Unity Bancorp (UNTY) Risk Analysis

The Company's business may be adversely affected by changes in tax laws if there are any increases in its federal income tax rates. Further, the Company's business may be adversely affected by changes in tax laws if there are any increases in its state and local tax rates in markets where it has locations.

The Company's business and results of operations are affected by the financial markets and general economic conditions in the United States, including factors such as the level and volatility of interest rates, inflation, home prices, unemployment and under-employment levels, bankruptcies, household income, consumer spending, investor confidence and the strength of the U.S. economy. The deterioration of any of these conditions can adversely affect the Company's securities and loan portfolios, level of charge-offs and provision for credit losses, capital levels, liquidity and results of operations. In addition, the Company is affected by the economic conditions within its New Jersey and Pennsylvania primary trade areas. Unlike larger banks that are more geographically diversified, the Company provides banking and financial services primarily to customers in the New Jersey market and one county in Pennsylvania in which it has branches, so any decline in the economy of New Jersey or eastern Pennsylvania could have an adverse impact. Additionally, certain aspects of these primary trade areas may be adversely impacted by the economic wellbeing of the New York City metro region. The Company's loans, the ability of borrowers to repay these loans and the value of collateral securing these loans are impacted by economic conditions. The Company's financial results, the credit quality of its existing loan portfolio and the ability to generate new loans with acceptable yield and credit characteristics may be adversely affected by changes in prevailing economic conditions, including declines in real estate values, changes in interest rates, adverse employment conditions and the monetary and fiscal policies of the federal government. The Company cannot assure that positive trends or developments discussed in this annual report will continue or that negative trends or developments will not have a significant adverse effect on itself.

Liquidity risk is the potential that the Company will be unable to meet its obligations as they come due because of an inability to liquidate assets or obtain adequate funding on 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, dividends to shareholders, operating expenses and capital expenditures. Liquidity is derived primarily from deposit growth and retention; principal and interest payments on 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. Customer account balances can decrease when customers perceive alternative investments, such as fixed income securities or money market funds, as providing a better risk/return trade off or if customers are concerned about the safety of their deposits, as happened in the first quarter of 2023. If customers move money out of bank deposits and into other investments, or if customers perceive a risk in leaving their deposits with the Bank and transfer the deposits to larger institutions seen as less risky, the Company could lose a low-cost source of funds, increasing its funding costs and reducing the Company's net interest income and net income. The Company maintains elevated wholesale funding balances, including brokered CDs, brokered money market accounts, FHLB advances and other borrowing and deposit sources. These wholesale funding balances typically result in higher funding costs compared to other sources and reduce the Company's net interest income and net income. Additionally, these sources typically are only available to the Company if the Bank maintains certain capital levels. The Company's management team monitors wholesale funding as a composition of its balance sheet via the risk management process; however, wholesale deposits may be more prone to liquidity risk. The Company's access to funding sources in amounts adequate to finance its activities could be impaired by factors that affect the Company specifically or the financial services industry in general. Factors that could detrimentally impact access to liquidity sources include a decrease in the level of business activity due to persistent weakness, or downturn, in the economy or adverse regulatory action against the Company. The Company's ability to borrow could also be impaired by factors that are not necessarily specific to it, 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. There are current proposals from the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA"), the regulatory of the Federal Home Loan Bank ("FHLB") system, to refocus on the FHLB's housing mission. This proposal would require many banks to hold at least 10% of their assets in residential mortgages in order to maintain access to FHLB funding. If these proposals change or progress, this could impact the Company's ability to borrow from the FHLB and require it to find other sources of credit, including borrowing directly from the FRB.

