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Ledyard Financial Group, Inc.

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FY2021 Annual Report · Ledyard Financial Group, Inc.
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ENERGIZING RELATIONSHIPS.

EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY.

EXPANDING OPPORTUNITY.

2021 ANNUAL REPORT

 
 
 
 
 
 
LETTER FROM THE CEO & BOARD CHAIR

TO OUR MANY CONSTITUENTS
Including Shareholders, Valued Clients and Community Members

Kathryn G. Underwood
President & CEO
Ledyard Financial Group
Ledyard National Bank

Margaret M. Rightmire
Chair, Ledyard Financial Group
Ledyard National Bank

As another year of historic and unprecedented circumstances draws to a close and we slowly begin to adapt to 
the Covid-19 pandemic, we hope that you and your families are healthy and safe. It’s fair to say that the global 
health crisis has continued to challenge us, both personally and professionally. What we’ve navigated together is 
nothing short of extraordinary. Despite the complexities presented by the unknown, it has been a year of hope 
and increased optimism. We’re incredibly proud of our employees, leadership team and board of directors as they 
demonstrated, once again, their dedication to our clients, partners, each other, Ledyard’s values and its “Plan well. 
Live well.” philosophy. Their care and compassion did not go unnoticed!

Our team of banking professionals adjusted to an ever-changing operating environment, with many working 
remotely or employing a hybrid structure, splitting time between the office and home. We’re proud of all our 
employees who consistently went the extra mile for their clients, whether at the desk, the branch drive-up or even 
the kitchen table! Our employees, once again, proved that they are flexible, adaptable, and creative in the ways 
they seamlessly took care of Ledyard’s clients — just one more extension of the “Plan well. Live well.” mindset.

For all the disruption that the pandemic has wrought, last year’s record performance demonstrates that our  
financial position remains strong and our core businesses continue to thrive in a difficult operating environment. 

LEDYARD FINANCIAL GROUP’S 2021 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

◆ Increased net income to $7.77 million, an increase of 15.4% over 2020 and a record high

◆ Grew revenue to $33.3 million, an increase of 4.7% over the prior year and an all-time high

◆ Increased earnings per share by $0.29 to $2.42 per share

◆  Our dividend to shareholders increased by $0.04 to $0.80 per share; we’ve maintained or increased the quarterly 

dividend since first declaring one in 1995

◆ Ledyard Financial Advisors revenue grew by 13.4% to $13.2 million, an all-time high

◆  Our regulatory capital ratios remained well in excess of the amounts required to be considered well-capitalized

LEDYARD NATIONAL BANK 2021 ANNUAL REPORTLETTER FROM THE CEO & BOARD CHAIR

From the moment I met Ledyard Bank’s 
Commercial team, I knew that Lakes 
Media had a partner in our business 
that truly took interest in our success. 
One very valuable lesson I learned 
about life was from my mom: She used 
to say “Dirk, you don’t really know 
someone till you’ve been through 
GOOD times and BAD times.” Well, 
during the Covid crisis things weren’t 
good until Ledyard proactively reached 
out to me to suggest I apply for PPP 
funding. They were always accessible 
and there for me! While many busi-
nesses around us suffered because 
their banks didn’t return phone calls, 
Ledyard overcommunicated and swiftly 
handled our PPP funding giving us the 
ability to continue operating. It’s in 
these moments you truly learn about 
people and institutions. I’m a lifelong 
Ledyard customer because they’ve 
earned my deepest respect.

Dirk Nadon, Owner & General Manager
Lakes Media New Hampshire
WWLK-FM / Lakes FM 101.5
WLKZ-FM / 104.9 The Hawk

Some say that the best relationships are forged during chal-
lenging times, and we’ve experienced that sentiment many 
times in the last few years. Notably, our Commercial Banking 
team’s commitment to helping our business clients under-
stand the SBA’s PPP process helped them utilize the program 
to its maximum benefit and, most importantly, survive and 
thrive. Their perseverance and tireless efforts helped our 
clients keep their restaurants open, store shelves stocked, 
medical practices running and day-care facilities open. To 
add additional perspective, in 2021 Ledyard produced over 
190 PPP loans totaling $17 million and saving more than 
1,700 jobs. These results come on top of our outstanding 
PPP accomplishments of 2020 when we disbursed over $40 
million into the local economy.

