CVBF US Equity☆

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

In the course of conducting our business operations, we are exposed to a variety of risks. Some of these risks are inherent in the financial services industry and others are more specific to our own business. Together with the other information on the risks we face and our management of risk contained in this Annual Report, the following presents the most significant risks of which we are currently aware which may affect us. Events or circumstances arising from one or more of these risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects and the value and price of our common stock could decline. The risks identified below are not intended to be a comprehensive list of all risks we face, and additional risks that we may currently view as not material may also impair our business operations, financial condition and results.

Risks relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the banking industry and our business, including the scope and duration of the pandemic and actions taken by governmental authorities in response to the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global, U.S., California and local economies, disrupted supply chains, affected equity market valuations, and created significant volatility and disruption in financial markets, although economic growth and employment levels had largely rebounded by the end of 2021. Similarly, the initial imposition of temporary business closures of many businesses and the institution of social distancing and sheltering in place requirements in many states and communities have been relaxed or rescinded as the COVID-19 pandemic has become more endemic. Our operations, like those of other financial institutions that operate in our markets, are significantly influenced by economic conditions in California, including the strength of the real estate market and business conditions in the industries to which we lend or from which we gather deposits. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in heightened volatility with respect to the revenues of many business sectors as well as in commercial and residential property sales and construction activities. As a result, the demand for our products and services has been significantly impacted by the actions of federal, state and local governments in response to the pandemic.

As there continues to be a degree of remaining uncertainty around the epidemiological assumptions and impact of government responses to the pandemic, no assurance can be given that resulting impacts to economic conditions could adversely affect the Company’s service areas or other circumstances that could be reflected in an increased allowance for credit losses in future periods. For the year ended December 31, 2022, our allowance for credit losses increased $10.6 million, compared to a decrease of $25.5 million in provision for credit losses for 2021. Depending on the scope and duration of various impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a possibility that additional provisions for credit losses may be necessary in the future.

Similarly, because of possible changing economic and market conditions affecting bond issuers, we may be required to recognize credit losses in future periods on the securities we hold as well as reductions in other comprehensive income.

Our business operations could be adversely affected if key personnel or a significant number of employees were to become unavailable due to the effects and restrictions of COVID-19 in our market areas. Although we have business continuity plans and other safeguards in place, there is no assurance that such plans and safeguards will be effective. In addition, we rely upon our third-party vendors to conduct business and to process, record, and monitor transactions. If any of these vendors are unable to continue to provide us with these services, it could negatively impact our ability to serve our customers.

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business, results of operations, and financial condition, as well as our regulatory capital and liquidity ratios, will depend on future developments, which are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope and duration of the various impacts from the pandemic, including the effectiveness, distribution and uptake rates of vaccines, boosters and medical treatments, and actions taken by governmental authorities and other third parties in response to the pandemic.

Our bank elected to participate as a lender in the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and has accordingly become subject to a number of significant risks applicable to lenders under the PPP.

As one set of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, our federal, state and local governments have promulgated a wide variety of laws, regulations, executive orders and programs designed to ameliorate the severe and widespread economic distress caused by the mandatory closings of many businesses throughout the State of California and counties in which we operate. One such program is the PPP enacted under the federal CARES Act and Economic Aid Act. This program is designed, among other things, to provide employee payroll maintenance support for small and medium-sized businesses

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throughout the United States, including in the State of California, through loans made by authorized lenders and guaranteed by the federal Small Business Administration (SBA). Because the Company is an authorized SBA lender and our primary customer base consists of small and medium-sized businesses, the Company has actively participated in the PPP. Including the second round of funding, after legislation passed on April 24, 2020, we originated and funded approximately 4,100 PPP loans totaling approximately $1.1 billion, substantially all of which was forgiven through December 31, 2021.On January 13, 2021, the SBA reopened the PPP for "Second Draw" loans to small businesses and non-profit organizations. We originated and funded more than 1,900 Second Draw loan applications totaling approximately $420 million. As of December 31, 2022, $9.1 million PPP loans remained outstanding.

Under interim final regulations promulgated by the SBA, PPP lenders are entitled to rely on borrower certifications with respect to issues such as program eligibility and eligible loan amounts, and PPP loans are designed to be subsequently forgivable, in whole or part, if certain additional criteria are met by the borrower with respect to employee payroll maintenance. However, in view of the fact that the PPP was by design intended to support economically distressed businesses, the SBA’s guarantee of PPP loan amounts to participating lenders is a critical feature of the program. In this regard, because the PPP was quickly implemented into operation and the SBA’s interim regulations were frequently revised, there are significant risks to the Company’s participation in the PPP, including whether certain borrowers will ultimately be found to have been eligible for PPP loans, whether eligible PPP loan amounts for certain borrowers were correctly calculated, whether certain PPP loans will ultimately be determined to be forgivable, and if not, whether the SBA’s guarantee will continue to apply to any unforgiven PPP loan amounts. To date, our customers who have had their forgiveness requests reviewed by the SBA have received nearly 100% loan forgiveness.

Credit Risks

Our allowance for credit losses may not be sufficient to cover actual losses

A significant source of risk arises from the possibility that we could sustain losses because borrowers, guarantors, and related parties may fail to perform in accordance with the terms of their loans and leases. The underwriting and credit monitoring policies and procedures that we have adopted to address this risk may not prevent unexpected losses that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We maintain an allowance for credit losses to provide for loan and lease defaults and non-performance, which also includes increases for new loan growth. While we believe that our allowance for credit losses is appropriate to cover currently expected losses, we cannot assure you that we will not increase the allowance for credit losses in the future or that our regulators will not require us to increase this allowance.

We may be required to make additional provisions for credit losses and charge-off additional loans in the future, which could adversely affect our results of operations

For the year ended December 31, 2022, we recorded $10.6 million in provision for credit losses. During 2022, we experienced charge-offs of $197,000 and recoveries of $1.1 million, resulting in net recoveries of $893,000. Because we have a significant amount of real estate loans, decreases in real estate values could adversely affect the value of property used as collateral for our loans. As of December 31, 2022, we had $6.88 billion in commercial real estate loans, $88.3 million in construction loans, and $266.0 million in single-family residential mortgages. Low interest rates through the pandemic caused real estate values in general to increase materially due to low cost of funding with inflationary upward pressures on cash flow. There is no assurance that recent rental rate increases across any segment of the real estate property classes is sustainable with reasonable possibility of moderate decline to stabilization. Capitalization Rates used to determine value have increased due to overall cost of capital causing some downward pressure on real estate values. These issues could affect the ability of our loan customers to refinance or service their debts, including those customers whose loans are secured by commercial or residential real estate. This, in turn, could result in loan charge-offs and provisions for credit losses in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, net income and capital.

Our dairy & livestock and agribusiness lending presents unique credit risks.

As of December 31, 2022, approximately 4.8% of our total gross loan portfolio was comprised of dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans. As of December 31, 2022, we had $433.6 million in dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans, including $388.5 million in dairy & livestock loans and $45.1 million in agribusiness loans. Repayment of dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans depends primarily on the successful raising and feeding of livestock or planting and harvest of crops and marketing the harvested commodity (including milk production). Collateral securing these loans may be illiquid. In addition, the limited purpose of some agricultural-related collateral affects credit risk because such collateral may have limited or no other uses to support values when loan repayment problems emerge. Our dairy & livestock and agribusiness lending staff have specific technical expertise that we depend on to mitigate our lending risks for these loans and we may

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have difficulty retaining or replacing such individuals. Many external factors can impact our agricultural borrowers’ ability to repay their loans, including the effects of inflation, adverse weather conditions, water issues, commodity price volatility (i.e. milk prices), diseases, land values, production costs, changing government regulations and subsidy programs, changing tax treatment, technological changes, labor market shortages/increased wages, and changes in consumers’ preferences, over which our borrowers may have no control. These factors, as well as recent volatility in certain commodity prices, including milk prices, could adversely impact the ability of those to whom we have made dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans to perform under the terms of their borrowing arrangements with us, which in turn could result in credit losses and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our loan portfolio is predominantly secured by real estate in California and thus we have a higher degree of risk from a downturn in our real estate markets

A renewed downturn in our real estate markets could hurt our business because most of our loans are secured by real estate. Real estate values and real estate markets are generally affected by changes in national, regional or local economic conditions, fluctuations in interest rates and the availability of loans to potential purchasers, changes in tax laws and other governmental statutes, regulations and policies, and acts of nature, such as earthquakes, prolonged drought and disasters particular to California. Substantially all of our real estate collateral is located in the state of California. If real estate values, including values of land held for development, should again start to decline, the value of real estate collateral securing our loans could be significantly reduced. Our ability to recover on defaulted loans by foreclosing and selling the real estate collateral would then be diminished and we would be more likely to suffer losses on defaulted loans. Commercial real estate loans typically involve large balances to single borrowers or a group of related borrowers. Since payments on these loans are often dependent on the successful operation or management of the properties, as well as the business and financial condition of the borrower(s), repayment of such loans may be subject to adverse conditions in the real estate market, adverse economic conditions or changes in applicable government regulations.

Additional risks associated with our real estate construction loan portfolio include failure of developers and/or contractors to complete construction on a timely basis or at all, market deterioration during construction, cost overruns and failure to sell or lease the security underlying the construction loans so as to generate the cash flow anticipated by our borrower.

A decline in the economy may cause renewed declines in real estate values and increases in unemployment, which may result in higher than expected loan delinquencies or problem assets, a decline in demand for our products and services, or a lack of growth or decrease in deposits, which may cause us to incur losses, adversely affect our capital or hurt our business.

Our commercial real estate loan portfolio exposes us to risks that may be greater than the risks related to our other loans

Federal and state banking regulators are examining commercial real estate lending activity with heightened scrutiny and may require banks with higher levels of commercial real estate loans to implement more stringent underwriting, internal controls, risk management policies and portfolio stress testing, as well as possibly higher levels of allowances for losses and capital levels as a result of commercial real estate lending growth and exposures. Because a significant portion of our loan portfolio is comprised of commercial real estate loans, the banking regulators may require us to maintain higher levels of capital than we would otherwise be expected to maintain, which could limit our ability to leverage our capital and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are exposed to risk of environmental liabilities with respect to properties to which we take title

In the course of our business, we may foreclose and take title to real estate, and could be subject to environmental liabilities with respect to these properties. While we will take steps to mitigate this risk, we may be held liable to a governmental entity or to third parties for property damage, personal injury, investigation and clean-up costs incurred by these parties in connection with environmental contamination, or we may be required to investigate or clean-up hazardous or toxic substances, or chemical releases at one or more properties. The costs associated with investigation or remediation activities could be substantial. In addition, while there are certain statutory protections afforded lenders who take title to property through foreclosure on a loan, if we are the owner or former owner of a contaminated site, we may be subject to common law claims by third parties based on damages and costs resulting from environmental contamination emanating from the property. If we become subject to significant environmental liabilities, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

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Liquidity and Interest Rate Risks

Liquidity risk could impair our ability to fund operations and jeopardize our financial condition

Liquidity is essential to our business. An inability to raise funds through deposits, borrowings, the sale of investment securities, loans and other sources could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity. 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 a market downturn or adverse regulatory action against us. Our ability to acquire deposits or borrow could also be impaired by factors that are not specific to us, such as the effects of inflation, rising interest rates, a severe disruption of the financial markets or negative views and expectations about the prospects for the financial services industry as a whole. Many if not all of these same factors could also significantly raise the cost of deposits to our Company and/or to the banking industry in general. This in turn could negatively affect our ability to attract deposits generally and the amount of interest we pay on our interest-bearing liabilities, which could have an adverse impact on our interest rate spread and profitability.

The actions and commercial soundness of other financial institutions could affect our ability to engage in routine funding transactions

Financial service institutions are interrelated as a result of trading, clearing, counterparty or other relationships. We have exposure to different industries and counterparties, and execute transactions with various counterparties in the financial industry, including brokers and dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, mutual funds, and other institutional clients. Defaults by financial services institutions, even rumors or questions about one or more financial institutions or the financial services industry in general, could lead to market wide liquidity problems and further, could lead to losses or defaults by the Company or other institutions. Many of these transactions expose us to credit risk in the event of default of the applicable counterparty or client. In addition, our credit risk may increase when the collateral held by us cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount of the loan or derivative exposure due to us. Any such losses could materially and adversely affect our consolidated financial statements.

We may not be able to maintain a strong core deposit base or other low-cost funding sources

We depend on checking, savings and money market deposit account balances and other forms of customer deposits as our primary source of funding for our lending activities. Future growth in our banking business will largely depend on our ability to maintain and grow a strong deposit base. There is no assurance that we will be able to grow and maintain our deposit base. Deposit balances can decrease when customers perceive alternative investments, such as the stock market, bond market or real estate, as providing a better risk/return tradeoff. If customers move money out of bank deposits and into investments (or similar deposit products at other institutions that may provide a higher rate of return), we could lose a relatively low cost source of funds, increasing our funding costs and reducing our net interest income and net income. Additionally, any such loss of funds could result in lower loan originations, which could adversely impact our growth strategy.

Changes in interest rates could reduce the value of our investment securities holdings.

The Bank maintains an investment portfolio consisting of various high quality liquid fixed-income securities. The total book value of the securities portfolio as of December 31, 2022 was $5.81 billion, of which $3.26 billion is available for sale. The nature of fixed-income securities is such that changes in market interest rates impact the value of these assets.

