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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 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, 2023

☐   TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                          to

Commission File Number: 001-39036

ALERUS FINANCIAL CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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(701) 795-3200

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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 þ 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 þ 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, 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.

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

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 Act). Yes ☐  No ⌧

The aggregate market value of the voting common equity held by non-affiliates, as of June 30, 2023, was approximately $341,868,115 (based on the closing price on The Nasdaq Capital Market on that date of $17.98). The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding at February 29, 2024 was 19,737,829.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

The information required by Part III is incorporated by reference to portions of the definitive proxy statement to be filed within 120 days after December 31, 2023, pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in connection with the annual meeting of stockholders to be held on May 7, 2024.

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements concerning plans, estimates, calculations, forecasts and projections with respect to the anticipated future performance of Alerus Financial Corporation, or the Company. These statements are often, but not always, identified by words such as “may”, “might”, “should”, “could”, “predict”, “potential”, “believe”, “expect”, “continue”, “will”, “anticipate”, “seek”, “estimate”, “intend”, “plan”, “projection”, “would”, “annualized”, “target” and “outlook”, or the negative version of those words or other comparable words of a future or forward-looking nature. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements the Company makes regarding projected growth, anticipated future financial performance, financial condition, credit quality and management’s long-term performance goals and the future plans and prospects of Alerus Financial Corporation.

Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on the Company’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of the Company’s business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of the Company’s control. The Company’s actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the Company’s actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following:

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Any forward-looking statement made by the Company in this report is based only on information currently available to the Company and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

ITEM 1.  BUSINESS

Company Overview and History

Alerus Financial Corporation, or the Company, is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Through the Company’s subsidiary, Alerus Financial, National Association, or the Bank, the Company provides innovative and comprehensive financial solutions to businesses and consumers through four distinct business segments—banking, retirement and benefit services, wealth management, and mortgage. These solutions are delivered through a relationship oriented primary point of contact along with responsive and client friendly technology.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $3.9 billion of total assets, $2.8 billion of total loans, $3.1 billion of total deposits, $369.1 million of stockholders’ equity, $36.7 billion of assets under administration/management in the Company’s retirement and benefit services segment, and $4.0 billion of assets under administration/management in the Company’s wealth management segment. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company had $364.1 million of mortgage originations.

The Company’s business model produces strong financial performance and a diversified revenue stream, which has helped the Company establish a brand and culture yielding both a loyal client base and passionate and dedicated employees. The Company believes its client first and advice-based philosophy, diversified business model and history of high performance and growth distinguishes the Company from other financial service providers. The Company generates its revenues from both net interest income and noninterest income. Net interest income is derived from offering the Company’s traditional banking products and services. Noninterest income is driven primarily by the Company’s retirement and benefit services, wealth management, and mortgage business segments. The remainder of revenue consists of net interest income, which derives from offering the Company’s traditional banking products and services.

The Company’s operations date back to 1879, when it was originally founded as the Bank of Grand Forks, one of the first banks chartered in the Dakota Territory. In 2000, the Company changed its name to Alerus Financial Corporation, reflecting the Company’s evolution from a traditional community bank to a high value financial services company focused on serving the needs of businesses and consumers who desire comprehensive financial solutions delivered through relationship-based advice and service. Since this rebranding, the Company has experienced significant growth, both organically and through a series of strategic acquisitions. This growth has allowed the Company to build a diversified franchise and expand its geographic footprint into growing metropolitan areas. The Company believes these initiatives have transformed itself into a high tech, high touch client service provider, increased earnings and allowed the Company to return more value to stockholders.

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The Company’s Business Model and Products and Services

General

The Company’s business model is client centric, with a focus on offering a diversified range of solutions to clients who desire an advice-based relationship, enabling the Company to become the preferred financial services provider for clients. Through this approach, instead of focusing on the broader population, the Company targets specific business and consumer segments that the Company believes it can serve better than its competitors and that have meaningful growth potential. By offering sound financial advice and a long-term partnership, the Company believes it aligns best with clients who are achievement oriented in their purpose and will allow the Company to play an active role in their success at all stages of their businesses and lives. The Company classifies its consumer clients based on their financial needs and goals, aligning best with those clients with complex situations. The Company’s business clients are classified by industry, with a focus on specific high priority industries and client types, including professional services, finance and insurance, wholesale, small business, construction, retail, and manufacturers. The Company targets businesses with sales between $2.0 million and $100.0 million.

The Company’s commitment to delivering diversified solutions is driven by the Company’s “One Alerus” initiative, launched in 2017, which enables the Company to bring all of its product and service offerings to clients in a cohesive and seamless manner. Underlying the One Alerus initiative is the Company’s strategy of serving clients through a combination of technology and skilled advisors—a “high tech, high touch” approach that the Company believes clients demand and deserve. One Alerus lays the strategic foundation for current and future technology investments and the synergistic growth strategies of a diversified financial services firm. It also brings together the Company’s product and service offerings in a unified way, which the Company believes differentiates itself from competitors and allows the Company to impact clients more meaningfully and generate long term value for the Company. The primary components of One Alerus are:

Through One Alerus, the Company strives to provide each client with a primary point of contact—a trusted advisor—who takes the time to develop an in depth understanding of the client’s needs and goals. The Company’s advisors work holistically with clients in a guidance-based manner to proactively help them with their financial decisions. The Company’s products and services include traditional bank offerings such as checking accounts, debit cards, savings accounts, personal and business loans, credit cards, online banking, mobile banking / wallet, private banking, deposit and payment solutions, and mortgages, as well as fee income services such as individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, 401(k) rollovers, retirement planning, employer sponsored plans, employee stock ownership plans, health savings account, or HSA, flex spending account, or FSA, administration and government health insurance program services, and wealth management services such as advisory, investment management, and trust and fiduciary services. The advisor is equipped to tailor this diverse set of products and services to each client’s unique goals and is empowered to reach across the Company’s organization to bring the client in contact with product specialists as needed. One Alerus bridges the gaps between the Company’s business units with a focus on client advocacy. The Company

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believes the One Alerus initiative will enable the Company to achieve future organic growth by leveraging its existing client base and help continue to provide strong returns to the Company’s stockholders.

The trusted advisor relationship is supported and enhanced through an integrated client access portal called “My Alerus.” By collaborating with a key technology partner, the Company has integrated the diverse client applications of the Company’s full product suite into a unified system and layered in new technology to bring a client’s entire financial picture into one view. For example, a client who has multiple products with the Company, such as banking accounts, a mortgage, wealth management accounts, a retirement account, and a health benefit account, can now access all of these accounts online and effect transactions via one, single login through My Alerus. Instead of being forced to use different usernames and passwords for each system, the Company has created a single login dashboard to access the most used information on client accounts and coupled that with the ability to link into more detailed information within each transaction system (banking, retirement, and benefits, wealth management and mortgage). The Company’s clients can further personalize their dashboard by integrating or linking financial accounts held at other institutions into My Alerus. Once the Company’s clients have integrated or linked all of their financial information, the data can be used to create a custom financial fitness score to help clients save for emergencies, plan for retirement, manage their debt, optimize health savings and protect them from unexpected events with insurance.

On July 1, 2022, the Company completed the acquisition of MPB BHC, Inc., the holding company of Metro Phoenix Bank. The primary reasons for the acquisition were to expand the Company’s business in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metropolitan statistical area, or Phoenix MSA, and grow the size of the Company’s business. As consideration for the merger, the Company issued $64.0 million of its common stock (valued at $23.81 per share as of July 1, 2022) in a stock-for-stock transaction. As a result of the acquisition, the Company acquired $270.4 million in loans and $353.7 million in deposits from Metro Phoenix Bank.

Banking

Lending. Through the Company’s relationship-oriented lending approach, the Company’s strategy is to offer a broad range of customized commercial and consumer lending products for the personal investment and business needs of the Company’s clients. The Company’s commercial lending products include commercial loans, business term loans and lines of credit for a diversified mix of small and midsized businesses. The Company offers both owner occupied and non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans, as well as construction and land development loans. The Company’s consumer lending products include residential first mortgage loans. In addition to originating these loans for the Company’s own portfolio, it originates and sells, primarily servicing released, whole loans in the secondary market. The Company’s mortgage loan sales activities are primarily directed at originating single family mortgages, which generally conform to Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation guidelines and are delivered to the investor shortly after funding. Additionally, the Company offers installment loans and lines of credit, typically to facilitate investment opportunities for consumer clients whose financial characteristics support the request. The Company also provides clients loans collateralized by cash and marketable securities.

The Company’s loan portfolio includes commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans, consumer loans, which include residential real estate loans, indirect auto loans and other consumer loans, and a small amount of agricultural loans. The principal risk associated with each category of loans the Company makes is the creditworthiness of the borrower. Borrower creditworthiness is affected by general economic conditions and the attributes of the borrower and the borrower’s market or industry. The Company underwrites for strong cash flow, multiple sources of repayment, adequate collateral, borrower experience and backup guarantors. Attributes of the relevant business market or industry include the competitive environment, client and supplier availability, the threat of substitutes, and barriers to entry and exit.

Deposits. The Company provides a broad range of deposit products and services, including demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, money market accounts, time and savings deposits, and certificates of deposit. Core deposits, which consist of noninterest-bearing deposits, interest-bearing checking accounts, certificates of deposit less than $250,000, and money market accounts, provide the Company’s major source of funds from individuals, businesses and local governments. As of December 31, 2023, core deposits totaled $3.0 billion or 96.1% of the Company’s total deposits. The Company’s deposit portfolio includes synergistic deposits from the retirement and

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benefits services and wealth management segments. As of December 31, 2023, these synergistic deposits totaled $851.5 million. The Company also offers an HSA deposit program to attract low cost deposits. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $176.7 million of HSA deposits which are included in the synergistic deposit total.

The Company offers a range of treasury management products, including electronic receivables management, remote deposit capture, cash vault services, merchant services, and other cash management services. Deposit flows are significantly influenced by general and local economic conditions, changes in prevailing interest rates, internal pricing decisions and competition. The Company’s deposits are primarily obtained from depositors located in the Company’s geographic footprint, and the Company believes that it has attractive opportunities to capture additional deposits in the Company’s markets. In addition, the Company has created a National Market to focus on growing the synergistic deposits from the retirement and benefits services and wealth management segments. In order to attract and retain deposits, the Company relies on providing quality service, offering a suite of consumer and commercial products and services and introducing new products and services that meet the Company’s clients’ needs as they evolve.

Retirement and Benefit Services

The Company’s retirement and benefit services business offers retirement plan administration and investment advisory services, employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, administration, fiduciary services, HSA and other benefit services to clients on a nationwide basis. A breakdown of these services is as follows:

Wealth Management

The Company’s wealth management division provides fiduciary services to consumer and commercial clients. These services include financial planning, investment management, personal and corporate trust services, estate administration, and custody services. In addition, the wealth management division offers brokerage services to compliment the unique needs of its clients. The Company’s investment management services offer two unique and proprietary strategies called Dimension and Blueprint, which are primarily targeted toward IRAs, and agency account relationships. A Dimension account is a proprietary, separately managed account designed for individual investors, foundations, endowments and institutions with assets typically greater than $500 thousand. Dimension accounts use actively managed portfolios consisting of individual securities, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds selected and monitored by a centralized team of investment professionals. A Blueprint account uses a series of models that are designed to help investors gain exposure to a diversified, risk-based asset allocation. Portfolios in these accounts are comprised of mutual funds run by consistent, low-cost fund managers, with the Bank conducting initial and ongoing fund monitoring of the model allocations and rebalancing the portfolios on a regular basis.

Mortgage

The Company’s mortgage business offers first and second mortgage loans through a centralized mortgage unit located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as through the Company’s banking office locations. These loans typically enable borrowers to purchase or refinance existing homes, most of which serve as the primary residence of the owner. In 2023, approximately 97.0% of the loans made by the mortgage division were for the purchase of a residential property, compared to 3.0% for the refinance of an existing mortgage. The Company sources most residential mortgage loans from the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metropolitan statistical area, or the Twin Cities MSA, and for the year ended

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December 31, 2023, approximately 85.6% of the total mortgage loans were attributable to that market, compared to 9.4% attributable to the North Dakota market and 5.0% attributable to the Phoenix MSA. The Company believes there is an opportunity to expand the mortgage loan pipeline in these other markets, especially in the Phoenix MSA. Although the Company originates loans for its own portfolio, the Company also conducts mortgage banking activities in which it originates and sells, servicing released, whole loans in the secondary market. Typically, loans with a fixed interest rate of greater than 10 years are available-for-sale and sold on the secondary market. The Company’s mortgage banking loan sales activities are primarily directed at originating single family mortgages that are priced and underwritten to conform to previously agreed criteria before loan funding and are delivered to the investor shortly after funding. The level of future loan originations, loan sales, and loan repayments depends on overall credit availability, the interest rate environment, the strength of the general economy, local real estate markets and the housing industry, and conditions in the secondary loan sale market. The amount of gain or loss on the sale of loans is primarily driven by market conditions and changes in interest rates, as well as the Company’s pricing and asset liability management strategies. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had mortgage loans held for sale of $11.5 million from the residential mortgage loans originated. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company’s mortgage segment originated $364.1 million of mortgage loans.

The Company’s Banking Market Areas

The Company’s primary banking market areas are the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, specifically, the Twin Cities MSA, and Arizona, specifically, the Phoenix MSA. In addition to offices located in the Company’s banking markets, the retirement and benefit services business administers plans in all 50 states through offices located in Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota.

North Dakota

The Company’s corporate headquarters, which is a full-service banking office located at 401 Demers Avenue, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58201, primarily serves the eastern North Dakota market along with two other full-service banking offices located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, three full-service banking offices located in Fargo and West Fargo, North Dakota, and one full-service banking office located in Northwood, North Dakota. The Company believes this market is rich in low-cost, core deposits and is strengthened by the Bakken Oil region. The Company can use these low-cost, core deposits to fund loans in higher-growth metropolitan markets.

The State of North Dakota also features one of the only state-owned banks in the nation, the Bank of North Dakota, which offers services, many of which are similar to those offered by a correspondent bank, only to banks like the Company that are headquartered in the state. The Bank of North Dakota expands the Company’s lending capacity by purchasing participations from the Bank. In addition, the Bank of North Dakota offers the Company additional financing options such as bank stock loans, lines of credit and subordinated debt at competitive rates. Finally, the Bank of North Dakota enables state banks to take deposits and manage funds for municipal and county governments without meeting collateral requirements, which are waived by a letter of credit from the Bank of North Dakota.

Minnesota

The Company serves the Minnesota market through six full-service banking offices all located in the Twin Cities MSA. The Twin Cities MSA had total deposits of $237.6 billion as of June 30, 2023, and ranks as the 14^th largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States in total deposits, based on FDIC data. The Twin Cities MSA is defined by attractive market demographics, including strong household incomes, dense populations, low unemployment, and the presence of a diverse group of large and small national and international businesses making the Twin Cities MSA one of the most economically vibrant and diverse markets in the country.

Arizona

The Company serves the Arizona market through full-service banking offices located in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. The Phoenix MSA had total deposits of $167.2 billion as of June 30, 2023, and ranks as the 20^th largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States in total deposits, based on FDIC data. The Phoenix MSA is

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defined by attractive market demographics, including a large number of high-net-worth households, dense populations, low unemployment, and the presence of a diverse group of small-to-medium sized businesses.

The Company’s National Market

The Company’s retirement and benefit services business serves clients in all 50 states. It offers retirement and benefit services at all of the Company’s banking offices located in the three primary market areas. In addition, the Company operates one retirement and benefits services office in Minnesota, one in Colorado and one in Michigan. In addition, the Company’s National Market President oversees the development of the national market’s client base. Retirement and benefit services assets under administration/management, wealth management assets under administration/management, and loans attributable to the National Market were $28.3 billion, $480.2 million, and $8.4 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2023, representing approximately 77.1%, 15.2%, and 0.3%, respectively of total retirement and benefit services assets under administration/management, wealth management assets under administration/management, and loans as of that date.

Competition

The financial services industry is highly competitive, and the Company competes in a number of areas, including commercial and consumer banking, residential mortgages, wealth advisory, investment management, trust, and record-keeping among others. The Company competes with other bank and nonbank institutions located within the Company’s market areas, along with competitors situated regionally, nationally, and others with only an online presence. These include large banks and other financial intermediaries, such as consumer finance companies, brokerage firms, mortgage banking companies, business leasing and finance companies, credit unions, Fintech companies and digital asset service providers, all actively engaged in providing various types of loans and other financial services. The Company also faces growing competition from online businesses with few or no physical locations, including online banks, lenders and consumer and commercial lending platforms, as well as automated retirement and investment services providers. Competition involves efforts to retain current clients, obtain new loans, deposits, and advisory services, increase the scope and type of services offered, and offer competitive interest rates paid on deposits, charged on loans, or charged for advisory services. The Company believes its integrated and high-touch service offering, along with its sophisticated relationship-oriented approach sets the Company apart from competitors.

Human Capital Resources

The Company and its subsidiaries employed a total of 754 employees as of December 31, 2023, of which approximately:

The Company’s workforce further breaks down into the following categories:

The Company has four operating segments with the following employees:

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The staff and support divisions include:

Banking is a people- and relationship-driven business and the Company’s employees are vital to the Company’s success in the financial services industry. In short, the Company’s long-term success depends on the Company’s ability to attract and retain top performers in every aspect of the Company’s business. The Company believes a diverse workforce better enables the Company to understand its client base, and to help its clients meet their own goals and expectations.

The Company’s culture is underpinned by its core values: Do the Right Thing (lead with integrity and provide valued advice and guidance), Passion for Excellence (act with accountability and a sense of urgency to best serve clients and achieve exceptional results), Success is Never Final (embrace opportunities to adapt and grow with our industry and our clients), and One Alerus (working together to provide purpose-driven products and services for our clients).

The Company’s Talent Management Program is built on the foundation of Alerus leadership essentials, which include 12 competencies, divided into four elements of success: Charting the Course, Achieving Results, Leading People, and Managing Self. Through this program the Company builds on strengths with continuous, real-time coaching and evaluation in areas of development, all aligned with the Company’s goals and strategies.

The development, attraction and retention of employees is a critical success factor for the Company for succession planning and sustaining its core values. To support the advancement of the Company’s employees, it offers training and development programs encouraging advancement from within and continues to fill its team with strong and experienced management talent. The Company leverages both formal and informal programs to identify, foster, and retain top talent at both the corporate and operating unit level. Training programs are offered through the Alerus University platform which provides a variety of courses in the areas of management, leadership, sales, technology, compliance, product knowledge, and on the job training opportunities. Alerus Essentials is a learning program for all employees to learn more about the Company’s goals, strategies, core values, and service offerings. Manager Connection provides managers across the Company an opportunity to learn together and share best practices for developing and leading teams.

The Company’s compensation programs are designed to align the compensation of its employees with the Company’s performance and to provide the proper incentives to attract, retain and motivate employees to achieve superior results. The structure of the Company’s compensation programs balances incentive earnings for both short-term and long-term performance. Specifically, the Company compensates most of its employees through a combination of base salary, sales incentive programs, an annual performance bonus program tied to company success measures and a long-term equity program tied to Company long-term performance. Each element of compensation is designed to achieve a compensation package that is competitive in the Company’s markets and within the Company’s industry. The Company hired compensation consultants FW Cook to perform compensation analysis and benchmarking compared to the peer group for executive compensation plans. For all other areas, the Company hired McLagan a division of Aon, to provide benchmarking and analysis for base salary structures and sales incentive programs.

The Company’s benefits package provides employees medical, dental, vision, life, disability and accidental death insurance and paid time off benefits. The Company also provides its employees with retirement benefits designed to assist employees with planning for and securing appropriate levels of income during retirement. The Company believes these plans help attract and retain quality employees by offering benefits comparative with those offered by competitors.

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The Company provides policies and training on ethical conduct. The Company maintains an open-door policy to encourage open communication, feedback and discussion about any matter of importance to any employees. The Company hired Lighthouse Services to provide employees with a confidential reporting mechanism for misconduct, including discrimination, ethics, harassment and hostility, human resource issues, privacy, security and safety.

Corporate Information

The Company’s principal executive office is located at 401 Demers Avenue, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58201, and the Company’s telephone number at that address is (701) 795-3200. The Company’s website address is www.alerus.com. The information contained on the Company’s website is not a part of, or incorporated by reference into, this report. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, as the Company does. The website is www.sec.gov. The Company provides access to its SEC filings for viewing or downloading free of charge through its website at www.alerus.com. After accessing the website, the filings are available upon selecting “Investor Relations” and “SEC Filings.” Reports available include the Company’s proxy statements, annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after the documents and reports are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC.

SUPERVISION AND REGULATION

General

Alerus Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, and its subsidiary, Alerus Financial, N.A., a national banking association, are extensively regulated under federal law. As a result, the Company’s growth and earnings performance may be affected not only by management decisions and general economic conditions, but also by the requirements of applicable statutes and by the regulations and policies of various bank regulatory agencies, including the Company’s primary regulator, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or Federal Reserve, and the Bank’s primary regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, as well as the FDIC, as the insurer of the Company’s deposits, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, as the regulator of consumer financial services and their providers. Furthermore, taxation laws administered by the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities, accounting rules developed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, securities laws administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and state securities authorities, and anti-money laundering laws enforced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, or Treasury, have an impact on the Company’s business. The effect of these statutes, regulations, regulatory policies and accounting rules are significant to the Company’s operations and results.

Federal and state banking laws impose a comprehensive system of supervision, regulation and enforcement on the operations of FDIC-insured institutions, their holding companies and affiliates that is intended primarily for the protection of the FDIC-insured deposits and depositors of banks, rather than stockholders. These federal and state laws, and the regulations of the bank regulatory agencies issued under them, affect, among other things, the scope of the Company’s business; the kinds and amounts of investments the Company may make; required capital levels relative to the Company’s assets; the nature and amount of collateral for loans; the establishment of branches; the Company’s ability to merge, consolidate and acquire; dealings with insiders and affiliates; and the Company’s payment of dividends. In reaction to the global financial crisis and particularly following passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, or Dodd-Frank Act, the Company experienced heightened regulatory requirements and scrutiny. Although the reforms primarily targeted systemically important financial service providers, their influence filtered down in varying degrees to community banks over time and caused the Company’s compliance and risk management processes, and the costs thereof, to increase. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act of 2018, or Regulatory Relief Act, eliminated questions about the applicability of certain Dodd-Frank Act reforms to community bank systems, including relieving the Company of any requirement to engage in mandatory stress tests, maintain a risk committee or comply with the Volcker Rule’s complicated prohibitions on proprietary trading and ownership of private funds. The Company believes these reforms have been favorable to operations.

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The supervisory framework for U.S. banking organizations subjects banks and bank holding companies to regular examination by their respective regulatory agencies, which results in examination reports and ratings that are not publicly available and that can impact the conduct and growth of their business. These examinations consider not only compliance with applicable laws and regulations, but also capital levels, asset quality and risk, management ability and performance, earnings, liquidity, and various other factors. The regulatory agencies generally have broad discretion to impose restrictions and limitations on the operations of a regulated entity where the agencies determine, among other things, that such operations are unsafe or unsound, fail to comply with applicable law or are otherwise inconsistent with laws and regulations.