1,731
JOBS
SAVED

192
LOANS

$17MM
PPP 
LOANS

CLIENTS
ACROSS 7 
STATES

While politics and the pandemic garnered so much of the 
past year’s headlines, Ledyard quietly strengthened its 
foundation through significant investments in technology, 
products/processes and people. In August, Dennis Mitchell, 
Ledyard’s head of the Wealth Management division for the 
previous decade, retired and passed the baton to Michael 
Hakoun, our new Managing Director of Ledyard Financial 
Advisors. We thank Dennis for his immense contribution 
to our organization and wish him joy and relaxation in his 
retirement. At the same time, we welcome Michael with 
enthusiasm and look forward to the many advancements 
the Financial Advisors will undergo during his tenure. One of 
these leaps forward incorporates the use of advanced tech-
nology that complements the personal relationships we’ve 
built with our clients. 

LEDYARD NATIONAL BANK 2021 ANNUAL REPORTLETTER FROM THE CEO & BOARD CHAIR

Ledyard’s new Live Well Planning Tool allows our advisors and portfolio managers to better plan across the client 
life cycle, addressing needs as they evolve. This digital tool enhances the interactive and collaborative processes and 
fosters a deeper understanding of clients’ goals, including how to achieve them.  

OUR FOCUS IS ON 
MAKING THE  
BANKING EXPERIENCE 
MORE RELEVANT, 
MORE CONVENIENT 
AND SAFER  
THAN EVER.

The Live Well Planning Tool is just one example of how the bank, across its many 
divisions, helps clients strategize and implement a plan to accomplish the things 
they truly care about. Our approach focuses on future needs and aspirations, 
leveraging scenario planning exercises to help pre-experience the potential 
outcomes such as selling a business, buying a second home, financing a child’s 
education or retiring. The power that clients experience by having their full 
financial “picture” in one place is comforting, instructive and immeasurable. 
It’s important to understand that the ways in which we use client information 
offers a stark contrast to Financial Technology companies such as Robinhood. 
While most Fintechs are narrowly focused, they do not “put it all together” 
comprehensively the way Ledyard does. It’s often the simple questions that 

matter most — “what’s important to you?” or “what are your goals and challenges?” And because we know our clients, 
their families and their aspirations we can even address less obvious questions such as, “how do I navigate Medicare and 
Social Security?” As we noted above, the technology must complement the people in order to be most effective, and we 
believe we’ve hit the right balance to maximize client outcomes.

This type of insight is core to Ledyard’s focus on making the banking experience more relevant, more convenient and 
safer than ever. For example, in addition to enhancements that improved our online banking platform or streamlined 
our online consumer loan application process, we also introduced a more sophisticated Personal Financial Management 
tool for our clients called MoneyMap. This PFM tool securely provides clients with a seamless ability to view all their  
data in a single platform and enables them to maintain or achieve financial wellness via tools that range from account  
aggregation to debt management. Ultimately, our digital offerings will help us provide better assistance to those  
that seek our expertise.

Building upon our discussion above, we believe that no asset is more necessary or strategic than data itself. 
Recently, International Data Corporation, the premier global provider of market intelligence for the informa-
tion technology market, forecasted that global data creation and replication will experience a compound 
annual growth rate of 23% over the next few years. Therefore, having a strategy to handle and  
interpret this deluge of facts and figures is critical to the success of our business. In the last year, 
we’ve made significant progress in this area by carefully considering ways in which we can 
leverage our core-system information in order to provide the best service and advice. We 
are working diligently to put in place necessary processes and resources required to 
extract, segment and translate the data we have into actionable insight and action 
that best matches a client’s financial needs to Ledyard’s product and service 
solutions. By regularly reaching out to our customers and proactively  
providing them with intelligent financial options, we’ll undoubtedly 
develop even deeper relationships that are predicated on trust, shared 
experiences and thoughtful data-driven guidance.  