Our business is subject to interest rate risk and variations in interest rates may negatively affect our financial performance

A substantial portion of our income is derived from the differential or “spread” between the interest earned on loans, securities and other interest-earning assets, and the interest paid on deposits, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities. Because of the differences in the maturities and repricing characteristics of our interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities, changes in interest rates do not produce equivalent changes in interest income earned on interest-earning assets and interest paid on interest-bearing liabilities. At December 31, 2022 our balance sheet was positioned with an asset sensitive bias over both a one and two-year horizon assuming no balance sheet growth, and as a result, our net interest margin tends to expand in a rising interest rate environment and decrease in a declining interest rate environment. Accordingly, fluctuations in interest rates could adversely affect our interest rate spread and, in turn, our profitability. Loan origination volumes may be affected by changes in market interest rates. In addition, in rising interest rate environments, loan repayment rates may

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decline and in falling interest rate environments, loan repayment rates may increase. In addition, in a rising interest rate environment, we may need to accelerate the pace of rate increases on our deposit accounts as compared to the pace of future increases in short-term market rates and our customers could move their deposits with us to institutions that pay higher interest rates on deposits accounts. Accordingly, changes in levels of market interest rates could materially and adversely affect our net interest spread, asset quality, levels of deposits, as well as loan origination and prepayment volume.

We may be adversely impacted by the transition from LIBOR as a reference rate

In 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority announced that after 2021 it would no longer compel banks to submit the rates required to calculate the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). This announcement indicates that the continuation of LIBOR on the current basis cannot and will not be guaranteed after 2021. Consequently, at this time, it is not possible to predict whether and to what extent banks will continue to provide submissions for the calculation of LIBOR. Similarly, it is not possible to predict whether LIBOR will continue to be viewed as an acceptable market benchmark, what rate or rates may become accepted alternatives to LIBOR or what the effect of any such changes in views or alternatives may be on the markets for LIBOR-indexed financial instruments.

We have a number of loans, derivative contracts, and other financial instruments with attributes that are either directly or indirectly dependent on LIBOR. The Company established a LIBOR Transition Task Force in 2020, which has inventoried our instruments that reflect exposure to LIBOR, created a framework to manage the transition and established a timeline for key decisions and actions to complete the transition from LIBOR by June of 2023. The transition from LIBOR could create additional costs and risk. Since proposed alternative rates are calculated differently, payments under contracts referencing new rates will differ from those referencing LIBOR. The transition could change our market risk profiles, requiring changes to risk and pricing models, valuation tools, product design and hedging strategies. Furthermore, failure to adequately manage this transition process with our customers could adversely impact our reputation. Although we are currently unable to assess what the ultimate impact of the transition from LIBOR will be, failure to adequately manage the transition could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Operational Risks

Failure to manage our growth may adversely affect our performance

Our financial performance and profitability depend on our ability to manage past and possible future growth. Future acquisitions and our continued organic growth may present operating, integration, regulatory, management and other issues that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Acquisitions are and have been a key element of our growth strategy. Certain events may arise after our acquisition of a financial institution or business, or we may learn of certain facts, events or circumstances after the completion of an acquisition, that may affect our financial condition or performance or subject us to risk of loss. These events include, but are not limited to: our success in integrating the operations, retaining key employees and customers, achieving anticipated synergies, meeting expectations and otherwise realizing the anticipated benefits of the acquisition; litigation resulting from circumstances occurring at the acquired entity prior to the date of acquisition; loan downgrades and credit loss provisions resulting from underwriting of certain acquired loans determined not to meet our credit standards; personnel changes that cause instability within a department; delays in implementing new policies or procedures or the failure to apply new policies or procedures; and other events relating to the performance of our business. In addition, if we determine that the value of an acquired business had decreased and that the related goodwill was impaired, an impairment of goodwill charge to earnings would be recognized. Acquisitions involve inherent uncertainty and we cannot determine all potential events, facts and circumstances that could result in loss or increased costs or give assurances that our due diligence or mitigation efforts will be sufficient to protect against any such loss or increased costs.

Furthermore, failure to realize the expected revenue increases, cost savings, increases in geographic or product presence, and/or other projected benefits from an acquisition could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The occurrence of fraudulent activity, breaches or failures of our information security controls or cybersecurity-related incidents could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations

As a financial institution, we are susceptible to fraudulent activity, information security breaches and cybersecurity-related incidents that may be committed against us or our clients, including by our own employees, which may result in financial losses or increased costs to us or our clients, disclosure or misuse of our information or our client information, misappropriation of assets, privacy breaches against our clients, litigation, or damage to our reputation. Such fraudulent

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activity may take many forms, including check fraud, electronic fraud, wire fraud, on-line banking, takeover, phishing, social engineering and other dishonest acts. Information security breaches and cybersecurity-related incidents may include fraudulent or unauthorized access to systems used by us or our clients, denial or degradation of service attacks, and malware or other cyber-attacks. There continues to be a rise in electronic fraudulent activity, security breaches and cyber-attacks within the financial services industry, especially in the commercial banking sector due to cyber criminals targeting commercial bank accounts. In recent periods, several large corporations, including financial institutions, medical providers and retail companies, have suffered major data breaches, in some cases exposing not only confidential and proprietary corporate information, but also sensitive financial and other personal information of their customers and employees and subjecting them to potential fraudulent activity. Some of our clients may have been affected by these breaches, which increase their risks of identity theft, credit card fraud and other fraudulent activity that could involve their accounts with us.

Information pertaining to us and our clients is maintained, and transactions are executed, such as our online banking or core systems on the networks and systems of ours, our clients and certain of our third party providers. The secure maintenance and transmission of confidential information, as well as execution of transactions over these systems, are essential to protect us and our clients against fraud and security breaches and to maintain our clients’ confidence. In addition, increases in criminal activity levels and sophistication, advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries, vulnerabilities in third-party technologies (including browsers and operating systems) or other developments could result in a compromise or breach of the technology, processes and controls that we use to prevent fraudulent transactions and to protect data about us, our clients and underlying transactions, as well as the technology used by our clients to access our systems. Although we continue to invest in systems and processes that are designed to detect and prevent security breaches and cyber-attacks and periodically test our security, our inability to anticipate, or failure to adequately mitigate, breaches of security could result in: losses to us or our clients; our loss of business and/or clients; damage to our reputation; the incurrence of additional expenses; disruption to our business; our inability to grow our online services or other businesses; additional regulatory scrutiny or penalties; or our exposure to civil litigation and possible financial liability — any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

More generally, continued publicized information concerning security and cyber-related problems could inhibit the use or growth of electronic or web-based applications or solutions as a means of conducting commercial transactions for us and other financial institutions. Such publicity may also cause damage to our reputation as a financial institution. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our business is exposed to the risk of changes in technology

The rapid pace of technology changes and the impact of such changes on financial services generally and on our Company specifically could impact our cost structure and our competitive position with our customers. Such developments include the rapid movement by customers and some competitor financial institutions to web-based services, mobile banking and cloud computing. Our failure or inability to anticipate, plan for or implement technology change could adversely affect our competitive position, financial condition and profitability.

Our controls and procedures could fail or be circumvented

Management regularly reviews and updates our internal controls, disclosure controls and procedures and corporate governance policies and procedures. Any system of controls, however well designed and operated, is based in part on certain assumptions and on the conduct of individuals, and can provide only reasonable, but not absolute, assurances of the effectiveness of these systems and controls, and that the objectives of these controls have been met. Any failure or circumvention of our controls and procedures, and any failure to comply with regulations related to controls and procedures could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures could adversely affect our ability to report our financial condition and results of operations accurately and on a timely basis

A failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures could adversely affect our ability to report our financial results accurately and on a timely basis, which could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reporting or adversely affect our access to sources of liquidity. Furthermore, because of the inherent limitations of any system of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of human error, the circumvention or overriding of controls and fraud, even effective internal controls may not prevent or detect all misstatements.

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We rely on communications, information, operating and financial control systems technology from third-party service providers, and we may suffer an interruption in those systems

We rely heavily on third-party service providers for much of our communications, information, operating and financial control systems technology, including our internet banking services and data processing systems. Any failure or interruption of these services or systems or breaches in the security of these systems could result in failures or interruptions to serve our customers, including deposit, servicing and/or loan origination systems. The occurrence of any failures or interruptions may require us to identify alternative sources of such services, which may result in increased costs or other consequences that in turn could have an adverse effect on our business, including damage to the Bank’s reputation.

We are dependent on key personnel and the loss of one or more of those key personnel may materially and adversely affect our prospects

Competition for qualified employees and personnel in the banking industry is intense and there are a limited number of qualified persons with knowledge of, and experience in, the California community banking industry. The process of recruiting personnel with the combination of skills and attributes required to carry out our strategies is often lengthy. In addition, legislation and regulations which impose restrictions on executive compensation may make it more difficult for us to retain and recruit key personnel. Our success depends to a significant degree upon our ability to attract and retain qualified management, loan origination, finance, administrative, risk management, marketing and technical personnel and upon the continued contributions of our management and personnel. In particular, our success has been and continues to be highly dependent upon the abilities of key executives, including our President and Chief Executive Officer, and certain other key employees.

If our enterprise risk management framework is not effective at mitigating risk and loss to us, we could suffer unexpected losses and our results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Our enterprise risk management framework seeks to achieve an appropriate balance between risk and return, which is critical to optimizing shareholder value. We have established processes and procedures intended to identify, measure, monitor, report and analyze the types of risk to which we are subject, including credit, liquidity, operational, regulatory, compliance and reputational risks. However, as with any risk management framework, there are inherent limitations to our risk management strategies as there may exist, or develop in the future, risks that we have not appropriately managed, anticipated or identified. If our risk management framework proves ineffective, we could suffer unexpected losses and our business and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Changes in stock market prices could reduce fee income from our brokerage, asset management and investment advisory businesses

We earn wealth management fee income for managing assets for our clients and also providing brokerage and investment advisory services. Because investment management and advisory fees are often based on the value of assets under management, a fall in the market prices of those assets could reduce our fee income. Changes in stock market prices could affect the trading activity of investors, reducing commissions and other fees we earn from our brokerage business.

We may experience goodwill impairment

If our estimates of fair value change due to changes in our businesses or other factors, we may determine that impairment charges on goodwill recorded as a result of acquisitions are necessary. Estimates of fair value are determined based on a complex model using cash flows, the fair value of our Company as determined by our stock price, and peer company comparisons. If management’s estimates of future cash flows are inaccurate, fair value determined could be inaccurate and impairment may not be recognized in a timely manner. If the fair value of the Company declines, we may need to recognize goodwill impairment in the future which would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and capital levels.

Our accounting estimates and risk management processes rely on analytical and forecasting models

The processes we use to estimate our expected credit losses and to measure the fair value of financial instruments, as well as the processes used to estimate the effects of changing interest rates and other market measures on our financial condition and results of operations, depends upon the use of analytical and forecasting models. These models reflect assumptions that may not be accurate, particularly in times of market stress or other unforeseen circumstances. Even if these assumptions are adequate, the models may prove to be inadequate or inaccurate because of other flaws in their design or their implementation. If the models we use for interest rate risk and asset-liability management are inadequate, we may incur

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increased or unexpected losses upon changes in market interest rates or other market measures. If the models we use for determining our expected credit losses are inadequate, the allowance for credit losses may not be sufficient to support future charge-offs. If the models we use to measure the fair value of financial instruments are inadequate, the fair value of such financial instruments may fluctuate unexpectedly or may not accurately reflect what we could realize upon sale or settlement of such financial instruments. Any such failure in our analytical or forecasting models could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our decisions regarding the fair value of assets acquired could be different than initially estimated, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and future prospects

In business combinations, we acquire significant portfolios of loans that are marked to their estimated fair value. The fluctuations in national, regional and local economic conditions, including those related to local residential, commercial real estate and construction markets, may increase the level of charge-offs or the allowance for credit losses in the loan portfolio that we acquire and correspondingly reduce our net income. These fluctuations are not predictable, cannot be controlled and may have a material adverse impact on our operations and financial condition, even if other favorable events occur.

Strategic and External Risks

Changes in economic, market and political conditions can adversely affect our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.

Our success depends, to a certain extent, upon local, national and global economic and political conditions, as well as governmental monetary policies. Conditions such as an economic recession, rising unemployment, changes in interest rates, money supply, inflationary prices and other factors beyond our control may adversely affect our asset quality, deposit levels loan demand, ability to manage costs associated with employees and vendors and, therefore, our earnings. Because we have a significant amount of real estate loans, decreases in real estate values could adversely affect the value of property used as collateral. Adverse changes in the economy may also have a negative effect on the ability of our borrowers to make timely repayments of their loans, which could have an adverse impact on our earnings. In addition, we may face the following risks in connection with any downward turn in the economy:

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The process we use to estimate losses inherent in our credit exposure requires difficult, subjective and complex judgments, including forecasts of economic conditions and how these economic conditions might impair the ability of our borrowers to repay their loans. The level of uncertainty concerning economic conditions may adversely affect the accuracy of our estimates which may, in turn, impact the reliability of the process;

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The Company’s commercial, residential and consumer borrowers may be unable to make timely repayments of their loans, or the decrease in value of real estate collateral securing the payment of such loans could result in significant credit losses, increasing delinquencies, foreclosures and customer bankruptcies, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s operating results;

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A sustained environment of low interest rates would continue to cause lending margins to stay compressed, which in turn may limit our revenues and profitability;

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A sustained environment in which the U.S. Treasury yield curve is inverted could cause net interest margins to compress, as the majority of our funding sources are impacted by short-term rates, while much of our earning assets are impacted by longer term interest rates

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The value of the portfolio of investment securities that we hold may be adversely affected by increasing interest rates and defaults by debtors;

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Further disruptions in the capital markets or other events, including actions by rating agencies and deteriorating investor expectations, may result in changes in applicable rates of interest, difficulty in accessing capital or an inability to borrow on favorable terms or at all from other financial institutions; and

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Increased competition among financial services companies due to expected further consolidation in the industry may adversely affect the Company’s ability to market its products and services.

