BankFinancial reports Q4 EPS 17c

Total assets at December 31, 2023, were $1.487 billion, a decline of $88.1 million compared to December 31, 2022 The Company’s capital position remained strong, with a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 10.54% as of December 31, 2023. Throughout 2023, the Company maintained its quarterly dividend rate at $0.10 per common share. The Company repurchased 266,716 common shares during 2023, which represented 2.1% of the common shares that were outstanding on December 31, 2022. The book value of the Company’s common shares increased from $11.90 per share at December 31, 2022, to $12.45 per share at December 31, 2023. F. Morgan Gasior, the Chairman and CEO of the Company, said: “The Company ended 2023 in good financial and operational condition. Our asset-liability management strategies enabled us to strengthen liquidity and improve interest income in a highly uncertain environment. In turn, the improvement in interest income enabled us to improve net interest income despite a significant increase in deposit interest expense due to sharply rising market interest rates. To ensure appropriate liquidity, reduce risk exposures and maintain asset-liability flexibility in a rising rate environment, we reduced commercial credit originations in our equipment finance and commercial real estate portfolios, which provided liquidity to fund the reduction in total deposits and increases in short-term investments. These actions resulted in strong liquidity and capital ratios as of December 31, 2023. The reduction in loan balances and the unexpected developments in our government equipment finance portfolio reduced the earnings benefits from our asset-liability management actions. We expect our Commercial Finance, Commercial Equipment Finance and Treasury Services originations capabilities will contribute to earnings improvements and to loan portfolio diversity in 2024. We remain committed to delivering strong financial results and contributions to our shareholders and communities.”