Item 1A. Risk Factors
ITEM 1A. Risk Factors
In addition to risks disclosed elsewhere in this Report, the following discussion sets forth the material risk factors that could affect the Company’s consolidated financial condition and results of operations. Readers should not consider any descriptions of these factors to be a complete set of all potential risks that could affect the Company. Any risk factor discussed below could by itself, or combined with other factors, materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations, financial condition, capital position, liquidity, competitive position or reputation, including by materially increasing expenses or decreasing revenues, which could result in material losses or a decrease in earnings.
Risks Related to COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our business and financial results and that of many of our customers, and the ultimate impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain, cannot be predicted and outside of our control, including the scope and duration of the pandemic and actions taken by governmental authorities in response to the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created extensive disruptions to the global economy and to the lives of individuals throughout the world. Governments, businesses, and the public are taking unprecedented actions to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to mitigate its effects, including quarantines, travel bans, shelter-in-place orders, closures of businesses and schools, fiscal and monetary stimulus, and legislation designed to deliver financial aid and other relief. While the scope, duration, and full effects of COVID-19 are rapidly evolving and not fully known, the pandemic and the efforts to contain it have disrupted global economic activity, adversely affected the functioning of financial markets, impacted market interest rates, increased economic and market uncertainty, and disrupted trade and supply chains. If these effects continue for a prolonged period or result in sustained economic stress or recession, many of the risk factors identified in our Form 10-K could be exacerbated and the effects of COVID-19 could have a material adverse impact on us in a number of ways as described in more detail below.
Credit Risk – Our risks of timely loan repayment and the value of collateral supporting the loans are affected by the strength of our borrowers’ businesses. Concern about the spread of COVID-19 has caused and is likely to continue to cause business shutdowns, limitations on commercial activity and financial transactions, labor shortages, supply chain interruptions, increased unemployment and commercial property vacancy rates, reduced profitability and ability for property owners to make mortgage payments, and overall economic and financial market instability, all of which may cause our customers to be unable to make scheduled loan payments. Hotel and restaurant operators and others in the leisure, hospitality and travel industries, among other industries, have been particularly hurt by COVID-19. If the effects of COVID-19 result in widespread and sustained repayment shortfalls on loans in our portfolio or borrowers that were provided forbearance opportunities are unable to begin repayment at the end of the deferment period, we could incur significant delinquencies, foreclosures and credit losses, particularly if the available collateral is insufficient to cover our credit exposure. The future effects of COVID-19 on economic activity could negatively affect the collateral values associated with our existing loans, the ability to liquidate the real estate collateral securing our residential and commercial real estate loans, our ability to maintain loan origination volume and to obtain additional financing, the future demand for or profitability of our lending and services, and the financial condition and credit risk of our customers. Further, in the event of delinquencies, regulatory changes and policies designed to protect borrowers may slow or prevent us from making our business decisions or may result in a delay in our taking certain remediation actions, such as foreclosure. In addition, we have unfunded commitments to extend credit to customers. During a challenging economic environment like now, our customers depend more on our credit commitments and increased borrowings under these commitments could adversely impact our liquidity. Furthermore, in an effort to support our communities during the pandemic, we are participating in the PPP under the CARES Act whereby loans to small businesses are made and those loans are subject to the regulatory requirements that would require forbearance of loan payments for a specified time or that would limit our ability to pursue all available remedies in the event of a loan default. If the borrower under the PPP loan fails to qualify for loan forgiveness, we are at the heightened risk of holding these loans at unfavorable interest rates as compared to the loans to customers that we would have otherwise extended credit. In addition, since the initiation of the PPP, several banks have been subject to
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litigation or threatened litigation regarding the process and procedures that such banks used in processing applications for the PPP. We may be exposed to the risk of litigation, from both clients and non-clients that approached us regarding PPP loans. If any such litigation is filed or threatened against us and is not resolved in a manner favorable to us, it may result in significant cost or adversely affect our reputation. Any financial liability, litigation costs or reputational damage caused by PPP-related litigation could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial position, results of operations and prospects.