The following is a summary of the material elements of the supervisory and regulatory framework applicable to the Company and the Bank. It does not describe all of the statutes, regulations and regulatory policies that apply, nor does it restate all of the requirements of those that are described. The descriptions are qualified in their entirety by reference to the particular statutory and regulatory provision.

The Role of Capital

Regulatory capital represents the net assets of a banking organization available to absorb losses. Because of the risks attendant to their business, FDIC-insured institutions generally are required to hold more capital than other businesses, which directly affects the Company’s earnings capabilities. Although capital has historically been one of the key measures of the financial health of both bank holding companies and banks, its role became fundamentally more important in the wake of the global financial crisis, as the banking regulators recognized that the amount and quality of capital held by banks prior to the crisis was insufficient to absorb losses during periods of severe stress.

Capital Levels. Banks have been required to hold minimum levels of capital based on guidelines established by the bank regulatory agencies since 1983. The minimums have been expressed in terms of ratios of “capital” divided by “total assets.” The capital guidelines for U.S. banks beginning in 1989 have been based upon international capital accords (known as “Basel” rules) adopted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a committee of central banks and bank supervisors that acts as the primary global standard-setter for prudential regulation, as implemented by the U.S. bank regulatory agencies on an interagency basis. The accords recognized that bank assets for the purpose of the capital ratio calculations needed to be risk weighted (the theory being that riskier assets should require more capital) and that off-balance sheet exposures needed to be factored in the calculations. Following the global financial crisis, the Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision, the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, announced agreement on a strengthened set of capital requirements for banking organizations around the world, known as Basel III, to address deficiencies recognized in connection with the global financial crisis. 

The Basel III Rule. The United States bank regulatory agencies adopted the Basel III regulatory capital reforms, and, at the same time, effected changes required by the Dodd-Frank Act, in regulations that were effective (with certain phase-ins) in 2015. Basel III established capital standards for banks and bank holding companies that are meaningfully more stringent than those in place previously: it increased the required quantity and quality of capital; and it required a more complex, detailed and calibrated assessment of risk in the calculation of risk weightings. The Basel III Rule is applicable to all banking organizations that are subject to minimum capital requirements, including federal and state banks and savings and loan associations, as well as to most bank and savings and loan holding companies. The Company and the Bank are each subject to the Basel III Rule.

Not only did Basel III increase most of the required minimum capital ratios in effect prior to January 1, 2015, but, in requiring that forms of capital be of higher quality to absorb loss, it introduced the concept of Common Equity Tier 1 Capital, which consists primarily of common stock, related surplus (net of Treasury stock), retained earnings, and Common Equity Tier 1 minority interests subject to certain regulatory adjustments. The Basel III Rule also changed the definition of capital by establishing more stringent criteria that instruments must meet to be considered Additional Tier 1 Capital (primarily non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock that meets certain requirements) and Tier 2 Capital (primarily other types of preferred stock and subordinated debt, subject to limitations). The Basel III Rule also constrained the inclusion of minority interests, mortgage-servicing assets, and deferred tax assets in capital and required deductions from Common Equity Tier 1 Capital if such assets exceeded a percentage of a banking institution’s Common Equity Tier 1 Capital.

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The Basel III Rule requires minimum capital ratios as follows:

In addition, institutions that want to make capital distributions (including for dividends and repurchases of stock) and pay discretionary bonuses to executive officers without restriction must also maintain 2.5% in Common Equity Tier 1 Capital attributable to a capital conservation buffer. The purpose of the conservation buffer is to ensure that banking institutions maintain a buffer of capital that can be used to absorb losses during periods of financial and economic stress. Factoring in the conservation buffer increases the minimum ratios depicted above to 7% for Common Equity Tier 1 Capital, 8.5% for Tier 1 Capital and 10.5% for Total Capital.

Well-Capitalized Requirements. The ratios described above are minimum standards for banking organizations to be considered “adequately capitalized.” Bank regulatory agencies uniformly encourage banks to hold more capital and be “well-capitalized” and, to that end, federal law and regulations provide various incentives for banking organizations to maintain regulatory capital at levels in excess of minimum regulatory requirements. For example, a banking organization that is well-capitalized may: (i) qualify for exemptions from prior notice or application requirements otherwise applicable to certain types of activities; (ii) qualify for expedited processing of other required notices or applications; and (iii) accept, roll-over or renew brokered deposits. Higher capital levels could also be required if warranted by the particular circumstances or risk profiles of individual banking organizations. For example, the Federal Reserve’s capital guidelines contemplate that additional capital may be required to take adequate account of, among other things, interest rate risk, or the risks posed by concentrations of credit, nontraditional activities or securities trading activities. Further, any banking organization experiencing or anticipating significant growth would be expected to maintain capital ratios, including tangible capital positions (i.e., Tier 1 Capital less all intangible assets), well above the minimum levels.

Under the capital regulations of the Federal Reserve for the Company and the OCC for the Bank, in order to be well capitalized, the Company must maintain:

It is possible under the Basel III Rule to be well-capitalized while remaining out of compliance with the capital conservation buffer discussed above.

As of December 31, 2023: (i) the Bank was not subject to a directive from the OCC to increase its capital and (ii) the Bank was well-capitalized, as defined by OCC regulations. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had regulatory capital in excess of the Federal Reserve’s requirements and met the Basel III Rule requirements to be well-capitalized. The Company also remains in compliance with the capital conservation buffer of 2.5 % as of December 31, 2023.

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Prompt Corrective Action. The concept of being “well-capitalized” is part of a regulatory regime that provides the federal banking regulators with broad power to take “prompt corrective action” to resolve the problems of depository institutions based on the capital level of each particular institution.The extent of the regulators’ powers depends on whether the institution in question is “adequately capitalized,” “undercapitalized,” “significantly undercapitalized” or “critically undercapitalized,” in each case as defined by regulation. Depending upon the capital category to which an institution is assigned, the regulators’ corrective powers include: (i) requiring the institution to submit a capital restoration plan; (ii) limiting the institution’s asset growth and restricting its activities; (iii) requiring the institution to issue additional capital stock (including additional voting stock) or to sell itself; (iv) restricting transactions between the institution and its affiliates; (v) restricting the interest rate that the institution may pay on deposits; (vi) ordering a new election of directors of the institution; (vii) requiring that senior executive officers or directors be dismissed; (viii) prohibiting the institution from accepting deposits from correspondent banks; (ix) requiring the institution to divest certain subsidiaries; (x) prohibiting the payment of principal or interest on subordinated debt; and (xi) ultimately, appointing a receiver for the institution.

Community Bank Capital Simplification. Community banks have long raised concerns with bank regulators about the regulatory burden, complexity, and costs associated with certain provisions of the Basel III Rule. In response, Congress provided an “off-ramp” for institutions, like us, with total consolidated assets of less than $10 billion. Section 201 of the Regulatory Relief Act instructed the federal banking regulators to establish a single “Community Bank Leverage Ratio”, or CBLR, of between 8 and 10%. Under the final rule, a community banking organization is eligible to elect the new framework if it has: less than $10 billion in total consolidated assets, limited amounts of certain assets and off-balance sheet exposures, and a CBLR greater than 9%. The Company has not elected to use the CBLR framework at this time.

Supervision and Regulation of the Company

General. The Company, as the sole stockholder of the Bank, is a bank holding company that has elected financial holding company status. As a bank holding company, the Company is registered with, and subject to regulation, supervision and enforcement by, the Federal Reserve under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, or the BHCA. The Company is legally obligated to act as a source of financial and managerial strength to the Bank and to commit resources to support the Bank in circumstances where the Company might not otherwise do so. Under the BHCA, the Company is subject to periodic examination by the Federal Reserve and are required to file with the Federal Reserve periodic reports of the Company’s operations and such additional information regarding the Company and the Bank as the Federal Reserve may require.

Acquisitions and Activities/ Financial Holding Company Election. The primary purpose of a bank holding company is to control and manage banks. The BHCA generally requires the prior approval of the Federal Reserve for any merger involving a bank holding company or any acquisition by a bank holding company of another bank or bank holding company. Subject to certain conditions (including deposit concentration limits established by the BHCA), the Federal Reserve may allow a bank holding company to acquire banks located in any state of the United States. In approving interstate acquisitions, the Federal Reserve is required to give effect to applicable state law limitations on the aggregate amount of deposits that may be held by the acquiring bank holding company and its FDIC-insured institution affiliates in the state in which the target bank is located (provided that those limits do not discriminate against out-of-state institutions or their holding companies) and state laws that require that the target bank have been in existence for a minimum period of time (not to exceed five years) before being acquired by an out-of-state bank holding company. Furthermore, in accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act, bank holding companies must be well-capitalized and well-managed in order to effect interstate mergers or acquisitions. For a discussion of the capital requirements, see “—The Role of Capital” above.

The BHCA generally prohibits the Company from acquiring direct or indirect ownership or control of more than 5% of a class of the voting shares of any company that is not a bank and from engaging in any business other than that of banking, managing and controlling banks or furnishing services to banks and their subsidiaries. This general prohibition is subject to a number of exceptions. The principal exception allows bank holding companies to engage in, and to own shares of companies engaged in, certain businesses found by the Federal Reserve prior to November 11, 1999 to be “so closely related to banking ... as to be a proper incident thereto.” This authority permits the Company to

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engage in a variety of banking-related businesses, including the ownership and operation of a savings association, or any entity engaged in consumer finance, equipment leasing, the operation of a computer service bureau (including software development) and mortgage banking and brokerage services. The BHCA does not place territorial restrictions on the domestic activities of nonbank subsidiaries of bank holding companies.

Additionally, bank holding companies that meet certain eligibility requirements prescribed by the BHCA and elect to operate as financial holding companies may engage in, or own shares in companies engaged in, a wider range of nonbanking activities, including securities and insurance underwriting and sales, merchant banking and any other activity that the Federal Reserve, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, determines by regulation or order is financial in nature or incidental to any such financial activity or that the Federal Reserve determines by order to be complementary to any such financial activity, as long as the activity does not pose a substantial risk to the safety or soundness of FDIC-insured institutions or the financial system generally. The Company has elected to operate as a financial holding company. In order to maintain the Company’s status as a financial holding company, both the Company and the Bank must be well-capitalized, well-managed, and the Bank must have at least a satisfactory CRA rating. If the Federal Reserve determines that either the Company or the Bank is not well-capitalized or well-managed, the Federal Reserve will provide a period of time in which to achieve compliance, but during the period of noncompliance, the Federal Reserve may place any limitations on the Company that it deems appropriate. Furthermore, if non-compliance is based on the failure of the Bank to achieve a satisfactory CRA rating, the Company would not be able to commence any new financial activities or acquire a company that engages in such activities.

Change in Control. Federal law prohibits any person or company from acquiring “control” of an FDIC-insured depository institution or its holding company without prior notice to the appropriate federal bank regulator. “Control” is conclusively presumed to exist upon the acquisition of 25% or more of the outstanding voting securities of a bank or bank holding company, but may arise under certain circumstances between 10% and 24.99% ownership.

Capital Requirements. The Company is subject to the complex consolidated capital requirements of the Basel III Rule, see “—the Role of Capital” above.

Dividend Payments. The Company’s ability to pay dividends to stockholders may be affected by both general corporate law considerations and policies of the Federal Reserve applicable to bank holding companies. As a Delaware corporation, the Company is subject to the limitations of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL. The DGCL allows the Company to pay dividends only out of its surplus (as defined and computed in accordance with the provisions of the DGCL) or if the Company has no such surplus, out of its net profits for the fiscal year in which the dividend is declared and/or the preceding fiscal year.

As a general matter, the Federal Reserve has indicated that the Board of Directors of a bank holding company should eliminate, defer or significantly reduce dividends to stockholders if: (i) the company’s net income available to stockholders for the past four quarters, net of dividends previously paid during that period, is not sufficient to fully fund the dividends; (ii) the prospective rate of earnings retention is inconsistent with the company’s capital needs and overall current and prospective financial condition; or (iii) the company will not meet, or is in danger of not meeting, its minimum regulatory capital adequacy ratios. The Federal Reserve also possesses enforcement powers over bank holding companies and their nonbank subsidiaries to prevent or remedy actions that represent unsafe or unsound practices or violations of applicable statutes and regulations. Among these powers is the ability to proscribe the payment of dividends by banks and bank holding companies. In addition, under the Basel III Rule, institutions that seek the freedom to pay unrestricted dividends will have to maintain 2.5% in Common Equity Tier 1 Capital attributable to the capital conservation buffer. See “—The Role of Capital” above.

Monetary Policy. The monetary policy of the Federal Reserve has a significant effect on the operating results of financial or bank holding companies and their subsidiaries, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the tools available to the Federal Reserve to affect the money supply are open market transactions in U.S. government securities and changes in the discount rate on bank borrowings. These means are used in varying combinations to influence overall growth and distribution of bank loans, investments and deposits, and their use may affect interest rates charged on loans or paid on deposits.

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Federal Securities Regulation. The Company’s common stock is registered with the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Consequently, the Company is subject to the information, proxy solicitation, insider trading and other restrictions and requirements of the SEC under the Exchange Act.

Corporate Governance. The Dodd-Frank Act addressed many investor protection, corporate governance and executive compensation matters that will affect most U.S. publicly traded companies. It increased stockholder influence over boards of directors by requiring companies to give stockholders a nonbinding vote on executive compensation and so-called “golden parachute” payments, and authorizing the SEC to promulgate rules that would allow stockholders to nominate and solicit voters for their own candidates using a company’s proxy materials. The legislation also directed the Federal Reserve to promulgate rules prohibiting excessive compensation paid to executives of bank holding companies, regardless of whether such companies are publicly traded.

Supervision and Regulation of the Bank

General. The Bank is a national bank, chartered by the OCC under the National Bank Act. The deposit accounts of the Bank are insured by the deposit insurance fund, or DIF, to the maximum extent provided under federal law and FDIC regulations, currently $250,000 per insured depositor category, and the Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System. As a national bank, the Bank is subject to the examination, supervision, reporting and enforcement requirements of the OCC, the chartering authority for national banks. The Company’s defined business lines of Banking, Mortgage, Retirement and Benefits and Wealth Management are each subject to that authority. The FDIC, as administrator of the DIF, also has regulatory authority over the Bank.

Supervision of Business Segments. As a national bank, the Bank is subject to examination and enforcement by the OCC. The OCC examines the Bank’s Banking and Mortgage business segments as part of its safety and soundness examinations, which consider not only compliance with applicable laws and regulations, but also capital levels, asset quality (with rigorous loan portfolio reviews) and risk, management ability and performance, earnings, liquidity, and various other factors. Many of these subjects are discussed further below.

The Bank’s Retirement and Benefits and Wealth Management business segments are subject to separate examination as trust activities (generally on the same cycle as safety and soundness examinations). The OCC’s trust examinations evaluate compliance with applicable law, management ability, operations, internal controls, and auditing, earnings, compliance, and asset management. These business segments are subject to a multitude of state laws (trust law is a state concept) and federal laws to which the Bank and each individual account are subject. These include trust investment law, securities law, banking law, tax law, contract law, anti-money laundering requirements, environmental law, consumer protection law, criminal law, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control laws and regulations. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, and the Internal Revenue Code are the primary sources of law governing the structure, administration, and operation of employee benefit plans. The U.S. Department of Labor is primarily responsible for administering and enforcing ERISA.

The OCC has broad enforcement authority to impose penalties, restrictions and limitations on the Bank where it determines, among other things, that the Bank’s operations are unsafe or unsound, fail to comply with applicable law or are otherwise inconsistent with laws and regulations.

Deposit Insurance. As an FDIC-insured institution, the Bank is required to pay deposit insurance premium assessments to the FDIC. The FDIC has adopted a risk-based assessment system whereby FDIC-insured institutions pay insurance premiums at rates based on their risk classification. For institutions like the Bank that are not considered large and highly complex banking organizations, assessments are now based on examination ratings and financial ratios. The total base assessment rates currently range from 2.5 basis points to 32 basis points. At least semi-annually, the FDIC updates its loss and income projections for the DIF and, if needed, increases or decreases the assessment rates, following notice and comment on proposed rulemaking.

For this purpose, the reserve ratio is the DIF balance divided by estimated insured deposits. In response to the global financial crisis, the Dodd-Frank Act increased the minimum reserve ratio from 1.15% to 1.35% of the estimated amount of total insured deposits. In its semiannual update in June 2022, the FDIC projected that the reserve ratio was at

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risk of not reaching the statutory minimum of 1.35 % by September 30, 2028, the statutory deadline. Based on this update, the FDIC approved an increase in the initial base deposit insurance assessment rate schedules by two basis points, applicable to all insured depository institutions. The increase was effective on January 1, 2023, applicable to the first quarterly assessment period of the 2023 assessment (January 1 through March 31, 2023).

In addition, because the total cost of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank was approximately $16.3 billion, the FDIC adopted a special assessment for banks having deposits above $5 billion, at an annual rate of 13.4 basis points beginning with the first quarterly assessment period of 2024 (January 1 through March 31, 2024) with an invoice payment date of June 28, 2024, and will continue to collect special assessments for an anticipated total of eight quarterly assessment periods. The base for the special assessment is equal to an insured depository institution’s estimated uninsured deposits for the December 31, 2022 reporting period, adjusted to exclude the first $5 billion in estimated uninsured deposits.

Supervisory Assessments. National banks are required to pay supervisory assessments to the OCC to fund the operations of the OCC. The amount of the assessment is calculated using a formula that considers the bank’s size and its supervisory condition. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Bank paid supervisory assessments to the OCC totaling $431 thousand.

Capital Requirements. Banks are generally required to maintain capital levels in excess of other businesses. For a discussion of capital requirements, see “—The Role of Capital” above.

Liquidity Requirements. Liquidity is a measure of the ability and ease with which bank assets may be converted to meet financial obligations such as deposits or other funding sources. Banks are required to implement liquidity risk management frameworks that ensure they maintain sufficient liquidity, including a cushion of unencumbered, high quality liquid assets, to withstand a range of stress events. The level and speed of deposit outflows contributing to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank in the first half of 2023 was unprecedented and contributed to acute liquidity and funding strain. These events have further underscored the importance of liquidity risk management and contingency funding planning by insured depository institutions like the Bank.

The primary roles of liquidity risk management are to: (i) prospectively assess the need for funds to meet financial obligations and (ii) ensure the availability of cash or collateral to fulfill those needs at the appropriate time by coordinating the various sources of funds available to the institution under normal and stressed conditions. Basel III includes a liquidity framework that requires the largest insured institutions to measure their liquidity against specific liquidity tests. One test, referred to as the Liquidity Coverage Ratio, or LCR, is designed to ensure that the banking entity has an adequate stock of unencumbered high-quality liquid assets that can be converted easily and immediately in private markets into cash to meet liquidity needs for a 30-calendar day liquidity stress scenario. The other test, known as the Net Stable Funding Ratio, or NSFR, is designed to promote more medium- and long-term funding of the assets and activities of FDIC-insured institutions over a one-year horizon. These tests provide an incentive for banks and holding companies to increase their holdings in Treasury securities and other sovereign debt as a component of assets, increase the use of long-term debt as a funding source and rely on stable funding like core deposits (in lieu of brokered deposits).

Although these tests do not, and will not, apply to the Bank, the Company continues to review its liquidity risk management policies in light of regulatory requirements and industry developments.

Dividend Payments. The primary source of funds for the Company is dividends from the Bank. Under the National Bank Act, a national bank may pay dividends out of its undivided profits in such amounts and at such times as the bank’s Board of Directors deems prudent. Without OCC approval, however, a national bank may not pay dividends in any calendar year that, in the aggregate, exceed that bank’s year-to-date income plus the bank’s retained net income for the two preceding years. The payment of dividends by any FDIC-insured institution is affected by the requirement to maintain adequate capital pursuant to applicable capital adequacy guidelines and regulations, and an FDIC-insured institution generally is prohibited from paying any dividends if, following payment thereof, the institution would be undercapitalized. As described above, the Bank exceeded its capital requirements under applicable guidelines as of December 31, 2023. Notwithstanding the availability of funds for dividends, however, the OCC may prohibit the

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payment of dividends by the Bank if it determines such payment would constitute an unsafe or unsound practice. In addition, under the Basel III Rule, institutions that seek the freedom to pay dividends have to maintain 2.5% in Common Equity Tier 1 Capital attributable to the capital conservation buffer. See “—The Role of Capital” above.

Insider Transactions. The Bank is subject to certain restrictions imposed by federal law on “covered transactions” between the Bank and its “affiliates.” The Company is an affiliate of the Bank for purposes of these restrictions, and covered transactions subject to the restrictions include extensions of credit to the Company, investments in the stock or other securities of the Company and the acceptance of the stock or other securities of the Company as collateral for loans made by the Bank. The Dodd-Frank Act enhanced the requirements for certain transactions with affiliates, including an expansion of the definition of “covered transactions” and an increase in the amount of time for which collateral requirements regarding covered transactions must be maintained.

Certain limitations and reporting requirements are also placed on extensions of credit by the Bank to its directors and officers, to directors and officers of the Company and its subsidiaries, to principal stockholders of the Company and to “related interests” of such directors, officers and principal stockholders. In addition, federal law and regulations may affect the terms on which any person who is a director or officer of the Company or the Bank, or a principal stockholder of the Company, may obtain credit from banks with which the Bank maintains a correspondent relationship.

Safety and Soundness Standards/Risk Management. FDIC-insured institutions are expected to operate in a safe and sound manner. The federal banking agencies have adopted operational and managerial standards to promote the safety and soundness of such institutions that address internal controls, information systems, internal audit systems, loan documentation, credit underwriting, interest rate exposure, asset growth, compensation, fees and benefits, asset quality and earnings.

In general, the safety and soundness standards prescribe the goals to be achieved in each area, and each institution is responsible for establishing its own procedures to achieve those goals. If an institution fails to operate in a safe and sound manner, the FDIC-insured institution’s primary federal regulator may require the institution to submit a plan for achieving and maintaining compliance. If an FDIC-insured institution fails to submit an acceptable compliance plan, or fails in any material respect to implement a compliance plan that has been accepted by its primary federal regulator, the regulator is required to issue an order directing the institution to cure the deficiency. Until the deficiency cited in the regulator’s order is cured, the regulator may restrict the FDIC-insured institution’s rate of growth, require the FDIC-insured institution to increase its capital, restrict the rates that the institution pays on deposits or require the institution to take any action that the regulator deems appropriate under the circumstances. Operating in an unsafe or unsound manner will also constitute grounds for other enforcement action by the federal bank regulatory agencies, including cease and desist orders and civil money penalty assessments.

