Exhibit 99

PRESS RELEASE

MACKINAC FINANCIAL CORPORATION REPORTS THIRD QUARTER 2018 RESULTS

(Manistique, Michigan) — Mackinac Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: MFNC) (the “Corporation”), the bank holding company for mBank, today announced third quarter 2018 income of $3.07 million, or $.29 per share, compared to net income of $2.09 million, or $.33 per share, for the third quarter of 2017.  As expected, the 2018 third quarter results were impacted by expenses related to the acquisition of First Federal of Northern Michigan (FFNM) and pre-closing activity for the Lincoln Community Bank (Lincoln) transaction that closed on October 1, 2018.

The Corporation had third quarter GAAP pre-tax transaction related expenses totaling $350 thousand.  These transaction related costs reduced the reported net income for the quarter by $276 thousand, on an after-tax basis.  The adjusted net income for the third quarter of 2018 (exclusive of the transaction related expenses) would equate to $3.35 million, or $.31 per weighted average share.  Weighted average shares outstanding for the third quarter 2018 were 10,712,745 compared to 6,294,930 for the same period of 2017 and 7,769,720 shares for the second quarter of 2018.  The Corporation issued 2,146,378 new shares for the FFNM purchase in May 2018 and issued an additional 2,225,807 shares related to the common stock offering that was completed in June 2018.

Total assets of the Corporation at September 30, 2018 were $1.25 billion compared to $1.02 billion at September 30, 2017.  Shareholders’ equity at September 30, 2018 totaled $149.37 million, compared to $82.65 million on September 30, 2017. The tangible book value per share equated to $11.63 on September 30, 2018 compared to $11.91 per share a year ago.  The proceeds from the stock offering were used to pay down approximately $19.45 million in senior holding company debt, resulting in no long-term debt residing on the balance sheet at quarter end.

mBank, the Corporation’s primary asset, recorded net income of $3.47 million in the third quarter of 2018, compared to $2.43 million in the third quarter of 2017. Acquisition-related expenses totaled $265 thousand at the bank level, with an after-tax impact of $210 thousand. Adjusted core net income (exclusive of the transaction expenses) for the third quarter of 2018 was $3.68 million, an increase of $1.25M from the third quarter 2017.

Highlights and additional notes:

·                  The Corporation completed the acquisition of Lincoln Community Bank (“Lincoln”) (Merrill, WI) on October 1, 2018 acquiring approximately $39 million in loans and $53 million of core deposits. As part of this transaction, the Corporation also plans to close the acquired Gleason, WI location by the end of the year. With the data processing conversion taking place in early November, all cost efficiencies will be phased in for 2019 and are expected to provide accretion to earnings.

·                  The Corporation plans to also consolidate mBank’s in-store Ishpeming, MI branch into another nearby mBank location at year end 2018.  Minimal client attrition is expected from the consolidation while realizing additional efficiencies.

·                  Since the third quarter of 2017, higher rate wholesale funding sources have decreased $69 million ($57 million in Brokered CDs and $12 million in FHLB borrowings) through both repositioning of the balance sheet internally with growth in core deposits and through utilization of the FFNM liquidity following the transaction.

·                  The Corporation’s non-GAAP core net interest margin (exclusive of purchase accounting mark accretion) continues to perform well, residing at 4.13% year-to-date.  Inclusive of the accretion from the recent FFNM acquisition combined with two other legacy transactions, total reportable margin equated to 4.37%. Additional interest rate increases are expected to have a positive impact on the margin moving into 2019.

·                  New loan production from the newly acquired FFNM markets has totaled $31 million in the short time since the close of the transaction in May 2018.

