First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (FGBI): Marketing Mix Analysis [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking for the real story behind First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc.'s (FGBI) current market moves, past the usual press releases, and after twenty years analyzing financials, I can tell you their late-2025 strategy boils down to a sharp pivot: aggressively cutting risk while chasing efficiency. Honestly, the data shows this focus clearly: they consolidated branches in Q1 2025, are sitting on $3.4 billion in deposits as of September 30, 2025, and are managing a tight 68% loan-to-deposit ratio to keep funding costs low. This isn't just maintenance; it's a calculated, near-term play to preserve capital, and you need to see how it impacts every part of their business. Check out the detailed Product, Place, Promotion, and Price breakdown below to map out their exact path forward.

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (FGBI) - Marketing Mix: Product

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc., through First Guaranty Bank, offers a diversified range of commercial and retail banking services. The focus remains on relationship-driven services, emphasizing personalized service and local decision making across its markets in southeastern Louisiana and parts of eastern Texas, with an expanded footprint in central Florida.

The core deposit products First Guaranty Bank provides are designed to meet both personal and business needs. These include:

• Checking accounts.
• Savings accounts.
• Money market accounts.
• Certificates of deposit (CDs).

The lending portfolio is undergoing active risk mitigation, specifically targeting a reduction in commercial real estate secured loans throughout 2025. As of September 30, 2025, total loans stood at $2.3 billion, representing a reduction of $414.0 million, or 15.4%, from December 31, 2024 levels. This proactive reserving is evident in the allowance for credit losses, which rose to $85.7 million, or 3.76% of total loans, compared to 1.29% at year-end 2024. The bank also executed the sale of two commercial real estate loans totaling $70.0 million in the first quarter of 2025, booking a loss of $5.8 million on that sale to mitigate credit risk.

Specific credit exposures related to commercial leases are detailed below, reflecting the concentrated risk management efforts:

Ancillary services are offered to enhance the customer relationship and operational support for businesses. These include:

• Cash management services.
• Treasury services.
• Merchant card processing.

Customer convenience is supported by digital offerings, specifically First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc.'s online and mobile banking platforms. The bank's total assets as of September 30, 2025, were $3.8 billion, with total deposits at $3.4 billion. The noninterest expense for the third quarter of 2025 was $30.2 million, which included a $12.9 million goodwill impairment charge.

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (FGBI) - Marketing Mix: Place

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (FGBI) maintains its physical distribution network across a four-state area of operation.

The physical footprint as of late 2024 included 31 locations across Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The breakdown of these 31 locations as of December 31, 2024, included 5 locations in Texas and 1 location each in Kentucky and West Virginia.

The distribution strategy relies on a physical presence anchored by community branches, supplemented by technology like Interactive Teller Machines (ITMs). The core market remains anchored by the corporate headquarters located in Hammond, Louisiana.

The physical network underwent streamlining in the first quarter of 2025. First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. reported that in Q1 2025, the company closed three branches and consolidated two existing branches into one location in Louisiana. This action suggests a reduction of 4 physical sites from the 31 locations reported at the end of 2024, resulting in a post-Q1 2025 network of 27 locations, assuming the consolidation reduced the count by one site.

Further evidence of physical asset management occurred in the third quarter of 2025. First Guaranty also transferred $4.4 million of existing bank-owned properties previously used as either operating branches or future branch development to other real estate owned (REO) in Q3 2025.

The distribution model incorporates digital channels to serve customers outside the physical branch footprint.

The physical distribution network is characterized by the following geographic spread:

• Headquarters Location: Hammond, Louisiana
• States Served: Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, and West Virginia
• Branch Consolidation Location: Louisiana
• Distribution Mix Components: Community branches and Interactive Teller Machines (ITMs)

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (FGBI) - Marketing Mix: Promotion

Strategy emphasizes personalized service and local decision-making over mass-market campaigns.

The shift in business strategy, which includes utilizing automation and technological advances, anticipates a reduction in noninterest expense of approximately $12.0 million pre-tax on an annual basis, which includes staff reductions. Full time equivalent employees totaled 339 at September 30, 2025, down from 495 at June 30, 2024. The staff reduction totaled 71 positions, representing approximately 15% of the bank's workforce as of July 24, 2024. The quarterly cash dividend anticipated for the third and fourth quarters of 2024 was $0.08 per share. The cash dividend declared in the fourth quarter of 2024 was $0.01 per common share.