During the past decade, the bank regulatory agencies have increasingly emphasized the importance of sound risk management processes and strong internal controls when evaluating the activities of the FDIC-insured institutions that they supervise. Properly managing risks has been identified as critical to the conduct of safe and sound banking activities and has become even more important as new technologies, product innovation, and the size and speed of financial transactions have changed the nature of banking markets. The agencies have identified a spectrum of risks facing a banking institution including, but not limited to, credit, market, liquidity, operational, legal and reputational risk. The key risk themes identified for 2023 are discussed under Item 1A - Risk Factors. The Bank is expected to have active board and senior management oversight; adequate policies, procedures and limits; adequate risk measurement, monitoring and management information systems; and comprehensive internal controls.

Privacy and Cybersecurity. The Bank is subject to many U.S. federal and state laws and regulations governing requirements for maintaining policies and procedures to protect non-public confidential information of their customers. These laws require the Bank to periodically disclose its privacy policies and practices relating to sharing such information and permit consumers to opt out of their ability to share information with unaffiliated third parties under certain circumstances. They also impact the Bank’s ability to share certain information with affiliates and non-affiliates for marketing and/or non-marketing purposes, or to contact customers with marketing offers. In addition, as a part of its operational risk mitigation, the Bank is required to implement a comprehensive information security program that

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includes administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer records and information and to require the same of its service providers. These security and privacy policies and procedures are in effect across all business lines and geographic locations.

Branching Authority. National banks headquartered in North Dakota, such as the Bank, have the same branching rights in North Dakota as banks chartered under North Dakota law, subject to OCC approval. North Dakota law grants North Dakota-chartered banks the authority to establish branches anywhere in the State of North Dakota, subject to receipt of all required regulatory approvals. The Dodd-Frank Act permits well-capitalized and well-managed banks to establish new branches across state lines without legal impediments. However, while Federal law permits state and national banks to merge with banks in other states, such mergers are subject to: (i) regulatory approval; (ii) federal and state deposit concentration limits; and (iii) state law limitations requiring the merging bank to have been in existence for a minimum period of time (not to exceed five years) prior to the merger.

Financial Subsidiaries. Under federal law and OCC regulations, national banks are authorized to engage, through “financial subsidiaries,” in any activity that is permissible for a financial holding company and any activity that the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Federal Reserve, determines is financial in nature or incidental to any such financial activity, except (i) insurance underwriting, (ii) real estate development or real estate investment activities (unless otherwise permitted by law), (iii) insurance company portfolio investments and (iv) merchant banking. The authority of a national bank to invest in a financial subsidiary is subject to a number of conditions, including, among other things, requirements that the bank must be well-managed and well-capitalized (after deducting from capital the bank’s outstanding investments in financial subsidiaries). The Bank has not applied for approval to establish any financial subsidiaries.

Federal Home Loan Bank System. The Bank is a member of the FHLB, which serves as a central credit facility for its members. The FHLB is funded primarily from proceeds from the sale of obligations of the FHLB system. It makes loans to member banks in the form of FHLB advances. All advances from the FHLB are required to be fully collateralized as determined by the FHLB.

Community Reinvestment Act Requirements. The CRA requires the Bank to have a continuing and affirmative obligation in a safe and sound manner to help meet the credit needs of the entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Federal regulators regularly assess the Bank’s record of meeting the credit needs of its communities. Applications for acquisitions would be affected by the evaluation of the Bank’s effectiveness in meeting its CRA requirements.

On October 24, 2023, the bank regulatory agencies issued a final rule to strengthen and modernize the CRA regulations (the “CRA Rule”). The CRA Rule is designed to update how CRA activities qualify for consideration, where CRA activities are considered, and how CRA activities are evaluated. More specifically, the bank regulatory agencies described the goals of the CRA Rule as follows: (i) to expand access to credit, investment, and basic banking services in low and moderate income communities; (ii) to adapt to changes in the banking industry, including mobile and internet banking by modernizing assessment areas while maintaining a focus on branch based areas; (iii) to provide greater clarity, consistency, and transparency in the application of the regulations through the use of standardized metrics as part of CRA evaluation and clarifying eligible CRA activities focused on low and moderate income communities and underserved rural communities; (iv) to tailor CRA rules and data collection to bank size and business model; and (v) to maintain a unified approach among the regulators. Management of the Bank is assessing the impact of the CRA Rule on its CRA lending and investment activities in its markets.

Anti-Money Laundering. The Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) is the common name for a series of laws and regulations enacted in the United States to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. They are designed to deny terrorists and criminals the ability to obtain access to the U.S. financial system and have significant implications for FDIC-insured institutions and other businesses involved in the transfer of money. The so-called Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (“AML/CFT”) regime under the BSA provides a foundation to promote financial transparency and deter and detect those who seek to misuse the U.S. financial system to launder criminal proceeds, finance terrorist acts or move funds for other illicit purposes.

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The laws mandate financial services companies to have policies and procedures with respect to measures designed to address: (i) customer identification programs; (ii) money laundering; (iii) terrorist financing; (iv) identifying and reporting suspicious activities and currency transactions; (v) currency crimes; and (vi) cooperation between FDIC-insured institutions and law enforcement authorities.

Concentrations in Commercial Real Estate. Concentration risk exists when FDIC-insured institutions deploy too many assets to any one industry or segment. A concentration in commercial real estate, or CRE, is one example of regulatory concern. The interagency Concentrations in Commercial Real Estate Lending, Sound Risk Management Practices guidance, or CRE Guidance, provides supervisory criteria, including the following numerical indicators, to assist bank examiners in identifying banks with potentially significant commercial real estate loan concentrations that may warrant greater supervisory scrutiny: (i) CRE loans exceeding 300% of capital and increasing 50% or more in the preceding three years; or (ii) construction and land development loans exceeding 100% of capital. The CRE Guidance does not limit banks’ levels of CRE lending activities, but rather guides institutions in developing risk management practices and levels of capital that are commensurate with the level and nature of their CRE concentrations. On December 18, 2015, the federal banking agencies issued a statement to reinforce prudent risk-management practices related to CRE lending, having observed substantial growth in many CRE asset and lending markets, increased competitive pressures, rising CRE concentrations in banks, and an easing of CRE underwriting standards. The federal bank agencies reminded FDIC-insured institutions to maintain underwriting discipline and exercise prudent risk-management practices to identify, measure, monitor, and manage the risks arising from CRE lending. In addition, FDIC-insured institutions must maintain capital commensurate with the level and nature of their CRE concentration risk.

Based on the Bank’s loan portfolio as of December 31, 2023, the Company did not exceed the guidelines for CRE lending.

Consumer Financial Services. The historical structure of federal consumer protection regulation applicable to all providers of consumer financial products and services changed significantly on July 21, 2011, when the CFPB commenced operations to supervise and enforce consumer protection laws. The CFPB has broad rulemaking authority for a wide range of consumer protection laws that apply to all providers of consumer products and services, including the Bank, as well as the authority to prohibit “unfair, deceptive or abusive” acts and practices. The CFPB has examination and enforcement authority over providers with more than $10 billion in assets. FDIC-insured institutions with $10 billion or less in assets, like the Bank, continue to be examined by their applicable bank regulators.

Because abuses in connection with residential mortgages were a significant factor contributing to the global financial crisis, many rules issued by the CFPB, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act addressed mortgage and mortgage-related products, their underwriting, origination, servicing and sales. The Dodd-Frank Act significantly expanded underwriting requirements applicable to loans secured by 1-4 family residential real property and augmented federal law combating predatory lending practices. In addition to numerous disclosure requirements, the Dodd-Frank Act and the CFPB’s enabling rules imposed new standards for mortgage loan originations on all lenders, including banks and savings associations, in an effort to strongly encourage lenders to verify a borrower’s ability to repay, while also establishing a presumption of compliance for certain “qualified mortgages.” The CFPB’s rules have not had a significant impact on the Bank’s operations, except for higher compliance costs.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Investing in the Company’s common stock involves a high degree of risk. The material risks and uncertainties that management believes affect the Company are described below. Before you decide to invest, you should carefully review and consider the risks described below, together with all other information included in this report and other documents the Company files with the SEC. Any of the following risks, as well as risks that the Company does not know or currently deem immaterial, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

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Summary

This is a summary of some of the material risks and uncertainties that management believes affects the Company. The list is not exhaustive but provides a high-level summary of some of the material risks that are further described in this Item 1A. The Company encourages you to read Item 1A in its entirety.

Market and Interest Rate Risks

Credit Risks

Operational, Strategic and Reputational Risks

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Liquidity and Funding Risks

Legal, Accounting and Compliance Risks

Market and Interest Rate Risks

The Company’s business is subject to interest rate risk, and fluctuations in interest rates may adversely affect the Company’s earnings.

Fluctuations in interest rates may negatively affect the Company’s business and may weaken demand for some of the Company’s products. The Company’s earnings and cash flows are dependent, in part, on net interest income, which is the difference between the interest income that the Company earns on interest earning assets, such as loans and investment securities, and the interest expense that the Company pays on interest-bearing liabilities, such as deposits and borrowings. Changes in interest rates might also impact the values of equity and debt securities under management and administration by the retirement and benefit services and wealth management businesses which may have a negative impact on the Company’s fee income. Additionally, changes in interest rates also affect the Company’s ability to fund operations with client deposits and the fair value of securities in the Company’s investment portfolio. Therefore, any change in general market interest rates, including changes in federal fiscal and monetary policies, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

It is currently expected that during 2024, and perhaps beyond, the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve, or FOMC, will continue to monitor interest rates, in part to reduce the rate of inflation to its preferred level. In 2023, the FOMC increased at various dates throughout the year the target range for the federal funds rate from 4.25% to 4.50% to a range of 5.25% to 5.50%. All of these increases were expressly made in response to inflationary pressures. If the FOMC further increases the targeted federal funds rates, overall interest rates likely will rise, which may negatively impact the entire national economy. In addition, the Company’s net interest income could be adversely affected if the rates the Company pays on deposits and borrowings increase more rapidly than the rates the Company

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earns on loans and other assets. Rising interest rates also may reduce the demand for loans and the value of fixed-rate investment securities. These effects from interest rate changes or from other sustained economic stress or a recession, among other matters, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations.

The Company’s interest earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities may react in different degrees to changes in market interest rates. Interest rates on some types of assets and liabilities may fluctuate prior to changes in broader market interest rates, while rates on other types of assets and liabilities may lag behind. The result of these changes to rates may cause differing spreads on interest earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. The Company cannot control or accurately predict changes in market rates of interest. As a result of the recent interest rate increases, the Company has experienced net interest margin compression as the Company’s interest-earning assets have repriced slower than the Company’s interest-bearing liabilities, which has had a material adverse effect on the Company’s net interest income and results of operations.

In addition, the Company could be prevented from increasing the interest rates charged on loans or from maintaining the interest rates offered on deposits and money market savings accounts due to “price” competition from other banks and financial institutions with which the Company competes. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $728.1 million of non-maturity, noninterest bearing deposit accounts and $2.0 billion of non-maturity interest bearing deposit accounts. Interest rates for interest-bearing accounts have, throughout 2023, increased in response to a series of increases made by the Federal Reserve in the targeted fed funds rate and market competition. The Company does not know what market rates will be throughout 2024. In 2023, the Company has offered higher interest rates to maintain current clients or attract new clients, and as a result, interest expense has increased in recent periods and may increase further, perhaps materially. If the Company fails to offer interest at a sufficient level to keep these non-maturity deposits, core deposits may be reduced, which would require the Company to obtain funding in other ways or risk slowing future asset growth.

The Company could recognize losses on securities held in the Company’s securities portfolio, particularly if interest rates increase or economic and market conditions deteriorate.

As of December 31, 2023, the fair value of the Company’s securities portfolio was approximately $745.4 million, or 19.1% of total assets. Factors beyond the Company’s control can significantly influence and cause potential adverse changes to the fair value of securities in the Company’s portfolio. For example, fixed-rate securities acquired by the Company are generally subject to decreases in market value when interest rates rise. Additional factors include, but are not limited to, rating agency downgrades of the securities or the Company’s own analysis of the value of the securities, defaults by the issuers or individual mortgagors with respect to the underlying securities and instability in the credit markets. Any of the foregoing factors, as well as changing economic and market conditions or other factors, could cause write-downs and realized or unrealized losses in future periods and declines in other comprehensive income, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. The process for determining whether a write-down is required usually requires complex, subjective judgments, which could subsequently prove to have been wrong, about the future financial performance and liquidity of the issuer, the fair value of any collateral underlying the security and whether and the extent to which the principal and interest on the security will ultimately be paid in accordance with its payment terms.

A large percentage of the Company’s investment securities classified as available-for-sale has fixed interest rates. As is the case with many financial institutions, the Company’s emphasis on increasing the development of core deposits, those with no stated maturity date, has resulted in the Company’s interest-bearing liabilities having a shorter duration than interest-earning assets. This imbalance can create significant earnings volatility because interest rates change over time. As interest rates have increased, the Company’s cost of funds has increased more rapidly than the yields on a substantial portion of the Company’s interest-earning assets. In addition, the market value of the Company’s fixed-rate assets, for example, investment securities, has declined in recent periods. In line with the foregoing, the Company has experienced and may continue to experience an increase in the cost of interest-bearing liabilities primarily due to raising the rates the Company pays on some of its deposit products to stay competitive within the Company’s market and an increase in borrowing costs from increases in the federal funds rate.

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At December 31, 2023, the Company had $139.1 million of unrealized losses in its securities portfolio. If the Company is forced to liquidate any of those investments prior to maturity, including because of a lack of liquidity, it would recognize as a charge to earnings the losses attributable to those securities. The Company’s securities portfolio has a weighted average effective duration of 5.0 years, so the Company expects an increase in realized losses if interest rates remain elevated or continue to increase in 2024.

Monetary policies of the Federal Reserve could adversely affect the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.

In the current environment, economic and business conditions are significantly affected by U.S. monetary policy, particularly the actions of the Federal Reserve in its effort to fight elevated levels of inflation.  The Federal Reserve is mandated to pursue the goals of maximum employment and price stability and, throughout 2022 and 2023, made a series of significant increases to the target Federal Funds rate as part of an effort to combat elevated levels of inflation affecting the U.S. economy. This has helped drive a significant increase in prevailing interest rates, however it has had a negative effect on the Company’s net interest income and has harmed the value of the Company’s securities portfolio, which had $98.0 million in unrealized losses in available-for-sale investment securities at December 31, 2023. This decline in value has negatively affected the Company’s tangible book value. Higher interest rates can also negatively affect the Company’s customers’ businesses and financial condition, and the value of collateral securing loans in the Company’s portfolio.

Given the complex factors affecting the strength of the U.S. economy, including uncertainties regarding the persistence of inflation, geopolitical developments such as the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Palestine and between Russia and Ukraine and resulting disruptions in the global energy market, and tight labor market conditions and supply chain issues, there is a meaningful risk that the Federal Reserve and other central banks may raise interest rates too much, thereby limiting economic growth and potentially causing an economic recession or other political instability.  As noted above, this could decrease loan demand, harm the credit characteristics of the Company’s existing loan portfolio and decrease the value of collateral securing loans in the portfolio.

The Company cannot guarantee that its stock repurchase program will be fully implemented or that it will enhance long-term stockholder value.

On December 12, 2023, the Company’s board of directors approved a new stock repurchase program, which became effective on February 18, 2024, and which authorizes the Company to repurchase up to 1,000,000 shares of its common stock, subject to certain limitations and conditions. The new stock repurchase program replaced and superseded the previous 770,000 share stock repurchase program, under which approximately 413,526 shares remained. The new stock repurchase program will expire on February 18, 2027. The repurchase program does not obligate the Company to repurchase any shares of its common stock, and other than repurchases that have been completed to date, there is no assurance that the Company will do so or that the Company will repurchase shares at favorable prices. The repurchase program may be suspended or terminated at any time and, even if fully implemented, the repurchase program may not enhance long-term stockholder value.

Credit Risks

The Company’s business depends on its ability to manage credit risk.

As a bank, the Company’s business requires it to manage credit risk; however, default risk may arise from events or circumstances that are difficult to detect, such as fraud, or difficult to predict, such as catastrophic events affecting certain industries. As a lender, the Company is exposed to the risk that its borrowers will be unable to repay their loans according to their terms, and that the collateral securing repayment of their loans, if any, may not be sufficient to ensure repayment. In addition, there are risks inherent in making any loan, including risks with respect to the period of time over which the loan may be repaid, proper loan underwriting, changes in economic and industry conditions, and inherent in dealing with individual borrowers, including the risk that a borrower may not provide information to the Company about its business in a timely manner, or may present inaccurate or incomplete information to the Company, as well as risks relating to the value of collateral. To manage credit risk, the Company must, among other actions, maintain

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disciplined and prudent underwriting standards and ensure that the Company’s bankers follow those standards. The weakening of these standards for any reason, such as an attempt to attract higher yielding loans, a lack of discipline or diligence by the Company’s employees in underwriting and monitoring loans, or the Company’s inability to adequately adapt policies and procedures to changes in economic, or any other conditions affecting borrowers and the quality of the Company’s loan portfolio, may result in loan defaults, foreclosures, and charge-offs and may necessitate that the Company significantly increases the allowance for credit losses, each of which could adversely affect net income. As a result, the Company’s inability to successfully manage credit risk could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

The Company’s allowance for credit losses may prove to be insufficient to absorb potential losses in its loan portfolio.

The Company establishes and maintains its allowance for credit losses at a level that management considers adequate to absorb current expected credit losses based on an analysis of the Company’s loan portfolio and current market environment. The allowance for credit losses represents the Company’s estimate of expected losses in the portfolio at each balance sheet date and is based upon relevant information available at such time. The allowance contains provisions for expected losses that have been identified relating to specific borrowing relationships, as well as expected losses inherent in the loan portfolio that are not specifically identified. Additions to the allowance for credit losses, which are charged to earnings through the provision for credit losses, are determined based on a variety of factors, including an analysis of the loan portfolio, historical loss experience and an evaluation of current economic conditions in the Company’s market area. The actual amount of credit losses is affected by, among other things, changes in economic, operating, and other conditions within the Company’s markets, which may be beyond the Company’s control, and such losses may exceed current estimates.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans was 1.30%, and as a percentage of total nonperforming loans was 410.3%. Although management believes that the allowance for credit losses was adequate on such date to absorb probable losses on existing loans that may become uncollectible, losses in excess of the existing allowance will reduce net income and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. The Company may also be required to take additional provisions for loan losses in the future to further supplement the allowance for credit losses, either due to management’s assessment that the allowance is inadequate or as required by the Company’s banking regulators. The Company’s banking regulators periodically review the Company’s allowance for credit losses and the value attributed to nonaccrual loans or to real estate acquired through foreclosure and may require the Company to adjust its determination of the value for these items. These adjustments may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

A decline in the business and economic conditions in the Company’s market areas could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s business activities and credit exposure, including real estate collateral for many of its loans, are concentrated in North Dakota, Minnesota and Arizona, although the Company also pursues business opportunities nationally. As of December 31, 2023, 89.4% of the loans in the Company’s loan portfolio were made to borrowers who live in or conduct business in those states. This concentration imposes risks from lack of geographic diversification. Weak economic conditions in North Dakota, Minnesota or Arizona may affect the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects, where adverse economic developments, among other things, could affect the volume of loan originations, increase the level of nonperforming assets, increase the rate of foreclosure losses on loans and reduce the value of the Company’s loans and loan servicing portfolio. Weak economic conditions are characterized by, among other indicators, state and local government deficits, deflation, elevated levels of unemployment, fluctuations in debt and equity capital markets, increased delinquencies on mortgage, consumer and commercial loans, residential and commercial real estate price declines and lower home sales and commercial activity. Any regional or local economic downturn that affects North Dakota, Minnesota or Arizona or existing or prospective borrowers or property values in such areas may affect the Company and the Company’s profitability more significantly and more adversely than the Company’s competitors whose operations are less geographically concentrated. Further, a general economic slowdown could decrease the value of the assets under administration, or AUA, and assets under management, or AUM, of the Company’s retirement and benefit services and wealth management businesses resulting in

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lower fee income, and clients could potentially seek alternative investment opportunities with other providers, which could also result in lower fee income to us. The Company’s business is also significantly affected by monetary, trade and other regulatory policies of the U.S. federal government, its agencies and government-sponsored entities. Changes in any of these policies are influenced by macroeconomic conditions and other factors that are beyond the Company’s control, are difficult to predict and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations and growth prospects.

Continued elevated levels of inflation could adversely impact the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The United States has recently experienced elevated levels of inflation, with the consumer price index climbing approximately 3.4% in 2023. Continued elevated levels of inflation could have complex effects on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition, some of which could be materially adverse. For example, while the Company generally expects any inflation-related increases in the Company’s interest expense to be offset by increases in interest income, inflation-driven increases in the Company’s levels of noninterest expense could negatively impact results of operations. Continued elevated levels of inflation could also cause increased volatility and uncertainty in the business environment, which could adversely affect loan demand and the Company’s clients’ ability to repay indebtedness. It is possible that governmental responses to the current inflation environment, such as changes to monetary and fiscal policy that are too strict, or the imposition or threatened imposition of price controls, could adversely affect the Company’s business. The duration and severity of the current inflationary period cannot be estimated with precision.

Because a significant portion of the Company’s loan portfolio is comprised of real estate loans, negative changes in the economy affecting real estate values and liquidity, as well as environmental factors, could impair the value of collateral securing the Company’s real estate loans and result in loan and other losses.

At December 31, 2023, approximately 77.5% of the Company’s total loan portfolio was comprised of loans with real estate as a primary component of collateral. The repayment of such loans is highly dependent on the ability of the borrowers to meet their loan repayment obligations to us, which can be adversely affected by economic downturns that can lead to (i) declines in the rents or decreases in occupancy and, therefore, in the cash flows generated by those real properties on which the borrowers depend to fund their loan payments to us, (ii) decreases in the values of those real properties, which make it more difficult for the borrowers to sell those real properties for amounts sufficient to repay their loans in full, and (iii) job losses of residential home buyers, which makes it more difficult for these borrowers to fund their loan payments. As a result, adverse developments affecting real estate values in the Company’s market areas could increase the credit risk associated with the Company’s real estate loan portfolio. The market value of real estate can fluctuate significantly in a short period of time as a result of interest rates and market conditions in the area in which the real estate is located and some of these values have been negatively affected by the recent rise in prevailing interest rates. Adverse changes affecting real estate values, including decreases in office occupancy due to the shift to remote working environments following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the liquidity of real estate in one or more of the Company’s markets could increase the credit risk associated with the Company’s loan portfolio, significantly impair the value of property pledged as collateral on loans and affect the Company’s ability to sell the collateral upon foreclosure without a loss or additional losses or the Company’s ability to sell those loans on the secondary market. Such declines and losses would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. If real estate values decline, it is also more likely that the Company would be required to increase the Company’s allowance for credit losses, which would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In addition, adverse weather events, including tornados, wildfires, flooding, and mudslides, can cause damage to the property pledged as collateral on loans, which could result in additional losses upon a foreclosure.

