In addition, bank regulatory agencies periodically review our ALL and may require us to increase the provision for loan losses or to recognize further loan charge-offs, based on judgments that differ from those of management. If loan charge-offs in future periods exceed the ALL, there would be a need to record additional provisions to increase our ALL. Furthermore, growth in the loan portfolio would generally lead to an increase in the provision for loan losses. Generally, increases inACL.

The ALL was 1.27% of total loans and 116% of nonaccrual and restructured loans still accruing at December 31, 2017, compared with 1.45% of total loans and 160% of nonaccrual and restructured loans still accruing at December 31, 2016. In addition, at December 31, 2017, the top 25 lending relationships individually had commitments of $86,506,000, and an aggregate total outstanding loan balance of $182,950,000, or 18% of the loan portfolio. The deterioration of one or more of these loan relationships could result in a significant increase in the nonperforming loans and the provisions for loan losses, which would negatively impact our results of operations.

Commercial and industrial loans include advances to local and regional businesses for general commercial purposes and include permanent and short-term working capital, machinery and equipment financing, and may be either in the form of lines of credit or term loans. Although commercial and industrial loans may be unsecured to our highest rated borrowers, the majority of these loans are secured by the borrower’s accounts receivable, inventory and machinery and equipment. In a significant number of these loans, the collateral also includes the business real estate or the business owner’s personal real estate or assets. Commercial and industrial loans are more susceptible to risk of loss during a downturn in the economy, as borrowers may have greater difficulty in meeting their debt service requirements and the value of the collateral may decline. We attempt to mitigate this risk through our underwriting standards, including evaluating the creditworthiness of the borrower, regular monitoring, and, to the extent available, credit ratings on the business. Additionally, monitoring of the loans through annual renewals and meetings with the borrowers are typical. However, these procedures cannot entirely eliminate the risk of loss associated with commercial and industrial lending.

We experience substantial competition in originating loans, both commercialnon-financial services firms, including traditional banks and consumer loans, in our market area. This competition comes principally from other banks, savings institutions, credit unions, online banks, mortgage banking companies, wealth management companies, financial technology companies and other lenders. others. Some of our competitors enjoy advantages, including greater financial resources and higher lending limits, more expansive marketing campaigns, better brand recognition, a wider geographic presence, more accessible branch office locations, the ability to offer a wider array of services or more favorable pricing alternatives, as well as lower origination and operating costs. ThisEmerging technologies have the potential to intensify competition could reduce our net income and liquidity by decreasingaccelerate disruption in the number and size of loans that we originate and the interest rates we are able to charge on these loans.

As we expand our on-line lending capabilities, we will face competition, particularly in residential mortgage lending, from non-bank lenders (financial institutions that only make loans and do not offer deposit accountsfinancial services industry. In recent years, non-financial services firms, such as a savings account or checking account) and financial technology companies, (thathave been offering services traditionally provided by financial institutions. These firms use new technology and innovation with available resources in ordermobile platforms to compete inenhance the marketplaceability of traditional financial institutionscompanies and intermediaries in the delivery of financial services). This competition could similarly reduce our net incomeindividuals to borrow, save and liquidity.

Loans grew $126,621,000, or 14% from $883,391,000 at December 31, 2016, to $1,010,012,000 at December 31, 2017, due to organic growth through increases in consumer, commercial and commercial real estate loans. Over the long term, we expect to continue to experience growth in loans and total assets, the level of our deposits and the scale of our operations. Achieving our growth targets requires us to successfully execute our business strategies, which includes continuing to grow our loan portfolio.invest money. Our ability to compete successfully grow will also depend on the continued availability of loan opportunities that meet underwriting standards. In addition, our asset quality metrics have improved sufficiently that we may consider the acquisition of other financial institutions and branches within or outside of our market area to the extent permitted by our regulators. The success of any such acquisition will dependdepends on a number of factors, including our ability to integrate the acquired institutions or branches into the current operations of the Company; our abilitydevelop and execute strategic plans and initiatives; to limit the outflow of deposits held by customers of the acquired institution or branch locations; our abilitydevelop competitive products and technologies; and to control the incremental increase in noninterest expense arising from any acquisition; and our ability toattract, retain and integrate the appropriate personnel of the acquired institution or branches. We believe we have the resources and internal systems in place to successfully achieve and manage our future growth.develop a highly skilled employee workforce. If we doare not manage our growth effectively, we may not be able to achieve our business plancompete successfully, we could be placed at a competitive disadvantage, which could result in the loss of clients and market share, and our business, results of operations and prospectsfinancial condition could be harmed.suffer.