Strategic Risk – Our success may be affected by a variety of external factors that may affect the price or marketability of our products and services, changes in interest rates that may increase our funding costs, reduced demand for our financial products due to economic conditions and the various response of governmental and nongovernmental authorities. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased economic and demand uncertainty and has led to disruption and volatility in the global capital markets. Furthermore, many of the governmental actions have been directed toward curtailing household and business activity to contain COVID-19. These actions have been rapidly expanding in scope and intensity. For example, in many of our markets, local governments acted to temporarily close or restrict the operations of businesses. The future effects of COVID-19 on economic activity could negatively affect the future banking products we provide, including a decline in originating loans.
Operational Risk – Current and future restrictions on our workforce’s access to our facilities could limit our ability to meet customer servicing expectations and have a material adverse effect on our operations. We rely on business processes and branch activity that largely depend on people and technology, including access to information technology systems as well as information, applications, payment systems and other services provided by third parties. In response to COVID-19, we have modified our business practices with a portion of our employees working remotely from their homes to have our operations uninterrupted as much as possible. Further, technology in employees’ homes may not be as robust as in our offices and could cause the networks, information systems, applications, and other tools available to employees to be more limited or less reliable than in our offices. The continuation of these work-from-home measures also introduces additional operational risk, including increased cybersecurity risk from phishing, malware, and other cybersecurity attacks, all of which could expose us to risks of data or financial loss and could seriously disrupt our operations and the operations of any impacted customers.
Moreover, we rely on many third parties in our business operations, including the appraiser of the real property collateral, vendors that supply essential services such as loan servicers, providers of financial information, systems and analytical tools and providers of electronic payment and settlement systems, and local and federal government agencies, offices, and courthouses. In light of the developing measures responding to the pandemic, many of these entities may limit the availability and access of their services. If the third-party service providers continue to have limited capacities for a prolonged period or if additional limitations or potential disruptions in these services materialize, it may negatively affect our operations.
Interest Rate Risk/Market Value Risk – Our net interest income, lending and investment activities, deposits and profitability could be negatively affected by volatility in interest rates caused by uncertainties stemming from COVID-19. In March 2020, the Federal Reserve lowered the target range for the federal funds rate to a range from 0% to 0.25%, citing concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets and market stress in the energy sector. A prolonged period of extremely volatile and unstable market conditions would likely increase our funding costs and negatively affect market risk mitigation strategies. Higher income volatility from changes in interest rates and spreads to benchmark indices could cause a loss of future net interest income and a decrease in prevailing fair market values of our investment securities and other assets. Fluctuations in interest rates will impact both the level of income and expense recorded on most of our assets and liabilities and the market value of all interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our net income, operating results, or financial condition.
Because there have been no comparable recent global pandemics that resulted in similar global impact, we do not yet know the full extent of COVID-19’s effects on our business, operations, or the global economy as a whole. Any future development will be highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope and duration of the pandemic, the effectiveness of our work-from-home arrangements, third party providers’ ability to support our operations, and any actions taken by governmental authorities and other third parties in response to the pandemic. The uncertain future development of this crisis could materially and adversely affect our business, operations, operating results, financial condition, liquidity or capital levels.
Risks Related to Our Lending Activities
A large percentage of the Company’s loans are collateralized by real estate, and further disruptions in the real estate market may result in losses and reduce the Company’s earnings.
A substantial portion of the Company’s loan portfolio consists of loans collateralized by real estate. Improving economic conditions have shifted to an increase in demand for real estate, which has resulted in stabilization of some real estate values in the Company’s markets. Further disruptions in the real estate market could significantly impair the value of the Company’s
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collateral and its ability to sell the collateral upon foreclosure. The real estate collateral in each case provides an alternate source of repayment in the event of default by the borrower and may deteriorate in value during the time the credit is extended. If real estate values decline further, it is likely that the Company would be required to increase its allowance for loan losses. If, during a period of lower real estate values, the Company is required to liquidate the collateral securing a loan to satisfy debts or to increase its allowance for loan losses, it could materially reduce its profitability and adversely affect its financial condition.
Because the Company emphasizes commercial real estate and commercial loan originations, its credit risk may increase, and continued downturns in the local real estate market or economy could adversely affect its earnings.
