OceanFirst Financial
Annual Report 2020

Plain-text annual report

oceanFirst Financial Corp. 2020 Annual Report AT-A-GLANCE OceanFirst Financial Corp.’s subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank N.A., founded in 1902, is a regional bank operating throughout New Jersey, greater Philadelphia and metropolitan New York City. OceanFirst Bank delivers commercial and residential financing solutions, trust and asset management and deposit services. $11.4 $8.2 $7.5 $5.2 $5.4 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Total Assets (in Billions) Employee Compensation and Benefits Buildings Consulting Equipment/Software Health Monitoring Miscellaneous 66% COMMERCIAL 34 % CONSUMER Loan portfolio 1% 5% 5% 5% 20% $4.5 MILLION 64% 2020 CoviD-19 Expenses Westchester Sussex Passaic Bergen Warren Morris Essex Union Bronx Nassau Queens Kings k r o Y w e N n o s d u H Richmond Northumberland Hunterdon Somerset Lehigh Middlesex Monmouth Bucks Mercer Montgomery Ocean Chester Delaware Philadelphia Burlington Camden Gloucester Salem Atlantic Cumberland Cape May Long Island Suffolk New York Region Daniel J. Harris Regional President Central Region George Destafney Regional President Philadelphia Region Susanne Svizeny Regional President Southern Region Vincent M. D’Alessandro Regional President OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report | 1 FiNANCiAL SuMMArY (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts) At or for the year ended December 31, 2020 2019 2018 2017 Selected Financial Condition Data Total assets Loans receivable, net Deposits Stockholders’ equity Selected operating Data Net interest income Other income Operating expenses (1) Net income (1) $11,448,313 $8,246,145 $7,516,154 $5,416,006 7,704,857 6,207,680 5,579,222 3,965,773 9,427,616 6,328,777 5,814,569 4,342,798 1,484,130 1,153,119 1,039,358 601,941 312,951 255,971 240,502 169,218 73,926 42,165 34,827 27,072 246,431 189,142 186,337 126,520 63,309 88,574 71,932 42,470 Diluted earnings per share (1) 1.02 1.75 1.51 1.28 Selected Financial ratios and other Data (1) Tangible common stockholders’ equity per common share at end of period Cash dividends per common share 14.98 0.68 15.13 0.68 14.26 0.62 13.58 0.60 Tangible stockholders’ equity to tangible assets 8.79 % 9.71 % 9.55 % 8.42 % Return on average assets (1) Return on average tangible stockholders’ equity (1) Net interest margin Operating expenses to average assets (1) Efficiency ratio (1) Non-performing loans as a percent of total loans receivable 0.56 6.81 3.16 2.20 63.70 0.47 1.10 11.96 3.62 2.35 63.44 0.29 0.98 11.16 3.71 2.53 67.68 0.31 0.80 9.82 3.53 2.39 64.46 0.52 (1) Performance ratios for 2020 includes net gain on equity investments, gain on sale of PPP loans, FHLB advance prepayment fees, merger related expenses, branch consolidation expenses, and Two River and Country Bank opening credit loss expense under the CECL model of $14.3 million with an after tax cost of $11.0 million. Performance ratios for 2019 include merger related expenses, branch consolidation expenses, non-recurring professional fees, compensation expense due to the retirement of an executive officer, and the reduction in income tax expense from the revaluation of state deferred tax assets as a result of a change in the New Jersey tax code of $20.6 million with an after tax cost of $16.3 million. Performance ratios for 2018 include merger related expenses, branch consolidation expenses, and an income tax benefit related to Tax Reform of $28.2 million with an after tax cost of $22.2 million. Performance ratios for 2017 include merger related expenses, branch consolidation expenses, and additional income tax expense related to Tax Reform of $18.1 million with an after tax cost of $13.5 million. 2 | OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report 2 | OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report Christopher D. Maher (left) Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Joseph J. Lebel III (right) President and Chief Operating Officer Dear Fellow Shareholders, The events of 2020 imposed nearly unimaginable challenges on people, communities and organizations across our nation and around the world. Yet, these challenging times also provided an opportunity to exhibit courage and leadership. And so, we begin this letter by thanking all the members of our OceanFirst team who showed their courage and leadership – along with compassion, professionalism, initiative and resiliency – in responding to the COVID-19 crisis, while keeping our colleagues and customers safe and maintaining vital financial services. As an organization, we also exhibited leadership in recovering from this difficult year, continuing to invest in talent and technology, and positioning OceanFirst for future growth. From the onset of the pandemic, we knew our customers and communities would be counting on OceanFirst to provide a much-needed financial lifeline. Our response was