Although the Company and the Bank exceed the minimum capital ratio requirements to be deemed “well-capitalized” for regulatory purposes and have not suffered any significant liquidity issues as a result of these types of events, the cost and availability of funds may be adversely affected by illiquid credit markets and the demand for our products and services may decline if we experience slower than expected economic growth or higher rates of unemployment. In view of the concentration of our operations and the collateral securing our loan portfolio in Central and Southern California, we may be particularly susceptible to adverse economic conditions in the state of California, where our business is concentrated. In

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addition, adverse economic conditions may exacerbate our exposure to credit risk and adversely affect the ability of borrowers to perform, and thereby, adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition, results or operations and profitability.

Our earnings are significantly affected by the fiscal and monetary policies of the federal government and its agencies.

The policies of the Federal Reserve impact us significantly. 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. Changes in those policies are beyond our control and are difficult to predict. Federal Reserve policies can also affect our borrowers, potentially increasing the risk that they may fail to repay their loans. As an example, monetary tightening and increases in the federal funds rate by the Federal Reserve could adversely affect our borrowers’ earnings and ability to repay their loans, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the Federal Reserve’s recent actions to reduce its own balance sheet of government and mortgage-backed securities could impact the credit markets and thus prevailing interest rates.

Future legislation, regulatory reform or policy changes could have a material effect on our business and results of operations.

New legislation, regulatory reform or policy changes, including financial services regulatory reform, enforcement priorities, antitrust and merger review policies, and increased infrastructure spending, could adversely impact our business. At this time, we cannot predict the scope or nature of these changes or assess what the overall effect of such potential changes could be on our results of operations or cash flows.

We face strong competition from financial services companies and other companies that offer banking services

We conduct most of our operations in the state of California. The banking and financial services businesses in the state of California are highly competitive and increased competition in our primary market areas may adversely impact the level of our loans and deposits. Ultimately, we may not be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors. These competitors include other banks many of which are larger than us and have greater resources. We also face competition from other types of financial institutions, including savings and loan associations, finance companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies, credit unions, mortgage companies and other financial intermediaries. In addition, we face competition from certain non-traditional entities, including “FinTech” companies which specialize in the provision of technology-based financial services, such as payment processing and lending marketplaces, and which may offer or be perceived to offer more responsive or currently desirable financial products and services.

Consumers may decide not to use banks to complete their financial transactions.

Technology and other changes are allowing parties to complete financial transactions through alternative methods that historically have involved banks. For example, consumers can now maintain funds that would have historically been held as bank deposits in brokerage accounts, mutual funds or general-purpose reloadable prepaid cards. Consumers can also complete transactions, such as paying bills and/or transferring funds directly without the assistance of banks. The process of eliminating banks as intermediaries, known as “disintermediation,” could result in the loss of fee income, as well as the loss of customer deposits and the related income generated from those deposits. The loss of these revenue streams and the lower cost of deposits as a source of funds could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Legal, Regulatory, Compliance and Reputational Risks

We are subject to extensive government regulation that could limit or restrict our activities, which, in turn, may hamper our ability to increase our assets and earnings

Our operations are subject to extensive regulation by federal, state and local governmental authorities, including the FDIC, FRB, DFPI and CFPB, and we are subject to various laws and judicial and administrative decisions imposing requirements and restrictions on part or all of our operations. Similarly, the lending, credit and deposit products we offer are subject to broad oversight and regulation. Because our business is highly regulated, the laws, rules, regulations and supervisory guidance and policies applicable to us are subject to regular modification and change. Perennially, various laws, rules and regulations are proposed, which, if adopted, could impact our operations by making compliance much more difficult or expensive, restricting our ability to originate or sell loans or further restricting the amount of interest or other charges or fees earned on loans or other products. Current and future federal and state legal and regulatory requirements, restrictions and regulations, including those imposed under Dodd-Frank and those adopted to facilitate data privacy or consumer protection, may adversely impact our profitability and may have a material and adverse effect on our business,

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financial condition, and results of operations, may require us to invest significant management attention and resources to evaluate and make any changes required by the legislation and accompanying rules, and may make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified executive officers and employees. The implementation of certain final Dodd-Frank rules is delayed or phased in over several years; therefore, as yet we cannot definitively assess what may be the short or longer term specific or aggregate effect of the full implementation of Dodd-Frank on us.

We face a risk of noncompliance and enforcement action with the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering statutes and regulations

The Bank Secrecy Act, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, and other laws and regulations require financial institutions, among other duties, to institute and maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and file suspicious activity and currency transaction reports as appropriate. The federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is authorized to impose significant civil money penalties for violations of those requirements and has recently engaged in coordinated enforcement efforts with the individual federal banking regulators, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Internal Revenue Service. We are also subject to scrutiny of compliance with the rules enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. If our policies, procedures and systems are deemed deficient, we would be subject to liability, including fines and regulatory actions, which may include restrictions on our ability to pay dividends and the necessity to obtain regulatory approvals to proceed with certain aspects of our business plan. Failure to maintain and implement adequate programs to combat money laundering and terrorist financing could also have serious reputational consequences for us. Any of these results could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Mortgage regulations may adversely impact our business

Revisions made pursuant to Dodd-Frank to Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), effective in January 2014, apply to all consumer mortgages (except home equity lines of credit, timeshare plans, reverse mortgages, or temporary loans), and mandate specific underwriting criteria and “ability to repay” requirements for home loans. This may impact our offering and underwriting of single family residential loans in our residential mortgage lending operation and could have a resulting unknown effect on potential delinquencies. In addition, the relatively uniform requirements may make it difficult for regional and community banks to compete against the larger national banks for single family residential loan originations.

The impact of current capital rules imposed enhanced capital adequacy requirements on us and may materially affect our operations

We are subject to more stringent capital requirements. Pursuant to Dodd-Frank and to implement for U.S. banking institutions the principles of the international “Basel III” standards, the federal banking agencies have adopted a set of rules on minimum leverage and risk-based capital that will apply to both insured banks and their holding companies.

The current capital rules, which have now been fully implemented, may adversely affect our ability to pay dividends, or require us to reduce business levels or raise capital, including in ways that may adversely affect our business, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

Under the current capital standards, if our Common Equity Tier 1 Capital does not include the required “capital conservation buffer,” we will be prohibited from making distributions to our stockholders. The capital conservation buffer requirement, which is measured in addition to the minimum Common Equity Tier 1 capital of 4.5%, is now 2.5%. Additionally, under the capital standards, if our Common Equity Tier 1 Capital does not include the “capital conservation buffer,” we will also be prohibited from paying discretionary bonuses to our executive employees. This may affect our ability to attract or retain employees, or alter the nature of the compensation arrangements that we may enter into with them.

Managing reputational risk is important to attracting and maintaining customers, investors and employees

Threats to our reputation can come from many sources, including adverse sentiment about financial institutions generally, unethical practices, employee mistakes, misconduct or fraud, failure to deliver minimum standards of service or quality, failure of any product or service offered by us to meet our customers’ expectations, compliance deficiencies, privacy or information security breaches, government investigations, litigation, and questionable or fraudulent activities of our employees or customers. We have policies and procedures in place to protect our reputation and promote ethical conduct, but these policies and procedures may not be fully effective. Negative publicity regarding our business, employees, or customers, with or without merit, may result in the loss of customers, investors and employees, costly litigation, a decline in revenues and increased governmental scrutiny and regulation.

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We depend on the accuracy and completeness of information provided by customers and counterparties.

In deciding whether to extend credit or enter into other transactions with customers and counterparties, we may rely on information furnished to us by, or on behalf of, customers and counterparties, including financial statements and other financial information. We also may rely on representations of customers and counterparties as to the accuracy and completeness of that information. In deciding whether to extend credit, we may rely upon our customers’ representations that their financial statements are accurate. We also may rely on customer representations and certifications, or other audit or accountants’ reports, with respect to the business and financial condition of our commercial clients. Our financial condition, results of operations, financial reporting and reputation could be materially adversely affected if we rely on materially misleading, false, inaccurate or fraudulent information.

We are subject to legal and litigation risk which could adversely affect us

Because our Company is extensively regulated by a variety of federal and state agencies, and because we are subject to a wide range of business, consumer and employment laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels, we are at risk of governmental investigations and lawsuits as well as claims and litigation from private parties. We are from time to time involved in disputes with and claims from investors, customers, bankruptcy trustees, government agencies, vendors, employees and other business parties, and such disputes and claims may result in investigations, litigation or settlements, any one of which or in the aggregate could have an adverse impact on the Company’s operating flexibility, employee relations, financial condition or results of operations, as a result of the costs of any judgment, the terms of any settlement and/or the expenses incurred in defending the applicable claim.

We are unable, at this time, to estimate our potential liability in these matters, but we may be required to pay judgments, settlements or other penalties and incur other costs and expenses in connection with any one or more of these investigations or lawsuits, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, responding to requests for information in connection with discovery demanded by a government agency or private plaintiffs in any of these lawsuits may be costly and divert internal resources away from managing our business. See Item 3 — Legal Proceedings below.

We may be subject to customer claims and government or legal actions pertaining to our ability to safeguard our customers’ information and the performance of our fiduciary responsibilities. Whether or not such customer claims and legal actions are founded or unfounded, if such claims and legal actions are not resolved in a manner favorable to us, they may result in significant financial liability and/or adversely affect the market perception of us and our products and services, as well as impact customer demand for those products and services. Any financial liability or reputation damage could have a material adverse effect on our business, which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We could reduce or discontinue the payment of dividend on our common stock

The ability of the Bank to pay dividends to the Company and of the Company to pay dividends to its shareholders is limited by applicable federal and California law and regulations. If the Bank is unable to meet regulatory requirements to pay dividends or make other distributions to CVB, CVB will be unable to pay dividends to its shareholders. In addition, our Board of Directors could decide in the future to reduce or discontinue the payment of cash dividends on our common stock in its sole discretion.

See “Business — Regulation and Supervision” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Cash Flow.”

Risks Associated with our Common Stock

The price of our common stock may be volatile or may decline

The trading price of our common stock may fluctuate widely as a result of a number of factors, many of which are outside our control. In addition, the stock market is subject to fluctuations in its share prices and trading volumes that affect the market prices of the shares of many companies. These specific and broad market fluctuations could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Among the factors that could affect our stock price are:

•

actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results and financial condition;

•

changes in revenue or earnings estimates or publication of research reports and recommendations by financial analysts;

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•

credit events or losses;

•

failure to meet analysts’ revenue or earnings estimates;

•

speculation in the press or investment community;

•

strategic actions by us or our competitors, such as acquisitions or restructurings;

•

actions or trades by institutional shareholders or other large shareholders;

•

our capital position;

•

fluctuations in the stock price and operating results of our competitors;

•

actions by hedge funds, short term investors, activist shareholders or shareholder representative organizations;

•

general market conditions and, in particular, developments relating to the financial services industry and interest rates;

•

proposed or adopted regulatory changes or developments;

•

anticipated or pending investigations, proceedings or litigation that involve or affect the Company and/or the Bank;

•

fraud losses or data or privacy breaches; or

•

domestic and international economic factors, whether related or unrelated to the Company’s performance.

The market price of our common stock and the trading volume in our common stock may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. The trading price of the shares of our common stock and the value of our other securities will depend on many factors, which may change from time to time, including, without limitation, our financial condition, performance, creditworthiness and prospects, future sales of our equity or equity related securities, and other factors identified above in “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements”. A significant decline in our stock price could result in substantial losses for individual shareholders and could lead to costly and disruptive securities litigation. Extensive sales by large shareholders could also exert sustained downward pressure on our stock price.

An investment in our common stock is not an insured deposit

Our common stock is not a bank deposit and, therefore, is not insured against loss by the FDIC, any other deposit insurance fund or by any other public or private entity. Investment in our common stock is inherently risky for the reasons described in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this report and is subject to the same market forces that affect the price of common stock in any company. As a result, if you acquire our common stock, you could lose some or all of your investment.

Our common stock is subordinate to our existing and future indebtedness and preferred stock.

Shares of our common stock are equity interests and do not constitute indebtedness. As such, our common stock ranks junior to all our customer deposits and indebtedness, whether now existing or hereafter incurred, and other non-equity claims on us, with respect to assets available to satisfy claims. Additionally, holders of common stock are subject to the prior liquidation rights of the holders of any debt we may issue in the future and may be subject to the prior dividend and liquidation rights of any series of preferred stock we may issue in the future.