Commercial real estate and commercial loans generally have more inherent risk than the residential real estate loans. Because the repayment of commercial real estate and commercial loans depends on the successful management and operation of the borrower’s properties or related businesses, repayment of such loans can be affected by adverse conditions in the local real estate market or economy. Commercial real estate and commercial loans also may involve relatively large loan balances to individual borrowers or groups of related borrowers. A downturn in the real estate market or the local economy could adversely affect the value of properties securing the loan or the revenues from the borrower’s business, thereby increasing the risk of nonperforming loans. As the Company’s commercial real estate and commercial loan portfolios increase, the corresponding risks and potential for losses from these loans may also increase. Furthermore, it may be difficult to assess the future performance of newly originated commercial loans, as such loans may have delinquency or charge-off levels above the Company’s historical experience, which could adversely affect the Company’s future performance.
If our nonperforming assets increase, our earnings will suffer.
Our nonperforming assets adversely affect our net income in various ways. We do not record interest income on non-accrual loans or real estate owned. We must reserve for probable losses, which results in additional provisions for loan losses. As circumstances warrant, we must write down the value of properties in our other real estate owned portfolio to reflect changing market values. Additionally, we have legal fees associated with the resolution of problem assets as well as additional costs, such as taxes, insurance and maintenance related to our other real estate owned. The resolution of nonperforming assets also requires the active involvement of management, which can adversely affect the amount of time we devote to the income-producing activities of the Bank. If our estimate of the allowance for loan losses is inadequate, we will have to increase the allowance accordingly.
If the Company’s allowance for loan losses is not sufficient to cover actual loan losses, the Company’s results of operations would be negatively affected.
In determining the adequacy of the allowance for loan losses, the Company analyzes its loss and delinquency experience by loan categories and considers the effect of existing economic conditions. In addition, the Company makes various assumptions and judgments about the collectability of the loan portfolio, including the creditworthiness of its borrowers and the value of the real estate and other assets serving as collateral for the repayment of many of the loans. If the results of these analyses are incorrect, the allowance for loan losses may not be sufficient to cover losses inherent in the portfolio, which would require additions to the allowance and would reduce net income.
In addition, bank regulators periodically review the Company’s allowance for loan losses and may require it to increase the allowance for loan losses or recognize further loan charge-offs. Any increase in the allowance for loan losses or loan charge-offs as required by these regulatory authorities may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
The Financial Accounting Standard Board ("FASB") has issued an accounting standard update that will result in a significant change in how we recognize credit losses and may have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations.
In 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments . For assets held at amortized cost basis, ASU 2016-13 eliminates the probable initial recognition threshold in current accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") and instead requires an entity to reflect its estimate of all current expected credit losses ("CECL"). Under the CECL model, we will be required to present certain financial assets carried at amortized cost, such as loans held for investment and debt securities, at the net amount expected to be collected. The measurement of expected credit losses is to be based on information about past events, including historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts that affect the collectability of the reported amount. This measurement will take place at the time the financial asset is first added to the statement of financial condition and periodically thereafter. This differs significantly from the incurred loss model required under current GAAP, which delays recognition until it is probable a loss has been incurred. Accordingly, we expect that the adoption of the CECL model will materially affect how we determine our allowance for loan losses and could require us to significantly increase our allowance. Moreover, the CECL model may create more volatility in the level of our allowance for
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loan losses. If we are required to materially increase our level of allowance for loan losses for any reason, such increase could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In November 2019, the FASB approved a delay of the required implementation date of ASU 2016-13 for smaller reporting companies, including us, resulting in a required implementation date for the Company of January 1, 2023. The Company is evaluating the impact of this ASU and expects to recognize a one-time cumulative-effect adjustment to the allowance for loan losses upon adoption, but we cannot yet determine the magnitude of the one-time adjustment or the overall impact of the new guidance on the Company’s consolidated financial condition or results of operation.
Risk Related to Changes in Market Interest Rates
Changes in interest rates may reduce the Company’s profits and impair asset values.
