Southern Missouri Bancorp Inc 's

The Bank faces strong competition in attracting deposits (its primary source of lendable funds) and originating loans. At June 30, 2015, the Bank was one of 29 bank or saving association groups located in its southeast and south-central Missouri market area, one of 21 bank or saving association groups located in its northeast and north-central Arkansas market area (four of these overlap with the southeast and south-central Missouri market area), and one of 40 bank or savings association groups located in its southwest Missouri markets (twelve of these overlap with the Arkansas or other Missouri market areas).

Competitors for deposits include commercial banks, credit unions, money market funds, and other investment alternatives, such as mutual funds, full service and discount broker-dealers, equity markets, brokerage accounts and government securities. The Banks competition for loans comes principally from other financial institutions, mortgage banking companies, mortgage brokers and life insurance companies. The Bank expects competition to continue to increase in the future as a result of legislative, regulatory and technological changes within the financial services industry. Technological advances, for example, have lowered barriers to market entry, allowed banks to expand their geographic reach by providing services over the Internet and made it possible for non-depository institutions to offer products and services that traditionally have been provided by banks. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which permits affiliation among banks, securities firms and insurance companies, also has changed the competitive environment in which the Bank conducts business.