2021 Annual Report

or the failure to develop and implement a viable succession plan could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. Labor shortages and a failure to attract and retain qualified employees could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. A number of factors may adversely affect the labor force available to us or increase labor costs, including high employment levels, decreased labor force size and participation rates as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, expanded unemployment benefits offered in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and other government actions. Although we have not experienced any material labor shortage to date, we have recently observed an overall tightening and increasingly competitive local labor markets. A sustained labor shortage or increased turnover rates within our employee base could lead to increased costs, such as increased compensation expense to attract and retain employees. In addition, if we are unable to hire and retain employees capable of performing at a high-level, or if mitigation measures we take to respond to a decrease in labor availability have unintended negative effects, our business could be adversely affected. An overall labor shortage, lack of skilled labor, increased turnover or labor inflation, caused by COVID-19 or as a result of general macroeconomic factors, could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. Our ability to maintain our reputation is critical to the success of our business, and the failure to do so may materially adversely affect our business and the value of our stock. We rely, in part, on our reputation to attract clients and retain our client relationships. Damage to our reputation could undermine the confidence of our current and potential clients in our ability to provide high-quality financial services. Such damage could also impair the confidence of our counterparties and vendors and ultimately affect our ability to effect transactions. Maintenance of our reputation depends not only on our success in maintaining our service-focused culture and controlling and mitigating the various risks described in this report, but also on our success in identifying and appropriately addressing issues that may arise in areas such as potential conflicts of interest, anti-money laundering, client personal information and privacy issues, client and other third party fraud, record-keeping, regulatory investigations and any litigation that may arise from the failure or perceived failure of us to comply with legal and regulatory requirements. Maintaining our reputation also depends on our ability to successfully prevent third parties from infringing on the “Bridgewater Bank” brand and associated trademarks and our other intellectual property. Defense of our reputation, trademarks and other intellectual property, including through litigation, could result in costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. The occurrence of fraudulent activity, breaches or failures of our information security controls or cybersecurity-related incidents could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. As a bank, we are susceptible to fraudulent activity, information security breaches and cybersecurity-related incidents that may be committed against us or our clients, which may result in financial losses or increased costs to us or our clients, disclosure or misuse of our information or our client information, misappropriation of assets, privacy breaches against our clients, litigation or damage to our reputation. Such fraudulent activity may take many forms, including check fraud, electronic fraud, wire fraud, phishing, social engineering and other dishonest acts. Information security breaches and cybersecurity-related incidents may include fraudulent or unauthorized access to systems used by us or our clients, denial or degradation of service attacks and malware or other cyber-attacks. There continues to be a rise in electronic fraudulent activity, security breaches and cyber-attacks within the financial services industry, especially in the commercial banking sector due to cyber criminals targeting commercial bank accounts. Moreover, in recent periods, several large corporations, including financial institutions and retail companies, have suffered major data breaches, in some cases exposing not only confidential and proprietary corporate information, but also sensitive financial and other personal information of their customers and employees and subjecting them to potential fraudulent activity. Some of our clients may have been affected by these breaches, which could increase their risks of identity theft and other fraudulent activity that could involve their accounts with us.

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