informed by lessons learned during other periods of extreme hardship, such as the global financial crisis and catastrophic weather events. At a time when institutions and individuals alike would need to shift many day-to-day activities to digital platforms, we were a step ahead thanks to our multi-year efforts to invest in advanced technology to enable online and mobile banking solutions. OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report | 3 Leadership in responding Guided by prior experience, we recognized that to help our customers and neighbors withstand the hardships of COVID-19, and to preserve value for our shareholders, we first had to protect and support our own team members. The critical role that our colleagues played in ensuring the availability of our services and the resiliency of our operations cannot be overstated. Accordingly, our first priorities included transitioning as many employees as possible to a remote working environment, establishing protocols for employees who remained working in our branches and facilities, and offering additional paid time-off for employees whose lives were upended by the Coronavirus. We were one of the first banks in the nation to launch a public, customer-focused COVID-19 assistance and loan forbearance program, beginning in mid-March 2020. Our borrower relief programs enabled business and consumer borrowers most severely affected by COVID-19 to defer certain loan payments and access additional credit. We also ramped up quickly to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Even though we had not been a Small Business Administration (SBA) lender previously, we were “up and running” just a few days after the SBA’s launch of the PPP, and began processing PPP applications via a digital application interface that we built especially for that purpose. As of this writing, we have originated $557 million in PPP loans to 3,451 borrowers – helping to preserve over 64,000 jobs. To ease the hardships experienced by our neighbors, OceanFirst Foundation established a grant program to support non-profit organizations directly impacted by COVID-19. To date, over $390,000 has been granted to 50 organizations, including shelter and housing providers, food banks, community health care providers, education and childcare programs, and others. Additionally, as the initial supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine became available in New Jersey, we partnered with several locally We applaud the healthcare workers for their efforts during the pandemic and vaccine distribution. 4 | OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report “We knew our customers and communities would be counting on OceanFirst to provide a much-needed financial lifeline.” headquartered banks and foundations to pledge $275,000 to area hospitals and health care systems to support their vaccination efforts. Given the uncertain economic environment, we also recognized that maintaining our institutional financial strength and resiliency would be of paramount importance. Drawing on our experience in prior economic crises, we quickly built balance sheet liquidity and augmented contingency funding. To enhance our capital, we issued $181 million in subordinated debt and perpetual stock early in 2020. We also took measures to limit our credit risk by disposing of $89.3 million in higher-risk loans. Through these and related actions, we fortified OceanFirst’s liquidity and capital, and worked to reduce the pandemic’s impact on our long-term earnings power. Leadership in recovery Despite the unprecedented challenges of the past year, OceanFirst remained a strong and profitable Company. For 2020, net income available to common stockholders was $61.2 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, compared to $88.6 million, or $1.75 per diluted share, for 2019. Our 2020 results reflected substantial provisions for credit losses due to increased credit reserves held against potential losses and net interest margin compression, both primarily related to the pandemic. Positively, the fourth quarter of 2020 told a much stronger story, as our early and decisive actions in responding to COVID-19 drove an improvement in our financial performance. In fact, the Company set a record for quarterly GAAP earnings in the three months ended December 31, 2020, with net income available to common stockholders of $32.1 million, including certain non-recurring gains, an increase of nearly 37% as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. Diluted earnings per share rose to $0.54 for the 2020 fourth quarter, up from $0.47 per diluted share for the year-earlier period. Our fourth quarter earnings rebound also was reflected in strong performance metrics. Return on average assets for the 2020 fourth quarter was 1.12%, nearly equal to the 1.14% level of the 2019 fourth quarter. Return on average tangible stockholders’ equity was 13.85% for the 2020 fourth