UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
(Mark One) | ||
☒ | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. | |
For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2017
OR
For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020 | ||
OR | ||
☐ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. | |
For the Transition Period from to | ||
For the Transition Period from to
Commission File Number: 000-11486
ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
New Jersey | 52-1273725 | |
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) | (IRS Employer
|
Identification Number)
301 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
201-816-8900
(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act:
Title of each class | Trading Symbol | Name of each exchange on which registered |
Common Stock, no par value | CNOB | NASDAQ |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act:None
Indicate by checkmark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes o☒ No x
☐
Indicate by checkmark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes o☐ No x☒
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities 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 ☒ NO ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Regulation S-T (232,405(232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant has required to submit and post such files.) Yes x No ¨YES ☒ NO ☐
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 the Form 10-K or any amendment to the Form 10-K.x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a nonaccelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Large Accelerated Filer | Accelerated Filer | Non-Accelerated | Small Reporting Company |
Emerging Growth Company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared its audit report. YES ☒ NO ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act) Yes ¨ or No x
. YES ☐ NO ☒
The aggregate market value of the voting and nonvoting common equity held by nonaffiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold or the average bid and ask price of such common equity, as of the last business day of the registrant’sregistrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter - $557.7$593.2 million.
Shares Outstanding on March 6, 2018Common Stock, no par value: 32,119,241 shares
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Definitive proxy statement in connection with the 2018 Annual Stockholders Meeting to be filed with the Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A will be incorporated by reference in Part III
Shares Outstanding on March 1, 2021 |
Common Stock, no par value: 39,785,398 shares | ||
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE | ||
Definitive proxy statement in connection with the 2021 Annual Stockholders Meeting to be filed with the Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A will be incorporated by reference in Part III | ||
CONNECTONE BANCORP, INC.
Information included in or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Company’s press releases or other public statements, contain or may contain forward looking statements. Please refer to a discussion of the Company’s forward lookingforward-looking statements and associated risks in “Item 1 - Business – Forward Looking Statements” and “Item 1A - Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
CONNECTONE BANCORP, INC.
FORM 10-K
Forward Looking Statements
This report, in Item 1, Item 7 and elsewhere, includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Sections 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements concern the financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. and its subsidiaries, including statements preceded by, followed by or that include words or phrases such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “trend,” “objective,” “continue,” “remain,” “pattern” or similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “might,” “can,” “may” or similar expressions. There are a number of important factors that could cause future results to differ materially from historical performance and these forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to: (1) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s response to the pandemic on our operations as well as those of our customers and on the economy generally and in our market area specifically, (2) competitive pressures among depository institutions may increase significantly; (2)(3) changes in the interest rate environment may reduce interest margins; (3)(4) prepayment speeds, loan origination and sale volumes, charge-offs and loan loss provisions may vary substantially from period to period; (4)(5) general economic conditions may be less favorable than expected; (5)(6) political developments, wars or other hostilities may disrupt or increase volatility in securities markets or other economic conditions; (6)(7) legislative or regulatory changes or actions may adversely affect the businesses in which ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. is engaged; (7)(8) changes and trends in the securities markets may adversely impact ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.; (8)(9) a delayed or incomplete resolution of regulatory issues could adversely impact our planning; (9)(10) difficulties in integrating any businesses that we may acquire, which may increase our expenses and delay the achievement of any benefits that we may expect from such acquisitions; (10)(11) the impact of reputation risk created by the developments discussed above on such matters as business generation and retention, funding and liquidity could be significant; and (11)(12) the outcome of any future regulatory and legal investigations and proceedings may not be anticipated. Further information on other factors that could affect the financial results of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. are included in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in ConnectOne Bancorp’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents are available free of charge at the Commission’s website athttp://www.sec.gov and/or from ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements at any time.
Historical Development of Business
ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc., (the “Company” and with ConnectOne Bank, “we” or “us”) a one-bank holding company, was incorporated in the State of New Jersey on November 12, 1982 as Center Bancorp, Inc. and commenced operations on May 1, 1983 upon the acquisition of all outstanding shares of capital stock of Union Center National Bank, its then principal subsidiary.
On January 20, 2014, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc., a New Jersey corporation (“Legacy ConnectOne”). Effective July 1, 2014, the Company completed the merger contemplated by the Merger Agreement (the “Merger”) with Legacy ConnectOne merging with and into the Company, with the Company as the surviving corporation. Also, at closing, the Company changed its name to “ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.” and changed its NASDAQ trading symbol to “CNOB”. Immediately following the consummation of the Merger, Union Center National Bank merged with and into ConnectOne Bank, a New Jersey-chartered commercial bank (“ConnectOne Bank” or the “Bank”) and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Legacy ConnectOne, with ConnectOne Bank continuing as the surviving bank. Subject
On July 11, 2018, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with Greater Hudson Bank (“GHB”), under which GHB would merge with and into ConnectOne Bank, with ConnectOne Bank as the surviving bank. This transaction was consummated effective January 2, 2019. As part of this merger, the Company acquired approximately $0.4 billion in loans, assumed approximately $0.4 billion in deposits and acquired seven branch offices located in Rockland, Orange and Westchester, Counties, New York.
On May 31, 2019, the Company, through the Bank, completed its purchase of New York/Boston-based BoeFly, LLC (“BoeFly”). BoeFly’s online business lending marketplace helps connect small- to medium-size businesses, primarily franchisors and franchisees, with professional loan brokers and lenders across the termsUnited States. BoeFly operates as an independent brand and conditionssubsidiary of the Merger Agreement, each shareBank.
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Table of common stock, no par value per share,Contents
On January 2, 2020, the Company completed its in-market merger with Bergen County, New Jersey based Bancorp of Legacy ConnectOne was convertedNew Jersey, Inc. (“BNJ”), pursuant to which BNJ merged with and into 2.6 sharesthe Company, and BNJ’s bank subsidiary, Bank of New Jersey, merged with and into the Company’s common stock.
Bank. All of BNJ’s offices are located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As part of this merger, the Company acquired approximately $0.8 billion in loans and assumed approximately $0.8 billion in deposits.
The Company’s primary activity, at this time, is to act as a holding company for the Bank and its other subsidiaries. As used herein, the term “Parent Corporation” shall refer to the Company on an unconsolidated basis.
The Company owns 100% of the voting shares of Center Bancorp, Inc. Statutory Trust II, through which it issued trust preferred securities. The trust exists for the exclusive purpose of (i) issuing trust securities representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the trust; (ii) investing the gross proceeds of the trust securities in $5.2 million of junior subordinated deferrable interest debentures (subordinated debentures) of the Company; and (iii) engaging in only those activities necessary or incidental thereto. These subordinated debentures and the related income effects are not eliminated in the consolidated financial statements as the statutory business trust is not consolidated in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC 810-10 “Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities.” Distributions on the subordinated debentures owned by the subsidiary trust have been classified as interest expense in the Consolidated Statements of Income. See Note 1110 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
Except as described above, the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries are all included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. These subsidiaries include BoeFly, an advertising subsidiary;subsidiary, an insurance subsidiary, and various investment subsidiaries which hold, maintain and manage investment assets for the Company. The Company’s subsidiaries also include a real estate investment trust (the “REIT”) which holds a portion of the Company’s real estate loan portfolio. All subsidiaries mentioned above are directly or indirectly wholly owned by the Company, except that the Company owns less than 100% of the preferred stock of the REIT. A real estate investment trust must have 100 or more shareholders. The REIT has issued less than 20% of its outstanding non-voting preferred stock to individuals, primarily Bank personnel and directors.
SEC Reports and Corporate Governance
The Company makes its Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments thereto available on its website atwww.ConnectOneBank.comhttps://www.connectonebank.com without charge as soon as reasonably practicable after filing or furnishing them to the SEC. Also available on the website are the Company’s corporate code of conduct that applies to all of the Company’s employees, including principal officers and directors, and charters for the Audit/Risk Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Compensation Committee.
Additionally, the Company will provide without charge, a copy of its Annual Report on Form 10-K to any shareholder by mail. Requests should be sent to ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc., Attention: ShareholderInvestor Relations, 301 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632.
Narrative Description of the Business
ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. is a modern financial services company with over $7.5 billion in assets. It operates through its bank subsidiary, ConnectOne Bank.
We areConnectOne Bank is a New Jersey/New York metro areahigh-performing commercial bank offering a full suite of deposit and loan products and services to the general public and, in particular, to small and mid-sized businesses, local professionals and individuals residing, working and conducting business in our tradethe Northern New Jersey and New York Metropolitan area. Our mission isThe bank's continuous investments in technology coupled with top talent allow ConnectOne to prove that putting people firstoperate a "branch-lite" model, making for a highly efficient operating environment.
BoeFly is a better way to do business.fintech marketplace that connects borrowers in the franchise space with funding solutions through a network of partner banks.
Our Market Area
ConnectOne Bank's offices are located within a 100-mile radius of New York City and span New Jersey, New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley, including Rockland, Orange, and Westchester counties. Our talented, diverse team of financial experts and relationship specialists know that the demands of a successful business extend far beyond '9-5.' A big partmarket area includes some of the trust we've earned from entrepreneurs and business owners stems from our firsthand knowledge ofmost affluent markets in the businesses and communities we serve. That trust extends to the families we help thrive, from helping them refinance their homes to being able to easily access accounts wherever and whenever they're needed.
While we expect to take an opportunistic approach to acquisitions, considering opportunities to purchase or merge with whole institutions, banking offices or lines of business that complement our existing strategy, the bulk of our future growth may be organic. OurUnited States. The Bank's goal is to open new offices in the counties contained incontinue to expand and do business to support our broader trade area discussed below. However, we do not believe that we need to establish a physical location in each market that we serve. We believe that advancesclients as they grow. Advances in technology have created new delivery channels whichthat allow us to service clients and maintain business relationships with a reduced-branch model, establishing regional offices that serve as business hubs. We believeThe Bank's experience has shown that the key to client acquisition and retention is attracting quality business relationship officers who will frequently go to the client, rather than having the client come to us.
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Our Market Area
Our bankingBoeFly operates out of its main offices are located in Bergen, Union, Morris, Essex, Hudson, MercerBoston, Massachusetts and Monmouth Counties in New Jersey and in the borough of Manhattan, in New York, City, and we expect to open our newest banking office in Melville, Suffolk County New York, in the first quarter of 2018. Our market area includes some of the most affluent markets in the United States. We also attractand has a nationwide presence through its digital business and clients from broader regions, including the other boroughs of New York City as well as Westchester County and Long Island in New York State.marketplace.
Products and Services
We derive a majority of our revenue from net interest income (i.e., the difference between the interest we receive on our loans and securities and the interest we pay on deposits and other borrowings). We offer a broad range of deposit and loan products. In addition, to attract the business of consumer and business clients, we also provide a broad array of other banking services. Products and services provided include personal and business checking accounts, retirement accounts, money market accounts, time and savings accounts, credit cards, wire transfers, access to automated teller services, internet banking, Treasury Direct, ACH origination, lockbox services and mobile banking by phone. In addition, we offer safe deposit boxes. The Bank also offers remote deposit capture banking for both retail and business clients, providing the ability to electronically scan and transmit checks for deposit, reducing time and cost.
Noninterest demand deposit products include “Totally Free Checking” and “Simply Better Checking” for retail clients and “Small Business Checking” and “Analysis Checking” for commercial clients. Interest-bearing checking accounts require minimum balances for both retail and commercial clients and include “Consumer Interest Checking” and “Business Interest Checking”. Money market accounts consist of products that provide a market rate of interest to depositors but offer a limited number of preauthorized withdrawals. Our savings accounts consist of statement type accounts. Time deposits consist of certificates of deposit, including those held in IRA accounts, generally with initial maturities ranging from 731 days to 60 months and brokered certificates of deposit, which we use for asset liability management purposes and to supplement other sources of funding. CDARS/ICS Reciprocal deposits are offered based on the Bank’s participation in the Promontory Interfinancial Network, LLC network. Clients who are FDIC insurance sensitive are able to place large dollar deposits with the Company and the Company uses CDARS to place those funds into certificates of deposit issued by other banks in the Network. This occurs in increments of less than the FDIC insurance limits so that both the principal and interest are eligible for FDIC insurance coverage in amounts larger than the standardinsured dollar amount. TheUnless certain conditions are satisfied, the FDIC currently considers these funds as brokered deposits.
Deposits serve as the primary source of funding for our interest-earning assets, but also generate noninterest revenue through insufficient funds fees, stop payment fees, wire transfer fees, safe deposit rental fees, debit card income, including foreign ATM fees and credit and debit card interchange, and other miscellaneous fees. In addition, the Bank generates additional noninterest revenue associated with residential loan originations and sales, loan servicing, late fees and merchant services.
We offer personalconsumer and commercial business loans on a secured and unsecured basis, revolving lines of credit, commercial mortgage loans, and residential mortgages on both primary and secondary residences, home equity loans, bridge loans and other personal purpose loans. However, we are not and have not historically been a participant in the sub-prime lending market.
Commercial loans are loans made for business purposes and are primarily secured by collateral such as cash balances with the Bank, marketable securities held by or under the control of the Bank, business assets including accounts receivable, inventory and equipment, and liensmortgages filed on commercial and residential real estate.Included in commercial loans are loans secured by New York City taxi medallions. As of December 31, 2017, the carrying value of our taxi medallion portfolio totaled $46.8 million, all of which was re-designated as held-for-investment. All of our taxi medallion loans are secured by New York City taxi medallions.
Commercial construction loans are loans to finance the construction of commercial or residential properties secured by first liens on such properties. Commercial real estate loans include loans secured by first liens on completed commercial properties, including multi-family properties, to purchase or refinance such properties. Residential mortgages include loans secured by first liens on 1-4 family residential real estate and are generally made to existing clients of the Bank to purchase or refinance primary and secondary residences. Home equity loans and lines of credit include loans secured by first or second liens on residential real estate for primary or secondary residences. Consumer loans are made to individuals who qualify for auto loans, cash reserve, credit cards and installment loans.
During 2020, we participated in the Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). The PPP provided funds to guarantee forgivable loans originated by depository institutions to eligible small businesses through the SBA’s 7(a) loan guaranty program. These loans are 100% federally guaranteed (principal and interest) and currently not subject to any allocation of allowance for loan losses. An eligible business could apply under the PPP during the applicable covered period and receive a loan up to 2.5 times its average monthly “payroll costs” limited to a loan amount of $10.0 million. The proceeds of the loan could be used for payroll (excluding individual employee compensation over $100,000 per year), mortgage, interest, rent, insurance, utilities and other qualifying expenses. PPP loans have: (a) an interest rate of 1.0%, (b) a two-year loan term (or five-year loan term for loans made after June 5, 2020) to maturity; and (c) principal and interest payments deferred until the date on which the SBA remits the loan forgiveness amount to the borrower’s lender or, alternatively, notifies the lender no loan forgiveness is allowed. If the borrower did not submit a loan forgiveness application to the lender within 10 months following the end of the 24-week loan forgiveness covered period (or the 8-week loan forgiveness covered period with respect to loans made prior to June 5, 2020 if such covered period is elected by the borrower), the borrower would begin paying principal and interest on the PPP loan immediately after the 10-month period. As of December 31, 2020,the Company had $397.5 million in PPP loans outstanding.
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On December 27, 2020, the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act (the “Economic Aid Act”) became law. Among other things, the Economic Aid Act extended the PPP through March 31, 2021 and allocated additional funds for new PPP loans, to be guaranteed by the SBA. The extension included an authorization to make new PPP loans to existing PPP loan borrowers, and to make loans to parties that did not previously obtain a PPP loan. The Company is participating in the newly extended PPP and will originate loans under the extended program. Loans originated under the extended PPP will have substantially the same terms as existing PPP loans.
The Board of Directors has approved a loancredit policy granting designated lending authorities to specific officers of the Bank. Those officers are comprised of the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Lending Officer,President, Chief Credit Officer, Team Leaders and the Consumer Loan Officers. All loan approvals require the signatures of a minimum of two officers. The Senior Lending Group (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Lending OfficerPresident and Chief Credit Officer) can approve loans up to $25 million in aggregate loan exposure and which do not exceed 65% of the Legal Lending Limit of the Bank (currently $75.1$129.3 million as of December 31, 20172020 for most loans), provided that (i) the credit does not involve an exception to policy and a principal balance greater than $7.5 million or $20 million in all credit outstanding to the borrower in the aggregate, (ii) the credit does not exceed certain dollar amount thresholds set forth in our policy, which varies by loan type, and (iii) the credit is not extended to an insider of the Bank. The Board Loan Committee (which includes the Chief Executive OfficerPresident and four other Board members) approves credits that are both exceptions to policy and are above prescribed amounts related to loan type and collateral. Loans to insiders must be approved by the entire Board.
The Bank’s lending policies generally provide for lending within our primary trade area. However, the Bank will make loans to persons outside of our primary trade area when we deem it prudent to do so. In an effort toTo promote a high degree of asset quality, the Bank focuses primarily upon offering secured loans. However, the Bank does make short-term unsecured loans to borrowers with high net worth and income profiles. The Bank generally requires loan clients to maintain deposit accounts with the Bank. In addition, the Bank generally provides for a minimum required rate of interest in its variable rate loans. The Bank’s legal lending limit to any one borrower is 15% of the Bank’s capital base (defined as tangible equity plus the allowance for loan losses) for most loans ($75.1129.3 million) and 25% of the capital base for loans secured by readily marketable collateral ($125.2215.5 million). AtAs of December 31, 2017,2020, the Bank’s largest committed relationship (to several affiliated borrowers) totaled $69.6 million. The Bank’sand single largest single loan outstanding at December 31, 2017 was $35.0$70.5 million.
