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Note 23 - Preferred Stock
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Notes to Financial Statements  
Preferred Stock [Text Block]

NOTE 23 - PREFERRED STOCK

 

On May 24, 2022, the Company entered into a Letter Agreement (“Agreement”) with the U.S. Department of Treasury under the Emergency Capital Investment Program (“ECIP”). Established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, the ECIP was created to encourage low- and moderate-income community financial institutions and minority depository institutions to provide loans, grants, and forbearance for small businesses, minority-owned businesses, and consumers, especially low-income and underserved communities, including counties with persistent poverty, that may be disproportionately impacted by the economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing direct and indirect capital investments in low- and moderate-income community financial institutions.

 

Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company agreed to issue and sell 82,949 shares of Preferred Stock for an aggregate purchase price of $82.9 million in cash. This ECIP investment is treated as tier 1 capital. The Preferred Stock bears no dividend for the first 24 months following the investment date. Thereafter, the dividend rate will be adjusted, not higher than 2%, based on the lending growth criteria listed in the Agreement. After the tenth anniversary of the investment date, the dividend rate will be fixed based on the average annual amount of lending in years two through 10. Dividends will be payable quarterly in arrears on March 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15.

 

The Preferred Stock may be redeemed at the option of the Company on or after the fifth anniversary of issuance (or earlier in the event of loss of regulatory capital treatment), subject to the approval of the appropriate federal banking regulator and in accordance with the federal banking agencies’ regulatory capital regulations. The Preferred Stock is reported on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as Senior Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series ECIP.