Anti-takeover provisions and federal law may limit the ability of another party to acquire us, which could cause our stock price to decline

Various provisions of our articles of incorporation and by-laws and certain other actions we have taken could delay or prevent a third-party from acquiring us, even if doing so might be beneficial to our shareholders. The Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, and the Change in Bank Control Act of 1978, as amended, together with federal regulations, require that, depending on the particular circumstances, regulatory approval and/or appropriate regulatory filings may be required from either or all the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the DFPI prior to any person or entity acquiring “control” (as defined in the applicable regulations) of a state non-member bank, such as the Bank. These provisions may prevent a merger or acquisition that would be attractive to shareholders and could limit the price investors would be willing to pay in the future for our common stock.

We may face other risks

From time to time, we detail other risks with respect to our business and/or financial results in our filings with the SEC. For further discussion on additional areas of risk, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

The principal executive offices of the Company and the Bank are located in Ontario, California, and are owned by the Company.

As of December 31, 2022, the Bank occupied a total of 65 premises consisting of (i) 62 Banking Centers (“Centers”) of which one Center is located at our Corporate Headquarters in Ontario California, and (ii) three operation and technology centers. We own 14 of these locations and the remaining properties are leased under various agreements with expiration dates ranging from 2023 through 2028. All properties are located in Southern and Central California.

For additional information concerning properties, see Note 9 — Premises and Equipment of the Notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report. See “Item 8 — Financial Statements and Supplemental Data.”

ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

The Company and its subsidiaries are parties to various lawsuits and threatened lawsuits in the ordinary and non-ordinary course of business. From time to time, such lawsuits and threatened lawsuits may include, but are not limited to, actions involving securities litigation, employment matters, wage-hour and labor law claims, consumer claims, regulatory compliance claims, data privacy claims, lender liability claims, bankruptcy-related claims and negligence claims, some of which may be styled as “class action” or representative cases. Some of these lawsuits may be similar in nature to other lawsuits pending against the Company’s competitors. For additional information concerning legal proceedings, see Note 13 Commitments and Contingencies of the Notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.

For lawsuits where the Company has determined that a loss is both probable and reasonably estimable, a liability representing the best estimate of the Company’s financial exposure based on known facts has been recorded in accordance with FASB guidance over loss contingencies (ASC 450). However, as a result of inherent uncertainties in judicial interpretation and application of a myriad of laws and regulations applicable to the Company’s business, and the unique, complex factual issues presented in any given lawsuit, the Company often cannot determine the probability of loss or estimate the amount of damages which a plaintiff might successfully prove if the Company were found to be liable. For lawsuits or threatened lawsuits where a claim has been asserted or the Company has determined that it is probable that a claim will be asserted, and there is a reasonable possibility that the outcome will be unfavorable, the Company will disclose the existence of the loss contingency, even if the Company is not able to make an estimate of the possible loss or range of possible loss with respect to the action or potential action in question, unless the Company believes that the nature, potential magnitude or potential timing (if known) of the loss contingency is not reasonably likely to be material to the Company’s liquidity, consolidated financial position, and/or results of operations.

Our accruals and disclosures for loss contingencies are reviewed quarterly and adjusted as additional information becomes available. We disclose a loss contingency and/or the amount accrued if we believe it is reasonably likely to be material or if we believe such disclosure is necessary for our financial statements to not be misleading. If we determine that an exposure to loss exists in excess of an amount previously accrued or disclosed, we assess whether there is at least a reasonable possibility that a loss, or additional loss, may have been incurred, and we adjust our accruals and disclosures accordingly.

We do not presently believe that the ultimate resolution of any lawsuits currently pending against the Company will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations, financial condition, or cash flows. The outcome of litigation and other legal and regulatory matters is inherently uncertain, however, and it is possible that one or more of the legal matters currently pending or threatened against the Company could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

ITEM 4.MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5.MARKET FOR THE REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

CVB’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select National Market under the symbol “CVBF.” CVB had approximately 139,506,834 shares of common stock outstanding with 1,926 registered shareholders of record as of February 10, 2023.

For information on the statutory and regulatory limitations on the ability of the Company to pay dividends to its shareholders and on the Bank to pay dividends to CVB, see “Item 1. Business-Regulation and Supervision — Dividends” and “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Cash Flow.”

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

On August 11, 2016, our Board of Directors approved a program to repurchase up to 10,000,000 shares of CVB common stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, at times and at prices considered appropriate by us, depending upon prevailing market conditions and other corporate and legal considerations. On February 1, 2022, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase plan to repurchase up to 10,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock ("2022 Repurchase Program"), including by means of (i) an initial $70 million dollar Accelerated Share Repurchase, or ASR Plan, and (ii) one or more Rule 10b5-1 plans or other appropriate buyback arrangements, including open market purchases and private transactions. This new program replaces in its entirety our 2016 stock repurchase program. There is no expiration date for this repurchase program. We completed the execution of the $70 million accelerated stock repurchase program in the second quarter of 2022, and retired a total of 2,993,551 shares of common stock at an average price of $23.38. During 2022 we also repurchased, under our 10b5-1 stock repurchase plan, 1,914,590 shares of common stock, at an average repurchase price of $23.43, totaling $44.9 million. As of December 31, 2022, we had 5,091,859 shares of CVB common stock available for repurchase under the 2022 Repurchase Program.

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The following Performance Graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or be “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended, except to the extent that the Company specifically incorporates it by reference into such filing.

The following graph compares the yearly percentage change in CVB’s cumulative total shareholder return (stock price appreciation plus reinvested dividends) on common stock (i) the cumulative total return of the Nasdaq Composite Index; a (ii) a published index comprised by Morningstar (formerly Hemscott, Inc.) of banks and bank holding companies in the Pacific region (the peer group line depicted below), and the Keefe, Bruyette and Woods (“KBW”) Nasdaq Regional Banking Index (“KRX”) (comprised of 50 banks and bank holding companies headquartered throughout the country). For 2022, the Company is using the KBW Regional Banking Index as it more closely represents the Company's peers for performance and compensatory purposes. The graph assumes an initial investment of $100 on December 31, 2017, and reinvestment of dividends through December 31, 2022. Points on the graph represent the performance as of the last business day of each of the years indicated. The graph is not necessarily indicative of future price performance.

ASSUMES $100 INVESTED ON DECEMBER 31, 2017

ASSUMES DIVIDEND REINVESTED

FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2022

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Source: Research Data Group, Inc., www.researchdatagroup.com

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ITEM 6. RESERVED

ITEM 7.MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion provides information about the results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, and capital resources of CVB Financial Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary. This information is intended to facilitate the understanding and assessment of significant changes and trends related to our financial condition and the results of our operations. This discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and the audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes presented elsewhere in this report.

IMPACT OF COVID-19

The spread of COVID-19 starting in 2020 created a global public health crisis that has resulted in unprecedented volatility and disruption in financial markets and deterioration in economic activity and market conditions in the markets we serve. The pandemic affected our customers and the communities we serve. We recorded a $23.5 million provision for credit losses for the year ended December 31, 2020 due to the forecast, at that time, of a severe economic downturn resulting from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the anticipated effects of the pandemic on the U.S. economy, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“FRB”) took significant actions, including a reduction in the target range of the federal funds rate to 0.0% to 0.25% in 2020 and established a program of purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities. A $19.5 million recapture of provision for credit losses was recorded in the first quarter of 2021, resulting from improvements in our economic forecast of certain macroeconomic variables resulting from significant monetary and fiscal stimulus, as well as the wide availability of vaccines.

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act was signed into law. It contained substantial tax and spending provisions intended to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act included the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), a $349 billion program designed to aid small- and medium-sized businesses through 100% Small Business Administration (“SBA”) guaranteed loans distributed through banks. These loans were intended to guarantee 24 weeks of payroll and other costs to help those businesses remain viable and keep their workers employed. Legislation passed on April 24, 2020 provided additional PPP funds of $310 billion. During 2020, we originated and funded approximately 4,100 loans, totaling $1.1 billion. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the CARES Act, we also implemented a short-term loan modification program in 2020 to provide temporary payment relief to certain of our borrowers who meet the program’s qualifications. On January 13, 2021, the SBA reopened the PPP for Second Draw loans to small businesses and non-profit organizations that did receive a loan through the initial PPP phase. At least $25 billion was set aside for Second Draw (“round two”) PPP loans to eligible borrowers with a maximum of 10 employees or for loans of $250,000 or less to eligible borrowers in low or moderate income neighborhoods. Generally speaking, businesses with more than 300 employees and/or less than a 25% reduction in gross receipts between comparable quarters in 2019 and 2020 were not eligible for Second Draw loans. Further, maximum loan amounts were increased for accommodation and food service businesses. We originated approximately 1,900 round two loans totaling $420 million. The Paycheck Protection Program officially ended on May 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2022, the remaining outstanding balance of PPP loans was $9.1 million, as approximately 99% of PPP loans have been granted forgiveness.

The fourth quarter of 2022 included $2.5 million in provision for credit losses, compared to $2.0 million in provision for the third quarter and no provision or recapture in the fourth quarter of 2021. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we recorded $10.6 million in provision for credit losses, due to both core loan growth of approximately $600 million and a deteriorating economic forecast of key macroeconomic variables. A $25.5 million recapture of provision for credit losses was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2021, resulting from improvements in our economic forecast that resulted from the unprecedented impact and uncertainty of the pandemic in 2020. In comparison, the Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $23.5 million in 2020 due to the forecast of a severe economic downturn as a result of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our financial statements. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Critical accounting policies are defined as those that are reflective of significant judgments and uncertainties, and are essential to understanding Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. The following is a summary of the more judgmental and complex accounting estimates and principles. In each area, we have identified the variables most important in the estimation process. We have used the best information available to make the necessary estimates to value the related assets and liabilities. Actual performance that differs from our estimates and future changes in the key variables could change future valuations and impact the results of operations.

Adoption of New Accounting Standard

Allowance for Credit Losses (“ACL”) — On January 1, 2020, the Company adopted ASU No. 2016-13, “Financial Instruments — Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments”. This ASU significantly changes how entities will measure credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value through net income. We adopted this ASU using a modified retrospective approach, as required, and have not adjusted prior period comparative information and will continue to disclose prior period financial information in accordance with the previous accounting guidance. The adoption of ASU 2016-13, resulted in a reduction to our opening retained earnings of approximately $1.3 million, net of tax.

This ASU replaced the current “incurred loss” approach with an “expected loss” model. The new model, referred to as the Current Expected Credit Loss (“CECL”) model, applies to: (1) financial assets subject to credit losses and measured at amortized cost, and (2) certain off balance sheet credit exposures. This includes, but is not limited to, loans, held-to-maturity (“HTM”) securities, loan commitments, and financial guarantees. For loans and HTM debt securities, this ASU requires a CECL measurement to estimate the allowance for credit losses (“ACL”) for the remaining contractual term, adjusted for prepayments, of the financial asset (including off-balance sheet credit exposures) using historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. This ASU also eliminated the existing guidance for purchased credit-impaired (“PCI”) loans, but requires an allowance for purchased financial assets with more than an insignificant deterioration of credit since origination. Purchase Credit Deteriorated (“PCD”) assets are recorded at their purchase price plus an ACL estimated at the time of acquisition. Under this ASU, there is no provision for credit losses recognized at acquisition; instead, there is a gross-up of the purchase price of the financial asset for the estimate of expected credit losses and a corresponding ACL recorded. Changes in estimates of expected credit losses after acquisition are recognized as provision for credit losses (or reversal of provision for credit losses) in subsequent periods. In addition, this ASU modifies the OTTI model for available-for-sale (“AFS”) debt securities to require an allowance for credit impairment instead of a direct write-down, which allows for reversal of credit impairments in future periods based on improvements in credit. As a policy election, we excluded the accrued interest receivable balance from the amortized cost basis of financing receivables and HTM securities, as well as AFS securities, and disclose total accrued interest receivable separately on the consolidated balance sheet.

For a full discussion of our methodology of assessing the adequacy of the allowance for credit losses, see “Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation — Risk Management” and Note 3 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Note 6 — Loans and Lease Finance Receivables and Allowance for Credit Losses of our consolidated financial statements presented elsewhere in this report.

Business Combinations — The Company applies the acquisition method of accounting for business combinations. Under the acquisition method, the acquiring entity in a business combination recognizes the assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their acquisition date fair values. Management utilizes prevailing valuation techniques appropriate for the asset or liability being measured in determining these fair values. These fair values are estimates and are subject to adjustment for up to one year after the acquisition date or when additional information relative to the closing date fair values becomes available and such information is considered final, whichever is earlier. Any excess of the purchase price over amounts allocated to assets acquired, including identifiable intangible assets, and liabilities assumed is recorded as goodwill. Where amounts allocated to assets acquired and liabilities assumed is greater than the purchase price, a bargain purchase gain would be recognized. Acquisition related costs are expensed as incurred.

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Valuation and Recoverability of Goodwill — Goodwill represented $765.8 million of our $16.48 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2022. The Company has one reportable segment. Goodwill has an indefinite useful life and is not amortized, but is tested for impairment at least annually, or more frequently, if events and circumstances exist that indicate that a goodwill impairment test should be performed. Such events and circumstances may include among others, a significant adverse change in legal factors or in the general business climate, significant decline in our stock price and market capitalization, unanticipated competition, the testing for recoverability of a significant asset group within the reporting unit, and an adverse action or assessment by a regulating body. Any adverse change in these factors could have a significant impact on the recoverability of goodwill and could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Based on the results of our annual goodwill impairment test, we determined that no goodwill impairment charges were required as our single reportable segment’s fair value exceeded its carrying amount. As of December 31, 2022, we determined there were no events or circumstances which would more likely than not reduce the fair value of our reportable segment below its carrying amount. Note 3 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of our consolidated financial statements presented elsewhere in this report

For complete discussion and disclosure of other accounting policies see Note 3 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of the Company’s consolidated financial statements presented elsewhere in this report.

