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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 December 31, 20202022

Commission file number 0-18082

GREAT SOUTHERN BANCORP, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.     Yes ☐  No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.     Yes ☐   No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large“large accelerated filer"filer”, "accelerated“accelerated filer," "smaller” “smaller reporting company"company” and "emerging“emerging growth company"company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.    ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management'smanagement’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). ☐

Indicated by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes ☐   No ⌧

The aggregate market value of the common stock of the registrant held by non-affiliates of the Registrant on June 30, 2020,2022, computed by reference to the closing price of such shares on that date, was $438,764,780.$534,668,377. At March 2, 2021, 13,690,1199, 2023, 12,179,386 shares of the Registrant’s common stock were outstanding.

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PART I

ITEM 1.BUSINESS.

THE COMPANY

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc.

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. ("Bancorp"(“Bancorp” or "Company"“Company”) is a bank holding company, a financial holding company and the parent of Great Southern Bank ("(“Great Southern"Southern” or the "Bank"“Bank”). Bancorp was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in July 1989 as a unitary savings and loan holding company. The Company became a one-bank holding company on June 30, 1998, upon the conversion of Great Southern to a Missouri-chartered trust company. In 2004, Bancorp was re-incorporated under the laws of the State of Maryland.

As a Maryland corporation, the Company is authorized to engage in any activity that is permitted by the Maryland General Corporation Law and not prohibited by law or regulatory policy. The Company currently conducts its business as a financial holding company. Through the financial holding company structure, it is possible to expand the size and scope of the financial services offered by the Company beyond those offered by the Bank, although the Company has not yet chosen to offer financial services beyond those offered by the Bank. The financial holding company structure provides the Company with greater flexibility than the Bank has to diversify its business activities, through existing or newly formed subsidiaries, or through acquisitions of or mergers with other financial institutions as well as other companies. At December 31, 2020, Bancorp's2022, Bancorp’s consolidated total assets were $5.53$5.68 billion, consolidated net loans were $4.30$4.51 billion, consolidated deposits were $4.52$4.68 billion and consolidated total stockholders'stockholders’ equity was $629.7$533.1 million. For details about the Company’s assets, revenues and profits for each of the last five fiscal years, see Item 6. “Selected7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Data.Condition and Results of Operations.” The assets of the Company at the holding company level consist primarily of the stock of Great Southern and cash.

Through the Bank and subsidiaries of the Bank, the Company primarily offers a variety of banking and banking-related services, which are discussed further below. The activities of the Company are funded by retained earnings and through dividends from Great Southern. Activities of the Company may also be funded through borrowings from third parties or sales of additional securities or through income generated by other activities of the Company.securities.

The executive offices of the Company are located at 1451 East Battlefield, Springfield, Missouri, 65804, and its telephone number at that address is (417) 887-4400.

Great Southern Bank

Great Southern was formed as a Missouri-chartered mutual savings and loan association in 1923, and, in 1989, converted to a Missouri-chartered stock savings and loan association. In 1994, Great Southern changed to a federal savings bank charter and then, on June 30, 1998, changed to a Missouri-chartered trust company (the equivalent of a commercial bank charter). Headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, Great Southern offers a broad range of banking services through its 9492 banking centers located in southern and central Missouri; the Kansas City, Missouri area; the St. Louis Missouri area; eastern Kansas; northwestern Arkansas; the Minneapolis Minnesota area and eastern, western and central Iowa. At December 31, 2020,2022, the Bank had total assets of $5.52$5.68 billion, net loans of $4.31$4.51 billion, deposits of $4.63$4.71 billion and equity capital of $698.4$608.4 million, or 12.6%10.7% of total assets. Its deposits are insured by the Deposit Insurance Fund ("DIF"(“DIF”) to the maximum levels permitted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”).

