# EDGAR Filing Document

**Accession Number:** 0001531031
**File Stem:** 0001104659-26-027706
**Filing Date:** 2026-3
**Character Count:** 492234
**Document Hash:** 3c3a4502e78e71e46267958db3fac915
**Contains OCR:** False
**Source Format:** 

## Filing Content

## Filing Summary
**0001104659-26-027706.hdr.sgml**: 20260313

**ACCESSION NUMBER**: 0001104659-26-027706

**CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE**: 10-K

**PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT**: 114

**CONFORMED PERIOD OF REPORT**: 20251231

**FILED AS OF DATE**: 20260313

**DATE AS OF CHANGE**: 20260313

**FILER**: 

**COMPANY DATA:**
- **COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:** Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.
- **CENTRAL INDEX KEY:** 0001531031
- **STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:** COMMERCIAL BANKS, NEC [6029]
- **ORGANIZATION NAME:** 02 Finance
- **EIN:** 000000000
- **STATE OF INCORPORATION:** MD
- **FISCAL YEAR END:** 1231

**FILING VALUES:**
- **FORM TYPE:** 10-K
- **SEC ACT:** 1934 Act
- **SEC FILE NUMBER:** 001-38131
- **FILM NUMBER:** 26752947

**BUSINESS ADDRESS:**
- **STREET 1:** 100 JERICHO QUADRANGLE
- **STREET 2:** SUITE 100
- **CITY:** JERICHO
- **STATE:** NY
- **ZIP:** 11753
- **BUSINESS PHONE:** (800) 996-0213

**MAIL ADDRESS:**
- **STREET 1:** 100 JERICHO QUADRANGLE
- **STREET 2:** SUITE 100
- **CITY:** JERICHO
- **STATE:** NY
- **ZIP:** 11753

?xml version='1.0' encoding='ASCII'? Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc._December 31, 2025

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**UNITED STATESSECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION**

**Washington, D.C. 20549**

**FORM 10-K**

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

**For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2025**

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number: **001-38131**

**Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.**

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Maryland** | **27-5107901** |
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
| **100 Jericho Quadrangle, Suite 100, Jericho, New York** | **11753** |
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip code) |

---

**(516) 535-2002**

(Registrant's telephone number including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Title of each class** | **Trading**<br>**Symbol(s)** | **Name of each exchange on which registered** |
| Common Stock, $0.01 par value | ESQ | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |

---

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: **None**

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ⌧ No ◻

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ◻ No ⌧

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ⌧ No ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ⌧ No ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ◻ Accelerated filer ☒ Non-accelerated filer ◻ Smaller reporting company ◻ Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant's executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to § 240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate value of the voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the closing price of the common stock of $94.66 as of June 30, 2025, was $676.6 million.

As of March 1, 2026, there were 8,636,809 shares outstanding of the registrant's common stock.

**DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE**

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1. Portions of the Proxy Statement for the 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. (Part III)

