2020 Annual Report

Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. and Subsidiaries Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (dollars in thousands, except share data)

Note 1: Description of the Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Organization

Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. (the “Company”) is a financial holding company headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, whose operations consist of the ownership of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Bridgewater Bank (the “Bank”) and Bridgewater Risk Management, Inc. The Bank commenced operations in 2005 and provides retail and commercial loan and deposit services, principally to customers within the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2008, the Bank formed BWB Holdings, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank, for the purpose of holding repossessed property. In 2018, the Bank formed Bridgewater Investment Management, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank, for the purpose of holding certain municipal securities and to engage in municipal lending activities. Bridgewater Risk Management, Inc. was incorporated in December 2016 as a wholly-owned insurance company subsidiary of the Company. It insures the Company and its subsidiaries against certain risks unique to the operations of the Company and for which insurance may not be currently available or economically feasible in today’s insurance marketplace. Bridgewater Risk Management pools resources with several other insurance company subsidiaries of financial institutions to spread a limited amount of risk among themselves. Principles of Consolidation The consolidated financial statements include the amounts of the Company, the Bank, with locations in Bloomington, Greenwood, Minneapolis (2), St. Louis Park, Orono, and St. Paul, Minnesota, BWB Holdings, LLC, Bridgewater Investment Management, Inc., and Bridgewater Risk Management, Inc. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Use of Estimates in Preparation of Financial Statements The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Information available which could affect judgements includes, but is not limited to, changes in interest rates, changes in the performance of the economy, including COVID-19 pandemic related changes, and changes in the financial condition of borrowers. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change in the near term include the determination of the allowance for loan losses, calculation of deferred tax assets, fair value of financial instruments, and investment securities impairment. Emerging Growth Company The Company qualifies as an “emerging growth company” under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, even if the Company complies with the greater obligations of public companies that are not emerging growth companies, the Company may avail itself of the reduced requirements applicable to emerging growth companies from time to time in the future, so long as the Company is an emerging growth

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