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The size and complexity of the Bank’s operations increased substantially in 2009 with the completion of two FDIC-assisted transactions, and again in 2011, 2012 and 2014 with the completion of another FDIC-assisted transaction in each of those years. In 2009, the Bank entered into two separate purchase and assumption agreements (including loss sharing) with the FDIC to assume all of the deposits (excluding brokered deposits) and certain liabilities and acquire certain assets of TeamBank, N.A. and Vantus Bank. In these two transactions we acquired assets with a fair value of approximately $499.9 million (approximately 18.8% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition) and $294.2 million (approximately 8.8% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition), respectively, and assumed liabilities with a fair value of $610.2 million (approximately 24.9% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition) and $440.0 million (approximately 13.2% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition), respectively. They also resulted in gains of $43.9 million and $45.9 million, respectively, which were included in NoninterestNon-interest Income in the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Income for the year ended December 31, 2009. Prior to these acquisitions, the Company operated banking centers in Missouri with loan production offices in Arkansas and Kansas. These acquisitions added 31 banking centers and expanded our footprint to cover five states – Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Nebraska. In 2011, the Bank entered into a purchase and assumption agreement (including loss sharing) with the FDIC to assume all of the deposits and certain liabilities and acquire certain assets of Sun Security Bank, which added locations in southern Missouri and St. Louis. In this transaction we acquired assets with a fair value of approximately $248.9 million (approximately 7.3% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition) and assumed liabilities with a fair value of $345.8 million (approximately 10.1% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition). It also resulted in a gain of $16.5 million which was included in NoninterestNon-interest Income in the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Income for the year ended December 31, 2011. In 2012, the Bank entered into a purchase and assumption agreement (including loss sharing) with the FDIC to assume all of the deposits and certain liabilities and acquire certain assets of Inter Savings Bank, FSB (“InterBank”), which added four locations in the greater Minneapolis Minnesota area and represented a new market for the Company. In this transaction we acquired assets with a fair value of approximately $364.2 million (approximately 9.4% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition) and assumed liabilities with a fair value of approximately $458.7 million (approximately 11.9% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition). It also resulted in a gain of $31.3 million which was included in NoninterestNon-interest Income in the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Income for the year ended December 31, 2012.

In 2014, the Bank entered into a purchase and assumption agreement (without loss sharing) with the FDIC to assume all of the deposits and certain liabilities and acquire certain assets of Valley Bank (“Valley”), which added five locations in the Quad Cities area of eastern Iowa and six locations in central Iowa, primarily in the Des Moines market area. These represented new markets for the Company in eastern Iowa and enhanced our market presence in central Iowa. In this transaction we acquired assets with a fair value of approximately $378.7 million (approximately 10.0% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition) and assumed liabilities with a fair value of approximately $367.9 million (approximately 9.8% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition). It also resulted in a gain of $10.8 million which was included in NoninterestNon-interest Income in the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Income for the year ended December 31, 2014.

Also in 2014, the Bank entered into a purchase and assumption agreement to acquire certain assets and depository accounts from Neosho, Mo.-basedMissouri-based Boulevard Bank (“Boulevard”), which added one location in the Neosho, Mo.Missouri market, where the Company already operated a banking center. In this transaction, which was completed in 2014, we acquired assets (primarily cash and cash equivalents) with a fair value of approximately $92.5 million (approximately 2.6% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition) and assumed liabilities (all deposits and related accrued interest) with a fair value of approximately $93.3 million (approximately 2.6% of the Company’s total consolidated assets at acquisition). This acquisition resulted in recognition of $790,000 of goodwill.

The Company also opened commercial loan production offices in Dallas, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma, during 2014. The primary products offered in these offices are commercial real estate, commercial business and commercial construction loans.

