Feb. 5, 2021

New strategies resulted in a strong quarter for Sioux Falls-based Great Western Bancorp Inc., bringing it closer to its pre-pandemic performance.

Net income for the holding company of Great Western Bank was $41.3 million, or 75 cents per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, compared with $11.1 million, or 20 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

Earnings were down slightly year over year, with net income of $43 million, or 77 cents per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2020. The most recent quarter, which ended Dec. 31, was, however, by far the strongest of the fiscal year.

“Our quarterly results reflect the meaningful progress in key areas over the past several months,” Mark Borrecco, president and CEO, said in a statement.

A focus on credit risk management resulted in a 10 percent decrease in nonaccrual loans, he said.

The company reduced its hotel portfolio, excluding casino hotels, by 20.2 percent through multiple sales at a 12 percent discount to loan value, and deferrals tracked lower to 1.29 percent of loans excluding Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, loans.

The bank adopted the Current Expected Credit Losses accounting standard to build an allowance for credit losses to total loans ratio of 3.5 percent, excluding PPP loans.

“Our conservative and measured actions helped further strengthen our total capital position to 14.3 percent,” Borrecco said.

“We have taken multiple steps to reshape our small-business and treasury management functions, and I am excited that we saw progress this past quarter. While in the near term we will continue to focus on improving asset quality and de-risking the balance sheet, we are implementing initiatives to simplify processes and improve client experience.”

The company is continuing to encourage remote work and manage branch access and occupancy levels in response to COVID-19, it said.