Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:

GENERAL

The Company has grown through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. Since 1998, the Company has acquired eightnine community banks with an aggregate asset total of approximately $2.28$4.16 billion, including its most recent acquisition of Highlands State1st Constitution Bank and its parent, Highlands1st Constitution Bancorp Inc. ("Highlands1st Constitution Bancorp"), which was completed on January 4, 2019.6, 2022. At January 6, 2022, 1st Constitution Bancorp had approximately $1.88 billion in assets, $1.12 billion in loans and $1.65 billion in deposits. All of the acquired banks have been merged into Lakeland and the acquired holding companies, if applicable, have been merged into the Company.

At December 31, 2020,2021, Lakeland Bancorp had total consolidated assets of $7.66$8.20 billion, total consolidated deposits of $6.46$6.97 billion, total consolidated loans, net of the allowance for credit losses on loans, of $5.95$5.92 billion and total consolidated stockholders’ equity of $763.8$827.0 million.

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“Forward-Looking Statements”). Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such Forward-Looking Statements. Certain factors which could materially affect such results and the future performance of the Company are described in Item 1A - Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Commercial Bank Services

Through Lakeland, the Company offers a broad range of lending, depository, and related financial services to individuals and small to medium sized businesses located primarily in northern and central New Jersey, the Hudson Valley region in New York and surrounding areas. In the lending area, these services include commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial loans, short and medium term loans, lines of credit, letters of credit, inventory and accounts receivable financing, real estate construction loans, residential mortgage loans, Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loans and merchant credit card services. The Company participated in the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") beginning in April 2020. Through Lakeland’s equipment finance division, the Company provides a financing solution to small and medium-sized companies that prefer to lease equipment over other financial alternatives. Lakeland’s asset-based loan department provides commercial borrowers with another lending alternative.

Depository products include demand deposits, as well as savings, money market and time accounts. Lakeland offers internetonline banking, mobile banking and wire transfer and night depository services to the business community and municipal relationships. In addition, Lakeland offers cash management services, such as remote capture of deposits and overnight sweep repurchase agreements.

Consumer Banking

Lakeland also offers a broad range of consumer banking services, including checking accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, internetonline banking, secured and unsecured loans, consumer installment loans, mortgage loans, and safe deposit services.

Other Services

    Investment advisory services for individuals and businesses are also available. Additionally, the Bank provides commercial title insurance services through Lakeland Title Group LLC and life insurance products through Lakeland Financial Services Agency, Inc.

Competition

Lakeland faces intense competition in its market areas for deposits and loans from other depository institutions. Many of Lakeland’s depository institution competitors have substantially greater resources, broader geographic markets, and higher lending limits than Lakeland and are also able to provide more services and make greater use of media advertising. In recent years, intense market demands, economic pressures, increased customer awareness of products and services and the availability of electronic services have forced banking institutions to diversify their services and become more cost-effective.

Lakeland also competes with credit unions, brokerage firms, insurance companies, money market mutual funds, consumer finance companies, mortgage companies, fintechs and other financial companies, some of which are not subject to the same degree of regulation and restrictions as Lakeland in attracting deposits and making loans. Interest rates on deposit accounts, convenience of facilities, products and services, and marketing are all significant factors in the competition for deposits. Competition for loans comes from other commercial banks, savings institutions, insurance companies, consumer finance companies, credit unions, mortgage banking firms, financial technology and other institutional lenders. Lakeland primarily competes for loan originations through its structuring of loan transactions and the overall quality of service it provides. Competition is affected by the availability of lendable funds, general and local economic conditions, interest rates, and other factors that are not readily predictable. The Company expects that competition will continue or intensify in the future.

Concentration

The Company is not dependent on deposits or exposed by loan concentrations to a single customer or a few customers, the loss of any one or more of which would have a material adverse effect upon the financial condition of the Company.

Human Capital Resources

At December 31, 2020,2021, the Company employed 711717 associates, including 4536 part-time associates, of which approximately 68% are women. AtThe Company employed 711 associates, including 43 part-time associates at December 31, 2019, the company employed 716 associates, including 52 part-time associates.2020. As a financial institution, approximately 53%52% of our associates are located at branch or loan production offices and the remainder are located at our administrative offices. The success of our business is highly dependent on our associates, who are dedicated to our mission to deliver superior customer service that exceeds customer expectations by understandinginspire and anticipating theirenable the communities we serve to achieve financial needs.stability and success. We seek to hire well-qualified associates to sustain and build on our culture of service and performance. Our selection and promotion processes are without bias and include the active recruitment of minorities and women. None of our associates are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

We encourage the growth and development of our associates and, whenever possible, seek to fill positions by promotion and transfer from within the Company. Continual learning and career development is advanced through annual performance and development conversations between associates and their managers, internally developed training programs, customized corporate training engagements and educational reimbursement programs. Our Leader Engagement and Development (LEAD) Program was launched in 2018 to foster leadership abilities and cultivate effective management approaches. To date, 3651 associates have completed the program and 15 are currently participating in the program. Reimbursement is available to associates enrolled in pre-approved degree or certification programs at accredited institutions that teach skills or knowledge relevant to our business, in compliance with Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code, and for seminars, conferences and other training events associates attend in connection with their job duties or professional certification requirements.

The safety, health and wellness of our associates is a top priority. The COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges with regard to maintaining associate safety while continuing successful operations. We instituted remote working plans in March 2020at the start of the pandemic and were able to transition, over a short period of time, 63%many of our eligible associates to effectively working from remote locations. We ensured a safely-distanced working environment for associates performing customer-facing activities at branches and operations centers, closing branch lobbies as necessary. All associates are prohibited from working on-site when they, or a close family member, experience symptoms of a possible COVID-19 illness and generally used their paid time off to cover compensation during such absences. On an ongoing basis, we further promote the health and wellness of our associates by strongly encouraging work-life balance, offering flexible work schedules, keeping the associate portion of health care premiums to a minimum and sponsoring various wellness programs, whereby associates are encouraged to incorporate healthy habits into their daily routines.

In April 2020, we appointed our first Chief Diversity Officer, with a mandate to focus on workforce diversity, vendor/supplier diversity and cultivating more diverse leadership, among other vital issues. We sponsoredsponsor Share Your Voice “listening” roundtables for associates, with the assistance of outside experts. A Diversity Task Force was created to give associates more opportunity for input into relevant issues. We provided associates with access to information and assistance on topics ranging from diversity to wellness, parenting and other personal issues and concerns.

Associate retention helps us operate efficiently and achieve our business objectives. We provide competitive wages, annual bonuses, stock awards, a 401(k) Plan with an employer matching contribution in addition to a discretionary employer annual contribution, healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings, flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave and an employee assistance program. At December 31, 2020,2021, approximately 30%29% of our current staff had been with us for 10 years or more.

SUPERVISION AND REGULATION

The Company is a registered bank holding company under the Federal Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “Holding Company Act”), and is required to file with the Federal Reserve Board an annual report and such additional information as the Federal Reserve Board may require pursuant to the Holding Company Act. The Company has also elected financial holding company status under the Modernization Act, as further discussed below. The Company is subject to examination by the Federal Reserve Board.

Lakeland is a state chartered commercial bank subject to supervision and examination by the Department of Banking and Insurance of the State of New Jersey (the “Department”) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”). The regulations of the State of New Jersey and FDIC govern most aspects of Lakeland’s business, including reserves against deposits, loans, investments, mergers and acquisitions, borrowings, dividends, and location of branch offices. Lakeland is subject to certain restrictions imposed by law on, among other things, (i) the maximum amount of obligations of any one person or entity which may be outstanding at any one time, (ii) investments in stock or other securities of the Company or any subsidiary of the Company, and (iii) the taking of such stock or securities as collateral for loans to any borrower.

The Holding Company Act limits the activities which may be engaged in by the Company and its subsidiaries to those of banking, the ownership and acquisition of assets and securities of banking organizations, and the management of banking organizations, and to certain non-banking activities which the Federal Reserve Board finds, by order or regulation, to be so closely related to banking or managing or controlling a bank as to be a proper incident thereto.

With respect to non-banking activities, the Federal Reserve Board has by regulation determined that several non-banking activities are closely related to banking within the meaning of the Holding Company Act and thus may be performed by bank holding companies. The Company has also elected "financial holding company" status, which allows it to engage in a broader array of financial activities than a standard bank holding company. Although the Company’s management periodically reviews other avenues of business opportunities that are included in that regulation, the Company has no present plans to engage in any of these activities other than providing investment brokerage services.

With respect to the acquisition of banking organizations, the Company is required to obtain the prior approval of the Federal Reserve Board before it may, by merger, purchase or otherwise, directly or indirectly acquire all or substantially all of the assets of any bank or bank holding company, if, after such acquisition, it will own or control more than 5% of the voting shares of such bank or bank holding company.

There are various legal limitations, including Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act, which govern the extent to which a bank subsidiary may finance or otherwise supply funds to its holding company or its holding company’s non-bank subsidiaries. Under federal law, no bank subsidiary may, subject to certain limited exceptions, make loans or extensions of credit to, or investments in the securities of, its parent or the non-bank subsidiaries of its parent (other than direct subsidiaries of such bank which are not financial subsidiaries) or take their securities as collateral for loans to any borrower. Each bank subsidiary is also subject to collateral security requirements for any loans or extensions of credit permitted by such exceptions.

Federal law and Federal Reserve Board policy provides that a bank holding company is expected to act as a source of financial strength to its subsidiary banks and to commit resources to support such subsidiary banks in circumstances in which it might not do so absent such policy.

    The Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 permits bank holding companies to acquire banks in states other than their home state, regardless of applicable state law. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) removes the restrictions on interstate branching contained in the Riegle-Neal Act, and allows national banks and state banks to establish branches in any state if, under the laws of the state in which the branch is to be located, a state bank chartered by that state would be permitted to establish the branch.

Transactions between a bank and its “affiliates” are quantitatively and qualitatively restricted under the Federal Reserve Act. The Federal Deposit Insurance Act applies Sections 23A and 23B to insured nonmember banks in the same manner and to the same extent as if they were members of the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve Board has also issued Regulation W, which codifies prior regulations under Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act and interpretative guidance with respect to affiliate transactions. Affiliates of a bank include, among other entities, the bank’s holding company and companies that are under common control with the bank. The Company is considered to be an affiliate of Lakeland. In general, subject to certain specified exemptions, a bank or its subsidiaries are limited in their ability to engage in “covered transactions” with affiliates:

•    to an amount equal to 10% of the bank’s capital and surplus, in the case of covered transactions with any one affiliate; and

•    to an amount equal to 20% of the bank’s capital and surplus, in the case of covered transactions with all affiliates.

In addition, a bank and its subsidiaries may engage in covered transactions and other specified transactions only on terms and under circumstances that are substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the bank or its subsidiary, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with nonaffiliated companies. A “covered transaction” includes:

•    a loan or extension of credit to an affiliate;

•    a purchase of, or an investment in, securities issued by an affiliate;

•    a purchase of assets from an affiliate, with some exceptions;

•    the acceptance of securities issued by an affiliate as collateral for a loan or extension of credit to any party; and

•    the issuance of a guarantee, acceptance or letter of credit on behalf of an affiliate.

In addition, under Regulation W:

•    a bank and its subsidiaries may not purchase a low-quality asset from an affiliate;

•    covered transactions and other specified transactions between a bank or its subsidiaries and an affiliate must be on terms and conditions that are consistent with safe and sound banking practices; and

•    with some exceptions, each loan or extension of credit by a bank to an affiliate must be secured by certain types of collateral with a market value ranging from 100% to 130%, depending on the type of collateral, of the amount of the loan or extension of credit.

Regulation W generally excludes all non-bank and non-savings association subsidiaries of banks from treatment as affiliates, except to the extent that the Federal Reserve Board decides to treat these subsidiaries as affiliates or if the subsidiary is a "financial subsidiary" that engages in an activity that is not permitted for the bank directly.

Under the Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”), as implemented by FDIC regulations, a state bank has a continuing and affirmative obligation consistent with its safe and sound operation to help meet the credit needs of its entire community, including low and moderate income neighborhoods. The CRA does not establish specific lending requirements or programs for financial institutions nor does it limit an institution’s discretion to develop the types of products and services that it believes are best suited to its particular community. The CRA requires the FDIC, in connection with its examination of a state non-member bank, to assess the bank’s record of meeting the credit needs of its community and to take that record into account in its evaluation of certain applications by the bank. Under the FDIC’s CRA evaluation system, the FDIC focuses on three tests: (i) a lending test, to evaluate the institution’s record of making loans in its service areas; (ii) an investment test, to evaluate the institution’s record of investing in community development projects, affordable housing and programs benefiting low or moderate income individuals and businesses; and (iii) a service test, to evaluate the institution’s delivery of services through its branches, ATMs and other offices. Receipt of a "Needs to Improve" or "Substantial Noncompliance" ratings can, among other things, obstruct regulatory approval for new branches and mergers. The CRA requires all institutions to make public disclosure of their CRA ratings. Lakeland Bank received an “Outstanding” CRA rating in its most recent examination.

The earnings of the Company are and will be affected by domestic economic conditions and the monetary and fiscal policies of the United States government and its agencies. The monetary policies of the Federal Reserve Board have had, and will likely continue to have, an important impact on the operating results of commercial banks through the Board’s power to implement national monetary policy in order to, among other things, curb inflation or combat a recession. The Federal Reserve Board has a major effect upon the levels of bank loans, investments and deposits through its open market operations in United States government securities and through its regulation of, among other things, the discount rate of borrowings of banks and the reserve requirements against bank deposits. It is not possible to predict the nature and impact of future changes in monetary fiscal policies.

The Company is a legal entity separate and distinct from Lakeland. Virtually all of the revenue of the Company available for payment of dividends on its capital stock will result from amounts paid to the Company by Lakeland. All such dividends are subject to various limitations imposed by federal and state laws and by regulations and policies adopted by federal and state regulatory agencies. Under New Jersey state law, a bank may not pay dividends unless, following the dividend payment, the capital stock of the bank would be unimpaired and either (a) the bank will have a surplus of not less than 50% of its capital stock, or, if not, (b) the payment of the dividend will not reduce the surplus of the bank.

Pursuant to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA), each federal banking agency has promulgated regulations, specifying the levels at which a financial institution would be considered “well capitalized,” “adequately capitalized,” “undercapitalized,” “significantly undercapitalized,” or “critically undercapitalized,” and to take certain mandatory and discretionary supervisory actions based on the capital level of the institution. To qualify to engage in activities as a financial holding company under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, all depository institutions must be “well capitalized.” The financial holding company of a bank will be put under directives to raise its capital levels or divest its activities if the depository institution falls from that level.

In July 2013, the Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC and the Comptroller of the Currency adopted final rules establishing a new comprehensive capital framework for U.S. banking organizations (the “Basel Rules”). The Basel Rules implemented the Basel Committee’s December 2010 framework, commonly referred to as Basel III, for strengthening international capital standards as well as certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, as discussed below. The Basel Rules substantially revised the risk-based capital requirements applicable to bank holding companies and depository institutions, including the Company and Lakeland, compared to prior U.S. risk-based capital rules. The Basel Rules define the components of capital and address other issues affecting the numerator in banking institutions’ regulatory capital ratios. The Basel Rules also address risk weights and other issues affecting the denominator in banking institutions’ regulatory capital ratios and replace the existing risk-weighting approach, which was derived from Basel I capital accords of the Basel Committee, with a more risk-sensitive approach based, in part, on the standardized approach in the Basel Committee’s 2004 Basel II capital accords. The Basel Rules also implement the requirements of Section 939A of the Dodd-Frank Act to remove references to credit ratings from the federal banking agencies’ rules.

The Basel Rules became effective for us on January 1, 2015 (subject to phase-in periods for certain components).

For bank holding companies and banks like the Company and Lakeland, January 1, 2015 was the start date for compliance with the revised minimum regulatory capital ratios and for determining risk-weighted assets under what the Basel Rules call a “standardized approach.” As of January 1, 2015, the Company and Lakeland were required to maintain the following minimum capital ratios, expressed as a percentage of risk-weighted assets:

The purpose of the capital conservation buffer is to ensure that banking organizations conserve capital when it is needed most, allowing them to weather periods of economic stress. Banking institutions with a CET1, Tier 1 Capital Ratio and Total Capital Ratio above the minimum capital ratios but below the minimum capital ratios plus the capital conservation buffer will face constraints on their ability to pay dividends, repurchase equity and pay discretionary bonuses to executive officers, based on the amount of the shortfall.

The Basel Rules provide for several deductions from and adjustments to CET1, which were phased in as of January 1, 2018. For example, mortgage servicing rights and deferred tax assets dependent upon future taxable income were required to be deducted from CET1 to the extent that any one of those categories exceeds 10% of CET1 or all such categories in the aggregate exceeded 15% of CET1. However, subsequent regulatory amendments raised the limit on mortgage servicing rights and deferred tax assets to 25% of CETI and removed the aggregate limit.

Under prior capital standards, the effects of accumulated other comprehensive income items included in capital were excluded for the purposes of determining regulatory capital ratios. Under the Basel Rules, the effects of certain accumulated other comprehensive income items are not excluded; however, banking organizations such as the Company and Lakeland were permitted to make a one-time permanent election to continue to exclude these items effective as of January 1, 2015. Lakeland Bancorp and Lakeland Bank made such an election to continue to exclude these items.

While the Basel Rules generally require the phase-out of non-qualifying capital instruments such as trust preferred securities and cumulative perpetual preferred stock, holding companies with less than $15 billion in total consolidated assets as of December 31, 2009, such as the Company, were permitted to permanently include non-qualifying instruments that were issued and included in Tier 1 or Tier 2 capital prior to May 19, 2010 in Additional Tier 1 or Tier 2 capital until they redeem such instruments or until the instruments mature.

The Basel Rules prescribe a standardized approach for calculating risk-weighted assets that expands the risk-weighting categories from the previous four categories (0%, 20%, 50% and 100%) to a much larger and more risk-sensitive number of categories, depending on the nature of the assets, generally ranging from 0% for U.S. Government and agency securities, to 600% for certain equity exposures, and resulting in higher risk weights for a variety of asset categories. In addition, the Basel Rules provide more advantageous risk weights for derivatives and repurchase-style transactions cleared through a qualifying central counterparty and increase the scope of eligible guarantors and eligible collateral for purposes of credit risk mitigation.

Consistent with the Dodd-Frank Act, the Basel Rules adopt alternatives to credit ratings for calculating the risk-weighting for certain assets.

With respect to Lakeland, the Basel Rules revise the “prompt corrective action” regulations under Section 38 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act by (i) introducing a CET1 ratio requirement at each capital quality level (other than critically undercapitalized), with the required CET1 ratio being 6.5% for well-capitalized status (a new standard); (ii) increasing the minimum Tier 1 capital ratio requirement for each category, with the minimum Tier 1 capital ratio for well-capitalized status being 8% (increased from 6%); and (iii) requiring a leverage ratio of 5% to be well-capitalized (increased from the previously required leverage ratio of 3% or 4%). The Basel Rules do not change the total risk-based capital requirement for any “prompt corrective action” category.