Our business model includes using industry best practices for community banks, including personalized service, state-of-the-art technology and extended hours. We believe that this will generate deposit accounts with somewhat larger average balances than are found at many other financial institutions. We also use pricing techniques in our efforts to attract banking relationships having larger than average balances.
Competition
The banking business is highly competitive. We face substantial immediate competition and potential future competition both in attracting deposits and in originating loans. We compete with numerous commercial banks, savings banks and savings and loan associations, many of which have assets, capital and lending limits larger than those that we have. Other competitors include money market mutual funds, mortgage bankers, insurance companies, stock brokerage firms, regulated small loan companies, credit unions and issuers of commercial paper and other securities.
In addition, the banking industry in general has begun to face competition for deposit, credit and money management products from non-bank technology firms, or fintech companies, which my offer products independently or through relationships with insured depository institutions.
Our larger competitors have greater financial resources to finance wide-ranging advertising campaigns. Additionally, we endeavor to compete for business by providing high quality, personal service to clients, client access to our decision-makers and competitive interest rates and fees. We seek to hire and retain quality employees who desire greater responsibility than may be available working for a larger employer.
Employees and Human Capital Resources
Our employees are one of our greatest assets and we believe they provide us with an advantage over our competitors. We believe we have a talented, diverse team of financial experts and relationship specialists who understand the demands of a successful business and are prepared to meet them.
As of December 31, 2020, we had 408 full-time employees, and 5 part-time employees. The employees are not represented by a collective bargaining unit and we consider our relationship with our employees to be good.
We encourage and support the growth and development of our employees and, wherever possible, seek to fill positions by promotion and transfer from within the organization. Continual learning and career development are advanced through ongoing performance and development conversations with employees, internally developed training programs, customized corporate training engagements and educational reimbursement programs. We leverage a combination of customized content and external resources to address required banking compliance, skills training for new roles, and development of people management skills. We continuously assess any skill gaps and are gearing learning for the banking positions of the future.
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The safety, health and wellness of our employees is a top priority. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique challenge with regard to maintaining employee safety while continuing successful operations. Through our technology and teamwork, we were able to transition, over a short period of time, substantially all of our non-branch employees to a remote working environment while still servicing the needs of our clients. Branch locations have operated in a variety of ways: closed to lobby traffic, in person banking by appointment only, curbside banking and always with COVID safety protocols at the forefront. When we were able to resume substantial in office employee participation, we took a number of steps to protect the health and safety of our employees, including adhering to CDC and state guidelines for in office work (limiting occupancy in the buildings, social distancing, mask requirements, limiting in person meetings) We also developed COVID-19 protocols as a resources for all employees in the event someone was exposed.
Employee retention helps us operate efficiently and is key to our ability to compete against larger competitors. We focus on promoting employees from within and leveraging their knowledge of the organization as we continue to grow our Bank. In 2020, 46 employees were promoted into new roles.
SUPERVISION AND REGULATION
The banking industry is highly regulated. Statutory and regulatory controls increase a bank holding company’s cost of doing business and limit the options of its management to deploy assets and maximize income. The following discussion is not intended to be a complete list of all the activities regulated by the banking laws or of the impact of such laws and regulations on the Company or the Bank. It is intended only to briefly summarize some material provisions.
Bank Holding Company Regulation
The Company is a bank holding company within the meaning of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the “Holding Company Act”). As a bank holding company, the Company is supervised by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“FRB”) and is required to file reports with the FRB and provide such additional information as the FRB may require. The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to examination by the FRB.
The Holding Company Act prohibits the Company, with certain exceptions, from acquiring direct or indirect ownership or control of more than 5% of the voting shares of any company which is not a bank and from engaging in any business other than that of banking, managing and controlling banks or furnishing services to subsidiary banks, except that it may, upon application, engage in, and may own shares of companies engaged in, certain businesses found by the FRB to be so closely related to banking “as to be a proper incident thereto.” The Holding Company Act requires prior approval by the FRB of the acquisition by the Company of more than 5% of the voting stock of any other bank. Satisfactory capital ratios and Community Reinvestment Act ratings and anti-money laundering policies are generally prerequisites to obtaining federal regulatory approval to make acquisitions. The policy of the FRB, embodied in FRB regulations, provides that a bank holding company is expected to act as a source of financial strength to its subsidiary bankbank(s) and to commit resources to support the subsidiary bankbank(s) in circumstances in which it might not do so absent that policy.
As a New Jersey-charted commercial bank and an FDIC-insured institution, acquisitions by the Bank require approval of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (the “Banking Department”) and the FDIC, an agency of the federal government. The Holding Company Act does not place territorial restrictions on the activities of non-bank subsidiaries of bank holding companies. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, discussed below, allows the Company to expand into insurance, securities, merchant banking activities, and other activities that are financial in nature, in certain circumstances.
Regulation of Bank Subsidiary
The operations of the Bank are subject to requirements and restrictions under federal law, including requirements to maintain reserves against deposits, restrictions on the types and amounts of loans that may be granted, and limitations on the types of investments that may be made and the types of services which may be offered. Various consumer laws and regulations also affect the operations of the Bank. There are various legal limitations, including Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act, which govern the extent to which a bank subsidiary may finance or otherwise supply funds to its holding company or its holding company’s non-bank subsidiaries and affiliates. Under federal law, a bank subsidiary may only make loans or extensions of credit to, or invest in the securities of, its parent or the non-bank subsidiaries of its parent (other than direct subsidiaries of such bank which are not financial subsidiaries) or to any affiliate, or take their securities as collateral for loans to any borrower, upon satisfaction of various regulatory criteria, including specific collateral loan to value requirements.
The Dodd-Frank Act
The Dodd-Frank Act, adopted in 2010, will continue to have a broad impact on the financial services industry, as a result of the significant regulatory and compliance changes made by the Dodd-Frank Act, including, among other things, (i) enhanced resolution authority over troubled and failing banks and their holding companies; (ii) increased capital and liquidity requirements; (iii) increased regulatory examination fees; (iv) changes to assessments to be paid to the FDIC for federal deposit insurance; and (v) numerous other provisions designed to improve supervision and oversight of, and strengthening safety and soundness for, the financial services sector. Additionally, the Dodd-FrankDodd-
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Frank Act establishes a new framework for systemic risk oversight within the financial system to be distributed among new and existing federal
regulatory agencies, including the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the FRB, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC. A summary of certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act is set forth below:
•
Minimum Capital Requirements. The Dodd-Frank Act required capital rules and the application of the same leverage and risk-based capital requirements that apply to insured depository institutions to most bank holding companies. In addition to making bank holding companies subject to the same capital requirements as their bank subsidiaries, these provisions (often referred to as the Collins Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act) were also intended to eliminate or significantly reduce the use of hybrid capital instruments, especially trust preferred securities, as regulatory capital. The Dodd-Frank Act also requires banking regulators to seek to make capital standards countercyclical, so that the required levels of capital increase in times of economic expansion and decrease in times of economic contraction. See “Capital Adequacy Guidelines” for a description of capital requirements adopted by U.S. federal banking regulators in 2013 and the treatment of trust preferred securities under such rules. • The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“Bureau”). The Dodd-Frank Act created the Bureau. The Bureau is tasked with establishing and implementing rules and regulations under certain federal consumer protection laws with respect to the conduct of providers of certain consumer financial products and services. The Bureau has rulemaking authority over many of the statutes governing products and services offered to bank consumers. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act permits states to adopt consumer protection laws and regulations that are more stringent than those regulations promulgated by the Bureau and state attorneys general are permitted to enforce consumer protection rules adopted by the Bureau against state-chartered institutions. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has examination and enforcement authority over all banks and savings institutions with more than $10 billion in assets. Institutions with $10 billion or less in assets, such as the Bank, will continue to be examined for compliance with the consumer laws by their primary bank regulators. • Deposit Insurance. The Dodd-Frank Act made permanent the $250,000 deposit insurance limit for insured deposits. Amendments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act also revised the assessment base against which an insured depository institution’s deposit insurance premium paid to the Deposit Insurance Fund (“DIF”) will be calculated. Under the amendments, the assessment base is no longer based on the institution’s deposit base, but rather its average consolidated total assets less its average tangible equity during the assessment period. Additionally, the Dodd-Frank Act makes changes to the minimum designated reserve ratio of the DIF, increasing the minimum from 1.15% to 1.35% of the estimated amount of total insured deposits and eliminating the requirement that the FDIC pay dividends to depository institutions when the reserve ratio exceeds certain thresholds. The FDIC has set the designated reserve ratio at 2.0%. • Shareholder Votes. The Dodd-Frank Act requires publicly traded companies like the Company to give shareholders a non-binding vote on executive compensation and so-called “golden parachute” payments in certain circumstances. The Dodd-Frank Act also authorizes the SEC to promulgate rules that would allow shareholders to nominate their own candidates using a company’s proxy materials. The SEC has not yet adopted such rules. |
Although a significant number of the rules and regulations mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act have been finalized, many of the new requirements called for have yet to be fully implemented and will likely be subject to implementing regulations over the course of several years. In addition, some of the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act that were implemented have already been revised. See “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act” below. Given the uncertainty associated with the manner in whichway the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act will be implemented by the various regulatory agencies, the full extent of the impact such requirements will have on financial institutions’ operations is unclear. The changes resulting from the Dodd-Frank Act may impact the profitability of our business activities, require changes to certain of our business practices, impose upon us more stringent capital, liquidity and leverage ratio requirements (which, in turn, could require the Company and the Bank to seek additional capital) or otherwise adversely affect our business. These changes may also require us to invest significant management attention and resources to evaluate and make necessary changes in order to comply with new statutory and regulatory requirements.
Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.
The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (“EGRRCPA”), adopted in May of 2018, was intended to provide regulatory relief to midsized and regional banks. While many of its provisions are aimed at larger institutions, such as raising the threshold to be considered a systemically important financial institution to $250 billion in assets from $50 billion in assets, many of its provisions will provide regulatory relief to those institutions with $10 billion or more in assets, as well as to those institutions with less than $10 billion in assets. Among other things, the EGRRCPA increased the asset threshold for depository institutions and holding companies to
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perform stress tests required under Dodd Frank from $10 billion to $250 billion, exempted institutions with less than $10 billion in consolidated assets from the Volcker Rule, raised the threshold for the requirement that publicly traded holding companies have a risk committee from $10 billion in consolidated assets to $50 billion in consolidated assets, directed the federal banking agencies to adopt a “community bank leverage ratio”, applicable to institutions and holding companies with less than $10 billion in assets, and to provide that compliance with the new ratio would be deemed compliance with all capital requirements applicable to the institution or holding company (See “-Capital Adequacy Guidelines”), and provided that residential mortgage loans meeting certain criteria and originated by institutions with less than $10 billion in total assets will be deemed to meet the “ability to repay rule” under the Truth in Lending Act. In addition, the EGRRCPA limited the definition of loans that would be subject to the higher risk weighting applicable to High Volatility Commercial Real Estate.
Many of the regulations needed to implement the EGRRCPA have yet to be promulgated by the federal banking agencies, and so it is still uncertain how full implementation of the EGRRCPA will affect the Company and the Bank.
Regulation W
Regulation W codifies prior regulations under Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act and interpretative guidance with respect to affiliate transactions. Affiliates of a bank include, among other entities, the bank’s holding company and companies that are under common control with the bank. The Company is considered to be an affiliate of the Bank. In general, subject to certain specified exemptions, a bank or its subsidiaries are limited in their ability to engage in “covered transactions” with affiliates:
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to an amount equal to 10% of the bank’s capital and surplus, in the case of covered transactions with any one affiliate; and
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to an amount equal to 20% of the bank’s capital and surplus, in the case of covered transactions with all affiliates.
In addition, a bank and its subsidiaries may engage in covered transactions and other specified transactions only on terms and under circumstances that are substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the bank or its subsidiary, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with nonaffiliated companies. A “covered transaction” includes:
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a loan or extension of credit to an affiliate; • a purchase of, or an investment in, securities issued by an affiliate; • a purchase of assets from an affiliate, with some exceptions; • the acceptance of securities issued by an affiliate as collateral for a loan or extension of credit to any party; and • the issuance of a guarantee, acceptance or letter of credit on behalf of an affiliate. |
Further, under Regulation W:
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a bank and its subsidiaries may not purchase a low-quality asset from an affiliate;
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covered transactions and other specified transactions between a bank or its subsidiaries and an affiliate must be on terms and conditions that are consistent with safe and sound banking practices; and
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with some exceptions, each loan or extension of credit by a bank to an affiliate must be secured by certain types of collateral with a market value ranging from 100% to 130%, depending on the type of collateral, of the amount of the loan or extension of credit.
Regulation W generally excludes all non-bank and non-savings association subsidiaries of banks from treatment as affiliates, except to the extent that the FRB decides to treat these subsidiaries as affiliates.
FDICIA
Pursuant to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (“FDICIA”), each federal banking agency has promulgated regulations, specifying the levels at which an insured depository institution such as the Bank would be considered “well capitalized,” “adequately capitalized,” “undercapitalized,” “significantly undercapitalized,” or “critically undercapitalized,” and to take certain mandatory and discretionary supervisory actions based on the capital level of the institution. To qualify to engage in financial activities under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, all depository institutions must be “well capitalized.”
The FDIC’s regulations implementing these provisions of FDICIA provide that an institution will be classified as “well capitalized” if it (i) has a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 10.0%, (ii) has a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of at least 8.0%, (iii) has a Tier 1 leverage ratio
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of at least 5.0%, (iv) has a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of at least 6.5%, and (v) meets certain other requirements. An institution will be classified as “adequately capitalized” if it (i) has a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 8.0%, (ii) has a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of at least 6.0%, (iii) has a Tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 4.0%, has a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of at least 4.5%, and (v) does not meet the definition of “well capitalized.” An institution will be classified as “undercapitalized” if it (i) has a total risk-based capital ratio of less than 8.0%, (ii) has a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of less than 6.0%, (iii) has a Tier 1 leverage ratio of less than 4.0%, or (iv) has a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of less than 4.5%. An institution will be classified as “significantly undercapitalized” if it (i) has a total risk-based capital ratio of less than 6.0%, (ii) has a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of less than 4.0%, (iii) has a Tier 1 leverage ratio of less than 3.0%, or (iv) has a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of less 3.0%. An institution will be classified as “critically undercapitalized” if it has a tangible equity to total assets ratio that is equal to or less than 2.0%. An insured depository institution may be deemed to be in a lower capitalization category if it receives an unsatisfactory examination rating.
In addition, significant provisions of FDICIA required federal banking regulators to impose standards in a number of other important areas to assure bank safety and soundness, including internal controls, information systems and internal audit systems, credit underwriting, asset growth, compensation, loan documentation and interest rate exposure.
Capital Adequacy Guidelines
In December 2010 and January 2011, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (the “Basel Committee”) published the final texts of reforms on capital and liquidity generally referred to as “Basel III.” In July 2013, the FRB, the FDIC and the Comptroller of the Currency adopted final rules (the “New Rules”), which implement certain provisions of Basel III and the Dodd-Frank Act. The New Rules replaced the existing general risk-based capital rules of the various banking agencies with a single, integrated regulatory capital framework. The New Rules require higher capital cushions and more stringent criteria for what qualifies as regulatory capital. The New Rules were effective for the Bank and the Company on January 1, 2015.
Under the New Rules, the Company and the Bank are required to maintain the following minimum capital ratios, expressed as a percentage of risk-weighted assets:
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Common Equity Tier 1 Capital Ratio of 4.5% (the “CET1”); • Tier 1 Capital Ratio (CET1 capital plus “Additional Tier 1 capital”) of 6.0%; and • Total Capital Ratio (Tier 1 capital plus Tier 2 capital) of 8.0%. |
In addition, the Company and the Bank will be subject to a leverage ratio of 4% (calculated as Tier 1 capital to average consolidated assets as reported on the consolidated financial statements).
The New Rules also require a “capital conservation buffer.” When fully phased in on January 1 2019,Under this provision, the Company and the Bank will beare required to maintain a 2.5% capital conservation buffer, which is composed entirely of CET1, on top of the minimum risk-weighted asset ratios described above, resulting in the following minimum capital ratios:
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CET1 of 7%;
• Tier 1 Capital Ratio of 8.5%; and • Total Capital Ratio of 10.5%. |
The purpose of the capital conservation buffer is to absorb losses during periods of economic stress. Banking institutions with a CET1, Tier 1 Capital Ratio and Total Capital Ratio above the minimum set forth above but below the capital conservation buffer will face constraints on their ability to pay dividends, repurchase equity and pay discretionary bonuses to executive officers, based on the amount of the shortfall.
The implementation of the capital conservation buffer began on January 1, 2016 at the 0.625% level, and it increasesincreased by 0.625% on each subsequent January 1 until it reacheswas fully phased in at 2.5% on January 1, 2019.
The New Rules provide for several deductions from and adjustments to CET1, which are being phased in between January 1, 2015 and January 1, 2018.CET1. For example, mortgage servicing rights, deferred tax assets dependent upon future taxable income and significant investments in common equity issued by nonconsolidated financial entities must be deducted from CET1 to the extent that any one of those categories exceeds 10% of CET1 or all such categories in the aggregate exceed 15% of CET1.
Under the New Rules, banking organizations such as the Company and the Bank may make a one-time permanent election regarding the treatment of accumulated other comprehensive income items in determining regulatory capital ratios. Effective as of January 1, 2015, the Company and the Bank elected to exclude accumulated other comprehensive income items for purposes of determining regulatory capital.
