UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

FORM 10-K

For Annual and Transition Reports Pursuant to Sections 13 or 15(d)
of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934

þ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004

OR

o TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Transition Period from ____________ to ____________

Commission File No: 000-31225

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc.

The Commerce Center, 211 Commerce Street, Suite 300, Nashville, Tennessee 37201
(Address of principal executive offices)

(615) 744-3700
(Issuer’s telephone number)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12 (b) of the Exchange Act: NONE

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act: COMMON STOCK, PAR VALUE $1.00

Indicate by check mark where the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No o

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2). Yes þ No o

State the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average bid and asked price of such common equity as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter: $115,345,000 as of June 30, 2004.

APPLICABLE ONLY TO CORPORATE REGISTRANTS

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date: 8,389,232 shares of common stock as of February 15, 2005.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, scheduled to be held April 19, 2005, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (“Pinnacle Financial”) may from time to time make written or oral statements, including statements contained in this report which may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). The words “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “consider”, “plan”, “believe”, “seek”, “should”, “estimate”, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but other statements may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements should be considered subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are made based upon management’s belief as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Pinnacle Financial’s actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors. Such factors are described below and include, without limitation, (i) unanticipated deterioration in the financial condition of borrowers resulting in significant increases in loan losses and provisions for those losses, (ii) increased competition with other financial institutions, (iii) lack of sustained growth in the economy in the Nashville, Tennessee area, (iv) rapid fluctuations or unanticipated changes in interest rates, (v) the inability of our bank subsidiary, Pinnacle National Bank — to satisfy regulatory requirements for its expansion plans, and (vi) changes in the legislative and regulatory environment, including compliance with the various provisions of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. Many of such factors are beyond Pinnacle Financial’s ability to control or predict, and readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Pinnacle Financial does not intend to update or reissue any forward-looking statements contained in this report as a result of new information or other circumstances that may become known to Pinnacle Financial. Forward-looking statements made by us in this report are also subject to those risks identified within the section entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 16.

PART I

Unless this Form 10-K indicates otherwise or the context otherwise requires, the terms “we,” “our,” “us,” “Pinnacle Financial Partners” or “Pinnacle Financial” as used herein refer to Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. and its subsidiary Pinnacle National Bank, which we sometimes refer to as “Pinnacle National,” “our bank subsidiary” or “our bank” and its other subsidiaries. References herein to the fiscal years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 mean our fiscal years ended December 31, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 respectively.

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

OVERVIEW

Pinnacle Financial is a Tennessee corporation that was incorporated on February 28, 2000 to organize and serve as the holding company for Pinnacle National, a national bank chartered under the laws of the United States. Pinnacle National commenced its banking operations on October 27, 2000, and operates as a community bank in an urban market emphasizing personalized banking relationships with individuals and businesses located within the Nashville metropolitan statistical area (MSA). We own 100% of the capital stock of Pinnacle National.

PFP Title Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pinnacle National. PFP Title Company sells title insurance policies to Pinnacle National customers and others. PNFP Holdings, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PFP Title Company and is the parent of PNFP Properties, Inc., which was established as a Real Estate Investment Trust pursuant to Internal Revenue Service regulations. Pinnacle Community Development, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pinnacle National and is certified as a Community Development Entity by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund of the United States Department of the Treasury. The primary mission of Pinnacle Community Development, Inc., is serving, or providing investment capital for, low-income communities or low-income persons. PNFP Statutory Trust I, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Financial, was created for the exclusive purpose of issuing capital trust preferred securities. Pinnacle Advisory Services, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Financial, was established as a registered investment advisor pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Pinnacle Credit Enhancement Holdings, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Financial, was established as a holding company to own a 24.5% membership interest in Collateral Plus, LLC. Collateral Plus, LLC serves as an intermediary between investors and borrowers in certain financial transactions whereby the borrowers require enhanced collateral in the form of letters of credit issued by the investors for the benefit of banks and other financial institutions.

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FDIC information as of September 30, 2004, reflects that there are 179 commercial banks which are currently active and were also chartered in the United States in 2000, excluding those institutions that appear to have transferred an existing charter to a new charter. Based on this information, Pinnacle National was the largest and fastest growing of these banks in terms of total assets. We believe that one of the principal factors contributing to our rapid growth thus far has been our ability to effectively position ourselves as a locally managed community bank committed to providing outstanding service and trusted financial advice.

Opportunity. We believe there are three major trends in the Nashville MSA that strengthen our strategic market position as a locally managed community bank:

•

Customers generally perceive that service levels at banks are declining. We believe this is largely attributable to integration issues resulting from consolidation in the bank and brokerage industries. Additionally, small business owners want a reliable point of contact that is knowledgeable about their business and the financial products and services that are important to the success of their business. In fact, Nashville is dominated by three large regional bank holding companies, all of whom are experiencing declining market share trends over the last six years.

•

Client usage of more sophisticated financial products continues to grow, causing traditional banks to lose market share to other types of financial services companies, such as mutual fund companies and securities brokerage firms.

•

There is significant growth in the demand for convenient access to financial services, particularly through ATMs, telephone banking and Internet banking.

We believe that our primary market segments, which are small businesses with annual sales from $1 million to $50 million and affluent households with investable assets over $250,000, are more likely to be disaffected by the banking industry’s perceived decline in customer service and lack of financial product sophistication. To overcome these customer perceptions and attract business from these market segments, we seek to hire only seasoned professionals, from both the banking and brokerage industries, and strategically designed our banking, investment and insurance products to meet the expected needs of our targeted market segments. As an example, we consider our consumer brokerage and corporate treasury management products to be at least at parity with the large regional banks that dominate our target segment in the Nashville market. Accordingly, our marketing philosophy is centered on delivering exceptional service and effective financial advice through highly trained personnel who understand and care about the broad financial needs and objectives of our clients.

Business Strategies. To carry out our marketing philosophy, our specific business strategies have been and will continue to be:

•

Hire and retain highly experienced and qualified banking and financial professionals with successful track records and, for client contact personnel, established books of business with small businesses and affluent households within the Nashville MSA. Since inception, we have attracted 126 associates to our firm, including 32 during 2004. Substantially all of these associates have been employed in similar positions in the Nashville MSA for at least 10 years. Many of our senior customer contact personnel have in excess of 20 years experience in Nashville. We have also been successful in maintaining an annual retention ratio of our personnel of approximately 98% at December 31, 2004. We believe we will continue to experience success in attracting new associates and retaining associates to our firm.

•

Provide individualized attention with consistent, local decision-making authority.

•

Offer a full line of financial services to include traditional depository and credit products, as well as, sophisticated investment and insurance products. As of December 31, 2004, Pinnacle National’s brokerage division, Pinnacle Asset Management, had accumulated approximately $398 million in brokerage assets.

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•

Capitalize on customer dissatisfaction that we believe exists and that has been caused by what we believe to be our competitors’ less than satisfactory response to the financial needs of today’s sophisticated consumers and small- to medium-sized businesses. Since we began our company, we have historically surveyed our customers on numerous matters related to their relationship with us. Consistently, these surveys indicate that our service quality is significantly better than their prior banking relationships.

•

Build on our directors’ and officers’ diverse personal and business contacts, community involvement and professional expertise.

•

Establish a distribution strategy designed to prudently expand our physical and virtual market presence, thereby providing convenient banking access for our clients 24 hours a day. We opened two new offices in 2004 and intend to open two more offices in 2005. Our courier deposit pickup service consistently receives high marks from our small business customers. We now have approximately 49% of our commercial clients utilizing our Internet banking product which we believe to be well over the industry averages.

•

Use technology and strategic alliances, including those established through Pinnacle Asset Management to provide a broad array of sophisticated and convenient products and services.

We believe that our business strategies allow us to effectively distinguish ourselves from other financial institutions operating within the Nashville MSA and successfully attract and retain business relationships with small businesses and affluent households.

Market Area. Pinnacle National’s primary service area, which comprises the Nashville metropolitan statistical area, includes Davidson County and thirteen surrounding counties. This area represents a geographic area that covers approximately 4,000 square miles and a population in excess of 1.3 million people. For Pinnacle National, we concentrate our market efforts on the Davidson, Williamson, Sumner and Rutherford counties.

The economic success of Pinnacle National’s primary service area depends heavily upon the economic viability of the metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee area. Nashville is the capital of Tennessee and a city that we believe is an important transportation, business and tourism center within the United States. Additionally, the metropolitan Nashville area has attracted a number of significant business relocations resulting in an expansion of its labor force into many different industry sectors. In January of 2005, “Expansion Management” magazine noted that Nashville ranked first among cities in the nation for companies that are looking to expand or relocate.

Our primary service area’s economic strength comes from its large employer base, which includes several large enterprises such as Vanderbilt University and Medical Center, HCA Inc., Saturn Corporation and Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corporation USA. Additionally, according to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the regional economy has outperformed the state and national economies during the most recent time periods and continues to benefit from low unemployment, consistent job growth, substantial outside investment and expansion and a well trained and growing labor force. We anticipate that these factors will continue to cause more businesses to relocate to, or start operations in, the Nashville MSA and, in turn, will increase the demand for depository and lending services within our market at a pace faster than national averages.

Pinnacle National’s main office is located in Nashville’s central business district in downtown Nashville. The downtown market consists of a variety of commercial establishments and entertainment venues. We believe that the downtown area is an important location for financial institutions requiring visibility within Nashville’s prominent commercial and private banking markets. Accordingly, we believe that this location is well suited for our bank’s business development efforts. According to FDIC data, the trade areas in which the existing seven offices are located account for 66.8% of the deposits in the entire fourteen county MSA.