Utilizes marketing automation for 26 targeted campaigns, including automated onboarding.

Noninterest expense was $30.2 million for the third quarter of 2025, which included $12.9 million of goodwill impairment. Noninterest expense was $17.3 million for the second quarter of 2025 and $18.0 million for the first quarter of 2025.

Runs 'Good Manners Campaigns' to strengthen customer relationships through appreciation communications.

First Guaranty Bank developed (6) financial wellness seminars as part of its FGB Financial Foundations mission.

Uses conversational analytics to target customers for new products like First Access and Savings Elite.

The FGB SavingsELITE account requires a daily minimum balance of $25,000.00 to receive the advertised Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of 3.05% (accurate as of 09/23/2024). If the balance is below $25,000.00, the APY drops to 0.05%. The Savings Account has a withdrawal fee of $2 per transaction over three complimentary transactions each month.

Expense reduction plans target approximately $3.0 million in pre-tax savings per quarter for 2025, limiting promotional spend.

The anticipated pre-tax savings from the business strategy change is approximately $3.0 million per quarter for 2025. The anticipated pre-tax savings on an annual basis from the strategy change is approximately $12.0 million. Return on average assets for the three months ended September 30, 2025, was (4.61)%.

• Full time equivalent employees at September 30, 2025: 339
• Full time equivalent employees at June 30, 2025: 360
• Full time equivalent employees at March 31, 2025: 380
• Noninterest expense for Q3 2025: $30.2 million
• Noninterest expense for Q2 2025: $17.3 million

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (FGBI) - Marketing Mix: Price

You're looking at the pricing structure for First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (FGBI), which is heavily influenced by its funding base and capital preservation efforts as of late 2025. The cost of funds directly impacts the pricing you can offer on loans and services.

Total deposits of $3.4 billion at September 30, 2025, provide a lower-cost funding base. This figure represents a decrease from the $3.5 billion in total deposits reported at December 31, 2024. The bank's strategy has clearly shifted toward managing this funding mix to maintain competitive pricing on the liability side.

The loan-to-deposit ratio dropped sharply to 68%, positioning the bank to fund future loan growth cheaply. This is a significant reduction from a ratio of 92% just over a year prior. Furthermore, loans as a percentage of average interest earning assets stood at 65.1% as of September 30, 2025, down from 80.0% at the same point in 2024.

To reflect the focus on capital preservation amid credit challenges, the common stock dividend was reduced to $0.01 per share in Q2 and Q3 2025 to preserve capital. The Q3 2024 dividend was $0.08 per share. For context on shareholder returns, the annual dividend is currently listed at $0.04 per share with a yield of 0.84% based on the September 23, 2025 ex-dividend date.

The pricing for specific customer services reflects current operational costs. The Overdraft (OD) Paid Item/NSF Return Item Charge is set at $38.00 per item for personal/consumer accounts. However, there's a de minimis exception: the OD/NSF fee amount is $0.00 when the transaction amount is less than $5.00. Also, the Overdraft Protection Service Fee, for the Courtesy Sweep, is $2.00 per month.

The pressure on funding costs is visible in the Net Interest Margin (NIM). The Net interest margin (NIM) for Q4 2024 was 2.32%, reflecting pressure from rising funding costs. By the third quarter of 2025, the NIM was 2.34%, a decrease from 2.51% in Q3 2024.

Here's a quick look at how key balance sheet and margin metrics relate to pricing strategy as of late 2025:

You should also note the specific fee structure for consumer account management:

• Overdraft (OD) Paid Item/NSF Return Item Charge: $38.00 per item.
• Maximum OD/NSF Charges per day: six (6) items.
• Courtesy Sweep Overdraft Protection Fee: $2.00 per month.
• Stop Payment (request or renewal) Fee: $38.00.

The dividend policy is a direct pricing decision affecting shareholder capital. The common stock dividend for Q3 2025 was $0.01 per share, compared to $0.08 per share in Q3 2024.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.