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While the New Rules generally require the phase-out of non-qualifying capital instruments such as trust preferred securities and cumulative perpetual preferred stock, holding companies with less than $15 billion in total consolidated assets as of December 31, 2009, such as the Company, may permanently include non-qualifying instruments that were issued and included in Tier 1 or Tier 2 capital prior to May 19, 2010 in Additional Tier 1 or Tier 2 capital until they redeem such instruments or until the instruments mature.
The New Rules prescribe a standardized approach for calculating risk-weighted assets. Depending on the nature of the assets, the risk categories generally range from 0% for U.S. Government and agency securities, to 600% for certain equity exposures, and result in higher risk weights for a variety of asset categories. In addition, the New Rules provide more advantageous risk weights for derivatives and repurchase-style transactions cleared through a qualifying central counterparty and increase the scope of eligible guarantors and eligible collateral for purposes of credit risk mitigation.
Consistent with the Dodd-Frank Act, the New Rules adopt alternatives to credit ratings for calculating the risk-weighting for certain assets.
In December 2018, the OCC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the FDIC approved a final rule to address changes to credit loss accounting under GAAP, including banking organizations’ implementation of ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“CECL”). Under the CARES Act, the effective date for the implementation of ASU No. 2016-13 was delayed until the earlier of the end of the health crises caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic or December 31, 2020. The Economic Aid Act then further delayed implementation until the earlier of the end of the health crises caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic or January 1, 2022. The final rule also provides banking organizations the option to phase in over a three-year period the day-one adverse effects on regulatory capital that may result from the adoption of the new accounting standard. The Company is planning to adopt the capital transition relief over the permissible three-year period.
On September 17, 2019, the federal banking agencies issued a final rule providing simplified capital requirements for certain community banking organizations (banks and holding companies) with less than $10 billion in total consolidated assets, implementing provisions of EGRRCPA discussed above. Under the rule, a qualifying community banking organization would be eligible to elect the community bank leverage ratio framework or continue to measure capital under the existing Basel III requirements set forth in the New Rules. The new rule takes effect January 1, 2020,and qualifying community banking organizations may elect to opt into the new community bank leverage ratio (“CBLR”) in their call report for the first quarter of 2020.
A qualifying community banking organization (“QCBO”) is defined as a bank, a savings association, a bank holding company or a savings and loan holding company with:
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a leverage capital ratio of greater than 9.0%;
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total consolidated assets of less than $10.0 billion;
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total off-balance sheet exposures (excluding derivatives other than credit derivatives and unconditionally cancelable commitments) of 25% or less of total consolidated assets; and
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total trading assets and trading liabilities of 5% or less of total consolidated assets.
A QCBO opting into the CBLR must maintain a CBLR of 9.0%, subject to a two-quarter grace period to come back into compliance, provided that the QCBO maintains a leverage ratio of more than 8.0% during the grace period. A QCBO failing to satisfy these requirements must comply with the Basel III requirements as implemented by the New Rules. The numerator of the CBLR is Tier 1 capital, as calculated under present rules. The denominator of the CBLR is the QCBO’s average assets, calculated in accordance with the QCBO’s Call Report instructions and less assets deducted from Tier 1 capital.
The Company and the Bank have elected not to opt into the CBLR.
Federal Deposit Insurance and Premiums
Substantially all of the deposits of the Bank are insured up to applicable limits by the Deposit Insurance Fund (“DIF”) of the FDIC and are subject to deposit insurance assessments to maintain the DIF.
The assessment base for deposit insurance premiums is an institution’s average consolidated total assets minus average tangible equity. In connection with adopting this assessment base calculation, the FDIC lowered total base assessment rates to between 2.5 and 9 basis points for banks in the lowest risk category, and 30 to 45 basis points for banks in the highest risk category. The Company paid $3.1$4.0 million and $2.0 million in total FDIC assessments in 2017, as compared to $2.4 million in 2016.2020 and 2019.
Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, theThe FDIC has established 2.0% as thea designated reserve ratio (DRR), that is, the ratio of the DIF to insured deposits. The FDIC has adopted a plan under which it will meet the statutory minimum DRRdeposits, of 1.35% by September 30, 2020, the deadline imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act.. The Dodd-Frank Act requires the FDIC to offset the effect on institutions with assets less than $10 billion of the increase in the statutory minimum DRR to 1.35% from the former statutory minimum of 1.15%. The FDIC has not yet announced how it will implement this offset.
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In addition to deposit insurance assessments, the FDIC is required to continue to collect from institutions payments for the servicing of obligations of the Financing Corporation (“FICO”) that were issued in connection with the resolution of savings and loan associations, so long as such obligations remain outstanding. The Bank paid a FICO premium of $210 thousand$-0- in 2017,2020, as compared to $209$16 thousand in 2016.2019.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 (the “Modernization Act”):
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allows bank holding companies meeting management, capital, and Community Reinvestment Act standards to engage in a substantially broader range of non-banking activities than previously was permissible, including insurance underwriting and making merchant banking investments in commercial and financial companies, if the bank holding company elects to become a financial holding company. Thereafter it may engage in certain financial activities without further approvals; • allows insurers and other financial services companies to acquire banks; • removes various restrictions that previously applied to bank holding company ownership of securities firms and mutual fund advisory companies; and • establishes the overall regulatory structure applicable to bank holding companies that also engage in insurance and securities operations. |
The Modernization Act also modified other financial laws, including laws related to financial privacy and community reinvestment. The Company has elected not to become a financial holding company.
Community Reinvestment Act
Under the Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”), as implemented by FDIC regulations, an insured depository institution has a continuing and affirmative obligation consistent with its safe and sound operation to help meet the credit needs of its entire community, including lowlow- and moderate incomemoderate-income neighborhoods. The CRA does not establish specific lending requirements or programs for financial institutions nor does it limit an institution’s discretion to develop the types of products and services that it believes are best suited to its particular community, consistent with the CRA. The CRA requires the FDIC, in connection with its examination of every bank, to assess the bank’s record of meeting the credit needs of its community and to take such record into account in its evaluation of certain applications by such bank.
USA PATRIOT Act
The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the “USA PATRIOT Act”) gives the federal government powers to address terrorist threats through domestic security measures, surveillance powers, information sharing, and anti-money laundering requirements. By way of amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act, the USA PATRIOT Act encourages information-sharing among bank regulatory agencies and law enforcement bodies. Further, certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act impose affirmative obligations on a broad range of financial institutions, including banks, thrift institutions, brokers, dealers, credit unions, money transfer agents and parties registered under the Commodity Exchange Act.
Among other requirements, the USA PATRIOT Act imposes the following requirements with respect to financial institutions:
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All financial institutions must establish anti-money laundering programs that include, at a minimum: (i) internal policies, procedures, and controls; (ii) specific designation of an anti-money laundering compliance officer; (iii) ongoing employee training programs; and (iv) an independent audit function to test the anti-money laundering program.
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The Secretary of the Department of Treasury, in conjunction with other bank regulators, is authorized to issue regulations that provide for minimum standards with respect to customer identification at the time new accounts are opened.
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Financial institutions that establish, maintain, administer, or manage private banking accounts or correspondent accounts in the United States for non-United States persons or their representatives (including foreign individuals visiting the United States) are required to establish appropriate, specific and, where necessary, enhanced due diligence policies, procedures, and controls designed to detect and report money laundering.
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Financial institutions are prohibited from establishing, maintaining, administering or managing correspondent accounts for foreign shell banks (foreign banks that do not have a physical presence in any country), and will be subject to certain record keeping obligations with respect to correspondent accounts of foreign banks.
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• Bank regulators are directed to consider a holding company’s effectiveness in combating money laundering when ruling on Federal Reserve Act and Bank Merger Act applications. |
The United States Treasury Department has issued a number of implementing regulations which address various requirements of the USA PATRIOT Act and are applicable to financial institutions such as the Bank. These regulations impose obligations on financial institutions to maintain appropriate policies, procedures and controls to detect, prevent and report money laundering and terrorist financing and to verify the identity of their customers.
Loans to Related Parties
The Company’s authority to extend credit to its directors and executive officers, as well as to entities controlled by such persons, is currently governed by the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Regulation O promulgated by the FRB. Among other things, these provisions require that extensions of credit to insiders (i) be made on terms that are substantially the same as, and follow credit underwriting procedures that are not less stringent than, those prevailing for comparable transactions with unaffiliated persons and that do not involve more than the normal risk of repayment or present other unfavorable features and (ii) not exceed certain limitations on the amount of credit extended to such persons, individually and in the aggregate, which limits are based, in part, on the amount of the Bank’s capital. In addition, the Bank’s Board of Directors must approve all extensions of credit to insiders.
Dividend Restrictions
The Parent Corporation is a legal entity separate and distinct from the Bank. Virtually all of the revenue of the Parent Corporation available for payment of dividends on its capital stock will result from amounts paid to the Parent Corporation by the Bank. All such dividends are subject to the laws of the State of New Jersey, the Banking Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (“FDIA”) and the regulation of the New JerseyBanking Department of Banking and Insurance and of the FDIC.
Under the New Jersey Corporation Act, the Parent Corporation is permitted to pay cash dividends provided that the payment does not leave us insolvent. As a bank holding company under the BHCA, we would be prohibited from paying cash dividends if we are not in compliance with any capital requirements applicable to us.us, including our required capital conservation buffer. However, as a practical matter, for so long as our major operations consist of ownership of the Bank, the Bank will remain our source of dividend payments, and our ability to pay dividends will be subject to any restrictions applicable to the Bank.
Under the New Jersey Banking Act of 1948, as amended, dividends may be paid by the Bank only if, after the payment of the dividend, the capital stock of the Bank will be unimpaired and either the Bank will have a surplus of not less than 50% of its capital stock or the payment of the dividend will not reduce the Bank’s surplus. The payment of dividends is also dependent upon the Bank’s ability to maintain adequate capital ratios pursuant to applicable regulatory requirements.
The FRB has issued a policy statement regarding the payment of dividends by bank holding companies. In general, the FRB’s policies provide that dividends should be paid only out of current earnings and only if the prospective rate of earnings retention by the bank holding company appears consistent with the organization’s capital needs, asset quality and overall financial condition. FRB regulations also require that a bank holding company serve as a source of financial strength to its subsidiary banks by standing ready to use available resources to provide adequate capital funds to those banks during periods of financial stress or adversity and by maintaining the financial flexibility and capital-raising capacity to obtain additional resources for assisting its subsidiary banks where necessary. Under the prompt corrective action laws, the ability of a bank holding company to pay dividends may be restricted if a subsidiary bank becomes undercapitalized, and under regulations implementing the Basel III accord, a bank holding company’s ability to pay cash dividends may be impaired if it fails to satisfy certain capital buffer requirements. These regulatory policies could affect the ability of the Company to pay dividends or otherwise engage in capital distributions.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
An investment in our common stock involves risks. Stockholders should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before making any purchase or sale decisions regarding our common stock. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition or operating results may be harmed. In that case, the trading price of our common stock may decline, and stockholders may lose part or all of their investment in our common stock.
Risks Applicable to Our Business:
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and measures intended to prevent its spread could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, and such effects will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and are difficult to predict.
Global health concerns relating to the COVID-19 outbreak and related government actions taken to reduce the spread of the virus, including the initial closure of non-essential business and stay at home orders, and continuing restrictions on certain businesses, such as bars restaurants and gyms, have been weighing on the macroeconomic environment in our New Jersey/New York metropolitan market trade area, and the outbreak has significantly increased economic uncertainty and reduced economic activity. The outbreak has resulted in authorities implementing numerous measures to try to contain the virus, such as travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter in place or total lock-down orders and business limitations and shutdowns. Such measures, even as certain of them have been eased, have significantly contributed to rising unemployment and negatively impacted consumer and business spending. The United States government has taken steps to attempt to mitigate some of the more severe anticipated economic effects of the virus, including the passage of the CARES Act and the Economic Aid Act, but there can be no assurance that such steps will be effective or achieve their desired results in a timely fashion.
The outbreak has adversely impacted and is likely to further adversely impact our workforce and operations and the operations of our borrowers, customers and business partners. In particular, we may experience financial losses due to a number of operational factors impacting us or our borrowers, customers or business partners, including but not limited:
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to credit losses resulting from financial stress being experienced by our borrowers as a result of the outbreak and related governmental actions, particularly in the hospitality, energy, retail and restaurant industries, but across other industries as well. As of December 31, 2020, the Bank had approximately $207 million of outstanding loans on deferral for customers facing financial stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many of the loans receiving deferrals during 2020 have returned to normal repayment cycles, we can give you no assurance that these borrowers will be able to sustain repayment of their credits, or that other borrowers will need/seek payment deferrals;
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declines in collateral values;
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third party disruptions, including outages at network providers and other suppliers;
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increased cyber and payment fraud risk, as cybercriminals attempt to profit from the disruption, given increased online and remote activity; and
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operational failures due to changes in our normal business practices necessitated by the outbreak and related governmental actions.
These factors may remain prevalent for a significant period of time and may continue to adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition even after the COVID-19 outbreak has subsided.
The spread of COVID-19 has caused us to modify our business practices (including restricting employee travel, and developing work from home and social distancing plans for our employees), and we may take further actions as may be required by government authorities or as we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers and business partners. There is no certainty that such measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks posed by the virus or will otherwise be satisfactory to government authorities.
The extent to which the coronavirus outbreak impacts our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and are difficult to predict, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the outbreak, its severity, the actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. Even after the COVID-19 outbreak has subsided, we may continue to experience materially adverse impacts to our business as a result of the virus’s global economic impact, including the availability of credit, adverse impacts on our liquidity and any recession that has occurred or may occur in the future.
There are no comparable recent events that provide guidance as to the effect the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic may have, and, as a result, the ultimate impact of the outbreak is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of the impacts on our business, our operations or the global economy as a whole. However, the effects could have a material impact on our results of operations and heighten many of our known risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.
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Our growth-oriented business strategy could be adversely affected if we are not able to attract and retain skilled employees or if we lose the services of our senior management team.
We may not be able to successfully manage our business as a result of the strain on our management and operations that may result from growth. Our ability to manage growth will depend upon our ability to continue to attract, hire and retain skilled employees. The loss of members of our senior management team, including those officers named in the summary compensation table of our proxy statement, could have a material adverse effect on our results or operations and ability to execute our strategic goals. Our success will also depend on the ability of our officers and key employees to continue to implement and improve our operational and other systems, to manage multiple, concurrent customer relationships and to hire, train and manage our employees.
We may need to raise additional capital to execute our growth orientedgrowth-oriented business strategy.
In order to continue our growth, we will be required to maintain our regulatory capital ratios at levels higher than the minimum ratios set by our regulators. In addition, the implementation of the Basel III regulatory capital requirements may require us to increase our regulatory capital ratios and raise additional capital. We can offer you no assurances that we will be able to raise capital in the future, or that the terms of any such capital will be beneficial to our existing security holders. In the event we are unable to raise capital in the future, we may not be able to continue our growth strategy.
We have a significant concentration in commercial real estate loans.
Our loan portfolio is made up largely of commercial real estate loans. These types of loans generally expose a lender to a higher degree of credit risk of non-payment and loss than do residential mortgage loans because of several factors, including dependence on the successful operation of a business or a project for repayment, and loan terms with a balloon payment rather than full amortization over the loan term. In addition, commercial real estate loans typically involve larger loan balances to single borrowers or groups of related borrowers compared to one-to four-family residential mortgage loans. Underwriting and portfolio management activities cannot completely eliminate all risks related to these loans. Any significant failure to pay on time by our customers or a significant default by our customers would materially and adversely affect us.
AtAs of December 31, 2017,2020, we had $3.1$4.4 billion of commercial real estate loans, including commercial construction loans, which represented 73.7%70.6% of loans receivable. Concentrations in commercial real estate are also monitored by regulatory agencies and subject to scrutiny. Guidance from these regulatory agencies includes all commercial real estate loans, including commercial construction loans, in calculating our commercial real estate concentration, but excludes owner-occupied commercial real estate loans. Based on this regulatory definition, our commercial real estate loans represented 568%442% of the Bank’s total risk-based capital.
capital as of December 31, 2020.
Loans secured by owner-occupied real estate are reliant on the operating businesses to provide cash flow to meet debt service obligations, and as a result they are more susceptible to the general impact on the economic environment affecting those operating companies as well as the real estate.
AlthoughThe impact of the economy in our marketCOVID-19 pandemic on the metropolitan New York area generally, and thecommercial real estate market is uncertain, with rents in particular, is growing, we can give you no assurance that it will continue to grow or that the rate of growth will accelerate. Manycertain core urban markets declining.Many other factors, including the exchange rate for the U.S. dollar, potential international trade tariffs,and changes in federal tax laws effectingaffecting the deductibility of state and local taxes and mortgage interest could reduce or halt growth innegatively impact our local economy and real estate market. Accordingly, it may be more difficult for commercial real estate borrowers to repay their loans in a timely manner, as commercial real estate borrowers’ ability to repay their loans frequently depends on the successful development of their properties. The deterioration of one or a few of our commercial real estate loans could cause a material increase in our level of nonperforming loans, which would result in a loss of revenue from these loans and could result in an increase in the provision for loancredit losses and/or an increase in charge-offs, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our net income. We also may incur losses on commercial real estate loans due to declines in occupancy rates and rental rates, which may decrease property values and may decrease the likelihood that a borrower may find permanent financing alternatives. Any weakening of the commercial real estate market may increase the likelihood of default of these loans, which could negatively impact our loan portfolio’s performance and asset quality. If we are required to liquidate the collateral securing a loan to satisfy the debt during a period of reduced real estate values, we could incur material losses. Any of these events could increase our costs, require management time and attention, and materially and adversely affect us.