In November 2000, Pinnacle National opened a branch office in Brentwood in Williamson County. In September 2001, Pinnacle National opened a second branch office in the Green Hills area of Nashville. Pinnacle National opened a third branch office in the Rivergate area of Davidson County in April of 2003 and a fourth branch office in the Cool Springs area of Williamson County in October of 2003. In September 2004, Pinnacle National opened its fifth branch office in the West End area of Nashville. Pinnacle National also opened its sixth branch office in

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Franklin, Tennessee, which is the county seat of Williamson County in January of 2005. Pinnacle National intends to open two additional branch offices in the Nashville MSA in 2005, one of which is expected to be in Hendersonville, Tennessee in Sumner County and the second is expected to be located in the Rutherford County area of the Nashville MSA. Management believes these additional offices will continue to strengthen Pinnacle National’s market presence, allowing it to grow its customer base more rapidly.

Competition. According to FDIC data, bank and thrift deposits in the Nashville MSA grew from approximately $13.7 billion at June 1995 to more than $23.1 billion at June 2004. As of June 30, 2004, approximately 76% of this deposit base was controlled by large, multi-state banks headquartered outside of Nashville, which included AmSouth (headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama), Bank of America (headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina), USBancorp (headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), SunTrust (headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia) and Regions Financial Corporation (headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama). According to FDIC deposit information, the collective market share of deposits in the Nashville MSA of AmSouth (including the acquired First American National Bank), Bank of America and SunTrust declined from 58.8% to 52.0% during the nine years ended June 30, 2004. Consequently, while large, multi-state institutions are well established in our market area, we believe the general trends indicate that a majority of the community banks in the Nashville MSA have been able to increase their deposit market share in recent years at the expense of these larger, multi-state banks.

We also believe that Pinnacle National’s status as a community bank will not be enough to compete in today’s financial industry. In the wake of modern technology and the prosperity of the United States’ financial markets over the past decade, banking clients have generally become more sophisticated in their approach to selecting financial services providers. We believe that the most important criteria to our bank’s targeted clients when selecting a bank is their desire to receive exceptional and personal customer service while being able to enjoy convenient access to a broad array of sophisticated financial products. Additionally, when presented with a choice, we believe that many of our bank’s targeted clients would prefer to deal with a locally-owned institution headquartered in Nashville, like Pinnacle National, as opposed to a large, multi-state bank, where many important decisions regarding a client’s financial affairs are made elsewhere.

Lending Services

Pinnacle National offers a full range of lending products, including commercial, real estate and consumer loans to individuals and small-to medium-sized businesses and professional entities. It competes for these loans with competitors who are well established in the Nashville MSA.

Pinnacle National’s loan approval policies provide for various levels of officer lending authority. When the amount of total loans to a single borrower exceeds that individual officer’s lending authority, officers with a higher lending limit, Pinnacle National’s board of directors or the executive committee of the board will determine whether to approve the loan request.

Pinnacle National’s lending activities are subject to a variety of lending limits imposed by federal law. Differing limits apply based on the type of loan or the nature of the borrower, including the borrower’s relationship to Pinnacle National. In general, however, at December 31, 2004, Pinnacle National is able to loan any one borrower a maximum amount equal to approximately $9.6 million plus an additional $6.3 million, or a total of approximately $15.9 million, for loans that meet certain additional federal collateral guidelines. These legal limits will increase or decrease as Pinnacle National’s capital increases or decreases as a result of its earnings or losses, the injection of additional capital or other reasons. In addition to these regulatory limits, Pinnacle National imposes upon itself an internal lending limit of $5 million, which is less than the prescribed legal lending limit, thus further reducing its exposure to any single borrower.

The principal economic risk associated with each category of loans that Pinnacle National expects to make is the creditworthiness of the borrower. General economic factors affecting a commercial or consumer borrower’s ability to repay include interest, inflation and employment rates, as well as other factors affecting a borrower’s assets, clients, suppliers and employees. Many of Pinnacle National’s commercial loans are made to small- to medium-sized businesses that are sometimes less able to withstand competitive, economic and financial pressures than larger borrowers. During periods of economic weakness, these businesses may be more adversely affected than larger

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enterprises, and may cause increased levels of nonaccrual or other problem loans, loan charge-offs and higher provision for loan losses.

Pinnacle National’s commercial clients borrow for a variety of purposes. The terms of these loans will vary by purpose and by type of any underlying collateral and include equipment loans and working capital loans. Commercial loans may be unsecured or secured by accounts receivable or by other business assets. Pinnacle National also makes a variety of commercial real estate loans, residential real estate loans and real estate construction and development loans.

Pinnacle National also makes a variety of loans to individuals for personal, family, investment and household purposes, including secured and unsecured installment and term loans, residential first mortgage loans, home equity loans and home equity lines of credit.

Investment Securities

In addition to loans, Pinnacle National has other investments primarily in obligations of the United States government, obligations guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States government and other securities. No investment in any of those instruments exceeds any applicable limitation imposed by law or regulation. The executive committee of the board of directors reviews the investment portfolio on an ongoing basis in order to ensure that the investments conform to Pinnacle National’s asset liability management policy as set by the board of directors.

Asset and Liability Management

Our Asset Liability Management Committee (“ALCO”), composed of senior managers of Pinnacle National, manages Pinnacle National’s assets and liabilities and strives to provide a stable, optimized net interest income and margin, adequate liquidity and ultimately a suitable after-tax return on assets and return on equity. ALCO conducts these management functions within the framework of written policies that Pinnacle National’s board of directors has adopted. ALCO works to maintain a balanced position between rate sensitive assets and rate sensitive liabilities.

Additionally, we may use derivative financial instruments to improve the balance between interest-sensitive assets and interest-sensitive liabilities. We may use derivatives as one tool to manage our interest rate sensitivity while continuing to meet the credit and deposit needs of our customers. At December 31, 2004 and 2003, we had not entered into any derivative contracts to assist managing our interest rate sensitivity.

Deposit Services

Pinnacle National seeks to establish a broad base of core deposits, including savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, money market and certificate of deposit accounts. To attract deposits, Pinnacle National has employed a marketing plan in its overall service area and features a broad product line and competitive rates and services. The primary sources of deposits are residents of, and businesses and their employees located in the Nashville MSA. Pinnacle National generally obtains these deposits through personal solicitation by its officers and directors.

Investment Services

Pinnacle National contracts with Raymond James Financial Service, Inc. (“RJFS”), a registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, to offer and sell various securities and other financial products to the public from Pinnacle National’s locations through Pinnacle National employees that are also RJFS employees. RJFS is a subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, Inc. Prior to the alliance with RJFS, Pinnacle National entered into a similar arrangement in 2000 with LM Financial Partners, or LMFP, an affiliate of Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc., the principal broker-dealer subsidiary of Legg Mason, Inc. During 2002, RJFS acquired LMFP from Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc.

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Pinnacle National offers, through RJFS, non-FDIC insured investment products in order to assist Pinnacle National’s clients in achieving their financial objectives consistent with their risk tolerances. Pinnacle National’s suite of investment products include:

All of the financial products listed above are offered by RJFS from Pinnacle National’s main office and its other offices. Additionally, we believe that the brokerage and investment advisory program offered by RJFS complements Pinnacle National’s general banking business, and further supports its business philosophy and strategy of delivering to our clients those products and services that meet their financial needs. In addition to the compliance monitoring provided by RJFS, Pinnacle National has developed its own compliance-monitoring program to further ensure that Pinnacle National personnel deliver these products in a manner consistent with the various regulations governing such activities.

Pinnacle National receives a minimum lease payment each month for each leased area, plus a percentage of commission credits and fees generated by the program. Pinnacle National remains responsible for various expenses associated with the program, including promotional expenses, furnishings and equipment expenses for the leased areas, and general personnel costs.

Pinnacle Financial recently established Pinnacle Advisory Services, Inc., a registered investment advisor, to provide financial planning services to its clients.

Other Banking Services

Given client demand for increased convenience in accessing banking and investment services, Pinnacle National also offers a broad array of convenience-centered products and services, including 24 hour telephone and Internet banking, debit cards, direct deposit and cash management services for small- to medium-sized businesses. Additionally, Pinnacle National is associated with a nationwide network of automated teller machines of other financial institutions that our clients are able to use throughout Tennessee and other regions. In most cases, Pinnacle National, in contrast to its competitors, reimburses its clients for any fees that may be charged to the client for utilizing the nationwide ATM network which enables us to demonstrate greater convenience as compared to these competitors. Pinnacle National does not plan to exercise trust powers during its initial years of operation, but may do so in the future subject to the approval of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Pinnacle National also offers its targeted commercial clients a courier service which picks up non-cash deposits from the client’s place of business which also enables us to demonstrate convenience greater than most of the larger regional competitors. Pinnacle National provides this service through a third party that is approved by the State of Tennessee Public Service Commission for bank-related work.

Employees

At February 15, 2005, Pinnacle National employed 126 employees of which 124 were full time. Pinnacle National considers its relationship with all employees to be excellent. Additionally, during 2004, Pinnacle Financial was named by the Nashville Business Journal as the “Best Place to Work in Nashville” among Middle Tennessee’s large companies with more than 100 employees. This is the second consecutive year for Pinnacle to receive top honors in the annual awards program.

We are also one of a relatively small number of financial firms in the country that provide stock options for all associates in a broad-based stock option plan. We believe this broad-based stock option plan directly aligns our employee base with our shareholders, and that our associates have become even more engaged toward the creation of shareholder value over the intermediate- and long-terms. Information concerning these plans are included in the

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“Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”.

Additionally, all of our non-commission based employees participate in an annual cash incentive plan whereby they receive a certain percentage of their salary should the firm meet certain soundness and performance targets for the year. Information concerning this plan is included in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”.

Available Information

We file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. We are an electronic filer, and the SEC maintains an Internet site at http://www.sec.gov that contains the reports, proxy and information statements, and other information filed electronically. Our website address is www.pnfp.com. Please note that our website address is provided as an inactive textual reference only. We make available free of charge through our website, the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The information provided on our website is not part of this report, and is therefore not incorporated by reference unless such information is otherwise specifically referenced elsewhere in this report.

