Q4 profits fall for UMB Bank, but year comes out ahead

Profits for Kansas City-based UMB Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: UMBF) took a sharp dip in the fourth quarter, but the decrease was not enough to offset a positive year of net income for the company.

The operator of two UMB Bank branches in Springfield posted fourth-quarter earnings of $78.5 million, or $1.61 per diluted share, a nearly 50% drop from $156.3 million, or $3.24 per diluted share, a year earlier, according to a news release.

"Notwithstanding higher-than-typical operating expenses tied to profitable business growth, charitable contributions and timing of other investments in the fourth quarter, our teams executed and delivered exceptional operating and financial results in 2021 through strong growth on both sides of the balance sheet, strong asset quality metrics and continued buildout of our differentiated fee generation businesses," said Mariner Kemper, the company's president, CEO and chair, in the release.

For the full year, net income was roughly $353 million, a 23% jump from $286.5 million in 2020. Diluted share earnings for the year rose to $7.24 from $5.93 per share.

UMB Bank had assets of $42.7 billion and deposits of $36 billion as of Dec. 31, according to the release.

UMBF shares were trading at $97.26 as of 10:41 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $70.34 to $112.24 per share.