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“Our adjusted NIM, on a tax equivalent yield basis, increased one basis point from the fourth quarter of 2024 and was within our guidance range, overpowering the dilution from the impact of expired interest rate caps,” said Todd A. Gipple, President and Chief Financial Officer. “Absent the impact from the interest rate caps, our adjusted NIM TEY expanded by five basis points. Looking ahead, we anticipate continued margin expansion and are guiding to second quarter adjusted NIM TEY in the range from static to an increase of four basis points, assuming no Federal Reserve rate cuts,” added Mr. Gipple.

Noninterest Income Driven by Capital Markets and Wealth Management Revenue

Noninterest income for the first quarter of 2025 was influenced by macroeconomic factors, particularly affecting our low-income housing tax credit (“LIHTC”) lending business and its associated capital markets revenue. Noninterest income for the quarter totaled $16.9 million, down from $30.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Company generated $6.5 million of capital markets revenue during the first quarter, compared to $20.6 million in the prior quarter.

“Our capital markets business was affected by macroeconomic uncertainty. Despite this, demand for affordable housing remains significant. The lower first quarter results in this sector should lead to a larger pipeline for future transactions. Our capital markets activity for the second quarter is normalizing as clients adjust to the current environment,” said Mr. Helling. “As a result, we continue to expect our capital markets revenue to be in a range of $50 to $60 million over the next four quarters. We believe the long-term demand and our growing backlog for new deals will support the sustainability of our LIHTC lending program,” added Mr. Helling.

“Additionally, our wealth management business remained strong in the first quarter of 2025, generating annualized revenue growth of 14% for the quarter driven by growth in new client accounts and assets under management. We expect continued strong growth in this business to be fueled by the strategic investments we made in our Southwest Missouri and Central Iowa markets,” said Mr. Gipple.

Significant Noninterest Expense Reduction

Noninterest expense for the first quarter of 2025 totaled $46.5 million, a decrease compared to $53.5 million for the fourth quarter and $50.7 million for the first quarter of 2024. The $7.0 million linked-quarter decrease was primarily due to lower salary and employee benefits expenses associated with reduced variable compensation.

“Our noninterest expense decreased by 13% during the quarter, primarily due to lower capital markets revenue and its impact on our variable compensation. As a result, expenses were well below the guided range of $52 to $55 million highlighting our expense flexibility,” said Mr. Gipple. “The Company’s efficiency ratio was 60.54% in the first quarter. For the second quarter of 2025 we expect noninterest expense to be in the range of $50 to $53 million which assumes both capital markets revenue and loan growth are within our guidance range,” added Mr. Gipple.

Exceptionally Low Effective Tax Rate

The effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2025 was 1%, down from 9% in the prior quarter. The linked quarter decline is primarily due to a combination of the tax benefits from equity compensation in the first quarter, new state tax credit investments, and lower pre-tax income from lower capital markets revenue. “These factors decreased the mix of our taxable income relative to our tax-exempt income. Our tax-exempt loan and bond portfolios have consistently helped us maintain our low tax liability benefiting our shareholders,” said Mr. Gipple. “Given a more normalized mix of revenue, we expect our effective tax rate to be in the range of 6% to 8% for the second quarter of 2025,” added Mr. Gipple.

Robust Deposit Growth

During the first quarter of 2025, core deposits increased by $332.2 million, or 20% annualized, which allowed the Company to decrease brokered deposits by $56.0 million, and overnight FHLB advances by $140 million. Gross loans and leases held for investment as a percentage of total deposits ratio improved to 92.96% from 96.05% from the prior quarter. “Our deposit growth this quarter reflects our strong execution in expanding market share and deepening relationships with both new and existing clients in our core markets,” added Mr. Helling.

Continued Loan Growth

In the first quarter of 2025, the Company’s total loans and leases held for investment grew by $38.9 million to $6.8 billion. “Loan growth was 4% annualized when adding back the impact from the runoff of m2 Equipment Finance loans. First quarter loan activity was influenced by heightened macroeconomic uncertainty and elevated payoffs. We anticipate that the slowdown in our LIHTC business during this period should lead to a larger pipeline of future activity driven by the ongoing significant demand for low-income housing,” stated Mr. Helling.

“Due to heightened uncertainty, we are suspending our full-year loan growth guidance. Instead, we are providing guidance for the second quarter of 2025, projecting an annualized growth rate of 4% to 6%,” added Mr. Helling.

Asset Quality Remains Excellent

The Company’s nonperforming assets (“NPAs”) to total assets ratio was 0.53% on March 31, 2025, up three basis points from the prior quarter. NPAs totaled $48.1 million at the end of the first quarter of 2025, a $2.6 million increase from the prior quarter. The increase in NPAs during the first quarter was primarily due to the addition of three specific loans, partially offset by the payoff of our largest NPA in January.

The Company’s total criticized loans, a leading indicator of asset quality, declined by $18.2 million on a linked-quarter basis, and the ratio of criticized loans to total loans and leases as of March 31, 2025, improved to 2.06%, as compared to 2.34% as of December 31, 2024. This $18.2 million reduction marks the Company’s lowest criticized loan ratio in five years.

The Company recorded a total provision for credit losses of $4.2 million during the quarter, representing a decline of $0.9 million from the prior quarter. The reduction in the provision for credit losses during the quarter was primarily due to lower loan growth and a decrease in total criticized balances. Net charge-offs were also $4.2 million during the first quarter of 2025, an increase of $0.8 million from the prior quarter. The allowance for credit losses to total loans held for investment was unchanged from the prior quarter at 1.32%.