Revenue

Total revenue of the Corporation for the three months ended September 30, 2018 equated to $16.63 million compared to $12.68 million for the same period of 2017.  Total interest income was $15.29 million for the third quarter of 2018 compared to $11.52 million for the same period in 2017. The 2018 third quarter interest income included accretive yield of $1.01 million from combined accretion associated with acquisitions compared to 2017 same period of $554 thousand.  The non-interest income portion of total revenue increased slightly year-over-year from $1.15 million in the third quarter of 2017 to $1.34 million for the same period of 2018, partially due to the positive impact of FFNM.

Loan Production

Total balance sheet loans at September 30, 2018 were $993.81 million compared to September 30, 2017 balances of $808.15 million.  Total loans under management now reside at $1.32 billion, which includes $328.54 million of service retained loans.  Total loan production through three quarters of 2018 is $8 million ahead of 2017 at $204 million, with origination activity increasing in the second and third quarters, as expected. Commercial originations accounted for $131 million, while retail, predominantly mortgage, equated to $73 million. Regional new production year-to-date is noted in the below chart:

Commenting on new loan production and overall lending activities, Kelly W. George, President of the Corporation and President and CEO of mBank stated, “Commercial loan production is slightly ahead of last year despite a continued competitive environment for the high-quality loans we adjudicate.  Based on steady deal flow since the FFNM acquisition date, we expect that the addition of the FFNM markets and the recently acquired Lincoln markets will continue to have a positive impact on all types of originations as we assimilate the acquired banks into our lending culture. As we alluded to in our previous quarter communications, we have seen the change in interest rates impact our secondary market originations on the refinance side, which has been an industry-wide challenge. While secondary market mortgage activity has improved in the third quarter, bringing the total to $40 million year to date, it is still $9 million less than 2017. Overall, we like the outlook of our loan activity and it will continue to be a focus in all of our markets going into 2019.”

Credit Risk

Nonperforming loans totaled $4.53 million, or .46% of total loans at September 30, 2018 compared to $3.07 million, or .38%, of total loans at September 30, 2017. Total loan delinquencies greater than 30 days resided at a nominal .97%, compared to .51% in the third quarter of 2017. The increase in non-performing loans is mainly the result of credits acquired in the FFNM transaction, which were marked to fair value as part of transaction due diligence. Commenting on overall credit risk, Mr. George stated, “As expected, we saw a slight increase in our non-performing credit ratios following the FFNM acquisition.

Similar to previous transactions, we anticipate this will normalize over the coming quarters as we work to quickly resolve or shore up some of these acquired problem loans.  Overall, loan portfolio performance, both legacy mBank and acquired FFNM, remains strong with no material credit issues within any of the business segments. Purchase accounting marks from the previously acquired banks have continued to prove accurate, attaining expected accretion to the margin. We expect the same accretive mark performance behavior for the recently acquired FFNM and Lincoln portfolios.”

Margin Analysis / Funding

Net interest income in the third quarter of 2018 resided at $13.21 million, or 4.60%, compared to $9.79 million, or 4.23%, in the third quarter of 2017. Third quarter 2018 total interest expense was $2.08 million versus $1.73 million for the same period of 2017 due mainly to a larger deposit base acquired in the FFNM transaction. Total deposits at the end of the quarter equated to $1.03 billion. Brokered deposits were $125 million at the end of September 2018, reduced from $182 million at September 30, 2017.  The Corporation continues to opportunistically reduce brokered deposits when they mature as liquidity needs allow given the seasonality in our core funding sources.  Mr. George stated, “We are pleased to have been successful in maintaining our strong core net interest margin of 4.13% in the rising rate environment, where we have seen nominal pressure to significantly move up rates on transaction related accounts. We did adjust some transactional depository rates in late September for the first time in the rising interest rate cycle. We also began to offer some special term CD rates, both in an effort to alleviate seasonality runoff as we go into our slower business cycle months and primarily to take a more aggressive and offensive posture to procure new in-market deposits heading into 2019. The impact of this rate increase will be more than offset by the positive impact from the increase in our variable rate loan portfolio from the recent and any subsequent rate increases. Through our balance sheet repositioning over the past quarter, from both liquidity generated from investment sales following the FFNM close of $46 million and the acquired FFNM core deposit base, our funding structure has improved greatly from a cost and risk standpoint as we remain in a market environment that is expecting future rate increases for 2019.    The acquired deposits in the Lincoln transaction will also help our funding structure.”

Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense, at $10.62 million in the third quarter of 2018, increased $2.90 million from the third quarter 2017 total of $7.72 million. The expense variance from the third quarter of 2017 was heavily impacted by the additional expense related to the larger bank platform following the FFNM closing including additional salary, benefits and occupancy costs as well as the Lincoln Bank acquisition transaction related expenses.  Efficiencies from both FFNM and Lincoln are expected to be fully phased in by yearend 2018 and achieve a stabilized run rate and improved efficiencies for 2019.   This should improve our current non-GAAP adjusted efficiency ratio (backing out transaction related expenses) of 74%.

Assets and Capital

Total assets of the Corporation at September 30, 2018 were $1.25 billion compared to $1.02 billion at September 30, 2017.  Shareholders’ equity at September 30, 2018 totaled $149.37 million, compared to $82.65 million on September 30, 2017. The tangible book value per share equated to $11.63 on September 30, 2018 compared to $11.91 per share a year ago.  Both the common stock offering and the FFNM acquisition had positive impacts on the Corporation’s overall capitalization and regulatory capital ratios.  Of the $32.4 million net proceeds from the June 2018 common stock offering, the Corporation utilized $19.45 million to retire senior holding company debt, and an additional $8.5 million to fund the Lincoln acquisition.  The Corporation is “well-capitalized” and the Bank is “well-capitalized” with total risk-based capital to risk weighted assets of 13.17% and 11.95%, respectively.

Paul D. Tobias, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation and Chairman of mBank concluded, “We continue to execute our growth and acquisition strategy while maintaining focus on our core operations and governance.  Our balance sheet attributes are strong with the complementary deposit base of FFNM and the reduction of floating rate debt at the holding company with proceeds from the common stock offering.  We believe our timing was good in terms of the rate environment and the interest expense we were able to save on our borrowings and wholesale funding.  We will remain opportunistic as we are presented with possible acquisition partners and focus on gaining maximum efficiencies out of our current platform to drive shareholder value.”

Mackinac Financial Corporation is a registered bank holding company formed under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 with assets in excess of $1.25 billion and whose common stock is traded on the NASDAQ stock market as “MFNC.”   The principal subsidiary of the Corporation is mBank.  Headquartered in Manistique, Michigan, mBank has 30 full service branch

locations; eleven in the Upper Peninsula, ten in the Northern Lower Peninsula, one in Oakland County, Michigan, and eight in Northern Wisconsin.  The Corporation’s banking services include commercial lending and treasury management products and services geared toward small to mid-sized businesses, as well as a full array of personal and business deposit products and consumer loans.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements.  Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “should,” “will,” “view,” and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements: as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These statements reflect management’s current beliefs as to expected outcomes of future events and are not guarantees of future performance.  These statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict with regard to timing, extent, likelihood, and degree of occurrence.  Therefore, actual results and outcomes may materially differ from what may be expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements.  Factors that could cause a difference include among others: changes in the national and local economies or market conditions; changes in interest rates and banking regulations; the impact of competition from traditional or new sources; and the possibility that anticipated cost savings and revenue enhancements from mergers and acquisitions, bank consolidations, branch closings and other sources may not be fully realized at all or within specified time frames as well as other risks and uncertainties including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in filings of the Corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  These and other factors may cause decisions and actual results to differ materially from current expectations.  Mackinac Financial Corporation undertakes no obligation to revise, update, or clarify forward-looking statements to reflect events or conditions after the date of this release.

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SELECTED FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

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LOAN PORTFOLIO AND CREDIT QUALITY

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MACKINAC FINANCIAL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
QUARTERLY FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS