Changes in the Bank’s allowance for loan losses for each of the five years in the period ended December 31, 2004 and the allocation of the Bank’s allowance for loan losses by loan type at the end of each of these years can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” which has been incorporated by reference into Item 7 of this Form 10-K. The amount of future chargeoffs and provisions for loan losses will be affected by, among other things, economic conditions on Long Island. Such conditions affect the financial strength of the Bank’s borrowers and the value of real estate collateral securing the Bank’s mortgage loans. Loans secured by real estate represent approximately 83% of the Bank’s total loans outstanding at December 31, 2004. The majority of these loans were made to borrowers domiciled on Long Island and are secured by Long Island properties. In recent years, economic conditions on Long Island have been good and residential real estate values have grown to unprecedented highs. Such conditions and values could deteriorate in the future, and such deterioration could be substantial. If this were to occur, some of the Bank’s borrowers may be unable to make the required contractual payments on their loans, and the Bank may be unable to realize the full carrying value of such loans through foreclosure. However, management believes that the Bank’s underwriting policies are relatively conservative and, as a result, the Bank should be less affected than the overall market. Investment Activities General. The investment policy of the Bank, as approved by the Board of Directors and supervised by both the Board and the Management Investment Committee, is intended to promote investment practices which are both safe and sound and in full compliance with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) Supervisory Policy Statement on Investment Securities and End-User Derivative Activities and all other applicable regulations. Investment authority will be granted and amended as is necessary by the Board of Directors. The Bank’s investment decisions seek to maximize income while keeping both credit and market risk at acceptable levels, provide for the Bank’s liquidity needs, assist in managing interest rate sensitivity, and provide securities that can be pledged, as needed, to secure deposits and/or borrowings. The Bank’s investment policy limits individual maturities to twenty years and average lives, in the case of collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and other mortgage-backed securities, to 10 years. At the time of purchase, bonds of states and political subdivisions must generally be rated A or better, notes of states and political subdivisions must generally be rated MIG-2 (or equivalent) or better, and commercial paper must be rated A-1 or P-1. In addition, management periodically reviews issuer credit ratings for all securities in the Bank’s portfolio other than those issued by the U.S. government or its agencies. Any significant deterioration in the creditworthiness of an issuer will be analyzed and action will be taken if deemed appropriate. The Bank has not engaged in the purchase and sale of securities for the primary purpose of producing trading profits and its current investment policy does not allow such activity. At December 31, 2004, the Bank had net unrealized gains of $2,179,000 in its held-to-maturity portfolio, consisting of gross unrealized gains of $3,951,000 and gross unrealized losses of $1,772,000. The unrealized gains and losses were principally caused by decreases and increases, respectively, in interest rates since the securities were purchased. Gains that could be recognized currently upon the sale of securities with unrealized gains would be approximately offset by the reduction in future interest income that would result from purchasing replacement securities that are similar with respect to issuer and duration but currently have lower yields. The Bank intends and expects to be able to hold its held to maturity securities to maturity and therefore expects that neither the unrealized gains nor the unrealized losses will ever be realized. Portfolio Composition.The composition of the Bank’s investment portfolio can be found in “Note B – Investment Securities” to the Corporation’s consolidated financial statements which have been incorporated by reference into Item 8 of this Form 10-K. Maturity Information. The maturities and weighted average yields of the Bank’s investment securities at December 31, 2004 can be found in “Note B – Investment Securities” to the Corporation’s consolidated financial statements which have been incorporated by reference into Item 8 of this Form 10-K. During 2004, the Bank received cash dividends totaling $9,575 on its Federal Reserve Bank, Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, and SLM Corp. stock, representing an average yield of 1.3%. Sources of Funds General. The Bank’s primary sources of liquidity are deposit growth, maturity and amortization of investment securities, loan payments, operations, borrowings from brokerage firms under repurchase agreements, and borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York under repurchase agreements and a variety of other arrangements. The Bank can also borrow overnight federal funds from other commercial banks and borrow at the Federal Reserve Bank discount window. A further discussion of borrowing sources can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” which has been incorporated by reference into Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this Form 10-K. |