Company: BCTF
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001552781-25-000058
Chunk: 58

Company: Bancorp 34, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 58
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 can also complete transactions such as paying bills and/or transferring
funds directly without the assistance of banks. The process of eliminating banks as intermediaries, known as “disintermediation,”
could result in the loss of fee income, as well as the loss of customer deposits and the related income generated from those deposits.
The loss of these revenue streams and the lower cost of deposits as a source of funds could have a material adverse effect on our financial
condition and results of operations.

Failure
to keep pace with technological change could adversely affect our business.

The financial services
industry is continually undergoing rapid technological change with frequent introductions of new technology-driven products and services.
The effective use of technology increases efficiency and enables financial institutions to better serve customers and to reduce costs.
Our future success depends, in part, upon our ability to address the needs of our customers by using technology to provide products and
services that will satisfy customer demands, as well as to create additional efficiencies in our operations. Many of our competitors
have substantially greater resources to invest in technological improvements. We may not be able to effectively implement new technology-driven
products and services or be successful in marketing these products and services to our customers. Failure to successfully keep pace with
technological change affecting the financial services industry could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition
and results of operations.

42

Through
technological innovations and changes in client habits, the manner in which clients use financial services continues to change at a rapid
pace.

We provide a large number
of services remotely (online and mobile), and physical branch utilization has been in long-term decline throughout the industry for many
years. Technology has helped us reduce costs and improve service, but also has weakened traditional geographic and relationship ties,
and has allowed disruptors to enter traditional banking areas. Through digital marketing and service platforms, many banks are making
client inroads unrelated to physical presence. This competitive risk is especially pronounced from the largest U.S. banks, and from online-only
banks, due in part to the investments they are able to sustain in their digital platforms. Companies as disparate as PayPal, Coinbase
and Starbucks provide payment and exchange services which compete directly with banks in ways not possible traditionally.

The
nature of technology-driven disruption to our industry is changing, in some cases seeking to displace traditional financial service providers
rather than merely enhance traditional services or their delivery.

A number of recent technologies
have worked with the existing financial system and traditional banks, such as the evolution of ATM cards into debit