What changed in UNITY BANCORP INC /NJ/'s 10-K — 2022 vs 2023

Item 1. Business: 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 Unity 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 potential impact of pandemics, such as COVID-19, and other health emergencies and the government’s response thereto on our operations as well as those of our clients and on the economy generally and in our market area specifically; (2) competitive pressures among depository institutions may increase significantly; (3) changes in the interest rate environment may reduce interest margins; (4) prepayment speeds, loan origination and sale volumes, charge-offs and credit loss provisions may vary substantially from period to period; (5) general economic conditions may be less favorable than expected; (6) political developments, wars or other hostilities may disrupt or increase volatility in securities markets or other economic conditions; (7) legislative or regulatory changes or actions may adversely affect the businesses in which Unity Bancorp, Inc. is engaged; (8) changes and trends in the securities markets may adversely impact Unity Bancorp, Inc.; (9) a delayed or incomplete resolution of regulatory issues could adversely impact our planning; (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; (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 (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 Unity Bancorp, Inc. are included in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in Unity Bancorp, Inc.’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents are available free of charge at the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov and/or from Unity Bancorp, Inc.

Through its banking locations and on-line services, the Bank is able to support clients throughout the New York City metropolitan areas.

Business of the Company The Company’s primary business is ownership and supervision of the Bank. The Company and the Bank derive a majority of their revenue from net interest income (i.e., the difference between the interest received on loans and securities and the interest paid on deposits and borrowings).

The Bank also offers retirement accounts, Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) origination and Remote Deposit Capture (“RDC”). CDARS/ICS Reciprocal deposits are offered based on the Bank’s participation in the IntraFi Network LLC network and enables Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insurance sensitive customers to have coverage for large dollar deposits.

Deposits serve as the primary source of funding for interest-earning assets, but also generate noninterest income through stop payment fees, wire transfer fees, insufficient fund fees, debit card income, foreign ATM fees, interchange and other miscellaneous fees. In addition the bank generates additional noninterest income through residential, commercial and Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loan originations, servicing and sales.

The Company engages in a wide range of lending activities and offers commercial, SBA, consumer, mortgage, home equity and personal loans. Commercial lending primarily comprises of owner-occupied and non-owner occupied commercial mortgages and is supplemented by commercial and industrial lending activities, secured by business assets including receivables, inventory and equipment.

Through its banking locations and on-line services, the Bank is able to support clients throughout the New York City metropolitan areas. The Company’s goal is to continue to expand as needed to support clients as their businesses grow. Competition The banking business is highly competitive. The Company is located in an extremely competitive area.

In addition, such a bank holding company or bank is also subject to a leverage ratio of 4% (calculated as Tier 1 capital to average consolidated assets as reported on the consolidated financial statements).

Dividend Rights : Under the Banking Act, a bank may declare and pay dividends only if, after 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.

Financial reform legislation and rules could have adverse implications on the financial industry, the competitive environment and the Company’s ability to conduct business.

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: • to an amount equal to 10% of the bank’s capital and surplus, in the case of covered transactions with any one affiliate; and • 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: • 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: • a bank and its subsidiaries may not purchase a low-quality asset from an affiliate; • 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 • 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% of the loan value, 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. ​ 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. ​ 10 Table of Contents 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: ● 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. ● 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 client identification at the time new accounts are opened. ● 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. ​ ● 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. ● 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 clients. ​ Financial Holding Company Status The Company has elected to become a financial holding company.

The Company is therefore subject to the information, proxy solicitation, insider trading and other requirements and restrictions under the Exchange Act. ​