In addition, if hazardous or toxic substances are found on properties pledged as collateral, the value of the real estate could be impaired. If the Company forecloses on and takes title to such properties, the Company may be liable for remediation costs, as well as for personal injury and property damage. Environmental laws may require the Company to incur substantial expenses to address unknown liabilities and may materially reduce the affected property’s value or limit the Company’s ability to use or sell the affected property. In addition, future laws or more stringent interpretations or

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enforcement policies with respect to existing laws may increase the Company’s exposure to environmental liability. The remediation costs and any other financial liabilities associated with an environmental hazard could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Many of the Company’s loans are to commercial borrowers, which have a higher degree of risk than other types of loans.

Commercial and industrial loans represented 21.7% of the Company’s total loan portfolio at December 31, 2023. These loans are often larger and involve greater risks than other types of lending. Because payments on such loans are often dependent on the successful operation of the business involved, repayment of such loans is often more sensitive than other types of loans to the general business climate and economy. Accordingly, a challenging business and economic environment generally, or in certain industries, may increase the Company’s risk related to commercial loans. In the current economic environment, the cumulative effects of rising inflation, labor shortages and supply chain constraints and the threat of a recession may adversely affect commercial and industrial loans, especially if general economic conditions worsen. Unlike residential mortgage loans, which generally are made on the basis of the borrowers’ ability to make repayment from their employment and other income and which are secured by real property whose value tends to be more easily ascertainable, commercial loans typically are made on the basis of the borrowers’ ability to make repayment from the cash flow of the commercial venture. The Company’s commercial and industrial loans are primarily made based on the identified cash flow of the borrower and secondarily on the collateral underlying the loans. Most often, this collateral consists of accounts receivable, inventory and equipment. Inventory and equipment may depreciate over time, may be difficult to appraise and may fluctuate in value based on the success of the business. If the cash flow from business operations is reduced, the borrower’s ability to repay the loan may be impaired. Due to the larger average size of each commercial loan as compared with other loans such as residential loans, as well as collateral that is generally less readily-marketable, losses incurred on a small number of commercial loans could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s loan portfolio has a large concentration of commercial real estate loans, which involve risks specific to real estate values and the health of the real estate market generally.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $1.3 billion of commercial real estate loans, consisting of $569.4 million of non-owner occupied loans, $271.6 million of owner occupied loans, $245.1 million of loans secured by multifamily residential properties, $124.0 million of construction and land development loans and $40.1 million of loans secured by farmland. Commercial real estate loans represented 45.3% of the Company’s total loan portfolio and 353.4% of the Bank’s total capital at December 31, 2023. The market value of real estate can fluctuate significantly in a short period of time as a result of interest rates and market conditions in the area in which the real estate is located and some of these values have been negatively affected by the recent rise in prevailing interest rates. Adverse developments affecting real estate values in the Company’s market areas could increase the credit risk associated with the Company’s loan portfolio. Additionally, the repayment of commercial real estate loans generally is dependent, in large part, on sufficient income from the properties securing the loans to cover operating expenses and debt service. Economic events, including decreases in office occupancy due to the shift to remote working environments following the COVID-19 pandemic, or governmental regulations outside of the control of the borrower or lender could negatively impact the future cash flow and market values of the affected properties. If the loans that are collateralized by real estate become troubled during a time when market conditions are declining or have declined, then the Company may not be able to realize the full value of the collateral that the Company anticipated at the time of originating the loan, which could force the Company to take charge-offs or require the Company to increase the Company’s provision for loan losses, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Construction and land development loans are based upon estimates of costs and values associated with the complete project. These estimates may be inaccurate, and the Company may be exposed to significant losses on loans for these projects.

Construction and land development loans comprised approximately 4.5% of the Company’s total loan portfolio as of December 31, 2023. Such lending involves additional risks because funds are advanced upon the security of the

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project, which is of uncertain value prior to its completion, and costs may exceed realizable values in declining real estate markets. Because of the uncertainties inherent in estimating construction costs and the realizable market value of the completed project and the effects of governmental regulation of real property, it is relatively difficult to accurately evaluate the total funds required to complete a project and the related loan-to-value ratio. As a result, construction and land development loans often involve the disbursement of substantial funds with repayment dependent, in part, on the success of the ultimate project and the ability of the borrower to sell or lease the property, rather than the ability of the borrower or guarantor to repay principal and interest. If the Company’s appraisal of the value of the completed project proves to be overstated or market values or rental rates decline, the Company may have inadequate security for the repayment of the loan upon completion of construction of the project. If the Company is forced to foreclose on a project prior to or at completion due to a default, the Company may not be able to recover all of the unpaid balance of, and accrued interest on, the loan as well as related foreclosure and holding costs. In addition, the Company may be required to fund additional amounts to complete the project and may have to hold the property for an unspecified period of time while the Company attempts to dispose of it.

The Company’s concentration of one-to-four family residential mortgage loans may result in lower yields and profitability.

One-to-four family residential mortgage loans comprised $726.9 million and $679.6 million, or 26.3% and 27.8%, of the Company’s loan portfolio at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. These loans are secured primarily by properties located in the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and Arizona. These loans generally have lower yields relative to other loan categories within the Company’s loan portfolio. While these loans may possess higher yields than investment securities, their repayment characteristics are not as well defined, and they generally possess a higher degree of interest rate risk versus other loans and investment securities within the Company’s portfolio. This increased interest rate risk is due to the repayment and prepayment options inherent in residential mortgage loans which are exercised by borrowers based upon the overall level of interest rates. These residential mortgage loans are generally made on the basis of the borrower’s ability to make repayments from his or her employment and the value of the property securing the loan. Thus, as a result, repayment of these loans is also subject to general economic and employment conditions within the communities and surrounding areas where the property is located.

A decline in residential real estate market prices or home sales has the potential to adversely affect the Company’s one-to-four family residential mortgage portfolio in several ways, such as a decrease in collateral values and an increase in non-performing loans, each of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Nonperforming assets take significant time and resources to resolve and adversely affect the Company’s net interest income.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s nonperforming loans (which consist of nonaccrual loans and loans past due 90 days or more) totaled $8.7 million, or 0.32% of the Company’s total loan portfolio, and the Company’s nonperforming assets (which consist of nonperforming loans, foreclosed assets and other real estate owned) totaled $8.8 million, or 0.32% of total assets. In addition, the Company had $3.4 million of accruing loans that were 31-89 days delinquent as of December 31, 2023.

The Company’s nonperforming assets adversely affect net interest income in various ways. The Company does not record interest income on nonaccrual loans or foreclosed assets, thereby adversely affecting net income and returns on assets and equity. When the Company takes collateral in foreclosure and similar proceedings, the Company is required to mark the collateral to its then-fair market value, which may result in a loss. These nonperforming loans and foreclosed assets also increase the Company’s risk profile and the level of capital the Company’s regulators believe is appropriate for the Company to maintain in light of such risks. The resolution of nonperforming assets requires significant time commitments from management, which increases the Company’s loan administration costs and adversely affects its efficiency ratio and can be detrimental to the performance of their other responsibilities, and may also involve additional financial resources. If the Company experiences increases in nonperforming loans and nonperforming assets, net interest income may be negatively impacted and the Company’s loan administration costs

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could increase, each of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s high concentration of large loans to certain borrowers may increase the Company’s credit risk.

The Company has developed relationships with certain individuals and businesses that have resulted in a concentration of large loans to a small number of borrowers. As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s 10 largest borrowing relationships accounted for approximately 6.1% of the total loan portfolio. The Company has established an informal, internal limit on loans to one borrower, principal or guarantor, but the Company may, under certain circumstances, consider going above this internal limit in situations where management’s understanding of the industry, the borrower’s business and the credit quality of the borrower are commensurate with the increased size of the loan. Along with other risks inherent in these loans, such as the deterioration of the underlying businesses or property securing these loans, this high concentration of borrowers presents a risk to the Company’s lending operations. If any one of these borrowers becomes unable to repay its loan obligations as a result of business, economic or market conditions, or personal circumstances, such as divorce or death, the Company’s nonaccruing loans and the Company’s provision for loan losses could increase significantly, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The small to midsized businesses that the Company lends to may have fewer resources to weather adverse business developments, which may impair their ability to repay their loans.

The Company lends to small to midsized businesses, which generally have fewer financial resources in terms of capital or borrowing capacity than larger entities, frequently have smaller market share than their competition, may be more vulnerable to economic downturns, often need substantial additional capital to expand or compete and may experience substantial volatility in operating results, any of which may impair their ability to repay their loans. In addition, the success of a small and midsized business often depends on the management talents and efforts of a small number of people, and the death, disability or resignation of one or more of these people could have a material adverse impact on the business and its ability to repay its loan. If general economic conditions negatively impact the markets in which the Company operates and small to midsized businesses are adversely affected or the Company’s borrowers are otherwise affected by adverse business developments, the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects may be materially adversely affected.

Real estate market volatility and future changes in the Company’s disposition strategies could result in net proceeds that differ significantly from the Company’s foreclosed asset fair value appraisals.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company had no foreclosed assets, which typically consist of properties that the Company obtains through foreclosure. Assets acquired through loan foreclosure are included in other assets and are initially recorded at estimated fair value less estimated selling costs. The estimated fair value of foreclosed assets is evaluated regularly and any decreases in value along with holding costs, such as taxes, insurance and utilities, are reported in noninterest expense.

In response to market conditions and other economic factors, the Company may utilize alternative sale strategies other than orderly disposition as part of the Company’s foreclosed asset disposition strategy, such as immediate liquidation sales. In this event, as a result of the significant judgments required in estimating fair value and the variables involved in different methods of disposition, the net proceeds realized from such sales transactions could differ significantly from appraisals, comparable sales and other estimates used to determine the fair value of the Company’s foreclosed assets.

The Company’s exposure to home equity lines of credit may increase the potential for loss.

The Company’s mortgage loan portfolio consists, in part, of home equity lines of credit. A large portion of home equity lines of credit are originated in conjunction with the origination of first mortgage loans eligible for sale in the secondary market, which the Company typically does not service if the loan is sold. By not servicing the first mortgage loans, the Company is unable to track the delinquency status which may indicate whether such loans are at risk

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of foreclosure by others. In addition, home equity lines of credit are initially offered as “revolving” lines of credit whereby the borrowers are only required to make scheduled interest payments during the initial terms of the loans, which is generally five or ten years. Thereafter, the borrowers no longer have the ability to make principal draws from the lines and the loans convert to a fully-amortizing basis, requiring scheduled principal and interest payments sufficient to repay the loans within a certain period of time, which is generally 15 or 20 years. The conversion of a home equity line of credit to a fully amortizing basis presents an increased level of default risk to the Company since the borrower no longer has the ability to make principal draws on the line, and the amount of the required monthly payment could substantially increase to provide for scheduled repayment of principal and interest. As of December 31, 2023, the unfunded commitment related to home equity lines of credit was $216.1 million.

Operational, Strategic and Reputational Risks

Noninterest income represents a significant portion of the Company’s total revenue and may be negatively impacted by changes in economic or market conditions and competition.

A significant portion of the Company’s revenue results from fee-based services provided by the retirement and benefit services business. This contrasts with many other community and regional banks that rely more heavily on interest-based sources of revenue, such as loans and investment securities. For the year ended December 31, 2023, noninterest income represented approximately 47.7% of the Company’s total revenue, which includes net interest income and noninterest income, a significant portion of which is derived from the Company’s retirement and benefit services business. This fee income business presents special risks not borne by other institutions that focus exclusively on banking. The level of these fees is influenced by several factors, including the number of plans and participants the Company provides retirement, advisory and other services for, the level of transactions within the plans, and the asset values of the plans whose fees are earned based on the level of assets in the plans. If the Company is unable to maintain the Company’s number of plans, participants and AUA and AUM at historical or greater levels, the Company’s fee income derived from this business may decline. For example, in a typical year the Company expects to experience outflows in AUA and AUM due to withdrawals, client turnover, plan terminations, mergers and acquisition activity. In 2023, the Company experienced outflows of $4.8 billion in the Company’s retirement and benefit services division partially offset by inflows of $4.5 billion.

In addition, economic, market or other factors that reduce the level or rates of savings in or with the Company’s clients, either through reductions in financial asset valuations or through changes in investor preferences, could materially reduce the Company’s fee revenue. The financial markets and businesses operating in the securities industry are highly volatile (meaning that performance results can vary greatly within short periods of time) and are directly affected by, among other factors, domestic and foreign economic conditions and general trends in business and finance, all of which are beyond the Company’s control. the Company cannot assure you that broad market performance will be favorable in the future. Declines in the financial markets or a lack of sustained growth may result in a corresponding decline in the Company’s performance and may adversely affect the value of the assets that the Company manages. A general economic slowdown could decrease the value of the AUA and AUM in the Company’s retirement and benefit services and wealth management businesses and result in clients potentially seeking alternative investment opportunities with other providers, which could result in lower fee income to the Company.

Even when economic and market conditions are generally favorable, the Company’s investment performance may be adversely affected by the investment style of the Company’s asset managers and the particular investments that they make. To the extent the Company’s future investment performance is perceived to be poor in either relative or absolute terms, the revenues and profitability of the Company’s wealth management business will likely be reduced and the Company’s ability to attract new clients will likely be impaired. In addition, the Company’s management contracts generally provide for fee payments for wealth management and trust services based on the market value of AUM. Because most contracts provide for a fee based on market values of securities, fluctuations in the underlying securities values may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s revenue. Fee compression due to competitive pressures has resulted in and continues to result in significant pressure to reduce the fees the Company charges for the Company’s services in both the retirement and benefit services and wealth management businesses.

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The Company may not be successful in implementing the Company’s organic growth strategy, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Part of the Company’s business strategy is to focus on organic growth, which includes leveraging the Company’s business lines across the Company’s entire client base, enhancing brand awareness and building the Company’s infrastructure. The success of the Company’s organic growth strategy depends on the Company’s ability to increase loans, deposits, AUM and AUA at acceptable risk levels without incurring offsetting increases in noninterest expense. The Company may not be successful in generating organic growth if the Company fails to effectively execute the Company’s integrated One Alerus strategy, or as a result of other factors, including delays in introducing and implementing new products and services and other impediments resulting from regulatory oversight or lack of qualified personnel at the Company’s office locations. In addition, the success of the Company’s organic growth strategy will depend on maintaining sufficient regulatory capital levels and on favorable economic conditions in the Company’s primary market areas. Failure to adequately manage the risks associated with the Company’s anticipated organic growth could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

In addition to the Company’s organic growth strategy, it intends to expand business by acquiring other banks and financial services companies, but may not be successful in doing so, either because of an inability to find suitable acquisition candidates, constrained capital resources or otherwise.

While a key element of the Company’s business strategy is to grow the Company’s banking franchise and increase the Company’s market share through organic growth, the Company intends to take advantage of opportunities to acquire other banks and financial services companies, including wealth management and retirement administration businesses, as such opportunities present themselves. For example, in the third quarter of 2022, the Company completed the acquisition of MPB BHC, Inc., holding company for Metro Phoenix Bank in Phoenix, Arizona. Although the Company intends to continue to grow its business through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, because certain of the Company’s market areas are comprised of mature, rural communities with limited population growth, the Company anticipates that much of its future growth will be dependent on the Company’s ability to successfully implement the Company’s acquisition growth strategy. However, the Company may not be able to identify suitable acquisition targets, or may not succeed in seizing such opportunities when they arise or in integrating any such banks or financial service companies within the Company’s existing business framework following acquisition. In addition, even if suitable targets are identified, the Company expects to compete for such businesses with other potential bidders, many of which may have greater financial resources than the Company, which may adversely affect the Company’s ability to make acquisitions at attractive prices. The Company’s ability to execute on acquisition opportunities may require the Company to raise additional capital and to increase the Company’s capital position to support the growth of the Company’s franchise. It will also depend on market conditions over which the Company has no control. Moreover, certain acquisitions may require the approval of the Company’s bank regulators, and the Company may not be able to obtain such approvals on acceptable terms, if at all.

If the Company pursues additional strategic acquisitions, it may expose the Company to financial, execution and operational risks that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations and growth prospects.

Since 2000, the Company has experienced significant growth, both organically and through acquisitions of banks and other financial service providers, including wealth management and retirement administration businesses. The Company plans to continue to grow its business by executing additional strategic acquisitions of all or parts of other banks or financial institutions or through the hiring of teams of employees that fit within the Company’s overall strategy and that the Company believes make financial and strategic sense. These acquisitions may result in the Company entering new markets.

If the Company grows through acquisitions, it may expose the Company to financial, execution and operational risks that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations and

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growth prospects. Acquiring other banks and financial service providers involve risks commonly associated with acquisitions, including:

In addition to the foregoing, the Company may face additional risks in acquisitions to the extent the Company acquires new lines of business or new products, or enter new geographic areas, in which the Company has little or no current experience, especially if the Company loses key employees of the acquired operations. If the Company hires a new team of employees, the Company may incur additional expenses relating to their compensation without any guarantee that such new team will be successful in generating new business. In addition, if the Company later determines that the value of an acquired business has decreased and that the related goodwill is impaired, an impairment of goodwill charge to earnings would be recognized.

Acquisitions involve inherent uncertainty and the Company cannot assure you that it will be successful in overcoming these risks or any other problems encountered in connection with acquisitions. The Company’s inability to overcome risks associated with acquisitions could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s retirement and benefit services business relies on acquisitions to maintain and grow the Company’s AUA and AUM.

In 2023, the Company’s retirement and benefit services business experienced outflows of AUA and AUM of $4.8 billion, due to withdrawals, client turnover, plan terminations, and mergers and acquisition activity. the Company believes this level of runoff is typical in the industry. To maintain and grow this business, the Company believes it needs to be an active acquirer and seek to complete acquisitions of retirement administration providers if the Company is able to find quality acquisition opportunities. If the Company is unable to source a pipeline of potential acquisitions of companies that it determines are a good strategic fit for the Company, the Company’s retirement and benefit services business may fail to grow or even shrink, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

If the Company is unable to continue to originate residential real estate loans and sell them into the secondary market for a profit, the Company’s noninterest income could decrease.

The Company derives a portion of its noninterest income from the origination of residential real estate loans and the subsequent sale of such loans into the secondary market. If the Company is unable to continue to originate and sell residential real estate loans at historical or greater levels, the Company’s residential real estate loan volume would decrease, which could decrease the Company’s earnings. A rising interest rate environment, general economic

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conditions, market volatility or other factors beyond the Company’s control could adversely affect the Company’s ability to originate residential real estate loans. Mortgage banking income is highly influenced by the level and direction of mortgage interest rates and real estate and refinancing activity. In a lower interest rate environment, the demand for mortgage loans and refinancing activity will tend to increase. This has the effect of increasing fee income but could adversely impact the estimated fair value of the Company’s mortgage servicing rights as the rate of loan prepayments increase. In a higher interest rate environment, the demand for mortgage loans and refinancing activity will generally be lower. This has the effect of decreasing fee income opportunities. As a result of the current rising interest rate environment, the Company saw continued lower demand for mortgage loans and refinancing activity in 2023. In 2023, the Company originated $364.1 million of mortgage loans, compared to $812.3 million in 2022. The Company expects this trend to continue in 2024.

The financial services industry is experiencing an increase in regulatory and compliance requirements related to mortgage loan originations necessitating technology upgrades and other changes. If new regulations continue to increase and the Company is unable to make technology upgrades, the Company’s ability to originate mortgage loans will be reduced or eliminated. Additionally, the Company sells a large portion of its residential real estate loans to third party investors, and rising interest rates could negatively affect the Company’s ability to generate suitable profits on the sale of such loans. If interest rates increase after the Company originates the loans, the Company’s ability to market those loans is impaired as the profitability on the loans decreases. These fluctuations can have an adverse effect on the revenue the Company generates from residential real estate loans and in certain instances, could result in a loss on the sale of the loans.

In addition, a prolonged period of illiquidity in the secondary mortgage market, coupled with an increase in interest rates, could reduce the demand for residential mortgage loans and increase investor yield requirements for those loans. As a result, the Company may be at higher risk of retaining a larger portion of mortgage loans than in other environments until they are sold to investors. Any reduction of loan production volumes could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The occurrence of fraudulent activity, breaches or failures of the Company’s information security controls or cybersecurity related incidents could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

As a financial institution, the Company is susceptible to fraudulent activity, information security breaches and cybersecurity-related incidents that may be committed against the Company, its clients or third parties with whom the Company interacts, which may result in financial losses or increased costs to the Company or its clients, disclosure or misuse of the Company’s information or its client information, misappropriation of assets, privacy breaches against the Company’s clients, litigation or damage to the Company’s reputation. Such fraudulent activity may take many forms, including check fraud, electronic fraud, wire fraud, phishing, social engineering and other dishonest acts. Information security breaches and cybersecurity-related incidents may include fraudulent or unauthorized access to systems used by the Company or its clients, denial or degradation of service attacks and malware or other cyber-attacks.

In recent periods, there continues to be a rise in electronic fraudulent activity, security breaches and cyber-attacks within the financial services industry, especially in the commercial banking sector due to cyber criminals targeting commercial bank accounts and as a result of increasingly sophisticated methods of conducting cyber attacks, including those employing artificial intelligence. Consistent with industry trends, the Company has also experienced an increase in attempted electronic fraudulent activity, security breaches and cybersecurity related incidents in recent periods. Moreover, in recent periods, several large corporations, including retail companies, financial institutions and third party vendors specializing in providing services to financial institutions, including MOVEit and First American Financial, have suffered major data breaches, in some cases exposing not only confidential and proprietary corporate information, but also sensitive financial and other personal information of their clients and employees and subjecting them to potential fraudulent activity. The Company is not aware of having experienced any misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized disclosure of confidential or personally identifiable information having a material impact on the Company as a result of a direct cyber security breach or other act on the Bank; however, some of the Company’s clients and third party vendors may have been affected by such breaches, which could increase their risks of identity theft and other fraudulent activity that could involve client accounts at the Bank.

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Information pertaining to the Company and its clients is maintained, and transactions are executed, on networks and systems maintained by the Company and certain third-party partners, such as the Company’s online banking, mobile banking, record-keeping or accounting systems. The secure maintenance and transmission of confidential information, as well as execution of transactions over these systems, are essential to protect the Company and the Company’s clients against fraud and security breaches and to maintain the confidence of the Company’s clients. Breaches of information security also may occur through intentional or unintentional acts by those having access to the Company’s systems or the confidential information of the Company’s clients, including employees. In addition, 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 the Company uses to prevent fraudulent transactions and to protect data about us, the Company’s clients and underlying transactions, as well as the technology used by the Company’s clients to access the Company’s systems. The Company’s third party partners’ inability to anticipate, or failure to adequately mitigate, breaches of security could result in a number of negative events, including losses to the Company or its clients, loss of business or clients, damage to the Company’s reputation, the incurrence of additional expenses, disruption to the Company’s business, additional regulatory scrutiny or penalties or the Company’s exposure to civil litigation and possible financial liability, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Issues with the use of artificial intelligence in our marketplace may result in reputational harm or liability, or could otherwise adversely affect the Company’s business.