LEDYARD NATIONAL BANK 2021 ANNUAL REPORTLETTER FROM THE CEO & BOARD CHAIR

As we mentioned earlier, it’s very gratifying to witness the ways in which Ledyard’s hard work and commitment to its 
neighbors have made a lasting, positive impact on the areas we serve. In addition to our work as bankers, we also  
enthusiastically immersed ourselves in community activities, partnering with local nonprofit organizations to help  
those most in need. For example, a team of employees volunteered at the Willing Hands garden at Cedar Circle Farm  
& Education Center in East Thetford, Vermont, where they prepared nearly 400 lbs. of cabbage, peppers and onions for  
distribution. The food was distributed to area food pantries. Another team came together at Whitman Brook Orchard  
to harvest a record-breaking 2630 POUNDS of apples that was distributed throughout the Upper Valley to help feed the 
hungry. 

As an extension of our community work, Ledyard received meaningful 
acknowledgments from our industry and community. For the second 
year in a row, Ledyard was named by American Banker as One of the 
Best Banks to Work For in 2021. We were also ranked among the Top 
200 publicly traded banks and thrifts under $2 billion in assets in the 
United States by American Banker Magazine for the seventh year in 
a row. And finally, Ledyard was voted Business with the Friendliest 
Employees in the Valley News Reader’s Choice Awards, a designation 
that inspires us to continue finding ways to invest in our employees, 
create meaningful jobs and offer a workplace that allows our staff to 
fully utilize their talents and abilities.

IN THE END, WELL 
OVER TWO  
THOUSAND VOTES 
WERE CAST TO 
HELP US DONATE 
$30,000.

Against this backdrop, Ledyard celebrated its 30-year anniversary in the fall. As we’ve done to celebrate large 
milestones in the past, we integrated our community-giving philosophy into our 30th anniversary celebration. We 
kicked off a charitable giving campaign that served as our thank-you to the community for allowing us to serve 
its financial needs. We asked community members to vote via Ledyard’s Facebook page for the nonprofit organiza-
tion they would most like to see receive a financial contribution from Ledyard. Each of the 10 nonprofits created  
a short video that explained what “community” meant to them. We worked closely with each charity and created  
a broad media plan to increase community exposure and awareness of their missions. In the end, well over two  
thousand votes were cast to help us donate $30,000 to these impressive organizations, and we look forward to  
working with them in the future.

As part of the bank’s 30th anniversary celebration, Ledyard employees proudly present community recognition awards to Concord Coalition to End Homelessness, 
LISTEN, Hartford Dismas House, West Central Behavioral Health (L to R).

LEDYARD NATIONAL BANK 2021 ANNUAL REPORTLETTER FROM THE CEO & BOARD CHAIR

Ledyard National Bank and Willing Hands Come Together in 
Recognition of NH Bank’s Give Back

Willing Hands recovers fresh 
food from farms, grocery 
stores, restaurants and 
wholesalers, and delivers it 
year-round, for free, to 80 
social service organizations 
across the Upper Valley of 
Vermont and New Hampshire. 
Their work is made possible 
by a strong and wide network 
of volunteers, food donors 
and recipient organizations. 
Together, they serve 30,000 
individuals annually with 4 
million servings while mitigat-
ing nearly 1 million pounds of 
carbon dioxide emissions from 
food that would have other-
wise gone to waste. 

On Thursday, October 7th, Ledyard National Bank’s team of eight 
volunteers came together at the beautiful, hillside Whitman  
Brook Orchard to harvest a record-breaking 2630 POUNDS of 
apples. These apples are now in the refrigerated storage at the 
Willing Hands facility in Norwich, Vermont, and will be distributed 
throughout the Upper Valley to our neighbors in need. Whitman 
Brook Orchard has donated apples to Willing Hands for the past  
12 years.

And on Saturday, October 9th, another Ledyard National Bank  
team of five, including Kathy Underwood, Ledyard’s CEO, and her 
husband, John, worked at Cedar Circle Farm and Education Center 
in East Thetford, Vermont, where they prepared nearly 400 lbs. of 
cabbage, peppers and onions for distribution. All of the food grown 
in this 2-acre vegetable garden is done so under volunteer power 
and is distributed to many area food pantries through Willing 
Hands. Our combined efforts build a stronger community in so 
many ways.

LEDYARD NATIONAL BANK 2021 ANNUAL REPORTLETTER FROM THE CEO & BOARD CHAIR

WE HAVE A  
CLEAR PLAN  
FOR GROWTH,  
A STRONG  
BALANCE SHEET 
AND NEW 
 CAPABILITIES.

