UMB Financial Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter 2013 Earnings of $34.7 million, or $0.77 per Diluted Share, an Increase of 64.6 percent compared to the Fourth Quarter 2012, and Record Year-End Earnings of $134.0 million

UMB Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: UMBF), a diversified financial holding company, announced earnings for the three months ended December 31, 2013 of $34.7 million or $0.78 per share ($0.77 diluted). This is an increase of $13.6 million, or 64.6 percent, compared to fourth quarter 2012 earnings of $21.1 million or $0.53 per share ($0.52 diluted). Earnings for the year ended December 31, 2013 were $134.0 million or $3.25 per share ($3.20 diluted). This is an increase of $11.2 million, or 9.2 percent, compared to the prior year-to-date earnings of $122.7 million or $3.07 per share ($3.04 diluted).

“Fourth quarter results finished 2013, our 100th Anniversary year, with positive momentum and helped the company post record net income of $134.0 million for the year,” said Mariner Kemper, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “The fourth quarter results were driven primarily by loan growth, solid revenue increase for Institutional Investment Management and unrealized gains of $13.0 million in market adjustments to Prairie Capital investments. Expense growth for the year was limited to 5.7 percent, and expenses in 2013 included an $11.3 million charge related to the contingent consideration liability for two past acquisitions. Net loan balances at the end of the fourth quarter were $6.4 billion, an increase of 14.8 percent compared to the fourth quarter 2012. This marks our fifteenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year loan growth, the past eight of which were double-digit percentage increases. Finally, credit quality remains outstanding with fourth quarter net loan charge offs at just 0.26 percent of average loans.”

Net Interest Income and Margin

Net interest income for the fourth quarter 2013 increased $5.7 million, or 7.1 percent, compared to the same period in 2012. Average earning assets increased $1.6 billion, or 12.7 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. This increase was primarily due to a $1.0 billion, or 19.2 percent, increase in average loans, and a $440.2 million, or 93.4 percent, increase in average interest bearing due from banks. Net interest margin decreased 13 basis points to 2.51 percent for the three months ended December 31, 2013, compared to the same quarter in 2012.

Noninterest Income and Expense

Noninterest income increased $26.3 million, or 24.1 percent, for the three months ended December 31, 2013, compared to the same period in 2012. This increase is attributable to an increase in trust and securities processing income of $13.3 million, or 22.9 percent, for the three months ended December 31, 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. The increase in trust and securities processing income was primarily due to a $6.1 million, or 31.6 percent, increase in advisory fee income from the Scout Funds, a $4.7 million, or 25.7 percent, increase in fees related to institutional and personal investment management services, and a $2.1 million, or 11.6 percent, increase in fee income from fund administration and custody services. Equity earnings on alternative investments increased $14.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2013 primarily due to $13.0 million of unrealized gains on Prairie Capital Management equity method investments. These increases are offset by a decrease in trading and investment banking income of $2.1 million, or 32.8 percent, due to a general decline in trading volume.

Noninterest expense increased $12.5 million, or 7.9 percent, for the three months ended December 31, 2013, compared to the same period in 2012. This increase is primarily driven by higher salary and employee benefits expense of $5.6 million, or 6.7 percent. This increase is due to increases in salaries and wages of $2.7 million, or 5.3 percent, and a $2.3 million, or 12.9 percent, increase in commissions and bonuses. Processing fees increased $2.1 million, or 16.5 percent, due primarily to fees paid by the advisor to third-party distributors of the Scout Funds. Equipment expense increased $1.7 million, or 15.1 percent, driven by increased computer hardware and software expense. Other noninterest expense increased $3.3 million, or 28.7 percent, due to a $2.7 million increase in fair value adjustments on contingent consideration liabilities over the fourth quarter of 2012.