Strong Tangible Book Value and Regulatory Capital Growth

The Company’s tangible book value per share (non-GAAP) increased by $1.43, or 11% annualized, during the first quarter of 2025 due to the combination of strong earnings, a modest dividend, and negligible changes in accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”).

As of March 31, 2025, the Company’s tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio (“TCE”) (non-GAAP) increased 15 basis points to 9.70%. The improvement in TCE (non-GAAP) was driven by strong earnings as AOCI remained consistent during the quarter. The total risk-based capital ratio increased to 14.16% and the common equity tier 1 ratio increased to 10.26% due to solid earnings growth and modest loan growth during the quarter. By comparison, these ratios were 9.55%, 14.10%, and 10.03%, respectively, as of December 31, 2024. The Company remains focused on maintaining strong regulatory capital and targeting TCE (non-GAAP) in the top quartile of its peer group.

Conference Call Details
The Company will host an earnings call/webcast tomorrow, April 23, 2025, at Central Time. Dial-in information for the call is toll-free: 888-346-9286 (international 412-317-5253). Participants should request to join the QCR Holdings, Inc. call. The event will be available for replay through April 30, 2025. The replay access information is 877-344-7529 (international 412-317-0088); access code 7198237. A webcast of the teleconference can be accessed on the Company’s News and Events page at www.qcrh.com. An archived version of the webcast will be available at the same location shortly after the live event has ended.

About Us
QCR Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Moline, Illinois, is a relationship-driven, multi-bank holding company serving the Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Valley, Des Moines/Ankeny and Springfield communities through its wholly owned subsidiary banks. The banks provide full-service commercial and consumer banking and trust and wealth management services. Quad City Bank & Trust Company, based in Bettendorf, Iowa, commenced operations in 1994, Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust Company, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, commenced operations in 2001, Community State Bank, based in Ankeny, Iowa, was acquired by the Company in 2016, and Guaranty Bank, based in Springfield, Missouri, was acquired by the Company in 2018. Additionally, the Company serves the Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa community through Community Bank & Trust, a division of Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust Company. The Company has 36 locations in Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois. As of March 31, 2025, the Company had $9.2 billion in assets, $6.8 billion in loans and $7.3 billion in deposits. For additional information, please visit the Company’s website at www.qcrh.com.

Special Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements. This document contains, and future oral and written statements of the Company and its management may contain, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to the financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business of the Company. Forward-looking statements, which may be based upon beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the Company’s management and on information currently available to management, are generally identifiable by the use of words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “bode”, “predict,” “suggest,” “project”, “appear,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” ”annualize,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “likely,” “might,” “potential,” “continue,” “annualized,” “target,” “outlook,” as well as the negative forms of those words, or other similar expressions. Additionally, all statements in this document, including forward-looking statements, speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any statement in light of new information or future events.

A number of factors, many of which are beyond the ability of the Company to control or predict, could cause actual results to differ materially from those in its forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: (i) the strength of the local, state, national and international economies and financial markets, including effects of inflationary pressures, the threat or implementation of tariffs, trade wars and changes to immigration policy; (ii) changes in, and the interpretation and prioritization of, local, state and federal laws, regulations and governmental policies (including those concerning the Company’s general business); (iii) the economic impact of any future terrorist threats and attacks, widespread disease or pandemics, acts of war or threats thereof (including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East), or other adverse events that could cause economic deterioration or instability in credit markets, and the response of the local, state and national governments to any such adverse external events; (iv) new or revised accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by state and federal regulatory agencies, the FASB, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) or the PCAOB; (v) the imposition of tariffs or other governmental policies impacting the value of products produced by the Company’s commercial borrowers; (vi) increased competition in the financial services sector, including from non-bank competitors such as credit unions and fintech companies, and the inability to attract new customers; (vii) changes in technology and the ability to develop and maintain secure and reliable electronic systems; (viii) unexpected results of acquisitions, including failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions and the possibility that transaction and integration costs may be greater than anticipated; (ix) the loss of key executives and employees, talent shortages and employee turnover; (x) changes in consumer spending; (xi) unexpected outcomes and costs of existing or new litigation or other legal proceedings and regulatory actions involving the Company; (xii) the economic impact on the Company and its customers of climate change, natural disasters and exceptional weather occurrences such as tornadoes, floods and blizzards; (xiii) fluctuations in the value of securities held in our securities portfolio, including as a result of changes in interest rates; (xiv) credit risk and risks from concentrations (by type of borrower, geographic area, collateral and industry) within our loan portfolio and large loans to certain borrowers (including CRE loans); (xv) the overall health of the local and national real estate market; (xvi) the ability to maintain an adequate level of allowance for credit losses on loans; (xvii) the concentration of large deposits from certain clients who have balances above current FDIC insurance limits and who may withdraw deposits to diversify their exposure; (xviii) the ability to successfully manage liquidity risk, which may increase dependence on non-core funding sources such as brokered deposits, and may negatively impact the Company’s cost of funds; (xix) the level of non-performing assets on our balance sheet; (xx) interruptions involving our information technology and communications systems or third-party servicers; (xxi) the occurrence of fraudulent activity, breaches or failures of our third-party vendors’ information security controls or cybersecurity-related incidents, including as a result of sophisticated attacks using artificial intelligence and similar tools or as a result of insider fraud; (xxii) changes in the interest rates and repayment rates of the Company’s assets; (xxiii) the effectiveness of the Company’s risk management framework, and (xxiv) the ability of the Company to manage the risks associated with the foregoing. These risks and uncertainties should be considered in evaluating forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Additional information concerning the Company and its business, including additional factors that could materially affect the Company’s financial results, is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC.

Contact:
Todd A. Gipple
President
Chief Financial Officer
(309) 743-7745
tgipple@qcrh.com