Santa Cruz County Bank Makes American Banker Magazine's Top 200 Best Performing Community Banks and Thrifts in the United States

SANTA CRUZ, Calif., May 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Santa Cruz County Bank (OTC: SCZC) announced today its rank as 12^th in the Top Performing 200 Community Banks and Thrifts in the United States. This is the sixth consecutive year Santa Cruz County Bank has ranked in the Top 200 Community Banks and Thrifts in the United States. Performance data and rankings were released in American Banker Magazine's May 2019 publication. A total of 601 publicly traded institutions, with less than $2 billion in assets, were included in the nationwide ranking. Ranking was based upon 3-year average return on equity for the years ending December 31, 2016, 2017 and 2018.  

Santa Cruz County Bank ranked 4^th in the state out of a total of 26 California banks ranked in American Banker Magazine's Top 200 Community Bank list. The median 3-year return on average equity for the top 200 banks was 9.89% compared to a median of 6.95% for all 633 institutions. Santa Cruz County Bank's 3-year average return on equity was 12.97%.

David Heald, President and CEO commented, "In the past six years we have progressed from 115^th in rank to 12^th in the nation. Our continuous improvement is the result of our focus and commitment to maintain top performance within our industry. Our Board of Directors, our Management team and our entire staff are to be commended for our performance."

ABOUT SANTA CRUZ COUNTY BANK
Santa Cruz County Bank, founded in 2004, is a top rated, locally owned and operated full-service community bank headquartered in Santa Cruz, California. The bank operates five branches located in Aptos, Capitola, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Watsonville. The bank offers a variety of competitive deposit and lending solutions for businesses and individuals; including business loans, lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, agricultural loans, SBA and USDA government guaranteed loans,  merchant services, remote deposit capture, mobile and online banking, bill payment, and cash management. The bank's SBA Department has been recognized as a top SBA lender in Santa Cruz County and in the Silicon Valley. Santa Cruz County Bank is a top USDA lender in the state of California.

Santa Cruz County Bank stock is publicly traded on the OTC marketplace under the stock symbol SCZC. Stock purchase orders may be placed through a brokerage firm or one of the Market Makers listed in the Investor Relations section of the bank's website. For more information about Santa Cruz County Bank, visit www.sccountybank.com.

2018 NATIONAL, STATE, AND LOCAL RATINGS AND AWARDS
S&P Global Top 100 Community Banks: Santa Cruz County Bank ranked 35^th in the nation out of nearly 3,000 banks with assets under $3 billion based upon 2018 performance. The Bank has ranked in the Top 100 Community Banks by S&P Global for three consecutive years.

Seifried & Brew: Santa Cruz County Bank ranked as an optimal performer in the prestigious Seifried & Brew 2018 Top 15^th Percentile. The Top 15^th Percentile represents a select group of high-performing banks that are made up of the best 782 out of 5,213 community banks in the nation. Within the Top 15^th, Santa Cruz County Bank ranked at number 267 nationally and ranked 7^th in the Top 10 list for the state of California.

Financial Management Consulting (FMC) Group: Santa Cruz County Bank has ranked in FMC's top ten banks in California for the past four years.

Findley Reports, Inc.:  Santa Cruz County Bank was designated a "Super Premier" performing bank for a ninth consecutive year based upon 2018 financial performance.

Bauer Financial Reports, Inc.: Santa Cruz County Bank is rated 5-star or "Superior" based upon its financial performance.

The Bank ranks 8^th in the Silicon Valley for the number of SBA loans lent to Silicon Valley businesses for the SBA's 2018 fiscal year.

RECENT COMMUNITY AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, 2018 Business of the Year Award.

Farm Bureau of Santa Cruz County, 2018 Al Smith Friend of Agriculture Award, for support of the agricultural industry and providing access to capital.

Second Harvest Food Bank, Platinum Level Award for the Bank's 2018 Holiday Food & Fund Drive.

Voted "Best Bank" by the readers of Good Times for the Best of Santa Cruz County 2019 Awards, for the seventh consecutive year.

Voted "Favorite Bank" by the readers of Santa Cruz Waves Magazine for the 2019 Swellies Awards.

This release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties may include but are not necessarily limited to fluctuations in interest rates, inflation, government regulations and general economic conditions, and competition within the business areas in which the Bank is conducting its operations, including the real estate market in California and other factors beyond the Bank's control. Such risks and uncertainties could cause results for subsequent interim periods or for the entire year to differ materially from those indicated. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which reflect management's view only as of the date hereof. The Bank undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

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SOURCE Santa Cruz County Bank