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Artificial intelligence, including generative artificial intelligence, is or may be enabled by or integrated into the Company’s products or those developed by its third party partners. As with many developing technologies, artificial intelligence presents risks and challenges that could affect its further development, adoption, and use, and therefore our business. Artificial intelligence algorithms may be flawed, for example datasets may contain biased information or otherwise be insufficient, and inappropriate or controversial data practices could impair the acceptance of artificial intelligence solutions and result in burdensome new regulations. If the analyses of those products incorporating artificial intelligence assist in producing for the Company or its third party partners are deficient, biased or inaccurate, the Company could be subject to competitive harm, potential legal liability and brand or reputational harm. The use of artificial intelligence may also present ethical issues. If the Company or its third party partners offer artificial intelligence enabled products that are controversial because of their purported or real impact on human rights, privacy, or other issues, the Company may experience competitive harm, potential legal liability and brand or reputational harm. In addition, the Company expects that governments will continue to assess and implement new laws and regulations concerning the use of artificial intelligence, which may affect or impair the usability or efficiency of products and services and those developed by the Company’s third party partners.

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The Company depends on information technology and telecommunications systems, and any systems failures, interruptions or data breaches involving these systems could adversely affect the Company’s operations and financial condition.

The Company’s business is highly dependent on the successful and uninterrupted functioning of its information technology and telecommunications systems, third party servicers, accounting systems, mobile and online banking platforms and financial intermediaries. The risks resulting from use of these systems result from a variety of factors, both internal and external. The Company is vulnerable to the impact of failures of its systems to operate as needed or intended. Such failures could include those resulting from human error, unexpected transaction volumes, intentional attacks or overall design or performance issues.

The Company outsources to third parties many of its major systems, such as data processing and mobile and online banking. In addition, the Company partners with a leading financial technology company to create an online account portal that integrates the Company’s diverse product applications into a user-friendly experience for the Company’s consumer clients. The failure of these systems, or the termination of a third-party software license or service agreement on which any of these systems is based, could interrupt the Company’s operations. Because the Company’s information technology and telecommunications systems interface with and depend on third party systems, the Company

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could experience service denials if demand for such services exceeds capacity or such third-party systems fail or experience interruptions. A system failure or service denial could result in a deterioration of the Company’s ability to process loans or gather deposits and provide customer service, compromise the Company’s ability to operate effectively, result in potential noncompliance with applicable laws or regulations, damage the Company’s reputation, result in a loss of client business or subject the Company to additional regulatory scrutiny and possible financial liability, any of which could have a material adverse effect on business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In addition, failures of third parties to comply with applicable laws and regulations, or fraud or misconduct on the part of employees of any of these third parties, could disrupt the Company’s operations or adversely affect its reputation.

It may be difficult for the Company to replace some of its third-party vendors, particularly vendors providing the Company’s core banking and information services, in a timely manner if they are unwilling or unable to provide the Company with these services in the future for any reason and even if the Company is able to replace them, it may be at higher cost or result in the loss of clients. Any such events could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s operations rely heavily on the secure processing, storage and transmission of information and the monitoring of a large number of transactions on a minute-by-minute basis, and even a short interruption in service could have significant consequences. The Company also interacts with and relies on retailers, for whom the Company processes transactions, as well as financial counterparties and regulators. Each of these third parties may be targets of the same types of fraudulent activity, computer break-ins and other cybersecurity breaches described above, including those employing artificial intelligence, and the cybersecurity measures that they maintain to mitigate the risk of such activity may be different than the Company’s own and may be inadequate.

Because financial entities and technology systems are becoming more interdependent and complex, a cyber incident, information breach or loss, or technology failure that compromises the systems or data of one or more financial entities could have a material impact on counterparties or other market participants, including ourselves. As a result of the foregoing, the Company’s ability to conduct business may be adversely affected by any significant disruptions to the Company or to third parties with whom the Company interacts.

A transition away from LIBOR as a reference rate for financial contracts could negatively affect the Company’s income and expenses and the value of various financial contracts.

LIBOR represented the interest rate at which banks offer to lend funds to one another in the international interbank market for short-term loans. On July 27, 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that it will no longer persuade or compel banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR rates after 2021. U.S. Regulators issued guidance to urge market participants to address their LIBOR exposures and transition to robust and sustainable alternative rates and the Alternative Reference Rate Committee proposed that SOFR is the rate that represents best practice as the alternative to U.S. dollar-LIBOR for use in derivatives and other financial contracts that are currently indexed to LIBOR, but has also advised participants to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of any alternative reference rates being considered for use. Contracts linked to LIBOR are vast in number and value, are intertwined with numerous financial products and services, and have diverse parties.

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The end date for LIBOR was June 30, 2023. The Company actively worked to plan for the transition away from LIBOR, but the transition is both complex and challenging and the downstream effect of unwinding or transitioning such contracts may yet cause instability and negatively impact on financial markets and individual institutions. If the Company or other market participants have failed to implement alternative rates other than LIBOR, it could have an adverse effect on the Company and the financial system as a whole.

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Potential losses incurred in connection with possible repurchases and indemnification payments related to mortgages that the Company has sold into the secondary market may require the Company to increase its financial statement reserves in the future.

The Company engages in the origination and sale of residential real estate loans into the secondary market. In connection with such sales, the Company makes certain representations and warranties, which, if breached, may require the Company to repurchase such loans or indemnify the purchasers of such loans for actual losses incurred in respect of such loans. These representations and warranties vary based on the nature of the transaction and the purchaser’s or insurer’s requirements but generally pertain to the ownership of the mortgage loan, the real property securing the loan and compliance with applicable laws and applicable lender and government-sponsored entity underwriting guidelines in connection with the origination of the loan. While the Company believes its mortgage lending practices and standards to be adequate, the Company may receive repurchase or indemnification requests in the future, which could be material in volume. If that were to happen, the Company could incur losses in connection with loan repurchases and indemnification claims, and any such losses might exceed the Company’s financial statement reserves, requiring the Company to increase such reserves. In that event, any losses the Company might have to recognize and any increases the Company might have to make to the Company’s reserves could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company is highly dependent on its executive management team, and the loss of any of the Company’s senior executive officers or other key employees, or the Company’s inability to attract and retain qualified personnel, could harm the Company’s ability to implement its strategic plan and impair the Company’s relationships with clients.

The Company’s success is dependent, to a large degree, upon the continued service and skills of the Company’s executive management team, which consists of Katie Lorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer; Alan Villalon, Chief Financial Officer; Jim Collins, Chief Banking and Revenue Officer; Missy Keney, Chief Engagement Officer; Jon Hendry, Chief Technology Officer; Karin Taylor, Chief Risk and Operations Officer; and Forrest Wilson, Chief Retirement Services Officer. The Company’s business and growth strategies are built primarily upon its ability to retain employees with experience and business relationships within the Company’s market areas. The loss of any of the members of the Company’s executive management team or any of the Company’s other key personnel, including client advisors, could have an adverse impact on the Company’s business and growth because of their skills, years of industry experience, knowledge of the Company’s market areas, the difficulty of finding qualified replacement personnel and any difficulties associated with transitioning of responsibilities to any new members of the executive management team. As such, the Company needs to continue to attract and retain key personnel and to recruit qualified individuals who fit the Company’s culture to succeed existing key personnel and ensure the continued growth and successful operation of the Company’s business. Leadership changes may occur from time to time, and the Company cannot predict whether significant retirements or resignations will occur or whether the Company will be able to recruit additional qualified personnel.

Competition for senior executives and skilled personnel in the financial services industry is intense, which means the cost of hiring, incentivizing and retaining skilled personnel may continue to increase. In addition, the Company’s ability to effectively compete for senior executives and other qualified personnel by offering competitive compensation and benefit arrangements may be restricted by our financial condition, and by applicable banking laws and regulations. The loss of the services of any senior executive or other key personnel, the inability to recruit and retain qualified personnel in the future or the failure to develop and implement a viable succession plan could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s ability to retain and recruit employees is critical to the success of its business strategy and any failure to do so could impair the Company’s customer relationships and adversely affect its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s ability to retain and grow its loans, deposits and fee income depends upon the business generation capabilities, reputation and relationship management skills of the Company’s employees. If the Company loses the services of any of its employees, including successful employees employed by banks or other businesses that the Company may acquire, to a new or existing competitor or otherwise, the Company may not be able to retain valuable

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relationships and some of its customers could choose to use the services of a competitor instead of the Company’s services.

The Company’s success and growth strategy also depends on its continued ability to attract and retain experienced employees for all of the Company’s business lines. The Company may face difficulties in recruiting and retaining personnel of its desired caliber, including as a result of competition from other financial institutions. Competition for high quality personnel is strong and the Company may not be successful in attracting or retaining the personnel it requires. In particular, many of the Company’s competitors are significantly larger with greater financial resources and may be able to offer more attractive compensation packages and broader career opportunities. Additionally, the Company may incur significant expenses and expend significant time and resources on training, integration, and business development before the Company is able to determine whether a new employee will be profitable or effective in their role. If the Company is unable to attract and retain a successful customer development and management team or if the Company’s customer development and management team fails to meet its expectations in terms of customer relationships and profitability, the Company may be unable to execute its business strategy and its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects may be negatively affected.

The Company’s ability to maintain its reputation is critical to the success of the Company’s business, and the failure to do so may materially adversely affect its business and the value of the Company’s stock.

The Company relies, in part, on its reputation to attract clients and retain client relationships. Damage to the Company’s reputation could undermine the confidence of its current and potential clients in the Company’s ability to provide high-quality financial services. Such damage could also impair the confidence of the Company’s counterparties and vendors and ultimately affect its ability to effect transactions. In particular, the Company’s ability to attract and retain clients and employees could be adversely affected to the extent its reputation is damaged. The Company’s actual or perceived failure to address various issues could give rise to reputational risk that could cause harm to the Company and its business prospects. These issues include, but are not limited to, legal and regulatory requirements; privacy; client and other third-party fraud; properly maintaining and safeguarding client and employee personal information; money laundering; illegal or fraudulent sales practices; ethical issues; appropriately addressing potential conflicts of interest; and the proper identification and disclosure of the legal, reputational, credit, liquidity, and market risks inherent in the Company’s products. Failure to appropriately address any of these issues could also give rise to additional regulatory restrictions, reputational harm and legal risks, which could, among other consequences, increase the size and number of litigation claims and damages asserted or subject the Company to enforcement actions, fines, and penalties and cause the Company to incur related costs and expenses. In addition, the Company’s businesses are dependent on the integrity of its relationships, asset managers and other employees. If a relationship manager, asset manager or other employee were to misappropriate any client funds or client information, the reputation of the Company’s businesses could be negatively affected, which may result in the loss of accounts and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Maintenance of the Company’s reputation depends not only on its success in maintaining the Company’s service-focused culture and controlling and mitigating the various risks described in this report, but also on the Company’s success in identifying and appropriately addressing issues that may arise in the areas described above. Maintaining the Company’s reputation also depends on its ability to successfully prevent third parties from infringing on the “Alerus” brand and associated trademarks and the Company’s other intellectual property. Defense of the Company’s reputation, trademarks and other intellectual property, including through litigation, could result in costs that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Labor shortages and a failure to attract and retain qualified employees could negatively impact the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

A number of factors may adversely affect the labor force available to the Company or increase labor costs, including high employment levels and decreased labor force size and participation rates in recent periods. Although the Company has not experienced any material labor shortage to date, the Company continues to observe an overall tightening of and increase in competition in local labor markets. A sustained labor shortage or increased turnover rates within the Company’s employee base could lead to increased costs, such as increased compensation expense to attract

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and retain employees, as well as decreased efficiency. In addition, if the Company is unable to hire and retain employees capable of performing at a high-level, or if mitigation measures the Company takes to respond to a decrease in labor availability have unintended negative effects, the Company’s business could be adversely affected. An overall labor shortage, lack of skilled labor, increased turnover or labor inflation, caused by general macroeconomic factors, could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s use of third-party vendors and its other ongoing third-party business relationships is subject to increasing regulatory requirements and attention.

The Company’s use of third party vendors, including the financial technology company it partners with to create a customer portal, for certain information systems is subject to increasingly demanding regulatory requirements and attention by the Company’s federal bank regulators. Recent regulations require the Company to enhance its due diligence, ongoing monitoring and control over the Company’s third-party vendors and other ongoing third party business relationships. In certain cases, the Company may be required to renegotiate the Company’s agreements with these vendors to meet these enhanced requirements, which could increase costs. The Company expects that regulators will hold the Company responsible for deficiencies in oversight and control of its third party relationships and in the performance of the parties with which the Company has these relationships. As a result, if the Company’s regulators conclude that it has not exercised adequate oversight and control over the Company’s third party vendors or other ongoing third party business relationships or that such third parties have not performed appropriately, the Company could be subject to enforcement actions, including civil money penalties or other administrative or judicial penalties or fines, as well as requirements for client remediation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company has a continuing need for technological change, and it may not have the resources to effectively implement new technology or it may experience operational challenges when implementing new technology.

The financial services industry is undergoing rapid technological changes with frequent introductions of new technology-driven products and services. In addition to better serving clients, the effective use of technology increases efficiency and enables financial institutions to reduce costs. The Company’s future success will depend in part upon its, and its third party partners’, ability to address the needs of the Company’s clients by using technology to provide products and services that will satisfy client demands for convenience as well as to create additional efficiencies in operations. The widespread adoption of new technologies, including mobile banking services, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and payment systems, could require the Company in the future to make substantial expenditures to modify or adapt the Company’s existing products and services as it grows and develops new products to satisfy the Company’s customers’ expectations, remain competitive and comply with regulatory guidance. The Company may experience operational challenges as it implements these new technology enhancements, which could result in the Company not fully realizing the anticipated benefits from such new technology or require the Company to incur significant costs to remedy any such challenges in a timely manner.

Many of the Company’s larger competitors have substantially greater resources to invest in technological improvements. As a result, they may be able to offer additional or superior products to those that the Company will be able to offer, which would put the Company at a competitive disadvantage. Accordingly, a risk exists that the Company will not be able to effectively implement new technology-driven products and services or be successful in marketing such products and services to the Company’s clients.

In addition, the implementation of technological changes and upgrades to maintain current systems and integrate new ones may also cause service interruptions, transaction processing errors and system conversion delays and may cause the Company to fail to comply with applicable laws. The Company expects that new technologies and business processes applicable to the financial services industry will continue to emerge, and these new technologies and business processes may be better than those the Company currently uses. Because the pace of technological change is high and the Company’s industry is intensely competitive, it may not be able to sustain the Company’s investment in new technology as critical systems and applications become obsolete or as better ones become available. A failure to successfully keep pace with technological change affecting the financial services industry and failure to avoid

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interruptions, errors and delays could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company is subject to certain operational risks, including, but not limited to, customer or employee fraud and data processing system failures and errors.

Employee errors and employee and customer misconduct could subject the Company to financial losses or regulatory sanctions and seriously harm the Company’s reputation. Misconduct by the Company’s employees could include hiding unauthorized activities from us, improper or unauthorized activities on behalf of the Company’s customers or improper use of confidential information. It is not always possible to prevent employee errors or employee and customer misconduct, and the precautions the Company takes to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. Employee errors could also subject the Company to financial claims for negligence.

The Company maintains a system of internal controls and insurance coverage to mitigate against operational risks, including data processing system failures and errors and customer or employee fraud. If the Company’s internal controls fail to prevent or detect an occurrence, or if any resulting loss is not insured or exceeds applicable insurance limits, it could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s dividend policy may change.

Although the Company has historically paid dividends to its stockholders and currently intends to maintain or increase its dividend levels in future quarters, the Company has no obligation to continue doing so and may change the Company’s dividend policy at any time without notice to the Company’s stockholders. Holders of the Company’s common stock are only entitled to receive such cash dividends as the Company’s Board of Directors, in its discretion, may declare out of funds legally available for such payments. Further, consistent with the Company’s strategic plans, growth initiatives, capital availability, projected liquidity needs, and other factors, the Company has made, and will continue to make, capital management decisions and policies that could adversely impact the amount of dividends paid to the Company’s common stockholders.

In addition, the Company is a financial holding company, and the Company’s ability to declare and pay dividends is dependent on certain federal regulatory considerations, including the guidelines of the Federal Reserve regarding capital adequacy and dividends. It is the policy of the Federal Reserve that bank and financial holding companies should generally pay dividends on capital stock only out of earnings, and only if prospective earnings retention is consistent with the organization’s expected future needs, asset quality and financial condition.

The Company is a separate and distinct legal entity from its subsidiaries, including the Bank. The Company receives substantially all of its revenue from dividends from the Bank, which it uses as the principal source of funds to pay expenses. Various federal and state laws and regulations limit the amount of dividends that the Bank and certain of the Company’s non-bank subsidiaries may pay the Company. Such limits are also tied to the earnings of the Company’s subsidiaries. If the Bank does not receive regulatory approval or if its earnings are not sufficient to make dividend payments to the Company while maintaining adequate capital levels, the Company’s ability to pay its expenses and its business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely impacted.

Future issuances of common stock could result in dilution, which could cause the Company’s common stock price to decline.

The Company is generally not restricted from issuing additional shares of stock, up to totals of 30,000,000 shares of common stock and 2,000,000 shares of preferred stock authorized in the Company’s certificate of incorporation, which in each case could be increased by a vote of the holders of a majority of the Company’s shares of common stock. The Company may issue additional shares of common stock in the future pursuant to current or future equity compensation plans, upon conversions of preferred stock or debt, or in connection with future acquisitions or financings. If the Company chooses to raise capital by selling shares of common stock for any reason, the issuance

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would have a dilutive effect on the holders of the Company’s common stock and could have a material negative effect on the market price of the Company’s common stock.

The Company may issue shares of preferred stock in the future, which could make it difficult for another company to acquire the Company or could otherwise adversely affect holders of the Company’s common stock, which could depress the price of the Company’s common stock.

Although there are currently no shares of the Company’s preferred stock issued and outstanding, the Company’s certificate of incorporation authorizes the Company to issue up to 2,000,000 shares of one or more series of preferred stock. The Company’s Board of Directors also has the power, without stockholder approval, to set the terms of any series of preferred stock that may be issued, including voting rights, dividend rights, preferences over the Company’s common stock with respect to dividends or in the event of a dissolution, liquidation or winding up, and other terms. If the Company issues preferred stock in the future that has preference over the Company’s common stock with respect to payment of dividends or upon the Company’s liquidation, dissolution or winding up, or if the Company issues preferred stock with voting rights that dilute the voting power of the Company’s common stock, the rights of the holders of the Company’s common stock or the market price of the Company’s common stock could be adversely affected. In addition, the ability of the Company’s Board of Directors to issue shares of preferred stock without any action on the part of the Company’s stockholders may impede a takeover of the Company and prevent a transaction perceived to be favorable to the Company’s stockholders.

The holders of the Company’s debt obligations and preferred stock, if any, will have priority over the Company’s common stock with respect to payment in the event of liquidation, dissolution or winding up and with respect to the payment of interest and dividends.

In any liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Company, the Company’s common stock would rank junior in priority to all claims of debt holders against the Company and claims of all of the Company’s outstanding shares of preferred stock. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $50.0 million of subordinated notes payable and $9.0 million of junior subordinated debentures outstanding. The Company does not currently have any shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding. As a result, holders of the Company’s common stock will not be entitled to receive any payment or other distribution of assets upon the liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Company until after all of its obligations to debt holders have been satisfied and holders of senior equity securities, including any preferred shares, if any, have received any payment or distribution due to them.

The Company’s business and operations may be adversely affected in numerous and complex ways by weak economic conditions and global trade.

The Company’s businesses and operations, which primarily consist of lending money to clients in the form of commercial and residential mortgage loans, borrowing money from clients in the form of deposits and savings accounts, investing in securities, and providing wealth management, trust and fiduciary and recordkeeping services, are sensitive to general business and economic conditions in the United States. If the United States economy weakens, the Company’s growth and profitability from the Company’s lending, deposit and investment operations could be constrained. Uncertainty about the federal fiscal policymaking process, the medium- and long-term fiscal outlook of the federal government, and future tax rates is a concern for businesses, consumers and investors in the United States. In addition, economic conditions in foreign countries and weakening global trade due to increased anti-globalization sentiment and recent tariff activity could affect the stability of global financial markets, which could hinder the economic growth of the United States. Weak economic conditions are characterized by deflation, fluctuations in debt and equity capital markets, a lack of liquidity or depressed prices in the secondary market for loans, increased delinquencies on mortgage, consumer and commercial loans, residential and commercial real estate price declines and lower home sales and commercial activity. Further, a general economic slowdown could decrease the value of the Company’s AUA and AUM resulting in clients potentially seeking alternative investment opportunities with other providers, which could result in lower fee income. All of these factors are detrimental to the Company’s business, and the interplay between these factors can be complex and unpredictable. Adverse economic conditions and government policy responses to such conditions could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

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The financial markets and the global economy may also be adversely affected by the current or anticipated impact of military conflict, including the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Palestine and between Russia and Ukraine, which is increasing volatility in commodity and energy prices, creating supply chain issues and causing instability in financial markets. Sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries in response to such conflict could further adversely impact the financial markets and the global economy, and any economic countermeasures by the affected countries or others could exacerbate market and economic instability. The specific consequences of these conflicts on the Company’s business are difficult to predict at this time, but in addition to inflationary pressures affecting the Company’s operations and those of the Company’s customers and borrowers, the Company may also experience an increase in cyberattacks against us, the Company’s customers and borrowers, service providers and other third parties.

The Company depends on the accuracy and completeness of information about clients and counterparties.

In deciding whether to extend credit or enter into other transactions, and in evaluating and monitoring the Company’s loan portfolio on an ongoing basis, the Company may rely on information furnished by or on behalf of clients and counterparties, including financial statements, credit reports and other financial information. The Company may also rely on representations of those clients or counterparties or of other third parties, such as independent auditors, as to the accuracy and completeness of that information. Reliance on inaccurate, incomplete, fraudulent or misleading financial statements, credit reports or other financial or business information, or the failure to receive such information on a timely basis, could result in loan losses, reputational damage or other effects that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

New lines of business, products, product enhancements or services may subject the Company to additional risks.

From time to time, the Company may implement new lines of business or offer new products and product enhancements as well as new services within the Company’s existing lines of business. There are substantial risks and uncertainties associated with these efforts, particularly in instances in which the markets are not fully developed. In implementing, developing or marketing new lines of business, products, product enhancements or services, the Company may invest significant time and resources, although the Company may not assign the appropriate level of resources or expertise necessary to make these new lines of business, products, product enhancements or services successful or to realize their expected benefits. Further, initial timetables for the introduction and development of new lines of business, products, product enhancements or services may not be achieved, and price and profitability targets may not prove feasible.

External factors, such as compliance with regulations, competitive alternatives and shifting market preferences, may also affect the successful implementation of a new line of business or offerings of new products, product enhancements or services. Further, any new line of business, product, product enhancement or service or system conversion could have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the Company’s system of internal controls. Failure to successfully manage these risks in the development and implementation of new lines of business or offerings of new products, product enhancements or services could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company faces intense competition from other banks and financial services companies that could hurt its business.