------

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**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  |  | **PAGE** |
| [PART I](#PARTI_92220) |  | 2  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 1.](#ITEM1Business_481742) | [Business](#ITEM1Business_481742) | 2  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 1A.](#ITEM1ARiskFactors_991154) | [Risk Factors](#ITEM1ARiskFactors_991154) | 26  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 1B.](#ITEM1BUnresolvedStaffComments_218502) | [Unresolved Staff Comments](#ITEM1BUnresolvedStaffComments_218502) | 43  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 1C.](#ITEM1CCybersecurity)  | [Cybersecurity](#ITEM1CCybersecurity) | 43  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 2.](#ITEM2Properties_313819) | [Properties](#ITEM2Properties_313819) | 44  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 3.](#ITEM3LegalProceedings_928029) | [Legal Proceedings](#ITEM3LegalProceedings_928029) | 45  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 4.](#ITEM4MineSafetyDisclosures_826075) | [Mine Safety Disclosures](#ITEM4MineSafetyDisclosures_826075) | 45  |
| [PART II](#PARTII_145489) |  | 46  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 5.](#ITEM5MarketforRegistrantsCommonEquityRel) | [Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities](#ITEM5MarketforRegistrantsCommonEquityRel) | 46  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 6.](#ITEM6SelectedFinancialData_741188) | [\[Reserved\]](#ITEM6SelectedFinancialData_741188) | 48  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 7.](#ITEM7ManagementsDiscussionandAnalysisofF) | [Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations](#ITEM7ManagementsDiscussionandAnalysisofF) | 49  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 7A.](#ITEM7AQuantitativeandQualitativeDisclosu) | [Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk](#ITEM7AQuantitativeandQualitativeDisclosu) | 71  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 8.](#ITEM8FinancialStatementsandSupplementary) | [Financial Statements and Supplementary Data](#ITEM8FinancialStatementsandSupplementary) | 72  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 9.](#ITEM9ChangesInandDisagreementsWithAccoun) | [Changes In and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure](#ITEM9ChangesInandDisagreementsWithAccoun) | 112  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 9A.](#ITEM9AControlsandProcedures_893860) | [Controls and Procedures](#ITEM9AControlsandProcedures_893860) | 112  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 9B.](#ITEM9BOtherInformation_28161) | [Other Information](#ITEM9BOtherInformation_28161) | 112  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 9C.](#_ITEM_9C._Disclosure) | [Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections](#_ITEM_9C._Disclosure) | 112  |
| [PART III](#PARTIII_652314) |  | 113  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 10.](#ITEM10DirectorsExecutiveOfficersandCorpo) | [Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance](#ITEM10DirectorsExecutiveOfficersandCorpo) | 113  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 11.](#ITEM11ExecutiveCompensation_268389) | [Executive Compensation](#ITEM11ExecutiveCompensation_268389) | 113  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 12.](#ITEM12SecurityOwnershipofCertainBenefici) | [Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters](#ITEM12SecurityOwnershipofCertainBenefici) | 113  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 13.](#ITEM13CertainRelationshipsandRelatedTran) | [Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence](#ITEM13CertainRelationshipsandRelatedTran) | 113  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 14.](#ITEM14PrincipalAccountantFeesandServices) | [Principal Accountant Fees and Services](#ITEM14PrincipalAccountantFeesandServices) | 113  |
| [PART IV](#PARTIV_673865) |  | 114  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 15.](#ITEM15ExhibitsandFinancialStatementSched) | [Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules](#ITEM15ExhibitsandFinancialStatementSched) | 114  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[ITEM 16.](#ITEM16Form10KSummary_27476) | [Form 10-K Summary](#ITEM16Form10KSummary_27476) | 115  |
| [SIGNATURES](#SIGNATURES_854104) | [SIGNATURES](#SIGNATURES_854104) | 116  |

---

i

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#### PART I

#### ITEM 1. Business

#### Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, future events and our financial performance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "may," "might," "should," "could," "predict," "potential," "believe," "expect," "attribute," "continue," "will," "anticipate," "seek," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "projection," "goal," "target," "outlook," "aim," "would," "annualized" and "outlook," or the negative version of those words or other comparable words or phrases of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Accordingly, we caution you that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, actual results may prove to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements:

● our ability to manage our operations under the current economic conditions nationally and in our market area;

● adverse changes in the financial industry, securities, credit and national local real estate markets (including real estate values);

● risks related to a high concentration of loans secured by real estate located in our market area;

● risks related to a high concentration of loans and deposits dependent upon the legal and "litigation" market;

● the impact of any potential strategic transactions;

● unexpected outflows of uninsured deposits could require us to sell investment securities at a loss;

● our ability to enter new markets successfully and capitalize on growth opportunities;

● significant increases in our credit losses, including as a result of our inability to resolve classified and nonperforming assets or reduce risks associated with our loans, and management's assumptions in determining the adequacy of the allowance for credit losses;

● interest rate fluctuations, which could have an adverse effect on our profitability;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;● The imposition of tariffs or other domestic or international governmental policies impacting the value of the products of our borrowers;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;● the impact of a potential federal government shutdown;

● external economic and/or market factors, such as changes in monetary and fiscal policies and laws, including the interest rate policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB"), inflation or deflation,

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changes in the demand for loans, and fluctuations in consumer spending, borrowing and savings habits, which may have an adverse impact on our financial condition;

● continued or increasing competition from other financial institutions, credit unions, and non-bank financial services companies, many of which are subject to different regulations than we are;

● credit risks of lending activities, including changes in the level and trend of loan delinquencies and write-offs and in our allowance for credit losses and provision for credit losses;

● our success in increasing our legal and "litigation" market lending;

● our ability to attract and maintain deposits and our success in introducing new financial products;

● losses suffered by merchants or Independent Sales Organizations ("ISOs") with whom we do business;

● our ability to effectively manage risks related to our payment processing business;

● changes in interest rates generally, including changes in the relative differences between short-term and long-term interest rates and in deposit interest rates, that may affect our net interest margin and funding sources;

● fluctuations in the demand for loans;

● technological changes that may be more difficult or expensive than expected;

● changes in consumer spending, borrowing and savings habits;