The Company’s earnings and cash flows depend primarily on its net interest income. Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors that are beyond the Company’s control, including general economic conditions and the policies of various governmental and regulatory agencies, particularly the Federal Reserve. Changes in market interest rates could have an adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. The Company’s interest-bearing liabilities generally reprice or mature more quickly than its interest earning assets. If rates increase rapidly, the Company may have to increase the rates paid on deposits, particularly higher cost time deposits and borrowed funds, more quickly than any changes in interest rates earned on loans and investments, resulting in a negative effect on interest rate spreads and net interest income. Increases in interest rates may also make it more difficult for borrowers to repay adjustable rate loans. Conversely, should market interest rates fall below current levels, the Company’s net interest margin also could be negatively affected if competitive pressures keep it from further reducing rates on deposits, while the yields on the Company’s interest-earning assets decrease more rapidly through loan prepayments and interest rate adjustments. Decreases in interest rates often result in increased prepayments of loans and mortgage-related securities, as borrowers refinance their loans to reduce borrowings costs. Under these circumstances, the Company is subject to reinvestment risk to the extent it is unable to reinvest the cash received from such prepayments in loans or other investments that have interest rates that are comparable to the interest rates on existing loans and securities. Changes in interest rates also affect the value of the Company’s interest-earning assets, and in particular its securities portfolio. Generally, the value of fixed-rate securities fluctuates inversely with changes in interest rates. Unrealized gains and losses on securities available for sale determined to be temporary in nature are reported as a separate component of equity. Decreases in the fair value of securities available for sale resulting from increases in interest rates therefore could have an adverse effect on the Company’s shareholders’ equity.
Risks Related to Our Acquisition Activity
Impairment in the carrying value of goodwill could negatively affect our results of operations.
We have recorded goodwill in connection with our recently completed mergers. At December 31, 2020, we had $9.7 million of goodwill on our Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition after incurring goodwill impairment of $18.7 million in 2020. Any further impairment to goodwill could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s consolidated financial conditions and results of operations. 100% of the goodwill is assigned to the Community Banking reporting unit. Under GAAP, goodwill must be evaluated for impairment annually or on an interim basis when a triggering event occurs. If the carrying value of our reporting unit exceeds its current fair value as determined based on the value of the business, the goodwill is considered impaired and is reduced to fair value by a non-cash, non-tax-deductible charge to earnings. The impairment testing required by GAAP involves estimates and significant judgments by management. Although we believe our assumptions and estimates are reasonable and appropriate, any changes in key assumptions or other unanticipated events and circumstances may affect the accuracy or validity of such estimates. Events and conditions that could result in impairment in the value of our goodwill include worsening business conditions and economic factors, particularly those that may result from the impact of a downturn in the economy as a result of COVID-19, changes in the industries in which we operate, adverse changes in the regulatory environment, or other factors leading to reduction in expected long-term profitability and cash flows.
Risk Related to Our Liquidity Position
If we are unable to borrow funds, we may not be able to meet the cash flow requirements of our depositors, creditors, and borrowers, or the operating cash needed to fund corporate expansion and other corporate activities.
Liquidity is the ability to meet cash flow needs on a timely basis at a reasonable cost. Our liquidity is used to make loans and to repay deposit liabilities as they become due or are demanded by customers. Liquidity policies and procedures are established by the board, with operating limits set based upon the ratio of loans to deposits and percentage of assets funded with non-core or wholesale funding. We regularly monitor our overall liquidity position to ensure various alternative strategies exist to cover unanticipated events that could affect liquidity. We also establish policies and monitor guidelines to diversify our wholesale funding sources to avoid concentrations in any one market source. Wholesale funding sources include federal funds purchased, securities sold under repurchase agreements, non-core deposits, and debt. The Bank is a member of the FHLB of Pittsburgh, which provides funding through advances to members that are collateralized with mortgage-related assets.
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We maintain a portfolio of available-for-sale securities that can be used as a secondary source of liquidity. There are other sources of liquidity available to us should they be needed. These sources include the sale of loans, the ability to acquire national market, non-core deposits, issuance of additional collateralized borrowings such as FHLB advances and federal funds purchased, and the issuance of preferred or common securities.
