Capital Requirements

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Capital Requirements [Abstract]

Capital Requirements

Note 7 – Capital Requirements

The Bank is subject to various regulatory capital requirements administered by federal and State of Utah banking agencies (the regulators). 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 Bank’s financial statements. Under capital adequacy guidelines and the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action, the Bank must meet specific capital guidelines that involve quantitative measures of the Bank’s assets, liabilities, and certain off -balance-sheet items as calculated under regulatory accounting practices. The Bank’s capital amounts and classification are also subject to qualitative judgments by the regulators about components, risk -weighting, and other factors. Prompt corrective action provisions are not applicable to the bank holding company.

Beginning January 1, 2020, the bank qualified and elected to use the community bank leverage ratio (CBLR) framework for quantitative measures which requires the Bank to maintain minimum amounts and ratios of Tier 1 capital to average total consolidated assets. Management believes, as of December 31, 2021 and March 31, 2022, that the Bank meets all capital adequacy requirements to which it is subject.

As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the most recent notification from the FDIC categorized the Bank as well-capitalized under the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action (there are no conditions or events since that notification that management believes have changed the Bank’s category). The following table sets forth the actual capital amounts and ratios for the Bank and the minimum ratio and amount of capital required to be categorized as well-capitalized and adequately capitalized as of the dates indicated.

The Bank’s actual capital amounts and ratios are presented in the following table:

	Actual					Well-Capitalized Requirement
($ in thousands)	Amount		Ratio			Amount			Ratio
March 31, 2022
Leverage ratio (CBLR election)	$	74,437		19.1	%	$	35,057	*		9.0	%
December 31, 2021
Leverage ratio (CBLR election)	$	65,503		17.7	%	$	31,442	*		8.5	%

* On March 27, 2020 the CARES Act became law. Section 4012 of the CARES Act directs the agencies to issue an interim final rule reducing the CBLR ratio requirement from 9% to 8% for the last two quarters of the year 2020, 8.5% for the calendar year 2021, and 9% thereafter.

Federal Reserve Board Regulations require maintenance of certain minimum reserve balances based on certain average deposits. The Bank had reserve requirements of $0.0 million as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.

The Federal Reserve’s policy statement and supervisory guidance on the payment of cash dividends by a Bank Holding Company (“BHC”), such as FinWise Bancorp, expresses the view that a BHC should generally pay cash dividends on common stock only to the extent that (1) the BHC’s net income available over the past year is sufficient to cover the cash dividend, (2) the rate of earnings retention is consistent with the organization’s expected future needs and financial condition, and (3) the minimum regulatory capital adequacy ratios are met. Should an insured depository institution controlled by a bank holding company be “significantly undercapitalized” under the applicable federal bank capital ratios, or if the bank subsidiary is “undercapitalized” and has failed to submit an acceptable capital restoration plan or has materially failed to implement such a plan, federal banking regulators (in the case of the Bank, the FDIC) may choose to require prior Federal Reserve approval for any capital distribution by the BHC.

In addition, since FinWise Bancorp is a legal entity separate and distinct from the Bank and does not conduct stand-alone operations, an ability to pay dividends depends on the ability of the Bank to pay dividends to FinWise Bancorp and the FDIC and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions (“UDFI”) may, under certain circumstances, prohibit the payment of dividends to FinWise Bancorp from the Bank. Utah corporate law also requires that dividends can only be paid out of funds legally available.

The Company has not paid any cash dividends on its common stock since inception and it currently has no plans to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. However, the Company’s Board of Directors may declare a cash or stock dividend out of retained earnings provided the regulatory minimum capital ratios are met. The Company plans to maintain capital ratios that meet the well-capitalized standards per the regulations and, therefore, would limit dividends to amounts that are appropriate to maintain those well-capitalized regulatory capital ratios.