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Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements but Not Adopted as of December 31, 2022

Standard Description Adoption Timing Impact on Financial Statements

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OVERVIEW

For the year ended December 31, 2022, we reported net earnings of $235.4 million, compared with $212.5 million for 2021. This represented a $22.9 million, or 10.78%, increase from the prior year. Diluted earnings per share were $1.67 for 2022, compared to $1.56 for 2021. Pretax pre-provision income grew from $272.1 million for 2021 to $338.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. We recorded $10.6 million in provision for credit losses in 2022, compared to a provision recapture of $25.5 million for 2021. Net earnings of $235.4 million produced a return on average equity (“ROAE”) of 11.39%, a return on average tangible common equity (“ROATCE”) of 18.85% and a return on average assets (“ROAA”) of 1.39%. Our net interest margin, tax equivalent (“NIM”), was 3.30% for 2022, while our efficiency ratio was 38.98%.

We recorded $10.6 million in provision for credit losses for 2022. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we experienced charge-offs of $197,000 and total recoveries of $1.1 million, resulting in net recoveries of $893,000. This compares to $3.2 million in net charge-offs for the year ended December 31, 2021. Based on the magnitude of government economic stimulus and the wide availability of vaccines, our economic forecasts in 2021 reflected improvements from 2020 in key macroeconomic variables and therefore lower projected loan losses, which resulted in a $25.5 million recapture of provision for credit losses for the year ended December 31, 2021. Of the approximately $1.5 billion of SBA PPP loans we originated between 2020 and 2021, loan forgiveness has been granted for almost all of these loans. The remaining balance at amortized cost for these loans at December 31, 2022 was $9.1 million.

On January 7, 2022, we completed the acquisition of Suncrest Bank (“Suncrest”). At close, Citizens Business Bank acquired loans with a fair value of $774.5 million, and assumed $512.8 million of noninterest-bearing deposits and $669.8 million of interest-bearing deposits. The integration of Suncrest was completed in the second quarter with the consolidation of two banking centers. As a result of the Suncrest merger, we incurred $6.0 million in acquisition expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022.

The $20.1 million increase in the ACL from December 31, 2021 to December 31, 2022 was comprised primarily of the $8.6 million ACL increase for the Suncrest purchased credit deteriorated (“PCD”) loans and an $10.6 million provision for credit losses. The $10.6 million provision for credit losses, includes a provision for credit loss of $4.9 million recorded on January 7, 2022 for the Suncrest acquired loans that were not considered PCD. In addition, the ACL increased by $893,000 in net recoveries for the year ended December 31, 2022.

At December 31, 2022, total assets of $16.48 billion increased $592.8 million, or 3.73%, from total assets of $15.88 billion at December 31, 2021. Interest-earning assets of $14.97 billion at December 31, 2022 increased $287.5 million, or 1.96%, when compared with $14.68 billion at December 31, 2021. The increase in interest-earning assets included a $1.19 billion increase in total loans and a $699.6 million increase in investment securities, partially offset by a $1.60 billion decrease in interest-earning balances due from the Federal Reserve. The $1.19 billion increase in total loans included the $774.5 million of loans acquired at fair value from Suncrest.

Total investment securities were $5.81 billion at December 31, 2022, an increase of $699.6 million, or 13.69%, from $5.11 billion at December 31, 2021. We did not purchase any AFS securities during the fourth quarter of 2022, but cash flows from HTM securities were reinvested in the purchase of approximately $32 million in municipal securities with a tax-equivalent yield of approximately 5.5%. We purchased investment securities totaling approximately $1.76 billion in 2022. At December 31, 2022, investment securities held-to-maturity (“HTM”) totaled $2.55 billion. At December 31, 2022, investment securities AFS totaled $3.26 billion, inclusive of a pre-tax net unrealized loss of $500.1 million. The growth in our investment portfolio over the last year resulted in HTM investments increasing by $628.3 million, or 32.62%, and AFS securities increasing by $71.3 million, or 2.24%, from December 31, 2021. Our tax equivalent yield on our investment portfolio grew from 1.56% for 2021 to 2.03% for 2022.

Total loans and leases, at amortized cost, of $9.08 billion at December 31, 2022, increased by $1.19 billion, or 15.11%, from $7.89 billion at December 31, 2021. The increase in total loans included $774.5 million of loans acquired from Suncrest in the first quarter of 2022. PPP loans decreased by $177.5 million as these loans continued to receive forgiveness, resulting in a remaining balance of $9.1 million at December 31, 2022. After adjusting for acquired loans and forgiveness of PPP loans, our core loans grew by $634.3 million, or 8.24% from December 31, 2021. The $634.3 million core loan growth included $514.4 million in commercial real estate loans, $51.2 million in commercial and industrial loans, $31.9 million in dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans, $25.1 million in SFR mortgage loans, $17.9 million in municipal lease financings, and $9.3 million in construction loans, partially offset by a decrease of $17.8 million in SBA loans. Our yield on loans was 4.49% for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to 4.42% for 2021. Interest income for yield adjustments related to discount accretion on acquired loans was $7.9 million for 2022, compared to $12.3 million for 2021. Interest and fee income from PPP loans was approximately $5.5 million for 2022, compared to $30.5 million for 2021. After excluding discount accretion and the impact from PPP loans, our core loan yields increased by 17 basis points when compared to 2021. The

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recent increases in interest rates, including a 425 basis point increase in the Fed Funds rate since the fourth quarter of 2021, contributed to the 17 basis point increase in core loan yields year-over-year, as well as a 59 basis point increase in core loan yields when comparing the fourth quarter of 2022 to the same quarter of 2021.

Noninterest-bearing deposits were $8.16 billion at December 31, 2022, an increase of $60.3 million, or 0.74%, compared to $8.10 billion at December 31, 2021. This year-over-year increase in noninterest-bearing deposits includes the noninterest-bearing deposits assumed from Suncrest of $512.8 million. Noninterest-bearing deposits declined $600 million from September 30, 2022 as we typically see seasonal lows in deposits from the latter part of the fourth quarter through the first quarter of each calendar year. Additionally, our customers continue to experience an inflationary environment which has contributed to a decline in the balances held in their demand deposit accounts. At December 31, 2022, noninterest-bearing deposits were 63.60% of total deposits, compared to 62.45% at December 31, 2021.

Interest-bearing deposits were $4.67 billion at December 31, 2022, a decrease of $200.5 million, or 4.12%, when compared to $4.87 billion at December 31, 2021. Customer repurchase agreements totaled $565.4 million at December 31, 2022, compared to $642.4 million at December 31, 2021. Interest-bearing deposits and customer repurchase agreements declined $339 million from September 30, 2022, including the impact of some of our customers deploying excess funds with our CitizensTrust Group. Our average cost of total deposits including customer repurchase agreements was 0.05% for both 2022 and 2021. Our average cost of funds for 2022 was 0.06%, compared to 0.05% for 2021. The one basis point increase in the cost of funds year-over-year was the result of a one basis point increase in the cost of interest bearing deposits, as well as noninterest-bearing deposits growing on average by $1.02 billion.

At December 31, 2022, we had $995.0 million in overnight borrowings, compared to $2.3 million in short-term borrowings at December 31, 2021. The combination of seasonal growth in dairy and livestock loans, seasonal deposit declines, the impact of cash burn on deposits from inflationary pressures, and other competitive market conditions resulted in higher overnight borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank during the fourth quarter of 2022. With slowing loan demand, cash flow generated from our investment securities, and the normal historical inflows of deposits we experience from the beginning of the year, borrowings may moderate during the first half of 2023. However, continued increases in short-term rates and overall inflationary pressures may continue to create challenges that impact deposit levels and our liquidity. Over the last twelve months, the Federal Reserve has increased the Federal Funds rate by 425 basis points to the target range of 4.25% to 4.50%. In comparison to the rising Federal Funds rate, our average cost of funds increased from 0.05% for 2021 to 0.06% for 2022. We had $161.2 million in average overnight borrowings in the fourth quarter of 2022, at a cost of 4.49%. These overnight borrowings and an increase in the cost of deposits and customer repurchase agreements from 5 basis points in the third quarter of 2022 to 8 basis points in the fourth quarter, increased our cost of funds by 8 basis points to 0.13% for the fourth quarter of 2022. We redeemed our $25.8 million junior subordinated debentures on June 15, 2021. The debentures, bearing interest at three-month LIBOR plus 1.38%, had an original maturity of 2036.

The allowance for credit losses totaled $85.1 million at December 31, 2022, compared to $65.0 million at December 31, 2021. At December 31, 2022, ACL as a percentage of total loans and leases outstanding was 0.94%. This compares to 0.82% December 31, 2021. The increase in the ACL as a percentage of total loans was primarily the result of a deterioration in the forecast of macroeconomic variables due to rampant inflation, rising interest rates, and recent declines in GDP.

The Company’s total equity was $1.95 billion at December 31, 2022. This represented an overall decrease of $133.0 million from total equity of $2.08 billion at December 31, 2021. Increases to equity during 2022, included $197.1 million for the issuance of 8.6 million shares to acquire Suncrest and $235.4 million in net earnings. Decreases included $108.1 million in cash dividends and a $350.8 million decrease in other comprehensive income from the tax effected impact of the decline in fair value of available-for-sale securities. During 2022, we executed on a $70 million accelerated stock repurchase program and retired 2,993,551 shares of common stock at an average price of $23.38. We also repurchased, under our 10b5-1 stock repurchase plan, 1,914,590 shares of common stock, at an average repurchase price of $23.43, totaling $44.9 million. Our tangible book value per share at December 31, 2022 was $8.30.

Our capital ratios under the revised capital framework referred to as Basel III remain well-above regulatory requirements. As of December 31, 2022, the Company’s Tier 1 leverage capital ratio totaled 9.53%, our common equity Tier 1 ratio totaled 13.55%, our Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio totaled 13.55%, and our total risk-based capital ratio totaled 14.37%. We did not elect to phase in the impact of CECL on regulatory capital, as allowed under the interim final rule of the FDIC and other U.S. banking agencies. Refer to our Analysis of Financial Condition — Capital Resources.

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Acquisition Related

On January 7, 2022, the Company completed the merger transaction whereby Suncrest Bank (“Suncrest”), headquartered in Visalia, California, merged with and into the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Citizens Business Bank (“Citizens”), in accordance with the terms and conditions of that certain Agreement and Plan of Reorganization and Merger (“Merger Agreement”), dated as of July 27, 2021, by and among the Company, the Bank and Suncrest, in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $237 million in aggregate, or $18.63 per Suncrest share based on CVB Financial Corp.’s closing stock price of $22.87 on January 7, 2022. Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, the Company issued approximately 8.6 million shares of Company common stock and approximately $39.6 million in aggregate cash consideration, including cash paid out in settlement of outstanding incentive stock option awards at Suncrest.

At close, the total fair value of assets acquired approximated $1.38 billion in total assets, including $329.0 million of cash and cash equivalents, net of cash paid, $131.1 million of investment securities, and $765.9 million in net loans. The acquired loans were recorded at fair value, which reflected a net discount of 1.5% for the entire loan portfolio. Approximately 30% of the acquired loans are considered PCD loans. An allowance for credit loss of $8.6 million was established for these PCD loans at acquisition. In addition, the acquired PCD loans were further discounted by almost 2% to adjust them to fair value. Non-PCD loans were valued at a total premium of 0.3%, net of a credit discount of 1.5%. We recorded a loan loss provision to establish a day one allowance for credit losses of $4.9 million on the non-PCD loans.

Suncrest had seven branch locations and two loan production offices in California’s Central Valley and the Sacramento metro area, which opened as Citizens Business Bank locations on January 10, 2022. The integration of Suncrest, including the conversion of core systems in the first quarter of 2022, was completed with the consolidation of two banking centers during the second quarter of 2022.

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Financial Performance

Variance

(Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

Earnings per common share:

Return on Average Tangible Common Equity Reconciliations (Non-GAAP)

The return on average tangible common equity is a non-GAAP disclosure. The Company uses certain non-GAAP financial measures to provide supplemental information regarding the Company’s performance. The following is a reconciliation of net income, adjusted for tax-effected amortization of intangibles, to net income computed in accordance with GAAP; a reconciliation of average tangible common equity to the Company’s average stockholders’ equity computed in accordance with GAAP; as well as a calculation of return on average tangible common equity.

Year Ended December 31,

(Dollars in thousands)

Return on average equity, annualized 11.39 % 10.30 % 8.90 %

Return on average tangible common equity 18.85 % 15.93 % 14.25 %

(1)

Tax effected at respective statutory rates.