quarter, compared to 12.33% for the same period in 2019. Reflecting our efforts to control expenses, even in the face of higher COVID-driven costs, the efficiency ratio improved to 59.86% from 63.82% as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report | 5 The successful completion and integration of two acquisitions in 2020 – Two River Bancorp (“Two River”) in New Jersey and Country Bank Holding Company, Inc. (“Country”) in New York – continued the strategic expansion of our OceanFirst franchise. Through these acquisitions, as well as organic growth, total assets rose to $11.4 billion as of year-end 2020. Largely due to the additional market presence afforded by the acquisitions and our organic commercial lending expansion in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, net loans ended the year at $7.7 billion. Deposits rose to $9.4 billion, including $1.5 billion from organic growth. Due to our disciplined credit culture and prudent management of the loan portfolio during the pandemic, OceanFirst ended 2020 with its solid credit quality intact. At the peak, we had over $1.4 billion of loans subject to forbearance for COVID-19 related requests; that number decreased to $31 million (excluding loans on interest only status) at year-end. We reinforced our credit quality, in part, by selling $89.3 million in under-performing loans during the year, mainly in the fourth quarter. While this action resulted in modest charge- offs, the reduction in underperforming loans allows our team to concentrate on driving organic growth in 2021, and has removed a possible impediment to our future earnings momentum. Reflecting our timely actions, non-accrual loans as of December 31, 2020, were 0.47% of total loans, compared to 0.29% a year earlier. The allowance for credit losses as a percent of total non-performing loans increased to 167% at December 31, 2020, up from 94% at December 31, 2019. positioned for performance OceanFirst’s ability to maintain relatively strong earnings and credit quality in a tough year is gratifying, but we must emphasize that the focus of our efforts went well beyond a single quarter or year. Throughout the disruption and uncertainty caused by COVID-19, our team never took their eyes off the long-term goal: positioning OceanFirst to emerge from the pandemic as a stronger company, ready to move on to our next phase of growth and value-creation. Consequently, we continued to invest in the people, plans and resources that will be essential to thrive in a post-pandemic business environment. The expansion of our commercial banking franchise has been a key element of our plans to build a platform for profitable growth. In the past few years, we have broadened OceanFirst’s footprint into the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas and added “Since our IPO in July of 1996, we are proud to have built a thriving regional bank while providing a total shareholder return of over 473%.” 6 | OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report Our employees are the foundation of our customer service, even in this digital age, and will have a state-of-the-art work environment in our new facility. 22 experienced commercial relationship managers extremely well-positioned to thrive in this dynamic and support personnel. The acquisitions of Two environment. Our investments in technology River and Country further deepened our market have prepared the Bank for significant volume penetration and increased our talent pool. Our increases in our digital products and services. organic loan production of $2.2 billion for 2020 is Online account openings in 2020 were up 148% in large part a reflection of this approach. We plan from the prior year, while interactions with video to continue our commercial banking expansion tellers increased 32% over the same period. In initiatives in 2021 by adding seasoned loan fact, our video bankers have now completed teams in new Loan Production Offices (LPOs) more than 200,000 video transactions for our located in selected attractive East Coast and clients. We are also seeing positive results Middle Atlantic metropolitan markets. As of this from our partnership with and capital investment writing, we recently opened an LPO in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, to serve the northern part of the in Nest Egg, a hybrid “robo-advisor”. At the end of 2020, Nest Egg’s assets under administration state, and are considering additional locations were nearly $100 million – well more than double in Pennsylvania and other major metropolitan the year-ago level. Nest Egg also benefited from regions throughout the Northeast. our early embrace of video, as more than 2,700 We also have continued to pursue a long- established strategy of investing in digital banking financial consultations were completed over video since launching this service. capabilities. Pandemic-related restrictions on There are a number of other initiatives both