Lakeland Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Oak Ridge,
New Jersey. The Company was organized in March of 1989 and commenced operations
on May 19, 1989, upon the consummation of the acquisition of all of the outstanding
stock of Lakeland Bank, formerly named Lakeland State Bank (“Lakeland”
or the “Bank” or “Lakeland Bank”). Through Lakeland,
the Company operates 53 banking offices, located in Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic,
Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren counties in New Jersey; five New Jersey regional
commercial lending centers in Bernardsville, Montville, Newton, Teaneck and
Wyckoff/Waldwick; and two commercial loan production offices serving Middlesex
and Monmouth counties in New Jersey and the Hudson Valley region of New York.
Lakeland offers an extensive suite of financial products and services for businesses
and consumers.
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
short and medium term loans, lines of credit, letters of credit, inventory and
accounts receivable financing, real estate construction loans, mortgage loans
and merchant credit card services. In addition to commercial real estate loans,
Lakeland makes commercial and industrial loans. These types of loans can diversify
the Company’s exposure in a depressed real estate market. Lakeland’s
equipment financing division provides a solution to small and medium sized companies
who 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. The Company also offers wire transfer, internet banking,
mobile banking 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.
Lakeland also offers a broad range of consumer banking services, including
checking accounts, savings accounts, NOW accounts, money market accounts, certificates
of deposit, internet banking, secured and unsecured loans, consumer installment
loans, mortgage loans, and safe deposit services.
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 is subject to examination by the Federal
Reserve Board.
Lakeland is a state chartered banking association 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. The Federal
Reserve Board is empowered to differentiate between activities by a bank holding
company or a subsidiary thereof and activities commenced by acquisition of a
going concern.
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. 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.