We have posted our Corporate Governance Guidelines, our Corporate Code of Conduct for directors, officers and employees, and the charters of our Audit and Human Resources, Nominating and Compensation Committees of our board of directors on the Corporate Governance section of our website at www.pnfp.com. Our corporate governance materials are available free of charge upon request to our Corporate Secretary, Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc., 211 Commerce Street, Suite 300, Nashville, Tennessee 37201.

SUPERVISION AND REGULATION

Both Pinnacle Financial and Pinnacle National are subject to extensive state and federal banking laws and regulations that impose restrictions on and provide for general regulatory oversight of Pinnacle Financial’s and Pinnacle National’s operations. These laws and regulations are generally intended to protect depositors and not shareholders. The following discussion describes the material elements of the regulatory framework which apply.

Pinnacle Financial

We are a bank holding company under the federal Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. As a result, we are subject to the supervision, examination, and reporting requirements of the Bank Holding Company Act and the regulations of the Federal Reserve.

Acquisition of Banks. The Bank Holding Company Act requires every bank holding company to obtain the Federal Reserve’s prior approval before:

•

Acquiring direct or indirect ownership or control of any voting shares of any bank if, after the acquisition, the bank holding company will directly or indirectly own or control more than 5% of the bank’s voting shares;

•

Acquiring all or substantially all of the assets of any bank; or

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Merging or consolidating with any other bank holding company.

Additionally, the Bank Holding Company Act provides that the Federal Reserve may not approve any of these transactions if it would substantially lessen competition or otherwise function as a restraint of trade, or result in or

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tend to create a monopoly, unless the anticompetitive effects of the proposed transaction are clearly outweighed by the public interest in meeting the convenience and needs of the communities to be served. The Federal Reserve is also required to consider the financial and managerial resources and future prospects of the bank holding companies and banks concerned and the convenience and needs of the communities to be served. The Federal Reserve’s consideration of financial resources generally focuses on capital adequacy, which is discussed below.

Under the Bank Holding Company Act, if adequately capitalized and adequately managed, we or any other bank holding company located in Tennessee may purchase a bank located outside of Tennessee. Conversely, an adequately capitalized and adequately managed bank holding company located outside of Tennessee may purchase a bank located inside Tennessee. In each case, however, state law restrictions may be placed on the acquisition of a bank that has only been in existence for a limited amount of time or will result in specified concentrations of deposits. For example, Tennessee law currently prohibits a bank holding company from acquiring control of a Tennessee-based financial institution until the target financial institution has been in operation for three years.

Change in Bank Control. Subject to various exceptions, the Bank Holding Company Act and the Federal Change in Bank Control Act, together with related regulations, require Federal Reserve approval prior to any person or company acquiring “control” of a bank holding company. Control is conclusively presumed to exist if an individual or company acquires 25% or more of any class of voting securities of the bank holding company. Control is rebuttably presumed to exist if a person or company acquires 10% or more, but less than 25%, of any class of voting securities and either:

•

The bank holding company has registered securities under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; or

•

No other person owns a greater percentage of that class of voting securities immediately after the transaction.

Our common stock is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The regulations provide a procedure for challenge of the rebuttable control presumption.

Permitted Activities. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 amends the Bank Holding Company Act and expands the activities in which bank holding companies and affiliates of banks are permitted to engage. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act eliminates many federal and state law barriers to affiliations among banks and securities firms, insurance companies, and other financial service providers. Generally, if we qualify and elect to become a financial holding company, which is described below, we may engage in activities that are:

•

Financial in nature;

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Incidental to a financial activity; or

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Complementary to a financial activity and do not pose a substantial risk to the safety or soundness of depository institutions or the financial system generally.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act expressly lists the following activities as financial in nature:

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Lending, trust and other banking activities;

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Insuring, guaranteeing, or indemnifying against loss or harm, or providing and issuing annuities, and acting as principal, agent, or broker for these purposes, in any state;

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Providing financial, investment, or advisory services;

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Issuing or selling instruments representing interests in pools of assets permissible for a bank to hold directly;

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•

Underwriting, dealing in or making a market in securities;

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Activities that the Federal Reserve has determined to be so closely related to banking or managing or controlling banks as to be a proper incident to banking or managing or controlling banks;

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Activities permitted outside of the United States that the Federal Reserve has determined to be usual in connection with banking or other financial operations abroad;

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Merchant banking through securities or insurance affiliates; and

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Insurance company portfolio investments.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act also authorizes the Federal Reserve, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, to determine activities in addition to those listed above that are financial in nature or incidental to such financial activity. In determining whether a particular activity is financial in nature or incidental or complementary to a financial activity, the Federal Reserve must consider (1) the purpose of the Bank Holding Company and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Acts, (2) changes or reasonably expected changes in the marketplace in which financial holding companies compete and in the technology for delivering financial services, and (3) whether the activity is necessary or appropriate to allow financial holding companies to effectively compete with other financial service providers and to efficiently deliver information and services.

To qualify to become a financial holding company, any of our depository institution subsidiaries must be well capitalized and well managed and must have a Community Reinvestment Act rating of at least “satisfactory.” Additionally, we must file an election with the Federal Reserve to become a financial holding company and provide the Federal Reserve with 30 days written notice prior to engaging in a permitted financial activity. Although we do not have any immediate plans to file an election with the Federal Reserve to become a financial holding company, one of the primary reasons we selected the holding company structure was to have increased flexibility. Accordingly, if deemed appropriate in the future, we may seek to become a financial holding company.

Under the Bank Holding Company Act, a bank holding company, which has not qualified or elected to become a financial holding company, is generally prohibited from engaging in or acquiring direct or indirect control of more than 5% of the voting shares of any company engaged in nonbanking activities unless, prior to the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Federal Reserve found those activities to be so closely related to banking as to be a proper incident to the business of banking. Activities that the Federal Reserve has found to be so closely related to banking as to be a proper incident to the business of banking include:

	•	Factoring accounts receivable;
	•	Acquiring or servicing loans;
	•	Leasing personal property;
	•	Conducting discount securities brokerage activities;
	•	Performing selected data processing services;
	•	Acting as agent or broker in selling credit life insurance and other types of insurance in connection with credit transactions; and
	•	Performing selected insurance underwriting activities.

Despite prior approval, the Federal Reserve may order a bank holding company or its subsidiaries to terminate any of these activities or to terminate its ownership or control of any subsidiary when it has reasonable cause to believe

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that the bank holding company’s continued ownership, activity or control constitutes a serious risk to the financial safety, soundness, or stability of any of its bank subsidiaries.

Support of Subsidiary Institutions. Under Federal Reserve policy, we are expected to act as a source of financial strength for our subsidiary, Pinnacle National, and to commit resources to support Pinnacle National. This support may be required at times when, without this Federal Reserve policy, we might not be inclined to provide it. In the unlikely event of our bankruptcy, any commitment by us to a federal bank regulatory agency to maintain the capital of Pinnacle National would be assumed by the bankruptcy trustee and entitled to a priority of payment.

Pinnacle National

Pinnacle National is a national bank chartered under the federal National Bank Act. As a result, it is subject to the supervision, examination and reporting requirements of the National Bank Act and the regulations of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”). The OCC regularly examines Pinnacle National’s operations and has the authority to approve or disapprove mergers, the establishment of branches and similar corporate actions. The OCC also has the power to prevent the continuance or development of unsafe or unsound banking practices or other violations of law. Additionally, Pinnacle National’s deposits are insured by the FDIC to the maximum extent provided by law. Pinnacle National also is subject to numerous state and federal statutes and regulations that will affect its business, activities and operations.

Branching. While the OCC has authority to approve branch applications, national banks are required by the National Bank Act to adhere to branching laws applicable to state chartered banks in the states in which they are located. With prior regulatory approval, Tennessee law permits banks based in the state to either establish new or acquire existing branch offices throughout Tennessee. Pinnacle National and any other national or state-chartered bank generally may branch across state lines by merging with banks in other states if allowed by the applicable states’ laws. Tennessee law, with limited exceptions, currently permits branching across state lines either through interstate merger or branch acquisition. Tennessee, however only permits an out-of-state bank, short of an interstate merger, to branch into Tennessee through branch acquisition if the state of the out-of-state bank permits Tennessee based banks to acquire branches there.

FDIC Insurance. The FDIC has adopted a risk-based assessment system for insured depository institutions that takes into account the risks attributable to different categories and concentrations of assets and liabilities. The system assigns an institution to one of three capital categories: (1) well capitalized; (2) adequately capitalized; and (3) undercapitalized. These three categories are substantially similar to the prompt corrective action categories described below, with the “undercapitalized” category including institutions that are undercapitalized, significantly undercapitalized, and critically undercapitalized for prompt corrective action purposes. The FDIC also assigns an institution to one of three supervisory subgroups based on a supervisory evaluation that the institution’s primary federal regulator provides to the FDIC and information that the FDIC determines to be relevant to the institution’s financial condition and the risk posed to the deposit insurance funds.

The FDIC may terminate its insurance of deposits if it finds that the institution has engaged in unsafe and unsound practices, is in an unsafe or unsound condition to continue operations, or has violated any applicable law, regulation, rule, order or condition imposed by the FDIC.

Capital Adequacy

Both Pinnacle Financial and Pinnacle National are required to comply with the capital adequacy standards established by the Federal Reserve, in our case, and the OCC, in the case of Pinnacle National. The Federal Reserve has established a risk-based and a leverage measure of capital adequacy for bank holding companies. Pinnacle National is also subject to risk-based and leverage capital requirements adopted by the OCC, which are substantially similar to those adopted by the Federal Reserve for bank holding companies.

The risk-based capital standards are designed to make regulatory capital requirements more sensitive to differences in risk profiles among banks and bank holding companies, to account for off-balance-sheet exposure, and to minimize disincentives for holding liquid assets. Assets and off-balance-sheet items, such as letters of credit and

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unfunded loan commitments, are assigned to broad risk categories, each with appropriate risk weights. The resulting capital ratios represent capital as a percentage of total risk-weighted assets and off-balance-sheet items.