In 2015, the Company announced plans to consolidate operations of 16 of its banking centers into other nearby Great Southern banking center locations. As part of an ongoing performance review of its entire banking center network, Great Southern evaluated each location for a number of criteria, including access and availability of services to affected customers, the proximity of other Great Southern banking centers, profitability and transaction volumes, and market dynamics. Subsequent to this announcement, the Bank entered into separate definitive agreements to sell two of the 16 banking centers, including all of the associated deposits (totaling approximately $20 million), to separate bank purchasers. One of those sale transactions was completed on February 19, 2016 and the other was completed on March 18, 2016. The closing of the remaining 14 facilities, which resulted in the transfer of approximately

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Also in 2015, the Company announced that it entered into a purchase and assumption agreement to acquire 12 branches, including related loans, and to assume related deposits in the St. Louis Mo., area from Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank. The acquisition was completed at the close of business on January 29, 2016. The deposits assumed totaled approximately $228 million and had a weighted average rate of approximately 0.28%. Thethe loans acquired totaled approximately $159 million and had a weighted average yield of approximately 3.92%.million.

The loss sharing agreements related to the FDIC-assisted transactions in 2009, 2011 and 2012 added to the complexity of our operations by creating the need for new employees and processes to ensure compliance with the loss sharing agreements and the collection of problem assets acquired. See Note 4 included in Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Information” for a more detailed discussion of these FDIC-assisted transactions and the loss sharing agreements. The loss sharing agreements related to the 2009 and 2011 FDIC-assisted transactions were terminated during 2016. The loss sharing agreements related to the 2012 FDIC-assisted transaction were terminated during 2017. See “Loss Share Agreements” below for additional information regarding the termination of these agreements.

The Company opened a commercial loan production office in Chicago Illinois during 2017. The primary products offered in this office are commercial real estate, commercial business and commercial construction loans.

In March 2018, the Bank entered into a definitive agreement to sell its four banking centers, including all of the associated deposits (totaling approximately $56 million), in the Omaha, Nebraska market to Lincoln, Nebraska-based West Gate Bank. This sale transaction was completed in July 2018.

The Company opened two commercial loan production offices – one in Denver Colorado and one in Atlanta Georgia – in late 2018. The primary products offered in these offices are commercial real estate, commercial business and commercial construction loans.

In March 2019, the Company ceased operating its indirect automobile financing unit. Market forces, including strong rate competition for well-qualified borrowers, made indirect lending through automobile dealerships a significant challenge to efficient and profitable operations over the long term. IndirectIn addition, indirect loan balances had significantly declined in 2018 and 2019 after tightened underwriting guidelines were implemented by the Company in the latter part of 2016, in response to more challenging consumer credit conditions. The Company continues to offer direct consumer loans through its banking center network.

In April 2019, the Company consolidated its Fayetteville, Ark.,Arkansas, location into its Rogers, Ark.,Arkansas, banking center. The Company now operates one banking center in Arkansas. In September 2019, the Company consolidated its Ames, Iowa, banking center into its North Ankeny, Iowa, office. The Company entered the Ames market with only one banking center through the Valley Bank FDIC-assisted acquisition in 2014.

In April 2020, the Company was notified by its landlord that the Great Southern banking centers located inside the Hy-Vee stores at 2900 Devils Glen Rd in Bettendorf, Iowa, and 2351 W. Locust St. in Davenport, Iowa, musthad to permanently cease operations at those locations due to store infrastructure changes. Customer accounts were transferred to nearby offices. Great Southern now operates three banking centers in the Quad Cities market area – two in Davenport and one in Bettendorf.

In August 2020, remodeling of the downtown office at 1900 Main in Parsons, Kansas, was completed, which included the addition of drive-thru banking lanes. With this completion, the nearby drive-thru facility was consolidated into the downtown office, leaving one location serving the Parsons market.

In September 2021, the Company opened a new banking center at 2801 E. 32nd Street in Joplin, Missouri, replacing a nearby leased office. The Company currently has two banking centers serving the Joplin market.

In November 2021, the Company consolidated one banking center in the St. Louis region. The Westfall Plaza banking center was consolidated into a Great Southern office less than three miles away.

