Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

1) Basis of Presentation

The unaudited consolidated financial statements of Heritage Commerce Corp (the “Company” or “HCC”) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Heritage Bank of Commerce (the “Bank” or “HBC”), have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations for reporting on Form 10-Q. Accordingly, certain information and notes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for annual financial statements are not included herein. The interim statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes that were included in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

HBC is a commercial bank serving customers primarily located in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties of California. CSNK Working Capital Finance Corp. a California corporation, dba Bay View Funding (“Bay View Funding”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of HBC, and provides business-essential working capital factoring financing to various industries throughout the United States. No customer accounts for more than 10% of revenue for HBC or the Company. The Company reports its results for two segments: banking and factoring. The Company’s management uses segment results in its operating and strategic planning.

In management’s opinion, all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of these consolidated financial statements have been included and are of a normal and recurring nature. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP 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 consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ significantly from these estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change include the determination of the allowance for credit losses and any impairment of goodwill or intangible assets. It is reasonably possible the Company’s estimate of the allowance for credit losses and evaluation of impairment of goodwill or intangible assets could change as a result of the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy. The resulting change in these estimates could be material to the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

The results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for any subsequent period or for the entire year ending December 31, 2021.

COVID-19

Capital and Liquidity

While the Company believes that it has sufficient capital to withstand an extended economic recession brought about by COVID-19, its reported and regulatory capital ratios could be adversely impacted by credit losses. The Company relies on cash on hand as well as dividends from its subsidiary bank to service its debt. If the Company’s capital deteriorates such that its subsidiary bank is unable to pay dividends to it for an extended period of time, the Company may not be able to service its debt.

The Company maintains access to multiple sources of liquidity. Wholesale funding markets have remained open to us. If funding costs are elevated for an extended period of time, it could have an adverse effect on the Company’s net interest margin. If an extended recession caused large numbers of the Company’s deposit customers to withdraw their funds, the Company might become more reliant on volatile or more expensive sources of funding.

Asset Valuation

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and difficult to predict. Those developments and factors include the duration and spread of the pandemic, its severity, the actions to contain the pandemic or address its

impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. We do not yet know the full extent of the impact. However, the effects could have a material adverse impact on our business, asset valuations, financial condition and results of operations. Material adverse impacts may include all or a combination of valuation impairments on our intangible assets, investments, loans, or deferred tax assets.

Reclassifications

              Certain reclassifications of prior year balances have been made to conform to the current year presentation. These reclassifications had no impact on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations or net change in cash and cash equivalents.

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

In December 2019, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes to simplify various aspects of the current guidance to promote consistent application of the standard among reporting entities by moving certain exceptions to the general principles. The amendments are effective as of January 1, 2021 and had no material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

Accounting Guidance Issued But Not Yet Adopted

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting, which provides temporary, optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for, or recognizing the effects of, the transition away from the LIBOR or other interbank offered rate on financial reporting. To help with the transition to new reference rates, the ASU provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying GAAP to affected contract modifications and hedge accounting relationships. The main provisions include:

● A change in a contract’s reference interest rate would be accounted for as a continuation of that contract rather than as the creation of a new one for contracts, including loans, debt, leases, and other arrangements, that meet specific criteria.

● When updating its hedging strategies in response to reference rate reform, an entity would be allowed to preserve its hedge accounting.

The guidance is applicable only to contracts or hedge accounting relationships that reference LIBOR or another reference rate expected to be discontinued. Because the guidance is meant to help entities through the transition period, it will be in effect for a limited time and will not apply to contract modifications made and hedging relationships entered into or evaluated after December 31, 2022, except for hedging relationships existing as of December 31, 2022, for which an entity has elected certain optional expedients that are retained through the end of the hedging relationship. The amendments in this ASU are effective March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022.

ASU 2020-04 permits relief solely for reference rate reform actions and permits different elections over the effective date for legacy and new activity. Accordingly, the Company is evaluating and reassessing the elections on a quarterly basis. For current elections in effect regarding the assertion of the probability of forecasted transactions, the Company elects the expedient to assert the probability of the hedged interest payments and receipts regardless of any expected modification in terms related to reference rate reform.

The Company believes the adoption of this guidance on activities subsequent to December 31, 2020 through December 31, 2022 will not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) Transition and Phase-Out

We have loans and borrowings that are tied to LIBOR benchmark interest rates. The LIBOR index will be phased-out by the end of 2021 and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has established the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as its recommended alternative to LIBOR. We have created a sub-committee of our Asset Liability Management Committee to address LIBOR transition and phase-out issues. The Company continues to implement its transition plan toward the cessation of LIBOR and the modification of its loans and other financial

instruments with attributes that are either directly or indirectly influenced by LIBOR. The Company expects to utilize the LIBOR transition relief allowed under ASU 2020-04, and does not expect such an adoption to have a material impact on its accounting and disclosures. The Company will continue to assess the impact as the reference rate transition occurs over the next two years.