bank is subject to the USA PATRIOT Act. The USA PATRIOT Act is designed to deny terrorists and criminals the ability to obtain access to the United States’ financial system and has significant implications for depository institutions, brokers, dealers, and other businesses involved in the transfer of money. The USA PATRIOT Act mandates that financial service companies implement additional policies and procedures and take heightened measures designed to address any or all of the following matters: customer identification programs, money laundering, terrorist financing, identifying and reporting suspicious activities and currency transactions, currency crimes, and cooperation between financial institutions and law enforcement authorities.
Further, on January 1, 2021, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (the “NDAA”), which included the enactment of AMLA, and which enacted the most significant overhaul of the BSA and related anti-money laundering laws since the USA PATRIOT Act. Notable amendments include, among others, significant changes to the collection of beneficial ownership information and the establishment of a beneficial ownership registry, which requires corporate entities to report beneficial ownership information to FinCEN. Many of the amendments require the Department of Treasury and FinCEN to promulgate rules. On September 29, 2022, FinCEN issued a final regulation implementing the BSA amendments included in the NDAA with respect to beneficial ownership reporting. The Bank’s policies and procedures are designed to comply with the requirements of the anti-money laundering laws, including the USA PATRIOT ACT.
In July 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published adopted final rules relating to risk management, strategy, governance and incident disclosure which are applicable to public companies in preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents. These SEC rules, and any other regulatory guidance, are in addition to notification and disclosure requirements under state and federal banking law and regulations.
The federal banking regulators regularly issue new guidance and standards, and update existing guidance and standards, regarding cybersecurity intended to enhance cyber risk management among financial institutions. Financial institutions are expected to comply with such guidance and standards and to accordingly develop appropriate security controls
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and risk management processes. If we fail to observe such regulatory guidance or standards, we could be subject to various regulatory sanctions, including financial penalties.
Effective in 2022, the federal banking agencies adopted a Final Rule, that requires banking organizations to notify their primary banking regulator within 36 hours of determining that a “computer-security incident” has materially disrupted or degraded, or is reasonably likely to materially disrupt or degrade, the banking organization’s ability to carry out banking operations or deliver banking products and services to a material portion of its customer base, its businesses and operations that would result in material loss, or that would impact the stability of the United States. State regulators have also been increasingly active in implementing privacy and cybersecurity standards and regulations.
Risks and exposures related to cybersecurity attacks, including litigation and enforcement risks, are expected to be elevated for the foreseeable future due to the rapidly evolving nature and sophistication of these threats, as well as due to the expanding use of Internet banking, mobile banking and other technology-based products and services by us and our customers.
A number of other federal and state consumer protection laws extensively govern the Bank’s relationship with its customers. These laws include the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Truth in Savings Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Expedited Funds Availability Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Service Members Civil Relief Act and these laws’ respective state-law counterparts, as well as state and territorial usury laws and laws regarding unfair and deceptive acts and practices. These and other laws subject the Bank to substantial regulatory oversight and, among other things, require disclosures of the cost of credit and terms of deposit accounts, provide substantive consumer rights, prohibit discrimination in credit transactions, regulate the use of credit report information, provide financial privacy protections, prohibit unfair, deceptive and abusive practices, and restrict the Bank’s ability to raise interest rates.
The Company is also subject to the information, proxy solicitation, insider trading restrictions and other requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Securities Exchange Act of 1934”), including certain requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Available Information
The Company’s annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as its current reports on Form 8-K and proxy statement filings (and all amendments thereto), which are filed with the SEC, are accessible free of charge at our website at http://www.northrim.com as soon as reasonably practicable after filing with the SEC. By making this reference to our website, the Company does not intend to incorporate into this report any information contained in the website. The website should not be considered part of this report.
The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may also obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains a website at http://www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including the Company, that file electronically with the SEC.