Effective as of January 1, 2015, the FDIC’s regulations implementing these provisions of FDICIA provide that an institution will be classified as “well capitalized” if it (i) has a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 10.0 percent, (ii) has a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of at least 8.0 percent, (iii) has a CET1 ratio of at least 6.5 percent, (iv) has a Tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 5.0 percent, and (v) meets certain other requirements. An institution will be classified as “adequately capitalized” if it (i) has a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 8.0 percent, (ii) has a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of at least 6.0 percent, (iii) has a CET1 ratio of at least 4.5 percent, (iv) has a Tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 4.0 percent, and (v) does not meet the definition of “well capitalized.” An institution will be classified as “undercapitalized” if it (i) has a total risk-based capital ratio of less than 8.0 percent, (ii) has a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of less than 6.0 percent, (iii) has a CET1 ratio of less than 4.5 percent or (iv) has a Tier 1 leverage ratio of less than 4.0 percent. An institution will be classified as “significantly undercapitalized” if it (i) has a total risk-based capital ratio of less than 6.0 percent, (ii) has a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of less than 4.0 percent, (iii) has a CET1 ratio of less than 3.0 percent or (iv) has a Tier 1 leverage ratio of less than 3.0 percent. An institution will be classified as “critically undercapitalized” if it has a tangible equity to total assets ratio that is equal to or less than 2.0 percent. An insured depository institution may be deemed to be in a lower capitalization category if it receives an unsatisfactory examination rating.

As of December 31, 2020,2021, the Company and Lakeland met all capital requirements under the Basel Rules as then in effect, including the fully phased-in capital conservation buffer requirement. The Bank was classified as "well capitalized" on that date.

The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (“EGRRCPA”) was signed into law in May 2018. The EGRRCPA, among other matters, amended the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to require federal banking agencies to develop a specified Community Bank Leverage Ratio (the ratio of a bank's Tier 1 capital to its average total consolidated assets)

Lakeland’s deposits are insured up to applicable limits by the Deposit Insurance Fund (“DIF”) of the FDIC and are subject to deposit insurance assessments to maintain the DIF. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act, the basic federal deposit insurance limit was permanently increased to $250,000.

    In November 2010, the FDIC approved a rule to change the assessment base from adjusted domestic deposits to average consolidated total assets minus average tangible equity, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The FDIC’s rule also lowered the total base assessment rates, which are now established for banks of less than $10 billion of assets at 1.5 to 16 basis points for banks with the strongest composite examination rating, and 11 to 30 basis points for banks in the highest risk category with the weakest examination rating.

Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the FDIC has established 2.0% as the designated reserve ratio (“DRR”), that is, the ratio of the DIF to insured deposits. The FDIC adopted a plan under which the DIF will meet the statutory minimum DRR of 1.35% by September 30, 2020, the deadline imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Act required the FDIC to offset the effect on institutions with assets less than $10 billion of the increase in the statutory minimum DRR to 1.35% from the former statutory minimum of 1.15%. In March 2016, the FDIC adopted a rule that imposes a surcharge on the quarterly assessments of insured depository institutions with total consolidated assets of $10 billion or more. The surcharge equaled an annual rate of 4.5 basis points applied to the institution’s assessment base, with certain adjustments. When the DIF Reserve Ratio is at or above 1.38% in a given quarter, credits were applied to banks' assessment payments. The Company began receiving the Small Bank Assessment credit in the third quarter of 2019 and, as a result, made no FDIC assessment payments in the third and fourth quarter of 2019. Full payments to the FDIC resumed in the second quarter of 2020. The Company paid $2.3 million and $2.1 million in total FDIC assessments in 2021 and 2020, and $431,000 in 2019.respectively.

CARES Act

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and provided over $2.0 trillion in emergency economic relief to individuals and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized the Small Business Administration ("SBA")SBA to temporarily guarantee loans under a new 7(a) loan program called the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP"). As a qualified SBA lender, we were automatically authorized to originate PPP loans. An eligible business could apply for a PPP loan up to the lesser of (1) 2.5 times its average monthly payroll costs or (2) $10.0 million. PPP loans have (a) an interest rate of 1.00%, (b) a two-year loan term to maturity; and (c) principal and interest payments deferred for six months from the date of the disbursement. The SBA guarantees 100% of the PPP loans made to eligible borrowers. The entire principal amount of the borrower's PPP loan is eligible to be reduced by the loan forgiveness amount under the PPP so long as employee and compensation levels of the business are maintained and 75% of the loan proceeds are used for payroll expenses, with the remaining 25% of the loan proceeds used for other qualifying expenses.

In June 2020, Congress passed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act ("PPP Flexibility") to ease provisions of PPP related to the time period permitted to use the proceeds of loans, the deferral period of principal and interest payments on loans not forgiven and an extension of the maturity date of loan and loan forgiveness on loans. Key changes includeincluded (a) extending from two to five years the minimum maturity of any remaining loan balance after an application for loan forgiveness (for those loans closed after the enactment of PPP Flexibility); (b) extending the “covered period” (i.e., when costs that are eligible for forgiveness must be paid or incurred) from eight weeks to 24 weeks (or December 31, 2020, whichever is earlier); (c) reducing from 75 percent to 60 percent the amount of loan proceeds that must be used for payroll costs although the remainder must continue to be allocated to interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities; (d) permitting an exemption from reductions in loan forgiveness amounts based on reductions in full-time equivalent employees if the borrower, in good faith, documents an inability to return to the same level of business activity due to standards for sanitation, social distancing, or other worker or customer safety requirements established by the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), the Center for Disease Control ("CDC") or Occupational, Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA"); and (e) allowing deferral of payments until the amount of forgiveness is remitted by the SBA to the lender or, if the borrower has not applied for forgiveness, ten months after the expiration of the covered period. The provisions of PPP Flexibility became effective upon enactment and will apply to all loans made under the PPP. The SBA released guidance on PPP loan forgiveness, which presently includes three

Section 4013 of the CARES Act, as interpreted by the "Interagency Statement on Loan Modifications and Reporting for Financial Institutions Working With Customers Affected by the Coronavirus (Revised)" (the “Revised Statement”), dated April 17, 2020, includes criteria that enable financial institutions to exclude from TDR status loans that are modified in connection with COVID-19. Under these provisions, TDR status is not required for the term of a loan modification if (i) the loan modification is made in connection with COVID-19, (ii) the loan was not past due more than 30 days as of December 31, 2019 and (iii) the loan modification is entered into during the period between March 1, 2020, and the earlier of (a) 60 days after COVID-19 is no longer characterized as a National Emergency or (b) December 31, 2020. Furthermore, pursuant to the Revised Statement, for loan modifications that do not meet these criteria but are made in connection with COVID-19, such loans may be presumed not to be TDR if they are current at a time the loan modification program was implemented and the modifications are short-term (e.g., six months). If the criteria are not met under either Section 4013 or the Revised Statement, banks are required to follow their existing accounting policies to determine whether COVID-related modifications should be accounted for as a TDR. The Company has elected to suspend the classification of loan modifications as TDR if they qualify under Section 4013 or the Revised Statement.

The CARES Act also provided financial institutions with the option to defer adoption of the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Accounting Standard Update ("ASU") 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses: Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (Topic 326) ("ASU 2016-13") until the earlier of the end of the national emergency or December 31, 2020. The CARES Act also required the federal banking agencies to temporarily lower the Community Bank Leverage Ratio from 9% of average total consolidated assets to 8% for the remainder of 2020. The ratio rose to 8.5% for calendar year 2021 and will revert to 9% thereafter.

On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the "CAA") was signed into law. In addition to providing funding for normal government operations, this bill provides for additional COVID-19 relief. The CAA extendsextended certain provisions of the CARES Act, providesprovided additional funding for others and containscontained new relief provisions. CAA eliminateseliminated the reduction PPP forgiveness by EIDL received and extendsextended loan modification deadline to the end of the National Emergency or December 31, 2021. CAA further extended the option to delay ASU 2016-13 implementation until January 1, 2022; however, the Company has adopted this standard as of December 31, 2020, and has applied it retroactively to January 1, 2020. The Company has elected to suspend the classification of loan modifications as TDR if they qualify under all applicable guidance.

Under the Change in Bank Control Act, no person (including a company or other business entity) may acquire “control” of a bank or bank holding company, unless the appropriate federal agency has been given 60 days’ prior written notice and has not issued a notice disapproving the proposed acquisition. The agency takes into consideration certain factors, including the competence, experience, integrity and financial resources of the acquirer and the competitive effects of the acquisition. Control, as defined under federal law, means ownership, control of or holding irrevocable proxies representing more than 25% of any class of voting stock, control in any manner of the election of a majority of the institution’s directors, or a determination by the regulator that the acquirer has the power, directly or indirectly, to exercise a controlling influence over the management or policies of the institution. There is a presumption of control upon the acquisition of 10% or more of a class of voting stock under certain circumstances, such as where the company involved has its shares registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Any “company”, as defined in the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, would be required to receive the prior approval of the Federal Reserve Board to acquire “control” of the company or Bank,bank, as defined in that statute and Federal Reserve Board regulations, and would then be regulated as a bank holding company.

New Jersey law specifies similar prior approval requirements by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance for acquisitions of New Jersey banks or holding companies.

Proposed Legislation

From time to time proposals are made in the United States Congress, the New Jersey Legislature, and before various bank regulatory authorities, which would alter the powers of, and place restrictions on, different types of banking organizations. It is impossible to predict the impact, if any, of potential legislative trends on the business of the Company and its subsidiaries.

