Here are 1-3 brief analogies for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO):

• FMAO is like **Bank of America, but localized for northwest Ohio's communities and farms.**
• FMAO is like **a miniature Wells Fargo, serving individuals and small businesses in its Ohio/Indiana region.**
• FMAO is like **the KeyBank of northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana, providing essential banking services to local residents and businesses.**

• Deposit Accounts: Offers a variety of checking, savings, and time deposit accounts, including certificates of deposit, and custodial services for retirement and health savings accounts.
• Commercial Lending: Provides loans for businesses including commercial real estate, machinery purchases, and general lines of credit.
• Agricultural Lending: Specializes in loans for farmland, farm equipment, livestock, and operational expenses such as seeds and fertilizers.
• Residential Mortgage Lending: Funds loans for individuals purchasing or refinancing homes.
• Consumer Lending: Extends loans for personal needs such as home improvements, auto purchases, recreational vehicles, and credit card products.
• Digital Banking & Payment Services: Delivers modern conveniences like online and mobile banking, ATM/ITM services, remote deposit capture, and electronic transaction origination.
• Merchant Services: Offers services to businesses for processing customer credit card payments.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO) operates as a community bank primarily serving a diverse customer base of individuals and small businesses within its geographic footprint in northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana. The company does not have a few "major customers" in the sense of large corporate entities, but rather serves numerous clients across the following categories:

• Individuals: This category includes consumers seeking checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; certificates of deposit; custodial services for individual retirement and health savings accounts; residential mortgage loans; consumer loans for home improvements, autos, trucks, recreational vehicles, and motorcycles; and credit card lending products. They also utilize services like online and mobile banking, and ATM/ITM services.
• Small Businesses: This category encompasses various local enterprises that utilize commercial banking services, including checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; commercial loans (e.g., lines of credit, machinery purchase loans); commercial real estate loans; remote deposit capture; merchant credit card services; and electronic transaction origination.
• Farmers: As a specialized segment within small businesses, farmers are explicitly served with tailored financial products such as agricultural loans for farmland, farm equipment, and livestock, as well as operating loans for seeds, fertilizers, and feeds.

• Visa Inc. (V)
• Mastercard Incorporated (MA)
• Fiserv, Inc. (FISV)

Lars B. Eller, President and Chief Executive Officer

Lars B. Eller has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of F&M Bank since 2018 and Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. since 2019. He possesses a Master of Business Administration degree from McGill University and an undergraduate degree from Concordia University. Prior to joining F&M Bank, Mr. Eller worked as a consultant for Cambridge Savings Bank. In 2013, he became Executive Vice President and Chief Retail Banking Officer at Royal Bank of America. His banking career spans over 30 years, including roles at PNC Bank and TD Bank. Under his leadership, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has expanded its operations into Indiana and Michigan.

Barbara J. Britenriker, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Principal Accounting Officer

Barbara J. Britenriker has been with Farmers & Merchants Bancorp for over 40 years, having joined the bank in the new accounts department and progressing through various operational roles to become Comptroller and then Chief Financial Officer. She is responsible for leading the redesign of the company's finance capabilities to support a bank with $5 billion in total assets, with a focus on financial reporting, cash management, financial systems, and investor relations. Mrs. Britenriker holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Mathematics with Computer Science and Business Administration, and a Master of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Toledo. She has also served on the boards of organizations such as Financial Women International.

David Gerken, Executive Vice President, Chief Lending Officer

David Gerken serves as F&M's Senior Commercial Banking Manager and was promoted to his current position in 2020 after joining the bank in 2016. He has over 30 years of commercial banking experience and oversees the commercial banking activities for F&M, as well as the Western market group of lenders. Mr. Gerken earned a bachelor's degree in management and finance from Defiance College.

Eric Faust, Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer

Eric Faust joined F&M Bank in 2022. He brings a background of multiple roles within the banking, compliance, and regulatory industries, and has experience as a former regulatory examiner.

Katrina DeGroff, Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer

Katrina DeGroff joined F&M Bank in December 2016 and currently serves as Chief Accounting Officer, a role she assumed in 2021. She is accountable for all financial reporting for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. and its subsidiaries, in addition to valuation, verification, and strategic planning initiatives. Ms. DeGroff has almost 30 years of finance experience and studied Accounting at Northwest Technical College and Bowling Green State University. She was appointed to the Northwest State Community College Board of Trustees by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in 2021.

The key risks to Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO) largely stem from its regional banking operations and loan concentrations.

1. Credit Concentrations in Real Estate and Agriculture: Farmers & Merchants Bancorp faces significant exposure due to its concentrated lending in commercial real estate and agriculture, as detailed in its 2025 filings. Agricultural lending inherently carries risks such as adverse weather conditions, pests, diseases, and fluctuations in commodity prices, which can impact farmers' ability to repay loans. Similarly, regional banks often have high geographic and sectoral concentrations in their loan portfolios, making them vulnerable to localized economic downturns or specific sector challenges, such as those seen in commercial real estate.
2. Interest Rate Risk: The company is susceptible to interest rate fluctuations. Rapid increases in interest rates can lead to a decline in the value of fixed-income securities held in the bank's portfolio. More critically, if the interest rates paid on deposits increase faster than the rates earned on loans, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's net interest income and overall profitability could be negatively impacted.
3. Regulatory Scrutiny and Compliance Costs: Farmers & Merchants Bancorp is subject to increasing regulatory scrutiny, particularly concerning overdraft and other consumer fees. This heightened oversight could lead to reduced noninterest income and increased compliance and remediation costs for the company. Additionally, the industry-wide shift towards faster payment systems introduces new operational challenges, including elevated fraud and settlement risks, which could further pressure the bank's profitability and operational resilience.