Net Interest Income

The principal component of our earnings is net interest income, which is the difference between the interest and fees earned on loans and investments (interest-earning assets) and the interest paid on deposits and borrowed funds (interest-bearing liabilities). Net interest margin is net interest income as a percentage of average interest-earning assets for the period. The level of interest rates and the volume and mix of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities impact net interest income and net interest margin. The net interest spread is the yield on average interest-earning assets minus the cost of average interest-bearing liabilities. Net interest margin and net interest spread are included on a tax equivalent (TE) basis by adjusting interest income utilizing the federal statutory tax rates of 21% in effect for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020. Our net interest income, interest spread, and net interest margin are sensitive to general business and economic conditions. These conditions include short-term and long-term interest rates, inflation, monetary supply, and the strength of the international, national and state economies, in general, and more specifically, the local economies in which we conduct business. Our ability to manage net interest income during changing interest rate environments will have a significant impact on our overall performance. We manage net interest income through affecting changes in the mix of interest-earning assets as well as the mix of interest-bearing liabilities, changes in the level of interest-bearing liabilities in

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proportion to interest-earning assets, and in the growth and maturity of earning assets. See Item 7 — Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Asset/Liability and Market Risk Management — Interest Rate Sensitivity Management included herein.

The tables below present the interest rate spread, net interest margin and the composition of average interest-earning assets and average interest-bearing liabilities by category for the periods indicated, including the changes in average balance, composition, and average yield/rate between these respective periods.

Interest-Earning Assets and Interest-Bearing Liabilities

Year Ended December 31,

(Dollars in thousands)

INTEREST-EARNING ASSETS

Investment securities (1)

Available-for-sale securities:

Held-to-maturity securities:

INTEREST-BEARING LIABILITIES

Net interest spread - tax equivalent 3.20 % 2.90 % 3.39 %

Net interest margin - tax equivalent 3.30 % 2.97 % 3.59 %

(1)

Includes tax equivalent (TE) adjustments utilizing a federal statutory rate of 21% in effect for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020. The non-TE rates for tax-advantaged HTM investment securities were 2.46%, 2.21% and 2.69% for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The non-TE rates for total investment securities was 2.00%, 1.53% and 2.04% for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

(2)

Includes loan fees of $8.1 million, $27.5 million and $23.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Prepayment penalty fees of $6.9 million, $9.0 million and $8.2 million are included in interest income for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

(3)

Includes interest-bearing demand and money market accounts.

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The following table presents a comparison of interest income and interest expense resulting from changes in the volumes and rates on average interest-earning assets and average interest-bearing liabilities for the periods indicated. Changes in interest income or expense attributable to volume changes are calculated by multiplying the change in volume by the initial average interest rate. The change in interest income or expense attributable to changes in interest rates is calculated by multiplying the change in interest rate by the initial volume. The changes attributable to interest rate and volume changes are calculated by multiplying the change in rate times the change in volume and reflect an adjustment for the number of days as appropriate.

Rate and Volume Analysis for Changes in Interest Income, Interest Expense and Net Interest Income

Comparison of Year Ended December 31,

Volume Rate Rate/Volume Total Volume Rate Rate/Volume Total

(Dollars in thousands)

Interest income:

Available-for-sale securities:

Tax-advantaged investment securities (69 ) 37 (4 ) (36 ) (180 ) (2 ) — (182 )

Held-to-maturity securities:

Interest expense:

2022 Compared to 2021

Net interest income, before provision for (recapture of) credit losses of $505.5 million for 2022 increased $91.0 million, or 21.94%, compared to $414.6 million for 2021. Interest-earning assets grew on average by $1.34 billion, or 9.54%, from $14.10 billion for 2021 to $15.44 billion for 2022. Our net interest margin (TE) was 3.30% for 2022, compared to 2.97% for 2021. The 33 basis point increase in our net interest margin was primarily the result of a 34 basis point increase in earning asset yield, while maintaining our very low cost of funds that increased from five basis points for 2021 to six basis for 2022, during a period of time when the Federal Reserve increased short-term interest rates by 425 basis points.

Total interest income for 2022 of $514.7 million grew by $94.0 million, or 22.36%, when compared to 2021. The increase in interest income was due to a combination of growth in average interest-earning assets of $1.34 billion and a 34 basis point expansion of the earning asset yield, from 3.02% for 2021 to 3.36% for 2022. The $1.34 billion increase in average earning assets for 2022 benefited from the acquisition of $775 million of loans from Suncrest at the beginning of the year, as well as core loan growth, which excluding Suncrest and the $538.3 million decline in average PPP loans was $374.7 million, and a $1.88 billion increase in the average size of our investment portfolio. The 34 basis point increase in the earning asset yield was due to a 47 basis point increase in security yields, a seven basis point increase in loan yields, and a change in the composition of average earning assets, with the investment portfolio growing from 28.79% to 38.47% of average earnings assets, while funds held at the Federal Reserve on average declined from 13.64% to 5.15% for 2022, compared to 2021. Average loans as a percentage of earning assets declined from 57.22% for 2021 to 56.20% for 2022. Throughout 2022, we deployed some of the excess liquidity previously held on deposit at the Federal Reserve into additional investment securities by purchasing approximately $1.76 billion in securities.

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Total interest income and fees on loans for 2022 of $389.2 million increased $32.6 million, or 9.14% when compared to 2021. The increase in interest income and fees on loans was primarily due to a $610.9 million increase in average loans, which included approximately $775 million in loans acquired from Suncrest on January 7, 2022. Average loans grew by approximately $374.7 million, when Suncrest and the $538.3 million decrease in average PPP loans are excluded. Loan yields were 4.49% for 2022, compared to 4.42% for 2021. Interest and fee income from PPP loans declined by $25.0 million from $30.5 million for 2021. Discount accretion on acquired loans decreased by $4.4 million compared to 2021. After excluding discount accretion, nonaccrual interest income and the impact from PPP loans, our ("core") loan yields grew by 17 basis points compared to 2021. Our core loan yields grew throughout 2022, as rising interest rates contributed to an increase from 4.08% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 4.42% for the third quarter of 2022 and 4.67% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

In general, we stop accruing interest on a loan after its principal or interest becomes 90 days or more past due. When a loan is placed on nonaccrual, all interest previously accrued but not collected is charged against earnings. There was no interest income that was accrued and not reversed on nonaccrual loans at December 31, 2022 and 2021. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had $4.9 million and $6.9 million of nonaccrual loans, respectively.

Interest income from investment securities was $117.6 million for 2022, a $57.1 million, or 94.47%, increase from $60.4 million for 2021. Investment income growth resulted from higher levels of investment securities as a result of purchases of investment securities primarily funded by our funds on deposit at the Federal Reserve, which declined from $1.64 billion at the end of 2021 to $45.2 million at December 31, 2022. As our excess liquidity held at the Federal Reserve was invested into higher yielding investments, our balance at the Federal Reserve averaged $795.8 million for 2022, compared to $1.92 billion for 2021. Investment securities were $5.94 billion on average in 2022, a $1.88 billion increase compared to 2021. During 2022, we purchased approximately $1.76 billion in investment securities, with expected non-TE weighted average yield of approximately 2.94%. Overall, the tax-equivalent yield on securities grew from 1.56% in 2021 to 2.03% in 2022.

Interest expense of $9.2 million for 2022 increased $3.1 million, or 50.58%, compared to $6.1 million for 2021. Although short-term interest rates were 425 basis points higher by the end of 2022 in comparison to the end of the prior year, the average rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities increased by four basis points, to 0.16% for 2022 from 0.12% for 2021. As interest-bearing deposit costs only increased by one basis point, this four basis point increase was the result of overnight borrowings during the fourth quarter of 2022. Average interest-bearing liabilities were $589.9 million higher for 2022 when compared to 2021. On average, noninterest-bearing deposits were 62.85% of our total deposits for 2022, compared to 62.83% for 2021. Our overall cost of funds increased by one basis point compared to 2021, partially due to growth in average noninterest-bearing deposits of $1.02 billion, compared to the increase in average interest-bearing deposits of $600.0 million. Due to recent increases in market rates, we experienced some pressure to increase deposit rates, as reflected in our interest-bearing deposit costs increasing from 13 basis points in the third quarter to 22 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2022.

2021 Compared to 2020

Net interest income of $414.6 million for 2021 decreased $1.5 million, or 0.36%, compared to $416.1 million for 2020. Interest-earning assets increased on average by $2.41 billion, or 20.61%, from $11.69 billion for 2020 to $14.10 billion for 2021. Our net interest margin (TE) was 2.97% for 2021, compared to 3.59% for 2020.

Interest income for 2021 of $420.6 million declined by $9.7 million, or 2.26%, when compared to 2020, as interest income and fees on loans declined by $20.8 million, or 5.51%, year-over-year. Compared to 2020, average interest-earning assets increased by $2.41 billion and the yield on average earning assets was 3.02% for 2021, compared to 3.71% for 2020. The 69 basis point decrease in the interest-earning asset yield over 2020 resulted from a 26 basis point decrease in loan yields from 4.68% for 2020 to 4.42% for 2021, and a 51 basis point decline in the non-tax equivalent investment yields, as well as a change in mix of earning assets, resulting from an $857.5 million increase in average balances at the Federal Reserve. The decrease in earning asset yield was impacted by a change in asset mix with average loan balances declining to 57.22% of earning assets for 2021, compared to 69.02% for 2020, as well as lower loan and investment yields. Conversely the average balances at the Federal Reserve grew as a percentage of average earning assets to 13.64% for 2021, compared to 9.11% for 2020.

Interest income and fees on loans for 2021 of $356.6 million decreased $20.8 million, or 5.51% when compared to 2020. The average balance of loans was essentially the same in 2021 when compared to 2020, as core loans grew on average by $85.1 million, while PPP loans on average decreased $85.7 million. Loan yields decreased by 26 basis points from 2020. PPP loans resulted in approximately $24.3 million in fee income and $6.2 million in loan interest during 2021, compared to $21.4 million in fee income and $7.1 million in loan interest during 2020. Discount accretion on acquired loans and nonrecurring nonaccrual interest paid decreased by $5.2 million compared to 2020. The decline in interest rates since the start of the pandemic has had a negative impact on loan yields, which, after excluding discount accretion, nonaccrual interest

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income and the impact from PPP loans, declined by 27 basis points compared to 2020. The decline in loan yields was due to lower rates on loans indexed to variable interest rates such as the Bank’s prime rate and lower yields on new loans in the low rate environment experienced for much of the last two years.

There was no interest income that was accrued and not reversed on nonaccrual loans at December 31, 2021 and 2020. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had $6.9 million and $14.3 million of nonaccrual loans, respectively.

Interest income from investment securities was $60.4 million for 2021, a $10.2 million, or 20.23%, increase from $50.3 million for 2020. Investment income growth resulted from higher levels of investment securities as a result of purchases of investment securities funded by the growth in the Bank's deposits. This increase was the net result of a $1.55 billion increase in average investment securities, partially offset by a 51 basis point decline in the non TE yield on securities, compared to 2020. The significant decline in interest rates from 2020 to 2021 decreased yields on investment securities due partly to higher levels of premium amortization, as well as lower yields on investments purchased during the years of 2020 and 2021. We continued to maintain a significant amount of funds at the Federal Reserve in 2021. Our Federal Reserve balance averaged more than $1.9 billion for 2021, which was $857,000 greater than the average for 2020.

Interest expense of $6.1 million for 2021 decreased $8.2 million, or 57.43%, compared to $14.3 million for 2020. The average rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities decreased by 20 basis points, to 0.12% for 2021, from 0.32% for 2020. Average interest-bearing liabilities were $761.1 million higher for 2021 when compared to 2020. Noninterest-bearing deposits grew on average by $1.54 billion, or 24.45% compared to 2020, while interest-bearing deposits and customer repurchase agreements grew on average by $779.0 million for 2021. On average, noninterest-bearing deposits were 62.83% of our total deposits for 2021, compared to 61.24% for 2020. Total cost of funds was 0.05% for 2021, compared with 0.13% for 2020.

Provision for (Recapture of) Credit Losses

The provision for (recapture of) credit losses is a charge (credit) to earnings to maintain the allowance for credit losses at a level consistent with management’s assessment of expected lifetime losses in the loan portfolio as of the balance sheet date.

We recorded provision for credit losses of $10.6 million in 2022 due to both core loan growth of approximately $600 million and a deteriorating economic forecast of key macroeconomic variables. During 2022, we experienced credit charge-offs of $197,000 and total recoveries of $1.1 million, resulting in net recoveries of $893,000. A $25.5 million recapture of provision for credit losses was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2021, resulting from improvements in our economic forecast that resulted from the unprecedented impact and uncertainty of the pandemic in 2020. This recapture, generally reversed the increase in the allowance for credit loss for 2020 that was due to the severe economic disruption forecasted as a result of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. For 2021, we experienced credit charge-offs of $3.4 million and total recoveries of $198,000, resulting in net charge-offs of $3.2 million. Our economic forecast continues to be a blend of multiple forecasts produced by Moody’s. These U.S. economic forecasts include a baseline forecast, as well as downside forecasts. We continue to have the largest individual scenario weighting on the baseline forecast, with downside risks weighted among multiple forecasts. As of December 31, 2022, the resulting weighted forecast assumes GDP will increase by 0.3% in 2023, including a decline in GDP for the first half of 2023, followed by modest growth of 1.3% for 2024 and then grow by 2.8% in 2025. The unemployment rate is forecasted to be 4.8% in 2023, 5.1% in 2024 and then decline to 4.5% in 2025.

