Holding Company Liquidity
The Company is a corporation separate and apart from the Bank and, therefore, it must provide for its own liquidity. As of June 30, 2022, HBT Financial, Inc. had cash and cash equivalents of $24.0 million.
The Company’s main source of funding is dividends declared and paid to it by the Bank. Due to state banking laws, the Bank may not declare dividends in any calendar year in an amount that would exceed accumulated retained earnings, after giving effect to any unrecognized losses and bad debts, without the prior approval of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. In addition, dividends paid by the Bank to the Company would be prohibited if the effect thereof would cause the Bank’s capital to be reduced below applicable minimum capital requirements. Management believes that these limitations will not impact the Company’s ability to meet its ongoing short-term cash obligations. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, the Bank paid $6.0 million and $12.0 million in dividends to the Company, respectively. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, the Bank did not pay a dividend to the Company.
The liquidity needs of the Company on an unconsolidated basis consist primarily of operating expenses, interest payments on the subordinated notes and junior subordinated debentures, and shareholder distributions in the form of dividends and stock repurchases. During the three months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, holding company operating expenses consisted of interest expense of $0.9 million and $0.8 million, respectively, and other operating expenses of $1.0 million and $0.7 million, respectively. During the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, holding company operating expenses consisted of interest expense of $1.7 million and $1.7 million, respectively, and other operating expenses of $2.5 million and $1.3 million, respectively.
Additionally, the Company paid $4.7 million and $4.1 million of dividends to stockholders during the three months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and paid $9.3 million and $8.2 million of dividends to stockholders during the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of June 30, 2022, management was not aware of any known trends, events or uncertainties that had or were reasonably likely to have a material impact on the Company’s liquidity.
As of June 30, 2022, management believed adequate liquidity existed to meet all projected cash flow obligations of the Company. As of June 30, 2022, the Company had no material commitments for capital expenditures.
CAPITAL RESOURCES
The overall objectives of capital management are to ensure the availability of sufficient capital to support loan, deposit and other asset and liability growth opportunities and to maintain capital to absorb unforeseen losses or write-downs that are inherent in the business risks associated with the banking industry. The Company seeks to balance the need for higher capital levels to address such unforeseen risks and the goal to achieve an adequate return on the capital invested by our stockholders.
Regulatory Capital Requirements
The Company and Bank are each subject to various regulatory capital requirements administered by federal and state banking agencies. Failure to meet minimum capital requirements can initiate certain mandatory, and possibly additional discretionary, actions by regulators that, if undertaken, could have a direct material effect on the financial statements of the Company and the Bank.
In addition to meeting minimum capital requirements, the Company and the Bank must also maintain a “capital conservation buffer” to avoid becoming subject to restrictions on capital distributions and certain discretionary bonus payments to management. As of June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the capital conservation buffer requirement was 2.5% of risk-weighted assets.