The Company relies heavily on communications and information systems to conduct its business. Any failure, interruption or breach in security of these systems could result in failures or disruptions in the Company's customer-relationship management, general ledger, deposit, loan and other systems. The Company is further exposed to the risk that its external vendors may be unable to fulfill their contractual obligations (or will be subject to the same risk of fraud or operational errors by their respective employees) and to the risk that the Company's (or its vendors') business continuity and data security systems prove to be inadequate. The Company maintains a system of comprehensive policies and a control framework designed to monitor vendor risks including, among other things, (i) changes in the vendor's organizational structure or internal controls, (ii) changes in the vendor's financial condition, (iii) changes in the vendor's support for existing products and services and (iv) changes in the vendor's strategic focus. In addition, the Company maintains cyber liability insurance to mitigate against certain losses it may incur. While the Company has policies and procedures designed to prevent or limit the effect of the failure, interruption or security breach of its information systems, there can be no assurance that any such failures, interruptions or security breaches will not occur; or, if they do occur, that they will be adequately addressed. Further cyber risk exposure will likely remain elevated in the future as a result of the Company's expansion of internet and mobile banking tools and new product roll out. The occurrence of any failures, interruptions or security breaches of the Company's information systems could damage the Company's reputation, result in a loss of customer business, subject the Company to additional regulatory scrutiny or expose the Company to civil litigation and possible financial liability; any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition and results of operations. For further information, please refer to Item 1C in this document.

The financial services market, including banking services, is increasingly affected by advances in technology, including developments in: - telecommunications;- data processing;- artificial intelligence, ("AI");- automation;- Internet-based banking;- Tele-banking;- debit cards/smart cards The Company's ability to compete successfully in the future will depend on whether it can anticipate and respond to technological changes. Due to the rise of AI, technological advances are occurring in the industry at an unprecedented pace. To develop these and other new technologies and protect against cyber security threats, the Company will likely have to make additional capital investments. Although the Company continually invests in new technology, it cannot assure that it will have sufficient resources or access to the necessary proprietary technology to remain competitive in the future.

The banking industry within the State of New Jersey is highly competitive. The Company's principal market area is also served by branch offices of large commercial banks and thrift institutions. In addition, the Modernization Act permits other financial entities, such as insurance companies and securities firms, to acquire or form financial institutions, thereby further increasing competition.  In addition, financial technology companies, either directly or in partnership with other insured depository institutions, compete for loan and deposit customers. Similarly, larger legacy non-financial companies, such as Apple, Alphabet and Amazon, are further increasing competition to compete for loans, deposits and payments. A number of the Company's competitors have substantially greater resources than it does to expend upon advertising and marketing, and their substantially greater capitalization enables them to make much larger loans. The Company's success depends a great deal upon its judgment that large and mid-size financial institutions do not adequately serve small businesses in its principal market area and upon the Company's ability to compete favorably for such customers. In addition to competition from larger institutions, the Company also faces competition for individuals and small businesses from small community banks seeking to compete as "hometown" institutions. Most of these smaller institutions have focused their marketing efforts on the smaller end of the small business market the Company serves. In January 2022, the Federal Reserve issued "Money Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation" which discusses a U.S. central bank digital currency ("CBDC"). While this is in the earliest of stages, if this CBDC is implemented by the Federal Reserve, it could change banking on a larger scale as Americans would be able to transact directly with the Federal Reserve. The Company has also been active in competing for New Jersey governmental and municipal deposits. At December 31, 2023, the Company held approximately $346.3 million in governmental and municipal deposits. The 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 owned bank then financing small businesses and municipal projects in New Jersey. While legislation has been introduced in the state legislature, the New Jersey Public Bank Implementation Board has provided its final recommendations to the governor, including that the public bank entity should not be a depository institution but should seek funding from a diverse range of investors and non-depository investment vehicles. However, should this proposal be adopted and a state owned bank formed, it could impede the Company's ability to attract and retain governmental and municipal deposits, thereby impairing the Company's liquidity.

The Company's reputation is one of the most valuable components of its business. As such, the Company strives to conduct its business in a manner that maintains its reputation. If the Company's reputation is negatively impacted by the actions of an employee, certain litigations, regulatory actions, or certain financial concerns the business and therefore, the operating results may be materially adversely impacted.

The Company expects to continue to experience growth in the scope of its operations and, correspondingly, in the number of its employees and customers. The Company may not be able to successfully manage its business as a result of the strain on management and operations that may result from this growth. The Company's ability to manage this growth will depend upon its ability to continue to attract, hire and retain skilled employees.  The Company's success will also depend on the ability of its 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. Further, given the rise of "remote" and "hybrid" working models, the Company is in competition with more companies and industries for employee retention. The Company's potential inability to retain key employees could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations. As a community banking organization, the Company is highly reliant on key employees, including its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, heads of key operational areas, area managers, business development officers and loan officers. The loss of these employees could have an adverse impact on the Company's operating capacities and the ability to implement growth strategies and adversely impact the financial performance.