1. The emergence and growth of digital-first financial institutions (e.g., neo-banks, online-only banks) that attract customers with competitive interest rates, lower fees, and seamless mobile experiences, posing a threat to traditional deposit gathering and customer retention for FMAO's community banking model.

2. Non-bank technology companies (e.g., payment processors, e-commerce platforms, big tech firms) increasingly offering banking-like services, including small business lending, consumer credit, and payment solutions, directly competing with FMAO's commercial, agricultural, and consumer lending products, as well as its merchant services.

The addressable market sizes for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO) main products and services in their operating regions of Ohio and Indiana are as follows:

• Deposit Products (Checking, Savings, Time Deposit Accounts, Certificates of Deposit, Custodial Services):
  • Ohio: Approximately $565.32 billion (Region: Ohio, U.S., as of 2025).
  • Indiana: Approximately $209 billion (Region: Indiana, U.S., as of 2024).
• Residential Mortgage Lending Products (New Home Loans):
  • Ohio: Approximately $25.6 billion (Region: Ohio, U.S., as of 2024).
  • Indiana: Approximately $17.2 billion (Region: Indiana, U.S., as of 2024).
• Small Business Lending Products:
  • Ohio: Approximately $18.4 billion (Region: Ohio, U.S., as of 2024).
  • Indiana: Approximately $12.3 billion (Region: Indiana, U.S., as of 2024).
• Small Farm Loans (Agricultural Lending):
  • Ohio: Approximately $1.4 billion (Region: Ohio, U.S., as of 2024).
  • Indiana: null
• Consumer Lending Products (including home improvement, auto, truck, recreational vehicle, motorcycle, and credit card loans): null
• Commercial Real Estate Loans (beyond small business loans): null
• Automated Teller Machine/Interactive Teller Machine Services, Online and Mobile Banking, Remote Deposit Capture, Electronic Deposit Processing, Merchant Credit Card Services, Electronic Transaction Origination (e.g., Wire and ACH File Transmittal Services): null

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO) anticipates several key drivers to fuel its revenue growth over the next two to three years:

1. Continued Geographic Expansion (Organic and Acquisitive): The company has a strategic focus on expanding its market presence through both opening new offices and making strategic acquisitions. New offices launched in 2023 in locations such as Fort Wayne, Indiana, Birmingham, Michigan, Toledo, Ohio, and Oxford, Ohio, have already begun contributing significantly to new deposits and loans. F&M also completed four acquisitions between 2019 and 2022, and its three-year strategic plan, developed in 2025, continues to emphasize geographic expansion as a core part of its earnings model.
2. Sustained Loan Growth Across Diverse Segments: FMAO expects to drive revenue through consistent growth in its loan portfolio, which spans commercial, agricultural, residential mortgage, consumer, and credit card lending products. The bank has demonstrated steady loan growth, with total loans increasing by 2.6% year-over-year in Q2 2025 and 6.0% year-over-year in Q4 2025.
3. Net Interest Margin (NIM) Improvement and Optimization: The company has shown significant improvement in its net interest margin, which expanded by 62 basis points year-over-year to 3.6% in Q4 2025. Management expressed cautious optimism regarding the stabilization of its net interest margin, anticipating benefits from the repricing of a substantial portion of its loan portfolio, which is expected to enhance profitability in the coming quarters.
4. Strategic Deposit Growth and Efficient Funding Cost Management: F&M is focused on increasing its deposit base and prudently managing the costs associated with interest-bearing liabilities. Total deposits grew by 42.7% from 2021 to 2024, and new offices opened in 2023 contributed significantly to new deposits in 2024. The company aims to continue growing deposits, particularly demand deposit accounts, while carefully controlling interest rates on these accounts to support and expand its net interest margin.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO) Capital Allocation Decisions

Share Repurchases

• Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. authorized a share repurchase program in January 2025 to buy back up to 650,000 shares, representing approximately 4.8% of its outstanding common stock, with the program set to remain in effect until December 31, 2025.
• In January 2026, the company's board approved another share repurchase program, authorizing the buyback of up to 650,000 shares, roughly 4.7% of its outstanding common stock, to continue through December 31, 2026.
• In March 2026, individual share repurchases occurred to cover taxes on vested stock awards for executives; for instance, 1,140 shares were repurchased for the CEO and 221 shares for another executive.

Share Issuance

• In May 2021, FMAO issued 1,833,999 shares of its stock as part of the acquisition of Perpetual Federal Savings Bank.
• FMAO issued shares as part of the acquisition of Peoples-Sidney Financial Corporation in June 2022, where shareholders had the option to elect 0.6597 shares of FMAO stock for each PPSF share, subject to a minimum of 65% stock exchange.
• The company issued stock awards to executives, such as 4,800 vested shares to the CEO in March 2026 and 2,226 common shares to the Chief Risk Officer in March 2026, under the Long-Term Stock Incentive Plan.

Outbound Investments

• In May 2021, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire Perpetual Federal Savings Bank for an implied aggregate value of $103.7 million. PFSB had approximately $391 million in total assets at the time.
• In June 2022, the company announced an agreement to acquire Peoples-Sidney Financial Corporation and its subsidiary, Peoples Federal Savings and Loan Association, for an implied aggregate acquisition value of $27.0 million.
• These acquisitions aimed to expand F&M's community banking franchise and geographic footprint into new markets in Ohio and Indiana.

Capital Expenditures

• In 2023, F&M expanded its physical presence by opening four new bank offices in Oxford, Ohio; Birmingham, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; and a new regional office in downtown Fort Wayne.
• Throughout 2025, F&M made targeted investments to enhance its operating capabilities, expand local decision-making authority across its markets, and establish a new office in Troy, Michigan, to support future growth.