Our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows can be affected by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, those set forth below, any one of which could cause our actual results to vary materially from recent results or from our anticipated future results.

Our allowance for credit losses on loans may not be adequate to cover actual losses.

Like all commercial banks, Lakeland Bank maintains an allowance for credit losses on loans to provide for loan defaults and non-performance. If our allowance for credit losses on loans is not adequate to cover actual loan losses, we may be required to significantly increase future provisions for credit losses on loans, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results. The Company adopted ASU 2016-13, pertaining to the measurement of credit losses on financial instruments ("CECL"), on December 31, 2020, effective January 1, 2020. This update requires the measurement of all expected credit losses for financial instruments held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Financial institutions, such as Lakeland, and other organizations will now use forward-looking information to better inform their credit loss estimates.

Our CECL methodology includes the following key factors and assumptions for all loan portfolio segments: a) the calculation of a baseline lifetime loss by applying a segment-specific historical average annual loss rate, calculated using an open pool method, applied over the remaining life of each instrument; b) a single set of economic forecast inputs for the reasonable and supportable period; c) a reasonable and supportable forecast period, which reflects management's expectations of losses based on forward-looking economic scenarios over that time; d) baseline lifetime loss rates adjusted for changes in macroeconomic conditions over the reasonable and supportable forecast period via a series of adjustment factors developed using a third-party developed and supported top-down statistical model suite that uses a set of relevant economic forecast inputs sourced from a leading global forecasting firm; e) a reversion period (after the reasonable and supportable forecast period) using a straight-line approach; f) a historical loss period which represents a full economic credit cycle (with the exception of equipment finance loans which uses a shorter time period due to circumstances unique to that segment); and g) expected prepayment rates estimated on more recent historical experience adjusted for refinance incentive, seasoning and burnout, as applicable. The amount of future losses is affected by changes in economic, operating and other conditions, including changes in interest rates, many of which are beyond our control. These losses may exceed our current estimates. The Company also

considers five standard qualitative general reserve factors ("qualitative adjustments"): nature and volume of loans, lending management, policy and procedures, independent review and changes in environment. Qualitative adjustments are designed to address risks that are not captured in the quantitative reserves (“quantitative reserve”). Other qualitative adjustments or model overlays may also be recorded based on expert credit judgment in circumstances where, in the Company’s view, the standard qualitative reserve factors do not capture all relevant risk factors. Federal regulatory agencies, as an integral part of their examination process, review our loans and the corresponding allowance for credit losses. While we believe that our allowance for credit losses on loans in relation to our current loan portfolio is adequate to cover current and expected losses, we cannot assure you that we will not need to increase our allowance for credit losses on loans or that the regulators will not require us to increase this allowance. Future increases in our allowance for credit losses on loans could materially and adversely affect our earnings and profitability.

Under the CECL model, we are required to present certain financial assets carried at amortized cost, such as loans held for investment and held-to-maturity debt securities, at the net amount expected to be collected. This differs significantly from the "incurred loss" model required under previous GAAP, which delaysdelayed recognition until it iswas probable a loss hashad been incurred. Accordingly, the adoption of the CECL model significantly affectsaffected how we determinedetermined our allowance for credit losses on loans and may create more volatility in the level of our allowance for credit losses on loans.losses.

Any future quarterly changes to our allowance will depend on the current state of the economy, forecasted macroeconomic conditions, the composition and performance of our loan portfolio at the time and other factors captured through qualitative adjustments, including idiosyncratic factors.

The concentration of our commercial real estate loan portfolio may subject us to increased regulatory analysis, or otherwise adversely affect our business and operating results.

The FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the OCC have promulgated joint guidance on sound risk management practices for financial institutions with concentrations in commercial real estate (CRE) lending. The 2006 interagency guidance did not establish specific CRE lending limits or caps; rather, the guidance set forth supervisory criteria to serve as levels of bank CRE concentration above which certain financial institutions may be identified for further supervisory analysis. According to the guidelines, institutions could be subject to further analysis if (i) their loans for construction, land, and land development (CLD) represent 100% or more of the institution's total risk-based capital, or (ii) their total non-owner occupied CRE loans (including

The Bank’s total reported CLD loans represented 36%35% of total risk-based capital at December 31, 2020.2021. The Bank’s total reported CRE loans to total capital was 463%423% at December 31, 2020,2021, while the Bank’s CRE portfolio has increased by 52%40% over the preceding 36 months. The growth rate of the preceding 36 months included the acquisition of Highlands State Bank.

The Bank’s CRE portfolio is segmented and spread among various property types including retail, office, multi-family, mixed use, industrial, hospitality, healthcare, special use and residential and commercial construction. Management regularly reviews and evaluates its CRE portfolio, including concentrations within the various property types based on current market conditions and risk appetite as well as by utilizing stress testing on material exposures and believes its underwriting practices are sound.

There is no assurance that in the future we will not exceed the levels set forth in the guidelines. Furthermore, the concentration of our commercial real estate portfolio could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results, including our overall profitability, and/or adversely impact the growth of our business, including the growth and composition of our overall loan portfolio.

Our mortgage banking operations expose us to risks that are different than the risks associated with our retail banking operations.

The Bank’s mortgage banking operations are dependent upon the level of demand for residential mortgages. During higher and rising interest rate environments, the level of refinancing activity tends to decline, which can lead to reduced volumes of business and lower revenues that may not exceed our fixed costs to run the business. In addition, mortgages sold to third-party investors are typically subject to certain repurchase provisions related to borrower refinancing, defaults, fraud or other reasons stipulated in the applicable third-party investor agreements. If the fair value of a loan when repurchased is less than the fair value when sold, a bank may be required to charge such shortfall to earnings.

In addition, the “ability to repay” and “Qualified Mortgage” rules promulgated as required by the Dodd-Frank Act (as amended or supplemented to date, including by the EGRRCPA (see "Item 1. Business - Supervision and Regulation - Capital Requirements" above), may expose the Company to greater losses, reduced volume and litigation related expenses and delays in taking title to collateral real estate, if these loans do not perform and borrowers challenge whether the rules were satisfied when originating the loans.

We are subject to various lending and other economic risks that could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Economic, political and market conditions, trends in industry and finance, legislative and regulatory changes, changes in governmental monetary and fiscal policies and inflation affect our business. These factors are beyond our control. A deterioration in economic conditions, particularly in the markets we lend in, could have the following consequences, any of which could materially adversely affect our business:

Deterioration in the real estate market, particularly in New Jersey and the metropolitan New York area, could adversely affect our business. A decline in real estate values in New Jersey and the metropolitan New York area would reduce our ability to recover on defaulted loans by selling the underlying real estate, which would increase the possibility that we may suffer losses on defaulted loans.

We may suffer losses in our loan portfolio despite our underwriting practices.

We are subject to interest rate risk and variations in interest rates that may negatively affect our financial performance.

We are unable to predict actual fluctuations of market interest rates. Rate fluctuations are influenced by many factors, including:

Both increases and decreases in the interest rate environment may reduce our profits. We expect that we will continue to realize income from the difference or “spread” between the interest we earn on loans, securities and other interest-earning assets and the interest we pay on deposits, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities. Our net interest spreads are affected by the differences between the maturities and repricing characteristics of our interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. Our interest-earning assets may not reprice as slowly or rapidly as our interest-bearing liabilities. Changes in market interest rates could materially and adversely affect our net interest spread, asset quality, levels of prepayments, cash flows, market value of our securities portfolio, loan and deposit growth, costs and yields on loans and deposits and our overall profitability. Competition for our deposits can increase significantly as a result of the interest rate environment.

A decrease in our ability to borrow funds could adversely affect our liquidity.

Our ability to obtain funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank ("FHLB") or through our overnight federal funds lines with other banks could be negatively affected if we experienced a substantial deterioration in our financial condition or if such funding became restricted due to deterioration in the financial markets. While we have a contingency funds management plan to address such a situation if it were to occur (such plan includes deposit promotions, the sale of securities and the curtailment of loan growth, if necessary), a significant decrease in our ability to borrow funds could adversely affect our liquidity.

Public funds deposits are an important source of funds for us and a reduced level of those deposits may hurt our profits.profits and liquidity.

Public funds deposits are a significant source of funds for our lending and investment activities. The Company’s public funds deposits consist of deposits from local government entities, domiciled in the state of New Jersey, such as school districts, counties and other municipalities, and are collateralized by letters of credit from the FHLB and investment securities. Given our use of these high-average balance public funds deposits as a source of funds, our inability to retain such funds could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey has proposed the creation of a state-owned bank which would accept public revenues to be invested in New Jersey. A bill was introduced in the New Jersey legislature in January 2018 that calls for the establishment of such a state-run bank. The legislation remains pending, and while no assurance can be provided that such a bank will be created, to the extent that a state-run bank is established and accepts public revenues, the amount of the Company’s public funds deposits could be reduced, which could adversely affect our liquidity.

Further, our public funds deposits are primarily demand deposit accounts or short-term time deposits and are therefore more sensitive to interest rate risks. If we are forced to pay higher rates on our public funds accounts to retain those funds, or if we are unable to retain such funds and we are forced to resort to other sources of funds for our lending and investment activities, such as borrowings from the FHLB, the interest expense associated with these other funding sources may be higher than the rates we are currently paying on our public funds deposits, which would adversely affect our net income.

The transition from LIBOR as a reference rate may adversely impact our net income.