The Company operates in the highly competitive financial services industry and faces significant competition for clients from financial institutions located both within and beyond the Company’s market areas. Overall, the Company competes with national commercial banks, regional banks, private banks, mortgage companies, online lenders, savings banks, credit unions, non-bank financial services companies, other financial institutions, including investment advisory and wealth management firms, financial technology, or “Fintech,” companies and securities brokerage firms, operating within or near the areas the Company serves. Many of the Company’s non-bank competitors are not subject to the same extensive regulations that govern the Company’s activities and may have greater flexibility in competing for business. The financial services industry could become even more competitive as a result of legislative, regulatory and technological changes and continued consolidation.

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While the Company does not offer products relating to digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and other similar assets, there has been a significant increase in digital asset adoption globally over the past several years. Certain characteristics of digital asset transactions, such as the speed with which such transactions can be conducted, the ability to transact without the involvement of regulated intermediaries, the ability to engage in transactions across multiple jurisdictions, and the anonymous nature of the transactions, are appealing to certain consumers notwithstanding the various risks posed by such transactions. Accordingly, digital asset service providers—which, at present are not subject to the same degree of scrutiny and oversight as banking organizations and other financial institutions—are becoming active competitors to more traditional financial institutions.

The process of eliminating banks as intermediaries, known as “disintermediation,” could result in the loss of fee income, as well as the loss of customer deposits and the related income generated from deposits. The loss of these revenue streams and the lower cost deposits as a source of funds could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations. Potential partnerships with digital asset companies, moreover, could also entail significant investment.

In the Company’s banking business, it may not be able to compete successfully with other financial institutions in the Company’s markets, particularly with larger financial institutions that have significantly greater resources than us, and the Company may have to pay higher interest rates to attract deposits, accept lower yields to attract loans and pay higher wages for new employees, resulting in lower net interest margins and reduced profitability. In addition, increased lending activity of competing banks has also led to increased competitive pressures on loan rates and terms for high-quality credits.

Competition in the retirement and benefit services and wealth management businesses is especially strong in the Company’s geographic market areas because there are numerous well-established, well-resourced, well-capitalized, and successful investment management, wealth advisory and wealth management and trust firms in these areas. In addition, the record-keeping and administration industry is dominated by a small number of larger institutions that may charge fees that are lower than the Company charges for similar services. The Company’s ability to successfully attract and retain retirement and benefit services and wealth management clients is dependent upon its ability to compete with competitors’ investment, advisory, fiduciary and recordkeeping products and services, levels of investment performance and marketing and distribution capabilities. If the Company is unable to compete effectively with other banking or other financial services businesses, it could find it more difficult to attract new and retain existing clients and the Company’s noninterest income could decline, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company originates, sells and services residential mortgage loans. The Company’s mortgage business faces vigorous competition from banks and other financial institutions, including larger financial institutions and independent mortgage companies. The Company’s mortgage business competes on a number of factors including customer service, quality, range of products and services offered, price, reputation, interest rates, closing process and duration, and loan origination fees. The ability to attract and retain skilled mortgage origination professionals is critical to the Company’s mortgage origination business. Changes in interest rates and pricing decisions by the Company’s loan competitors affect demand for the Company’s residential mortgage loan products, the revenue realized on the sale of loans and revenues received from servicing such loans for others, ultimately reducing the Company’s noninterest income. In addition, if the Company is unable to attract and retain enough skilled employees, the Company’s mortgage origination volume may decline.

The Company’s business and operations may be adversely affected in numerous and complex ways by external business disruptors in the financial services industry.

The financial services industry is undergoing rapid change, as technology enables traditional banks to compete in new ways and non-traditional entrants to compete in certain segments of the banking market, in some cases with reduced regulation. As client preferences and expectations continue to evolve, technology has lowered barriers to entry and made it possible for banks to expand their geographic reach by providing services over the internet and for non-banks to offer products and services traditionally provided by banks, such as automatic transfer and automatic payment systems, online lending and low-cost investment advisory services. New entrants may use new technologies, advanced

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data and analytic tools, lower cost to serve, reduced regulatory burden or faster processes to challenge traditional banks. For example, new business models have been observed in retail payments, consumer and commercial lending, foreign exchange and low-cost investment advisory services. While the Company closely monitors business disruptors and seek to adapt to changing technologies, matching the pace of innovation exhibited by new and differently situated competitors may require the Company and policy-makers to adapt at a greater pace. Because the financial services industry is experiencing rapid changes in technology, the Company’s future success will depend in part on its ability to address its clients’ needs by using technology. Client loyalty can be influenced by a competitor’s new products, especially offerings that could provide cost savings or a higher return to the client.

The investment management contracts the Company has with its clients are terminable without cause and on relatively short notice by the Company’s clients, which makes it vulnerable to short-term declines in the performance of the securities under the Company’s management.

Like most investment advisory and wealth management businesses, the investment advisory contracts the Company has with the Company’s clients are typically terminable by the client without cause upon less than 30 days’ notice. As a result, even short-term declines in the performance of the securities the Company manages, which can result from factors outside the Company’s control, such as adverse changes in market or economic conditions or the poor performance of some of the investments the Company has recommended to the Company’s clients, could lead some of its clients to move assets under the Company’s management to other asset classes such as broad index funds or treasury securities, or to investment advisors which have investment product offerings or investment strategies different than ours. Therefore, the Company’s operating results are heavily dependent on the financial performance of the Company’s investment portfolios and the investment strategies the Company employs in the Company’s investment advisory businesses and even short-term declines in the performance of the investment portfolios the Company manages for the Company’s clients, whatever the cause, could result in a decline in AUM and a corresponding decline in investment management fees, which would adversely affect the Company’s results of operations.

Severe weather, natural disasters, pandemics, acts of war or terrorism or other adverse external events could significantly impact the Company’s business.

Severe weather, natural disasters, effects of climate change, widespread disease or pandemics, acts of war or terrorism, civil unrest or other adverse external events could have a significant impact on the Company’s ability to conduct business. In addition, such events could affect the stability of the Company’s deposit base, impair the ability of borrowers to repay outstanding loans, impair the value of collateral securing loans, cause significant property damage, result in loss of revenue or cause the Company to incur additional expenses. The occurrence of any of these events in the future could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s wealth management business is dependent on asset managers to produce investment returns and financial advisors to solicit and retain clients, and the loss of a key asset manager or financial advisor could adversely affect the Company’s wealth management business.

The Company relies on its asset managers to produce investment returns and financial advisors to advise clients of the Company’s wealth management business. The Company believes that investment performance is an important factor for the growth of its AUM. Poor investment performance could impair the Company’s revenues and growth because existing clients might withdraw funds in favor of better performing products, which would result in lower investment management fees, or the Company’s ability to attract funds from existing and new clients might diminish.

The market for asset managers and financial advisors is extremely competitive and is increasingly characterized by frequent movement of these types of employees among different firms. In addition, the Company’s asset managers and financial advisors often have regular direct contact with the Company’s clients, which can lead to a strong client relationship based on the client’s trust in that individual manager or advisor. The loss of a key asset manager or financial advisor could jeopardize the Company’s relationships with the Company’s clients and lead to the loss of client accounts. Losses of such accounts could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

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The Company may be adversely affected by the soundness of certain securities brokerage firms.

The Company’s client investment accounts are maintained under custodial arrangements with large, well established securities brokerage firms or bank institutions that provide custodial services, either directly or through arrangements made by the Company with those firms. As a result, the performance of, or even rumors or questions about the integrity or performance of, any of those firms could adversely affect the confidence of the Company’s clients in the services provided by those firms or otherwise adversely impact their custodial holdings. Such an occurrence could negatively impact the Company’s ability to retain existing or attract new clients and, as a result, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Liquidity and Funding Risks

Liquidity risks could affect the Company’s operations and jeopardize its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Liquidity is essential to the Company’s business. Liquidity risk is the risk that the Company will not be able to meet its obligations, including financial commitments, as they come due and is inherent in the Company’s operations. An inability to raise funds through deposits, borrowings, the sale of loans or investment securities, and from other sources could have a substantial negative effect on the Company’s liquidity.

The Company’s most important source of funds consists of the Company’s client deposits, which can decrease for a variety of reasons, including when clients perceive alternative investments, such as bonds, treasuries or stocks, as providing a better risk/return tradeoff. Total deposits increased in 2023, however, clients demanded higher interest rates on deposit accounts to compete with higher yielding short-term investments available. The Company’s future growth will largely depend on its ability to maintain and grow a strong deposit base and the Company’s ability to retain its largest retirement and benefit services and wealth management clients, many of whom are also depositors. If clients, including the Company’s retirement and benefit services and wealth management clients, move money out of bank deposits and into other investments, the Company could lose a relatively low-cost source of funds, which would require the Company to seek other funding alternatives, including increasing the Company’s dependence on wholesale funding sources, in order to continue to grow, thereby increasing the Company’s funding costs and reducing net interest income and net income.

Additionally, uninsured deposits have historically been viewed by the FDIC as less stable than insured deposits. According to statements made by the FDIC staff and the leadership of the federal banking agencies, customers with larger uninsured deposit account balances often are small- to mid-sized businesses that rely upon deposit funds for payment of operational expenses and, as a result, are more likely to closely monitor the financial condition and performance of their depository institutions. As a result, in the event of financial distress, uninsured depositors historically have been more likely to withdraw their deposits. If a significant portion of our deposits were to be withdrawn within a short period of time such that additional sources of funding would be required to meet withdrawal demands, the Company may be unable to obtain funding at favorable terms, which may have an adverse effect on our net interest margin. Moreover, obtaining adequate funding to meet our deposit obligations may be more challenging during periods of higher prevailing interest rates, such as the present period. Our ability to attract depositors during a time of actual or perceived distress or instability in the marketplace may be limited. Further, interest rates paid for borrowings generally exceed the interest rates paid on deposits. This spread may be exacerbated by higher prevailing interest rates. In addition, because our available for sale securities lose value when interest rates rise, after-tax proceeds resulting from the sale of such assets may be diminished during periods when interest rates are elevated. Under such circumstances, we may be required to access funding from sources such as the Federal Reserve’s discount window in order to manage our liquidity risk.

The Company also accesses collateralized public funds, which are bank deposits of state and local municipalities. These deposits are required to be secured by certain investment grade securities to ensure repayment, which reduces standby liquidity by restricting the potential liquidity of the pledged collateral. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had pledged $250.0 million of investment securities for this purpose, which represented approximately 31.8% of the Company’s total securities portfolio. If the Company is unable to pledge sufficient qualifying collateral to

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secure public funding, it may lose access to this source of liquidity that the Company has historically relied upon. In addition, the availability of and fluctuations in these funds depends on the individual municipality’s fiscal policies and cash flow needs.

Other primary sources of funds consist of cash from operations, investment security maturities and sales and proceeds from the issuance and sale of the Company’s equity and debt securities to investors. Additional liquidity is provided by the ability to borrow from the Federal Reserve and the FHLB. The Federal Reserve established the Bank Term Funding Program, or BTFP, on March 12, 2023, offering qualifying banks loans of up to one year in length collateralized by qualifying assets, including U.S. securities valued at par, to serve as a source of additional liquidity against high-quality securities and reducing an institution’s need to quickly sell high-quality securities to meet liquidity needs. The Federal Reserve has announced that it is ending the BTFP and will cease making new loans under this program on March 11, 2024. The Company may also borrow from third-party lenders from time to time. The Company’s access to funding sources in amounts adequate to finance or capitalize the Company’s activities or on terms that are acceptable to the Company could be impaired by factors that affect the Company directly or the financial services industry or economy in general, such as disruptions in the financial markets or negative views and expectations about the prospects for the financial services industry. Economic conditions and a loss of confidence in financial institutions may increase the Company’s cost of funding and limit access to certain customary sources of capital, including inter-bank borrowings, repurchase agreements and borrowings from the discount window of the Federal Reserve. There is also the potential risk that collateral calls with respect to the Company’s repurchase agreements could reduce the Company’s available liquidity. At December 31, 2023, the Company’s borrowed funds decreased to $314.2 million, compared to $378.1 million at December 31, 2022. The balance of borrowed funds as of December 31, 2023 included $200.0 million in FHLB advances and $114.2 million in federal funds purchased. Despite the decrease in borrowings, the Company’s cost of funds increased and in 2023, as compared to 2022 as a result of the increased interest rate environment.

Any decline in available funding could adversely impact the Company’s ability to continue to implement its strategic plan, including originating loans and investing in securities, or to fulfill obligations such as paying expenses, repaying borrowings or meeting deposit withdrawal demands, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company may not be able to maintain a strong core deposit base or other low-cost funding sources.

The Company depends primarily on core deposits from its clients, which consist of noninterest bearing deposits, interest bearing checking accounts, certificates of deposit less than $250,000 and money market savings accounts, as the Company’s primary source of funding for lending activities. The Company’s future growth will largely depend on its ability to maintain and grow this strong, core deposit base and the Company’s ability to retain its retirement and benefit and wealth management clients, many of whom are also depositors. Deposit and account balances can decrease when clients perceive alternative investments, such as the stock market or real estate, as providing a better risk/return tradeoff. If clients, including the Company’s retirement and benefit and wealth management clients, move money out of bank deposits or money market accounts and into investments (or similar deposit products at other institutions that may provide a higher rate of return), the Company could lose a relatively low-cost source of funds, increasing funding costs and reducing net interest income and net income.

The Company supplements its core deposit funding with non-core, short-term funding sources, including FHLB advances and fed funds purchased. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $200.0 million FHLB advances and $114.2 million of fed funds purchased from the FHLB. The Company’s maximum borrowing capacity from the FHLB is based on the amount of mortgage and commercial loans the Company can pledge. As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s advances from the FHLB were collateralized by $970.4 million of real estate loans. If the Company is unable to pledge sufficient qualifying collateral to secure funding from the FHLB, it may lose access to this source of liquidity. If the Company is unable to access any of these types of funding sources or if its costs related to them increases, the Company’s liquidity and ability to support demand for loans could be materially adversely affected.

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The Company’s high concentration of large depositors may increase its liquidity risk.

The Company has developed relationships with certain individuals and businesses that have resulted in a concentration of large deposits from a small number of clients. As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s 10 largest depositor relationships accounted for approximately 8.7% of total deposits. This high concentration of depositors presents a risk to the Company’s liquidity if one or more of them decides to change its relationship with the Company and to withdraw all or a significant portion of their accounts, for example as a result of deposits above the FDIC insurance limit. If such an event occurs, the Company may need to seek out alternative sources of funding that may not be on the same terms as the deposits being replaced, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s liquidity is largely dependent on dividends from the Bank.

The Company is a legal entity separate and distinct from the Bank, and its other subsidiaries. A substantial portion of the Company’s cash flow, including cash flow to pay principal and interest on the Company’s debt, comes from dividends the Company receives from the Bank. Various federal and state laws and regulations limit the amount of dividends that the Bank may pay to the Company. As of December 31, 2023, the Bank had the capacity to pay the Company a dividend of up to $61.3 million without the need to obtain prior regulatory approval. Also, the Company’s right to participate in a distribution of assets upon a subsidiary’s liquidation or reorganization is subject to the prior claims of the subsidiary’s creditors. In the event the Bank is unable to pay dividends to the Company, it may not be able to service its debt, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company may need to raise additional capital in the future, and if it fails to maintain sufficient capital, whether due to losses, an inability to raise additional capital or otherwise, the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects, as well as its ability to maintain regulatory compliance, would be adversely affected.

The Company faces significant capital and other regulatory requirements as a financial institution. The Company may need to raise additional capital in the future to provide it with sufficient capital resources and liquidity to meet the Company’s commitments and business needs, which could include the possibility of financing acquisitions. The Company does not have any current plans, arrangements or understandings to make any additional acquisitions. In addition, the Company, on a consolidated basis, and the Bank, on a stand-alone basis, must meet certain regulatory capital requirements and maintain sufficient liquidity. Regulatory capital requirements could increase from current levels, which could require the Company to raise additional capital or contract the Company’s operations. The Company’s ability to raise additional capital depends on conditions in the capital markets, economic conditions and a number of other factors, including investor perceptions regarding the banking industry, market conditions and governmental activities, the Company’s credit ratings, its ability to maintain a listing on Nasdaq and its financial condition and performance. In particular, if the Company needs to raise additional capital in the current interest rate environment, the Company believes the pricing and other terms investors may require in such an offering may not be attractive to the Company. If the Company fails to maintain an investment grade credit rating, it may adversely impact its ability to raise capital or incur additional debt. Accordingly, the Company cannot assure you that it will be able to raise additional capital if needed or on terms acceptable to the Company. If the Company fails to maintain capital to meet regulatory requirements, or is unable to raise capital to meet its business needs, its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects would be materially and adversely affected.

The Company may be adversely affected by changes in the actual or perceived soundness or condition of other financial institutions.

Financial services institutions that deal with each other are interconnected as a result of trading, investment, liquidity management, clearing, counterparty , reputational and other relationships. Concerns about, or a default by, one institution could lead to significant liquidity problems and losses or defaults by other institutions, as the commercial and financial soundness of many financial institutions is closely related as a result of these credit, trading, clearing and other relationships. Even the perceived lack of creditworthiness of, or questions about, a counterparty may lead to market-wide

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liquidity problems and losses or defaults by various institutions. For example, certain community banks experienced deposit outflows following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank in 2023. This systemic risk may adversely affect financial intermediaries with which the Company interacts on a daily basis or key funding providers such as the FHLB, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s access to liquidity or otherwise have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company receives substantial deposits and AUM as a result of referrals by professionals, such as attorneys, accountants, and doctors, and such referrals are dependent upon the continued positive interaction with and financial health of those referral sources.

Many of the Company’s deposit clients and clients of the Company’s wealth management business are individuals involved in professional vocations, such as lawyers, accountants, and doctors. These clients are a significant source of referrals for new clients in both the deposit and wealth management areas. If the Company fails to adequately serve these professional clients with its deposit services, lending, wealth management products and other services, this source of referrals may diminish, which could have a negative impact on the Company’s financial results. Further, if the economy in the geographic areas that the Company serves is negatively impacted, the amount of deposits and services that these professional individuals will utilize and the number of referrals that they will make may decrease, which may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Legal, Accounting and Compliance Risks

The Company’s risk management framework may not be effective in mitigating risks or losses to the Company.

The Company’s risk management framework is comprised of various processes, systems and strategies, and is designed to manage the types of risk to which the Company is subject, including, among others, credit, market, liquidity, interest rate and compliance. The Company’s framework also includes financial or other modeling methodologies that involve management assumptions and judgment. The Company’s risk management framework may not be effective under all circumstances and it may not adequately mitigate any risk or loss to us. If the Company’s framework is not effective, it could suffer unexpected losses and the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected. The Company may also be subject to potentially adverse regulatory consequences.

The Company’s accounting estimates and risk management processes and controls rely on analytical and forecasting techniques and models and assumptions, which may not accurately predict future events.

The Company’s accounting policies and methods are fundamental to the way it 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 United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and reflect management’s judgment of 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 may be reasonable under the circumstances, yet which may 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. If the Company’s underlying assumptions or estimates prove to be incorrect, it could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company’s risk management processes, internal controls, disclosure controls and corporate governance policies and procedures are based in part on certain assumptions and can provide only reasonable (not absolute) assurances that the objectives of the system are met. Any failure or circumvention of the Company’s controls, processes

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and procedures or failure to comply with regulations related to controls, processes and procedures could necessitate changes in those controls, processes and procedures, which may increase the Company’s compliance costs, divert management attention from its business or subject the Company to regulatory actions and increased regulatory scrutiny. Any of these could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Changes in accounting policies or standards could materially impact the Company’s financial statements.

From time to time, FASB, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (or PCAOB) or the SEC, may change the financial accounting and reporting standards that govern the preparation of the Company’s financial statements. Such changes may result in the Company being subject to new or changing accounting and reporting standards. In addition, the bodies that interpret the accounting standards (such as banking regulators or outside auditors) may change their interpretations or positions on how these standards should be applied. In addition, trends in financial and business reporting, including environmental social and governance (ESG) related disclosures, could require the Company to incur additional reporting expense. These changes may be beyond the Company’s control, can be hard to predict and can materially impact how it records and reports its financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, the Company could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, or apply an existing standard differently, in each case resulting in the Company’s needing to revise or restate prior period financial statements.

The obligations associated with being a public company require significant resources and management attention, which divert time and attention from the Company’s business operations.

As a public company, the Company is subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Exchange Act requires that the Company file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to its business and financial condition with the SEC. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that the Company establish and maintain effective internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. Compliance with these reporting requirements and other rules and regulations, including period revisions to and additional rules and regulations, of the SEC could increase the Company’s legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more time consuming and costly, which could negatively affect the Company’s efficiency ratio. Further, the need to maintain the corporate infrastructure demanded of a public company may divert management’s attention from implementing the Company’s strategic plan, which could prevent the Company from successfully implementing the Company’s growth initiatives and improving its business, results of operations and financial condition.

As an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, the Company is taking advantage of certain temporary exemptions from various reporting requirements, including reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in the Company’s periodic reports and proxy statements and an exemption from the requirement to obtain an attestation from the Company’s auditors on management’s assessment of its internal control over financial reporting. When these exemptions cease to apply, the Company expects to incur additional expenses and devote increased management effort toward ensuring compliance with them.

The financial reporting resources the Company has put in place may not be sufficient to ensure the accuracy of the additional information the Company is required to disclose as a publicly listed company.

As a public company, the Company is subject to heightened financial reporting standards under GAAP and SEC rules, including more extensive levels of disclosure. Complying with these standards required enhancements to the design and operation of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as well as additional financial reporting and accounting staff with appropriate training and experience in GAAP and SEC rules and regulations.

If the Company is unable to meet the demands required of the Company as a public company, including the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Company may be unable to report its financial results accurately, or report them within the timeframes required by law or stock exchange regulations. Failure to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, when and as applicable, could also potentially subject the Company to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or

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other regulatory authorities. If material weaknesses or other deficiencies occur, the Company’s ability to report its financial results accurately and timely could be impaired, which could result in late filings of the Company’s annual and quarterly reports under the Exchange Act, restatements of the Company’s consolidated financial statements, a decline in the Company’s stock price, suspension or delisting of the Company’s common stock from the Nasdaq Capital Market, and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. Even if the Company is able to report its financial statements accurately and in a timely manner, any disclosure of material weaknesses in the Company’s future filings with the SEC could cause the Company’s reputation to be harmed and the Company’s stock price to decline significantly.

The Company did not engage its independent registered public accounting firm to perform an audit of its internal control over financial reporting under the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, as of any balance sheet date reported in the Company’s financial statements as of December 31, 2023. Had the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of its internal control over financial reporting under the standards of PCAOB, material weaknesses may have been identified. The JOBS Act provides that, so long as the Company qualifies as an emerging growth company, it will be exempt from the provisions of Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley, which would require that the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under the standards of PCAOB. The Company may take advantage of this exemption so long as it qualifies as an emerging growth company.