With the current pace of change, it’s difficult to look 
too far into the crystal ball. Yet, since our inception 
30 years ago, our long-term thinking has enabled us 
to grow stronger. We will continue employing that 
strategy, seeking solutions for tomorrow’s challenges 
and endeavoring to enrich the lives of our clients, col-
leagues and communities. Interestingly, the immense 
disruptions we’ve encountered have presented us with 
new opportunities for growth, ranging from the ways 
we use data to the manner in which we serve clients. 
The investments we make now will allow us to better 
introduce new products and services, offer the 
most relevant financial advice and, ultimate-
ly, drive growth. In the end, our culture 
will determine how far we go, and we 
couldn’t be more optimistic about 
the ways in which we encourage 

continuous learning, creative thinking, constant curiosity and a growth mindset. These last 
few years have afforded us the opportunity to see how the commitment of Ledyard’s 
people, as well as the trust of our clients and shareholders, have resulted in record 
earnings and even greater prospects for the future. We are emerging from the 
pandemic more resilient and aligned than ever before. We enter the new 
year with a clear plan for growth, a strong balance sheet and new  
capabilities that make us very optimistic! 

LEDYARD NATIONAL BANK 2021 ANNUAL REPORTLETTER FROM THE CEO & BOARD CHAIR

As we noted in last year’s report, we are better positioned than ever to address the needs of our personal, business 
and wealth management clients through education, advice, guidance, technology and product set. The following is 
a sampling of key goals that remain consistent with past years:

◆ Continue to improve key financial metrics and increase profitability

◆ Remain focused on growing core revenue and improving efficiency

◆ Grow our dividend steadily and share Ledyard’s success with our shareholders

◆ Serve the core financial needs of our clients

◆ Maintain strong capital and liquidity

◆  Manage risk with appropriate controls, continue to improve credit quality and ensure risk management  

capabilities are in line with regulatory expectations

◆ Invest in tools that maximize our data management and targeting capabilities

◆ Invest in our brand

◆ Invest in technology and cybersecurity

◆ Invest in our people

Thank you to our shareholders, clients, employees and board members for their trust, support and  
confidence in our company. You have been, and will continue to be, the key to Ledyard’s success.

KATHRYN G. UNDERWOOD
President & CEO
Ledyard Financial Group/Ledyard National Bank

Margaret M. Rightmire
Chair
Ledyard Financial Group/Ledyard National Bank

LEDYARD NATIONAL BANK 2021 ANNUAL REPORT2021 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (dollars in thousands, except “Other data”)

YEARS-ENDED DECEMBER 31,

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

FINANCIAL CONDITION DATA

Assets

$  

771,143  

$  

684,707  

$  

500,391  

$  

488,062  

$  

476,630

Investments & interest bearing deposits

364,650

276,594

137,621

143,306

142,798

Gross loans, including loans

  held-for-sale

Allowance for loan loss

Net loans, including loans

  held-for-sale

Deposits

Federal Home Loan

  Bank advances

Other borrowings and liabilities

Shareholders’ equity

OPERATING DATA

Net interest income

Ledyard Financial Advisors income

Other non-interest income

Net gain (loss) on sale of securities

Total revenue

Provision for loan loss

Non-interest expense

Pre-tax income

Income taxes

Net income

OTHER DATA

Earnings per share, basic*

Dividends per share*

Tangible book value per share*

Shares outstanding,

  net of treasury*

Return on average assets

Return on average equity

Efficiency ratio

Stock price 

- high*

- low*

- average*

Assets under management

  and custody (millions)

Equity-to-asset ratio

Allowance for loan losses

to total loans

Allowance for loan losses

to non-performing assets

Texas Ratio

362,677

(7,469)

355,208

675,082

5,627

17,728

72,706

371,916

(7,958)

363,958

589,512

6,729

21,582

66,884

325,268

(5,213)

320,055

393,011

29,783

21,463

56,134

310,776

(5,215)

305,561

409,066

16,433

14,071

48,493

300,608

(5,510)

295,098

401,498

13,966

14,523

46,643

$  

18,274  

$  

16,762  

$  

16,076  

$  

15,484  

$  

14,481

13,169

1,699

168

33,310

(450)

25,287

8,473

708

7,765

11,614

2,023

1,431

31,830

2,700

21,838

7,292

563

6,729

10,887

1,843

(40)

