That’s a lot of zeroes…

Total assets have never been our number one priority since we opened the bank. ACBT strategy is driven by creating strong relationships with our existing clients, growing relationships with new clients, and being a good corporate neighbor in our communities. When you execute on these you get rewarded by advocates who refer us business that leads to more growth. The asset growth we have experienced over the past four years reinforces our strategy as a winning formula. I hope you take some pride in being a part of the ACBT team and our success.

Thank you to all of you for your efforts to help us achieve our growth strategy.

Fraud Update:

3rd quarter fraud remains rigorous, we surpassed last year's total attempts as our current total is over $2.7mm! But with the diligence of our staff, these remain ATTEMPTS and not money lost.

Fraud reviews, software monitoring, and especially you, the front line, help keep loss to the clients and the bank to a minimum. Endorsements are another hot button as there are 16 endorsement claims pending, over $475K in funds being disputed currently. Proud of the work from the front line to stay focused and protect our clients from fraud. Great Job!!

We are a little over a month away from converting from IronCore to our new MSP, Integris/Caltech. Ironcore has been a great partner as we grew the bank. Now that we are reaching our billion-dollar milestone we need to partner with vendors that can keep our pace. Caltech provides us with a dedicated team of IT professionals who will collaborate with us on strategic initiatives and help us grow the bank. You will meet this team through in-person introductions when they are onsite in November.

Our chat capabilities have proven to be a great addition to the way we communicate with our clients and our colleagues. Remember that within any chat you can share your desktop screen to further enhance your communication and assistance to a client or colleague.

We welcome change and improvement and we certainly have had that. We have added talent to our frontline team this last quarter. It is exciting to have banker growth, increase our banker knowledge and gain efficiencies. Lots of talent out there. We are cross training and making sure we are building TEAM. We continue to be proactive with our clients regarding their relationship with us, this includes Private Clients, business owners and personal clients. We want them to know we are here for them. Thanks to all.

The McHenry County Commercial Banking Team had an exciting Q3. We continued to grow the Bank's balance sheet by bringing in several new clients, and we added two internal transfers to the team, Dawn Cassiday-Turner and Mike Azzaro. Their tenures on our team have started off strong (as anticipated) and I expect big things from each of them in the coming years. The group continues to add structure around our process that continues to make us more efficient and provides us with more time/capacity to bring in new business for the Bank.

We have exceeded our loan growth target for the year and our pipeline is building nicely as we start Q4. Our deposit balances have rebounded due to the 30+ new relationships we have brought to the Bank during 2023 and the companies in the portfolio we manage are having a strong 2023 regarding profits. The team continues to adapt to our new CRM, Salesforce. We are becoming more proficient with the platform every day, which will pay dividends in future quarters and years to come.

I continue to look for new talent to join our team and had several interviews during Q3. As I have said before, if you know of anyone that you think should be considered for a position within the team, please do not hesitate to reach out. Let’s finish up 2023 strong!!

We are happy to announce that we have successfully implemented our new BSA/Fraud Management software, Verafin!! We are in the process of learning all of the great features available to us but the software has already increased many processes and efficiencies. Hats off to Nicole and Jessalyn for spearheading this implementation!

Please make sure that you are aware of Elder Financial Exploitation.

Unfortunately, we continue to see suspected cases here at the bank.

Through August, excluding a one-time extraordinary item in March, our net income is on pace with our original budget projections. Loan growth continues to be strong, and deposit activity has stabilized and picked up nicely after the hiccup in March/April due to the issues experienced by the banking industry as a whole. There have certainly been challenges this year with the overall economic environment and the prospect of higher rates, but we have made appropriate adjustments to be able to finish 2023 and move into 2024 with a strong foundation for future growth.

From a personnel perspective, Kat Cummings joined the Accounting team in early August, just in time for quarter-end. She is doing a great job and we haven’t missed a beat. Her enthusiasm is contagious. I’m looking forward to Kat’s continued growth in her role, which will be invaluable as the bank continues to expand and grow.

Below are some general housekeeping reminders for Q4:

Annual Security Training will be held in Q4 and is mandatory for all employees who work at one of our four main banking locations.

Don’t worry Arlington Heights, I will have something for you as well.

The training will be held as we did pre-2020, with an in-person visit from one of our local police officers at each location.

The training will be held on multiple dates to ensure that if you can't attend the mandatory training at your location you can attend the training elsewhere.

Stay tuned as the training dates and times will be communicated later in the month. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding bank security feel free to reach out to me at any time.

Connie Aumann - Vice President, Treasury Management Team Lead

Tom Dickey - Banking Security Officer

Dawn Cassiday-Turner - Business Banking Relationship Manager

Maria Ortiz - Senior Treasury Management Specialist

Amanda Bakaturski - Universal Banking Supervisor

Kat Cummings - Accountant

Julie Ehardt - Client Service Representative

Beth Andrews - Universal Banker I

Kelly Whittingham - Universal Banker I

Cynthia Hayden - Senior Commercial Loan Representative

Erin Weber - Senior Commercial Loan Representative