The recent change in the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm could materially impact the Company’s financial statements.

On December 1, 2022, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company approved the dismissal of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (“CLA”), as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm because CLA indicated that it would not stand for reappointment following completion of the audit of the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the year-ending December 31, 2022. On December 1, 2022, the Audit Committee approved the appointment of RSM, LLP (“RSM”) to serve as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2023. RSM’s future audits of the Company’s financial statements may identify errors or omissions in the Company’s historical financial statements that were not previously identified and that could require the Company to restate previously issued financial statements or materially impact how the Company reports its financial condition and results of operations going forward. If the Company has to restate any historical financial statements it could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations.

Litigation and regulatory actions, including possible enforcement actions, could subject the Company to significant fines, penalties, judgments or other requirements resulting in increased expenses or restrictions on the Company’s business activities.

The Company’s business is subject to increased litigation and regulatory risks because of a number of factors, including the highly regulated nature of the financial services industry and the focus of state and federal prosecutors on banks and the financial services industry generally. This focus has only intensified since the financial crisis, with regulators and prosecutors focusing on a variety of financial institution practices and requirements, including foreclosure practices, compliance with applicable consumer protection laws, classification of “held for sale” assets and compliance with anti-money laundering statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, or OFAC.

In the normal course of business, from time to time, the Company has in the past and may in the future be named as a defendant in various legal actions, including arbitrations, class actions and other litigation, arising in connection with the Company’s current or prior business activities. Legal actions could include claims for substantial compensatory or punitive damages or claims for indeterminate amounts of damages. The Company may also, from time to time, be the subject of subpoenas, requests for information, reviews, investigations and proceedings (both formal and informal) by governmental agencies regarding the Company’s current or prior business activities. Any such legal or regulatory actions may subject the Company to substantial compensatory or punitive damages, significant fines, penalties, obligations to change the Company’s business practices or other requirements resulting in increased expenses, diminished income and damage to the Company’s reputation. The Company’s involvement in any such matters, whether

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tangential or otherwise and even if the matters are ultimately determined in the Company’s favor, could also cause significant harm to the Company’s reputation and divert management attention from the operation of the Company’s business. Further, any settlement, consent order or adverse judgment in connection with any formal or informal proceeding or investigation by government agencies may result in litigation, investigations or proceedings as other litigants and government agencies begin independent reviews of the same activities. As a result, the outcome of legal and regulatory actions could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Moreover, U.S. authorities have been increasingly focused on “conduct risk,” a term that is used to describe the risks associated with behavior by employees and agents, including third-party vendors, that could harm clients, consumers, investors or the markets, such as failures to safeguard consumers’ and investors’ personal information, failures to identify and manage conflicts of interest and improperly creating, selling and marketing products and services. In addition to increasing compliance risks, this focus on conduct risk could lead to more regulatory or other enforcement proceedings and litigation, including for practices which historically were acceptable but are now receiving greater scrutiny. Further, while the Company takes numerous steps to prevent and detect conduct by employees and agents that could potentially harm clients, investors or the markets, such behavior may not always be deterred or prevented. Banking regulators have also focused on the overall culture of financial services firms. In addition to regulatory restrictions or structural changes that could result from perceived deficiencies in the Company’s culture, such focus could also lead to additional regulatory proceedings.

If the goodwill that the Company recorded in connection with the Company’s recent acquisitions becomes impaired, it could have a negative impact on its financial condition and results of operations.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company had goodwill of $46.8 million, or 12.7% of the Company’s total stockholders’ equity. The excess purchase consideration over the fair value of net assets from acquisitions, or goodwill, is evaluated for impairment at least annually and on an interim basis if an event or circumstance indicates that it is more likely than not that an impairment has occurred. In testing for impairment, the Company conducts a qualitative assessment, and the Company also estimates the fair value of net assets based on analyses of its market value, discounted cash flows and peer values. Consequently, the determination of the fair value of goodwill is sensitive to market-based economics and other key assumptions. Variability in market conditions or in key assumptions could result in impairment of goodwill, which is recorded as a non-cash adjustment to income. An impairment of goodwill could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company is subject to extensive regulation, and the regulatory framework that applies to the Company, together with any future legislative or regulatory changes, may significantly affect its operations.

The banking industry is extensively regulated and supervised under both federal and state laws and regulations that are intended primarily for the protection of depositors, clients, federal deposit insurance funds and the banking system as a whole, not for the protection of the Company’s business or stockholders. The Company is subject to supervision and regulation by the Federal Reserve, and the Bank is subject to supervision and regulation by the OCC and the FDIC. The laws and regulations applicable to the Company govern a variety of matters, including permissible types, amounts and terms of loans and investments the Company may make, the maximum interest rate that may be charged, the amount of reserves the Company must hold against deposits the Company takes, the types of deposits the Company may accept, maintenance of adequate capital and liquidity, changes in the control of the Company and its Bank, restrictions on dividends and establishment of new offices. The Company must obtain approval from its regulators before engaging in certain activities, and there is the risk that such approvals may not be obtained, either in a timely manner or at all. The Company’s regulators also have the ability to compel it to take certain actions, or restrict it from taking certain actions entirely, such as actions that the Company’s regulators deem to constitute an unsafe or unsound banking practice. The Company’s failure to comply with any applicable laws or regulations, or regulatory policies and interpretations of such laws and regulations, could result in sanctions by regulatory agencies, civil money penalties or damage to the Company’s reputation, all of which could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

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While the Company endeavors to maintain safe banking practices and controls beyond the regulatory requirements applicable to the Company, its internal controls may not match those of larger banking institutions that are subject to increased regulatory oversight.

Financial institutions generally have also been subjected to increased scrutiny from regulatory authorities, including in the wake of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank in 2023. This increased regulatory burden has resulted, and may continue to result in, increased costs of doing business, and may in the future, result in decreased revenues and net income, reduce the Company’s ability to compete effectively, to attract and retain clients, or make it less attractive for the Company to continue providing certain products and services. Any future changes in federal and state laws and regulations, as well as the interpretation and implementation of such laws and regulations, could affect the Company in substantial and unpredictable ways, including those listed above or other ways that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. For example, in December 2019, the U.S. Congress enacted the Setting Every Community up for Retirement Enhancement, or SECURE Act. The SECURE Act made significant changes to provisions of existing law governing retirement plans and IRAs. Many of the provisions of the SECURE Act were effective on January 1, 2020, while other provisions are effective on later dates, including some that are not effective until action is taken to modify underlying retirement plan documents. In addition, in December 2022, the U.S. Congress enacted the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, or SECURE 2.0, which built some of the provisions of the SECURE Act and made additional significant changes to provisions of existing law governing retirement plans and IRAs. Many of the provisions of SECURE 2.0 were effective immediately upon passage of SECURE 2.0 while other provisions are effective on later dates. Some of the changes in law made by the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 are complex and unclear in application. The Company cannot predict what impact the SECURE Act or SECURE 2.0 will ultimately have on the Company’s business.

There is uncertainty surrounding potential legal, regulatory and policy changes by new presidential administrations in the United States that may directly affect financial institutions and the global economy.

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2024 is a presidential election year. Changes in federal policy and at regulatory agencies occur over time through policy and personnel changes following elections, which lead to changes involving the level of oversight and focus on the financial services industry. The nature, timing and economic and political effects of potential changes to the current legal and regulatory framework affecting financial institutions remain highly uncertain. Uncertainty surrounding future changes may adversely affect our operating environment and therefore our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

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The Company’s retirement and benefit services and wealth management businesses are highly regulated, and the regulators have the ability to limit or restrict the Company’s activities and impose fines or suspensions on the conduct of the Company’s business.

The Company’s retirement and benefit services and wealth management businesses are highly regulated, primarily at the federal level. The failure of any of the Company’s businesses that provide investment management or wealth management and trust services to comply with applicable laws or regulations could result in fines, suspensions of individual employees or other sanctions. The Company is also subject to the provisions and regulations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, to the extent that the Company acts as a “fiduciary” under ERISA with respect to certain of the Company’s clients. ERISA and the applicable provisions of the federal tax laws impose a number of duties on persons who are fiduciaries under ERISA and prohibit certain transactions involving the assets of each ERISA plan which is a client, as well as certain transactions by the fiduciaries (and certain other related parties) to such plans. Changes in these laws or regulations could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company is currently subject to and may continue to be subject to claims and litigation relating to the Company’s fiduciary responsibilities.

Some of the services the Company provides, such as trust and investment services, require the Company to act as fiduciary for its clients and others. From time to time, third parties or government agencies make claims and take legal

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action against the Company pertaining to the performance of its fiduciary responsibilities. For example, the Company recently sold its ESOP fiduciary services business, but remains subject to a number of lawsuits that are typical in that industry, one of which was brought by the United States Department of Labor, related to the Company ESOP’s fiduciary services. If these claims and legal actions are not resolved in a manner favorable to the Company, it may be exposed to significant financial liability or the Company’s reputation could be damaged. Either of these results may adversely impact demand for the Company’s products and services or otherwise have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Changes in tax laws and regulations, or changes in the interpretation of existing tax laws and regulations, may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Company operates in an environment that imposes income taxes on its operations at both the federal and state levels to varying degrees. The Company engages in certain strategies to minimize the impact of these taxes. Consequently, any change in tax laws or regulations, or new interpretation of an existing law or regulation, could significantly alter the effectiveness of these strategies.

The net deferred tax asset reported on the Company’s balance sheet generally represents the tax benefit of future deductions from taxable income for items that have already been recognized for financial reporting purposes. The bulk of these deferred tax assets consists of deferred loan loss deductions and deferred compensation deductions. The net deferred tax asset is measured by applying currently-enacted income tax rates to the accounting period during which the tax benefit is expected to be realized. As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s net deferred tax asset was $34.6 million.

The Company is subject to stringent capital requirements.

Banking institutions are required to hold more capital as a percentage of assets than most industries. In the wake of the global financial crisis, the Company’s capital requirements increased, both in the amount of capital it must hold and in the quality of the capital to absorb losses. In addition, following the bank failures in 2023, federal bank regulatory agencies have begun to propose changes and potential increases in existing capital requirements. Holding high amounts of capital compresses the Company’s earnings and constrains growth. In addition, the failure to meet applicable regulatory capital requirements could result in one or more of the Company’s regulators placing limitations or conditions on the Company’s activities, including its growth initiatives, or restricting the commencement of new activities, and could affect client and investor confidence, its costs of funds and FDIC insurance costs and its ability to make acquisitions and result in a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Federal regulators periodically examine the Company’s business, and it may be required to remediate adverse examination findings.

The Federal Reserve and the OCC periodically examine the Company, including its operations and its compliance with laws and regulations. If, as a result of an examination, a banking agency were to determine that the Company’s financial condition, capital resources, asset quality, asset concentrations, earnings prospects, management, liquidity, sensitivity to market risk or other aspects of any of the Company’s operations had become unsatisfactory, or that the Company was in violation of any law or regulation, they may take a number of different remedial actions as they deem appropriate. These actions include the power to enjoin “unsafe or unsound” practices, to require affirmative action to correct any conditions resulting from any violation or practice, to issue an administrative order that can be judicially enforced, to direct an increase in the Company’s capital, to restrict the Company’s growth, to assess civil money penalties, to fine or remove officers and directors and, if it is concluded that such conditions cannot be corrected or there is an imminent risk of loss to depositors, to terminate the Company’s deposit insurance and place the Company into receivership or conservatorship. Any regulatory action against the Company could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

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The Company is subject to numerous laws designed to protect consumers, including the Community Reinvestment Act and fair lending laws, and failure to comply with these laws could lead to a wide variety of sanctions.

The CRA requires the Bank, consistent with safe and sound operations, to ascertain and meet the credit needs of its entire community, including low and moderate-income areas. The Company’s failure to comply with the CRA could, among other things, result in the denial or delay of certain corporate applications filed by us, including applications for branch openings or relocations and applications to acquire, merge or consolidate with another banking institution or holding company. In addition, the CRA, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Housing Act and other fair lending laws and regulations prohibit discriminatory lending practices by financial institutions. The U.S. Department of Justice, federal banking agencies and other federal agencies are responsible for enforcing these laws and regulations. A successful challenge to an institution’s compliance with fair lending laws and regulations could result in a wide variety of sanctions, including damages and civil money penalties, injunctive relief, restrictions on mergers and acquisitions activity, restrictions on expansion and restrictions on entering new business lines. Private parties may also challenge an institution’s performance under fair lending laws in private class action litigation. In addition, new regulations, increased regulatory reviews or changes in the structure of the secondary mortgage markets which the Company utilizes to sell mortgage loans may be introduced and may increase costs and make it more difficult to operate a residential mortgage origination business. Any of the actions described above could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Noncompliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering statutes and regulations could result in fines or sanctions against the Company.

The Bank Secrecy Act and other laws and regulations require financial institutions, among other duties, to institute and maintain effective anti-money laundering programs and to file reports such as suspicious activity and currency transaction reports. The Company is required to comply with these and other anti-money laundering requirements. The federal banking agencies and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network are authorized to impose significant civil money penalties for violations of those requirements and have recently engaged in coordinated enforcement efforts against banks and other financial services providers with the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration and Internal Revenue Service. The Company is also subject to increased scrutiny of compliance with the rules enforced by the OFAC. If the Company’s policies, procedures and systems are deemed deficient or the policies, procedures and systems of any financial institution the Company acquires in the future are deemed deficient, the Company would be subject to liability, including fines and regulatory actions, which may include restrictions on the Company’s ability to pay dividends and the necessity to obtain regulatory approvals to proceed with certain aspects of the Company’s business plan, including any 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 the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Regulations relating to privacy, information security and data protection could increase the Company’s costs, affect or limit how the Company collects and use personal information and adversely affect its business opportunities.

The Company is subject to various privacy, information security and data protection laws, including requirements concerning security breach notification, and the Company could be negatively affected by these laws. For example, the Company’s business is subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which, among other things (i) imposes certain limitations on its ability to share nonpublic personal information about its clients with nonaffiliated third parties, (ii) requires that the Company provide certain disclosures to clients about the Company’s information collection, sharing and security practices and afford clients the right to “opt out” of any information sharing by the Company with nonaffiliated third parties (with certain exceptions) and (iii) requires that the Company develop, implement and maintain a written comprehensive information security program containing appropriate safeguards based on the Company’s size and complexity, the nature and scope of the Company’s activities and the sensitivity of client information it processes, as well as plans for responding to data security breaches. Various state and federal banking regulators and states have also enacted data security breach notification requirements with varying levels of individual, consumer, regulatory or law enforcement notification in certain circumstances in the event of a security breach. Moreover, legislators and regulators

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in the United States are increasingly adopting or revising privacy, information security and data protection laws, including with respect to the use of artificial intelligence by financial institutions and their service providers, that potentially could have a significant impact on the Company’s current and planned privacy, data protection and information security-related practices, the Company’s collection, use, sharing, retention and safeguarding of consumer or employee information and some of the Company’s current or planned business activities. This could also increase the Company’s costs of compliance and business operations and could reduce income from certain business initiatives. This includes increased privacy-related enforcement activity at the federal level, by the Federal Trade Commission and the CFPB, as well as at the state level, such as with regard to mobile applications.

Compliance with current or future privacy, data protection and information security laws (including those regarding security breach notification) affecting client or employee data to which the Company is subject could result in higher compliance and technology costs and could restrict the Company’s ability to provide certain products and services, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. The Company’s failure to comply with privacy, data protection and information security laws could result in potentially significant regulatory or governmental investigations or actions, litigation, fines, sanctions and damage to the Company’s reputation, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Federal Reserve may require the Company to commit capital resources to support the Bank.

As a matter of policy, the Federal Reserve expects a financial holding company to act as a source of financial and managerial strength to a subsidiary bank and to commit resources to support such subsidiary bank. The Dodd-Frank Act codified the Federal Reserve’s policy on serving as a source of financial strength. Under the “source of strength” doctrine, the Federal Reserve may require a bank holding company to make capital injections into a troubled subsidiary bank and may charge the bank holding company with engaging in unsafe and unsound practices for failure to commit resources to a subsidiary bank. A capital injection may be required at times when the holding company may not have the resources to provide it and therefore may be required to borrow the funds or raise capital. Any loans by a holding company to its subsidiary bank are subordinate in right of payment to deposits and to certain other indebtedness of such subsidiary bank. In the event of a bank holding company’s bankruptcy, the bankruptcy trustee will assume any commitment by the holding company to a federal bank regulatory agency to maintain the capital of a subsidiary bank. Moreover, bankruptcy law provides that claims based on any such commitment will be entitled to a priority of payment over the claims of the institution’s general unsecured creditors, including the holders of its note obligations. Thus, any borrowing that must be done by the Company to make a required capital injection becomes more difficult and expensive and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

New and future rulemaking by the CFPB and other regulators, as well as enforcement of existing consumer protection laws, may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The CFPB has the authority to implement and enforce a variety of existing federal consumer protection statutes and to issue new regulations but, with respect to institutions of the Company’s size, does not have primary examination and enforcement authority with respect to such laws and regulations. The authority to examine depository institutions with $10.0 billion or less in assets, like us, for compliance with federal consumer laws remains largely with the Company’s primary federal regulator, the OCC. However, the CFPB may participate in examinations of smaller institutions on a “sampling basis” and may refer potential enforcement actions against such institutions to their primary regulators. In some cases, regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice also retain certain rulemaking or enforcement authority, and the Company also remains subject to certain state consumer protection laws. As an independent bureau within the Federal Reserve, the CFPB may impose requirements more severe than the previous bank regulatory agencies. The CFPB has placed significant emphasis on consumer complaint management and has established a public consumer complaint database to encourage consumers to file complaints they may have against financial institutions. The Company is expected to monitor and respond to these complaints, including those that the Company deems frivolous, and doing so may require management to reallocate resources away from more profitable endeavors.

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The level of the Company’s commercial real estate portfolio may subject the Company to heightened regulatory scrutiny.

The federal banking regulators have issued the Concentrations in Commercial Real Estate Lending, Sound Risk Management Practices guidance, or CRE Guidance, which provides supervisory criteria, including the following numerical indicators, to assist bank examiners in identifying banks with potentially significant commercial real estate loan concentrations that may warrant greater supervisory scrutiny: (i) commercial real estate loans exceeding 300% of capital and increasing 50% or more in the preceding three years; or (ii) construction and land development loans exceeding 100% of capital. The CRE Guidance does not limit the Bank’s levels of commercial real estate lending activities, but rather, guides institutions in developing risk management practices and levels of capital that are commensurate with the level and nature of their commercial real estate concentrations. On December 18, 2015, the federal banking agencies issued a statement to reinforce prudent risk-management practices related to CRE lending, having observed substantial growth in many CRE asset and lending markets, increased competitive pressures, rising CRE concentrations in banks, and an easing of CRE underwriting standards. The federal bank agencies reminded FDIC-insured institutions to maintain underwriting discipline and exercise prudent risk-management practices to identify, measure, monitor, and manage the risks arising from CRE lending. In addition, FDIC-insured institutions must maintain capital commensurate with the level and nature of their CRE concentration risk.

As of December 31, 2023, the Bank did not exceed these guidelines.

The Company is an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act and because the Company has decided to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting and other requirements applicable to emerging growth companies, the Company’s common stock could be less attractive to investors.

For as long as the Company remains an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act, it will have the option to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting and other requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, being permitted to have an extended transition period for adopting any new or revised accounting standards that may be issued by the FASB or the SEC, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. The Company has elected to, and expect to continue to, take advantage of certain of these and other exemptions until it is no longer an emerging growth company. The Company will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the end of the fiscal year during which the Company has total annual gross revenues of $1.235 billion or more, (ii) the end of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of common equity securities under the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1, which was declared effective by the SEC on September 12, 2019, (iii) the date on which the Company has, during the previous three-year period, issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt and (iv) the end of the first fiscal year in which (A) the market value of the Company’s equity securities that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of June 30 of that year, (B) the Company has been a public reporting company under the Exchange Act for at least twelve calendar months and (C) the Company has filed at least one annual report on Form 10-K. The Company expects to no longer qualify as an emerging growth company as of December 31, 2024.

Because the Company has elected to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards for an emerging growth company, the Company’s financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with these accounting standards as of the public company effective dates.

The Company has elected to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards under Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. This election allows the Company to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until those standards apply to private companies. As a result of this election, the Company’s financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with these accounting standards as of the public company effective dates. Because the Company’s financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates, investors may have difficulty evaluating or comparing the Company’s business, financial results or prospects in

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comparison to other public companies, which may have a negative impact on the value and liquidity of the Company’s common stock. The Company cannot predict if investors will find its common stock less attractive because the Company plans to rely on this exemption. If some investors find the Company’s common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for the Company’s common stock and the Company’s stock price may be more volatile.

Certain banking laws and certain provisions of the Company’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws may have an anti-takeover effect.

Provisions of federal banking laws, including regulatory approval requirements, could make it difficult for a third party to acquire the Company, even if doing so would be perceived to be beneficial to the Company’s stockholders. In general, acquisitions of 10% or more of any class of voting stock of a bank holding company or depository institution generally creates a rebuttable presumption that the acquirer “controls” the bank holding company or depository institution. Also, a bank holding company must obtain the prior approval of the Federal Reserve before, among other things, acquiring direct or indirect ownership or control of more than 5% of the voting shares of any bank, including the Bank.

There are also provisions in the Company’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws that could have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another party from acquiring control of the Company, even if such acquisition would be viewed by the Company’s stockholders to be in their best interests. These include supermajority stockholder voting thresholds and requirements relating to stockholder meetings and nominations or proposals. The Company is also subject to a statutory antitakeover provision included in the DGCL. In addition, the Company’s Board of Directors is authorized under its certificate of incorporation to issue shares of preferred stock, and determine the rights, terms conditions and privileges of such preferred stock, without stockholder approval. These provisions may effectively inhibit a non-negotiated merger or other business combination, which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on the market price of the Company’s common stock.

The Company’s certificate of incorporation has an exclusive forum provision, which could limit a stockholder’s ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers or other employees.

The Company’s certificate of incorporation has an exclusive forum provision providing that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on the Company’s behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty by any of the Company’s directors, officers, employees or agents; (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to the DGCL, the Company’s certificate of incorporation or the Company’s bylaws; or (iv) any action asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. However, Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a provision, and the Company’s stockholders will not be deemed to have waived its compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

The Company’s stockholders approved this provision. Any person purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any shares of the Company’s capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to this provision of the Company’s certificate of incorporation. The exclusive forum provision, if enforced, may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with the Company or the Company’s directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find the exclusive forum provision to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, the Company may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

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The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 or other such laws could result in increased operating expenses as well as additional exposure to the risk of litigation by or on behalf of customers.

