Business Description

Finward Bancorp, an Indiana corporation, was incorporated on January 31, 1994, and is the holding company for Peoples Bank, an Indiana-chartered commercial bank. The Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. The Company has no other business activity other than being a holding company for the Bank and the Company’s earnings are primarily dependent upon the earnings of the Bank. The Bank is primarily engaged in the business of attracting deposits from the general public and the origination of loans, mostly upon the security of single family residences and commercial real estate, as well as, construction loans and various types of consumer loans, commercial business loans and municipal loans, within its primary market areas of Lake and Porter Counties, in Northwest Indiana, and Cook County, Illinois. In addition, the Company's Wealth Management Group provides estate and retirement planning, guardianships, land trusts, profit sharing and 401(k) retirement plans, IRA and Keogh accounts, investment agency accounts, and serves as the personal representative of estates and acts as trustee for revocable and irrevocable trusts. The Company monitors and evaluates financial performance on a Company-wide basis and the majority of the Company’s revenue is from the business of banking. Accordingly, all of the Company’s operations are considered by management to be aggregated in one reportable operating segment. The Bank’s deposit accounts are insured up to applicable limits by the Deposit Insurance Fund, which is administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an agency of the federal government. As the holding company for the Bank, the Company is subject to comprehensive examination, supervision and regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, while the Bank is subject to comprehensive examination, supervision and regulation by both the FDIC and the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions. The Bank is also subject to regulation by the FRB governing reserves required to be maintained against certain deposits and other matters. The Bank is also a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, which is one of the eleven regional banks comprising the system of Federal Home Loan Banks. The Company maintains its corporate office at 9204 Columbia Avenue, Munster, Indiana, from which it oversees the operation of its 26 branch locations. For further information, see “Properties.” The Company’s internet address is www.ibankpeoples.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain of the statements made in this report are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning and protections of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our financial position, business strategy, and the plans and objectives of our management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements through our use of words such as “may,” “will,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “should,” “indicate,” “would,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “continue,” “plan,” “point to,” “project,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” and other similar words and expressions relating to the future. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results may differ materially, and adversely or positively, from the expectations of the Company that are expressed or implied by any forward-looking statement.…