The minimum guideline for the ratio of total capital to risk-weighted assets is 8%. Total capital consists of two components, Tier 1 capital and Tier 2 capital. Tier 1 capital generally consists of common stock, minority interests in the equity accounts of consolidated subsidiaries, noncumulative perpetual preferred stock, and a limited amount of cumulative perpetual preferred stock, less goodwill and other specified intangible assets. Tier 1 capital must equal at least 4% of risk-weighted assets. Tier 2 capital generally consists of subordinated debt, other preferred stock, and a limited amount of loan loss reserves. The total amount of Tier 2 capital is limited to 100% of Tier 1 capital.

In addition, the Federal Reserve has established minimum leverage ratio guidelines for bank holding companies. These guidelines provide for a minimum ratio of Tier 1 capital to average assets, less goodwill and other specified intangible assets, of 3% for bank holding companies that meet specified criteria, including having the highest regulatory rating and implementing the Federal Reserve’s risk-based capital measure for market risk. All other bank holding companies generally are required to maintain a leverage ratio of at least 4%. The guidelines also provide that bank holding companies experiencing high internal growth, as is our case, or making acquisitions will be expected to maintain strong capital positions substantially above the minimum supervisory levels. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve has indicated that it will consider a bank holding company’s Tier 1 capital leverage ratio, after deducting all intangibles, and other indicators of capital strength in evaluating proposals for expansion or new activities.

Information concerning our regulatory ratios at December 31, 2004 is included in the “Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”

If our growth rate continues, as we presently anticipate, our assets will grow faster than our capital and our capital ratios will decline. In order to maintain capital at Pinnacle National at appropriate levels, we may be required to incur borrowings or issue additional equity securities. We have committed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta that we will obtain its approval before Pinnacle Financial incurs any indebtedness. In 2003, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta granted such an approval in connection with Pinnacle Financial’s issuance of trust preferred securities. In connection with such approval, Pinnacle Financial’s Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer and Chief Administrative Officer committed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta that, if required, to enable Pinnacle Financial to make interest payments in 2004 on its subordinated debentures under certain circumstances, they would exercise up to 185,000 warrants to acquire Pinnacle Financial common stock held by them to provide funds for such payment. Pinnacle Financial made all interest payments on the trust preferred securities pursuant to the terms of the trust preferred securities. As a result, no such exercise of common stock warrants was required and this additional commitment of these executive officers expired at December 31, 2004. Thus, we believe that we have met the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s requirements as of December 31, 2004 in connection with this matter.

Failure to meet capital guidelines could subject a bank or bank holding company to a variety of enforcement remedies, including issuance of a capital directive, the termination of deposit insurance by the FDIC, a prohibition on accepting brokered deposits, and other restrictions on its business. As described above, significant additional restrictions can be imposed on FDIC-insured depository institutions that fail to meet applicable capital requirements.

Prompt Corrective Action

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 establishes a system of prompt corrective action to resolve the problems of undercapitalized financial institutions. Under this system, the federal banking regulators have established five capital categories (well capitalized, adequately capitalized, undercapitalized, significantly undercapitalized and critically undercapitalized) into one of which all institutions are placed. Federal banking regulators are required to take various mandatory supervisory actions and are authorized to take other discretionary actions with respect to institutions in the three undercapitalized categories. The severity of the action depends upon the capital category in which the institution is placed. Generally, subject to a narrow exception, the banking regulator must appoint a receiver or conservator for an institution that is critically undercapitalized. The federal banking agencies have specified by regulation the relevant capital level for each category.

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An institution that is categorized as undercapitalized, significantly undercapitalized, or critically undercapitalized is required to submit an acceptable capital restoration plan to its appropriate federal banking agency. A bank holding company must guarantee that a subsidiary depository institution meets its capital restoration plan, subject to various limitations. The controlling holding company’s obligation to fund a capital restoration plan is limited to the lesser of 5% of an undercapitalized subsidiary’s assets or the amount required to meet regulatory capital requirements. An undercapitalized institution is also generally prohibited from increasing its average total assets, making acquisitions, establishing any branches or engaging in any new line of business, except under an accepted capital restoration plan or with FDIC approval. The regulations also establish procedures for downgrading an institution and a lower capital category based on supervisory factors other than capital. As of December 31, 2004, we believe Pinnacle National would be considered “well capitalized” by its primary regulator.

Payment of Dividends

We are a legal entity separate and distinct from Pinnacle National. Over time, the principal source of our cash flow, including cash flow to pay dividends to our holders of Trust Preferred Securities and to our common stock shareholders, will be dividends that Pinnacle National pays to us as its sole shareholder. Statutory and regulatory limitations apply to Pinnacle National’s payment of dividends to us as well as to our payment of dividends to our shareholders. Until we require dividends from Pinnacle National, our cash flow requirements will be satisfied through our existing cash balances.

Pinnacle National is required by federal law to obtain the prior approval of the OCC for payments of dividends if the total of all dividends declared by our board of directors in any year will exceed (1) the total of Pinnacle National’s net profits for that year, plus (2) Pinnacle National’s retained net profits of the preceding two years, less any required transfers to surplus. We do not anticipate that Pinnacle Financial will require any dividends from Pinnacle National in 2005.

The payment of dividends by Pinnacle National and us may also be affected by other factors, such as the requirement to maintain adequate capital above regulatory guidelines. If, in the opinion of the OCC, Pinnacle National was engaged in or about to engage in an unsafe or unsound practice, the OCC could require, after notice and a hearing, that Pinnacle National stop or refrain from engaging in the practice. The federal banking agencies have indicated that paying dividends that deplete a depository institution’s capital base to an inadequate level would be an unsafe and unsound banking practice. Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991, a depository institution may not pay any dividend if payment would cause it to become undercapitalized or if it already is undercapitalized. Moreover, the federal agencies have issued policy statements that provide that bank holding companies and insured banks should generally only pay dividends out of current operating earnings. See “Prompt Corrective Action” above.

Restrictions on Transactions with Affiliates

Both Pinnacle Financial and Pinnacle National are subject to the provisions of Section 23A of the Federal Reserve Act. Section 23A places limits on the amount of:

	•	A bank’s loans or extensions of credit to affiliates;
	•	A bank’s investment in affiliates;
	•	Assets a bank may purchase from affiliates, except for real and personal property exempted by the Federal Reserve;
	•	The amount of loans or extensions of credit to third parties collateralized by the securities or obligations of affiliates; and
	•	A bank’s guarantee, acceptance or letter of credit issued on behalf of an affiliate.

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The total amount of the above transactions is limited in amount, as to any one affiliate, to 10% of a bank’s capital and surplus and, as to all affiliates combined, to 20% of a bank’s capital and surplus. In addition to the limitation on the amount of these transactions, each of the above transactions must also meet specified collateral requirements. Pinnacle National must also comply with other provisions designed to avoid the taking of low-quality assets.

Pinnacle Financial and Pinnacle National are also subject to the provisions of Section 23B of the Federal Reserve Act which, among other things, prohibits an institution from engaging in the above transactions with affiliates unless the transactions are on terms substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the institution or its subsidiaries, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with nonaffiliated companies.

Pinnacle National is also subject to restrictions on extensions of credit to its executive officers, directors, principal shareholders and their related interests. These extensions of credit (1) must be made on substantially the same terms, including interest rates and collateral, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with third parties, and (2) must not involve more than the normal risk of repayment or present other unfavorable features.

Community Reinvestment

The Community Reinvestment Act requires that, in connection with examinations of financial institutions within their respective jurisdictions, the Federal Reserve, the OCC or the FDIC shall evaluate the record of each financial institution in meeting the credit needs of its local community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. These facts are also considered in evaluating mergers, acquisitions, and applications to open a branch or facility. Failure to adequately meet these criteria could impose additional requirements and limitations on Pinnacle National. Additionally, banks are required to publicly disclose the terms of various Community Reinvestment Act-related agreements. During 2004, Pinnacle National received a “satisfactory” CRA rating from the OCC.

Privacy

Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, financial institutions are required to disclose their policies for collecting and protecting confidential information. Customers generally may prevent financial institutions from sharing personal financial information with nonaffiliated third parties except for third parties that market the institutions’ own products and services. Additionally, financial institutions generally may not disclose consumer account numbers to any nonaffiliated third party for use in telemarketing, direct mail marketing or other marketing through electronic mail to consumers. Pinnacle National has established a privacy policy to ensure compliance with federal requirements.

Other Consumer Laws and Regulations

Interest and other charges collected or contracted for by Pinnacle National are subject to state usury laws and federal laws concerning interest rates. For example, under the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940, a lender is generally prohibited from charging an annual interest rate in excess of 6% on any obligations for which the borrower is a person on active duty with the United States military. Pinnacle National’s loan operations are also subject to federal laws applicable to credit transactions, such as the:

	•	Federal Truth-In-Lending Act, governing disclosures of credit terms to consumer borrowers;
	•	Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975, requiring financial institutions to provide information to enable the public and public officials to determine whether a financial institution is fulfilling its obligation to help meet the housing needs of the community it serves;
	•	Equal Credit Opportunity Act, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, creed or other prohibited factors in extending credit;
	•	Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1978, governing the use and provision of information to credit reporting agencies;

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	•	Fair Debt Collection Act, governing the manner in which consumer debts may be collected by collection agencies;
	•	Bank Secrecy Act, governing how banks and other firms report certain currency transactions which may involve “money laundering” activities;
	•	Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940, governing the repayment terms of, and property rights underlying, secured obligations of persons in military service; and
	•	Rules and regulations of the various federal agencies charged with the responsibility of implementing the federal laws.

