BOK Financial Corp. profits grow in 2017

TULSA — BOK Financial Corp., parent of Oklahoma’s largest bank, saw a 44 percent increase in year-over-year earnings from 2016 to 2017.

On Wednesday, the Tulsa-based bank holding company reported a profit of $334.6 million, or $5.11 per diluted share, for the year ending Dec. 31. For 2016, the company reported net income of $232.7 million, or $3.53 per diluted share.

CEO Steve Bradshaw attributed the increase in earnings to a strong portfolio, upward movement of interest rates and doubledigit performance from the company’s wealth management group.

“The fourth quarter wrapped up a very strong year for BOK Financial, in which we delivered our strongest earnings performance in the past five years,” Bradshaw said in a statement. “While we benefited from a healthy interest rate environment, the key to earnings leverage was maintaining expense discipline throughout the year.”

Earnings for 2017 were slightly below the highwater mark of 2012, when the company posted net income of $5.13 per diluted share.

“I think we are getting back to a point where the spread is more normalized,” Bradshaw said. “We’re not back to prerecession levels, but we certainly have restored some margin in that sense.”

Net income for the fourth quarter totaled $72.5 million, or $1.11 per diluted share, compared to earnings of $50 million, or 76 cents per diluted share in the same period a year earlier.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law in December resulted in an $11.7 million or 18 cents per share reduction in net income for the fourth quarter. A decrease in the federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent required the company to revalue deferred tax assets and liabilities.

“The write-down of our deferred tax asset was necessitated by expected lower future tax rates and negatively impacted fourth-quarter earnings,” Bradshaw said. “However, we believe the passage of tax reform will be beneficial to economic growth across our footprint, drive increased loan demand in many of our businesses, and provide a material benefit to future profitability.”

BOK Financial is parent company to Bank of Oklahoma and has banking operations in 10 others states.