● declines in our payment processing income as a result of reduced demand, competition and changes in laws or government regulations or policies affecting financial institutions, which could result in, among other things, increased deposit insurance premiums and assessments, capital requirements, regulatory fees and compliance costs;

● changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the bank regulatory agencies, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB"), the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board;

● loan delinquencies and changes in the underlying cash flows of our borrowers;

● the impairment of our investment securities;

● our ability to control costs and expenses;

● the failure or security breaches of computer systems on which we depend;

● acts of war, terrorism, natural disasters, global market disruptions, including global pandemics or political instability;

● the effects of any federal government shutdown or reduction in force;

● competition and innovation with respect to financial products and services by banks, financial institutions and non-traditional providers, including retail businesses and technology companies;

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● changes in our organization and management and our ability to retain or expand our management team and our board of directors, as necessary;

● the costs and effects of legal, compliance and regulatory actions, changes and developments, including the initiation and resolution of legal proceedings, regulatory or other governmental inquiries or investigations, and/or the results of regulatory examinations and reviews;

● our ability to successfully complete our merger with Signature Bancorporation, Inc. ("Signature") by receiving shareholder and regulatory approvals and integrate into our operations Signature's assets, liabilities or systems we acquired, as well as new management personnel or customers, and our ability to realize related revenue synergies and cost savings within expected time frames and any goodwill charges related thereto;

● the ability of key third-party service providers to perform their obligations to us; and

● other economic, competitive, governmental, legal, regulatory and operational factors affecting our operations, pricing, products and services described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with other cautionary statements that are included in this Annual Report. If one or more events related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may differ materially from what we anticipate. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict those events or how they may affect us. In addition, we cannot assess the impact of each factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.'s electronic filings with the SEC, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as amended, are made available at no cost in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website, www.esquirebank.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after the Company files such material with, or furnishes it to, the SEC. The Company's SEC filings are also available through the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

#### Our Company
Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. ("Esquire Financial" or the "Company") is a financial holding company headquartered in Jericho, New York and registered under the Bank Holding Company Act ("BHCA") of 1956, as amended (the "BHC Act"). Through our wholly owned bank subsidiary, Esquire Bank, National Association ("Esquire Bank" or the "Bank"), we are a full service commercial bank dedicated to serving the financial needs of the legal and small business communities on a national basis, as well as commercial and retail customers in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan markets. We offer tailored banking products and solutions to the legal community and their clients as well as dynamic and flexible payment processing solutions to small business owners, both on a national basis. We also offer traditional banking products for businesses and consumers in our local market areas (subsets of the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan markets). We believe these activities, anchored by our legal community focus, generate a stable source of low cost core deposits and a diverse asset base to support our overall operations. Our commercial loans tailored to the litigation market ("Litigation-Related Loans") come with low cost core operating and escrow deposits, enhancing our overall yield on our loan portfolio, and enabling us to earn attractive risk-adjusted net interest margins. Additionally, our payment processing activities to small businesses nationally generate a relatively stable source of fee income. We believe our unique and dynamic business model distinguishes us from other banks and non-bank financial services companies in the markets we operate as demonstrated by comparing our performance metrics for the years ended 2025 and 2024.

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On March 11, 2026, the Company, Esquire Merger Sub, Inc., a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of the Company ("Merger Sub"), and Signature Bancorporation, Inc. entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (as may be amended, modified or supplemented from time to time in accordance with its terms, the "merger agreement"), pursuant to which Esquire and Signature have agreed to combine their respective businesses.

Under the merger agreement, Merger Sub will merge with and into Signature, with Signature as the surviving entity (the "merger"), and immediately following the merger, Signature will merge with and into the Company, with the Company as the surviving entity (the "second step merger"). Immediately following the second step merger, Signature Bank, an Illinois-chartered non-member bank and a wholly owned subsidiary of Signature ("Signature Bank"), will merge with and into Esquire Bank, with Esquire Bank as the surviving bank (the "bank merger" and, together with the merger and the second step merger, the "mergers").

Under the terms of the merger agreement, shareholders of Signature will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 2.63 shares of Esquire common stock for each share of Signature common stock, subject to adjustment. The per share value equates to $260.48 for Signature shareholders based on the closing price of Esquire common stock on March 11, 2026, or approximately $348.4 million in aggregate transaction value. The exchange ratio is subject to an adjustment based on the disposition value of certain Signature Bank loans with a total par value of approximately $70 million ("Schedule A Loans"). The adjusted exchange ratio at closing will be no higher than 2.80 and no lower than 2.50. Signature has initiated a sale process and is expected to dispose of Schedule A Loans prior to closing. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval, approval of Esquire and Signature shareholders, and other customary closing conditions.

