Company: BANFP
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-030159
Chunk: 173

Company: BANCFIRST CORP /OK/
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1B
Chunk 173
---
. 

The Company is subject to political pressures that could limit our ability to charge for NSF and overdraft fees and could adversely impact our noninterest income. On April 1, 2022, the Company lowered the rates charged on NSF and overdraft fees. The Company also became subject to the reduced interchange fees under the Durbin Amendment, effective July 1, 2023. Consequently, the Company's interchange fee revenue was reduced by approximately $10.8 million in 2024 and reduced by $11.2 million in the last half of 2023. The reduced interchange fees under the Durbin Amendment have now been fully implemented.   

Noninterest Expense 

Total noninterest expense increased by $14.7 million, or 4.4% for 2024. Higher noninterest expenses in 2024 were primarily related to growth in salaries and employee benefits of $12.0 million related to annual merit increases and new hires. Data processing expense increased $2.4 million in 2024 compared to 2023. Net expense from other real estate owned decreased $2.9 million, which was due to a decrease of $1.2 million of write downs on other real estate owned, a $731,000 increase in the cost of holding other real estate owned, and a decrease in gain on the sales of other real estate owned of $924,000. 

Noninterest expense included deposit insurance expense, which totaled $6.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to $5.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and $4.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. 

Income Taxes 

Income tax expense totaled $58.9 million in 2024, compared to $57.5 million in 2023 and $44.3 million in 2022. The effective tax rates for 2024, 2023 and 2022 were 21.4%, 21.3% and 18.7% respectively. The Company's adoption of ASU 2023-02 in the first quarter of 2023 increased income tax expense due to the amortization of $6.0 million of New Markets Tax Credits ("NMTC") and other tax credits to income tax expense during the period that would have previously been recorded to other expense, which increased the effective tax rate by 2.22%. 

The primary reasons for the difference between the Company’s effective tax rate and