Risks Related to Our Ability to Pay Dividends
The Company’s ability to pay dividends is subject to the ability of Community Bank to make capital distributions to the Company, and also may be limited by Federal Reserve policy.
The Company’s long-term ability to pay dividends to its shareholders depends primarily on the ability of the Bank to make capital distributions to the Company and on the availability of cash at the holding company level if the Bank’s earnings are not sufficient to pay dividends. In addition, the Federal Reserve has issued a policy statement regarding the payment of dividends by bank holding companies. In general, the policy provides that dividends should be paid only out of current earnings and only if the prospective rate of earnings retention by the holding company appears consistent with the organization’s capital needs, asset quality and overall financial condition. Regulatory guidance provides for prior regulatory consultation with respect to capital distributions in certain circumstances, such as where the holding company’s net income for the past four quarters, net of dividends paid over that period, is insufficient to fully fund the dividend or the holding company’s overall rate or earnings retention is inconsistent with its capital needs and overall financial condition. These regulatory policies may adversely affect the Company’s ability to pay dividends or otherwise engage in capital distributions.
Risks Related to Our Operations
Because the nature of the financial services business involves a high volume of transactions, the Company faces significant operational risks.
The Company operates in diverse markets and relies on the ability of its employees and systems to process a significant number of transactions. Operational risk is the risk of loss resulting from operations, including the risk of fraud by employees or persons outside a company, the execution of unauthorized transactions by employees, errors relating to transaction processing and technology, breaches of the internal control system and compliance requirements, and business continuation and disaster recovery. Insurance coverage may not be available for such losses, or where available, such losses may exceed insurance limits. This risk of loss also includes the potential legal actions that could arise as a result of an operational deficiency or as a result of noncompliance with applicable regulatory standards, adverse business decisions or their implementation, and customer attrition due to potential negative publicity. If a breakdown occurs in the internal controls system, improper operation of systems or improper employee actions, the Company could incur financial loss, face regulatory action and suffer damage to its reputation.
Risks associated with system failures, interruptions, breaches of security or cyber security could negatively affect the Company’s earnings.
Information technology systems are critical to the Company’s business. The Company uses various technology systems to manage customer relationships, general ledger, securities, deposits and loans. The Company has established policies and procedures to prevent or limit the effect of system failures, interruptions and security breaches, but such events may still occur or may not be adequately addressed if they do occur. In addition, any compromise of the Company’s systems could deter customers from using its products and services. Security systems may not protect systems from security breaches.
In addition, the Company outsources some of its data processing to certain third-party providers. If these third-party providers encounter difficulties, or if the Company has difficulty communicating with them, the Company’s ability to adequately process and account for transactions could be affected, and business operations could be adversely affected. Threats to information security also exist in the processing of customer information through various other vendors and their personnel.
The occurrence of any system failures, interruption or breach of security could damage the Company’s reputation and result in a loss of customers and business thereby, subjecting it to additional regulatory scrutiny, or could expose it to litigation and possible financial liability. Although the Company has not experienced any system failures, interruption or breach of security to date, any of these events could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations.
The Company is constantly relying upon the availability of technology, the Internet and telecommunication systems to enable financial transactions by clients, to record and monitor transactions and transmit and receive data to and from clients and third parties. Information security risks have increased significantly due to the use of online, telephone and mobile banking channels by clients and the increased sophistication and activities of organized crime, hackers, terrorists and other external parties. Our technologies, systems, networks and our clients’ devices have been subject to, and are likely to continue to be the target of, cyberattacks, computer viruses, malware, phishing attacks or information security breaches that could result in the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, loss or destruction of our or our clients’ confidential, proprietary and other information, the theft of client assets through fraudulent transactions or disruption of our or our clients’ or other third parties’ business operations. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
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The Company’s risk management framework may not be effective in mitigating risk and reducing the potential for significant losses.
The Company’s risk management framework is designed to minimize risk and loss to the company. The Company seeks to identify, measure, monitor, report and control exposure to risk, including strategic, market, liquidity, compliance and operational risks. While the Company uses a broad and diversified set of risk monitoring and mitigation techniques, these techniques are inherently limited because they cannot anticipate the existence or future development of currently unanticipated or unknown risks. Economic conditions and heightened legislative and regulatory scrutiny of the financial services industry, among other developments, have increased the Company’s level of risk. Accordingly, the Company could suffer losses if it fails to properly anticipate and manage these risks.