For the year ended December 31, 2025:

● Our net income was $50.8 million or $5.87 per diluted share while our return on average assets and equity were 2.43% and 19.41%, respectively.

● We had a net interest margin of 6.02%, primarily driven by growth in higher yielding litigation related commercial loans and a low cost of funds of 0.99% on our deposits (including demand deposits).

● Our loans held for investment increased 26%, or $361.4 million, to $1.76 billion, primarily driven by growth in higher yielding litigation related commercial loans.

● Our noninterest income totaled $25.1 million, which represented 17% of our total revenue (net interest income plus noninterest income) at December 31, 2025, driven by our payment processing platform and administrative service payment ("ASP") fee income.

● As of December 31, 2025, our total assets, loans, deposits and stockholders' equity totaled $2.37 billion, $1.76 billion, $2.06 billion and $289.6 million, respectively.

We remain committed to the litigation community and our commercial customers through tailored, innovative solutions and a high-touch relationship model. This strategy is underpinned by a suite of best-in-class digital technologies, including our customer-centric CRM and our proprietary content hub, "Lawyer IQ." These resources deepen client engagement and support a premium brand image by providing law firms with critical business insights. To fuel expansion, we utilize bespoke CRM and AI-driven personalization as a powerful catalyst for top-of-funnel lead generation. This technology empowers our Business Development Officers ("BDOs") with highly targeted outreach tools, increasing their effectiveness across key geographic regions. Furthermore, increased brand awareness initiatives ensure our BDOs are supported by strong leads and large-scale market recognition. Demonstrating our dedication to high-growth markets, we opened a Los Angeles branch in 2025 and intend to deepen our BDO coverage in this and other strategic regions. By coupling our seasoned BDO team with these proprietary digital platforms, we have established a distribution network with direct access to tens of thousands of plaintiff law firms through deep connections with state and national trial associations.

Our unique products and services coupled with our thought leadership digital marketing and business development team creates deep relationships within the litigation community, driving our commercial loan growth, strong loan yields, and low cost core deposits. The litigation community represented approximately 78% of our deposit base at December 31,

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2025, with $1.23 billion, or 60%, of total deposits in longer duration escrow or claimant trust settlement deposit accounts where the law firm is trustee for the claimant settlement funds. In addition to our lending activities, we have continued to expand our payment processing platform with dollar volume increasing 9% compared to 2024 while maintaining a stable fee-based revenue stream. We provide dynamic and flexible payment processing solutions to small business owners. Our payment processing platform has grown to 93,000 small businesses at December 31, 2025, generating 14% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025. We believe that both our litigation and payment processing platforms represent a significant opportunity for future growth in fee income, core deposits and enhanced lending opportunities.

Our low cost core deposits (total deposits, excluding time deposits), representing our primary funding source for loan growth, totaled $2.06 billion at December 31, 2025, a key driver of our total cost of deposits of 0.99%. These stable low cost funds are driven by our litigation related operating and escrow commercial deposits. We intend to continue to prudently manage growth in deposits, utilizing customer sweep programs for our mass tort and class action business banking programs. Our deposit growth is supported by our robust commercial online cash management technology to manage our customers' operating, escrow, and money market accounts as well as their business banking needs across the country.

***Litigation Market Commercial Banking.*** The litigation market has been and will continue to be a significant growth opportunity for our Company as we offer focused and tailored products and services to law firms nationally. U.S. tort actions alone are estimated to consume approximately 2.1% of U.S. GDP annually according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform ("Tort Costs in America – An Empirical Analysis of Costs and Compensation of U.S. Tort System") published in November 2024, with an estimated total addressable market ("TAM") of $529 billion for 2022. We do not compete directly with non-bank finance companies, the primary funders in this market, and believe there are various and significant barriers to entry including, but not limited to, our clear industry track record for decades, extensive in-house experience, deep relationships with respected firms nationally, and unique products tailored to commercial law firms' needs and wants.

