Ohio Valley Banc (OVBC) Risk Analysis

The policies of the Federal Reserve Board impact us significantly, especially given the current economic and geopolitical landscape.  The Federal Reserve Board regulates the supply of money and credit in the United States.  Its policies directly and indirectly influence the rate of interest earned on loans and paid on borrowings and interest-bearing deposits and can also affect the value of financial instruments we hold.  Those policies determine to a significant extent our cost of funds for lending and investing. Changes in those policies are beyond our control and are difficult to predict.  Federal Reserve Board policies can also affect our borrowers, potentially increasing the risk that they may fail to repay their loans.  For example, a tightening of the money supply by the Federal Reserve Board could reduce the demand for a borrower's products and services.  This could adversely affect the borrower's earnings and ability to repay its loan, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our primary funding and liquidity source to support our business strategies is a stable customer deposit base. Deposit levels may be affected by a number of factors, including interest rates paid by competitors, general interest rate levels, returns available to customers on alternative investments, banking industry conditions that can impact customers perceptions of the safety and soundness of the banking industry generally or of specific financial institutions, and general economic conditions. If our deposit levels fall, we could lose a relatively low-cost source of funding and our interest expense would likely increase as we obtain alternative funding to replace lost deposits. If local customer deposits are not sufficient to fund our normal operations and growth, we will look to outside sources, such as lines of credit with both the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati ("FHLB") and FRB, brokered CDs, a federal funds line with a correspondent bank, and available funds from select deposit placement services. Although the Bank has historically been able to replace maturing deposits and advances, no assurance can be given that the Bank would be able to replace such funds in the future if our financial condition were to change. If we are required to rely more heavily on more expensive funding sources to support asset growth, our revenues may not increase proportionately to cover our costs, which would have a negative impact to profitability and the net interest margin.

The financial services industry is extensively regulated.  We are subject to extensive state and federal regulation, supervision and legislation that govern almost all aspects of our operations.  Laws and regulations may change from time to time and are primarily intended for the protection of consumers, depositors, borrowers, the DIF and the banking system as a whole, and not to benefit our shareholders.  Regulations affecting banks and financial services businesses are undergoing continuous changes, and management cannot predict the effect of these changes.  The impact of any changes to laws and regulations or other actions by regulatory agencies may negatively impact us and our ability to increase the value of our business, possibly limiting the services we provide, increasing the potential for competition from non-banks, or requiring us to change the way we operate. Regulatory authorities have extensive discretion in connection with their supervisory and enforcement activities, including the imposition of restrictions on the operation of an institution, the classification of assets held by an institution, the adequacy of an institution's allowance for loan losses and the ability to complete acquisitions.  Additionally, actions by regulatory agencies against us could cause us to devote significant time and resources to defending our business and may lead to penalties that materially affect us and our shareholders. Even the reduction of regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on us and our shareholders if such lessening of restrictions increases competition within our industry or market area. Changes in accounting standards, policies, estimates or procedures could impact our reported financial condition or results of operations. Entities that set generally applicable accounting standards, such as the FASB, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other regulatory boards, periodically change the financial accounting and reporting standards that govern the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. These changes can be difficult to predict and can materially affect how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, we could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, which would result in the restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. In June 2016, FASB issued a new accounting standard for recognizing current expected credit losses, commonly referred to as CECL.  CECL will result in earlier recognition of credit losses and requires consideration of not only past and current events but also reasonable and supportable forecasts that affect collectability.  In October 2019, FASB announced it would delay the effective date of CECL for smaller companies, such as Ohio Valley, until fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022. The Bank has developed a CECL model and is evaluating model results in relation to the new ASU guidance. The Company adopted the new accounting standard effective January 1, 2023, and recorded a net charge to retained earnings of $2,209,000 for the cumulative effect. Upon adoption, the Company increased the allowance for credit losses by $2,162,000. In addition, a reserve for unfunded commitments and held to maturity securities was established totaling $631,000 and $3,000, respectively. The Company elected to utilize the three-year phase in option of the day-one impact of this standard to regulatory capital. If the methodologies and assumptions used in our CECL model prove to be incorrect, inadequate or we fail to properly transition internal processes or systems, the allowance for credit losses may be insufficient, resulting in the need for additional allowance for credit losses to be established, which could have a material adverse impact on Ohio Valley's financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, the time horizon over which we are required to estimate future credit losses has expanded under CECL, which could result in increased volatility in future allowances for credit losses.  If weak or deteriorating economic conditions are forecasted, our expectations for credit losses may be altered under CECL, with the potential to negatively affect our financial condition. Management's accounting policies and methods are fundamental to how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations.  Our management must exercise judgment in selecting and applying many of these accounting policies and methods in order to ensure that they comply with GAAP and reflect management's judgment as to the most appropriate manner in which to record and report our financial condition and results of operations.  In some cases, management must select the accounting policy or method to apply from two or more alternatives, any of which might be reasonable under the circumstances yet might result in reporting materially different amounts than would have been reported under a different alternative. Management has identified several accounting policies that are considered significant (one as being "critical") to the presentation of our financial condition and results of operations because they require management to make particularly subjective and/or complex judgments about matters that are inherently uncertain and because of the likelihood that materially different amounts would be reported under different conditions or using different assumptions.  Because of the inherent uncertainty of estimates about these matters, no assurance can be given that the application of alternative policies or methods might not result in our reporting materially different amounts.

Our business is primarily relationship-driven in that many of our key employees have extensive customer relationships.  Loss of a key employee with such customer relationships may lead to the loss of business if the customers were to follow that employee to a competitor.  While we believe we have strong relationships with our key producers, we cannot guarantee that all of our key personnel will remain with our organization.  Loss of such key personnel, should they enter into an employment relationship with one of our competitors, could result in the loss of some of our customers.