(12) Capital Adequacy and Restriction on Dividends

The Company and the Bank are subject to various regulatory capital requirements administered by the federal banking agencies. Failure to meet minimum capital requirements can initiate mandatory and possibly additional discretionary actions by regulators that, if undertaken, could have a material effect on the Company’s and the Bank's consolidated financial statements. Under capital adequacy guidelines and the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action, the Company and the Bank must meet specific capital guidelines that involve quantitative measures of the Company’s and the Bank’s assets, liabilities, and certain off-balance-sheet items as calculated under regulatory accounting practices. The Company’s and the Bank's capital amounts and classification are also subject to qualitative judgments by the regulators about components, risk-weightings, and other factors.

Quantitative measures established by regulation to help ensure capital adequacy require the Company and the Bank to maintain minimum amounts and ratios (set forth in the table below).

In July 2013, the FRB and the other U.S. federal banking agencies adopted final rules making significant changes to the U.S. regulatory capital framework for U.S. banking organizations and to conform this framework to the guidelines published by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ("Basel Committee") known as the Basel III Global Regulatory Framework for Capital and Liquidity. The Basel Committee is a committee of banking supervisory authorities from major countries in the global financial system which formulates broad supervisory standards and guidelines relating to financial institutions for implementation on a country-by-country basis. These rules adopted by the FRB and the other federal banking agencies (the U.S. Basel III Capital Rules) replaced the federal banking agencies’ general risk-based capital rules, advanced approaches rule, market risk rule, and leverage rules, in accordance with certain transition provisions.

Banks, such as First Northern, became subject to the new rules on January 1, 2015. The new rules implement higher minimum capital requirements, include a new common equity Tier 1 capital requirement, and establish criteria that instruments must meet in order to be considered common equity Tier 1 capital, additional Tier 1 capital, or Tier 2 capital. The final rules provide for increased minimum capital ratios as follows: (a) a common equity Tier1 capital ratio of 4.5%; (b) a Tier 1 capital ratio of 6%; (c) a total capital ratio of 8%; and (d) a Tier 1 leverage ratio to average consolidated assets of 4%. Under these rules, in order to avoid certain limitations on capital distributions, including dividend payments and certain discretionary bonus payments to executive officers, a banking organization must hold a capital conservation buffer composed of common equity Tier 1 capital above its minimum risk-based capital requirements (equal to 2.5% of total risk-weighted assets). The capital conservation buffer is designed to absorb losses during periods of economic stress.

Pursuant to the EGRRCPA, the FRB adopted a final rule, effective August 31, 2018, amending the Small Bank Holding Company and Savings and Loan Holding Company Policy Statement (the “policy statement”) to increase the consolidated assets threshold to qualify to utilize the provisions of the policy statement from $1 billion to $3 billion. Bank holding companies, such as the Company, are subject to capital adequacy requirements of the FRB; however, bank holding companies which are subject to the policy statement are not subject to compliance with the regulatory capital requirements until they hold $3 billion or more in consolidated total assets. As a consequence, as of December 31, 2018, the Company was not required to comply with the FRB’s regulatory capital requirements until such time that its consolidated total assets equal $3 billion or more or if the FRB determines that the Company is no longer deemed to be a small bank holding company. However, if the Company had been subject to these regulatory capital requirements, it would have exceeded all regulatory requirements.

In November 2019, the bank regulatory agencies jointly adopted a final rule, that became effective January 1, 2020, that provides for a simple measure of capital adequacy for certain community banking organizations, consistent with the EGRRCPA. Under the final rule, depository institutions and depository institution holding companies that have less than $10 billion in total consolidated assets, such as the Company and the Bank, and that meet other qualifying criteria, including a leverage ratio (equal to tier 1 capital divided by average total consolidated assets) of greater than 9 percent, will be eligible to opt into the community bank leverage ratio framework. These qualifying community banking organizations that elect to use the community bank leverage ratio framework and that maintain a leverage ratio of greater than 9 percent will be considered to have satisfied the generally applicable risk-based and leverage capital requirements in the agencies’ capital rules and, if applicable, will be considered to have met the well-capitalized ratio requirements for purposes of the FDIA. At the present time, the Company does not intend to elect to use the community bank leverage framework.

Management believes, as of December 31, 2019, that the Bank met all capital adequacy requirements to which it is subject. As of December 31, 2019, the most recent notification from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) categorized the Bank as “well capitalized” under the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action. To be categorized as well capitalized the Bank must meet the minimum ratios as set forth below. As of the date hereof, there have been no conditions or events since that notification that management believes have changed the institution’s category.

The Bank had Tier I Leverage, Common Equity Tier 1, Tier I Risk-Based and Total Risk-Based capital above the “well capitalized” levels at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively, as set forth in the following table (calculated in accordance with the Basel III capital rules):

	The Bank
	2019						2018						Adequately Capitalized			Well Capitalized
	Capital			Ratio			Capital			Ratio			Ratio			Ratio
Tier 1 Leverage Capital (to Average Assets)		$	129,237		9.9	%		$	114,342		9.0	%		4.0	%		5.0	%
Common Equity Tier 1 Capital (to Risk-Weighted Assets)			129,237		14.6	%			114,342		13.1	%		4.5	%		6.5	%
Tier 1 Capital (to Risk-Weighted Assets)			129,237		14.6	%			114,342		13.1	%		6.0	%		8.0	%
Total Risk-Based Capital (to Risk-Weighted Assets)			140,342		15.8	%			125,287		14.4	%		8.0	%		10.0	%

Cash dividends declared by the Bank are restricted under California State banking laws to the lesser of the Bank’s retained earnings or the Bank’s net income for the latest three fiscal years, less dividends previously declared during those periods.