Federal banking agencies have issued guidance regarding high concentrations of commercial real estate loans within bank loan portfolios. The guidance requires financial institutions that exceed certain levels of commercial real estate lending compared with their total capital to maintain heightened risk management practices that address the following key elements: board and management oversight and strategic planning, portfolio management, development of underwriting standards, risk assessment and monitoring through market analysis and stress testing, and maintenance of increased capital levels as needed to support the level of commercial real estate lending. If there is any deterioration in our commercial real estate portfolio or if our regulators conclude that we have not implemented appropriate risk management practices, it could adversely affect our business, and could result in the requirement to maintain increased capital levels. Such capital may not be available at that time and may result in our regulators requiring us to reduce our concentration in commercial real estate loans.
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If we are limited in our ability to originate loans secured by commercial real estate, we may face greater risk in our loan portfolio
portfolio.
If, because of our concentration of commercial real estate loans, or for any other reasons, we are limited in our ability to originate loans secured by commercial real estate, we may incur greater risk in our loan portfolio. For example, we are and may continue to seek to further increase our growth rate in commercial and industrial loans, including both secured and unsecured commercial and industrial loans. Unsecured loans generally involve a higher degree of risk of loss than do secured loans because, without collateral, repayment is wholly dependent upon the success of the borrowers’ businesses and personal guarantees. Secured commercial and industrial loans are generally collateralized by accounts receivable, inventory, equipment or other assets owned by the borrower and typically include a personal guaranty of the business owner. Compared to real estate, that type of collateral is more difficult to monitor, its value is harder to ascertain, it may depreciate more rapidly, and it may not be as readily saleable if repossessed. Therefore, we may be exposed to greater risk of loss on these credits.
The nature and growth rate of our commercial loan portfolio may expose us to increased lending risks.
Given the significant growth in our loan portfolio, many of our commercial real estate loans are unseasoned, meaning that they were originated relatively recently. As of December 31, 2017,2020, we had $2.6$3.9 billion in commercial real estate loans outstanding. Approximately 67%48.4% of the loans, or $1.7$1.9 billion, had been originated in the past three years. In addition, as part of the Bancorp of New Jersey merger, we acquired $0.8 billion in loans from Bancorp of New Jersey. Our limited experience with these loans does not provide us with a significant payment history pattern with which to judge future collectability. As a result, it may be difficult to predict the future performance of our loan portfolio. These loans may have delinquency or charge-off levels above our expectations, which could negatively affect our performance.
Our portfolio of loans secured by New York City taxi medallions could expose us to credit losses.
We maintain a significant credit exposure ($46.824.7 million carrying value as of December 31, 2017)2020) of loans secured by New York City taxi medallions. The taxi industry in New York City is facing significant competition and pressure from technology basedtechnology-based ride share companies such as Uber and Lyft.Lyft, as well as from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the trend toward working from home as a mitigant to the pandemic. This has resulted in volatility in the pricing of medallions, and has impacted the earnings of many medallion holders, including our borrowers. The entire taxi medallion portfolio was designated as nonaccrual, and the entire portfolio has been re-designated as loans held-for-investment, reflecting reduced interest by purchasers in smaller portfolios of loans secured by taxi medallions, such as ours. Any further deterioration in the value of New York City taxi medallions, or in the medallion taxi industry in New York City, could expose us to additional losses through additional write downs on these loans.
We expect that the implementation of Current Expected Credit Loss (“CECL”), which will require us to record an allowance for credit losses in excess of our existing allowance for loan losses, could cause increased volatility in our financial condition and results of operation.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) has adopted a new accounting standard, CECL. The effective date for the Company of CECL has been delayed by the Economic Aid Act until January 1, 2022, although earlier adoption is permitted. CECL will require financial institutions to determine periodic estimates of lifetime expected credit losses on loans, other financial instruments and other commitments to extend credit and provide for the expected credit losses as allowances for credit losses. However, the Company has decided to adopt CECL as of January 1, 2021. This will change the current method of providing allowances for loan losses that are probable, which will require us to record an allowance for credit losses as of January 1, 2021 in excess of our existing allowance for loan losses, and will greatly increase the data we will need to collect and review to determine the appropriate level of the allowance for credit losses. Although we expect the Bank and the Parent Corporation will continue to meet all capital adequacy requirements to which they are subject following recording of the impact of adoption to stockholders’ equity, future provisioning for expected credit losses under CECL may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
The small to medium-sized businesses that the Bank lends to may have fewer resources to weather a downturn in the economy, which may impair a borrower’s ability to repay a loan to the Bank that could materially harm our operating results.
The Bank targets its business development and marketing strategy primarily to serve the banking and financial services needs of small to medium-sized businesses. These small to medium-sized businesses frequently have smaller market share than their competition, may be more vulnerable to economic downturns, often need substantial additional capital to expand or compete and may experience significant volatility in operating results. Any one or more of these factors may impair the borrower’s ability to repay a loan. In addition, the success of a small to medium-sized business often depends on the management talents and efforts of one or two persons or a small group of persons, and the death, disability or resignation of one or more of these persons could have a material adverse impact on the business and its ability to repay a loan. Economic downturns and other events that negatively impact our market areas could cause the Bank to incur substantial credit losses that could negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.
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Our ability to maintain our reputation is critical to the success of our business and the failure to do so may materially adversely affect our performance.
Our reputation is one of the most valuable components of our business. As such, we strive to conduct our business in a manner that enhances our reputation. This is done, in part, by recruiting, hiring and retaining employees who share our core values of being an integral part of the communities we serve, delivering superior service to our customers and caring about our customers and associates. If our reputation is negatively affected, by the actions of our employees or otherwise, our business and, therefore, our operating results may be materially adversely affected.
Anti-takeover provisions in our corporate documents and in New Jersey corporate law may make it difficult and expensive to remove current management.
Anti-takeover provisions in our corporate documents and in New Jersey law may render the removal of our existing board of directors and management more difficult. Consequently, it may be difficult and expensive for our stockholders to remove current management, even if current management is not performing adequately.
Competition from other financial institutions in originating loans and attracting deposits may adversely affect our profitability.
We face substantial competition in originating loans. This competition currently comes principally from other banks, savings institutions, mortgage banking companies, credit unions and other lenders. Many of our competitors enjoy advantages, including greater financial resources and higher lending limits, 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. This competition could reduce our net income by decreasing the number and size of loans that we originate and the interest rates we may charge on these loans.
In attracting deposits, we face substantial competition from other insured depository institutions such as banks, savings institutions and credit unions, as well as institutions offering uninsured investment alternatives, including money market funds. Many of our competitors enjoy advantages, including greater financial resources, more aggressive marketing campaigns, better brand recognition and more branch locations.
These competitors may offer higher interest rates than we do, which could decrease the deposits that we attract or require us to increase our rates to retain existing deposits or attract new deposits.
We have also been active in competing for New York and New Jersey governmental and municipal deposits. AtAs of December 31, 2017,2020, governmental and municipal deposits accounted for approximately $358.8$693.1 million in deposits. The newly elected governor of New Jersey has proposed that the state form and own a bank in which governmental and municipal entities would deposit their excess funds, with the state ownedstate-owned bank then financing small businesses and municipal projects in New Jersey. Although this proposal is in the very early stages, should this proposal be adopted and a state ownedstate-owned bank formed, it could impede our ability to attract and retain governmental and municipal deposits.
Increased deposit competition could adversely affect our ability to generate the funds necessary for lending operations, which may increase our cost of funds.
We also compete with non-bank providers of financial services, such as brokerage firms, consumer finance companies, insurance companies and governmental organizations, which may offer more favorable terms. Some of our non-bank competitors are not subject to the same extensive regulations that govern our operations. As a result, such non-bank competitors may have advantages over us in providing certain products and services. This competition may reduce or limit our margins on banking services, reduce our market share and adversely affect our earnings and financial condition.
In addition, the banking industry in general has begun to face competition for deposit, credit and money management products from non-bank technology firms, or fintech companies, which my offer products independently or through relationships with insured depository institutions.
External factors, many of which we cannot control, may result in liquidity concerns for us.
Liquidity risk is the potential that the Bank may be unable to meet its obligations as they come due, capitalize on growth opportunities as they arise, or pay regular dividends because of an inability to liquidate assets or obtain adequate funding in a timely basis, at a reasonable cost and within acceptable risk tolerances.
Liquidity is required to fund various obligations, including credit commitments to borrowers, mortgage and other loan originations, withdrawals by depositors, repayment of borrowings, operating expenses, capital expenditures and dividend payments to shareholders.
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Liquidity is derived primarily from deposit growth and retention; principal and interest payments on loans; prepayment and maturities of loans; principal and interest payments on investment securities; sale, maturity and prepayment of investment securities; net cash provided from operations, and access to other funding sources. In addition, in recent periods we have substantially increased our use of alternate deposit origination channels, such as brokered deposits, including reciprocal deposit services, and internet listing services.
Our access to funding sources in amounts adequate to finance our activities could be impaired by factors that affect us specifically or the financial services industry in general. Factors that could detrimentally impact our access to liquidity sources include a decrease in the level of our business activity due to market factors or an adverse regulatory action against us. In addition, our ability to use alternate deposit originationsorigination channels could be substantially impaired if we fail to remain “well capitalized”. Our ability to borrow could also be impaired by factors that are not specific to us, such as a severe disruption of the financial markets or negative views and expectations about the prospects for the financial services industry as a whole. The liquidity issues have been particularly acute for regional and community banks, as many of the larger financial institutions have significantly curtailed their lending to regional and community banks to reduce their exposure to the risks of other banks. In addition, many of the larger correspondent lenders have reduced or even eliminated federal funds lines for their correspondent customers. Furthermore, regional and community banks generally have less access to the capital markets than do the national and super-regional banks because of their smaller size and limited analyst coverage. Any decline in available funding could adversely impact our ability
to originate loans, invest in securities, meet our expenses, or fulfill obligations such as meeting deposit withdrawal demands, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity, business, results of operations and financial condition.
Declines in the value of our investment securities portfolio may adversely impact our results.
As of December 31, 2017,2020, we had approximately $435.3$488.0 million in investment securities, available-for-sale. We may be required to record impairment charges on our investment securities if they suffer a decline in value below their amortized cost basis that is considered other-than-temporary.credit related. Numerous factors, including lack of liquidity for re-sales of certain investment securities, absence of reliable pricing information on investment securities, adverse changes in business climate, adverse actions by regulators, or unanticipated changes in the competitive environment could have a negative effect on our investment portfolio in future periods. If an impairment charge is significant enough, it could affect the ability of the Bank to upstream dividends to the Company, which could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and our ability to pay dividends to shareholders and could also negatively impact our regulatory capital ratios.
The Bank’s ability to pay dividends is subject to regulatory limitations, which, to the extent that the Company requires such dividends in the future, may affect the Company’s ability to honor its obligations and pay dividends.
As a bank holding company, the Company is a separate legal entity from the Bank and its subsidiaries and does not have significant operations. We currently depend on the Bank’s cash and liquidity to pay our operating expenses and to fund dividends to shareholders. We cannot assure you that in the future the Bank will have the capacity to pay the necessary dividends and that we will not require dividends from the Bank to satisfy our obligations. Various statutes and regulations limit the availability of dividends from the Bank. It is possible, depending upon our and the Bank’s financial condition and other factors, that bank regulators could assert that payment of dividends or other payments by the Bank are an unsafe or unsound practice. In the event that the Bank is unable to pay dividends, we may not be able to service our obligations, as they become due, or pay dividends on our capital stock. Consequently, the inability to receive dividends from the Bank could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and prospects.
In addition, as described under “Capital Adequacy Guidelines,” beginning in 2016, banks and bank holding companies are be required to maintain a capital conservation buffer on top of minimum risk-weighted asset ratios. When fully phased in on January 1, 2019, theThe capital conservation buffer will beis 2.5%. Banking institutions which do not maintain capital in excess of the capital conservation buffer will face constraints on the payment of dividends, equity repurchases, and compensation based on the amount of the shortfall. Accordingly, if the Bank fails to maintain the applicable minimum capital ratios and the capital conservation buffer, distributions to the Company may be prohibited or limited.
We may incur impairment to goodwill.
We review our goodwill at least annually. Significant negative industry or economic trends, reduced estimates of future cash flows or disruptions to our business, could indicate that goodwill might be impaired. Our valuation methodology for assessing impairment requires management to make judgments and assumptions based on historical experience and to rely on projections of future operating performance. We operate in a competitive environment and projections of future operating results and cash flows may vary significantly from actual results. Additionally, if our analysis results in an impairment to our goodwill, we would be required to record a non-cash charge to earnings in our financial statements during the period in which such impairment is determined to exist. Any such charge could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
We have grown and may continue to grow through acquisitions.
Since January 1, 2019, we have acquired GHB, BoeFly, LLC and BNJ. To be successful as a larger institution, we must successfully integrate the operations and retain the customers of acquired institutions, attract and retain the management required to successfully manage larger operations, and control costs.
Future results of operations will depend in large part on our ability to successfully integrate the operations of the acquired institutions and retain the customers of those institutions. If we pursue acquisitions,are unable to successfully manage the integration of the separate cultures, customer bases
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and operating systems of the acquired institutions, and any other institutions that may be acquired in the future, our results of operations may be adversely affected.
In addition, to successfully manage substantial growth, we may heighten the risksneed to increase non-interest expenses through additional personnel, leasehold and data processing costs, among others. In order to successfully manage growth, we may need to adopt and effectively implement policies, procedures and controls to maintain credit quality, control costs and oversee our operations and financial condition.
To the extentoperations. No assurance can be given that we undertake acquisitions, wewill be successful in this strategy.
We may experiencebe challenged to successfully manage our business as a result of the effects of higher operating expenses relativestrain on management and operations that may result from growth. The ability to operating income from the new operations, which may have a material adverse effectmanage growth will depend on our ability to continue to attract, hire and retain skilled employees. Success will also depend on the ability of officers and key employees to continue to implement and improve operational and other systems, to manage multiple, concurrent customer relationships and to hire, train and manage employees.
Finally, substantial growth may stress regulatory capital levels, of reported net income, return on average equity and return on average assets. Other effects of engaging in such growth strategies may include potential diversion of our management’s time and attention and general disruptionrequire us to our business. To the extent that we grow through acquisitions, we cannot assure youraise additional capital. No assurance can be given that we will be able to adequately and profitably manage this growth. Acquiring other banks and businesses involve similar risksraise any required capital, or that it will be able to those commonly associated with branching, but may also involve additional risks, including:raise capital on terms that are beneficial to stockholders.
Attractive acquisition opportunities may not be available to us in the future.
We expect that other banking and financial service companies, many of which have significantly greater resources than us, will compete with us in acquiring other financial institutionstarget companies if we pursue such acquisitions. This competition could increase prices for potential acquisitions that we believe are attractive. Also, acquisitions are subject to various regulatory approvals. If we fail to receive the appropriate regulatory approvals, we will not be able to consummate an acquisition that we believe is in our best interests. Among other things, our regulators will consider our capital, liquidity, profitability, regulatory compliance and levels of goodwill when considering acquisition and expansion proposals. Any acquisition could be dilutive to our earnings and shareholders’ equity per share of our common stock.
Hurricanes or other adverse weather or health related events could negatively affect our local economies or disrupt our operations, which would have an adverse effect on our business or results of operations.
Hurricanes and other weather events can disrupt our operations, result in damage to our properties and negatively affect the local economies in which we operate. In addition, these weather events may result in a decline in value or destruction of properties securing our loans and an increase in delinquencies, foreclosures and loan losses. Finally, health related events, such as a viral pandemic, could adversely affect the business of our customers and our local economies, thereby adversely affecting our results of operations.
We may be adversely affected by recent changes in U.S.Federal tax laws.
ChangesOur business may be adversely affected by changes in tax laws. For example, changes in tax laws contained in theThe Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted in December 2017, include a number of provisions that will have an impact on the banking industry, borrowers and the market for single-family residential real estate. Changes include (i) a lower limit on the deductibility of mortgage interest on single-family residential mortgage loans, (ii) the elimination of interest deductions for home equity loans, (iii) a limitation on the deductibility of business interest expense and (iv) a limitation on the deductibility of property taxes and state and local income taxes.
The recent changes in the tax laws may have an adverse effect on the market for, and valuation of, residential properties, and on the demand for such loans in the future and could make it harder for borrowers to make their loan payments. In addition, these recent changes may also have a disproportionate effect on taxpayers in states with high residential home prices and high state and local taxes, such as New Jersey.Jersey and New York. If home ownership becomes less attractive, demand for mortgage loans could decrease. The value of the properties securing loans in the loan portfolio may be adversely impacted as a result of the changing economics of home ownership, which could require an increase in the provision for loan losses, which would reduce profitability and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, the incoming Biden administration has discussed raising corporate income tax rates. Any increase in our federal income tax rates could adversely impact our results of operations.
Recent New Jersey legislative changes may increase our tax expense.
In 2019, New Jersey adopted legislation that will increase our state income tax liability and could increase our overall tax expense. The legislation imposed a temporary surtax on corporations earning New Jersey allocated income in excess of $1 million of 2.5% for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019, and of 1.5% for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021. However, in 2020, this surtax was extended through December 31, 2023, at the 2.5% level. The legislation also required combined filing for members of an affiliated group for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, changing New Jersey’s current status as a separate return state, and limits, to varying degrees related to the Company’s size, operating area and organizational structure, the deductibility of dividends received. These changes are not temporary. Although regulations implementing the legislative changes have not yet
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been issued, it is possible that the Company will lose the benefit of at least certain of its tax management strategies, and, if so, our total tax expense will likely increase.
