HERITAGE FINANCIAL CORP /WA/

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements often include, among others, statements concerning plans, estimates, calculations, forecasts and projections with respect to the anticipated future performance of the Company. These statements are often, but not always, identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," “forecasts,” "intends," “plans,” “targets,” “potentially,” “probably,” “projects,” “outlook” or similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “may,” "will," “should,” "would," and "could," as well as the negative of such words. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts but instead represent management's current expectations and forecasts regarding future events, many of which are inherently uncertain and outside of our control. Actual results may differ, possibly materially, from those currently expected or projected in these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to inherent known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated or implied by forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: potential adverse impacts to economic conditions nationally or in our local market areas, other markets where we have lending relationships, or other aspects of our business operations or financial markets, including, without limitation, as a result of credit quality deterioration, pronounced and sustained reductions in real estate market values, employment levels, labor shortages and a potential recession or slowed economic growth; changes in the interest rate environment, including as a result of the recent increase in the benchmark federal funds rate by the Federal Reserve, which could adversely affect our revenues and expenses, the value of assets and obligations, and the availability and cost of capital and liquidity; the level and impact of inflation and the current and future monetary policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and executive orders in response thereto; previous and potential future disruptions, security breaches, insider fraud, cybersecurity incidents or other adverse events, failures or interruptions in, or attacks on, our information technology systems or on the third-party vendors who perform critical processing functions for our business, including sophisticated attacks using artificial intelligence and similar tools; legislative or regulatory changes that adversely affect our business, including changes in banking, securities, and tax laws, in regulatory policies and principles, or the interpretation and prioritization of such rules and regulations; effects on the U.S. economy resulting from actions taken by the federal government, including the threat or implementation of tariffs, immigration enforcement and changes in foreign policy; the effects of acts of war or terrorism, foreign relations, military conflicts, including the wars in Iran and Ukraine, ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, and other international military conflicts that can increase levels of political and economic unpredictability, contribute to rising energy and commodity prices, affect global supply chains, increase the volatility of financial markets, and other matters beyond our control; effects of other external events on our business and the businesses of our clients; credit and interest rate risks associated with our business, including our customers’ borrowing, repayment, and deposit practices; fluctuations in deposits and the concentration of large deposits from certain customers, who have deposit balances above current FDIC insurance limits; liquidity issues, including our ability to borrow funds or raise additional capital, if necessary; fluctuations in the value of our investment securities; credit risks and risks from concentrations (including by type of geographic area, collateral and industry) within our loan portfolio; the effectiveness of our risk management framework; rapid technological changes implemented by us and other parties, including third-party vendors, which may be more difficult to implement or more expensive than anticipated or which may have unforeseen consequences to us and our customers, including the development and implementation of tools incorporating artificial intelligence; increased competition in the financial services industry from non-banks such as credit unions and financial technology companies, including digital asset service providers; our ability to adapt successfully to technological changes to compete effectively in the marketplace, including as a result of competition from other commercial banks, mortgage banking firms, credit unions, securities brokerage firms, insurance companies, financial technology companies, and digital asset service providers; emerging issues related to the development and use of artificial intelligence that could give rise to legal or regulatory action, damage our reputation or otherwise materially harm our business or customers; our ability to implement our organic and acquisition growth strategies, including the acquisition of Olympic, and our ability to successfully integrate Olympic's customers and operations following the acquisition; effects of critical accounting policies and judgments, including the use of estimates in determining fair value of certain of our assets, which estimates may prove to be incorrect and result in significant declines in valuation; the commencement, costs, effects and outcome of litigation and other legal proceedings and regulatory actions against us or to which we may become subject, including in connection with prior acquisitions; potential impairment to the goodwill we recorded in connection with our past acquisitions, including as a result of the acquisition of Olympic; loss of, or inability to attract, key personnel; our ability to successfully integrate any assets, liabilities, customers, systems, and management personnel we may acquire, including as a result of the acquisition of Olympic, into our operations and our ability to realize related revenue synergies and cost savings within expected time frames or at all, and any goodwill charges related thereto and costs or difficulties relating to integration matters, including but not limited to customer and employee retention, which might be greater than expected; the effects of climate change, severe weather events, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics and other public health crises; the impact of bank failures or adverse developments at other banks and related negative publicity about the banking industry in general on investor and depositor sentiment regarding the stability and liquidity of banks; the extensive and evolving regulatory framework that applies to us; the overall health of local and national real estate markets; the level of nonperforming assets on our balance sheet; risks related to acquiring assets in or entering markets in which we have not previously operated and may not be familiar; changes in consumer spending, borrowing and saving habits; the availability of future equity and debt issuances and other capital raising opportunities on favorable terms; our success at managing and responding to the risks involved in the foregoing items; and other factors described in our latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) which are available on our website at www.hf-wa.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Moreover, any of the forward-looking statements that we make in this press release or the documents we file with or furnish to the SEC are based only on information then actually known to us and upon management's beliefs and assumptions at the time they are made which may turn out to be wrong because of inaccurate assumptions we might make, because of the factors described above or because of other factors that we cannot foresee. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake and specifically disclaim any obligation to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.