28,766

0

22,102

6,664

848

5,816

10,512

1,682

0

27,678

0

21,752

5,927

775

5,152

9,437

1,388

39

25,345

0

20,137

5,208

1,363

3,845

$  

$  

$  

2.42  

0.80  

21.70  

$  

$  

$  

2.13  

0.76  

20.14  

$  

$  

$  

1.85  

0.74  

17.19  

$  

$  

$  

1.66  

0.70  

15.02  

$  

$  

$  

1.25

0.65 

14.63

3,350,624

3,323,110

3,265,475

3,328,532

3,188,075

1.07%

10.95%

75.91%

1.11%

10.97%

68.59%

1.15%

10.99%

76.81%

1.06%

10.82%

78.51%

$  

$  

$  

27.25  

18.99  

24.13  

$  

$  

$  

26.00  

15.16  

18.75  

$  

$  

$  

25.00  

19.10  

21.05  

$  

$  

$  

24.00  

21.05  

22.17  

$  

$  

$  

$  

1,976  

$  

1,709  

$  

1,723  

$  

1,459  

$  

8.35%

8.78%

10.74%

10.11%

0.78%

8.38%

79.45%

22.99

17.78

20.16

1,513

9.47%

2.06%

2.14%

1.60%

1.68%

1.83%

526%

2.04%

543%

2.36%

446%

2.18%

153%

6.76%

266%

4.31%

* Adjusted for 3-for-1 stock split. Complete Ledyard Financial Group 2021 audited financial statements can be found under “Investor Relations”
at ledyardbank.com. Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior period information to conform to the current period presentation.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM*

BOARD OF DIRECTORS*

Kathryn G. Underwood 
President & Chief Executive Officer

Gregory D. Steverson 
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer  
& Chief Financial Officer

Michael Hakoun 
Executive Vice President & Managing Director 
Ledyard Financial Advisors

Katie-Lee P. Blake 
Vice President & Regional Retail Manager

Bliss Dayton, CRCM 
Senior Vice President & Compliance Officer

Mark Beliveau 
Partner, Gallagher, Flynn & Company, LLP 

Jay Benson 
CEO, Simon Pearce US

Cotton M. Cleveland 
President, Mather Associates

Bruce P. King 
Retired, President & Chief Executive Officer,  
New London Hospital 
Co-Vice Chair, Ledyard Financial Group

Judith M. Maloy 
Director & CEO, Polaris Direct 

Susan Fernald 
Senior Vice President & Senior Banking Operations Officer

Wilhelmina Dingemans Miller 
Director, Downs Rachlin Martin, PLLC

Barbara S. Graf 
Senior Vice President & Human Resources Director 

William E. Kidder, Jr. 
Senior Vice President & Senior Lending Officer 

Scott Laughinghouse 
Senior Vice President & Market Executive

Jeffrey H. Marks 
Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer

Michael M. Parisi 
Senior Vice President & Director of Sales  
and Product Development

Paul W. St. Martin 
Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer

Michael T. Urnezis 
Senior Vice President & Senior Mortgage  
and Consumer Lending Officer

Margaret M. Rightmire 
Chair, Ledyard Financial Group

Teresa Rhodes Rosenberger 
Senior Advisor, Bernstein Shur

Andrew A. Samwick 
Professor & Chair, Department of Economics, 
Dartmouth College 
Co-Vice Chair, Ledyard Financial Group

Kathryn G. Underwood 
President & Chief Executive Officer,  
Ledyard Financial Group

Robert O. Wetzel 
Retired, Senior Partner, Accenture plc

* As of December 31, 2021

LEDYARDBANK.COM   CONCORD | HANOVER | LEBANON | LYME | NEW LONDON | NORWICH, VT | WEST LEBANON   888.746.4562

Personal and business banking relationships within the retail bank are subject to FDIC insurance coverage limits. Investment, tax and wealth management services 
offered by Ledyard Financial Advisors are not insured by the FDIC, are not deposits or other obligations of, or guaranteed by the Bank or any affiliate, and are subject 
to investment risk including the possible loss of principal amount invested.

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Photo on page 4 by David Swillum. Photo on page 7 by Sue Bean. Photo on page 8 by Jerry Bergen.