Bridgewater Bank Annual Report

attract higher yielding loans, a lack of discipline or diligence by our employees in underwriting and monitoring loans or our inability to adequately adapt policies and procedures to changes in economic or any other conditions affecting borrowers and the quality of our loan portfolio, may result in loan defaults, foreclosures and charge-offs and may necessitate that we significantly increase our allowance for loan losses, each of which could adversely affect our net income. As a result, our inability to successfully manage credit risk could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. Our allowance for loan losses may prove to be insufficient to absorb potential losses in our loan portfolio. We establish and maintain our allowance for loan losses at a level that management considers adequate to absorb probable loan losses based on an analysis of our loan portfolio and current market environment. The allowance for loan losses represents our estimate of probable losses in the portfolio at each balance sheet date and is based upon relevant information available to us at such time. The allowance contains provisions for probable losses that have been identified relating to specific borrowing relationships, as well as probable losses inherent in the loan portfolio that are not specifically identified. Additions to the allowance for loan losses, which are charged to earnings through the provision for loan losses, are determined based on a variety of factors, including an analysis of the loan portfolio, historical loss experience and an evaluation of current economic conditions in our market area. The actual amount of loan losses is affected by, among other things, changes in economic, operating and other conditions within our markets, which may be beyond our control, and such losses may exceed current estimates. As of December 31, 2018, our allowance for loan losses as a percentage of total gross loans was 1.20% and as a percentage of total nonperforming loans was 3,447.7%. Although management believes that the allowance for loan losses was adequate on such date to absorb probable losses on existing loans that may become uncollectible, losses in excess of the existing allowance will reduce our net income and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. We may also be required to take additional provisions for loan losses in the future to further supplement the allowance for loan losses, either due to management’s assessment that the allowance is inadequate or as required by our banking regulators. Our banking regulators periodically review our allowance for loan losses and the value attributed to nonaccrual loans or to real estate acquired through foreclosure and may require us to adjust our determination of the value for these items. These adjustments may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In addition, in June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued a new accounting standard that will replace the current approach under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP, for establishing the allowance for loan losses, which generally considers only past events and current conditions, with a forward-looking methodology that reflects the expected credit losses over the lives of financial assets, starting when such assets are first originated or acquired. Under the revised methodology, credit losses will be measured based on past events, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts of future conditions that affect the collectability of financial assets. The new standard is expected to generally result in increases to allowance levels and will require the application of the revised methodology to existing financial assets through a one-time adjustment to retained earnings upon initial effectiveness. As an emerging growth company, this standard will be effective for us for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2021. Many of our loans are to commercial borrowers, which have a higher degree of risk than other types of loans. Commercial and industrial loans represented 15.7% of our total gross loan portfolio at December 31, 2018. Because payments on such loans are often dependent on the successful operation of the business involved, repayment of such loans is often more sensitive than other types of loans to the general business climate and economy. Accordingly, a challenging business and economic environment may increase our risk related to commercial loans. Unlike residential mortgage loans, which generally are made on the basis of the borrowers’ ability to make repayment from their employment and other income and which are secured by real property whose value tends to be more easily ascertainable, commercial loans typically are made on the basis of the borrowers’ ability to make repayment from the cash flow of the commercial venture. Our commercial and industrial loans are primarily made based on the identified cash flow of the borrower and secondarily on the collateral underlying the loans. Most often, this collateral consists of accounts receivable, inventory and equipment. Inventory and equipment may depreciate over time, may be difficult to appraise

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