The Company will be subject to heightened regulatory requirements if total assets exceed $10 billion.
The Company’s total assets were $7.5 billion as of December 31, 2020. Banks with assets in excess of $10 billion are subject to requirements imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act and its implementing regulations, including: the examination authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to assess compliance with Federal consumer financial laws, imposition of higher FDIC premiums, and reduced debit card interchange fees all of which increase operating costs and reduce earnings.
As the Company approaches $10 billion in total consolidated assets, additional costs have been incurred to prepare for the implementation of these imposed requirements. The Company may be required to invest more significant management attention and resources to evaluate and continue to make any changes necessary to comply with the new statutory and regulatory requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act. Further, Federal financial regulators may require accelerated actions and investments to prepare for compliance before $10 billion in total consolidated assets is exceeded, and may suspend or delay certain regulatory actions, such as approving a merger agreement, if preparations are deemed inadequate. Upon reaching this threshold, the Company faces the risk of failing to meet these requirements, which may negatively impact results of operations and financial condition. While the effect of any presently contemplated or future changes in the laws or regulations or their interpretations would have been unpredictable, these changes could be materially adverse to the Company’s investors.
Reforms to and uncertainty regarding LIBOR may adversely affect the business.
In 2017, a committee of private-market derivative participants and their regulators convened by the Federal Reserve, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, or “ARRC”, was created to identify an alternative reference interest rate to replace LIBOR. The ARRC announced Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or “SOFR”, a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by Treasury securities, as its preferred alternative to LIBOR. The Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced its intention to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR to the administrator of LIBOR after 2021. Subsequently, the Federal Reserve Bank announced final plans for the production of SOFR, which resulted in the commencement of its published rates by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on April 2, 2018. Whether or not SOFR attains market traction as a LIBOR replacement tool remains in question and the future of LIBOR at this time is uncertain. The uncertainty as to the nature and effect of such reforms and actions and the political discontinuance of LIBOR may adversely affect the value of and return on the Company’s financial assets and liabilities that are based on or are linked to LIBOR, the Company’s results of operations or financial condition. In addition, these reforms may also require extensive changes to the contracts that govern these LIBOR based products, as well as the Company’s systems and processes.
Risks Applicable to the Banking Industry Generally:
Our allowance for loan losses and allowance for credit losses may not be adequate to cover actual losses.
Like all financial institutions, we maintain an allowance for loan losses and allowance for credit losses to provide for loan defaults and nonperformance. The process for determining the amount of the allowance is critical to our financial results and condition. It requires difficult, subjective and complex judgments about the future, including the impact of national and regional economic conditions on the ability of our borrowers to repay their loans. If our judgment proves to be incorrect, our allowance for loan losses may not be sufficient to cover losses inherent in our loan portfolio. Further, state and federal regulatory agencies, as an integral part of their examination process, review our loans and allowance for loan losses and may require an increase in our allowance for loan losses.
Although we believe that ourlosses and allowance for loan losses is adequatecredit losses.
Further increases to cover known and probable incurred losses included in the portfolio, we cannot assure you that we will not further increase the allowance for loan losses or that our regulators will not require us to increase this allowance. Either of these occurrences could adversely affect our earnings.
Changes in interest rates may adversely affect our earnings and financial condition.
Our net income depends primarily upon our net interest income. Net interest income is the difference between interest income earned on loans, investments and other interest-earning assets and the interest expense incurred on deposits and borrowed funds. The level of net interest income is primarily a function of the average balance of our interest-earning assets, the average balance of our interest-bearing liabilities, and the spread between the yield on such assets and the cost of such liabilities. These factors are influenced by both the pricing and mix of our interest-earning assets and our interest-bearing liabilities which, in turn, are impacted by such external factors as the local economy, competition for loans and deposits, the monetary policy of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (the “FOMC”), and market interest rates.
A sustained increase in market interest rates could adversely affect our earnings if our cost of funds increases more rapidly than our yield on our earning assets and compresses our net interest margin. In addition, the economic value of portfolio equity would decline if interest rates increase. For example, we estimate that as of December 31, 2017,2020, a 200 basis200-basis point increase in interest rates would have resulted in our economic value of portfolio equity declining by approximately $72.4$74.7 million or 12.83%7.8%. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Interest Rate Sensitivity Analysis.”
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Different types of assets and liabilities may react differently, and at different times, to changes in market interest rates. We expect that we will periodically experience gaps in the interest rate sensitivities of our assets and liabilities. That means either our interest-bearing liabilities will be more sensitive to changes in market interest rates than our interest-earning assets, or vice versa. When interest-bearing liabilities mature or re-price more quickly than interest-earning assets, an increase in market rates of interest could reduce our net interest income. Likewise, when interest-earning assets mature or re-price more quickly than interest-bearing liabilities, falling interest rates could reduce our net interest income. We are unable to predict changes in market interest rates, which are affected by many factors beyond our control, including inflation, deflation, recession, unemployment, money supply, domestic and international events and changes in the United States and other financial markets.
We also attempt to manage risk from changes in market interest rates, in part, by controlling the mix of interest rate sensitive assets and interest rate sensitive liabilities. However, interest rate risk management techniques are not exact. A rapid increase or decrease in interest rates could adversely affect our results of operations and financial performance.
The banking business is subject to significant government regulations.
We are subject to extensive governmental supervision, regulation and control. These laws and regulations are subject to change and may require substantial modifications to our operations or may cause us to incur substantial additional compliance costs. In addition, future legislation and government policy could adversely affect the commercial banking industry and our operations. Such governing laws can be anticipated to continue to be the subject of future modification. Our management cannot predict what effect any such future modifications will have on our operations. In addition, the primary focus of Federal and state banking regulation is the protection of depositors and not the shareholders of the regulated institutions.
For example, the Dodd-Frank Act may result in substantial new compliance costs. The Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law on July 21, 2010. Generally, the Dodd-Frank Act is effective the day after it was signed into law, but different effective dates apply to specific sections of the law, many of which will not become effective until various Federal regulatory agencies have promulgated rules implementing the statutory provisions. Uncertainty remains as to the ultimate impact of the Dodd-Frank Act, which could have a material adverse impact either on the financial services industry as a whole, or on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The following aspects of the financial reform and consumer protection act are related to the operations of the Bank:
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A new independent consumer financial protection bureau was established within the Federal Reserve, empowered to exercise broad regulatory, supervisory and enforcement authority with respect to both new and existing consumer financial protection laws. However, financial institutions with less than $10.0 billion in total assets, like the Bank, are subject to the supervision and enforcement of their primary federal banking regulator with respect to the federal consumer financial protection laws.
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The act also imposes new obligations on originators of residential mortgage loans, such as the Bank. Among other things, originators must make a reasonable and good faith determination based on documented information that a borrower has a reasonable ability to repay a particular mortgage loan over the long term. If the originator cannot meet this standard, the loan may be unenforceable in foreclosure proceedings. The act contains an exception from this ability to repay rule for “qualified mortgages”, which are deemed to satisfy the rule, but does not define the term, and left authority to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) to adopt a definition. A rule issued by the CFPB in January 2013, and effective January 10, 2014, sets forth specific underwriting criteria for a loan to qualify as a Qualified Mortgage Loan. The criteria generally exclude loans that are interest-only, have excessive upfront points or fees, have negative amortization features or balloon payments, or have terms in excess of 30 years. The underwriting criteria also impose a maximum debt to income ratio of 43%. If a loan meets these criteria and is not a “higher priced loan” as defined in FRB regulations, the CFPB rule establishes a safe harbor preventing a consumer from asserting as a defense to foreclosure the failure of the originator to establish the consumer’s ability to repay. However, this defense will be available to a consumer for all other residential mortgage loans. Although the majority of residential mortgages historically originated by the Bank would qualify as Qualified Mortgage Loans, the Bank has also made, and may continue to make in the future, residential mortgage loans that will not qualify as Qualified Mortgage Loans. These loans may expose the Bank to greater losses, loan repurchase obligations, or litigation related expenses and delays in taking title to collateral real estate, if these loans do not perform and borrowers challenge whether the Bank satisfied the ability to repay rule on originating the loan.
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Tier 1 capital treatment for “hybrid” capital items like trust preferred securities is eliminated subject to various grandfathering and transition rules.
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The prohibition on payment of interest on demand deposits was repealed, effective July 21, 2011.
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Deposit insurance is permanently increased to $250,000.
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The deposit insurance assessment base calculation now equals the depository institution’s total assets minus the sum of its average tangible equity during the assessment period.
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• The minimum reserve ratio of the Deposit Insurance Fund increased to 1.35% of estimated annual insured deposits or assessment base; however, the FDIC is directed to “offset the effect” of the increased reserve ratio for insured depository institutions with total consolidated assets of less than $10 billion. |
In addition, in order to implement Basel III and certain additional capital changes required by the Dodd-Frank Act, on July 9, 2013, the Federal banking agencies, including the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, approved, as an interim final rule, the regulatory capital requirements for U.S. insured depository institutions and their holding companies. This regulation requires financial institutions to maintain higher capital levels and more equity capital.
These provisions, as well as any other aspects of current or proposed regulatory or legislative changes to laws applicable to the financial industry, may impact the profitability of our business activities and may change certain of our business practices, including the ability to offer new products, obtain financing, attract deposits, make loans, and achieve satisfactory interest spreads, and could expose us to additional costs, including increased compliance costs. These changes also may require us to invest significant management attention and resources to make any necessary changes to operations in order to comply and could therefore also materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our management is actively reviewing the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, many of which are to be phased-in over the next several months and years and assessing the probable impact on our operations. However, the ultimate effect of these changes on the financial services industry in general, and us in particular, is uncertain at this time.
The laws that regulate our operations are designed for the protection of depositors and the public, not our shareholders.
The federal and state laws and regulations applicable to our operations give regulatory authorities extensive discretion in connection with their supervisory and enforcement responsibilities, and generally have been promulgated to protect depositors and the Deposit Insurance Fund and not for the purpose of protecting shareholders. These laws and regulations can materially affect our future business. Laws and regulations now affecting us may be changed at any time, and the interpretation of such laws and regulations by bank regulatory authorities is also subject to change.
We can give no assurance that future changes in laws and regulations or changes in their interpretation will not adversely affect our business. Legislative and regulatory changes may increase our cost of doing business or otherwise adversely affect us and create competitive advantages for non-bank competitors.
The potential impact of changes in monetary policy and interest rates may negatively affect our operations.
Our operating results may be significantly affected (favorably or unfavorably) by market rates of interest that, in turn, are affected by prevailing economic conditions, by the fiscal and monetary policies of the United States government and by the policies of various regulatory agencies. Our earnings will depend significantly upon our interest rate spread (i.e., the difference between the interest rate earned on our loans and investments and the interest raid paid on our deposits and borrowings). Like many financial institutions, we may be subject to the risk of fluctuations in interest rates, which, if significant, may have a material adverse effect on our operations.
We cannot predict how changes in technology will impact our business; increased use of technology may expose us to service interruptions or breaches in security.
The financial services market, including banking services, is increasingly affected by advances in technology, including developments in:
•
Telecommunications;
•
Data processing;
•
Automation;
•
Internet-based banking, including personal computers, mobile phones and tablets;
•
Debit cards and so-called “smart cards”; and
•
Remote deposit capture.
- 23 -
Our ability to compete successfully in the future will depend, to a certain extent, on whether we can anticipate and respond to technological changes. We offer electronic banking services for our consumer and business customers via our website, www.cnob.com, including Internet banking and electronic bill payment, as well as mobile banking by phone. We also offer check cards, ATM cards, credit cards, and automatic and ACH transfers. The successful operation and further development of these and other new technologies will likely require additional capital investments in the future. In addition, increased use of electronic banking creates opportunities for interruptions in service or security breaches, which could expose us to claims by customers or other third parties.parties and damage our reputation. We cannot assure you that we will have
sufficient resources or access to the necessary proprietary technology to remain competitive in the future, or that we will be able to maintain a secure electronic environment.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
The Bank operates sevennine banking offices in Bergen County, NJ, consisting of one office each in Fort Lee, Englewood Cliffs, Englewood, Hackensack, Cliffside Park, Cresskill, Fort Lee, Hackensack,Haworth, Ridgewood and Saddle River; ninefive banking offices in Union County, NJ, consisting of fourtwo offices in Union Township, and one office each in Springfield Township, Berkeley Heights, and Summit; threeone banking officesoffice in Morristown in Morris County, NJ, consisting of one office each in Boonton, Madison and Morristown;NJ; one office in Newark in Essex County, NJ; one office in West New York in Hudson County, NJ; one office in Princeton in Mercer County, NJ; one office in Holmdel in Monmouth County, and one banking office in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The Bank is also opening a bankingCity, one office in Melville, Nassau County on Long Island, one in Astoria, Queens and six branches in the Hudson Valley, including in White Plains and Tarrytown, in Westchester County, New York, on Long Island.Bardonia and Blauvelt, in Rockland County, New York and in Middletown, and Warwick, in Orange County, New York. The Bank’s principal office is located at 301 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The principal office is a three-story leased building constructed in 2008.
The following table sets forth certain information regarding the Bank’s leased locations.
Banking Office Location | Term | |
301 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ | Term expires November | |
12 East Palisade Avenue, Englewood, NJ | Term expires July | |
1 Union Avenue, Cresskill, NJ | Term expires June | |
899 Palisade Avenue, Fort Lee, NJ | Term expires August | |
142 John Street, Hackensack, NJ | Term expires December | |
171 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ | Term expires April | |
71 East Allendale Road, Saddle River, NJ | Term expires | |
356 Chestnut Street, Union, NJ | Term expires May 2027 | |
545 Morris Avenue, Summit, NJ | Term expires | |
217 Chestnut Street, Newark, NJ | Term expires | |
5914 Park Avenue, West New York, NJ | Term expires September | |
344 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ | Term expires | |
963 Holmdel Road, Holmdel, NJ | Term expires | |
551 Madison Avenue, Suite 202, NY, NY | Term expires | |
48 South Service Rd, 2nd Fl, Melville, NY | Term Expires July 2025 | |
36-19 Broadway, Astoria, NY | Term Expires August 2028 | |
485 Schutt Rd, Middletown, NY | Term Expires October 2025 | |
62 Main St., Warwick, NY | Term Expires January 2024 | |
715 Route 304, Bardonia NY | Term Expires August 2028 | |
567 North Broadway, White Plains NY | Term Expires December 2028 | |
155 White Plains Rd., Tarrytown NY | Term Expires December 2026 | |
170 East Erie St, Blauvelt NY | Term Expires February 2028 | |
354 Palisades Avenue, Cliffside Park, NJ | Term Expires July 2021 |
The Bank operates a Drive In/Walk Up located at 2022 Stowe Street, Union, NJ.
There are no significant pending legal proceedings involving the Company other than those arising out of routine operations. None of these matters would have a material adverse effect on the Company or its results of operations if decided adversely to the Company.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II
Item 5. Market for the Registrant’s Common Equity, Stock, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Security Market Information
The common stock of the Company is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “CNOB”. As of December 31, 2017,2020, the Company had 475729 stockholders of record, excluding beneficial owners for whom CEDECede & Company or others act as nominees. On December 31, 2017, the closing sale price was $25.75.
The following table sets forth the high and low closing sales price, and the dividends declared, on a share of the Company’s common stock for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016.
| Common Stock Price | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | 2016 | Common Dividends Declared | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| High | Low | High | Low | 2017 | 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Fourth Quarter | $ | 27.80 | $ | 24.70 | $ | 26.50 | $ | 17.78 | $ | 0.075 | $ | 0.075 | ||||||||||||
| Third Quarter | 24.60 | 21.25 | 18.86 | 15.22 | 0.075 | 0.075 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Second Quarter | 24.40 | 21.50 | 17.30 | 15.12 | 0.075 | 0.075 | ||||||||||||||||||
| First Quarter | 26.00 | 22.45 | 18.63 | 15.17 | 0.075 | 0.075 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 0.300 | $ | 0.300 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Share Repurchase Program
Historically, repurchases have been made from time to time as, in the opinion of management, market conditions warranted, in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. Shares repurchased were used for stock dividends and other issuances. No repurchases were made
In March 2019, the Board of Directors of the Company’sCompany approved a share repurchase program for up to 1,200,000 shares. The Company may repurchase shares from time to time in the open market, in privately negotiated share purchases or pursuant to any trading plan that may be adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities and Exchange Commission and applicable federal securities laws. The share repurchase plan does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of common stock, during 2017and it may be modified or 2016.suspended at any time at the Company's discretion. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repurchased a total of 54,693 shares. As of December 31, 2020, shares remaining for repurchase under the program were 605,289.
The following table details share repurchases for the year 2020:
Dividends
Total Number of Shares Purchased | Average Price Paid per Share | Cumulative Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Maximum Number of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs | ||||||||||
659,982 | |||||||||||||
First quarter 2020 | 54,693 | $ | 16.61 | 13,000 | 605,289 | ||||||||
During the first quarter of 2020, the Company suspended its share repurchase program due to the potential risks of COVID-19. On January 26, 2021, the Board of Directors lifted such suspension.
Dividends
Federal laws and regulations contain restrictions on the ability of the Parent Corporation and the Bank to pay dividends. For information regarding restrictions on dividends, see Part I, Item 1, “Business” and Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data”, Note 20 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.”
Stockholders Return Comparison
Set forth on the following page is a line graph presentation comparing the cumulative stockholder return on the Parent Corporation’s common stock, on a dividend reinvested basis, against the cumulative total returns of the NASDAQ Composite and the KBW Bank Index for the period from December 31, 20122015 through December 31, 2017.2020.
COMPARE 5-YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN
AMONG CONNECTONE BANCORP INC.
