Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, First Finl Bankshares
Search every verified F. Dueser interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. At the 2016 annual shareholders meeting, F. Dueser, Chairman and CEO of First Financial Bankshares, reported that 2015 marked the company's 29th consecutive year of increased earnings, with net income rising 12.1 percent to $100.4 million. He attributed growth partly to the acquisition of First Bank in Conroe, Texas, and noted the company's efficiency ratio of 47.61 percent placed it in the 93rd percentile of its peer group. Dueser stated that the board had voted to increase the quarterly dividend by 2 cents to 18 cents, a 12.5 percent raise. Dueser highlighted the company's financial exploitation prevention program, saying it saved customers $1 million in the prior year and led to arrests. He mentioned that the American Bankers Association Foundation and the Texas Bankers Association had recognized the bank for this work. Dueser also discussed the company's strategy of operating as a community bank in smaller markets, describing it as preferring to be "the big fish in the little pond." He noted that the company was preparing to reach the $10 billion asset mark, which would increase compliance costs, and emphasized the importance of mortgage lending and continued growth to maintain shareholder returns.
“2015 marked our 29th year of consecutive increased earnings and let's take a look at those earnings first net income of 100.4 million compared to 89.6 million for 2014 representing a 12.1 percent increase.”
“Our acquisition of First Bank in Conroe on July 1st, 2015 contributed greatly to our increased loans, deposits, and net income and we expect this acquisition will be a very positive contribution going forward in 2016 and future years.”
“Our efficiency ratio in 2015 was 47.61 compared to 49.24 in 2014, which compares very favorably to the Federal Reserve Bank peer group average of 63.87 percent, putting us in the 93rd percentile of that group.”
“We have a philosophy so different from most Texas banks because we don't want to be in the big city; we want to be around the big city. When you're in the big city, you're fighting the big boys and you just become a drop in the bucket. We'd much rather be community bankers and be the big fish in the little pond.”
“We saved a million dollars last year of our customers' money by stopping fraud. In many of those cases, we were able to get the fraudsters arrested because our people have dedicated themselves to learning about financial exploitation, how to detect it, how to stop it, and how to get the people arrested.”
“The American Bankers Association Foundation gave us the Community Commitment Award in November for our work in financial exploitation, and next month the Texas Bankers Association is giving us the 2016 Leaders in Financial Education Award for our education efforts to fight financial exploitation.”
“We have to keep growing and going. Several years ago, I talked about someday reaching the 10 billion dollar mark, and when you get to that mark, your costs go up considerably because of government structure and compliance costs. We're preparing to get to that 10 billion dollar mark because we'll make it one of these da...”
“Mortgage is an extremely important service because when you do somebody's mortgage, they move all the rest of their business with you. It's a hard transaction today with a lot of compliance, but we hope to exceed 400 million dollars in mortgages in the coming year.”
“The five-year compounded average return for the last five years has been 13.95 percent. We want to continue to give our stockholders a good return because if we don't, they'll sell us and most of the jobs will go away.”
“The board has voted to increase the dividend by 2 cents to 18 cents per quarter, which is a 12.5 percent raise that shareholders will get in the next quarter. The dividend in 2016 will be 70 cents, and on an annualized basis, 72 cents.”
Filmed in Abilene, Texas.
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