We currently have lending clients in 33 states and our larger markets include California, the New York metro area and Texas. Our success is tied to our unique ability to couple traditional commercial underwriting with non-traditional asset-based underwriting. Our team understands law firms' contingent case inventory valuation process (as well as traditional hourly billing firms). Typically, these inventories of claims for injured consumers or claimants have a duration of 2 to 3 years, significantly longer than traditional accounts receivables or inventories of goods that can have a duration of 30 to 60 days or 120 days, respectively. These factors (the unique industry, contingent collateral, longer durations of the law firms' inventories, atypical revenue streams of the law firms and more) coupled with the TAM create a unique and valuable opportunity for the Company with minimal incumbent competition. This unique risk profile translates to a blended 9.10% asset yield on these commercial loans for the year ended December 31, 2025. More importantly, since our commercial banking platform is focused on full service relationship banking, for every $1.00 we advance on these loans we receive on average $1.35 of low-cost (our cost of funds for the year ended December 31, 2025 is 99 basis points) core operating and escrow deposits from these law firms through our "branchless" national platform, fueling and funding additional growth in our other asset classes. Our extremely low historic delinquency rates and low charge-off rates demonstrate our strong underwriting process and expertise in this vertical. Our longer duration escrow or claimant trust settlement deposits represent accounts where the law firm is trustee for the claimant settlement funds and represent $1.23 billion, or 60%, of total deposits. These law firm escrow accounts as well as other fiduciary deposit accounts are for the benefit of the law firm's customers (or claimants) and are titled in a manner to ensure that the maximum amount of FDIC insurance coverage passes through the account to the beneficial owner of the funds held in the account. Therefore, these law firm escrow accounts carry FDIC insurance at the claimant settlement level, not at the deposit account level. Coupling these types of commercial relationships with our off-balance sheet commercial litigation funds of $736.6 million at December 31, 2025, makes this litigation vertical a highly desirable core low-cost funding platform fueling bank-wide growth.

***Payment Processing.*** We believe the payment processing (merchant acquiring) market has been and will continue to be a growth opportunity for our Company, as we offer focused and tailored products and services to small businesses nationally. The payment industry grew at a compound annual rate of approximately 8% from 2021 to 2025 with payment volumes or TAM of $12.2 trillion according to company records on U.S. payment industry trends. Couple this with the fact that there are approximately 100 acquiring financial institutions in the U.S., this vertical represents a growth

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opportunity for our Company. We believe there are various and significant barriers to entry to this market including, but not limited to, our clear industry track record for over a decade, extensive in-house experience, deep relationships with non-bank acquirers, and our unique approach to servicing these small business merchants and their respective verticals. We use proprietary and industry leading technology to ensure card brand and regulatory compliance, support multiple processing platforms, manage daily risk across 93,000 small business merchants in all 50 states, and perform commercial treasury clearing services for approximately $40 billion in processing volume across 590 million transactions for the year ended December 31, 2025.

***Proprietary Technology.*** We are a digital-first organization utilizing highly specialized, proprietary technology to drive growth and maintain industry-leading client retention. Built upon a foundation of safety and soundness, our core banking platforms are uniquely customized to align with our clients in the legal industry. This specialized focus ensures our clients have access to tailored banking solutions that foster relationship building and long-term brand loyalty. Furthermore, our continued investment in an integrated CRM and loan platforms - built on Salesforce and nCino - enables superior client service and precision marketing on a national scale.

The success of our national litigation and payment processing verticals coupled with our focus on financial technology ("fin-tech") has led to industry leading performance. For the year ended December 31, 2025, we have produced industry leading returns including, but not limited to, an average return on assets and equity of 2.43% and 19.41%, respectively; industry leading net interest margin of 6.02%; strong efficiency ratio of 48.6%; and diversified revenue streams as demonstrated by a strong net interest margin and stable fee income representing 17% of total revenue. Coupling these performance metrics with strong balance sheet management including, but not limited to, loan portfolio diversification, an asset sensitive balance sheet with approximately 71% of our loans being variable rate and tied to prime (with interest rate floors in place on 90% of our variable rate loan portfolio), solid credit metrics, a stable low cost deposit base, and strong available liquidity of $1.12 billion with no outstanding borrowings, positions our Company for future growth and success.

#### Market Area
We define the market area for our legal community products and services as law firms practicing within the United States, United States territories and United States commonwealths, and we serve the litigation market on a nationwide basis. For traditional community banking products and services, our primary market area is the New York metropolitan area, specifically Nassau County, New York and New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens and secondarily throughout the rest of New York State, as well as Los Angeles, California. As a Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover member, we provide payment processing for small businesses located throughout the United States primarily through relationships with third party ISOs.

Our preeminent position in the litigation market has been enhanced by the strategy to place senior BDO resources in key national regions. As these regional interactions materialize, we continue to reinforce our market presence by expanding and aligning with trade association affiliations and local centers of influence for law firms and specific to their regions. To maintain our high-touch model, we have expanded our schedule of industry events, fostering deeper professional connections. These efforts are amplified by our digital initiatives, including the expansion of customer success stories housed within our online properties and YouTube channel that has surpassed three million views in 2025. Supported by our hyper-personalized marketing and the foundational reach of our BDOs, we continue to identify and engage new centers of influence, driving a robust referral network and sustainable sales growth across our national footprint.