NASDAQ AND KBW BANK INDEX
Assumes $100 Invested on December 31, 2012,2015, with Dividends Reinvested
Year Ended December 31, 20172020
COMPARISON OF CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN OF ONE OR MORE
COMPANIES, PEER GROUPS, INDUSTRY INDEXES AND/OR BROAD MARKETS
| Fiscal Year Ending | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Company/Index/Market | 12/31/12 | 12/31/13 | 12/31/14 | 12/31/15 | 12/31/16 | 12/31/17 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. | 100.00 | 164.25 | 168.98 | 168.89 | 237.20 | 238.12 | ||||||||||||||||||
| NASDAQ | 100.00 | 139.89 | 160.47 | 171.83 | 187.03 | 242.34 | ||||||||||||||||||
| KBW Bank Index | 100.00 | 137.40 | 150.09 | 150.82 | 197.72 | 228.08 | ||||||||||||||||||
Fiscal Year Ending | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Company/Index/Market | 12/31/15 | 12/31/16 | 12/31/17 | 12/31/18 | 12/31/19 | 12/31/20 | ||||||||||||||||||
ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. | 100.00 | 141.29 | 141.96 | 118.47 | 145.79 | 114.58 | ||||||||||||||||||
NASDAQ | 100.00 | 108.97 | 141.36 | 137.39 | 187.87 | 272.51 | ||||||||||||||||||
KBW Bank Index | 100.00 | 128.51 | 152.41 | 125.42 | 170.72 | 153.12 | ||||||||||||||||||
Item 6. Selected Financial Data
The following tables set forth selected consolidated financial data as of the dates and for the periods presented. The selected consolidated statement of financial condition data as of December 31, 20172020 and 20162019 and the selected consolidated summary of income data for the years ended December 31, 2017, 20162020, 2019 and 20152018 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes that we have included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The selected consolidated statement of financial condition data as of December 31, 2015, 2014, 20132018, 2017, 2016 and the selected consolidated summary of income data for the years ended December 31, 20142017 and 20132016 have been derived from audited consolidated financial statements that are not presented in this Annual Report.
The selected historical consolidated financial data as of any date and for any period are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved as of any future date or for any future period. You should read the following selected statistical and financial data in conjunction with the more detailed information contained in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes that we have presented elsewhere in this Annual Report.
SUMMARY OF SELECTED STATISTICAL INFORMATION AND FINANCIAL DATA
| As of or For the Years Ended December 31, | As of or For the Years Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands, except share data) | (dollars in thousands, except share data) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selected Statement of Financial Condition Data | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | 5,108,442 | $ | 4,426,348 | $ | 4,015,909 | $ | 3,448,572 | $ | 1,673,082 | $ | 7,547,339 | $ | 6,174,032 | $ | 5,462,092 | $ | 5,108,442 | $ | 4,426,348 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Loans receivable | 4,171,456 | 3,475,832 | 3,099,007 | 2,538,641 | 960,943 | 6,236,307 | 5,113,527 | 4,541,092 | 4,171,456 | 3,475,832 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allowance for loan losses | 31,748 | 25,744 | 26,572 | 14,160 | 10,333 | 79,226 | 38,293 | 34,954 | 31,748 | 25,744 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Securities – available-for-sale | 435,284 | 353,290 | 195,770 | 289,532 | 323,070 | 487,955 | 404,701 | 412,034 | 435,284 | 353,290 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Securities – held-to-maturity | - | - | 224,056 | 224,682 | 215,286 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Goodwill and other intangible assets | 148,273 | 148,997 | 149,817 | 150,734 | 16,828 | 219,349 | 168,034 | 147,646 | 148,273 | 148,997 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Borrowings | 670,077 | 476,280 | 671,587 | 495,553 | 146,000 | 425,954 | 500,293 | 600,001 | 670,077 | 476,280 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subordinated debt (net of issuance costs) | 54,699 | 54,534 | 54,343 | 5,155 | 5,155 | 202,648 | 128,885 | 128,556 | 54,699 | 54,534 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deposits | 3,795,128 | 3,344,271 | 2,790,966 | 2,475,607 | 1,342,005 | 5,959,224 | 4,767,542 | 4,092,092 | 3,795,128 | 3,344,271 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tangible common stockholders’ equity(1) | 417,164 | 325,127 | 316,277 | 284,235 | 168,584 | 695,961 | 563,156 | 466,281 | 417,164 | 325,127 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | 565,437 | 531,032 | 477,344 | 446,219 | 168,584 | 915,310 | 731,190 | 613,927 | 565,437 | 531,032 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Average total assets | 4,629,380 | 4,236,758 | 3,661,306 | 2,520,524 | 1,633,270 | 7,453,474 | 6,014,535 | 5,159,567 | 4,629,380 | 4,236,758 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Average common stockholders’ equity | 553,390 | 491,110 | 456,036 | 301,004 | 153,775 | 880,720 | 705,496 | 586,727 | 553,390 | 491,110 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dividends | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash dividends paid on common stock | $ | 9,612 | $ | 9,067 | $ | 8,996 | $ | 6,940 | $ | 4,254 | $ | 14,317 | $ | 12,160 | $ | 9,664 | $ | 9,612 | $ | 9,067 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dividend payout ratio | �� | 22.24 | % | 29.19 | % | 21.84 | % | 37.60 | % | 21.50 | % | 20.08 | % | 16.57 | % | 16.01 | % | 22.24 | % | 29.19 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cash dividends per share | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash dividends | $ | 0.300 | $ | 0.300 | $ | 0.300 | $ | 0.300 | $ | 0.280 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash dividends per common share | $ | 0.27 | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.30 | $ | 0.30 | $ | 0.30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selected Statement of Income Data | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | $ | 181,324 | $ | 161,241 | $ | 140,967 | $ | 94,207 | $ | 57,268 | $ | 308,200 | $ | 271,484 | $ | 216,133 | $ | 181,324 | $ | 161,241 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | (36,255) | (31,096) | (23,814) | (14,808) | (11,082) |
| (70,209 | ) |
| (85,165 | ) |
| (58,918 | ) |
| (36,255 | ) |
| (31,096 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net interest income | 145,069 | 130,145 | 117,153 | 79,399 | 46,186 | 237,991 | 186,319 | 157,215 | 145,069 | 130,145 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for loan losses | (6,000) | (38,700) | (12,605) | (4,683) | (350) |
| (41,000 | ) |
| (8,100 | ) |
| (21,100 | ) |
| (6,000 | ) |
| (38,700 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net interest income after provision for loan losses | 139,069 | 91,445 | 104,548 | 74,716 | 45,836 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net interest income after provision for loan losses | 196,991 | 178,219 | 136,115 | 139,069 | 91,445 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Noninterest income | 8,204 | 9,920 | 11,173 | 7,498 | 6,851 | 14,000 | 8,035 | 5,739 | 8,204 | 9,920 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Noninterest expense | (78,759) | (58,507) | (54,484) | (54,804) | (25,278) |
| (121,001 | ) |
| (92,228 | ) |
| (70,720 | ) |
| (78,759 | ) |
| (58,507 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Income before income tax expense | 68,514 | 42,858 | 61,237 | 27,410 | 27,409 | 90,390 | 94,026 | 71,134 | 68,514 | 42,858 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Income tax expense | (25,294) | (11,776) | (19,926) | (8,845) | (7,484) |
| (19,101 | ) |
| (20,631 | ) |
| (10,782 | ) |
| (25,294 | ) |
| (11,776 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 43,220 | 31,082 | 41,311 | 18,565 | 19,925 | 71,289 | 73,395 | 60,352 | 43,220 | 31,082 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preferred stock dividends | - | (22) | (112) | (112) | (141) |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| (22 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income available to common stockholders | $ | 43,220 | $ | 31,060 | $ | 41,199 | $ | 18,453 | $ | 19,784 | $ | 71,289 | $ | 73,395 | $ | 60,352 | $ | 43,220 | $ | 31,060 | ||||||||||||||||||||
(1) | This measure is not recognized under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and is therefore considered to be a non-GAAP financial measure. See –“Non-GAAP Reconciliation Table” for a reconciliation of this measure to its most comparable GAAP measure. |
- 28 -
As of or For the Years Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||
(dollars in thousands, except share data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Per Common Share Data | ||||||||||||||||||||
Basic earnings per share | $ | 1.80 | $ | 2.08 | $ | 1.87 | $ | 1.35 | $ | 1.02 | ||||||||||
Diluted earnings per share | 1.79 | 2.07 | 1.86 | 1.34 | 1.01 | |||||||||||||||
Book value per common share | 23.01 | 20.85 | 18.99 | 17.63 | 16.62 | |||||||||||||||
Tangible book value per common share(1) | 17.49 | 16.06 | 14.42 | 13.01 | 11.96 | |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Selected Performance Ratios | ||||||||||||||||||||
Return on average assets | 0.96 | % | 1.22 | % | 1.17 | % | 0.93 | % | 0.73 | % | ||||||||||
Return on average common stockholders’ equity | 8.09 | 10.40 | 10.29 | 7.81 | 6.30 | |||||||||||||||
Return on average tangible common equity(1) | 10.80 | 13.61 | 13.76 | 10.68 | 9.09 | |||||||||||||||
Net interest margin | 3.46 | 3.35 | 3.28 | 3.45 | 3.38 | |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Selected Asset Quality Ratios as a % of Loans Receivable: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Nonaccrual loans (excluding loans held-for-sale) | 0.99 | % | 0.97 | % | 1.14 | % | 1.57 | % | 0.16 | % | ||||||||||
Loans 90 days or greater past due and still accruing (PCI) | 0.21 | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.15 | |||||||||||||||
Performing TDRs | 0.38 | 0.42 | 0.21 | 0.36 | 0.38 | |||||||||||||||
Allowance for loan losses | 1.27 | 0.75 | 0.77 | 0.76 | 0.74 | |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Nonperforming assets(2) to total assets | 0.82 | % | 0.80 | % | 0.95 | % | 1.29 | % | 1.57 | % | ||||||||||
Allowance for loan losses to nonaccrual loans (excluding tax medallion loans) | 204.9 | 147.0 | 146.8 | 168.4 | 449.0 | |||||||||||||||
Net loan charge-offs to average loans(3) | 0.00 | 0.10 | 0.41 | 0.00 | 1.18 | |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Company Capital Ratios | ||||||||||||||||||||
Leverage ratio | 9.51 | % | 9.54 | % | 9.34 | % | 8.92 | % | 9.29 | % | ||||||||||
Common equity Tier 1 risk-based ratio | 10.79 | 9.95 | 9.75 | 9.15 | 9.74 | |||||||||||||||
Risk-based Tier 1 capital ratio | 10.87 | 10.04 | 9.86 | 9.26 | 9.87 | |||||||||||||||
Risk-based capital ratio | 15.08 | 12.96 | 13.15 | 11.04 | 11.78 | |||||||||||||||
Tangible common equity to tangible assets(1) | 9.50 | 9.38 | 8.77 | 8.41 | 8.93 | |||||||||||||||
(1) | These measures are not measures recognized under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), and are therefore considered to be non-GAAP financial measures. See –“Non-GAAP Reconciliation Table” for a reconciliation of these measurers to their most comparable GAAP measures. |
| As of or For the Years Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | |||||||||||||||||
| Per Common Share Data | (dollars in thousands, except share data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 1.35 | $ | 1.02 | $ | 1.37 | $ | 0.80 | $ | 1.21 | |||||||||||
| Diluted | 1.34 | 1.01 | 1.36 | 0.79 | 1.21 | ||||||||||||||||
| Book value per common share | 17.63 | 16.62 | 15.49 | 14.65 | 9.61 | ||||||||||||||||
| Tangible book value per common share(1) | 13.01 | 11.96 | 10.51 | 9.57 | 8.58 | ||||||||||||||||
| Selected Performance Ratios | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Return on average assets | 0.93 | % | 0.73 | % | 1.13 | % | 0.74 | % | 1.22 | % | |||||||||||
| Return on average common stockholders’ equity | 7.81 | 6.30 | 9.03 | 6.13 | 12.87 | ||||||||||||||||
| Net interest margin | 3.45 | 3.38 | 3.55 | 3.57 | 3.30 | ||||||||||||||||
| Selected Asset Quality Ratios as a % of loans receivable: | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nonaccrual loans (excluding loans held-for sale) | 1.57 | % | 0.16 | % | 0.67 | % | 0.46 | % | 0.33 | % | |||||||||||
| Loans 90 days or greater past due and still accruing (non-PCI) | - | - | - | 0.05 | - | ||||||||||||||||
| Loans 90 days or greater past due and still accruing (PCI) | 0.04 | 0.15 | - | - | - | ||||||||||||||||
| Performing TDRs | 0.36 | 0.38 | 2.77 | 0.07 | 0.60 | ||||||||||||||||
| Allowance for loan losses | 0.76 | 0.74 | 0.86 | 0.56 | 1.08 | ||||||||||||||||
| Nonperforming assets(2) to total assets | 1.29 | % | 1.57 | % | 0.58 | % | 0.37 | % | 0.20 | % | |||||||||||
| Allowance for loan losses to nonaccrual loans (excluding loans held-for-sale | 168.4 | 449.0 | 128.1 | 122.0 | 329.4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Net loan charge-offs (recoveries) to average loans(3) | 0.01 | 1.18 | 0.01 | 0.05 | 0.03 | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital Ratios | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Leverage ratio | 8.92 | % | 9.29 | % | 9.07 | % | 9.37 | % | 9.69 | % | |||||||||||
| Common equity Tier 1 risk-based ratio | 9.15 | 9.74 | 9.14 | n/a | n/a | ||||||||||||||||
| Risk-based Tier 1 capital ratio | 9.26 | 9.87 | 9.61 | 10.44 | 12.10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Risk-based capital ratio | 11.04 | 11.78 | 11.77 | 10.94 | 12.90 | ||||||||||||||||
| Tangible common equity to tangible assets(1) | 8.41 | 8.93 | 8.18 | 8.62 | 8.48 | ||||||||||||||||
| (2) | Nonperforming assets are defined as nonaccrual loans, nonaccrual loans held-for-sale, and other real estate owned. |
(3) | Charge-offs in 2019, 2018 and 2016 included $1.0 million, $17.0 million and $36.5 million, respectively, related to the portfolio. |
Non-GAAP Reconciliation Table
| As of December 31 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | ||||||||||||||||
(dollars in thousands, except per share data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tangible common equity and tangible common equity/tangible assets | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Common stockholders’ equity | $ | 565,437 | $ | 531,032 | $ | 466,094 | $ | 434,969 | $ | 157,334 | ||||||||||
| Less: goodwill and other intangible assets | 148,273 | 148,997 | 149,817 | 150,734 | 16,828 | |||||||||||||||
| Tangible common stockholders’ equity | $ | 417,164 | $ | 382,035 | $ | 316,277 | $ | 284,235 | $ | 140,506 | ||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | 5,108,442 | $ | 4,426,348 | $ | 4,015,909 | $ | 3,448,572 | $ | 1,673,082 | ||||||||||
| Less: goodwill and other intangible assets | 148,273 | 148,997 | 149,817 | 150,734 | 16,828 | |||||||||||||||
| Tangible assets | $ | 4,960,169 | $ | 4,277,351 | $ | 3,866,092 | $ | 3,297,838 | $ | 1,656,254 | ||||||||||
| Tangible common equity ratio | 8.41 | % | 8.93 | % | 8.18 | % | 8.62 | % | 8.48 | % | ||||||||||
| Tangible book value per common share | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Book value per common share | $ | 17.63 | $ | 16.62 | $ | 15.49 | $ | 14.65 | $ | 9.61 | ||||||||||
| Less: goodwill and other intangible assets | 4.62 | 4.66 | 4.98 | 5.08 | 1.03 | |||||||||||||||
| Tangible book value per common share | $ | 13.01 | $ | 11.96 | $ | 10.51 | $ | 9.57 | $ | 8.58 | ||||||||||
As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||
(dollars in thousands, except per share data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Tangible common equity and tangible common equity/tangible assets | ||||||||||||||||||||
Common stockholders’ equity | $ | 915,310 | $ | 731,190 | $ | 613,927 | $ | 565,437 | $ | 531,032 | ||||||||||
Less: goodwill and other intangible assets |
| 219,349 |
| 168,034 |
| 147,646 |
| 148,273 |
| 148,997 | ||||||||||
Tangible common stockholders’ equity | $ | 695,961 | $ | 563,156 | $ | 466,281 | $ | 417,164 | $ | 382,035 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 7,547,339 | $ | 6,174,032 | $ | 5,462,092 | $ | 5,108,442 | $ | 4,426,348 | ||||||||||
Less: goodwill and other intangible assets |
| 219,349 |
| 168,034 |
| 147,646 |
| 148,273 |
| 148,997 | ||||||||||
Tangible assets | $ | 7,327,990 | $ | 6,005,998 | $ | 5,314,446 | $ | 4,960,169 | $ | 4,277,351 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Tangible common equity ratio | 9.50 | % | 9.38 | % | 8.77 | % | 8.41 | % | 8.93 | % | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Tangible book value per common share | ||||||||||||||||||||
Book value per common share | $ | 23.01 | $ | 20.85 | $ | 18.99 | $ | 17.63 | $ | 16.62 | ||||||||||
Less: goodwill and other intangible assets |
| 5.52 |
| 4.79 |
| 4.57 |
| 4.62 |
| 4.66 | ||||||||||
Tangible book value per common share | $ | 17.49 | $ | 16.06 | $ | 14.42 | $ | 13.01 | $ | 11.96 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Return on average tangible common equity | ||||||||||||||||||||
Net income available to common stockholders | $ | 71,289 | $ | 73,395 | $ | 60,352 | $ | 43,220 | $ | 31,060 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Average common stockholders’ equity | $ | 880,720 | $ | 705,496 | $ | 586,727 | $ | 553,390 | $ | 491,110 | ||||||||||
Less: goodwill and other intangible assets |
| 220,570 |
| 166,116 |
| 147,970 |
| 148,649 |
| 149,425 | ||||||||||
Average tangible common stockholders’ equity | $ | 660,150 | $ | 539,380 | $ | 438,757 | $ | 404,741 | $ | 341,685 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Return on average common stockholders’ equity | 8.09 | % | 10.40 | % | 10.29 | % | 7.81 | % | 6.32 | % | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Return on average tangible common stockholders’ equity | 10.80 | % | 13.61 | % | 13.76 | % | 10.68 | % | 9.09 | % | ||||||||||
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The purpose of this analysis is to provide the reader with information relevant to understanding and assessing the Company’s results of operations for each of the past three years and financial condition for each of the past two years. In order to fully appreciate this analysis, the reader is encouraged to review the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes thereto appearing under Item 8 of this report, and statistical data presented in this document.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
See Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for information regarding forward-looking statements.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Note 1Accounting policies considered critical to our audited consolidated financial statements contains a summary of our significant accounting policies. Management believes our policy with respect to the methodology for the determination ofresults include the allowance for loan losses involves a higher degree of complexity and requires managementrelated provision, income taxes, goodwill and business combinations. For information on our significant accounting policies, see Note 1a in the Notes to make difficult and subjective judgments which often require assumptions or estimates about highly uncertain matters. Changes in these judgments, assumptions or estimates could materially impact results of operations. This critical policy and its application are periodically reviewed with the Audit Committee and our Board of Directors.Consolidated Financial Statements.