In June of 2018, the Governor of California signed into law The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, or the CCPA. This new law became effective on January 1, 2020 and provides consumers with expansive rights and control over their personal information, which is obtained by or shared with “covered businesses,” including for-profit businesses that conduct business in California and meet certain revenue or data collection thresholds. The CCPA will give consumers the right to request disclosure of information collected about them and whether that information has been sold or shared with others, the right to request deletion of personal information subject to certain exceptions, the right to opt out of the sale of the consumer’s personal information, and the right not to be discriminated against because of choices regarding the consumer’s personal information.

The CCPA provides for certain monetary penalties and for its enforcement by the California Attorney General or consumers whose rights under the law are not observed. It also provides for damages as well as injunctive or declaratory relief if there has been unauthorized access, theft, or disclosure of personal information due to failure to implement reasonable security procedures. The Company continues to assess the potential impact of the CCPA on the Company’s business, but it could result in increased operating expenses as well as additional exposure to the risk of litigation by or on behalf of consumers. It is also possible that other states where the Company has customers could enact similar laws.

Climate change and related legislative and regulatory initiatives may result in operational changes and expenditures that could significantly impact the Company’s business.

The current and anticipated effects of climate change are creating an increasing level of concern for the state of the global environment. As a result, political and social attention to the issue of climate change has increased. In recent years, governments across the world have entered into international agreements to attempt to reduce global temperatures, in part by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Congress, state legislatures and federal and state regulatory agencies have continued to propose and advance numerous legislative and regulatory initiatives seeking to mitigate the effects of climate change. These agreements and measures may result in the imposition of taxes and fees, the required purchase of emission credits, and the implementation of significant operational changes, each of which may require the Company to expend significant capital and incur compliance, operating, maintenance, and remediation costs. Consumers and businesses may also change their behavior on their own as a result of these concerns. The impact on the Company’s customers will likely vary depending on their specific attributes, including reliance on, or role in, carbon intensive activities. The Company’s efforts to take these risks into account in making lending and other decisions, including by increasing the Company’s business with climate-friendly companies, may not be effective in protecting the Company from the negative impact of new laws and regulations or changes in consumer or business behavior.

Given the lack of empirical data on the credit and other financial risks posed by climate change, it is difficult to predict how climate change may impact the Company’s financial condition and operations; however, as a banking organization, the physical effects of climate change may present certain unique risks. For example, weather disasters, shifts in local climates, and other disruptions related to climate change may adversely affect the value of real properties securing the Company’s loans, which could diminish the value of the Company’s loan portfolio. Such events may also cause reductions in regional and local economic activity that may have an adverse effect on the Company’s customers, which could limit the Company’s ability to raise and invest capital in these areas and communities.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY

Risk Management and Strategy. The Company relies extensively on various information systems and other electronic resources to operate its business.  In addition, nearly all of the Company’s customers, service providers and other business partners on whom the Company depends, including the providers of the Company’s online banking, mobile

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banking and accounting systems, use these systems and their own electronic information systems.  Any of these systems can be compromised, including by employees, customers and other individuals who are authorized to use them, and bad actors using sophisticated and constantly evolving set of software, tools and strategies to do so.  The nature of the Company’s business, as a financial services provider, and the Company’s relative size, make the Company and its business partners high-value targets for these bad actors to pursue.  See “Item 1A. RISK FACTORS—Operational, Strategic and Reputational Risks”.

Accordingly, the Company has devoted significant resources to assessing, identifying and managing risks associated with cybersecurity threats, as noted below:

This information security program is a key part of the Company’s overall risk management system, which is administered by the Director of Information Security. The program includes administrative, technical and physical safeguards to help protect the security and confidentiality of customer records and information.  These security and privacy policies and procedures are in effect across all of the Company’s businesses and geographic locations.

From time-to-time, the Company has identified cybersecurity threats and cybersecurity incidents that require the Company to make changes to its processes and to implement additional safeguards.  While none of these identified threats or incidents have materially affected the Company, it is possible that threats and incidents the Company identifies in the future could have a material adverse effect on its business strategy, results of operations and financial condition.

Governance. The Company’s management team is responsible for the day-to-day management of cybersecurity risks it faces, including the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and Director of Information Security.  The Company’s current Director of Information Security has over 28 years of experience. For the past 7 years, the Company’s Director of Information Security has successfully managed teams, implementing and maintaining robust cybersecurity and data protection controls to safeguard the Company’s information assets. The Company’s Director of Information Security reports directly to our Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, who possesses extensive expertise gained through over 39 years in various IT and leadership roles. This combined experience ensures exceptional guidance and oversight of our cybersecurity program.

In addition, the Company’s Board of Directors, both as a whole and through its Risk Committee (the “Risk Committee”), is responsible for the oversight of risk management, including cybersecurity risks. In that role, the

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Company’s Board of Directors and the Risk Committee, with support from the Company’s cybersecurity advisors, are responsible for ensuring that the risk management processes designed and implemented by management are adequate and functioning as designed. To carry out those duties, both the Company’s Board of Directors and the Risk Committee receive quarterly reports from the Company’s management team regarding cybersecurity risks and the Company’s efforts to prevent, detect, mitigate and remediate any cybersecurity incidents.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

The Company’s corporate headquarters are located at 401 Demers Avenue, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58201. In addition to the Company’s corporate headquarters, which includes a full service banking office, the Company operates two other full-service banking office located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, three full-service banking offices located in Fargo and West Fargo, North Dakota, one full-service banking office located in Northwood, North Dakota, six full-service banking offices located in the Twin Cities MSA, and two full-service banking office located in the Phoenix MSA. The Company offers retirement and benefits, wealth management and mortgage products and services at all of its full-service banking offices. In addition, the Company operates one retirement and benefits services office in each of Minnesota, Colorado and Michigan. The Company has remodeled several locations to utilize the Company’s spaces in a more efficient manner. As of December 31, 2023, seven of the Company’s office properties were owned and eleven of the Company’s office properties were leased.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries is a party, and no property of these entities is subject, to any material pending legal proceedings, other than ordinary routine litigation incidental to the Bank’s business.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

ITEM 5.  MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market Information

The Company’s common stock trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “ALRS”.

Stockholders

As of February 28, 2024, the Company had 227 holders of record of the Company’s common stock and an estimated 2,966 additional beneficial holders of the Company’s common stock whose stock was held in street name by brokerages or fiduciaries.

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Dividend Restrictions

As a Delaware corporation, the Company is subject to certain restrictions on dividends under the DGCL. In general, a Delaware corporation may only pay dividends either out of surplus (as defined and computed in accordance with the provisions of the DGCL) or out of the current or the immediately preceding year’s net profits. Surplus is defined as the excess, if any, at any given time, of the total assets of a corporation over its total liabilities and statutory capital. The value of a corporation’s assets can be measured in a number of ways and may not necessarily equal their book value.

In the first quarter of 2021, the Company issued subordinated debt to the Bank of North Dakota pursuant to a Subordinated Note Purchase Agreement, dated March 30, 2021 (the “Note Purchase Agreement”). Under the terms of the Subordinated Note Purchase Agreement, if an event of default has occurred (as defined in the Subordinated Note Purchase Agreement), the Company cannot, subject to certain exceptions outlined in the Note Purchase Agreement, pay any dividends to its stockholders until such event of default or failure to comply with said covenants is cured, without the prior written consent of the Bank of North Dakota.

Under the terms of the Company’s junior subordinated debentures issued to its two statutory trusts, the Company is not permitted to pay dividends on its capital stock if an event of default occurs under the terms of the debentures, the Company is otherwise in default with respect to the Company’s payment obligations or the Company has elected to defer interest payments on the debentures.

In addition, the Company is subject to certain restrictions on the payment of cash dividends as a result of banking laws, regulations and policies. See “SUPERVISION AND REGULATION—Supervision and Regulation of the Company—Dividend Payments.” Because the Company is a holding company and does not engage directly in business activities of a material nature, the Company’s ability to pay dividends to its stockholders depends, in large part, upon its receipt of dividends from the Bank, which is also subject to numerous limitations on the payment of dividends under federal banking laws, regulations and policies. See “SUPERVISION AND REGULATION—Supervision and Regulation of the Bank—Dividend Payments.”

Use of Proceeds

None.

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

Not applicable.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the “Selected Financial Data” and the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this report. In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Certain risks, uncertainties and other factors, including but not limited to those set forth under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this report, may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements.

Overview

The Company is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Through the Company’s subsidiary, Alerus Financial, National Association, the Company provides innovative and comprehensive financial solutions to businesses and consumers through four distinct business lines—banking, retirement

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and benefit services, wealth management and mortgage. These solutions are delivered through a relationship oriented primary point of contact along with responsive and client friendly technology.

The Company’s primary banking market areas are the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, specifically, the Twin Cities MSA, and Arizona, specifically, the Phoenix MSA. In addition to the Company’s offices located in the Company’s banking markets, its retirement and benefit services business administers plans in all 50 states through offices located in Michigan, Minnesota and Colorado.

The Company’s business model produces strong financial performance and a diversified revenue stream, which has helped the Company establish a brand and culture yielding both a loyal client base and passionate and dedicated employees. The Company believes its client first and advice based philosophy, diversified business model and history of high performance and growth distinguishes the Company from other financial service providers. The Company generates a majority of its overall revenue from noninterest income, which is driven primarily by the Company’s retirement and benefit services, wealth management and mortgage business lines.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $3.9 billion of total assets, $2.8 billion of total loans, $3.1 billion of total deposits, $369.1 million of stockholders’ equity, $36.7 billion of AUA/AUM in the Company’s retirement and benefit services segment, and $4.0 billion of AUA/AUM in the Company’s wealth management segment. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company had $364.1 million of mortgage originations.

Net Interest Income

Net interest income represents interest income less interest expense. The Company generates interest income on interest-earning assets, primarily loans and available-for-sale securities. The Company incurs interest expense on interest-bearing liabilities, primarily interest-bearing deposits and borrowings. To evaluate net interest income, the Company measures and monitors: (i) yields on loans, available-for-sale securities and other interest-earning assets; (ii) the costs of deposits and other funding sources; (iii) the rates incurred on borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities; and (iv) the regulatory risk weighting associated with the assets. Interest income is primarily impacted by loan growth and loan repayments, along with changes in interest rates on the loans. Interest expense is primarily impacted by changes in deposit balances along with the volume and type of interest-bearing liabilities. Net interest income is primarily impacted by changes in market interest rates, the slope of the yield curve, and interest the Company earns on interest-earning assets or pay on interest-bearing liabilities.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income primarily consists of the following:

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Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense is comprised primarily of the following:

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Operating Segments

The Company measures the overall profitability of business operations based on income before income tax. The Company allocates costs to its segments, which consist primarily of compensation and overhead expense directly attributable to the products and services within banking, retirement and benefit services, wealth management, and mortgage. The Company measures the profitability of each segment based on the direct and indirect allocations of expense as it believes it better approximates the contribution generated by the Company’s reportable operating segments. All indirect overhead allocations to each segment are determined by management based on an annual review of department expenses. Income tax expense is allocated to corporate administration. A description of each segment is provided in Note 22 (Segment Reporting) of the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

Critical Accounting Policies

As a result of the complex and dynamic nature of the Company’s business, management must exercise judgment in selecting and applying the most appropriate accounting policies for its various areas of operations. The policy decision process not only ensures compliance with current GAAP, but also reflects management’s discretion with regard to choosing the most suitable methodology for reporting the Company’s financial performance. It is management’s opinion that the accounting estimates covering certain aspects of the business have more significance than others due to the relative importance of those areas to overall performance, or the level of subjectivity in the selection process. These estimates affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities as well as disclosures of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates. The most critical of the accounting policies is discussed below.

Allowance for credit losses (“ACL”)— In 2023, the Company adopted the new accounting standard for credit losses, ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses(Topic 326):Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, as amended (“ASU 2016-13”). This new accounting standard, commonly referred to as “CECL,” significantly changed the Company’s methodology for accounting for reserves on loans, unfunded off balance sheet credit exposures, including certain unfunded loan commitments and standby guarantees, as well as introduced the consideration for an allowance on HTM investment securities. ASU 2016-13 replaced the “incurred loss” methodology used prior to 2023 to establish an allowance on loans and off-balance sheet credit exposures, with an “expected loss” approach. Under CECL, the ACL at each reporting period serves as our best estimate of projected credit losses over the contractual life of certain assets, adjusted for expected prepayments, given an expectation of economic conditions and forecasts as of the valuation date.

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The recorded ACL on loans and HTM investment securities is determined based on the amortized cost basis of the assets and may be determined at various levels, including homogeneous loan pools, individual credits with unique risk factors, and homogenous HTM investment securities pools, by credit rating. Since adoption of CECL in 2023, the Company has used a discounted cash flow approach to calculate the ACL for each loan segment. Within the discounted cash flow model, a probability of default (“PD”) and loss given default (“LGD”) assumption is applied to calculate the expected loss for each loan segment. PD is the probability the asset will default within a given timeframe and LGD is the percentage of the assets not expected to be collected due to default. PD and LGD data is derived using a combination of external data and internal historical default and loss experience.

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CECL may create more volatility in our ACL, particularly our ACL on loans and ACL on off balance sheet credit exposures. Under CECL, our ACL may increase or decrease period to period based on many factors, including, but not limited to: macroeconomic forecasts and conditions; a change in the prepayment speed assumption; an increase or decrease in loan balances, including changes to the Company’s loan portfolio mix; credit quality of the loan portfolio; and various qualitative factors outlined in ASU 2016-13.

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ASU 2016-13 also changed the Company’s methodology and accounting for credit losses within the investment portfolio designated as AFS. To the extent the fair value of a security designated as AFS is less than its amortized cost and the Company either intends to sell the security or it is more-likely-than-not the Company will be required to sell the security before recovery of its amortized cost basis, then the investment is permanently impaired and the amortized cost basis is written down to fair value and a corresponding impairment charge is recorded within the consolidated statements of income. If neither of the above is true, but the fair value of the investment is below its amortized cost basis at the reporting date, then an allowance is established on the AFS investment for the portion of the impairment that is due to credit reasons (e.g. credit rating downgrades, past due receivables, and/or other macro- or micro-adverse trends). The allowance established on an AFS investment due to credit losses is limited to the amount the fair value of the investment is below its amortized cost basis as of the reporting date. If the fair value of the investment is below its amortized cost basis for non-credit-related reasons (e.g. interest rate environment), then the impairment continues to be recognized within stockholders' equity through AOCI.

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ACL on Loans. The Company considers the ACL on loans to be a critical accounting policy given the uncertainty in evaluating the allowance required to cover management’s estimate of all expected credit losses over the expected contractual life of the loans in its portfolio. Determining the appropriateness of the allowance is a key management function that requires significant judgment and estimate by management about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Subsequent evaluations of the current loan portfolio, in light of the factors then prevailing, may result in significant changes in the allowance in future periods. While the Company’s current evaluation indicates that the ACL on loans at December 31, 2023 and 2022 was appropriate, the allowance may need to be increased under adversely different conditions or assumptions.

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The significant key assumptions used with the ACL on loans calculation at December 31, 2023 using the CECL methodology, included:

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As of December 31, 2023, the recorded ACL on loans was $35.8 million and represented the Company’s best estimate of expected credit losses within the loan portfolio. However, the Company may adjust its assumptions to account for differences between expected and actual losses each period. A future change of the Company’s assumptions will likely alter the level of allowance required and may have a material impact on future results of operations and financial condition. The ACL is reviewed periodically within a calendar quarter to assess trends in the aforementioned key assumptions, as well as asset quality within the loan portfolio, and the Company considers the impact of these trends on the ACL and the Company's financial condition, if any. The ACL on loans is reviewed and approved on a quarterly basis by the ACL Governance Committee, and later reviewed and ratified by the Bank's Board of Directors.

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Refer to “—Results of Operations—Provision for Credit Losses,” “—Financial Condition—Asset Quality,” and Note 6 of the consolidated financial statements for further discussion.

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ACL on Off Balance Sheet Credit Exposures. The Company considers the ACL on off balance sheet credit exposures to be a critical accounting policy given the uncertainty in evaluating the level of the allowance required to cover management’s estimate of all expected credit losses on expected future loan fundings of, primarily, unfunded loan commitments for those that are not unconditionally cancellable by the Company. The expected credit loss factor calculated for each loan segment using the ACL on loans methodology described above, as well as within Note 1 of the consolidated financial statements, is used to calculate the ACL on off balance sheet credit exposures for each applicable loan segment, and, thus, are subject to the same level of estimation risk and volatility previously described. In addition, one other key assumption is used to derive the allowance on off balance sheet credit exposures and that is the expected funding rate. The expected funding rate is derived using historical loan level data for credit line usage, and is applied to total off balance sheet credit exposures at each reporting date, excluding any that are unconditionally cancellable by the Company, to determine the expected funding amount. As unfunded loan commitments are funded, the allowance migrates from that provided for off balance sheet credit exposures to the ACL on loans. If the expected funding rate or any other key assumption used is not reasonable, then this could have an adverse impact on the total ACL upon funding.

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As of December 31, 2023, the recorded ACL on off balance sheet credit exposures was $7.4 million and presented within accrued interest and other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet. Increases (decreases) to the allowance are presented within provision (credit) for credit losses on the consolidated statements of income. The allowance at December 31, 2023, represented the Company’s best estimate, however, it may adjust assumptions to account for differences between expected and actual losses from period to period. A future change to the Company’s assumptions will likely alter the level of allowance required and may have a material impact on future results of operations and financial condition.

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Refer to “—Results of Operations—Provision for Credit Losses,” “—Financial Condition—Asset Quality,” and Note 6 of the consolidated financial statements for further discussion.

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ACL for HTM Debt Securities. The estimate of expected credit losses on the Company’s HTM investment portfolio utilizes external PD and LGD data by credit rating to determine a loss rate. Management may exercise discretion to make adjustments based on various environmental factors.

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At December 31, 2023, the Company held securities in its HTM portfolio with an amortized cost basis of $299.7 million that primarily consisted of MBS and CMO debt securities issued, municipal bonds or guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored agencies. Under ASU 2016-13 the Company has the ability to exclude certain securities when the historical credit loss information, adjusted for current conditions and forecasts, resulting in zero risk of nonpayment of the amortized cost basis of the security. Management has evaluated and determined zero risk of nonpayment on all securities guaranteed by the U.S government agencies. At December 31, 2023, the Company recorded an ACL on HTM debt securities of $213 thousand.

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Refer to “—Financial Condition—Investments” and Note 5 of the consolidated financial statements for further discussion.

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ACL on AFS Debt Securities. The Company considers the ACL on AFS debt securities to be a critical accounting policy given the size of the investment portfolio and level of estimation used to determine the allowance, as appropriate. As of December 31, 2023, the Company's AFS portfolio was entirely made up of assets that are fair valued using level 2 valuation techniques in accordance with ASC 820, Fair Value Measurement. The Company engages a third party pricing agency to assist with the valuation of such debt securities and the assets are carried at fair value at each reporting period. An allowance is recorded on an AFS debt security to the extent an event has occurred that suggests receipt of full contractual payments are at risk. When such an event has been identified, a discounted cash flow model is used to determine the expected losses due to credit risk, and an allowance is recorded to reduce the carrying value of the debt security by the calculated expected loss amount, limited to the amount by which the fair value of the debt security is below its amortized cost basis.

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As further described within “—Financial Condition—Investments,” the Company's AFS portfolio, as of December 31, 2023, primarily consisted of MBS and CMO debt securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored agencies, and, thus, presenting little to no credit risk. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had not identified indications of credit risk and did not carry any allowance for credit losses on its AFS portfolio, nor did it record any permanent impairments during 2023, 2022 or 2021.

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Refer to “—Financial Condition—Investments” and Note 5 of the consolidated financial statements for further discussion.

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Intangible assets—As a result of acquisitions, the Company carries goodwill and identifiable intangible assets. Goodwill represents the cost of acquired companies in excess of the fair value of net assets at the acquisition date. Goodwill is evaluated at least annually or when business conditions suggest impairment may have occurred. Should impairment occur, goodwill will be reduced to its revised carrying value through a charge to earnings. Core deposits and other identifiable intangible assets are amortized to expense over their estimated useful lives. The determination of whether or not impairment exists is based upon discounted cash flow modeling techniques that require management to make estimates regarding the amount and timing of expected future cash flows. It also requires them to select a discount rate that reflects the current return requirements of the market in relation to present risk-free interest rates, required equity market premiums, and company-specific performance and risk metrics, all of which are susceptible to change based on changes in economic and market conditions and other factors. Future events or changes in the estimates used to determine the carrying value of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets could have a material impact on our results of operations.

Fair value measurements—Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset, or paid to transfer a liability, in the principal or most advantageous market for an asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The degree of management judgment involved in determining the fair value of a financial instrument is dependent upon the availability of quoted market prices, or observable market inputs. For financial instruments that are traded actively and have quoted market prices, or observable market inputs, there is minimal subjectivity involved in measuring fair value. However, when quoted market prices or observable market inputs are not fully available, significant management judgement may be necessary to estimate fair value. In developing our fair value measurements, we maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs.

Financial assets that are recorded at fair value on a recurring basis include investment securities, available-for-sale and derivative financial instruments. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, $495.2 million, or 12.7%, and $723.7 million, or 19.1%, respectively, of the Company’s total assets consisted of financial assets recorded at fair value on a recurring basis and most of these financial assets consisted of available-for-sale investment securities. The fair value of financial assets on a recurring basis are classified in either Levels 1 or 2 of the fair value hierarchy. Financial liabilities that are recorded at fair value on a recurring basis are comprised of derivative financial instruments. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, $9.2 million and $6.3 million of derivative financial instruments, respectively, were classified as Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy, representing less than 1% of the Company’s total liabilities in those years. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had no fair value assets or liabilities classified in Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy.

A summary of the accounting policies used by management is disclosed in Note 1 (Significant Accounting Policies) of the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

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Non-GAAP to GAAP Reconciliations and Calculation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to the results presented in accordance with GAAP, the Company routinely supplements its evaluation with an analysis of certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures include the ratio of tangible common equity to tangible assets, tangible common equity per share, return on average tangible common equity, net interest margin (tax-equivalent), the efficiency ratio, and the adjusted efficiency ratio. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in its analysis of its performance, and believes financial analysts and others frequently use these measures, and other similar measures, to evaluate capital adequacy. Management calculates: (i) tangible common equity as total common stockholders’ equity, less goodwill and other intangible assets; (ii) tangible common equity per share as tangible common equity divided by shares of common stock outstanding; (iii) tangible assets as total assets, less goodwill and other intangible assets; (iv) return on average tangible common equity as net income adjusted for intangible amortization net of tax, divided by average tangible common equity; (v) net interest margin (tax-equivalent) as net interest income plus a tax-equivalent adjustment, divided by average earning assets; (vi) efficiency ratio as noninterest expense less intangible amortization expense, divided by net interest income plus noninterest income plus a tax-equivalent adjustment; and (vii) adjusted efficiency ratio as noninterest expense less intangible amortization expense, divided by net interest income plus noninterest income plus a tax-equivalent adjustment less net gains (losses) on investment securities.

The following tables present these non-GAAP financial measures along with the most directly comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP for the periods indicated.

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