A financial institution with a large Dubuque presence reported being on solid footing as it moves to the end of the year and looks to 2024.
HTLF, which moved its headquarters from Dubuque to Denver in January, reported net income available to common stockholders of $46.1 million for the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That is down 16% from the same period last year, when it was $54.6 million.
Net income available to common stockholders over the nine-month period that ended Sept. 30 was $144.2 million, the company reported, compared to $145.5 million for the same period in 2022.
Bryan McKeag, HTLF executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the biggest factor contributing to those numbers is the significant rise in interest rates, which causes the company to pass more interest to customers.
“Our interest margin has come down a bit,” McKeag said. “That’s an industrywide phenomenon.”
In that vein, HTLF reported total assets of $20.13 billion at the end of the third quarter, about a 1% decrease from the end of 2022, when it was $20.24 billion.
Total deposits were $17.1 billion at the end of the recently completed quarter, a slight decrease from $17.66 billion at the end of the second quarter and $17.51 billion at the end of 2022.
HTLF officials also announced that all 11 of the company’s bank charters officially have been consolidated into one based in Colorado.
McKeag said in an interview with the Telegraph Herald that the project was completed on time and is expected to come in under budget. The consolidation, which was aimed at increasing efficiencies, was expected to result in $20 million in annual savings, and McKeag said officials already are seeing benefits exceeding that.
“In addition to efficiencies, it’s also enabling our bank employees to spend more time focused on the customer, customer engagement (and) customer service,” said Bruce Lee, president and CEO of HTLF.
HTLF officials also reported $154.5 million in loan growth and $152.3 million in total customer deposit growth from the second to the third quarter. Officials also touted lower core expenses and solid credit quality.
“All the balance sheet and the things that we could control, we were able to, and we feel good about that,” Lee said. “We feel pretty good as we start to think about wrapping up 2023 and heading into 2024.”
Moving forward, Lee said the company is now in position for its next phase, dubbed HTLF 3.0. While more details will be provided in the company’s next quarterly report, Lee said the phase will “execute on new initiatives that leverage our brand, products, technologies and capabilities.”