No assurance can be given that economic conditions which affect the Company’s service areas or other circumstances will or will not be reflected in future changes in the level of our allowance for credit losses and the resulting provision or recapture of provision for credit losses. The process to estimate the allowance for credit losses requires considerable judgment and our economic forecasts may continue to vary due to the uncertainty of the future impact from the recent rise in interest rates, geopolitical events in Europe, and global inflation will have on future interest rates, unemployment, the overall economy and resulting impact on our customers. See “Allowance for Credit Losses” under Analysis of Financial Condition herein.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income includes income derived from financial services offered to our customers, such as CitizensTrust, BankCard services, international banking, and other business services. Also included in noninterest income are service charges and fees, primarily from deposit accounts, gains (net of losses) from the disposition of investment securities, loans, other real estate owned, and fixed assets, and other revenues not included as interest on earning assets.

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The following table sets forth the various components of noninterest income for the periods presented.

Variance

(Dollars in thousands)

Noninterest income:

2022 Compared to 2021

The $2.6 million increase in noninterest income included an increase of $4.2 million, or 24.66%, in service charges on deposit accounts, $2.4 million in net gain on the sale of one of our properties, and a $2.1 million gain from a distribution related to one of our CRA investments. Income from BOLI declined by $3.1 million from the prior year, as we incurred a $2.7 million decline in the market value of separate account life insurance policies that are used to fund our deferred compensation liabilities. Offsetting the $2.1 million gain on a CRA investment, 2022 also included a $1.1 million decrease in certain CRA investments due to valuation changes. Noninterest income for 2021 included $1.2 million net gain on the sale of three OREO properties and $890,000 for recovery of an acquired loan charged off prior to a previous acquisition.

The Bank enters into interest rate swap agreements with our customers to manage our interest rate risk and enters into identical offsetting swaps with a counterparty. The changes in the fair value of the swaps primarily offset each other resulting in swap fee income (refer to Note 20 — Derivative Financial Instruments of the notes to the consolidated financial statements of this report for additional information). Swap fee income decreased $382,000 compared to 2021, as there were no executed swap agreements related to new loan originations for 2022. Generally speaking, our volume of interest rate swaps is impacted by the shape of the yield curve, with a relatively flat yield curve more conducive to a higher volume of swaps, while an inverted yield curve less conducive. We executed on swap agreements related to new loan originations with a notional amount totaling $25.3 million for 2021.

CitizensTrust consists of Wealth Management and Investment Services income. The Wealth Management group provides a variety of services, which include asset management, financial planning, estate planning, retirement planning, private and corporate trustee services, and probate services. Investment Services provides self-directed brokerage, 401(k) plans, mutual funds, insurance and other non-insured investment products. At December 31, 2022, CitizensTrust had approximately $2.9 billion in assets under management and administration, including $1.92 billion in assets under management. CitizensTrust generated fees of $11.5 million for 2022, which were nearly flat compared to $11.6 million for 2021. Market conditions have continued to negatively impact assets under management and trust fee income. Additionally, a large trust relationship with more than $800 million in assets was transitioned to a financial institution outside of California. The transition was completed by the end of 2022, with the impact on fee income expected to be reflected in 2023. Offsetting this transfer of assets and the impact of the market on our assets under management and administration, was the growth in managed assets from $350 million of our customer deposits that are now being managed by CitizensTrust in various liquidity strategies.

The Bank’s investment in BOLI includes life insurance policies acquired through acquisitions and the purchase of life insurance by the Bank on a select group of employees. The Bank is the owner and beneficiary of these policies. BOLI is recorded as an asset at its cash surrender value. The policies consist of general account, separate account, and hybrid policies. Increases in the cash value of these policies, as well as insurance proceeds received, are recorded in noninterest income and are not subject to income tax, as long as they are held for the life of the covered parties. Income from our BOLI policies for 2022 included $3.6 million of death benefits that exceeded cash surrender values, compared to $3.9 million of death benefits for 2021.

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2021 Compared to 2020

The $2.5 million decrease in noninterest income was primarily due to a $4.6 million decrease in swap fee income from 2020 due to lower volume of swap transactions. Partially offsetting the overall decrease in noninterest income was a $1.6 million increase in Trust and investment services income and a $591,000 year-over-year increase in service charges on deposit accounts. Noninterest income for 2021 also included $1.2 million in net gain on the sale of three OREO properties, while 2020 included $1.7 million net gain on the sale of one of our owned buildings and a $365,000 net gain on the sale of two OREO properties. The $373,000 increase in other income in 2021 included $890,000 for recovery of an acquired loan charged off prior to a previous acquisition.

Swap fee income decreased $4.6 million compared to 2020, due to lower volume of swap transactions. We executed on swap agreements related to new loan originations with a notional amount totaling $25.3 million for 2021, compared to $280.4 million for 2020. The volume of interest rate swaps can be impacted by competitive factors, as well as the current and forecasted interest rate environment.

At December 31, 2021, CitizensTrust had approximately $3.45 billion in assets under management and administration, including $2.50 billion in assets under management. CitizensTrust generated fees of $11.6 million for 2021, an increase of $1.6 million compared to $10.0 million for 2020, due to the growth in assets under management.

Income from our BOLI policies for 2021 included $3.9 million of death benefits that exceeded cash surrender values, compared to $2.8 million of death benefits for 2020.

Noninterest Expense

The following table summarizes the various components of noninterest expense for the periods presented.

Variance

(Dollars in thousands)

Noninterest expense:

Noninterest expense to average assets 1.28 % 1.24 % 1.49 %

(1)

Noninterest expense divided by net interest income before provision for credit losses plus noninterest income.

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Our ability to control noninterest expenses in relation to asset growth can be measured in terms of total noninterest expenses as a percentage of average assets. Noninterest expense as a percentage of average assets was 1.28% for 2022, compared to 1.24% for 2021 and 1.49% for 2020, respectively. The increase in this ratio from 2021 to 2022, reflects the impact of inflationary pressures on staff related expenses and payments to vendors. In addition, we continued to invest in technology to enhance the products and services offered to our customers, as well as automation of administrative processes throughout the Bank. The decline in this ratio for 2021 compared with 2020 reflects the $2.42 billion growth in average assets that resulted primarily from $2.18 billion in average deposit growth that fueled an average balance at the Federal Reserve of $1.92 billion.

Our ability to control noninterest expenses in relation to the level of total revenue (net interest income before provision for credit losses plus noninterest income) can be measured by the efficiency ratio and indicates the percentage of net revenue that is used to cover expenses. The efficiency ratio was 38.98% for 2022, compared to 41.09% for 2021 and 41.40% for 2020. The decline in the efficiency ratio in 2022 was primarily due to the expansion of the net interest margin.

2022 Compared to 2021

Noninterest expense of $216.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $26.8 million higher than 2021. The year-over-year increase included a $13.7 million increase in salaries and employee benefits, which included additional compensation related expenses for the newly hired and former Suncrest associates. Occupancy and equipment increased by $3.0 million due to the addition of seven banking centers resulting from the acquisition of Suncrest, two of which were subsequently consolidated by the end of the second quarter of 2022. Acquisition expense related to the merger of Suncrest was $6.0 million for 2022, compared with $962,000 for 2021. The increase in software expense of $1.9 million, included costs associated with the continued use of Suncrest's legacy banking systems, prior to conversions, as well as continued investments in technology. A $1.7 million increase in marketing and promotion expense for 2022 was primarily due to the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on marketing and promotional events in 2021. Professional service expense grew by $1.4 million, including increased costs for legal and employee recruiting of $854,000. The year-over-year increase also included a $1.0 million recapture of provision for unfunded loan commitments recorded in 2021.

2021 Compared to 2020

Noninterest expense of $189.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $3.1 million, or 1.62% lower than 2020. This year-over-year decrease included a $1.9 million decrease in salaries and employee benefits, partially due to a $1.1 million in additional bonus expense for “Thank You Awards” paid to all Bank employees during the third quarter of 2020. The year-over-year decrease also included a $1.5 million decrease in professional services expense, a $1.1 million decrease in Core Deposit Intangible ("CDI") amortization, a $1.2 million decrease in OREO expense primarily due to a $700,000 write-down of one OREO property in 2020, and a $1.0 million recapture of provision for unfunded loan commitments recorded in 2021, compared to no recapture of provision in 2020. These decreases were partially offset by a $2.3 million increase in regulatory assessment expense compared to the prior year, which resulted from the final application of assessment credits provided by the FDIC at the end of the second quarter of 2020. Additionally, there were $962,000 in acquisition related expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to no merger related expenses for 2020.

Income Taxes

The Company’s effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022 was 28.30%, compared with 28.60% and 29.00% for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Our estimated annual effective tax rate also varies depending upon the level of tax-advantaged income as well as available tax credits. Refer to Note 11 — Income Taxes of the notes to consolidated financial statements for more information.

The effective tax rates are below the nominal combined Federal and State tax rate as a result of tax-advantaged income from certain municipal security investments, municipal loans and leases and BOLI, as well as available tax credits for each period.

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ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

Total assets of $16.48 billion at December 31, 2022 increased $592.8 million, or 3.73%, from total assets of $15.88 billion at December 31, 2021. Interest-earning assets of $14.97 billion at December 31, 2022, increased by $287.5 million, or 1.96%, when compared with $14.68 billion at December 31, 2021. The increase in interest-earning assets included a $1.19 billion increase in total loans and a $699.6 million increase in investment securities, partially offset by a $1.60 billion decrease in interest-earning balances due from the Federal Reserve.

On January 7, 2022, we completed the acquisition of Suncrest with approximately $1.38 billion in total assets, acquired at fair value, and seven banking centers. The increase in total assets at December 31, 2022 included $765.9 million of acquired net loans at fair value, $131.1 million of investment securities, and $9 million in bank-owned life insurance. The acquisition resulted in $102.1 million of goodwill and $3.9 million in core deposit intangibles. Net cash proceeds were used to fund the $39.6 million in cash paid to the former shareholders of Suncrest as part of the merger consideration.

Total liabilities were $14.53 billion at December 31, 2022, an increase of $725.8 million, or 5.26%, from total liabilities of $13.80 billion at December 31, 2021. Total deposits declined by $140.2 million, or 1.08%. We had borrowings of $995 million overnight from the Federal Home Loan Bank as of December 31, 2022. The seasonal increase in dairy & livestock loans that occurs every year end, as well as a decrease in deposits late in 2022, driven by the higher interest rates and an inflationary environment, as well as seasonal declines in deposits, resulted in higher levels of borrowing at year end. Total equity decreased $133.0 million, or 6.39%, to $1.95 billion at December 31, 2022, compared to total equity of $2.08 billion at December 31, 2021. Increases to equity during 2022, included $197.1 million for the issuance of 8.6 million shares to acquire Suncrest and $235.4 million in net earnings. Decreases included $108.1 million in cash dividends and a $350.8 million decrease in other comprehensive income from the tax effected impact of the decline in market value of available-for-sale securities. During 2022, we executed on a $70 million accelerated stock repurchase program and retired 2,993,551 shares of common stock at an average price of $23.38. We also repurchased, under our 10b5-1 stock repurchase plan, 1,914,590 shares of common stock, at an average repurchase price of $23.43, totaling $44.9 million.

Investment Securities

The Company maintains a portfolio of investment securities to provide interest income and to serve as a source of liquidity for our ongoing operations. At December 31, 2022, total investment securities were $5.81 billion. This represented an increase of $699.6 million, or 13.69%, from total investment securities of $5.11 billion at December 31, 2021. The increase in investment securities was primarily due to new securities purchased in excess of the cash outflow from the portfolio in 2022. At December 31, 2022, investment securities HTM totaled $2.55 billion. At December 31, 2022, our AFS investment securities totaled $3.26 billion, inclusive of a pre-tax net unrealized loss of $500.1 million. The after-tax unrealized loss reported in AOCI on AFS investment securities was $352.2 million. The changes in the net unrealized holding gain (loss) resulted primarily from fluctuations in market interest rates. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, repayments/maturities of investment securities totaled $661.5 million and $928.4 million, respectively. The Company purchased additional investment securities totaling $1.76 billion and $3.16 billion for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. There were no investment securities sold during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.

The tables below set forth our investment securities AFS and HTM portfolio by type for the dates presented.

December 31,

Fair Value Percent Fair Value Percent

(Dollars in thousands)

Investment securities available-for-sale

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December 31,

AmortizedCost Percent AmortizedCost Percent

(Dollars in thousands)

Investment securities held-to-maturity

The maturity distribution of the AFS and HTM portfolios consist of the following as of the date presented.

(Dollars in thousands)

Investment securities available-for-sale:

Weighted average yield:

Other securities 2.51 % — — — 2.51 %

(1)

The weighted average yield for the portfolio is based on projected duration and is not tax-equivalent. The tax-equivalent yield at December 31, 2022 was 3.20%.

(Dollars in thousands)

Investment securities held-to-maturity:

Weighted average yield:

Government agency/GSE — — 1.52 % 1.90 % 1.81 %

(1)

The weighted average yield for the portfolio is based on projected duration and is not tax-equivalent. The tax equivalent yield at December 31, 2022 was 3.33%.

The maturity of each security category is defined as the contractual maturity except for the categories of mortgage-backed securities and CMO/REMIC whose maturities are defined as the estimated average life. The final maturity of mortgage-backed securities and CMO/REMIC will differ from their contractual maturities because the underlying mortgages have the right to repay such obligations without penalty. The speed at which the underlying mortgages repay is influenced by many factors, one of which is interest rates. Mortgages tend to repay faster as interest rates fall and slower as interest rate rise. This will either shorten or extend the estimated average life. Also, the yield on mortgage-backed securities and CMO/REMIC are affected by the speed at which the underlying mortgages repay. This is caused by the change in the amount

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of amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts of each security as repayments increase or decrease. The Company obtains the estimated average life of each security from independent third parties.

