Bank of North Dakota assets grew to record $10B in 2021

The nation’s solely state-owned financial institution launched its annual report Monday, highlighting $144.2 million of income and the file $10 billion in complete property, together with loans, securities and money. 

“I believe the large factor (2021) represented is that we simply grew loads,” mentioned financial institution President/CEO Todd Steinwand, who took the wheel final yr after his predecessor Eric Hardmeyer retired.

Steinwand attributed the file property to North Dakota’s $1 billion of federal Rescue Plan coronavirus support together with one other $1 billion in further state tax income and earnings from the Legacy Fund oil tax financial savings.

The Legislature met final fall in a particular session to determine learn how to spend a lot of the Rescue Plan cash. 

Sixteen years of file financial institution income resulted in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Final yr’s income have been up about 2% from 2020.

Steinwand mentioned the financial institution weathered the pandemic higher than anticipated. The financial institution in 2020 added $16.8 million to its mortgage loss reserve resulting from financial uncertainty, however final yr it added $4.75 million. Banks use such reserves to alleviate losses on defaulted loans.

“We already had a major stability in that mortgage loss reserve, and in order that flowed proper to our backside line and allowed us to have the next internet revenue than we did in 2020,” Steinwand mentioned.

Each two years since 2017, the Legislature has transferred $140 million of financial institution income to the state’s normal fund to assist stability the finances.

Financial institution property proceed to carry carefully to $10 billion. 2022 income are on monitor to succeed in $145 million to $150 million, in line with Steinwand.

He mentioned the general economic system has improved from the pandemic’s throes, noting increased commodity costs and robust federal authorities funds and crop insurance coverage funds within the agriculture economic system.

Companies additionally fared the pandemic higher than anticipated, he mentioned. The financial institution in 2020 launched a number of enterprise reduction packages utilizing federal COVID-19 support and financial institution capital.

The financial institution’s complete mortgage portfolio final yr held at $4.7 billion. Its agricultural mortgage portfolio fell by $61 million, to $702 million; the enterprise mortgage portfolio grew by $162 million.

The governor-led, three member Industrial Fee, which oversees the financial institution, praised the establishment’s yr in a joint assertion:

“Financial institution of North Dakota continues to implement visionary ideas to maneuver the state ahead, whether or not working with the personal sector, state companies or native governments. These outcomes, together with the annual (Customary & Poor’s) report scores, exhibit the robust place of the Financial institution.”

S&P gave the financial institution a credit standing of “A+/Steady” in 2021, which Steinwand mentioned “provides an general indication from an outdoor third get together of the power of the financial institution.”

The report additionally highlights the financial institution’s financial affect from almost 15,000 agricultural and industrial loans from 2011-20, utilizing a mannequin to point out the financial institution’s mortgage participations in 2020 helped create or retain greater than 50,000 jobs in North Dakota with a projected affect of $6 billion to the state’s gross home product. 

Steinwand famous that the years of best affect throughout that stretch have been when the financial institution offered catastrophe packages, together with COVID-19, drought and farm stability packages.

The annual report is offered on-line at bnd.nd.gov.