TRICO BANCSHARES / 10-Q

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk Based on the changes in interest rates occurring subsequent to December 31, 2020, the following update of the Company’s assessment of market risk as of March 31, 2021 is being provided. These updates and changes should be read in conjunction with the additional quantitative and qualitative disclosures in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. During the first quarter of 2020, several market interest rates, including many rates that serve as reference indices for variable rate loans or the indices used to price new loan originations, declined markedly from previous levels. The prolonged retraction in rates and the limited slope in yield curve for longer maturities continued to create downward pressure on the portfolio in the first quarter of 2021. Furthermore, management believes that excess liquidity, which when combined with the federal government's continued balance sheet growth and purchase of mortgage-backed agency securities, continues to create limited opportunities for financial institutions to acquire earning assets at yields that are considered neutral or favorable to historical levels of net interest margin. As of March 31, 2021, the Company's loan portfolio consisted of approximately $4.97 billion in outstanding principal with a weighted average coupon rate of 4.20%, inclusive of the PPP program loans. Excluding PPP loans, the Company's loan portfolio has approximately $4.60 billion outstanding with a weighted average coupon rate of 4.46% as of March 31, 2021. Included in the March 31, 2021 loan total, exclusive of PPP loans, are variable rate loans totaling $3.01 billion of which 88.3% or $2.66 billion were at their floor rate. The remaining variable rate loans totaling $351.0 million, which carried a weighted average coupon rate of 4.91% as of March 31, 2021, are subject to further rate adjustment. If those remaining variable rate loans were to collectively, through future rate adjustments, be reduced to their respective floors, they would have a weighted average coupon rate of approximately 4.29% which would result in the reduction of the weighted average coupon rate of the total loan portfolio, exclusive of PPP loans, from 4.46% to approximately 4.41%. Management funds the acquisition of nearly all of its earning assets through its core deposit gathering activities. As of March 31, 2021, non-interest bearing deposits represented 40.3% of total deposits. Further, during the quarter ended March 31, 2021, the cost of interest bearing deposits were 0.10% and the cost of total deposits were 0.06%. Under the assumption that the Company will not introduce a negative rate environment to its customer base and that rates will not increase, management anticipates that future decreases in loan yields are more likely than not to decline more rapidly than decreases in deposit costs and thus continue to put downward pressures on net interest margin. With the intent of stabilizing or increasing net interest income, management intends to continue to deploy its excess liquidity and seek to migrate certain earning assets into higher yielding categories (from investment securities and into loans, for example). As of March 31, 2021 the overnight Federal funds rate, the rate primarily used in these interest rate shock scenarios, was less than 1.00%. Based on the historical nature of these rates in the United States not falling below zero, management believes that a shock scenario that reduces interest rates below zero would not provide meaningful results and therefore, have not been modeled. These scenarios assume that 1) interest rates increase or decrease evenly (in a “ramp” fashion) over a twelve-month period and remain at the new levels beyond twelve months or 2) that interest rates change instantaneously (“shock”). The simulation results shown below assume no changes in the structure of the Company’s balance sheet over the twelve months being measured. 52 Table of Contents The following table summarizes the estimated effect on net interest income and market value of equity to changing interest rates as measured against a flat rate (no interest rate change) instantaneous shock scenario over a twelve month period utilizing the Company's specific mix of interest earning assets and interest bearing liabilities as of March 31, 2021. Interest Rate Risk Simulations: Change in Interest Rates (Basis Points) Estimated Change in Net Interest Income (NII) (as % of NII) Estimated Change in Market Value of Equity (MVE) (as % of MVE) +200 (shock) 3.7 % 16.4 % +100 (shock) 1.7 % 10.3 % + 0 (flat) — — -100 (shock) (3.1) % (27.3) % -200 (shock) nm nm