“In 2013, we continued to demonstrate the importance of our fee-based revenue to our successful business model,” said Peter deSilva, President and Chief Operating Officer. “Our strong fourth quarter results were driven by a 24.1 percent increase in noninterest income, led by our asset management and asset servicing businesses. Net inflows in our Institutional Investment Management segment were $5.3 billion for the year, driving assets under management to $31.2 billion at quarter end, an increase of 32.4 percent compared to a year ago. An increasingly valuable segment to our company, net income from Institutional Investment Management was 20.9 percent of the company’s earnings for the year. Total company assets under management increased 27.9 percent to $41.4 billion. Assets under administration in our Asset Servicing segment increased 22.4 percent to $191.0 billion at the end of 2013 compared to $156.0 billion at the end of 2012. In Healthcare Services, the number of health savings accounts increased 38.7 percent, bringing with them an increase of 49.2 percent in customer deposits and investment assets for the year. We are extremely pleased with the continued growth of this business. ”

Balance Sheet

Average total assets for the three months ended December 31, 2013 were $15.5 billion compared to $13.9 billion for the same period in 2012, an increase of $1.7 billion, or 11.9 percent. Average earning assets increased by $1.6 billion for the period, or 12.7 percent.

Average loan balances for the three months ended December 31, 2013 increased $1.0 billion, or 19.2 percent, to $6.5 billion compared to the same period in 2012. Actual gross loan balances on December 31, 2013 were $6.5 billion, an increase of $0.8 billion, or 14.7 percent, compared to December 31, 2012. This increase was primarily driven by an increase in commercial loans of $427.8 million, or 14.9 percent, and a $266.3 million, or 18.6 percent, increase in commercial real estate loans. Nonperforming loans increased to $30.7 million on December 31, 2013 from $28.1 million on December 31, 2012. As a percentage of loans, nonperforming loans decreased to 0.47 percent as of December 31, 2013, compared to 0.49 percent on December 31, 2012. The company’s allowance for loan losses totaled $74.8 million, or 1.15 percent of loans, as of December 31, 2013, compared to $71.4 million, or 1.26 percent of loans, as of December 31, 2012.

For the three months ended December 31, 2013, average securities, including trading securities, totaled $7.0 billion. This is an increase of $120.6 million, or 1.8 percent, from the same period in 2012.

Average total deposits increased $1.6 billion, or 14.6 percent, to $12.7 billion for the three months ended December 31, 2013, compared to the same period in 2012. Average noninterest-bearing demand deposits increased $191.6 million, or 4.1 percent, compared to 2012. Average interest-bearing deposits increased by $1.4 billion, or 22.5 percent, in 2013 as compared to 2012. Total actual deposits as of December 31, 2013 were $13.6 billion, compared to $11.7 billion as of December 31, 2012, a 17.1 percent increase. Also, as of December 31, 2013, noninterest-bearing demand deposits were 38.0 percent of total deposits, compared to 42.2 percent as of December 31, 2012.

As of December 31, 2013, UMB had total shareholders’ equity of $1.5 billion, which is a 17.7 percent increase as compared to the same period in 2012. On September 16, 2013, UMB completed the issuance of 3.9 million shares of common stock with net proceeds of $201.2 million. On October 17, 2013, an additional 585 thousand shares were issued with net proceeds of $30.2 million. The total increase in shareholder’s equity as a result of the common stock issuance was $231.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2013.

“At the end of 2013, our balance sheet was 13.3 percent larger than it was at the end of 2012, and the mix of earning assets changed slightly,” said Mike Hagedorn, Chief Financial Officer. “Net loans increased 14.8 percent while our securities portfolio decreased 2.5 percent, reflecting our strategy to rotate earning assets into loans and out of our investment portfolio. Our bias is toward shortening and shrinking the investment portfolio and putting more deposits to work in loans, positioning the balance sheet to capitalize on a rising interest rate environment.”

Year-to-Date

Earnings for the year ended December 31, 2013 were $134.0 million or $3.25 per share ($3.20 diluted). This is an increase of $11.2 million, or 9.2 percent, compared to the prior year-to-date earnings of $122.7 million or $3.07 per share ($3.04 diluted).

Net interest income for the year ended December 31, 2013 increased $13.2 million, or 4.1 percent, compared to the same period in 2012. Net interest margin decreased to 2.55 percent for the year ended December 31, 2013 as compared to 2.75 percent for the same period in 2012.