    Regulators, industry groups and certain committees (e.g., the Alternative Reference Rates Committee) have, among other things, published recommended fall-back language for LIBOR-linked financial instruments, identified recommended alternatives for certain LIBOR rates (e.g., the Secured Overnight Financing Rate as the recommended alternative to U.S. Dollar LIBOR), and proposed implementations of the recommended alternatives in floating rate instruments. At this time, it is not possible to predict whether these specific recommendations and proposals will be broadly accepted, whether they will continue to evolve, and what the effect of their implementation may be on the markets for floating-rate financial instruments.

    We have a significant number of loans, derivative contracts, borrowings and other financial instruments with attributes that are either directly or indirectly dependent on LIBOR. The transition from LIBOR could create considerable costs and additional risk. Since proposed alternative rates are calculated differently, payments under contracts referencing new rates will differ from those referencing LIBOR. The transition will 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.

As of December 31, 2020,2021, the Company had approximately $855.7$1.59 billion in its investment portfolio, with $770.0 million and $90.8 million indesignated as available for sale and $825.0 million designated as held to maturity investment securities, respectively.maturity. For securities available for sale, ASU 2016-13 requires entities to determine if impairment is related to credit loss or non-credit loss. If an assessment of the security indicates that a credit loss exists, the present value of cash flows expected to be collected from the security are compared to the amortized cost basis of the security, and if the present value of cash flows is less than the amortized cost basis, a credit loss exists and an allowance is created, limited by the amount that the fair value is less than the amortized cost basis. Held to maturity securities are evaluated under the allowance for credit losses model. Held to maturity securities are charged off against the allowance when deemed to be uncollectible and adjustments to the allowance are reported as a component of credit loss expense. If the credit loss expense is significant enough it could affect the ability of Lakeland to upstream dividends to the

Company, which could have a material

The occurrence of any failure, breach, or interruption in service involving our systems or those of our service providers could damage our reputation, cause losses, increase our expenses, and result in a loss of customers, an increase in regulatory scrutiny, or expose us to civil litigation and possibly financial liability, any of which could adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations and the market price of our stock.

    In the ordinary course of business, we rely on electronic communications and information systems to conduct our operations and to store sensitive data. Any failure, interruption or breach in security of these systems could result in significant disruption to our operations. Information security breaches and cybersecurity-related incidents may include, but are not limited to, attempts to access information, including customer and company information, malicious code, computer viruses and denial of service attacks that could result in unauthorized access, misuse, loss or destruction of data (including confidential customer information), account takeovers, unavailability of service or other events. These types of threats may derive from human error, fraud or malice on the part of external or internal parties, or may result from accidental technological failure. Further, to access our products and services our customers may use computers and mobile devices that are beyond our security control systems. Our technologies, systems, networks and software, and those of other financial institutions have been, and are likely to continue to be, the target of cybersecurity threats and attacks, which may range from uncoordinated individual attempts to sophisticated and targeted measures directed at us. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyber attack or cyber intrusion, has increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased.

Our business requires the collection and retention of large volumes of customer data, including personally identifiable information in various information systems that we maintain and in those maintained by third parties with whom we contract to provide data services. We also maintain important internal company data such as personally identifiable information about our employees and information relating to our operations. The integrity and protection of that customer and company data is important to our business and our reputation. Our collection of such customer and company data is subject to extensive regulation and oversight.

Our customers and employees have been, and will continue to be, targeted by parties using fraudulent e-mails and other communications in attempts to misappropriate passwords, bank account information or other personal information or to introduce viruses or other malware through “Trojan horse” programs to our information systems and/or our customers' computers. Though we endeavor to mitigate these threats through product improvements, use of encryption and authentication technology and customer and employee education, such cyber attacks against us, our merchants and our third party service providers remain a serious issue. The pervasiveness of cybersecurity incidents in general and the risks of cyber crime are complex and continue to evolve. More generally, 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.

Although we make significant efforts to maintain the security and integrity of our information systems and have implemented various measures to manage the risk of a security breach or disruption, there can be no assurance that our security efforts and measures will be effective or that attempted security breaches or disruptions would not be successful or damaging. Even the most well protected information, networks, systems and facilities remain potentially vulnerable because attempted security breaches, particularly cyber attacks and intrusions, or disruptions will occur in the future, and because the techniques used in such attempts are constantly evolving and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, and in some cases are designed not to be detected and, in fact, may not be detected. Accordingly, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate security barriers or other preventative measures, and thus it is virtually impossible for us to entirely mitigate this risk. While we maintain specific “cyber” insurance coverage, which would apply in the event of various breach scenarios, the amount of coverage may not be adequate in any particular case. Furthermore, because cyber threat scenarios are inherently difficult to predict and can take many forms, some breaches may not be covered under our cyber insurance coverage. A security breach or other significant disruption of our information systems or those related to our customers, merchants and our third party vendors, including as a result of cyber attacks, could (i) disrupt the proper functioning of our networks and systems and therefore our operations and/or those of certain of our customers; (ii) result in the unauthorized access to, and destruction, loss, theft, misappropriation or release of confidential, sensitive or otherwise valuable information of ours or our customers; (iii) result in a violation of applicable privacy, data breach and other laws, subjecting us to additional regulatory scrutiny and expose us to civil litigation, governmental fines and possible financial liability; (iv) require significant management attention and resources to remedy the damages that result; or (v) harm our reputation or cause a decrease in the number of customers that choose to do business with us. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The inability to stay current with technological change could adversely affect our business model.

Financial institutions continually are required to maintain and upgrade technology in order to provide the most current products and services to their customers, as well as create operational efficiencies. This technology requires personnel resources, as well as significant costs to implement. Failure to successfully implement technological change could adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

The Company embarked on a digital strategy initiative in 2019, which impacts all operational areas of the Bank. There are no guarantees that enhancing the Company's digital capabilities will expand Lakeland's market presence as a community bank or result in an ability to better compete long-term in a fast-paced digital marketplace. In addition, the cost of implementation and the anticipated increase in revenue may not occur as expected.

Our operations rely on certain third party vendors.

We rely on certain external vendors to provide products and services necessary to maintain our day-to-day operations. These third party vendors are sources of operational and informational security risk to us, including risks associated with operational errors, information system interruptions or breaches and unauthorized disclosures of sensitive or confidential client or customer information. If these vendors encounter any of these issues, or if we have difficulty communicating with them, we could be exposed to disruption of operations, loss of service or connectivity to customers, reputational damage, and litigation risk that could have a material adverse effect on our business and, in turn, our financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, our operations are exposed to risk that these vendors will not perform in accordance with the contracted arrangements under service level agreements. While we have selected these external vendors carefully, we do not control their actions. The failure of an external vendor to perform in accordance with the contracted arrangements under service level agreements, because of changes in the vendor’s organizational structure, financial condition, support for existing products and services or strategic focus or for any other reason, could be disruptive to our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and, in turn, our financial condition and results of operations. Replacing these external vendors could also entail significant delay and expense.

More stringent capital requirements have been imposed on bank holding companies such as Lakeland Bancorp by, among other things, imposing leverage ratios on bank holding companies and prohibiting new trust preferred issuances from counting as Tier I capital. These restrictions limit our future capital strategies. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, our currently outstanding trust preferred securities will continue to count as Tier I capital, but we will be unable to issue replacement or additional trust preferred securities which would count as Tier I capital.

As further described above under “Item 1. Business-Supervision and Regulation-Capital Requirements,” banks and bank holding companies are required to maintain a capital conservation buffer on top of minimum risk-weighted asset ratios. The capital conservation buffer was fully phased in on January 1, 2019. In September 2019, the regulatory agencies adopted a final rule, effective January 1, 2020, creating a Community Bank Leverage Ratio framework for institutions with total consolidated assets of less than $10 billion and that meet other qualifying criteria. The Community Bank Leverage Ratio Framework provides for a simpler measure of capital adequacy for qualifying institutions. Qualifying institutions that elect to use the Community Bank Leverage Ratio framework and that maintain a leverage ratio of greater than 9% will be considered to have satisfied the generally applicable risk-based and leverage capital requirements in the regulatory agencies' capital rules and to have met the well-capitalized ratio requirements. In 2020, the CARES Act required the federal banking agencies to temporarily lower the Community Bank Leverage Ratio from 9% of average total consolidated assets to 8% for the remainder of 2020. The ratio rose to 8.5% for calendar year 2021 and will revert to 9% thereafter. Management did not elect to use the Community Bank Leverage Ratio framework for the Company or the Bank.

Banking institutions which do not maintain capital in excess of the Basel Rule standards including the capital conservation buffer face constraints on the payment of dividends, equity repurchases and compensation based on the amount of the shortfall. Accordingly, if the Bank fails to maintain the applicable minimum capital ratios and the capital conservation buffer, distributions to Lakeland Bancorp may be prohibited or limited.

Future increases in minimum capital requirements could adversely affect our net income. Furthermore, our failure to comply with the minimum capital requirements could result in our regulators taking formal or informal actions against us which could restrict our future growth or operations.

The United States Congress and federal regulatory agencies continually review banking laws, regulations and policies for possible changes. Changes to statutes, regulations or regulatory policies, including changes in interpretation or implementation of statutes, regulations or policies, could affect us in substantial and unpredictable ways. Such changes could subject us to additional costs, limit the types of financial services and products we may offer and/or increase the ability of non-banks to offer competing financial services and products, among other things. Failure to comply with laws, regulations or policies could result in sanctions by regulatory agencies, civil money penalties and/or reputational damage, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Lakeland’s ability to pay dividends is subject to regulatory limitations which, to the extent that our holding company requires such dividends in the future, may affect our holding company’s ability to pay its obligations and pay dividends to shareholders.