Pinnacle National’s deposit operations are subject to the:

•

Right to Financial Privacy Act, which imposes a duty to maintain confidentiality of consumer financial records and prescribes procedures for complying with administrative subpoenas of financial records; and

•

Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Regulation E issued by the Federal Reserve to implement that act, which govern automatic deposits to and withdrawals from deposit accounts and customers’ rights and liabilities arising from the use of automated teller machines and other electronic banking services.

Anti-Terrorism Legislation

On October 26, 2001, the President of the United States signed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001. Under the USA PATRIOT Act, financial institutions are subject to prohibitions against specified financial transactions and account relationships as well as enhanced due diligence and “know your customer” standards in their dealings with foreign financial institutions and foreign customers.

In addition, the USA PATRIOT Act authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to adopt rules increasing the cooperation and information sharing between financial institutions, regulators, and law enforcement authorities regarding individuals, entities and organizations engaged in, or reasonably suspected based on credible evidence of engaging in, terrorist acts or money laundering activities. Any financial institution complying with these rules will not be deemed to have violated the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, as discussed above. Pinnacle National currently has policies and procedures in place designed to comply with the USA PATRIOT Act.

Proposed Legislation and Regulatory Action

New regulations and statutes are regularly proposed that contain wide-ranging proposals for altering the structures, regulations and competitive relationships of the nation’s financial institutions. We cannot predict whether or in what form any proposed regulation or statute will be adopted or the extent to which our business may be affected by any new regulation or statute.

Effect of Governmental Monetary Policies

Our earnings are affected by domestic economic conditions and the monetary and fiscal policies of the United States government and its agencies. The Federal Reserve’s monetary policies have had, and are likely to continue to have, an important impact on the operating results of commercial banks through the Federal Reserve’s statutory power to implement national monetary policy in order, among other things, to curb inflation or combat a recession. The Federal Reserve, through its monetary and fiscal policies, affects the levels of bank loans, investments and deposits through its control over the issuance of United States government securities, its regulation of the discount rate applicable to member banks and its influence over reserve requirements to which member banks are subject. We cannot predict the nature or impact of future changes in monetary and fiscal policies.

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves various risks which are particular to our company, our industry and our market area. Several risk factors regarding investing in our common stock are discussed below. This listing should not be considered as all-inclusive. If any of the following risks were to occur, we may not be able to conduct our business as currently planned and our financial condition or operating results could be negatively impacted. These matters could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline in future periods.

We are geographically concentrated in the Nashville, Tennessee MSA, and changes in local economic conditions impact our profitability.

We operate primarily in the Nashville, Tennessee MSA, and substantially all of our loan customers and most of our deposit and other customers live or have operations in the Nashville MSA. Accordingly, our success significantly depends upon the growth in population, income levels, deposits and housing starts in the Nashville MSA, along with the continued attraction of business ventures to the area. Our profitability is impacted by the changes in general economic conditions in this market. Additionally, unfavorable local or national economic conditions could reduce our growth rate, affect the ability of our customers to repay their loans to us and generally affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We are less able than a larger institution to spread the risks of unfavorable local economic conditions across a large number of diversified economies. Moreover, we cannot give any assurance that we will benefit from any market growth or favorable economic conditions in our primary market areas if they do occur.

Our continued growth may require the need for additional capital and further regulatory approvals which, if not obtained, could adversely impact our profitability and implementation of our current business plan.

To continue to grow, we will need to provide sufficient capital to Pinnacle National through earnings generation, additional equity offerings or borrowed funds or any combination of these sources of funds. Should we incur indebtedness, we are required to obtain certain regulatory approvals beforehand. Should our growth exceed our expectations, as has been the case to-date, we may need to raise additional capital over our projected capital needs. However, our ability to raise additional capital, if needed, will depend on conditions in the capital markets at that time, which are outside our control, and on our financial performance. Accordingly, we cannot assure our ability to raise additional capital if needed on terms acceptable to us. If we cannot raise additional capital when needed, our ability to further expand and grow our operations could be materially impaired. Additionally, our current plan involves increasing our branch network, which will require capital expenditures. Our expansion efforts may also require certain regulatory approvals. Should we not be able to obtain such approvals or otherwise not be able to grow our asset base, our ability to attain our long-term profitability goals will be more difficult.

We have a concentration of credit exposure to borrowers in the trucking industry and to operators of nonresidential buildings and we also target small to medium-sized businesses.

At December 31, 2004, we had total credit exposure to borrowers in the trucking industry and to borrowers that operate nonresidential buildings equal to $43.1 million and $27.5 million, respectively. As a percentage of our total loans outstanding as of December 31, 2004, these amounts were 9.1% and 5.8%, respectively. If either of these industries experience an economic slowdown and, as a result, the borrowers in these industries are unable to perform their obligations under their existing loan agreements, our earnings could be negatively impacted, causing the value of our common stock to decline.

Additionally, a substantial focus of our marketing and business strategy is to serve small to medium-sized businesses in the metropolitan Nashville area. As a result, a relatively high percentage of our loan portfolio consists of commercial loans to small to medium-sized business. At December 31, 2004, our commercial loans accounted for

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67% of our total loans. During periods of economic weakness, small to medium-sized businesses may be impacted more severely than larger businesses. Consequently, the ability of such businesses to repay their loans may deteriorate, which would adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

If our allowance for loan losses is not sufficient to cover actual loan losses, our earnings will decrease.

If loan customers with significant loan balances fail to repay their loans according to the terms of these loans, our earnings would suffer. We make various assumptions and judgments about the collectibility of our loan portfolio, including the creditworthiness of our borrowers and the value of any collateral securing the repayment of our loans. We maintain an allowance for loan losses in an attempt to cover the inherent risks associated with lending. In determining the size of this allowance, we rely on an analysis of our loan portfolio based on volume and types of loans, internal loan classifications, trends in classifications, volume and trends in delinquencies, nonaccruals and charge-offs, national and local economic conditions, other factors and other pertinent information. Because we are a relatively young organization, our allowance estimation may be less reflective of our historical loss experience than a more mature organization. If our assumptions are inaccurate, our current allowance may not be sufficient to cover potential loan losses, and additional provisions may be necessary which would decrease our earnings.

In addition, federal and state regulators periodically review our loan portfolio and may require us to increase our allowance for loan losses or recognize loan charge-offs. Their conclusions about the quality of our loan portfolio may be different than ours. Any increase in our allowance for loan losses or loan charge-offs as required by these regulatory agencies could have a negative effect on our operating results.

Fluctuations in interest rates could reduce our profitability.

Changes in interest rates may affect our level of interest income, the primary component of our gross revenue, as well as the level of our interest expense. Interest rate fluctuations are caused by many factors which, for the most part, are not under our direct control. For example, national monetary policy plays a significant role in the determination of interest rates. Additionally, competitor pricing and the resulting negotiations that occur with our customers also impact the rates we collect on loans and the rates we pay on deposits.

As interest rates change, we expect that we will periodically experience “gaps” in the interest rate sensitivities of our assets and liabilities, meaning that either our interest-bearing liabilities will be more sensitive to changes in market interest rates than our interest-earning assets, or vice versa. In either event, if market interest rates should move contrary to our position, this “gap” may work against us, and our earnings may be negatively affected.

Changes in the level of interest rates also may negatively affect our ability to originate real estate loans, the value of our assets and our ability to realize gains from the sale of our assets, all of which ultimately affect our earnings. A decline in the market value of our assets may limit our ability to borrow additional funds or result in our lenders requiring additional collateral from us under our loan agreements. As a result, we could be required to sell some of our loans and investments under adverse market conditions, upon terms that are not favorable to us, in order to maintain our liquidity. If those sales are made at prices lower than the amortized costs of the investments, we will incur losses.

We may issue additional common stock or other equity securities in the future which could dilute the ownership interest of existing shareholders.

In order to maintain our capital at desired or regulatorily-required levels, we may be required to issue additional shares of common stock, or securities convertible into, exchangeable for or representing rights to acquire shares of common stock. We may sell these shares at prices below the public offering price of the shares offered by this prospectus, and the sale of these shares may significantly dilute shareholder ownership. We could also issue additional shares in connection with acquisitions of other financial institutions.

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Even though our common stock is currently traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market’s National Market System, it has less liquidity than the average stock quoted on a national securities exchange.

The trading volume in our common stock on the Nasdaq National Market has been relatively low when compared with larger companies listed on the Nasdaq National Market or the stock exchanges. We cannot say with any certainty that a more active and liquid trading market for our common stock will develop. Because of this, it may be more difficult for shareholders to sell a substantial number of shares for the same price at which shareholders could sell a smaller number of shares.

We cannot predict the effect, if any, that future sales of our common stock in the market, or the availability of shares of common stock for sale in the market, will have on the market price of our common stock. We, therefore, can give no assurance that sales of substantial amounts of common stock in the market, or the potential for large amounts of sales in the market, would not cause the price of our common stock to decline or impair our future ability to raise capital through sales of our common stock.

The market price of our common stock may fluctuate in the future, and these fluctuations may be unrelated to our performance. General market price declines or overall market volatility in the future could adversely affect the price of our common stock, and the current market price may not be indicative of future market prices.

Loss of our senior executive officers or other key employees could impair our relationship with our customers and adversely affect our business.

We have assembled a senior management team which has a substantial background and experience in banking and financial services in the Nashville market. Loss of these key personnel could negatively impact our earnings because of their skills, customer relationships and/or the potential difficulty of promptly replacing them.

Competition with other banking institutions could adversely affect our profitability.

A number of banking institutions in the Nashville market have higher lending limits, more banking offices, and a larger market share. In addition, our asset management division competes with numerous brokerage firms and mutual fund companies which are also much larger. In some respects, this may place these competitors in a competitive advantage, although many of our customers have selected us because of service quality concerns at the larger enterprises. This competition may limit or reduce our profitability, reduce our growth and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

If a change in control or change in management is delayed or prevented, the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected.

