Any decline in available funding could adversely impact our ability to originate loans, invest in securities, meet our expenses, or fulfill obligations such as repaying our borrowings or meeting deposit withdrawal demands, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity and could, in turn, adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may need to raise additional capital in the future, and if we fail to maintain sufficient capital, whether due to losses, an inability to raise additional capital or otherwise, our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations, as well as our ability to maintain regulatory compliance, could be adversely affected.
We face significant capital and other regulatory requirements as a financial institution. We may need to raise additional capital in the future to provide us with sufficient capital resources and liquidity to meet our commitments and business needs, which could include the possibility of financing acquisitions. In addition, we, on a consolidated basis, and the Bank, on astand-alone basis, must meet certain regulatory capital requirements and maintain sufficient liquidity. Importantly, regulatory capital requirements could increase from current levels, which could require us to raise additional capital or reduce our operations. Our 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, and on our financial condition and performance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will be able to raise additional capital if needed or on terms acceptable to us. If we fail to maintain capital to meet regulatory requirements, our liquidity, business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Fluctuations in interest rates could reduce net interest income and otherwise negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.
The majority of our banking assets are monetary in nature and subject to risk from changes in interest rates. Our profitability depends to a great extent upon the level of our net interest income, or the difference between the interest income we earn on loans, investments and otherinterest-earning assets, and the interest we pay oninterest-bearing liabilities, such as deposits and borrowings. Changes in interest rates can increase or decrease our net interest income, because different types of assets and liabilities may react differently, and at different times, to market interest rate changes. Wheninterest-bearing liabilities mature or reprice more quickly, or to a greater degree thaninterest-earning assets in a period, an increase in interest rates could reduce net interest income. Similarly, wheninterest-earning assets mature or reprice more quickly, or to a greater degree thaninterest-bearing liabilities, falling interest rates could reduce net interest income. Our interest sensitivity profile was asset sensitive as of December 31, 2017, meaning that we estimate our net interest income would increase more from rising interest rates than from falling interest rates.
Additionally, an increase in interest rates may, among other things, reduce the demand for loans and our ability to originate loans and decrease loan repayment rates. A decrease in the general level of interest rates may affect us through, among other things, increased prepayments on our loan portfolio and increased competition for deposits. Accordingly, changes in the level of market interest rates affect our net yield oninterest-earning assets, loan origination volume, loan portfolio and our overall results. Although ourasset-liability management strategy is designed to control and mitigate exposure to the risks related to changes in market interest rates, those rates are affected by many factors outside of our control, including governmental monetary policies, inflation, deflation, recession, changes in unemployment, the money supply, international disorder and instability in domestic and foreign financial markets.
We face strong competition from financial services companies and other companies that offer banking services, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We conduct our operations almost exclusively in Texas, particularly the Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan areas. Many of our competitors offer the same, or a wider variety of, banking services within our market area. These competitors include banks with nationwide operations, regional banks and other community banks. We also face competition from many other types of financial institutions, including savings banks, credit
24