Allowance for Loan Losses and Related Provision
The allowance for loan losses represents management’s estimate of probable incurred loan losses inherent in the loan portfolio. Determining the amount of the allowance for loan losses is considered a critical accounting estimate because it requires significant judgment and the use of estimates related to the amount and timing of expected future cash flows on impaired loans, estimated probable incurred losses on pools of homogeneous loans based on historical loss experience, and consideration of current economic trends and conditions, all of which may be susceptible to significant change. The loan portfolio also represents the largest asset type on the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Condition.
The evaluation of the adequacy of the allowance for loan losses includes, among other factors, an analysis of historical loss rates by loan category applied to current loan totals. However, actual loan losses may be higher or lower than historical trends, which vary. Actual losses on specified problem loans, which also are provided for in the evaluation, may vary from estimated loss percentages, which are established based upon a limited number of potential loss classifications.
The allowance for loan losses is established through a provision for loan losses charged to expense. Management believes that the current allowance for loan losses will be adequate to absorb probable incurred loan losses on existing loans that may become uncollectible based on the evaluation of known and inherent risks in the originated loan portfolio. The evaluation takes into consideration such factors as changes in the nature and size of the portfolio, overall portfolio quality, and specific problem loans and current economic conditions which may affect our borrowers’ ability to pay. The evaluation also details historical losses by loan category and the resulting loan loss rates which are projected for current loan total amounts. Loss estimates for specified problem loans are also detailed. Various regulatory agencies, as an integral part of their examination process, periodically review our allowance for loan losses. Such agencies may require us to make additional provisions for loan losses based upon information available to them at the time of their examination. All of the factors considered in the analysis of the adequacy of the allowance for loan losses may be subject to change. To the extent actual outcomes differ from management estimates, additional provisions for loan losses may be required that could materially adversely impact earnings in future periods. Additional information can be found in Note 11a of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
Income Taxes
The objectives of accounting for income taxes are to recognize the amount of taxes payable or refundable for the current year and deferred tax liabilities and assets for the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in an entity’s financial statements or tax returns. Judgment is required in assessing the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in the Company’s consolidated financial statements or tax returns.
Fluctuations in the actual outcome of these future tax consequences could impact the Company’s consolidated financial condition or results of operations. NotesNote 1 (under the caption “Use of Estimates”) and 12Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements include additional discussion on the accounting for income taxes.
GoodwillTable of Contents
Goodwill
The Company has adopted the provisions of FASB ASC 350-10-05, which requires that goodwill be reported separate from other intangible assets in the Consolidated Statements of Condition and not be amortized but tested for impairment annually or more frequently if indicators arise for impairment. The goodwill impairment evaluation involves significant estimates and subjective assumptions, which requires Management’s judgment on factors such as discount rate, prospective financial information, earnings retention rate and peer group market data. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could have a significant impact on the conclusions reached regarding whether impairment occurred and the amount of impairment. No impairment charge was deemed necessary for the years ended December 31, 2017, 20162020, 2019 and 2015.2018.
Business Combinations
The Company accounts for business combinations under the purchase method of accounting. The application of this method of accounting requires the use of significant estimates and assumptions in the determination of the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in order to properly allocate purchase price consideration between assets that are amortized, accreted or depreciated from those that are recorded as goodwill. Our estimates of the fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed are based upon assumptions that we believe to be reasonable, and whenever necessary, include assistance from independent third-party appraisal and valuation firms.
Overview and Strategy
We serve as a holding company for the Bank, which is our primary asset and only operating subsidiary. We follow a business plan that emphasizes the delivery of customized banking services in our market area to customers who desire a high level of personalized service and responsiveness. The Bank conducts a traditional banking business, making commercial loans, consumer loans and residential and commercial real estate loans. In addition, the Bank offers various non-deposit products through non-proprietary relationships with third party vendors. The Bank relies upon deposits as the primary funding source for its assets. The Bank offers traditional deposit products.
Many of our customer relationships start with referrals from existing customers. We then seek to cross sell our products to customers to grow the customer relationship. For example, we will frequently offer an interest rate concession on credit products for customers that maintain a noninterest-bearing deposit account at the Bank. This strategy has helped maintain our funding costs and the growth of our interest expense even as we have substantially increased our total deposits. It has also helped fuel our significant loan growth. We believe that the Bank’s significant growth and increasing profitability demonstrate the need for and success of our brand of banking.
Our results of operations depend primarily on our net interest income, which is the difference between the interest earned on our interest-earning assets and the interest paid on funds borrowed to support those assets, primarily deposits. Net interest margin is the difference between the weighted average rate received on interest-earning assets and the weighted average rate paid to fund those interest-earning assets, which is also affected by the average level of interest-earning assets as compared with that of interest-bearing liabilities. Net income is also affected by the amount of noninterest income and noninterest expenses.
General
The following discussion and analysis presentspresent the more significant factors affecting the Company’s financial condition as of December 31, 20172020 and 20162019 and results of operations for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2017.2020. The MD&A should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements, notes to consolidated financial statements and other information contained in this report.
Operating Results Overview
Net income for the year ended December 31, 20172020 was $43.2$71.3 million, an increasea decrease of $12.1$2.1 million, or 39.1%2.9%, compared to net income of $31.1$73.4 million for 2016. Net income available to common shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $43.2 million, an increase of $12.2 million, or 39.2%, compared to net income available to common shareholders of $31.1 million for 2016.2019. Diluted earnings per share were $1.34$1.79 for 2017,2020, a 32.7% increase13.5% decrease from $1.01$2.07 for 2016.
2019.
The change in net income from 20162019 to 20172020 was attributable to the following:
•
Increased provision for loan losses of $32.9 million was primarily due to the continued economic uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
•
Increase in noninterest expenses of $28.8 million, primarily due to an increase in salaries and employee benefits of $9.9 million, merger expenses of $5.7 million, occupancy and equipment expense of $4.2 million and professional and consulting expenses of $1.9 million. These increases are mainly attributable to the acquisition of BNJ. Additionally, the Company saw an increase in value of acquisition price of $2.3 million related to its BoeFly acquisition.
•
Increased net interest income of $51.7 million primarily due to the acquisition of BNJ and an 11-basis point widening of the net interest margin.
•
Increase in noninterest income of $6.4 million primarily resulting from an increase in deposit, loan, and other income, increase in bank owned life insurance and net gains on sale of loans held-for-sale.
•
Decrease in income tax expense of $1.5 million resulting primarily from a decrease in income from taxable sources.
Net income for the year ended December 31, 20162019 was $31.1$73.4 million, a decreasean increase of $10.2$13.0 million, or 24.8%21.6%, compared to net income of $41.3$60.4 million for 2015. Net income available to common shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2016 was $31.1 million, a decrease of $10.1 million, or 24.6%, compared to net income available to common shareholders of $41.2 million for 2015.2018. Diluted earnings per share were $1.01$2.07 for 2016, a 25.7% decrease2019, an 11.3% increase from $1.36$1.86 for 2015.
2018.
The change in net income from 20152018 to 20162019 was attributable to the following:
•
Increased net interest income of $29.1 million primarily due to the acquisition of GHB.
•
Decreased provision for loan losses of $13.0 million primarily due to $17.0 million increase in specific reserves (then concurrently charged-off) within the taxi medallion loan portfolio in 2018.
•
Increase in noninterest income of $2.6 million primarily resulting from an increase in deposit, loan, and other income, which included higher overdrafts fees, and income related to the operations of BoeFly.
•
Increase in noninterest expenses of $21.8 million, primarily due to an increase in salaries and employee benefits of $9.6 million, merger expenses of $7.6 million and professional and consulting expenses of $1.9 million. The increases are mainly attributable to the acquisition of GHB.
•
Increase in income tax expense of $9.8 million resulting primarily from an increase in income from taxable sources.
Net Interest Income
Fully taxable equivalent net interest income for 20172020 totaled $148.5$239.9 million, an increase of $15.5$51.9 million, or 11.7%27.6%, from 2016.2019. The increase in net interest income was due to an increase in average interest-earning assets, which grew by 9.4%23.6% to $4.3$6.9 billion and a widening of 11 basis-points in the net interest margin. The widening of the net interest margin by 7 basis-points. The increase in the net interest margin was attributedmainly attributable to an improved asset mix, including lower levelscost of cash held at the Federal Reserve Bank, partiallyfunds, offset by increases in deposit funding costs, as well ashigher average cash balances and lower yields on loans and securities. Average total loans, which includes loans held-for-sale, increased by 13.6%22.8% to $3.8$6.2 billion in 20172020 from $3.4$5.0 billion in 2016.
2019. The increase in average total loans is primarily attributable to the acquisition of BNJ.
Fully taxable equivalent net interest income for 20162019 totaled $133.0$188.0 million, an increase of $13.3$28.8 million, or 11.1%18.1%, from 2015.2018. The increase in net interest income was due to an increase in average interest-earning assets, which grew by 16.7%15.7% to $3.9 billion. Partially offsetting the increase in interest-earning assets was$5.6 billion and a 17 basis-point contractionwidening of 7 basis-points in the net interest margin. The decrease inwidening of the net interest margin was attributedmainly attributable to increases in both rates and the volume of loans, offset by higher levelscost of cash held at the Federal Reserve Bank, lower accretion of purchase accounting adjustments related to the Merger, long-term subordinated debt issued in June 2016, and an increase in rates paid on deposits.funds. Average total loans, which includes loans held-for-sale, increased by 20.1%16.6% to $3.4$5.0 billion in 20162019 from $2.8$4.3 billion in 2015.2018. The increase in average total loans is primarily attributable to the acquisition of GHB.
Average Balance Sheets
The following table sets forth certain information relating to our average assets and liabilities for the years ended December 31, 2017, 20162020, 2019 and 20152018 and reflects the average yield on assets and average cost of liabilities for the periods indicated. Such yields are derived by dividing income or expense by the average balance of assets or liabilities, respectively, for the periods shown.
| Years Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Tax-Equivalent Basis) | Average Balance | Income/ Expense | Yield/ Rate | Average Balance | Income/ Expense | Yield/ Rate | Average Balance | Income/ Expense | Yield/ Rate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ASSETS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest-earning assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investment securities(1) (2) | $ | 393,144 | $ | 12,290 | 3.13 | % | $ | 396,622 | $ | 13,153 | 3.32 | % | $ | 482,703 | $ | 16,128 | 3.34 | % | ||||||||||||||||||
| Loans(2) (3) (4) | 3,811,922 | 170,314 | 4.47 | % | 3,355,452 | 148,755 | 4.43 | % | 2,793,952 | 126,133 | 4.51 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Federal funds sold and interest-earnings deposits with banks | 70,527 | 711 | 1.01 | % | 152,397 | 756 | 0.50 | % | 65,513 | 178 | 0.27 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Restricted investment in bank stocks | 27,093 | 1,421 | 5.24 | % | 28,439 | 1,410 | 4.96 | % | 27,335 | 1,081 | 3.95 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total interest-earning assets | 4,302,686 | 184,736 | 4.29 | % | 3,932,910 | 164,074 | 4.17 | % | 3,369,503 | 143,520 | 4.26 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Noninterest-earning assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allowance for loan losses | (28,276) | (32,554) | (17,905) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Noninterest-earning assets | 354,970 | 336,402 | 309,708 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | 4,629,380 | $ | 4,236,758 | $ | 3,661,306 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LIABILITIES & STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Savings, NOW, money market, interest checking | $ | 1,773,454 | 9,502 | 0.54 | % | $ | 1,544,838 | 6,754 | 0.44 | % | $ | 1,279,663 | 4,972 | 0.39 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Time deposits | 1,015,552 | 14,168 | 1.40 | % | 923,114 | 11,913 | 1.29 | % | 752,380 | 8,784 | 1.17 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total interest-bearing deposits | 2,789,006 | 23,670 | 0.85 | % | 2,467,952 | 18,667 | 0.76 | % | 2,032,043 | 13,756 | 0.68 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Borrowings | 529,445 | 9,178 | 1.73 | % | 571,626 | 9,013 | 1.58 | % | 565,408 | 8,181 | 1.45 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subordinated debentures(5) | 54,610 | 3,245 | 5.94 | % | 54,534 | 3,246 | 5.95 | % | 29,685 | 1,700 | 5.73 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital lease obligation | 2,704 | 162 | 5.99 | % | 2,829 | 170 | 6.01 | % | 2,946 | 177 | 6.01 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total interest-bearing liabilities | 3,375,765 | 36,255 | 1.07 | % | 3,096,941 | 31,096 | 1.00 | % | 2,630,894 | 23,814 | 0.91 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Noninterest-bearing deposits | 681,215 | 624,731 | 537,287 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other liabilities | 19,010 | 21,824 | 25,839 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stockholders’ equity | 553,390 | 493,262 | 467,286 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | 4,629,380 | $ | 4,236,758 | $ | 3,661,306 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net interest income/interest rate spread(6) | 148,481 | 3.22 | % | 132,978 | 3.17 | % | 119,706 | 3.35 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tax-equivalent adjustment | (3,412) | (2,833) | (2,553) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net interest income as reported | $ | 145,069 | $ | 130,145 | $ | 117,153 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net interest margin(7) | 3.45 | % | 3.38 | % | 3.55 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(Tax-Equivalent Basis) | Average Balance | Income/ Expense | Yield/ Rate | Average Balance | Income/ Expense | Yield/ Rate | Average Balance | Income/ Expense | Yield/ Rate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ASSETS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Interest-earning assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Investment securities (1) (2) | $ | 444,070 | $ | 9,996 | 2.25 | % | $ | 478,478 | $ | 13,885 | 2.90 | % | $ | 432,780 | $ | 12,629 | 2.92 | % | ||||||||||||||||||
Loans receivable and loans held-for-sale (2) (3) (4) | 6,198,753 | 297,756 | 4.80 | % | 5,049,458 | 256,299 | 5.08 | % | 4,330,874 | 202,578 | 4.68 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Federal funds sold and interest-earning deposits with banks | 267,824 | 694 |
| 0.22 | % | 55,819 | 1,167 |
| 2.09 | % | 58,631 | 839 | 1.43 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Restricted investment in bank stocks |
| 27,185 |
| 1,642 |
| 6.04 | % |
| 27,389 |
| 1,778 |
| 6.49 | % |
| 29,200 |
| 2,012 |
| 6.89 | % | |||||||||||||||
Total interest-earning assets | 6,937,832 | 310,088 | 4.47 | % | 5,611,144 | 273,129 | 4.87 | % | 4,851,485 | 218,058 | 4.49 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Noninterest-earning assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Allowance for loan losses | (59,271 | ) | (37,433 | ) | (33,449 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Noninterest-earning assets |
| 574,913 |
| 440,824 |
| 341,531 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 7,453,474 | $ | 6,014,535 | $ | 5,159,567 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LIABILITIES & STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Time deposits | $ | 1,792,568 | 34,813 | 1.94 | % | $ | 1,549,700 | 37,177 | 2.40 | % | $ | 1,278,821 | 24,158 | 1.89 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
Other interest-bearing deposits |
| 2,819,908 |
| 17,573 | 0.62 | % |
| 2,267,812 |
| 28,393 | 1.25 | % |
| 1,838,025 |
| 15,778 | 0.86 | % | ||||||||||||||||||
Total interest-bearing deposits | 4,612,476 | 52,386 | 1.14 | % | 3,817,512 | 65,570 | 1.72 | % | 3,116,846 | 39,936 | 1.28 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Borrowings | 537,773 | 8,435 | 1.57 | % | 502,314 | 12,079 | 2.40 | % | 562,728 | 11,639 | 2.07 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinated debentures | 169,139 | 9,254 | 5.47 | % | 128,708 | 7,371 | 5.73 | % | 125,156 | 7,189 | 5.74 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Capital lease obligation |
| 2,233 |
| 134 | 6.00 | % |
| 2,414 |
| 145 | 6.01 | % |
| 2,571 |
| 154 | 5.99 | % | ||||||||||||||||||
Total interest-bearing liabilities | 5,321,621 | 70,209 | 1.32 | % | 4,450,948 | 85,165 | 1.91 | % | 3,807,301 | 58,918 | 1.55 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Noninterest-bearing deposits | 1,195,547 | 819,917 | 745,548 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other liabilities | 55,586 | 38,174 | 19,991 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stockholders’ equity |
| 880,720 |
| 705,496 |
| 586,727 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | 7,453,474 | $ | 6,014,535 | $ | 5,159,567 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net interest income/interest rate spread (5) | 239,879 | 3.15 | % | 187,964 | 2.96 | % | 159,140 | 2.94 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tax-equivalent adjustment |
| (1,888 | ) |
| (1,645 | ) |
| (1,925 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net interest income as reported | $ | 237,991 | $ | 186,319 | $ | 157,215 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net interest margin (6) | 3.46 | % | 3.35 | % | 3.28 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 34 - Rate/Volume Analysis The following table presents, by category, the major factors that contributed to the changes in net interest income. Changes due to both volume and rate have been allocated in proportion to the relationship of the dollar amount change in each.