Provisions in our corporate documents, as well as certain federal and state regulations, may make it difficult and expensive to pursue a tender offer, change in control or takeover attempt that our board of directors opposes. As a result, our shareholders may not have an opportunity to participate in such a transaction, and the trading price of our stock may not rise to the level of other institutions that are more vulnerable to hostile takeovers. Anti-takeover provisions contained in our charter also will make it more difficult for an outside shareholder to remove our current board of directors or management.

The amount of common stock owned by, and other compensation arrangements with, our officers and directors may make it more difficult to obtain shareholder approval of potential takeovers that they oppose.

As of December 31, 2004, directors and executive officers beneficially owned approximately 15% of our common stock. Employment agreements with our senior management also provide for significant payments under certain circumstances following a change in control. These compensation arrangements, together with the common stock, option and warrant ownership of our board and management, could make it difficult or expensive to obtain majority support for shareholder proposals or potential acquisition proposals of us that our directors and officers oppose.

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Our business is dependent on technology, and an inability to invest in technological improvements may adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

The financial services industry is undergoing rapid technological changes with frequent introductions of new technology-driven products and services. In addition to better serving customers, the effective use of technology increases efficiency and enables financial institutions to reduce costs. We have made significant investments in data processing, management information systems and internet banking accessibility. Our future success will depend in part upon our ability to create additional efficiencies in our operations through the use of technology, particularly in light of our past and projected growth strategy. Many of our competitors have substantially greater resources to invest in technological improvements. We cannot make assurances that our technological improvements will increase our operational efficiency or that we will be able to effectively implement new technology-driven products and services or be successful in marketing these products and services to our customers.

Our internal controls over financial reporting may have weaknesses or inadequacies that may be material.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us to perform an evaluation of our internal control over financial reporting and our auditor to attest to such evaluation on an annual basis. Management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective at December 31, 2004 and our registered accounting firm attested to such conclusion. Management’s report on internal control over financial reporting is included on page 47 of this Form 10-K and the report of our registered accounting firm on these matters is included on page 49 of this Form 10-K. Ongoing compliance with these requirements is expected to be expensive and time-consuming and may negatively impact our results of operations. While our management did not identify any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2004, and concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective, we cannot make any assurances that we will not discover material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. If we discover any material weaknesses in the future, we may be required to make material changes in our internal control over financial reporting which could negatively impact our results of operations. In addition, if we discover such material weaknesses, our management may not be able to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective or our registered public accounting firm may not be able to attest that our internal control over financial reporting was effective. If we cannot conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting is effective or if our registered accounting firm is not able to timely attest to such evaluation, we may be subject to regulatory scrutiny, and a loss of public confidence in our internal control over financial reporting which may cause the value of our common stock to decrease.

We are subject to various statutes and regulations that may limit our ability to take certain actions.

We operate in a highly regulated industry and are subject to examination, supervision, and comprehensive regulation by various regulatory agencies. Our compliance with these regulations is costly and restricts certain of our activities, including payment of dividends, mergers and acquisitions, investments, loans and interest rates charged, interest rates paid on deposits and locations of offices. We are also subject to capitalization guidelines established by our regulators, which require us to maintain adequate capital to support our growth.

The laws and regulations applicable to the banking industry could change at any time, and we cannot predict the effects of these changes on our business and profitability. Because government regulation greatly affects the business and financial results of all commercial banks and bank holding companies, our cost of compliance could adversely affect our ability to operate profitably.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Pinnacle Financial’s principal offices are located at 211 Commerce Street in Nashville, Tennessee in Davidson County. Pinnacle Financial leases these offices from an unrelated third party.

Pinnacle National leases the land for its Brentwood branch office building located in Williamson County, Tennessee, from an unrelated third party but owns the building and leasehold improvements. Pinnacle National also leases the land for its Green Hills office location in Davidson County from an unrelated third party, but also owns the building and leasehold improvements. Pinnacle National also leases the land and building for its West End

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office location in Davidson County from unrelated third parties, but owns the leasehold improvements. Pinnacle National owns the land and buildings and all improvements for its Rivergate, Cool Springs and Franklin branch offices. A summary of Pinnacle Financial’s leased facilities follows:

Other than normal real estate commercial lending activities of Pinnacle National and its subsidiaries, the acquisition of mortgage-backed securities held in Pinnacle National and its subsidiaries’ investment securities portfolio, the ownership of branch office facilities, and consumer mortgage lending, Pinnacle National and its subsidiaries generally do not invest in real estate, interests in real estate or securities of or interests in persons primarily engaged in real estate activities.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

As of the date hereof, there are no material pending legal proceedings to which Pinnacle Financial or any of its subsidiaries is a party or of which any of its or its subsidiaries’ properties are subject; nor are there material proceedings known to Pinnacle Financial or any of its subsidiaries to be contemplated by any governmental authority; nor are there material proceedings known to Pinnacle Financial or any of its subsidiaries, pending or contemplated, in which any director, officer or affiliate or any principal security holder of Pinnacle Financial or any of its subsidiaries or any associate of any of the foregoing, is a party adverse to Pinnacle Financial or any of its subsidiaries or has a material interest adverse to Pinnacle Financial or any of its subsidiaries.

ITEM 4. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS

     None.

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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Pinnacle Financial’s common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market’s National Market System under the symbol “PNFP”. The following table shows the high and low bid price information for Pinnacle Financial’s common stock for each quarter in 2004 and 2003 as reported on the Nasdaq National Market System. The stock prices set forth below are adjusted to reflect our two-for-one common stock split paid on May 10, 2004.

As of February 15, 2005, Pinnacle Financial had approximately 70 shareholders of record and, additionally, approximately 2,600 beneficial owners.

Pinnacle Financial has not paid any cash dividends since inception, and it does not anticipate that it will consider paying dividends until Pinnacle National has achieved a level of profitability appropriate to fund such dividends and support asset growth. See Item 1. “Description of Business – Supervision and Regulation – Payment of Dividends” and Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for additional information on dividend restrictions applicable to Pinnacle Financial.

Pinnacle Financial did not repurchase any shares of its common stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2004.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following is a discussion of our financial condition at December 31, 2004 and 2003 and our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002. The purpose of this discussion is to focus on information about our financial condition and results of operations which is not otherwise apparent from the consolidated financial statements. The following discussion and analysis should be read along with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere herein.

Overview

General. Pinnacle Financial’s rapid growth from its inception through the fourth quarter of 2004 has had a material impact on Pinnacle Financial’s financial condition and results of operations. This rapid growth resulted in net income for the year ended December 31, 2004 of $0.61 per diluted share as compared to $0.32 per diluted share for the twelve months ended December 31, 2003 and $0.10 per diluted share for 2002. At December 31, 2004, loans totaled $472 million, as compared to $297 million at December 31, 2003, while total deposits increased to $571 million at December 31, 2004 from $391 million at December 31, 2003.

Results of Operations. Pinnacle Financial’s net interest income increased to $20.3 million in 2004 from $12.9 million in 2003. The net interest margin (the ratio of net interest income to average earning assets for the period) was 3.62% for the year ended December 31, 2004 compared to 3.53% for the same period in 2003.

Our provision for loan losses increased $1.8 million in 2004 to $2,948,000 from $1,157,000 in 2003. The increase in loan volumes and net charge-off’s during 2004 were the primary causes for the increase. As our loan portfolio continues to grow, Pinnacle Financial expects that such growth will be considered in establishing the allowance for loan losses.

Noninterest income for 2004 compared to the same time period in 2003 increased by $2,187,000, or 66%. The increase was primarily due to Pinnacle National beginning a mortgage origination unit in early 2003, increases in investment services revenues between the periods, and increases in gains on the sales of loan and loan participations and securities available-for-sale.

Our growth in 2004 resulted in an increase of $4.2 million in noninterest expense compared to 2003 as a result of increases in salaries and employee benefits, equipment and occupancy expenses and other operating expenses. We also increased the number of full-time equivalent employees from 89.5 at December 31, 2003 to 122.0 at December 31, 2004. As a result, we experienced a $2,280,000 increase in compensation and employee benefit expense. We expect to add additional employees throughout 2005 which will cause our compensation and employee benefit expense to increase in future periods. Additionally, our branch expansion efforts in 2003 and 2004 also resulted in increased noninterest expense for 2004. The increased operational expenses for two branches opened in 2003 and the opening of one additional branch in 2004 will continue to result in increased noninterest expense in future periods. Although our expenses increased in 2004 when compared to 2003, our efficiency ratio, the ratio of noninterest expense to the sum of net interest income and noninterest income, decreased from 68.3% for 2003 to 59.4% for 2004.

We believe that a rising interest rate environment, which we also believe is somewhat more likely than a falling rate environment over the next few quarters, should result in greater net interest income for us than a falling or stagnant rate environment. At December 31, 2004, approximately 56.0% of our loan volumes are floating rate loans that

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reprice immediately with adjustments to our prime lending rate or other similarly published overnite interest rate indices. We also believe we will continue to increase assets with continued emphasis on floating rate lending. However, the additional revenues provided by these two items may not be sufficient to overcome any immediate increases in funding costs which would also be incurred in a rising rate environment.

Conversely, a falling rate environment would serve to have the opposite effect on our net interest income. In a falling rate environment, we may not be able to reduce our deposit funding costs by any meaningful amount due to market pressures, while our interest income would decrease at a more rapid pace.

In the latter half of 2004, the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee began increasing its benchmark Fed Funds rate in 25 basis point increments. At the end of 2004, the benchmark Fed Funds rate was 2.25% as compared to 1.00% for substantially the entire first half of 2004. We believe these actions contributed favorably to our 2004 results due to the repricing of our floating rate loans concurrently with Fed Funds rate increases. Conversely, our deposit rates also increased during this period, but did not offset the impact of the increase on floating rate loans to a significant degree. Should the Federal Reserve continue to increase Fed Funds rates, we believe the impact of such actions will not be as favorable in 2005 due to increased pressure from competitors on deposit pricing.