In August 2022, the Company consolidated one banking center in the St. Louis region. The Clayton office was consolidated into the nearby Brentwood banking center. The Company continues to operate commercial lending services from the Clayton office building. The Company now operates 17 banking centers serving the greater St. Louis area.

Also in August 2022, a newly-constructed banking center opened in Kimberling City, Missouri. The new banking center replaced the former facility located on the same property.

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The Company opened two commercial loan production offices – one in Phoenix and one in Charlotte – in 2022. The primary products offered in these offices are commercial real estate, commercial business and commercial construction loans.

Great Southern is principally engaged in the business of originating commercial real estate loans, construction loans, other commercial loans, multi-family and single-family residential real estate loans and consumer loans and funding these loans by attracting deposits from the general public, obtaining brokered deposits and through borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines (the "FHLBank"“FHLBank”) and others.

For many years, Great Southern has followed a strategy of emphasizing loan originationoriginations through residential, commercial and consumer lending activities in its market areas. The goal of this strategy is to be one of the leading providers of financial services in Great Southern’s market areas, while simultaneously diversifying assets and reducing interest rate risk by originating and holding

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Lending Activities

General

From its beginnings in 1923 through the early 1980s, Great Southern primarily made long-term, fixed-rate residential real estate loans that it retained in its loan portfolio. Beginning in the early 1980s, Great Southern increased its efforts to originate short-term and adjustable-rate loans. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Great Southern increased its efforts to originate commercial real estate and other

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The percentage of collateral value Great Southern will loan on real estate and other property varies based on factors including, but not limited to, the type of property and its location and the borrower'sborrower’s credit history. As a general rule, Great Southern will loan up to 95% of the appraised value on one-to four-family residential properties. Typically, private mortgage insurance is required for loan amounts above the 80% level. At December 31, 20202022 and 2019,2021, loans secured by second liens on residential properties were $87.3$82.3 million, or 2.0%1.8%, and $106.5$78.5 million, or 2.5%1.9%, respectively, of our total loan portfolio. For commercial real estate and other residential real property loans, Great Southern may loan up to 85% of the appraised value. The origination of loans secured by other property is considered and determined on an individual basis by management with the assistance of any industry guides and other information which may be available. Collateral values are reappraised or reassessed as loans are renewed or when significant events indicating potential impairment occur. On a quarterly basis, management reviews impairedindividually evaluated loans to determine whether updated appraisals or reassessments are necessary based on loan performance, collateral type and guarantor support. While not specifically required by our policy, we seek to obtain cross-collateralization of loans to a borrower when it is available and it is most frequently done on commercial real estate loans.

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Loan Portfolio Composition

The following tables settable sets forth information concerning the composition of the Bank’s loan portfolio in dollar amounts and in percentages (before deductions for loans in process, deferred fees and discounts and allowance for loancredit losses) as of the dates indicated. The tables aretable is based on information prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and areis qualified by reference to the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto contained in Item 8 of this report.

The loans acquired in the four FDIC-assisted transactions completed in 2009 through 2012, which were acquired at discounts and were previously covered by loss sharing agreements between the FDIC and the Bank, and the loans acquired in 2014 from the former Valley Bank, which were acquired at discounts and were never covered by a loss sharing agreement, are shown combined below in tables separate from the legacy Great Southern portfolio. All of these acquired loan portfolios were initially recorded at their fair values at the acquisition date and are recorded by the Company at their discounted value. The following tables reflect the loan balances excluding discounts.

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The following table shows the fixed- and adjustable-rate composition of the Bank’s loan portfolio at the dates indicated. The table is based on information prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The portfolio composition by fixed and adjustable rate tables presented in the Bancorp Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the years ended December 31, 2018 - 2020 was divided into legacy loans and loans accounted for under ASC 310-30. At December 31, 2021 and 2022, this information has been consolidated into one table as Great Southern Loan Portfolio Composition.

Great Southern Loan Portfolio Composition by Fixed- and Adjustable-Rates:

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