As a bank holding company, the Company is a separate legal entity from Lakeland Bank and its subsidiaries, and we do not have significant operations of our own. We currently depend on Lakeland Bank’s cash and liquidity to pay our operating expenses and dividends to shareholders. The availability of dividends from Lakeland Bank is limited by various statutes and regulations. The inability of the Company to receive dividends from Lakeland Bank could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and prospects and the Company’s ability to pay dividends.

In addition, as described under “Item 1. Business-Supervision and Regulation-Capital Requirements,” as a general matter, banks and bank holding companies are required to maintain a capital conservation buffer on top of minimum risk-weighted asset ratios. Banking institutions which do not maintain capital in excess of the capital conservation buffer will face constraints on the payment of dividends, equity repurchases and compensation based on the amount of the shortfall. Accordingly, if Lakeland Bank fails to maintain the applicable minimum capital ratios and the capital conservation buffer, distributions to Lakeland Bancorp may be prohibited or limited.

The effect of future tax reform is uncertain and may adversely affect our business.

    State and federal legislation for tax reform may increase our overall tax expense and negatively impact certain balance sheet and tax provisions taken by the Company.

The current national administration has indicated that tax reform, increasing the federal corporate tax rate, is a possibility. Such an increase would increase the Company's income tax expense as a percent of its taxable income. Other tax reform could adversely impact the property values of real estate used to secure loans or may create an additional tax burden for many borrowers, particularly in high tax jurisdictions such as the Statestates of New Jersey and New York where the Company operates. These and other federal and state tax changes could significantly impact the financial health of our customers, potentially resulting, in among other things, an inability to repay loans or maintain deposits at the Bank. Any negative financial impact to our customers resulting from tax reform could adversely impact our financial condition and earnings.

In addition, in September 2020, the State of New Jersey enacted further changes in tax law, that were retroactive to the beginning of 2020, which extended a temporary surcharge of 2.5% on corporations earning New Jersey allocated income in excess of $1.0 million through 2023. In 2024, the New Jersey tax rate is scheduled to revert back to no surcharge.

    The ultimate impact of any tax reform on our business, customers and shareholders, whether federal or state, is uncertain and could be adverse.

Severe weather, acts of terrorism, geopolitical and other external events could impact our ability to conduct business.

The outbreak of COVID-19 could continue to materially, adversely affect our business operations, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has materially, adversely impacted supply chains and certain industries in which our customers operate and could materially impair their ability to fulfill their obligations to us. Further, the spreadadditional outbreaks of COVID-19 outbreakvariants could lead to an economic recession or other severe disruptions in the U.S. economy and may disrupt banking and other financial activity in the areas in which we operate and could potentially create widespread business continuity issues for us.

Our business is dependent upon the willingness and ability of our employees and customers to conduct banking and other financial transactions. The spread of the highly infectious COVID-19 caused severe disruptions in the U.S. economy at large, and for small businesses in particular, which disrupted our operations and if the global response to contain COVID-19 with the introduction of a vaccine is unsuccessful, we could experience additional or material, adverse effects on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.operations. COVID-19 resulted in a decrease in our customers’ businesses, a decrease in consumer confidence and business generally and a disruption in the services provided by our vendors. Continued disruptions to our customers could result in increased risk of delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures and losses on our loans, declines in wealth management revenues, negatively impact regional economic conditions, result in declines in local loan demand, liquidity of loan guarantors, loan collateral (particularly in real estate), loan originations and deposit availability and negatively impact the implementation of our growth strategy. Furthermore, COVID-19 could negatively impact the ability of our employees and customers to engage in banking and other financial transactions in the geographic areas in which we operate and could create widespread business continuity issues for us. We also could be adversely affected if key personnel or a significant number of employees were to become unavailable due to the effects of COVID-19 and the additional restrictions imposed to contain 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.

Moreover, we rely on many third parties in our business operations, including the appraisers of the real property collateral, vendors that supply essential services such as loan servicers, providers of financial information, systems and analytical tools and providers of electronic payment and settlement systems, and local and federal government agencies, offices, and courthouses. In light of the extent of the measures taken in responding to a continuing pandemic, many of these entities may limit the availability and access of their services. For example, loan origination could be delayed due to the limited availability of real estate appraisers for the collateral. Loan closings could be delayed related to reductions in available staff in recording offices or the closing of courthouses in certain counties, which slows the process for title work, mortgage and UCC

filings in those counties. If the third-party service providers continue to have limited capacities for a prolonged period or if additional limitations or potential disruptions in these services materialize, it may negatively affect our operations.

Further, the COVID-19 outbreak created increased operational challenges, as we worked to respond to customers' urgent needs. During the period from April 2020 through August 2020, when the initial program ended,and 2021, we processed more than 2,0003,300 applications for PPP loans in excess of $475.7 million, which resulted in significant demands and pressures on our operations. In January 2021, the Company began accepting PPP applications for PPP First Draw Loans to first-time borrowers in addition to PPP Second Draw Loans for previous PPP borrowers under CAA approved on December 27, 2020. We will continue to face increased operational demands and pressures as we process applications for loan forgiveness, monitor and service our book of PPP loans process applications for loan forgiveness and pursue recourse under the SBA guarantees and against borrowers for any PPP loan defaults.

An outbreak of any other epidemic, pandemic or outbreak of a highly contagious disease, occurring in the United States or in the geographies in which we conduct operations could materially adversely affect our business operations, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

An outbreak of other highly infectious or contagious diseases, could have a materially adverse impact on certain industries in which our customers operate and could materially impair their ability to fulfill their obligations to us. Further, the spread of such an outbreak, could lead to an economic recession or other severe disruptions in the U.S. economy and may disrupt banking and other financial activity in the areas in which we operate and could potentially create widespread business continuity issues for us.

Our business is dependent upon the willingness and ability of our employees and customers to conduct banking and other financial transactions. The spread of highly infectious or contagious diseases could cause severe disruptions in the U.S. economy at large, and for small businesses in particular, which could disrupt our operations and if the global response to contain the outbreak is unsuccessful, we could experience a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. An outbreak of other highly infectious or contagious diseases may result in a decrease in our customers’ businesses, a decrease in consumer confidence and business generally or a disruption in the services provided by our vendors. Disruptions to our customers could result in increased risk of delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures and losses on our loans, declines in wealth management revenues, negatively impact regional economic conditions, result in declines in local loan demand, liquidity of loan guarantors, loan collateral (particularly in real estate), loan originations and deposit availability and negatively impact the implementation of our growth strategy. Furthermore, such an outbreak could negatively impact the ability of our employees and customers to engage in banking and other financial transactions in the geographic areas in which we

Moreover, we rely on many third parties in our business operations, including the appraisers of the real property collateral, vendors that supply essential services such as loan servicers, providers of financial information, systems and analytical tools and providers of electronic payment and settlement systems, and local and federal government agencies, offices, and courthouses. In light of developing measures responding to an outbreak or pandemic, many of these entities may limit the availability and access of their services. For example, loan origination could be delayed due to the limited availability of real estate appraisers for the collateral. Loan closings could be delayed related to reductions in available staff in recording offices or the closing of courthouses in certain counties, which slows the process for title work, mortgage and UCC filings in those counties. If the third-party service providers continue to have limited capacities for a prolonged period or if additional limitations or potential disruptions in these services materialize, it may negatively affect our operations.

We face intense competition from other financial services and financial services technology companies, and competitive pressures could adversely affect our business or financial performance.

The Company faces intense competition in its markets and geographic region. The Company expects competitive pressures to intensify in the future, especially in light of legislative and regulatory initiatives arising out of the recent global economic crisis, technological innovations that alter the barriers to entry, current economic and market conditions, and government monetary and fiscal policies. Competition with financial services technology companies, or technology companies partnering with financial services companies, may be particularly intense, due to, among other things, differing regulatory environments. Competitive pressures may drive the Company to take actions that the Company might otherwise eschew, such as lowering the interest rates or fees on loans or raising the interest rates on deposits in order to keep or attract high-quality customers. These pressures also may accelerate actions that the Company might otherwise elect to defer, such as substantial investments in technology or infrastructure. Whatever the reason, actions that the Company takes in response to competition may adversely affect its results of operations and financial condition. These consequences could be exacerbated if the Company is not successful in introducing new products and other services, achieving market acceptance of its products and other services, developing and maintaining a strong customer base, or prudently managing expenses.

The Company is required by regulatory authorities to maintain adequate levels of capital to support its operations. The Company anticipates that current capital levels will satisfy regulatory requirements for the foreseeable future. The Company, however, may at some point choose to raise additional capital to support its continued growth. The Company’s ability to raise additional capital will depend, in part, on conditions in the capital markets at that time, which are outside of the Company’s control. Accordingly, the Company may be unable to raise additional capital, if and when needed, on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all. If the Company cannot raise additional capital when needed, its ability to further expand operations through internal growth and acquisitions could be materially impacted. In the event of a material decrease in the Company’s stock price, future issuances of equity securities could result in dilution of existing shareholder interests.

The Company may incur impairment to goodwill.

 We could be adversely affected by failure in our internal controls.

We continue to devote a significant amount of effort, time and resources to continually strengthen our controls and ensure compliance with complex accounting standards and banking regulations. A failure in our internal controls could have a significant negative impact not only on our earnings, but also on the perception that customers, regulators and investors may have of us.

Our risk management strategies may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposures in all market environments or against all types of risk.