Financial Condition. The $175 million increase in loans in 2004 contributed to the increase in our net income for 2004 when compared to an increase of $87 million in loans for the similar period in 2003. This increase in loan volume offset the slight decrease in average yields on loans between 2004 and 2003. As we seek to increase our loan portfolio, we must also continue to monitor the risks inherent in our lending operations. If our allowance for loan losses is not sufficient to cover loan losses in our loan portfolio, increases to the allowance for loan losses would be required which would decrease our earnings.

We have successfully grown our total deposits to $571 million at December 31, 2004. This growth in deposits has allowed us to fund our asset growth at a lower cost in 2004 than in 2003. While rates paid on deposits decreased during 2004 compared to the same period in 2003, we typically adjust our loan yields at a faster rate than we adjust our deposit rates. As such, our deposit funding costs did not decrease as quickly as did revenues from interest income on floating rate earning assets.

Capital and Liquidity. On December 30, 2003, we issued $10 million in subordinated debt which bears interest at a floating rate based on a spread over 3-month LIBOR, which is set each quarter, and matures on December 30, 2033. Pursuant to current regulatory guidelines, all of this issuance is classified as Tier 1 capital for regulatory capital purposes. At December 31, 2004, our capital ratios, including Pinnacle National’s capital ratios, met regulatory minimum capital requirements and all requirements Pinnacle Financial has committed to regulators to maintain. Additionally, at December 31, 2004, Pinnacle National would be considered to be “well-capitalized” pursuant to banking regulations.

During the third quarter of 2004, we concluded a follow-on offering of our common stock to the general public. As a result of this offering, Pinnacle Financial, through its underwriters, sold 850,000 shares of common stock to the general public at $20 per share. The underwriters also exercised an over-allotment option and purchased an additional 127,500 shares at $20 per share, less the applicable underwriting discount. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $18.2 million.

Critical Accounting Estimates

The accounting principles we follow and our methods of applying these principles conform with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and with general practices within the banking industry. In connection with the application of those principles, we have made judgments and estimates which, in the case of the determination of our allowance for loan losses (ALL), have been critical to the determination of our financial position and results of operations.

Allowance for Loan Losses (ALL). Our management assesses the adequacy of the ALL prior to the end of each calendar quarter. This assessment includes procedures to estimate the allowance and test the adequacy and appropriateness of the resulting balance. The ALL consists of two portions (1) an allocated amount representative of specifically identified credit exposure and exposures readily predictable by historical or comparative experience;

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and (2) an unallocated amount representative of inherent loss which is not readily identifiable. Even though the ALL is composed of two components, the entire ALL is available to absorb any credit losses.

We establish the allocated amount separately for two different risk groups (1) unique loans (commercial loans, including those loans considered impaired); and (2) homogeneous loans (generally consumer loans). We base the allocation for unique loans primarily on risk rating grades assigned to each of these loans as a result of our loan management and review processes. We then assign each risk-rating grade a loss ratio, which is determined based on the experience of management, discussions with banking regulators and our independent loan review process. We estimate losses on impaired loans based on estimated cash flows discounted at the loan’s original effective interest rate or based on the underlying collateral value. Based on management’s experience, we also assign loss ratios to our consumer portfolio. These loss ratios are assigned to the various homogenous categories of the consumer portfolio (e.g., automobile, residential mortgage, home equity).

The unallocated amount is particularly subjective and does not lend itself to exact mathematical calculation. The unallocated amount represents estimated inherent credit losses which may exist, but have not yet been identified, as of the balance sheet date. In estimating the unallocated amount, such matters as changes in the local or national economy, the depth or experience in the lending staff, any concentrations of credit in any particular industry group, and new banking laws or regulations. After we assess applicable factors, we evaluate the aggregate unallocated amount based on our management’s experience.

We then test the resulting ALL balance by comparing the balance in the ALL to historical trends and peer information. Our management then evaluates the result of the procedures performed, including the result of our testing, and concludes on the appropriateness of the balance of the ALL in its entirety. The audit committee of our board of directors reviews the assessment prior to the filing of quarterly and annual financial information.

In assessing the adequacy of the ALL, we also rely on an ongoing independent loan review process. We undertake this process both to ascertain whether there are loans in the portfolio whose credit quality has weakened over time and to assist in our overall evaluation of the risk characteristics of the entire loan portfolio. Our loan review process includes the judgment of management, the input from our independent loan reviewer, who is not an employee of Pinnacle National, and reviews that may have been conducted by bank regulatory agencies as part of their usual examination process.

Results of Operations

Our results for fiscal years 2004, 2003 and 2002 were highlighted by the continued growth in loans and other earning assets and deposits, which resulted in increased revenues and expenses. The following is a summary of our results of operations (dollars in thousands):

Net Interest Income. Net interest income represents the amount by which interest earned on various earning assets exceeds interest paid on deposits and other interest bearing liabilities and is the most significant component of our earnings. For the year ended December 31, 2004, we recorded net interest income of $20,264,000, which resulted in a net interest margin of 3.62%. For the year ended December 31, 2003, we recorded net interest income of

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$12,899,000, which resulted in a net interest margin of 3.53% for the year. For the year ended December 31, 2002, we recorded net interest income of $8,199,000, which resulted in a net interest margin of 3.81% for the year.

The activities of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee have a significant influence on our net interest income and margin. During 2002, the Open Market Committee lowered the Federal funds rate 50 basis points to 1.25% in an effort to provide stimulus to the national economy. During the first quarter of 2003, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee lowered the Federal funds rate from 1.25% to 1.00% and it remained 1.00% until June 30, 2004 when the Open Market Committee increased the Federal funds rate to 1.25%. Subsequently, the Open Market Committee increased the Federal funds rate to 1.75% during the third quarter of 2004 and to 2.25% in the fourth quarter of 2004. Our management believes this historically low interest rate environment had a negative impact on our net interest income, particularly during the periods prior to June 30, 2004, before the Open Market Committee began to initiate several Federal funds rate increases, as a significant number of our customers are adjustable rate borrowers with their lines of credit tied primarily to our prime lending rate which declined in lock-step with the Federal funds rate declines.

The following table sets forth the amount of our average balances, interest income or interest expense for each category of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities and the average interest rate for total interest-earning assets and total interest-bearing liabilities, net interest spread and net yield on average interest-earning assets for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2004 (dollars in thousands):

As noted above, the net interest margin for 2004 was 3.62% compared to a net interest margin of 3.53% for the same period in 2003, an increase of 9 basis points. The net change in the net interest margin was relatively small because the net decrease in the yield on interest-earning assets between the two periods approximated the net decrease in the

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rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities. The net interest margin for 2002 was 3.81%, compared to the 3.53% margin in 2003, a decrease of 28 basis points. The net change in the net interest margin was more significant between these two periods because the net decrease in the yield on interest-earning assets between the two periods was 88 basis points compared to the net decrease in the rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities of only 70 basis points. Other matters related to the changes in net interest income, net interest yields and rates, and net interest margin are presented below:

	•	Our loan yields decreased slightly from 2003 to 2004. For asset/liability management purposes, we have emphasized floating rate loans over the last several years such that approximately 56.0% of our loans are floating rate loans at December 31, 2004 compared to 52.7% at December 31, 2003 and 45.7% at December 31, 2002. Floating rate loans generally have lower yields than do fixed or variable rate loans, thus as our percentage of floating rate loans increases this serves to lower the overall yield of the portfolio.
	•	During 2004, we were able to grow our funding base significantly. For asset/liability management purposes in 2004, we elected to allocate a greater proportion of such funds to our securities portfolio and shorter-term securities versus our loan portfolio than in 2003. The average balance of investment securities and shorter-term investments to total assets for 2004 was 31% compared to 29% in 2003 and 17% in 2002. These types of assets generally have lower yields than do loans.
	•	During 2004, overall deposit rates were less than those rates for the comparable period in 2003 and 2002. In some cases, rates during 2004 decreased to such levels that further decreases in deposit rates approached what we termed “embedded floors” or rates where it was not reasonable or practical for us to go below, such that further decreases in our deposit rates would have placed us in a competitive disadvantage as customers seek higher returns on their balances. Changes in interest rates paid on such products as interest checking, savings and money market accounts, securities sold under agreements to repurchase and Federal funds purchased will generally increase or decrease in a manner that is consistent with changes in the short-term rate environment. We also monitor the pricing of similar products by our primary competitors. The changes in the short-term rate environment and the pricing of our primary competitors allowed us to reduce on average these rates in 2004 compared to 2003. These rates began to increase in late 2004 such that we anticipate a more rapid increase in funding rates on these types of deposits in 2005 .
	•	During 2004, the average balances of noninterest bearing deposit balances, interest bearing transaction accounts, savings and money market accounts and securities sold under agreements to repurchase amounted to 56% of our total funding compared to 50% in 2003 and 44% in 2002. These funding sources generally have lower rates than do other funding sources, such as certificates of deposit and other borrowings.
	•	Also impacting the net interest margin during 2004 was the issuance of subordinated indebtedness. This indebtedness was issued at the end of 2003, thus it did not impact the prior period’s results. The interest rate charged on this indebtedness is generally higher than other funding sources. The rate charged on this indebtedness is computed in relation to the three-month LIBOR index and is repriced quarterly.

