SOUTH PLAINS FINANCIAL INC

Shareholders, Board of Directors, and Audit Committee

South Plains Financial, Inc.

Lubbock, Texas

Opinions on the Consolidated Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of South Plains Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss), changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). We have also audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework: (2013)issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2024, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework: (2013)issued by COSO.

Change in Accounting Principle

As discussed in Notes 1 and 3 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed its method of accounting for the allowance for credit losses effective January 1, 2023, due to the adoption of Accounting Standards Codification Topic 326.

Basis for Opinions

The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of theeffectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statementsand an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits.

We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States)(“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform theaudits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures include examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

Definitions and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of reliable financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Allowance for Credit Losses (ACL)

As of December 31, 2024, the Company’s loan portfolio totaled $3.1 billion and the related allowance for credit losses (ACL) on loans was $43.2 million. The Company calculates their ACL in accordance with Topic 326, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses. As described in Notes 1 and 3 to the Company’s consolidated financial statements, the Company applied a dual credit risk rating methodology that estimates each loan’s probability of default and loss given default to calculate the expected credit loss to non-analyzed loans. Qualitative adjustments are also made to ACL results for additional risk factors that are relevant in assessing the expected credit losses within each loan segment. Qualitative factor risk decisions consider concentrations of the loan portfolio, expected changes to the economic forecasts, large relationships, and other factors related to credit administration, such as borrower’s risk rating and the potential effect of delayed credit score migrations. Management quantifiably identifies segment percentage qualitative factor adjustments using a scorecard risk rating system scaled to historical loss experience within a segment and management’s perceived risk for that particular segment.

We identified the Company’s estimate of the ACL as a critical audit matter. The principal considerations for our determination of the critical audit matter includes the subjectivity and judgment involved in management’s determination of credit loss estimates and assumptions, specifically management’s determination of the delayed credit score migration qualitative factor adjustment and management’s determination of qualitative factor scorecard risk ratings assigned to each segment. Auditing these assumptions required an increased auditor effort and a high degree of auditor subjectivity and judgment.

The primary audit procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter included the following:

/s/Forvis Mazars, LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2022.

Houston, Texas

March 7, 2025

CONSOLIDATED