We have devoted significant resources to develop our risk management policies and procedures and expect to continue to do so in the future. Nonetheless, our risk management strategies may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk, including risks that are unidentified or unanticipated. As our products and services change and grow and the markets in which we operate evolve, our risk management strategies may not always adapt to those changes. Some of our methods of managing risk are based upon our use of observed historical market behavior and management’s judgment. As a result, these methods may not predict future risk exposures, which could be significantly greater than the historical measures indicate. Management of market, credit, liquidity, operational, legal, regulatory and compliance risks requires, among other things, policies and procedures to record properly and verify a large number of transactions and events and these policies and procedures may not be fully effective. While we employ a broad and diversified set of risk monitoring and risk mitigation techniques, those techniques and the judgments that accompany their application cannot anticipate every economic and financial outcome or the timing of such outcomes. Any of these circumstances could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The inability to attract and retain key personnel could adversely affect our Company’s business.

The success of the Company depends partially on the ability to attract and retain a high level of experienced personnel. The inability to attract and retain key employees, as well as find suitable replacements, if necessary, could adversely affect the Company’s customer relationships and internal operations.

The accuracy of our financial statements and related disclosures could be affected if the judgments, assumptions or estimates used in our critical accounting policies are inaccurate.

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosure in conformity with GAAP requires us to make judgments, assumptions and estimates that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Item 7 of this report captioned “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” describes our significant accounting policy and methods used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements that we consider “critical” because they require judgments, assumptions and estimates that materially affect our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. As a result, if future events differ significantly from the judgments, assumptions and estimates in our critical accounting policy, those events or assumptions could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

If we do not successfully integrate any banks that we have acquired and may acquire in the future, the combined company may be adversely affected.

IfThe Company has grown through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. Since 1998, we make acquisitionshave acquired nine community banks, including our most recent acquisition of 1st Constitution Bank and its parent, 1st Constitution Bancorp, which was completed on January 6, 2022. All of the acquired banks have been merged into Lakeland and the acquired holding companies, if applicable, have been merged into the Company.

Acquisitions involve a number of risks and challenges, including integrating the branches and operations acquired, and the associated internal controls and regulatory functions, into our operations; limiting the outflow of deposits held by new customers and successfully retaining and managing acquired loans; attracting new deposits and generating new interest-earning assets in geographic areas not previously served; and retaining key employees. Additionally, no assurance can be given that the operation of acquired branches would not adversely affect our existing profitability; that we would be able to achieve results in the future we will needsimilar to integrate the acquired entities intothose achieved by our existing business and systems. We may experience difficulties in accomplishing this integration or in effectively managing the combined company after any future acquisition. Any actual cost savings or revenue enhancementsbanking business; that we may anticipate from a future acquisition will depend on future expense levels and operating results, the timing of certain events and general industry, regulatory and business conditions. Many of these events willwould be beyond our control, and we cannot assure you that if we make any acquisitionsable to compete effectively in the future,market areas served by acquired branches; or that we willwould be successfulable to manage growth resulting from the transaction effectively. We face the additional risks that the anticipated benefits of the acquisition may not be realized fully or at all, or within the time period expected, and that integration may result in integrating those businesses intounforeseen expenses and divert management’s attention and resources. These integration risks could have an adverse effect on the Company for an undetermined period after completion of the merger. Acquisitions also typically involve the payment of a premium over book and trading values and, therefore, may result in dilution of our own.book and tangible book value per share.

The aggregate net book value of premises and equipment was $48.5$45.9 million at December 31, 2020.2021. As of December 31, 2020,2021, 27 of the Company’s facilities were owned and 3431 were leased for various terms.

There are no pending legal proceedings involving the Company or Lakeland other than those arising in the normal course of business. Management does not anticipate that the potential liability, if any, arising out of such legal proceedings will have a material effect on the financial condition or results of operations of the Company and Lakeland on a consolidated basis.

PART II

Item 5 - Market for the Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Shares of the common stock of Lakeland Bancorp, Inc. have been traded under the symbol “LBAI” on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (or the NASDAQ National Market) since February 22, 2000 and in the over the counter market prior to that date. As of February 26, 2021,22, 2022, there were approximately 3,0463,298 shareholders of record of the common stock.

This section presents a review of Lakeland Bancorp, Inc.’s consolidated results of operations and financial condition. You should read this section in conjunction with the selected consolidated financial data that is presented on the preceding page as well as the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes to financial statements. As used in the following discussion, the term “Company” refers to Lakeland Bancorp, Inc. and “Lakeland” refers to the Company’s wholly owned banking subsidiary, Lakeland Bank. The Company has omitted comparative discussion of 20192020 and 20182019 results, which are presented in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K/A10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019,2020, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 6, 2020.8, 2021.

The information disclosed in this document includes various forward-looking statements that are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to credit quality (including delinquency trends and the allowance for credit losses), corporate objectives and other financial and business matters. The words “anticipates,” “projects,” “intends,” “estimates,” “expects,” “believes,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” and other similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The Company cautions that these forward-looking statements are necessarily speculative and speak only as of the date made, and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, all of which may change over time. Actual results could differ materially from such forward-looking statements.

The above-listed risk factors are not necessarily exhaustive, particularly as to possible future events, and new risk factors may emerge from time to time. Certain events may occur that could cause the Company’s actual results to be materially different than those described in the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any statements made by the Company that are not historical facts should be considered to be forward-looking statements. The Company is not obligated to update and does not undertake to update any of its forward-looking statements made herein.

The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Lakeland Bank, currently operates 4869 banking offices including those offices obtained in the acquisition of 1st Constitution Bank. The offices are located in Northernnorthern and Centralcentral New Jersey and Highland Mills, New York. Lakeland offers a broad range of lending, depository and related financial services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses located in its market areas. Lakeland also offers a broad range of consumer banking services, including lending, depository, safe deposit services and wealth management services.

Lakeland’s growth has come from a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. In addition to organic growth, through December 31, 2020,2021, the Company has acquired eight community banks with an aggregate asset total of approximately $2.28 billion at the date of the respective acquisitions. All acquired banks have been mergedThe Company completed its most recent acquisition of 1st Constitution Bancorp (NASDAQ: FCCY) (“1st Constitution”) effective January 6, 2022 with 1st Constitution merging into Lakeland Bancorp, Inc. and their holding companies, if applicable,1st Constitution’s wholly-owned subsidiary, 1st Constitution Bank, merging into Lakeland Bank. As of January 6, 2022, 1st Constitution had approximately $1.88 billion in assets, $1.12 billion in loans, $1.65 billion in deposits and 25 branches. The acquisition represents a significant addition to Lakeland’s New Jersey franchise and the combined organization will have been merged into the Company.over $10 billion in assets. 1st Constitution's financial information is not included in our December 31, 2021 and 2020 financial information contained herein. The Company’s strategy is to continue growing both organically and through acquisition should opportunities allow. The Company continues to evaluate opportunities to increase market share by expanding within existing and contiguous markets.

The Company’s strategic aim is to provide an adequate return to its shareholders by focusing on profitable growth through services that meet the needs of its customers in its market areas. This will be accomplished by continuing to offer commercial and consumer loan, deposit and other financial product services in a changing economic and technological environment. In early 2021, Lakeland added two lenders to grow our commercial loan portfolio with life insurance-based financing.

The Company offers internetonline banking, mobile banking and cash management services to meet the needs of its business and consumer customers. In 2019, the Company embarked on a digital strategy initiative, impacting all operational areas of Lakeland, with a focus on providing a superior customer experience, evolving our product and service delivery and enhancing our operational functionality and cost-effectiveness. TheThroughout 2020 and 2021 the Company devoted 2020continued to building ourbuild its infrastructure to implement the strategy. We hired a highly-skilled team, strengthened our project management and delivery capabilities and began organizingcontinue to organize data housed in various areas of the Company. Investments were also made in customer relationship management tools, which

The Company’s results of operations are primarily dependent upon net interest income, the difference between interest earned on interest-earning assets and the interest paid on interest-bearing liabilities. For information on how interest rate change can influence the Company’s net interest income and how the Company manages its net interest income, see “Interest Rate Risk” in the discussion below.

The Company generates noninterest income such as income from retail and business account fees, loan servicing fees, loan origination fees, appreciation in the cash surrender value of bank owned life insurance, income from securities sales, fees from wealth management services and investment product sales, income from the origination and sale of residential mortgages and SBA loans and other fees. The Company’s operating expenses consist primarily of compensation and benefits expense, occupancypremises and equipment expense, data processing expense, ATM and debit cardFDIC insurance expense, marketing and advertising expense and other general and administrative expenses. The Company’s results of operations are also affected by general economic conditions, changes in market interest rates, changes in asset quality, changes in asset values, actions of regulatory agencies and government policies.

The Company continues to control its expenses by continually reviewing its ongoing noninterest expense, including evaluating its salarycompensation expense, ongoing service contract expense, marketing expenses and other expenses. The Company also controls its expenses by leveraging its technology investments that maximize the efficient delivery of products and services to its customers, which allows it further to evaluate its infrastructure. Lakeland will continue to consolidate and close branches when an evaluation determines a significant cost savings may be obtained through the consolidation or closure. In addition, opportunities to open new branches are also evaluated.

The accounting and reporting policies of the Company and Lakeland conform with accounting principlesU.S. generally accepted in the United States of Americaaccounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) and predominant practices within the banking industry. The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements. These estimates and assumptions also affect reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

On December 31, 2020, effective January 1, 2020, the Company adopted new accounting guidance, which requires entities to estimate and recognize an allowance for lifetime expected credit losses for loans and other financial assets measured at amortized cost. Previously, an allowance was recognized based on probable and reasonably estimable incurred losses inherent in the loan portfolio at the balance sheet date. See Note 1 to the Company's financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion of the Company's accounting policies and methodologies for establishing the allowance and the liability for off-balance-sheet commitments beginning in 2020.commitments.

