Business Description

The Company Lakeland Financial Corporation ("Lakeland Financial"), an Indiana corporation incorporated in 1983, is a bank holding company headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana that provides, through its wholly owned subsidiary Lake City Bank (the "Bank") and together with Lakeland Financial (the "Company"), a broad array of financial products and services throughout its Northern and Central Indiana markets. The Company offers commercial and consumer banking services, as well as trust and wealth management, brokerage, and treasury management commercial services. The Company serves a diverse customer base, including commercial customers across a wide variety of industries including, among others, commercial real estate, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, retail, wholesale, finance and insurance, accommodation and food services, and health care. The Company is not dependent upon any single industry or customer. At December 31, 2025, Lakeland Financial had consolidated total assets of $7.0 billion. Company’s Business . Lakeland Financial is a bank holding company as defined in the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended. Lakeland Financial owns all of the outstanding stock of the Bank, a full-service commercial bank organized under Indiana law. Lakeland Financial conducts no business except that which is incidental to its ownership of the outstanding stock of the Bank. Although Lakeland Financial is a corporate entity, legally separate and distinct from its affiliates, bank holding companies such as Lakeland Financial are required to act as a source of financial strength for their subsidiary banks. The principal source of Lakeland Financial’s income is dividends from the Bank. There are certain regulatory restrictions on the extent to which subsidiary banks can pay dividends or otherwise supply funds to their holding companies. See "Supervision and Regulation of the Company" below for further discussion of these matters. Bank’s Business. The Bank was originally organized in 1872 and has continuously operated under the laws of the State of Indiana since its organization. As of December 31, 2025, the Bank had 55 offices in fifteen counties, including 46 offices in Northern Indiana and nine offices in Central Indiana, in the Indianapolis market. The Bank’s deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the "FDIC") to the maximum extent provided under federal law and FDIC regulations. The Bank’s activities cover all traditional facets of community banking, including deposit products, commercial and consumer lending, retail and merchant credit card services, corporate treasury management services, private banking, and wealth advisory, trust and brokerage services. On September 2, 2025, the Bank opened its 55 th branch in Westfield, Indiana, north of Indianapolis. The Bank’s business strategy is focused on building long-term relationships with its customers based on in person, top-quality service, high ethical standards and safe and sound lending. The Bank operates as a community-based financial services organization augmented by experienced, centralized support in select critical areas. The Bank’s local market orientation is reflected in its regional management, which divides the Bank’s market area into five distinct geographic regions, that are led by a retail and commercial regional manager. This arrangement allows decision making to be as close to the customer as possible and enhances responsiveness to local banking needs. Despite this local-market, community-based focus, the Bank offers many of the products and services available at much larger regional and national competitors. While our strategy encompasses all phases of traditional community banking, including consumer lending and wealth advisory and trust services, we focus on building expansive commercial relationships and developing retail and commercial deposit gathering strategies through relationship-based client services. Substantially all of the Bank’s operations occur within the United States, and the majority of the Bank's assets and income are located in and derived from our Indiana markets. The Company is not a party to any collective bargaining agreements, and employee relations are considered strong. Operating Segment. While the Company has assigned certain management responsibilities by region and business line, the Company’s chief decision-makers monitor and evaluate financial performance on a Company-wide basis.…