The weighted-average yield on the total investment portfolio at December 31, 2022 was 2.13% with a weighted-average life of 6.9 years. This compares to a weighted-average yield of 1.71% at December 31, 2021 with a weighted-average life of 5.5 years. The weighted average life is the average number of years that each dollar of unpaid principal due remains outstanding. Average life is computed as the weighted-average time to the receipt of all future cash flows, using as the weights the dollar amounts of the principal pay-downs.

Approximately 91% of the securities in the total investment portfolio, at December 31, 2022, are issued by the U.S. government or U.S. government-sponsored agencies and enterprises, which have the implied guarantee of payment of principal and interest. As of December 31, 2022, approximately $43.0 million in U.S. government agency bonds are callable. The Agency CMO/REMIC are backed by agency-pooled collateral. Municipal bonds, which represented approximately 9% of the total investment portfolio, are predominately AA or higher rated securities.

The Company held investment securities in excess of 10% of shareholders’ equity from the following issuers as of the dates presented.

December 31,

Book Value Market Value Book Value Market Value

(Dollars in thousands)

Major issuer:

Municipal securities held by the Company are issued by various states and their various local municipalities. The following tables present municipal securities by the top holdings by state as of the dates presented.

AmortizedCost Percent ofTotal Fair Value Percent ofTotal

(Dollars in thousands)

Municipal Securities available-for-sale:

Municipal Securities held-to-maturity:

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AmortizedCost Percent ofTotal Fair Value Percent ofTotal

(Dollars in thousands)

Municipal Securities available-for-sale:

Municipal Securities held-to-maturity:

Under ASU 2016-13, once it is determined that a credit loss has occurred, an allowance for credit losses is established on our available-for-sale and held-to-maturity securities. Prior to adoption of this standard, when a decline in fair value of a debt security was determined to be other than temporary, an impairment charge for the credit component was recorded, and a new cost basis in the investment was established. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, management determined that credit losses did not exist for securities in an unrealized loss position.

The following tables present the Company’s available-for-sale investment securities, by investment category, in an unrealized loss position for which an allowance for credit losses has not been recorded as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021.

Less Than 12 Months 12 Months or Longer Total

(Dollars in thousands)

Investment securities available-for-sale:

Investment securities held-to-maturity:

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Less Than 12 Months 12 Months or Longer Total

(Dollars in thousands)

Investment securities available-for-sale:

Municipal bonds — — — — — —

Refer to Note 5 – Investment Securities of the notes to the consolidated financial statements of this report for additional information on our investment securities portfolio.

Loans

Total loans and leases, at amortized cost, of $9.08 billion at December 31, 2022, increased by $1.19 billion, or 15.11%, from $7.89 billion at December 31, 2021. The increase in total loans included $774.5 million of loans acquired from Suncrest in the first quarter of 2022. After adjusting for acquired loans and forgiveness of PPP loans, our core loans grew by $634.3 million, or 8.24% from December 31, 2021. The $634.3 million core loan growth included $514.4 million in commercial real estate loans, $51.2 million in commercial and industrial loans, $31.9 million in dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans, $25.1 million in SFR mortgage loans, $17.9 million in municipal lease financings, and $9.3 million in construction loans, partially offset by a decrease of $17.8 million in SBA loans. PPP loans decreased by $217.1 million, resulting in a remaining balance of $9.1 million at December 31, 2022.

Total loans, at amortized cost, comprised 60.65% of our total earning assets as of December 31, 2022. The following table presents our loan portfolio by type as of the dates presented.

Distribution of Loan Portfolio by Type

December 31,

(Dollars in thousands)

Less: Deferred loan fees, net (2) — — — (3,742 ) (4,828 )

Discount on PCI loans —

Less: Allowance for credit losses (204 )

Total loans and lease finance receivables, net $ 7,700,998

(1)

Beginning with June 30, 2019, PCI loans were accounted for and combined with Non-PCI loans and were reflected in total loans and lease finance receivables.

(2)

Beginning with March 31, 2020, gross loans are presented net of deferred loan fees (at amortized cost) by respective class of financing receivables.

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As of December 31, 2022, $517.8 million, or 7.52% of the total commercial real estate loans included loans secured by farmland, compared to $364.4 million, or 6.29%, at December 31, 2021. The loans secured by farmland included $140.5 million for loans secured by dairy & livestock land and $377.3 million for loans secured by agricultural land at December 31, 2022, compared to $134.9 million for loans secured by dairy & livestock land and $229.5 million for loans secured by agricultural land at December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2022, dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans of $433.6 million were comprised of $388.5 million for dairy & livestock loans and $45.1 million for agribusiness loans. This compares to $351.7 million for dairy & livestock loans and $34.5 million for agribusiness loans at December 31, 2021.

Real estate loans are loans secured by conforming trust deeds on real property, including property under construction, land development, commercial property and single-family and multi-family residences. Our real estate loans are comprised of industrial, office, retail, medical, single family residences, multi-family residences, and farmland. Consumer loans include installment loans to consumers as well as home equity loans, auto and equipment leases and other loans secured by junior liens on real property. Municipal lease finance receivables are leases to municipalities. Dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans are loans to finance the operating needs of wholesale dairy farm operations, cattle feeders, livestock raisers and farmers.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $211.5 million of total SBA 504 loans. SBA 504 loans include term loans to finance capital expenditures and for the purchase of commercial real estate. Initially the Bank provides two separate loans to the borrower representing a first and second lien on the collateral. The loan with the first lien is typically at a 50% advance to the acquisition costs and the second lien loan provides the financing for 40% of the acquisition costs with the borrower’s down payment of 10% of the acquisition costs. The Bank retains the first lien loan for its term and sells the second lien loan to the SBA subordinated debenture program. A majority of the Bank’s 504 loans are granted for the purpose of commercial real estate acquisition. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $79.4 million of total SBA 7(a) loans that include a guarantee of payment from the SBA (typically 75% of the loan amount, but up to 90% in certain cases) in the event of default. The SBA 7(a) loans include revolving lines of credit (SBA Express) and term loans of up to ten (10) years to finance long-term working capital requirements, capital expenditures, and/or for the purchase or refinance of commercial real estate.

As an active participant in the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program, we originated approximately 4,100 PPP loans totaling $1.10 billion in round one and originated approximately 1,900 PPP loans totaling $420 million in round two. As of December 31, 2022, the remaining outstanding balance of PPP loans totaled $9.1 million.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $88.3 million in construction loans. This represents 0.97% of total gross loans held-for-investment. Although our construction loans are located throughout our market footprint, the majority of construction loans consist of commercial land development and construction projects in Los Angeles County, Orange County, and the Inland Empire region of Southern California. There were no nonperforming construction loans at December 31, 2022.

Our loan portfolio is geographically disbursed throughout our marketplace. The following is the breakdown of our total held-for-investment commercial real estate loans, by region as of December 31, 2022.

Total Loans Commercial Real EstateLoans

(Dollars in thousands)

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The table below breaks down our real estate portfolio.

Loan Balance Percent PercentOwner-Occupied (1) AverageLoan Balance

Commercial real estate: (Dollars in thousands)

(1)

Represents percentage of reported owner-occupied at origination in each real estate loan category.

(2)

The loans secured by farmland included $140.5 million for loans secured by dairy & livestock land and $377.3 million for loans secured by agricultural land at December 31, 2022.

(3)

Other loans consist of a variety of loan types, none of which exceeds 2.0% of total commercial real estate loans.

At December 31, 2022, commercial real estate loans on retail properties comprised $981.7 million and approximately 14.3% of total commercial real estate loans. At origination, these loans on retail properties were underwritten with loan-to-values averaging approximately 48%. Approximately 30% of these loans were originated prior to 2017.

The table below provides the maturity distribution for held-for-investment total gross loans as of December 31, 2022. The loan amounts are based on contractual maturities although the borrowers have the ability to prepay the loans. Amounts are also classified according to repricing opportunities or rate sensitivity.

Loan Maturities and Interest Rate Category

WithinOne Year After OneBut WithinFive Years AfterFive Years Total

(Dollars in thousands)

Loan Portfolio by Type:

Amount of Loans based upon:

As a normal practice in extending credit for commercial and industrial purposes, we may accept trust deeds on real property as collateral. In some cases, when the primary source of repayment for the loan is anticipated to come from the cash flow from normal operations of the borrower, and real property has been taken as collateral, the real property is considered a secondary source of repayment for the loan. Since we lend primarily in Southern and Central California, our real estate loan collateral is concentrated in this region.

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Nonperforming Assets

The following table provides information on nonperforming assets as of the dates presented.

December 31,

(Dollars in thousands)

Loans past due 90 days or more and still accruing interest — — — — —

Nonperforming troubled debt restructured loans (TDRs) — — — 244 3,509

(1)

Excludes PCI loans.

Troubled Debt Restructurings

Total TDRs were $7.8 million at December 31, 2022, compared to $5.3 million at December 31, 2021. At December 31, 2022, all of our TDRs were performing and accruing interest as restructured loans. Our performing TDRs were generally provided a modification of loan repayment terms in response to borrower financial difficulties. The performing restructured loans represent the only loans accruing interest at each respective reporting date. A performing restructured loan is categorized as such if we believe that it is reasonably assured of repayment and is performing in accordance with the modified terms.

In accordance with regulatory guidance, if borrowers were less than 30 days past due on their loans and entered into loan modifications offered as a result of COVID-19, their loans generally continued to be considered performing loans and continued to accrue interest during the period of the loan modification. For borrowers who were 30 days or more past due when entering into loan modifications offered as a result of COVID-19, we evaluated the loan modifications under our existing troubled debt restructuring framework, and where such a loan modification would result in a concession to a borrower experiencing financial difficulty, the loan would be accounted for as a TDR and generally would not accrue interest. For all borrowers who enrolled in these loan modification programs offered as a result of COVID-19, the delinquency status of the borrowers was frozen, resulting in a static delinquency metric during the deferral period. Upon exiting the deferral program, the measurement of loan delinquency resumed where it had left off upon entry into the program.

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The following table provides a summary of TDRs as of the dates presented.

December 31,

Balance Number ofLoans Balance Number ofLoans

(Dollars in thousands)

Performing TDRs:

Commercial real estate $ — — $ 2,394 1

Construction — — — —

SBA — — — —

Dairy & livestock and agribusiness 2,000 1 — —

Consumer and other — — — —

Nonperforming TDRs:

Commercial real estate $ — — $ — —

Construction — — — —

SBA — — — —

Commercial and industrial — — — —

Dairy & livestock and agribusiness — — — —

SFR mortgage — — — —

Consumer and other — — — —

Total nonperforming TDRs $ — — $ — —

At December 31, 2022 and 2021, there was no ACL specifically allocated to TDRs. Impairment amounts identified are typically charged off against the allowance when deemed uncollectible. There were no charge-offs on TDRs for 2022 and 2021.

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Nonperforming Assets and Delinquencies

The table below provides trends in our nonperforming assets and delinquencies as of the dates presented.

(Dollars in thousands)

Nonperforming loans (1):

Construction — — — — —

SBA - PPP — — — 2 —

Commercial real estate $ — $ — $ 559 $ 565 $ 438

Construction — — — — —

Commercial and industrial — — — 6 —

Dairy & livestock and agribusiness — — — 1,099 —

Consumer and other loans 175 — — — —

OREO:

Commercial real estate $ — $ — $ — $ — $ —

SBA — — — — —

SFR mortgage — — — — —

Total $ — $ — $ — $ — $ —

Nonperforming loans, defined as nonaccrual loans, nonperforming TDR loans and loans past due 90 days or more and still accruing interest, were $4.9 million at December 31, 2022, or 0.05% of total loans. This compares to nonperforming loans of $6.9 million, or 0.09% of total loans, at December 31, 2021. The $2.0 million decrease in nonperforming loans was primarily due to decreases of $950,000 in nonperforming commercial real estate loans, $591,000 in nonperforming SBA loans, $394,000 in nonperforming commercial and industrial loans, and $380,000 in nonperforming SFR mortgage loans, offset by an increase of $477,000 in nonperforming dairy & livestock and agribusiness loans.

At December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, we had no OREO properties. There were no additions to OREO properties for 2022. During the fourth quarter of 2021, we acquired an OREO property, which was sold during the fourth quarter of 2021 at a net gain of approximately $700,000.

Changes in economic and business conditions have had an impact on our market area and on our loan portfolio. We continually monitor these conditions in determining our estimates of needed reserves. However, we cannot predict the extent to which the deterioration in general economic conditions, real estate values, changes in general rates of interest and changes in the financial conditions or business of a borrower may adversely affect a specific borrower’s ability to pay or the value of our collateral. See “Risk Management – Credit Risk Management” included herein.

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Allowance for Credit Losses

We adopted CECL on January 1, 2020, which replaced the “incurred loss” approach with an “expected loss” model over the life of the loan, as further described in Note 3 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of the notes to the consolidated financial statements. The allowance for credit losses totaled $85.1 million as of December 31, 2022, compared to $65.0 million as of December 31, 2021. Our allowance for credit losses at December 31, 2022 was 0.94% of total loans. The ACL increased by $20.1 million for 2022, compared to December 31, 2021, including $8.6 million for the acquired Suncrest PCD loans and $10.6 million in provision for credit losses for 2022. Net recoveries were $893,000 for 2022, which compares with net charge-offs of $3.2 million for 2021.