In December 2003, we acquired, for $500,000, a $1,500,000 loan which we had previously sold to another financial institution. Through June 30, 2004, we accounted for the discount under the cost-recovery method pursuant to Practice Bulletin Number 6, “Amortization of Discounts on Certain Acquired Loans”, issued by the Accounting Standards Executive Committee (AcSEC). Under the cost-recovery method of accounting, cash collections are first applied against the $500,000 recorded amount of the loan; when the loan has been reduced to zero, any additional amounts received are recognized as income. During the second quarter of 2004, we collected the remaining net book value of the loan and an additional $260,000, of which $217,000 was recognized as interest income and $43,000 was credited to other expense as a recovery of legal expenses incurred by us. As a result of a settlement agreement entered into with the borrower, Pinnacle Financial received $80,000 during the third quarter from the sale of certain assets related to this borrower which was recognized as interest income. As a result of these

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transactions, our net interest income was $297,000 higher during 2004 than it would have been otherwise. Excluding these transactions from our net interest margin calculation would have yielded a net interest margin of 3.57%. Management believes excluding these items from our net interest margin calculation is more meaningful under the circumstances as the increase in net interest income from these particular transactions is not expected to reoccur and the modified presentation of net interest margin is more comparable to prior periods. Additionally, during the third quarter of 2004, Pinnacle National subsequently sold to a third party a loan to this borrower, which resulted from the settlement agreement, and recognized a $280,000 gain on sale of loans.

Rate and Volume Analysis. Net interest income increased by $7,365,000 million between the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 and by $4,700,000 between the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002. The following is an analysis of the changes in our net interest income comparing the changes attributable to rates and those attributable to volumes (dollars in thousands):

Provision for Loan Losses. The provision for loan losses represents a charge to earnings necessary to establish an allowance for loan losses that, in our management’s evaluation, should be adequate to provide coverage for the inherent losses on outstanding loans. The provision for loan losses amounted to $2,948,000; $1,157,000 and $938,000 for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively.

Based upon our management’s evaluation of the loan portfolio, we believe the allowance for loan losses to be adequate to absorb our estimate of probable losses existing in the loan portfolio at the balance sheet date. The increase in the provision for loan losses for the year ended December 31, 2004 when compared to the year ended December 31, 2003 was primarily due to the increase in loan volumes throughout 2004 when compared to 2003 and an increase in net charge-offs in 2004 compared to both 2003 and 2002. Based upon management’s assessment of the loan portfolio, we adjust our allowance for loan losses to an amount deemed appropriate to adequately cover inherent risks in the loan portfolio. While our policies and procedures used to estimate the allowance for loan losses, as well as the resultant provision for loan losses charged to operations, are considered adequate by our management and are reviewed from time to time by Pinnacle National’s regulators, they are necessarily approximate and imprecise. There exist factors beyond our control, such as general economic

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conditions both locally and nationally, which may negatively impact, materially, the adequacy of our allowance for loan losses and, thus, the resulting provision for loan losses.

Noninterest Income. Our noninterest income is composed of several components, some of which vary significantly between quarterly periods. Service charges on deposit accounts and other noninterest income generally reflect our growth, while investment services and fees from the origination of mortgage loans will often reflect market conditions and fluctuate from period to period. The opportunities for recognition of gains on loan participations sold and gains on sales of investment securities may also vary widely from quarter to quarter and year to year.

The following is the makeup of our noninterest income for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002 (dollars in thousands):

As shown, the largest component of noninterest income is commissions and fees from our financial advisory unit, Pinnacle Asset Management, a division of Pinnacle National. At December 31, 2004, Pinnacle Asset Management was receiving commissions and fees in connection with approximately $398 million in brokerage assets held with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. compared to $319 million at December 31, 2003 and $171 million at December 31, 2002.

Service charge income for 2004 increased over that of 2003 due to an increase in the number of deposit accounts subject to service charges. Additionally, mortgage related fees, attributable to Pinnacle National beginning a mortgage origination unit during the first quarter of 2003, also provided for a significant portion of the increase in noninterest income between 2004 and 2003. These mortgage fees are for loans originated by Pinnacle National and subsequently sold to third-party investors. All of these loan sales transfer servicing rights to the buyer. Generally, mortgage origination fees increase in lower interest rate environments and decrease in rising interest rate environments. As a result, mortgage origination fees may fluctuate greatly in response to a changing rate environment.

Another noninterest income item for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002 was related to our sale of certain loan participations to our correspondent banks. These sales primarily related to new lending transactions in excess of internal loan limits. At December 31, 2004 and pursuant to participation agreements with these correspondents, we had participated approximately $57.7 million of originated loans to these other banks. These participation agreements have various provisions regarding collateral position, pricing and other matters. Many of these agreements provide that we pay the correspondent less than the loan’s contracted interest rate. Pursuant to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 140, “Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities — a replacement of FASB Statement No. 125,” we recorded $234,000, which represents the net present value of these future net revenues, as a gain on sale of participations in our results of operations during the year ended December 31, 2004 compared to $334,000 and $120,000 during the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002, respectively. We intend to maintain relationships with our correspondents in order to participate future loans to these correspondents in a similar manner. However, the timing of participations may cause the level of gains, if any, to vary significantly between periods.

As noted above, during the third quarter of 2004, we sold a loan to an individual and recorded a gain on the sale of this loan of $280,000 which is included in gains on sale of loans. We had acquired this loan pursuant to a settlement agreement with a borrower for which we had no basis in the loan.

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Also included in noninterest income for 2004 were net gains of approximately $357,000 realized from the sale of approximately $28 million of available-for-sale securities. This compares to $248,000 in net gains on the sale of investment securities for the same period in the prior year.

During the year ended December 31, 2002, Pinnacle National acquired life insurance policies on five key executives. Pinnacle National is the beneficiary of the death proceeds from these policies. To acquire these policies, Pinnacle National paid a one-time premium of $1.8 million and, in return, Pinnacle National was guaranteed an initial crediting rate for the first year of the contracts which is then reset quarterly thereafter. This crediting rate serves to increase the cash surrender value of the policies over the life of the policies and amounted to approximately $79,000 and $90,000 during the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively. At December 31, 2004, the aggregate cash surrender value of these policies, which is reflected in other assets on our consolidated balance sheet, was $2.0 million. Pinnacle National has not borrowed any funds against these policies as of December 31, 2004.

Noninterest Expense. Noninterest expense consists of salaries and employee benefits, equipment and occupancy expenses, and other operating expenses. The following is the makeup of our noninterest expense for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002 (dollars in thousands):

Expenses have increased during the above periods due to personnel additions occurring throughout the periods, incentive compensation, the continued development of our branch network and other expenses which increase in relation to our growth rate. We anticipate increases in our expenses during 2005 for such items as additional personnel, the opening of additional branches, and other expenses which tend to increase in relation to our growth.

At the end of 2004, we employed 122.0 full time equivalent employees compared to 89.5 at the end of 2003 and 55.5 at the end of 2002. We intend to continue to add employees to our work force during 2005, which will cause our salary costs to increase in future periods.

We believe that variable pay incentives are a valuable tool in motivating an employee base that is focused on providing our clients effective financial advice and increasing shareholder value. As a result, and unlike other financial institutions, substantially all of our employees are eligible to participate in an annual cash incentive plan. Included in the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002 salary and employee benefits amounts above are $1,163,000, $1,167,000 and $720,000 in costs related to these variable pay awards. The awards will fluctuate from year to year based on the achievement of performance targets and the increase in the number of

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associates eligible to receive the award. For 2004, the award equaled approximately 80% of a targeted award compared to 2003 when the award exceeded the targeted award. The incentive plan for 2005 is structured similarly to that of the prior year plans. Because of the relative experience of our associates, our compensation costs are and will continue to be higher on a per associate basis than other financial institutions, however, we believe the experience of our associates also allows us to employ fewer people than most financial institutions our size.

During 2003, we opened two new branch offices in the Rivergate area of Nashville and in the Cool Springs area of Williamson County. The additional costs to operate these branches served to increase our occupancy and equipment expenses in 2004 over that of 2003 due to the branches only being open for partial years in 2003. Additionally, we opened a new branch office in the West End area of Nashville during the third quarter of 2004, which also contributed to the increase in our equipment and occupancy expenses in 2004 over 2003 and will also cause these expenses to increase in 2005 over those of 2004 due to this branch only being open for a partial year in 2004. Our intent is to open two additional branch offices in 2005 which will also cause equipment and occupancy expenses to increase in future periods.

Marketing and other business development expenses are higher in 2004 compared to 2003 and 2002 due to an increase in the number of customer contact personnel and increased customer entertainment and community relations expenses. Other noninterest expenses are significantly higher in 2004 over 2003 and 2002. Most of these increases are attributable to increased audit and accounting fees, legal fees and insurance expenses. The increase in audit and accounting fees in 2004 was primarily due to costs associated with Sarbanes Oxley internal control assessment and other related matters.

Our efficiency ratio (ratio of noninterest expense to the sum of net interest income and noninterest income) was 59.4% in 2004 compared to 68.3% in 2003 and 80.4% in 2002. The efficiency ratio measures the amount of expense that is incurred to generate a dollar of revenue. Although our absolute expense level increased between the three periods, the efficiency ratio improved as a result of our revenues growing at a faster rate than our expenses.

Income Taxes. The effective income tax expense rate for 2004 was approximately 29.0% compared to an effective income tax expense rate for 2003 of approximately 35.8% and 35.5% in 2002. The reduction in the effective tax rate between 2004 and 2003 was 6.8% and was primarily due to Federal tax credits related to the New Markets Tax Credit program whereby a subsidiary of Pinnacle National has been awarded approximately $2.3 million in future Federal tax credits to be realized over the next seven years. The credit that is available for the year ended December 31, 2004 is $300,000 and accounted for 60% of the reduction in the effective tax rate for 2004 when compared to 2003. Pinnacle Financial believes that it and its subsidiary will be able to comply with the various regulatory provisions of the New Markets Tax Credit program during 2004 and future periods such that it will be able to claim the credit in its 2004 Federal income tax return. Also, during the fourth quarter of 2004, we formed a real estate investment trust which provides us with an alternative vehicle for raising capital should we so desire. Additionally, the ownership structure of this real estate investment trust provides certain income tax benefits to us. Also serving to reduce the effective tax rate for 2004 was the recording of additional benefits from our municipal securities portfolio. These benefits amounted to approximately $47,000 in reduced income tax expense in 2004.

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Quarterly Information. The following is a summary of quarterly balance sheet and results of operations information for the last six quarters (dollars in thousands, except per share data).