This annual report on “Form 10-K” and other publicly available documents, including the documents incorporated by reference herein, contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). These “forward-looking statements” reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, future events and our financial performance. The words “may,” “plan,” “contemplate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “continue,” “expect,” “project,” “predict,” “estimate,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “will,” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but other statements not based on historical information may also be considered forward-looking. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements should be considered subject to various risks and uncertainties, and 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. Such risks include, without limitation:
| ● | the effects of adverse changes in the economy or business conditions, including inflation, recession, interest rate volatility, pandemic or other changes in economic conditions, either nationally or in our market areas; |
| ● | credit risks, including the deterioration of the credit quality of our loan portfolio, increased default rates and loan losses or adverse changes in our portfolio or in specific industry concentrations of our loan portfolio; |
| ● | the effects of governmental monetary and fiscal policies and legislative, regulatory and accounting changes applicable to banks and other financial service providers, including the impact on us and our customers; |
| ● | the effects of hazardous weather in our markets; |
| ● | the effects of competition from other financial institutions and financial service providers; |
| ● | our ability to keep pace with technology changes, including with respect to cyber-security and preventing breaches of our and third-party security systems involving our customers and other sensitive and confidential data; |
| ● | our ability to attract new or retain existing deposits, or to initiate new or retain current loans; |
| ● | the effect of any merger, acquisition or other transaction to which we or any of our subsidiaries may from time to time be a party, including our ability to successfully integrate any business that we acquire; |
| ● | the effect of changes in interest rates on the level and composition of deposits, loan demand and the values of loan collateral, securities and interest sensitive assets and liabilities; |
| ● | the effects of terrorism and efforts to combat it; |
| ● | the effects of force majeure events, including war, natural disasters, pandemics or other widespread disease outbreaks and other national or international crises; |
| ● | an increase in the incidence or severity of fraud, illegal payments, security breaches or other illegal acts impacting our customers; |
| ● | the increased regulatory and compliance burdens associated with our bank exceeding $10 billion in assets; |
| ● | the results of regulatory examinations; |
| ● | the effect of inaccuracies in our assumptions underlying the establishment of our loan loss reserves; and |
| ● | other factors that are discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this Form 10-K, as well as in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other reports and documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). |
The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read together with the other cautionary statements included in this Form 10-K. If one or more events related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may differ materially from what we anticipate. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict what will arise. In addition, we cannot assess the impact of each factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.
**PART I