people and organizations have accelerated underway, which respond to the changing a number of trends that were already in place, needs of consumers and businesses. For such as the digitalization of commerce and example, our Customer Care Center was ready a shift to more flexible work policies. We are and able to serve customers who no longer had OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report | 7 access to branch offices due to pandemic super branches will not have traditional teller restrictions. Calls handled by our Customer lines, but rather will provide a welcoming, open Care Center agents were up 31.9% in 2020. environment where universal bankers can assist We are in the process of re-envisioning and customers with a wide range of transactions, upgrading the Customer Care Center as part products and services, and financial advisory of the expansion of our headquarters campus needs. The first of these new-style branches under construction in Toms River, NJ. This opened in December at our headquarters 80,000 square-foot expansion and renovation campus in Toms River, and we will also use of our existing campus includes a dedicated this design for our first-ever retail location in area to create and nurture relationships with Philadelphia, which is expected to open in Center our customers through interactions by phone, City in July. Future new or redesigned branches video and chat. We have also created a secure, are also planned for Brick Township and Point state-of-the-art Security Operations Center to Pleasant, NJ. coordinate Company-wide efforts to protect our customers and their data from a variety of threats, including cybersecurity breaches and weather incidents. Early in 2021, we expanded our range of digital financial services by making a non-controlling equity investment in Auxilior Capital Partners, Inc. (“Auxilior”). Based in Pennsylvania and With many customer transactions shifting to operating nationally, Auxilior is a provider of digital channels, we are rethinking the function asset-based supply chain finance services and format of our brick-and-mortar branches. for clients including manufacturers, dealers, We will be enhancing several locations based franchise partners and end-user customers, on what we are calling our “super branch” using a technology-enabled credit and model. Conceived as regional hubs, these documentation platform. This investment Our Information Security team leads the efforts in our new Security Operations Center. 8 | OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report Our employees are our dedicated WaveMakers helping our neighbors. provides OceanFirst with access to a set of At OceanFirst we believe that a commitment to financing solutions that complement our existing diversity and inclusion must begin at the highest commercial credit services, broaden our client levels of any organization. We are proud that four of base and geographic scope, and build upon the the members of our Board of Directors are women, technology expertise of the Auxilior team. Our including one Black and one Latina member. investment in Nest Egg provided the model for In 2020, we welcomed Dr. Patricia L. Turner as this association with Auxilior. One thing that is abundantly clear from the vast changes taking place in technology, customer needs and business models, is that companies must become more aggressive in attracting and cultivating a new generation of employees with diverse backgrounds, skills and perspectives. This need became even more apparent in 2020 following the protests over racial injustice, as well as the inequitable human and economic toll of COVID-19. For banking institutions in particular, who are entrusted with serving the the newest member of our Board. Dr. Turner is a prominent Black physician, medical educator and advocate for quality patient care. She currently serves both as director of the division of member services for the American College of Surgeons, and as a clinical associate professor of surgery at The University of Chicago School of Medicine. At a time when healthcare is an increasingly important issue for customers, employees and communities, as well as a major contributor to our region’s economy, Dr. Turner’s credentials make her a valuable addition to the Board. financial needs of our communities, there must We will continue to work diligently to improve be a greater effort to hire and promote people our performance with respect to diversity and who look like those communities. inclusion, extending from Board and executive leadership to every level of the Company. OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report | 9 A Strategy of Leadership In July 2021, OceanFirst will celebrate a milestone: the 25th anniversary of our initial public offering (IPO). Since our IPO in July of 1996, we are proud to have built a thriving regional bank while also providing a total shareholder return of over 473%, as of April 