Noninterest income increased $33.7 million, or 7.4 percent, to $491.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 as compared to the same period in 2012. Trust and securities processing income increased $40.9 million, or 18.2 percent, for the year ended December 31, 2013, compared to the same period in 2012. The increase in trust and securities processing income was primarily due to a $21.5 million, or 29.9 percent, increase in advisory fee income from the Scout Funds, a $5.4 million, or 7.3 percent, increase in fee income from fund administration and custody services, and a $12.7 million, or 18.2 percent, increase in fees related to institutional and personal investment management services. Equity earnings on alternative investments increased $18.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 primarily due to $17.0 million of unrealized gains on Prairie Capital Management equity method investments. These increases are offset by decreases in trading and investment banking income, gains on sales of available for sale securities and other noninterest income. Trading and investment banking income decreased $9.7 million, or 32.0 percent, due to a general decline in trading volume. Gains of $8.5 million on securities available for sale were recognized during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to $20.2 million during the same period in 2012. Other noninterest income decreased $11.3 million primarily due to an $8.7 million reduction in contingent consideration liabilities on acquisitions recognized in 2012. These adjustments were due to the adoption of new accounting guidance in 2012 related to fair value measurements and changes in cash flow projections.

Noninterest expense increased $33.7 million, or 5.7 percent, for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. This increase is primarily driven by an increase of $19.8 million, or 6.2 percent, in salary and employee benefit expense, a $6.6 million, or 12.9 percent, increase in processing fees primarily driven by fees paid by the advisor to third-party distributors of the Scout Funds, and a $5.7 million, or 13.2 percent, increase in equipment expense driven by increased computer hardware and software expense. Other noninterest expense increased $3.7 million, or 11.4 percent, due to a $5.2 million increase in contingent consideration liabilities on acquisitions, offset by a $4.0 million decrease in derivatives expense.

Dividend Declaration

At the company’s quarterly board meeting, the Board of Directors declared a $0.225 quarterly cash dividend payable on April 1, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 10, 2014.

Conference Call

The company plans to host a conference call to discuss its 2013 fourth quarter and year-end earnings results on January 29, 2014, at 8:30 a.m. (CST).

Interested parties may access the call by dialing (toll-free) 800.762.8779 or (U.S.) 480.629.9645. The live call can also be accessed by visiting the investor relations area of umb.com or by using the following the link:

http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=736553&s=1&k=24850B35D935B3184BB90FE8F8BCDFD3

A replay of the conference call may be heard until Feb. 12, 2014, by calling (toll-free) 800.406.7325 or (U.S.) 303.590.3030. The replay pass code required for playback is conference identification number 4660496. The call replay may also be accessed via the company's website umb.com by visiting the investor relations area.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This release contains, and our other communications may contain, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. All forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, which may change over time and many of which are beyond our control. You should not rely on any forward-looking statement as a prediction or guarantee about the future. Our actual future objectives, strategies, plans, prospects, performance, condition, or results may differ materially from those set forth in any forward-looking statement. Some of the factors that may cause actual results or other future events, circumstances, or aspirations to differ from those in forward-looking statements are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K, or other applicable documents that are filed or furnished with the SEC. Any forward-looking statement made by us or on our behalf speaks only as of the date that it was made. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the impact of events, circumstances, or results that arise after the date that the statement was made. You, however, should consult further disclosures (including disclosures of a forward-looking nature) that we may make in any subsequent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, Current Report on Form 8-K, or other applicable document that is filed or furnished with the SEC.

About UMB:

UMB Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: UMBF) is a diversified financial holding company headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., offering complete banking services, payment solutions, asset servicing and institutional investment management to customers. UMB operates banking and wealth management centers throughout Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona and Texas. Subsidiaries of the holding company include companies that offer services to mutual funds and alternative-investment entities and registered investment advisors that offer equity and fixed income strategies to institutions and individual investors. For more information, visit umb.com, blog.umb.com or follow us on Twitter at @UMBBank, Facebook at facebook.com/UMBBank and LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/umb-bank.