About The First Bancshares

The First Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The First Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals, businesses, municipal entities, and nonprofit organizations in the communities that it serves. These services include consumer and commercial loans, deposit accounts and safe deposit services. The company operates in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana. The bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System through the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Banking Services The company strives to provide its customers with the breadth of products and services offered by large regional banks, while maintaining the timely response and personal service of a locally owned and managed bank. In addition to offering a full range of deposit services and loan products, the company has a mortgage and private banking division. The following is a description of the products and services the company offers. Deposit Services The company offers a full range of deposit services that are typically available in most banks and savings institutions, including checking accounts, NOW accounts, savings accounts, and other time deposits of various types, ranging from daily money market accounts to longer-term certificates of deposit. The transaction accounts and time certificates are tailored to the company’s principal market areas at rates competitive to those offered by other banks in these areas. All deposit accounts are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to the maximum amount allowed by law. The company solicits these accounts from individuals, businesses, associations, organizations, and governmental authorities. In addition, the company offers certain retirement account services, such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and health savings accounts. Loan Products The company offers a full range of commercial and personal loans. Commercial loans include both secured and unsecured loans for working capital (including loans secured by inventory and accounts receivable), business expansion (including the acquisition of real estate and improvements), the purchase of equipment and machinery, and interest rate swap agreements to facilitate the risk management strategies of certain commercial customers. Consumer loans include equity lines of credit, secured and unsecured loans for financing automobiles, home improvements, education, and personal investments. The company also makes real estate construction and acquisition loans. In addition, the company offers interest rate swap agreements to certain commercial customers to facilitate their risk management strategies. Mortgage Loan Division The company has a residential mortgage loan division, which originates conventional or government agency insured loans to purchase existing residential homes, construct new homes or refinance existing mortgages. Private Banking Division The company has a private banking division, which offers financial and wealth management services to individuals who meet certain criteria. Other Services Other bank services the company offers include online internet banking services, automated teller machines, voice response telephone inquiry services, commercial sweep accounts, cash management services, safe deposit boxes, merchant services, mobile deposit, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, and automatic drafts for various accounts. The company’s network with other automated teller machines that may be used by its customers throughout its market area and other regions. The bank also offers credit card services through a correspondent bank. Investment Portfolio As of December 31, 2022, the company’s investment portfolio included U.S. treasury; obligations of U.S. government agencies and sponsored entities; tax-exempt and taxable obligations of states and municipal subdivisions; mortgage-backed securities – residential; mortgage-backed securities – commercial; and corporate obligations. Supervision and Regulation The company is registered as a bank holding company with the Federal Reserve under the Bank Holding Company Act, as amended (BHC Act). As such, it is subject to comprehensive supervision, and regulation by the Federal Reserve; and is subject to its regulatory reporting requirements. Federal law subjects bank holding companies, such as the company, to particular restrictions on the types of activities in which they may engage, and to a range of supervisory requirements and activities, including regulatory enforcement actions for violations of laws and regulations. The company is required to comply with various corporate governance and financial reporting requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules and regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and NASDAQ. The company has evaluated its controls, including compliance with the SEC rules on internal controls; and has and expects to continue to spend significant amounts of time and money on compliance with these rules. The company is subject to oversight by the SEC, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), NASDAQ and various state securities and insurance regulators. Section 13 of the BHC Act, common referred to as the ‘Volcker Rule’. The Volcker Rule also specifies certain limited activities in which banking organizations may continue to engage and requires the company to maintain a compliance program. The bank, which is a member of the Federal Reserve System, is subject to comprehensive supervision and regulation by the Federal Reserve; and is subject to its regulatory reporting requirements, as well as supervision and regulation by the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance. As a member bank of the Federal Reserve System, the bank is required to hold stock in its district Federal Reserve Bank in an amount equal to 6% of its capital stock and surplus (half paid to acquire stock with the remainder held as a cash reserve). The deposits of the bank are insured by the FDIC up to applicable limits, and, accordingly, the bank is also subject to certain FDIC regulations and the FDIC has backup examination authority and some enforcement powers over the bank. In addition, the bank and any other of its subsidiaries that offer consumer financial products and services are subject to regulation and potential supervision by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In addition, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the Dodd-Frank Act) permits states to adopt consumer protection laws and regulations that are stricter than those regulations promulgated by the CFPB, and state attorneys general are permitted to enforce certain federal consumer financial protection law. The bank is subject to restrictions on extensions of credit and certain other transactions between the bank and the company or any nonbank affiliate. The bank’s deposits are insured by the FDIC’s DIF up to the limits under applicable law, which are set at $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. The bank is subject to FDIC assessments for its deposit insurance. The bank is subject to the provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which imposes a continuing and affirmative obligation, consistent with their safe and sound operation, to help meet the credit needs of entire communities where the bank accepts deposits, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. The Federal Reserve’s assessment of the bank’s CRA record is made available to the public. The bank has a rating of ‘Satisfactory’ in its most recent CRA evaluation. The bank is also subject to, among other things, the provisions of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (the ECOA) and the Fair Housing Act (the FHA), both of which prohibit discrimination based on race or color, religion, national origin, sex, and familial status in any aspect of a consumer or commercial credit or residential real estate transaction. The Department of Justice (the DOJ) has increased its efforts to prosecute what it regards as violations of the ECOA and the FHA. History The First Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1995.