The allowance for credit losses is a critical accounting estimate for the following reasons:

Because management's estimates of the allowance for credit losses involve a high degree of judgment, the subjectivity of the assumptions used and the potential for changes in the forecasted economic environment that could result in changes to the amount of the allowance recorded, there is uncertainty inherent in such estimates. Changes in these estimates could significantly impact the allowance and provision for credit losses.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a deterioration in U.S. economic conditions and an increase in economic uncertainty. As a result, the Company's future loss estimates may vary considerably as a result of the changes in the economy compared to management's December 31, 20202021 assumptions; the magnitude and duration of the pandemic; and the impact of the national monetary and fiscal response.

Reported amounts are presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Company’s management believes that the supplemental non-GAAP information, which consists of measurements and ratios based on tangible equity, tangible assets and the efficiency ratio, which excludes certain items considered to be non-recurring from earnings, is utilized by regulators and market analysts to evaluate a company’s financial condition and therefore, such information is useful to investors. These disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for financial results determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures which may be presented by other companies.

While we continue to monitor developments related to COVID-19, continues to have a significant, negative effectincluding its impact on familiesour employees, our customers and businesses in New Jerseythe communities we serve, the level of inflation, unemployment and throughoutinterest rate increases by the United States. The prolonged COVID-19 outbreak, or any other epidemic that harms the global economy, the U.S. economy or the markets in which we operate could adverselyFederal Reserve Bank ("FRB") also can affect our operations. If conditions worsen, we may again experience temporary closures of our offices and/or suspension of certain services until it is safe to open and return to work.business. The ultimate effect of COVID-19 on the Company's business will depend on numerous factors and future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence. At this time, it is unknown how long the COVID-19 pandemic will last or when all restrictions on individuals and businesses will be lifted and businesses and their employees will be able to fully resume normal activities. Further, additional information may emerge regarding the severity of COVID-19, effectiveness of the vaccines developed and additional actions may be taken by federal, state and local governments to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact. Changes in the behavior of customers, businesses and their employees as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including social distancing practices, even after formal restrictions have been lifted, are also unknown. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions taken to contain it or reduce its impact, the Company may experience changes in the value of collateral securing outstanding loans, reductions in the credit quality of borrowers and the inability of borrowers to repay loans in accordance with their terms. Management is actively managing credit risk in the Company's commercial loan portfolio, including reviewingportfolio.

Our branch lobbies are open at normal operating hours for customers; however, we may close them from time to time as conditions warrant. Proper COVID-19 protocols are in place in our branches and corporate offices to ensure the industries that the Company believes are most likely to be impacted by emerging COVID-19 events. Thesecontinued safety of our associates and similar factors and events may have substantial negative effects on the business, financial condition, and results of operations of the Company and its customers.

In addition,On January 6, 2022, the carrying valueCompany completed its acquisition of investment securities, right-of-use1st Constitution with 1st Constitution merging into Lakeland Bancorp and 1st Constitution’s wholly-owned subsidiary, 1st Constitution Bank, merging into Lakeland Bank. As of January 6, 2022, 1st Constitution had approximately $1.88 billion in assets, goodwill and other intangibles could decrease, resulting$1.12 billion in future impairment losses. Management will continue to evaluate current economic conditions to determine if a triggering event would impact the current valuations for these assets. As a result, it is not currently possible to ascertain the overall impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business.

The yearfollowing table presents certain key aspects of the Company's performance for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 represented a year of continued loan and deposit growth for the Company. Aswill be discussed further in this management’s discussion and analysis:

The Company recorded net income was $57.5of $95.0 million, or $1.13$1.85 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 20202021 compared to net income of $70.7$57.5 million, or $1.38$1.13 per diluted share, for 2019.2020. The financial results for 2021 were favorably impacted by a negative provision for credit losses of $10.9 million compared to a provision for credit losses of $27.2 million for 2020. The Company's net interest margin was 3.13% for 2021 compared to 3.09% for 2020.

Total assets of 1.12%, return on average common equity of 10.14% and return on average tangible common equity of 13.16%.

Non-performing assets declined by $25.8 million during 2021 to $17.0 million at December 31, 2021 compared to $42.8 million at December 31, 2020. During 2021, the Company sold $21.7 million in non-performing loans primarily in the commercial secured by real estate loan category, resulting in net charge offs to the allowance for credit losses of $706,000 as well as recovered interest on non-accrual loans of $6.7 million effective January 1, 2020.$755,000.

The following table reflects the components of the Company’s net interest income, setting forth for the years presented, (1) average assets, liabilities and stockholders’ equity, (2) interest income earned on interest-earning assets and interest expense paid on interest-bearing liabilities, (3) average yields earned on interest-earning assets and average rates paid on interest-bearing liabilities, (4) the Company’s net interest spread (i.e., the average yield on interest-earning assets less the average cost of interest-bearing liabilities) and (5) the Company’s net interest margin. Rates are computed on a tax equivalent basis assuming a 21% tax rate.

Interest income and expense volume/rate analysis

The following table shows the impact that changes in average balances of the Company’s assets and liabilities and changes in average interest rates have had on the Company’s net interest income over the past threetwo years. This information is presented on a tax equivalent basis assuming a 21% tax rate. If a change in interest income or expense is attributable to a change in volume and a change in rate, the amount of the change is allocated proportionately. There are no out-of-period items or adjustments in the table below.

Interest income on a tax equivalent basis decreasedincreased from $256.9 million in 2019 to $249.3 million in 2020 a decreaseto $258.0 million in 2021, an increase of $7.6$8.7 million, or 3%4%. The decreaseincrease in interest income resulted from a 66 basis point decline$780.8 million increase in the yield onaverage interest-earning assets partially offset by a $840.2 million increase in averagelower yields on interest-earning assets. The decrease in yield on interest-earning assets was due primarily to a reduction in the yield on loans and investment securities due to decreases in the prime rate and LIBOR during 20192020 and 2020, increased balance of lower-yielding federal funds sold, as well as the origination of lower-yielding PPP loans during 2020.2021. The average balance of loans increased $688.0$377.1 million compared to 2019,2020, while the yield on average loans of 4.07%3.95% in 20202021 was 6612 basis points lower than 2019.2020. The yield on average taxable investment securities decreased 2751 basis points, while the yield on tax-exempt investment securities decreased 1327 basis points compared to 2019.2020.

The Company adopted ASU 2016-13 onusing the modified retrospective method for all financial assets measured at amortized cost at December 31, 2020, and haseffective January 1, 2020. The Company applied it retroactivelythe standard's provisions as a cumulative-effect adjustment of $3.4 million to retained earnings as of January 1, 2020. ASU 2016-13 requires the measurement of expected credit losses for financial assets, including investments, loans and certain off-balance-sheet credit exposures, measured at amortized cost. See Note 1 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies to the Company's financial statements for a description of the adoption of ASU 2016-13 and the Company's allowance methodology.

ProvisionIn 2021, the Company recorded a $10.9 million benefit for credit losses totaled $27.2 million in 2020, of which $26.0 million was related to loans, compared to a $27.2 million provision for loan2020. The benefit is comprised of a benefit for credit losses on loans of $10.9 million, a benefit for off-balance-sheet exposures of $243,000 and a provision for credit losses on securities of $262,000. The benefit for credit losses on loans was due primarily to an improvement in forecasted macroeconomic conditions, a decrease in nonperforming assets and continued strength in the asset quality of loans. The Company charged off $4.6 million and recovered $2.4 million in 2021 compared to $2.1 million for 2019. The increased provision for 2020 was primarily due to the negative impact of COVID-19 on forecasted economic conditions and credit loss projections with the remainder of the provision attributable to loan growth. The provision attributable to off-balance-sheet exposures was $1.3 million and a negative provision of $28,000 was attributable to held to maturity securities.$541,000, respectively, in 2020.

Noninterest income of $27.1$22.4 million in 2020 increased2021 decreased by $314,000$4.7 million compared to 2019.2020. The decrease in noninterest income was due primarily to a $4.1 million reduction in swap income compared to 2020 as demand for swap transactions waned due to changes in the yield curve, which decreased demand for these transactions. Service charges on deposit accounts increased $708,000 compared to 2020 due primarily to increases in debit card income. Commissions and fees in 2021 increased $1.1 million compared to 2020 due primarily to increases in commercial loan fees and investment commission income. Gains on sales of loans and swap income increased $1.7decreased $1.1 million and $1.5 million, respectively, compared to 2019, both2020, due primarily to the low interest rate environment.Company retaining more originated residential mortgage loans in the loan portfolio. Gain on sales and calls of investment securities totaled $9,000 in 2021 compared to $1.2 million in 2020 compared to no such gains in 2019. Service charges on deposit accounts decreased $2.1 million due primarily to changes in customer behavior resulting from the pandemic. Included in noninterest income in 2020, was a $552,000 loss on equity securities compared to gains of $496,000 in 2019. Other income of $735,000 in 2020 was $499,000 lower than 2019 due primarily to gains during 2019 resulting from payoffs of purchased credit impaired loans.2020. Noninterest income represented 12%9% of total revenue in 2020.2021. Total revenue is defined as net interest income plus noninterest income.

The efficiency ratio, a non-GAAP measure, expresses the relationship between noninterest expense (excluding long-term debt prepayment fees, merger related expenses and core deposit amortization) to total tax-equivalent revenue (excluding gains and/or losses on securities and gain and/or losses on debt extinguishment).