Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc._2023 Annual Report

The Bank focuses on lending to borrowers located or investing in the Twin Cities MSA across a diverse range of industries and property types, however, as a relationship lender, it will from time to time finance properties located outside of Minnesota for its existing local clients in select situations. As of December 31, 2023, over 80% of the Bank’s real estate loan balances were secured by properties located in the Twin Cities market. Robust and consistent growth over the last several years has been attributable to the Bank’s strengthening brand and service model in the Twin Cities, client and banker acquisitions resulting from M&A-related market disruption and the expansion of talented lending and business service teams. As a result, the Bank’s ability to cultivate relationships with certain individuals and businesses has resulted in a concentration of large loans to a small number of borrowers. The Bank has established an informal, internal limit on a single loan to finance one transaction, but may, under certain circumstances, consider going above this internal limit in situations where management’s understanding of the industry, the borrower’s financial condition, overall credit quality and property fundamentals are commensurate with the increased size of the relationship. The Bank’s pace of loan growth slowed in 2023 from historical levels as market loan demand declined due to the rising interest rate environment. Deposits. The Bank has developed a suite of deposit products targeted at commercial clients, including a variety of remote deposit and cash management products, along with commercial transaction accounts. The Bank also offers consumers traditional retail deposit products through its branch network, along with online, mobile and direct banking channels. Many of the deposits do not require a branch visit, creating efficiencies across the Bank’s branch network. Deposits continue to be the primary funding source for the Bank’s lending activities, both core and non-core deposits. Core deposit growth was more of a challenge across the industry in 2023, primarily due to the higher interest rate environment and fallout from several bank failures early in the year. As a result, the Bank utilized additional brokered deposits and wholesale funding sources to supplement core deposits. While the Bank remains committed to growing core deposits, brokered deposits have remained a strategic component of the funding strategy and interest rate risk management. The Bank’s Asset Liability Management, or ALM, Committee monitors the size of this portfolio, and ongoing opportunities. The Bank has developed relationships with certain individuals and businesses that have resulted in a concentration of large deposits from a small number of clients. As of December 31, 2023, the 10 largest depositor relationships accounted for approximately 13.0% of total deposits. This high concentration of depositors, which declined from 15.0% as of December 31, 2022, presents a risk to liquidity if one or more of them decides to change its relationship with the Bank and to withdraw all or a significant portion of their accounts. Competitive Strengths As the Company seeks to continue to grow the business, management believes the following strengths provide a competitive advantage over other financial institutions operating in its market area: Commercial Banking Expertise. Management believes the Company has earned the reputation as one of the prominent commercial real estate lenders in the Twin Cities MSA due in large part to the strength of the lending team. The Company has an experienced, professional team of 25 lenders, and believes the ability to drive quality commercial loan growth is a result of being able to provide each client with access to a knowledgeable, experienced, responsive and dedicated banker. Due to their market knowledge and understanding of clients’ businesses, the lenders are well positioned to provide timely and relevant feedback to clients. Management believes the responsive credit culture separates the Company from its competitors. Multifamily Lending Expertise. The Company specializes in multifamily lending, which has historically represented a large portion of the total loan portfolio. The Company believes this lending niche lowers the risk profile of the overall loan portfolio due to its lower historical loss rates when compared to other loan types. In fact, the multifamily portfolio has experienced no net charge-offs over the past five years and only $62,000 of net charge-offs since inception.

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