5, 2021. At our conversion to a stock entity we also pioneered the first-ever bank foundation created in connection with an IPO, the OceanFirst Foundation. To-date, OceanFirst vision, to lead in innovation, service, growth and value, with an emphasis on the following elements: • Expanding and diversifying our talent pool and geography, especially in commercial banking, to support organic growth while maintaining our exceptional service and strong financial performance. • Pursuing expansion opportunities, through organic means and targeted acquisitions, to drive high quality, profitable growth. Foundation has provided over $40 million of • Continuing to invest in the technologies, grants to non-profits in our community. Our Company has clearly demonstrated that we can “do good while also doing well.” Many aspects of our industry, the global economy, and the needs of our customers and communities have changed in the intervening quarter-century. The changes brought about by the pandemic and other forces in the past year alone will be felt for years to come. That said, at OceanFirst we will continue to be guided by a consistent strategic systems and capabilities that will support innovation, quality service and operating efficiency. • Further developing and scaling our internal control and risk management systems and processes to support our aspirations as a successful regional banking institution. • Continuing to manage our capital, liquidity, credit quality and expenses in a manner that will enhance OceanFirst’s ability to deliver sustainable growth and increasing shareholder value. ) % ( n r u t e r l a t o t 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 6.67 8.50 27.4 525.2 30.03 473.3 23.82 22.93 330.7 ) $ ( e c i r p k c o t s 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 07/03/1996 12/31/1996 12/31/2006 12/31/2016 04/05/2021 Creating Shareholder value for 25 Years (Includes stock splits and dividends) Total Return (%) Stock Price ($) 10 | OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report Let us conclude as we began, by thanking our team members for their exceptional performance during an extremely difficult year. We have always known that we have an extraordinary group of people at OceanFirst, but they once again demonstrated remarkable spirit, ingenuity and dedication, and for that we are deeply grateful. We also appreciate the confidence placed in OceanFirst by our customers and stockholders, and the sound guidance provided by our Board of Directors. We will continue to work diligently to be worthy of your support, by leading with integrity, determination, and a passion for excellence. “At OceanFirst, we will continue to be guided by a consistent strategic vision, to lead in innovation, service, growth and value.” Christopher D. Maher Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Joseph J. Lebel III President and Chief Operating Officer OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report | 11 oceanFirst Financial Corp. oceanFirst Bank BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIRECTORS EMERITUS OCEANFIRST BANK Angelo J. Catania Retired Homestar Services, LLC Anthony R. Coscia, Esq. Partner Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP Michael D. Devlin Retired Cape Bancorp, Inc. Jack M. Farris Retired Verizon Communications, Inc. Kimberly M. Guadagno, Esq. President and CEO Fulfill Nicos Katsoulis Retired Sun National Bank John K. Lloyd Retired Hackensack Meridian Health Christopher D. Maher Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer OceanFirst Bank, N.A. William D. Moss Retired Two River Bancorp Joseph M. Murphy, Jr. Retired Country Bank Holding Company, Inc. Steve M. Scopellite Consultant Self-Employed Grace C. Torres Trustee Prudential Retail Mutual Funds Patricia L. Turner, MD Director of Member Services American College of Surgeons Grace M. Vallacchi Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer OceanFirst Bank, N.A. John E. Walsh Senior Vice President T & M Associates, Inc. John W. Chadwick John R. Garbarino Robert E. Knemoller Donald E. McLaughlin Diane F. Rhine James T. Snyder OCEANFIRST FINANCIAL CORP. CORPORATE OFFICERS Christopher D. Maher Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph J. Lebel III Chief Operating Officer Michael J. Fitzpatrick Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Steven J. Tsimbinos Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary Grace M. Vallacchi Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer Jill Apito Hewitt Senior Vice President and Investor Relations Officer Angela K. Ho Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer David R. Howard First Senior Vice President and Treasurer B. Matthew McCue Vice President and Assistant Corporate Secretary EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Christopher D. Maher Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Joseph J. Lebel III President and Chief Operating Officer Michele B. Estep Executive Vice President Chief Administrative Officer Michael J. Fitzpatrick Executive Vice President Chief Financial Officer Anthony Giordano III Executive Vice President Chief Retail Banking Officer Stanley J. Koreyva Executive Vice President Commercial Construction & Real Estate Karthik K. Sridharan Executive Vice President Chief Information Officer Steven J. Tsimbinos Executive Vice President General Counsel Grace M. Vallacchi Executive Vice President Chief Risk Officer REGIONAL PRESIDENTS Vincent M. D’Alessandro Southern New Jersey George Destafney Central New Jersey Daniel J. Harris Metropolitan New York Susanne Svizeny Greater Philadelphia SENIOR VICE PRESIDENTS Carlo Alibrandi Commercial Lending Thomas A. Ando Commercial Lending 12 | OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: OCFC) 2020 Annual Report Nina Anuario Government Banking Lauren S. Bell Human Resources Michelle J. Berry Residental Loan Originations Edward A. Hlavach Chief Auditor Angela K. Ho Chief Accounting Officer Denise A. Horner Associate General Counsel Elizabeth A. Nugent Risk Management Rachel M. O’Keefe Trust & Asset Management Steven L. Pellegrinelli Commercial Lending Murtuza Bhinderwala Application & Information Services David R. Howard First Senior Vice President & Treasurer Jeana M. Piscatelli Treasury Management Sean D. Kauffman Commercial Lending Mariano C. Pizzichini Commercial Lending E. Scott Keller Secondary Market & Construction Lending Michele A. Powelczyk Commercial Credit Administration Janet M. Bossi Residental Loan Originations Michael A. Boyd Chief Compliance Officer Shannan Boyd Commercial Loan Operations Patrick Chong Corporate Controller Michael J. Coleman Commercial Lending Stephen Conti Retail Banking Sharon L. Danielson Retail Customer Service Samuel S. Davis Deputy Chief Credit Officer Craig DeGenova Commerical Lending Steven P. DeLuise Commerical Lending Edward J. Dixon III Commercial Lending Bradley J. Fouss Commercial Lending Edward J. Geletka Government Banking Christine R. Gray Chief of Staff Mark A. Harhigh Commercial Credit Administration Michele E. Hart Associate General Counsel Jill Apito Hewitt Investor Relations & Corporate Communications Robert L. Kilgour Application & Information Services James B. Kruzinski Commercial Lending Joseph A. LaDuca Finance Robert A. Laskowski Treasurer Raymond C. Leahy Commercial Lending Eric K. Mason Commercial Lending Stacy S. Mattia Commercial Lending Nancy L. Mazza Retail Product Sales Michael Messina Commercial Lending Neena M. Miller Chief Credit Officer Timothy Moffett Commercial Lending Rebecca Rothstein Digital Banking Bradford Sahler Treasury Management Brian E. Schaeffer Chief Information Security Officer Paul Seidenwar Commercial Lending Alicia F. Smith Retail Banking AnnMarie Sorena Commercial Lending Kellie M. Spawton Security Noel M. Spear Real Estate Operations Melissa Sterling Treasury Management Frank W. Sutton Commercial Lending William G. Toner Chief Technology Officer James F. Waldron Commercial Lending Michael C.K. Moorhead Commercial Credit Administration Suzanne L. Wegryn Commercial Credit Administration Edward K. Moran Commercial Lending Veronica Morey Retail Banking Patricia A. Nelson Human Resources William Winans Commercial Lending Eric H. Wong Commercial Lending Wendy L. Wright Commercial Credit Administration Michael DellaBarca Commerical Credit Administration Scott McLaughlin Commercial Credit Administration www.oceanfirst.com | NASDAQ: OCFC | 888.623.2633 HEADQUARTERS (HQ2) ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES 110 West Front Street Red Bank, NJ 07701 HEADQUARTERS (HQ1) OPERATIONS CENTER 975 Hooper Avenue Toms River, NJ 08754-2009 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS The Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held on May 19, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. Stockholders may INVESTOR RELATIONS Copies of the Company’s earnings releases and financial publications, including the annual report on Form 10-K (without exhibits) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission are available without charge by contacting: Jill Apito Hewitt, Senior Vice President, Extension 7516 or investorrelations@oceanfirst.com INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM KPMG LLP participate in a virtual meeting. 51 John F. Kennedy Parkway Instructions to access the Short Hills, NJ 07078 STOCK TRANSFER AND REGISTRAR Shareholders wishing to change the name, address or ownership of stock, to report lost certificates or to consolidate accounts are asked to contact the Company’s stock registrar and transfer agent directly: Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions P.O. Box 1342 Brentwood, NY 11717 (877) 724-6454 virtual meeting will be mailed to all stockholders eligible to participate and is available at the Investor Relations area at www.oceanfirst.com. 

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