Our traditional community banking market area has a diversified economy typical of most urban population centers, including significant industries of professional, scientific and technical services, educational services, health care services, and financial activities. As of December 31, 2025, the New York metropolitan area had a deposit market of $4.1 trillion and the county of Los Angeles, California had a deposit market of $516 billion, according to data sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

We have established an extensive market for our payment processing business as an acquiring bank throughout the United States and its territories. We have a senior product management team that has developed in excess of 28 active ISO relationships servicing 93,000 merchants. The ISO model insulates the bank's capital from merchant losses through merchant reserves, ISO reserves, ISO monthly residuals and ISO portfolio values. In addition to mitigating risk, the ISO

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business model allows the Bank to solicit merchants nationwide using numerous independent sales agents employed by our ISOs.

#### Competition
The bank and non-bank financial services industries in our markets and surrounding areas are highly competitive. We compete with a wide range of regional and national banks located in our market areas as well as non-bank commercial finance companies on a nationwide basis. We experience competition in both lending and attracting deposit funds as well as payment processing services from commercial banks, savings associations, credit unions, consumer finance companies, pension trusts, mutual funds, insurance companies, mortgage bankers and brokers, brokerage and investment banking firms, non-bank lenders, government agencies and certain other non-financial institutions. Many of these competitors have more assets, capital and lending limits, and resources than we do and may be able to conduct more intensive and broader-based promotional efforts to reach both commercial and individual customers. Competition for deposit products can depend on pricing because of the ease with which customers can transfer deposits from one institution to another as well as the expertise necessary to manage specialized accounts (i.e., interest on lawyer accounts ("IOLA") and interest on lawyer trust accounts ("IOLTA")) which are specifically designed for designating law firm customer funds.

Competition for Litigation-Related Loans is derived primarily from a small number of nationally-oriented financial companies that specialize in this market. Some of these companies are focused exclusively on loans to law firms, while others offer loans to plaintiffs as well. While some overlap exists between the litigation market loan products offered by Esquire Bank and these companies (primarily lines of credit, case-cost and post-settlement commercial loans), there are a number of critical differences that we believe gives our Bank a competitive advantage including, but not limited to:

● Esquire Bank can offer more competitive terms (i.e., rates) on loans compared to specialty finance companies because its cost of funds is much lower than the funding costs for these non-bank competitors;

● the non-bank companies are not able to offer commercial cash management services on deposit products (i.e., commercial on-line banking, remote deposit capture technology), letters of credit, debit cards, or other business services; and

● non-banks cannot offer products uniformly across the country because they are not national banks.

The Bank provides payment processing services as an acquiring bank primarily through the third-party or ISO business model in which we process and clear credit card, debit card, and ACH transactions on behalf of merchants. We are one of approximately 100 U.S. acquiring banks and face competition from many larger institutions, including large commercial banks and third party processors, that operate in the payment processing business. We believe we have a competitive advantage to continue to attract and retain ISOs and merchants when considering our history of successful operations, flexibility to settle through multiple payment processing platforms, superior customer relationship management, and an ability to tailor our contractual arrangements to our customers' needs.

#### Lending Activities
Our strategy is to maintain a loan portfolio that is broadly diversified by type and location. Within this general strategy, we intend to focus our growth in Litigation-Related Loans, which include commercial loans to law firms and, to a much lesser extent, consumer lending to attorneys and plaintiffs/claimants where we have expertise and market insights. As of December 31, 2025, these product lines in aggregate totaled $1.18 billion (or 67.2% of our loan portfolio). As of December 31, 2025, our commercial Litigation-Related Loans, which consist of working capital lines of credit, case cost lines of credit, term loans and other commercial Litigation-Related Loans ("Commercial Litigation-Related Loans"), totaled $1.18 billion, or 99.7% of our total Litigation-Related Loan portfolio and 67.0% of our loan portfolio. As of December 31, 2025, our consumer Litigation-Related Loans, which consist of held for investment post-settlement consumer loans and structured settlement loans ("Consumer Litigation-Related Loans"), totaled $3.1 million, or 0.3% of our total Litigation-Related Loan portfolio and 0.2% of our loan portfolio. With respect to our Litigation-Related Loan portfolio, we seek out customers on a nationwide basis.