Reforms to and uncertainty regarding LIBOR may adversely affect our business.
In 2017, the Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (“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. The announcement indicates that the continuation of LIBOR on the current basis cannot and will not be guaranteed after 2021. It is impossible to predict whether and to what extent banks will continue to provide LIBOR submissions to the administrator of LIBOR or whether any additional reforms to LIBOR may be enacted in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. A committee of private-market derivative participants and their regulators convened by the Federal Reserve, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”), was created to identify an alternative reference interest rate to replace LIBOR. The ARRC announced Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by Treasury securities, as its preferred alternative to LIBOR. Subsequently, the Federal Reserve announced final plans for the production of SOFR, which resulted in the commencement of its published rates by the FRB 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 our financial assets and liabilities that are based on or are linked to LIBOR, our 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 our systems and processes. The implementation of a substitute index or indices for the calculation of interest rates under our loan agreements with our borrowers may result in our incurring significant expenses in effecting the transition, may result in reduced loan balances if borrowers do not accept the substitute index or indices, and may result in disputes or litigation with customers over the appropriateness or comparability to LIBOR of the substitute index or indices, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Currently, the manner and impact of this transition and related developments, as well as the effect of these developments on our funding costs, securities portfolio and business, is uncertain.
Risks Related to Accounting Matters
Changes in the Company’s accounting policies or in accounting standards could materially affect how the Company reports its financial condition and results of operations.
The Company’s accounting policies are essential to understanding its financial condition and results of operations. Some of these policies require the use of estimates and assumptions that may affect the value of the Company’s assets, liabilities, and financial results. Some of the Company’s accounting policies are critical because they require management to make difficult, subjective and complex judgments about matters that are inherently uncertain, and because it is likely that materially different amounts would be reported under different conditions or using different assumptions. If such estimates or assumptions underlying the Company’s financial statements are incorrect, it may experience material losses.
From time to time, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission change the financial accounting and reporting standards or the interpretation of those standards that govern the preparation of the Company’s financial statements. These changes are beyond the Company’s control, can be difficult to predict, and could materially affect how the Company reports its financial condition and results of operations. The Company could also be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, resulting in restating prior period financial statements in material amounts.
The need to account for certain assets at estimated fair value, such as securities, may adversely affect the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
The Company reports certain assets, such as securities, at estimated fair value. Generally, for assets that are reported at fair value, the Company uses quoted market prices or valuation models that utilize observable market inputs to estimate fair value. Because the Company carries these assets on its books at their estimated fair value, it may incur losses even if the asset in question presents minimal credit risk.
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Risks Related to Competitive Matters
Strong competition within the Company’s market area could adversely affect the Company’s earnings and slow growth.
The Company faces intense competition both in making loans and attracting deposits. Price competition for loans and deposits might result in the Company earning less on its loans and paying more on its deposits, which reduces net interest income. Some of the Company’s competitors have substantially greater resources than the Company has and may offer services that it does not provide. The Company expects competition to increase in the future as a result of legislative, regulatory and technological changes and the continuing consolidation in the financial services industry. The Company’s profitability will depend upon its continued ability to compete successfully in its market areas.
General Risk Factors
A worsening of economic conditions could adversely affect the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
A worsening of economic conditions could significantly affect the markets in which the Company operates, the value of loans and investments, ongoing operations, costs and profitability. Further declines in real estate values and sales volumes and continued elevated unemployment levels may result in higher than expected loan delinquencies, increases in nonperforming and criticized classified assets, and a decline in demand for the Company’s products and services. In addition, the recent decline in natural gas prices, if it persists or if prices decline further, may depress natural gas exploration and drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale Formation. Furthermore, exploration and drilling of natural gas reserves in our market area may be affected by federal, state and local laws and regulations affecting production, permitting, environmental protection and other matters. Any of these events may negatively affect our customer, and may cause the Company to incur losses, and may adversely affect its financial condition and results of operations.
ITEM 1B Unresolved Staff Comments
Not applicable