The Company’s success depends, in large part, oninformation systems to conduct our abilitybusiness and to attractstore sensitive data, including financial information regarding clients. Our electronic communications and retain skilled people. We have, at times, experienced turnover amonginformation systems infrastructure, as well as the systems infrastructures of the vendors we use to meet our senior officers. Competition for the best people in mostdata processing and communication needs, could be susceptible to cyber-attacks, such as denial of service attacks, hacking, terrorist activities or identity theft. Financial services institutions and companies engaged in by us can be intense,data processing have reported breaches in the security of their websites or other systems, some of which have involved sophisticated and targeted attacks intended to obtain unauthorized access to confidential information, destroy data, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems, often through the introduction of computer viruses or malware, cyber-attacks and other means. Denial of service attacks have been launched against a number of large financial services institutions. Hacking and identity theft risks, in particular, could cause serious reputational harm. Cyber threats are rapidly evolving and we may not be able to attractanticipate or prevent all such attacks. Although, to date we have not experienced any material losses relating to cyber-attacks or other information security breaches, there can be no assurance that we will not suffer such losses in the future. No matter how well designed or implemented our controls are, we will not be able to anticipate all security breaches of these types, and hire sufficiently skilled peoplewe may not be able to fill open and newly created positionsimplement effective preventive measures against such security breaches in a timely manner. A failure or to retain current or future employees. An inability to attract and retain individuals with the necessary skills to fill open positions, or the unexpected loss of services of one or morecircumvention of our key personnel,security systems could have a material adverse impacteffect on our business due tooperations and financial condition.

We rely on the services of a variety of vendors to meet our data processing and communication needs. If these third-party providers encounter difficulties, or if we have difficulty communicating with them, our ability to adequately process and account for transactions could be affected, and our business, operations could be adversely affected. Threats to information security also existwhich, in the processing of customer information through various other vendors and their personnel.

If information security is breached or other technology difficulties or failures occur, information may be lost or misappropriated, services and operations may be interrupted and we could be exposed to claims from customers. Any of these resultsturn, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Reputational risk, or the risk to the Company's earnings and capital from negative public opinion, is inherent in our business. Negative public opinion can result from the actual or perceived manner in which we conduct our business activities, including banking operationsin the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and trustrestricts us from taking certain actions prior to the effective time or termination of the merger agreement without CVLY's consent in writing. These restrictions may prevent us from pursuing attractive business opportunities that may arise prior to the completion of the Merger.

The Dodd-Frank Act includes provisions affecting large and small financial institutions, including several provisions that affect how community banks and bank holding companies will be regulated in the future. Among other things, these provisions relax rules regarding interstate branching; allow financial institutionsor cause serious reputational harm to pay interest on business checking accounts; change the scope of federal deposit insurance coverage; and impose new capital requirements on bank holding companies. Many of the requirements called for in the Dodd-Frank Act will be implemented over time and will be subject to implementation regulations developed over the course of several years. Given the uncertainty associated with the manner in which the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act will be implemented by the various regulatory agencies and through regulations, the full extent of the impact such requirements will have on our operations is not certain.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB"), theFASB, SEC and other regulatory bodies periodically change the financial accounting and reporting standards that govern the preparation of the Company’sour consolidated financial statements. These changes including the use of an expected loss impairment methodology in the determination of the ALL which will be effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2020, can be hardoperationally complex to predictimplement and can materially impact how the Company records and reports its financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, the Company could be required to apply new or revised guidance retrospectively, which may result in the revision of prior financial statements by material amounts. The implementation of new or revised guidance could result in material adverse effects towe report our reported regulatory capital.

The Company believes that the allegations of SEPTA's second amended complaint are without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against those claims. It is not possible at this time to estimate losses, if any, with the litigation. However, there can be no assurances that the Companyprivate parties will not incur any losses associated with this litigationincrease in the future. Pending or that any losses that are incurred will not be material.

The Company’s ability to raise additional capital will depend on conditions in the capital markets at that time, which are outside of our control, and on our financial performance. Accordingly, we cannot provide assurance of our ability to raise additional capital on terms and time frames acceptable to us or to raise additional capital at all. Additionally, the inability to raise capital in sufficient amounts may adversely affect our operations, financial condition and results of operations. Our ability to borrow could also be impaired by factors that are nonspecific to us, such as severe disruption of the financial markets or negative news and expectations about the prospects for the financial services industry as a whole. If we raise capital through the issuance of additional shares of our common stock or other securities, we would likely dilute the ownership interests of current investors by diluting earnings per share of our common stock and potentially diluting book value per share, depending on the issuance price. The price at which we issue additional shares of stock could be less than the current market price of our common stock and, thus, could dilute the per share book value and earnings per share of our common stock. Furthermore, a capital raise through the issuance of additional shares may have an adverse impact on our stock price.