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At December 31, 2025, approximately 20%, 17%, and 14% of the Commercial Litigation-Related Loans outstanding had been extended to customers in California, New York and Texas, respectively. There were two other states with loan balance concentrations of at least 5.0% each of total Commercial Litigation-Related Loans.

As of December 31, 2025, our total real estate loans, which consist of multifamily loans, commercial real estate loans and 1 – 4 family loans, totaled $489.9 million (or 27.9% of our loan portfolio). The majority of our real estate secured loans are in the areas surrounding the New York metropolitan area. Our real estate portfolio is managed as a stable and reliable asset class and is conservatively underwritten. We anticipate continuing to focus on the commercial credit needs of businesses in these markets.

The following is a discussion of our major types of lending activity:

***Commercial Loans and Lines of Credit ("Commercial").*** Generally, commercial loans are originated to local small to mid-size businesses to provide short-term financing for inventory, receivables, the purchase of supplies, or other operating needs arising during the normal course of business and loans made to our qualified ISO customers. In addition, specialized and tailored commercial loans are offered to attorneys and law firms nationally. At December 31, 2025, commercial loans (excluding Commercial Litigation-Related Loans of $1.18 billion) totaled $67.2 million (or 3.8% of total loans). All commercial loans totaled $1.25 billion (or 70.8% of our total loans) at December 31, 2025.

*Commercial Litigation-Related Loans.* The following is a summary of the specialized commercial loan products we offer to meet the needs of the litigation community. Commercial Litigation-Related Loans are made to law firms and the outstanding loan balances are included in the loan balance for commercial loans as noted above. A unique aspect of our underwriting involves advances of loan proceeds against a "borrowing base", which typically consists of the total inventory of litigation cases for the firm. We complement this with traditional commercial underwriting (See "Credit Risk Management" below). Generally, the maximum amount a customer may borrow at any time is fixed as a percentage of the borrowing base outstanding at any time and takes into account the firm's operating performance and related debt service coverage ratio ("DSCR"). In addition, to a lesser extent, we lend to law firms that may exhibit fluctuating earnings, cumulative deficits, and negative cash flows where we employ an asset based lending model to the deal structure. We consider such financing opportunities where the terms and structure present manageable risks and the opportunity to achieve above average risk adjusted returns.

● *Working Capital Lines of Credit ("WC LOC").*  WC LOCs are unsecured business lines of credit offered to law firms for general corporate purposes, including meeting cash flow needs, advertising, financing the purchase of fixed assets, or other reasons. These loans are subject to a general security agreement evidenced by UCC-1 filing on all assets of the borrower, including but not limited to, the full case inventory, accounts receivable, fixtures and deposits where applicable. The balance of such loans was $782.2 million at December 31, 2025 (or 66.2% of total Litigation-Related Loans).

● *Case Cost Lines of Credit.*  Case Cost Lines of Credit ("Case Cost LOC") are unsecured business lines of credit that are tied to the costs of contingency cases and totaled $209.5 million at December 31, 2025 (or 17.7% of total Litigation-Related Loans). These loans are subject to a general security agreement evidenced by UCC-1 filing on all assets of the borrower, including but not limited to, the full case inventory, accounts receivable, fixtures and deposits where applicable. Contingency case costs include court filing fees, investigative costs, expert witness fees, deposition costs, medical record costs, and other costs. Recovery of case costs is derived from gross settlement proceeds from the settled case. In our experience, an average case can take two to four years to litigate and law firms are prevented from charging their clients any interest for the out-of-pocket litigation costs, which amounts to an interest-free loan provided to the client from the law firm. Thus, instead of using the law firm's cash flow, law firms use our Case Cost LOCs to finance litigation cash flows because the finance charges can generally be charged against the settlement proceeds. Case Cost LOCs are not contingent loans, meaning that their repayment is not dependent on a favorable case settlement. In the event of an unfavorable outcome for the borrower, the loans are repaid from the cash flows of the law firm.

● *Term Loans.*  Term loans are short-term unsecured business loans originated to law firms for general corporate purposes. These loans are subject to a general security agreement evidenced by UCC-1 filing on all assets of the

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borrower, including but not limited to, the full case inventory, accounts receivable, fixtures and deposits where applicable. These loans are offered to law firms at the same terms as those offered to other types of businesses. Term loans to law firms totaled $186.7 million at December 31, 2025 (or 15.8% of total Litigation-Related Loans).

● *Post-Settlement Commercial and Other Commercial Litigation-Related Loans.*  Post-settlement commercial loans are bridge loans secured by proceeds from non-appealable, settled cases. Other commercial litigation-related loans consist of both secured and unsecured loans to law firms and attorneys. At December 31, 2025, we had no such loans.