Provision for Loan Losses In determining the provision for loan losses, management considers national and local economic trends and conditions; trends in the portfolio including orientation to specific loan types or industries; experience, ability and depth of lending management in relation to the complexity of the portfolio; effects of changes in lending policies, trends in volume and terms of loans; levels and trends in delinquencies, impaired loans and net charge-offs and the results of independent third party loan review. For the year ended December 31, the COVID-19 pandemic and increases to specific reserves within our commercial portfolio. For the year ended December 31, With the adoption of - 35 - Noninterest Income Noninterest income for the full-year Noninterest income for the full-year 2019 increased by $2.6 million, or 46.8%, to $8.0 million from $5.5 million in 2018. The increase was primarily the result of
Noninterest Expense Noninterest expenses for the full-year These increases were mainly the result of the acquisition of BNJ. Noninterest expenses for the full-year
Income Taxes Income tax expense was 2018. For a more detailed description of income taxes see Note Financial Condition Overview
As of December 31, 2019, the Company’s total assets were $6.2 billion, an increase of $712 million from December 31, 2018. Total loans (including loans held-for-sale) were $5.1 billion, an increase of
Loan Portfolio The Bank’s lending activities are generally oriented to small-to-medium sized businesses, high net worth individuals, professional practices and consumer and retail clients living and working in the Bank’s metropolitan, New York market area, consisting of Bergen, Union, Morris, Essex, Hudson, Mercer and Monmouth counties, New Jersey, as well as NYC’s five boroughs, Nassau Rockland, Orange and Commercial loans are loans made for business purposes and are primarily secured by collateral such as cash balances with the Bank, marketable securities held by or under the control of the Bank, business assets including accounts receivable, inventory and equipment and liens on commercial and residential real estate. Commercial construction loans are loans to finance the construction of commercial or residential properties secured by first liens on such properties. Commercial real estate loans include loans secured by first liens on completed commercial properties, including multi-family properties, to purchase or refinance such properties. Residential mortgages include loans secured by first liens on residential real estate and are generally made to existing clients of the Bank to purchase or refinance primary and secondary residences. Home equity loans and lines of credit include loans secured by first or second liens on residential real estate for primary or secondary residences. Consumer loans are made to individuals who qualify for auto loans, cash reserve, credit cards and installment loans. - 36 -
the acquisition of BNJ. The largest component of
Residential real estate loans totaled $323 million as of December 31, 2020, an increase of $3 million, or 0.8%, compared to residential real estate loans BNJ. The following table sets forth the classification of our loans by loan portfolio segment for the periods presented.
The following table sets forth the classification of our gross loans by loan portfolio segment and by fixed and adjustable rate loans as of December 31,
For additional information regarding loans, see Note 5 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. - 37 - Asset Quality General. One of our key objectives is to maintain a high level of asset quality. When a borrower fails to make a scheduled payment, we attempt to cure the deficiency by sending late notices, as well as making personal contact with the borrower. On loans where the collection of principal or interest payments is doubtful, the accrual of interest income ceases (“nonaccrual” loans). Except for loans that are well secured and in the process of collection, it is our policy to discontinue accruing additional interest and reverse any interest accrued on any loan that is 90 days or greater past due. On occasion, this action may be taken earlier if the financial condition of the borrower raises significant concern with regard to his/her ability to service the debt in accordance with the terms of the loan agreement. Interest income is not accrued on these loans until the borrower’s financial condition and payment record demonstrate an ability to service the debt. Real estate acquired as a result of foreclosure is classified as other real estate owned (“OREO”) until sold. OREO is recorded at the lower of cost or fair value less estimated selling costs. Costs associated with acquiring and improving a foreclosed property are usually capitalized to the extent that the carrying value does not exceed fair value less estimated selling costs. Holding costs are charged to expense. Gains and losses on the sale of OREO are charged to operations, as incurred. A loan is considered impaired when, based on current information and events, it is probable that the Bank will be unable to collect the scheduled payments of principal or interest when due according to the contractual terms of the loan agreement. Factors considered by management in determining impairment include payment status and the probability of collecting scheduled principal and interest payments when due. Loans for which the terms have been modified as a concession to the borrower due to the borrower experiencing financial difficulties are considered troubled debt restructurings (“TDR”) and are classified as
Asset Classification.Federal regulations and our policies require that we utilize an internal asset classification system as a means of reporting problem and potential problem assets. We have incorporated an internal asset classification system, substantially consistent with Federal banking regulations, as a part of our credit monitoring system. Federal banking regulations set forth a classification scheme for problem and potential problem assets as “substandard,” “doubtful” or “loss” assets. An asset is considered “substandard” if it is inadequately protected by the current net worth and paying capacity of the obligor or of the collateral pledged, if any. “Substandard” assets include those characterized by the “distinct possibility” that the insured institution will sustain “some loss” if the deficiencies are not corrected. Assets classified as “doubtful” have all of the weaknesses inherent in those classified “substandard” with the added characteristic that the weaknesses present make “collection or liquidation in full,” on the basis of currently existing facts, conditions, and values, “highly questionable and improbable.” Assets classified as “loss” are those considered “uncollectible” and of such little value that their continuance as assets without the establishment of a specific loss reserve is not warranted. Assets which do not currently expose the insured institution to sufficient risk to warrant classification in one of the aforementioned categories but possess weaknesses are required to be designated “special mention.” When an insured institution classifies one or more assets, or portions thereof, as “substandard” or “doubtful,” it is required that a general valuation allowance for loan losses must be established for loan losses in an amount deemed prudent by management. General valuation allowances represent loss allowances which have been established to recognize the inherent losses associated with lending activities, but which, unlike specific allowances, have not been allocated to particular problem assets. When an insured institution classifies one or more assets, or portions thereof, as “loss,” it is required either to establish a specific allowance for losses equal to 100% of the amount of the asset so classified or to charge off such amount. A bank’s determination as to the classification of its assets and the amount of its valuation allowances is subject to review by Federal bank regulators which can order the establishment of additional general or specific loss allowances. The Federal banking agencies have adopted an interagency policy statement on the allowance for loan losses. The policy statement provides guidance for financial institutions on both the responsibilities of management for the assessment and establishment of allowances and guidance for banking agency examiners to use in determining the adequacy of general valuation guidelines. Generally, the policy statement recommends that institutions have effective systems and controls to identify, monitor and address asset quality problems; that management analyze all significant factors that affect the collectability of the portfolio in a reasonable manner; and that management establish acceptable allowance evaluation processes that meet the objectives set forth in the policy statement. Our management believes that, based on information currently available, our allowance for loan losses is maintained at a level which covers all known and probable incurred losses in the portfolio at each reporting date. However, actual losses are dependent upon future events and, as such, further additions to the level of allowances for loan losses may become necessary. - 38 - The table below sets forth information on our classified loans and loans designated as special mention (excluding loans held-for-sale) as of the dates presented:
During the year ended December 31, Nonperforming Loans, Performing Troubled Debt Restructurings, Past Due Loans and OREO Nonperforming loans include nonaccrual The following table sets forth, as of the dates indicated, the amount of the Company’s nonaccrual loans, other real estate owned (“OREO”), performing troubled debt restructurings (“TDRs”) and loans past due 90 days or greater and still accruing:
- 39 - Allowance for Loan Losses and Related Provision The allowance for loan losses is a reserve established through charges to earnings in the form of a provision for loan losses. We maintain an allowance for loan losses at a level considered adequate to provide for all known and probable incurred losses in the portfolio. The level of the allowance is based on management’s evaluation of estimated losses in the portfolio, after consideration of risk characteristics of the loans and prevailing and anticipated economic conditions. Loan charge-offs (i.e., loans judged to be uncollectible) are charged against the reserve and any subsequent recovery is credited. Our officers analyze risks within the loan portfolio on a continuous basis and through an external independent loan review function, and the results of the loan review function are also reviewed by our Audit Committee. A risk system, consisting of multiple grading categories for each portfolio class, is utilized as an analytical tool to assess risk and appropriate reserves. In addition to the risk system, management further evaluates risk characteristics of the loan portfolio under current and anticipated economic conditions and considers such factors as the financial condition of the borrower, past and expected loss experience, and other factors which management feels deserve recognition in establishing an appropriate reserve. These estimates are reviewed at least quarterly and, as adjustments become necessary, they are recognized in the periods in which they become known. Although management strives to maintain an allowance it deems adequate, future economic changes, deterioration of borrowers’ creditworthiness, and the impact of examinations by regulatory agencies all could cause changes to our allowance for loan losses.
allowance for credit losses balance. During the year ended December 31, The Company is adopting ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“CECL”) effective January 1, 2021. The main objective of this amendment is to provide financial statement users with more decision-useful information about the Five-Year Statistical Allowance for Loan Losses The following table reflects the relationship of loan volume, the provision and allowance for loan losses and net charge-offs for the past five years.
(1) For the years ended December 31, 2019, December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2016, the loan charge-offs within the commercial loan segment included $1.0 million, $17.0 million and $36.7 million in charge-offs related to the taxi medallion portfolio, respectively. For additional information regarding loans, see Note 5 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Implicit in the lending function is the fact that loan losses will be experienced and that the risk of loss will vary with the type of loan being made, the creditworthiness of the borrower and prevailing economic conditions. The allowance for loan losses has been allocated in the table below according to the estimated amount deemed to be reasonably necessary to provide for the possibility of losses being incurred within the following categories of loans The table below shows, for three types of loans, the amounts of the allowance allocable to such loans and the percentage of such loans to gross loans, along with the amount of the unallocated allowance. Commercial loan type shown below includes commercial, commercial real estate and construction loans.
Investments For the year ended December 31,
During the year ended December 31, - 41 - Securities available-for-sale are a part of the Company’s interest rate risk management strategy and may be sold in response to changes in interest rates, changes in prepayment risk, liquidity management and other factors. The Company continues to reposition the investment portfolio as part of an overall corporate-wide strategy to produce reasonable and consistent margins where feasible, while attempting to limit risks inherent in the Company’s
During 2018. The table below illustrates the maturity distribution and weighted average yield on a tax-equivalent basis for amortized cost of our investment securities,
For information regarding the carrying value of the investment portfolio, see Note 4, Note The securities listed in the table above are either rated investment grade by Moody’s and/or Standard and Poor’s or have shadow credit ratings from a credit agency supporting an investment grade and conform to the Company’s investment policy guidelines. There were no municipal securities, or corporate securities, of any single issuer exceeding 10% of stockholders’ equity The following table sets forth the carrying value of the Company’s investment securities, as of December 31 for each of the last three years.
- 42 - For other information regarding the Company’s investment securities portfolio, see Note 4, Note 16 and Note Interest Rate Sensitivity Analysis The principal objective of our asset and liability management function is to evaluate the interest-rate risk included in certain balance sheet accounts; determine the level of risk appropriate given our business focus, operating environment, and capital and liquidity requirements; establish prudent asset concentration guidelines; and manage the risk consistent with Board approved guidelines. We seek to reduce the vulnerability of our operations to changes in interest rates, and actions in this regard are taken under the guidance of the Bank’s Asset Liability Committee (the “ALCO”). The ALCO generally reviews our liquidity, cash flow needs, maturities of investments, deposits and borrowings, and current market conditions and interest rates. We currently utilize net interest income simulation and economic value of equity (“EVE”) models to measure the potential impact to the Bank of future changes in interest rates. As of December 31, The net interest income simulation model attempts to measure the change in net interest income over the next one-year period, and over the next three-year period on a cumulative basis, assuming certain changes in the general level of interest rates. Based on our model, which was run as of December 31, Based on our model, which was run as of December 31, An EVE analysis is also used to dynamically model the present value of asset and liability cash flows with instantaneous rate shocks of up 200 basis points and down 100 basis points. The economic value of equity is likely to be different as interest rates change. Our EVE as of December 31, The following table illustrates the most recent results for EVE and NII as of December 31,
Estimates of Fair Value The estimation of fair value is significant to certain assets of the Company, including available-for-sale investment securities. These are all recorded at either fair value or the lower of cost or fair value. Fair values are volatile and may be influenced by a number of factors. Circumstances that could cause estimates of the fair value of certain assets and liabilities to change include a change in prepayment speeds, expected cash flows, credit quality, discount rates, or market interest rates. Fair values for most available-for-sale investment securities are based on quoted market prices. If quoted market prices are not available, fair values are based on judgments regarding future expected loss experience, current economic condition risk characteristics of various financial instruments, and other factors. See Note - 43 - These estimates are subjective in nature, involve uncertainties and matters of significant judgment and therefore cannot be determined with precision. Changes in assumptions could significantly affect the estimates. Impact of Inflation and Changing Prices The financial statements and notes thereto presented elsewhere herein have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, which require the measurement of financial position and operating results in terms of historical dollars without considering the change in the relative purchasing power of money over time due to inflation. The impact of inflation is reflected in the increased cost of the operations; unlike most industrial companies, nearly all of the Company’s assets and liabilities are monetary. As a result, interest rates have a greater impact on performance than do the effects of general levels of inflation. Interest rates do not necessarily move in the same direction or to the same extent as the prices of goods and services. Liquidity Liquidity is a measure of a bank’s ability to fund loans, withdrawals or maturities of deposits, and other cash outflows in a cost-effective manner. Our principal sources of funds are deposits, scheduled amortization and prepayments of loan principal, maturities of investment securities, and funds provided by operations. While scheduled loan payments and maturing investments are relatively predictable sources of funds, deposit flow and loan prepayments are greatly influenced by general interest rates, economic conditions and competition.
The Bank is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and, based on available qualified collateral as of December 31, Cash and cash equivalents totaled Deposits Deposits are our primary source of funds. Average total deposits increased organic growth. The following table sets forth the year-to-date average balances and weighted average rates for various types of deposits for
- 44 - The following table sets forth the distribution of total deposit accounts, by account types for each of the dates indicated.
The following table summarizes the maturity distribution of time deposits in denomination of $100,000 or more:
Federal Home Loan Bank advances are secured, under the terms of a blanket collateral agreement, primarily by commercial mortgage loans. As of December 31, - 45 - Contractual Obligations and Other Commitments The following table summarizes contractual obligations
Capital The maintenance of a solid capital foundation continues to be a primary goal for the Company. Accordingly, capital plans, stock repurchases, and dividend policies are monitored on an ongoing basis. The most important objective of the capital planning process is to balance effectively the retention of capital to support future growth and the goal of providing stockholders with an attractive long-term return on their investment. The Company’s Tier 1 leverage capital (defined as tangible stockholders’ equity for common stock and Trust Preferred Capital Securities) BNJ. United States bank regulators have issued guidelines establishing minimum capital standards related to the level of assets and off balance-sheet exposures adjusted for credit risk. Specifically, these guidelines categorize assets and off balance-sheet items into The foregoing capital ratios are based in part on specific quantitative measures of assets, liabilities and certain off-balance sheet items as calculated under regulatory accounting practices. Capital amounts and classifications are also subject to qualitative judgments by the bank regulators regarding capital components, risk weightings, and other factors. - 46 - Subordinated Debentures During December 2003, Center Bancorp Statutory Trust II, a statutory business trust and During June shall be deemed to be zero. During January 2018, the Parent Corporation issued $75 million in aggregate principal amount of fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes (the “Notes”) to certain accredited investors. The net proceeds from the sale of the Notes were used in the first quarter of 2018 for general corporate purposes, which included the Parent Corporation contributing $65 million of the net proceeds to the Bank in the form of debt and common equity. The Notes are non-callable for five years, have a stated maturity of February 1, 2028 and bear interest at a fixed rate of 5.20% per year, from and including January 17, 2018 to, but excluding February 1, 2023. From and including February 1, 2023 to, but excluding the maturity date, or early redemption date, the interest rate will reset quarterly to a level equal to the then current three-month LIBOR rate plus 284 basis points. During June 2015, the Parent Corporation issued $50 million in aggregate principal amount of fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes (the “2015 Notes”). As of December 31, 2020, the 2015 Notes have a stated maturity of July 1, 2025, and bear interest until the maturity date or early redemption date at a variable rate equal to the then current three-month LIBOR rate plus 393 basis points. As of December 31, 2020, the variable interest rate was 4.16% and all costs related to 2015 issuance have been amortized. The 2015 Notes were redeemed in full on January 1, 2021. Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk Interest Sensitivity Market Risk Interest rate risk management is our primary market risk. See “Item 7- Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation- Interest Rate Sensitivity Analysis” herein for a discussion of our management of our interest rate risk. Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data All Financial Statements: The following financial statements are filed as part of this report under Item 8 - “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”
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