***Consumer Loans.*** Consumer loans are primarily personal loans and, to a lesser extent, post-settlement consumer loans made to plaintiffs and claimants as described below. Personal loans are purchased or originated to consumers or plaintiffs for debt consolidation, medical expenses, living expenses, payment of outstanding bills, or other consumer needs on both a secured and unsecured basis. At December 31, 2025, total consumer loans held for investment (excluding Consumer Litigation-Related Loans of $3.1 million) totaled $19.6 million (or 1.1% of total loans).

Post-settlement consumer loans are generally bridge loans to individuals secured by proceeds from settled cases. These loans generally meet the "life needs" of claimants in various litigation matters due to the delay between the time of settlement and actual payment of the settlement. These delays are primarily due to various administrative matters in the case. The balance of held for investment post-settlement consumer loans to individuals was $3.1 million at December 31, 2025.

***Real Estate Loans.*** The majority of our real estate secured loans are in the New York metropolitan area.

*Multifamily.* Multifamily loans are the largest component of the real estate loan portfolio and totaled $372.8 million (or 21.2% of total loans) as of December 31, 2025. The multifamily loan portfolio primarily consists of nonrecourse loans secured by nonowner occupied apartment buildings in the New York Metropolitan area (i.e., Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan.). All of our multifamily loans are underwritten on a fully amortizing basis (monthly principal and interest payments) and are predominately five or seven year fixed interest loans with a 25 to 30 year principal amortization and subject to springing guarantees or "bad boy" protections from the principals. All loans are independently underwritten by us utilizing the underwriting criteria per our Board established credit policy.

*Commercial Real Estate ("CRE").* CRE loans totaled $107.3 million (or 6.1% of total loans) as of December 31, 2025 and consisted primarily of loans secured by warehouses (42.1% of the CRE portfolio), mixed use (26.7% of the CRE portfolio), hospitality properties (13.0% of the CRE portfolio), with the remainder comprised of retail properties (18.2% of the CRE portfolio). We have no office exposure in our CRE portfolio as of December 31, 2025. Owner-occupied loans represented 5.3% of the CRE portfolio at December 31, 2025. We both originate and, on a limited basis, participate in CRE loans. All loans are independently underwritten by us utilizing the same underwriting criteria per our Board established credit policy.

*1 – 4 Family.* Mortgage loans are primarily secured by 1 – 4 family cash flowing investment properties ($9.8 million, or 0.6% of total loans, as of December 31, 2025) in our market area. The residential mortgage loan portfolio includes 1 – 4 family income producing investment properties, primary and secondary owner occupied residences, investor coops and condos. The majority of residential mortgages are originated internally, although we do purchase residential mortgages from time to time. Purchased loans are subject to all the asset quality and documentary precautions normally used when originating a loan.

*Construction Loans.* Construction loans are originated on an opportunistic basis. At December 31, 2025, there were no construction loans.

#### Payment Processing Activities
We provide payment processing as an acquiring bank primarily through the third-party or ISO business model in which we process and clear credit and debit card transactions on behalf of merchants. This model is designed to mitigate

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the risks associated with merchant losses resulting from chargebacks, fraud, non-compliance issues or even ISO or merchant insolvency. In an ISO model, the Bank and the ISO jointly enter into the merchant agreement with each merchant. We believe this model provides an added layer of protection against losses from merchants since losses that are not absorbed by a merchant would be the liability of the ISO payable from reserves posted by the ISO or other funds the bank owes to the ISO. Even with this recourse, Esquire Bank is ultimately liable for losses from actions of merchants and those of ISOs. Since inception in 2012, Esquire Bank has not incurred any losses from its payment processing activities.

We entered into the payment processing business as an acquiring bank in 2012 in an effort to increase our noninterest income and to provide cross selling opportunities for other business banking products and services. For the year ended December 31, 2025, payment processing revenues were $20.2 million, which was 13.8% of our total revenue. At December 31, 2025, we had 28 active ISOs, servicing 93,000 merchants, and for the year ended December 31, 2025, we processed $39.5 billion in card volume. We intend to continue to expand our payment processing business.

Under the ISO model, the ISO determines (with the Bank's oversight) the appropriate amount of merchant reserves, which is generally based on the nature of the merchant's business, product delivery timeframe, its chargeback and refund history, processing volumes and the merchant's financial health. The ISO performs an underwriting and risk management review, although Esquire Bank also reviews and underwrites applications and performs separate risk monitoring and management to ensure compliance with Esquire Bank's internal underwriting policies. As of December 31, 2025, we had contractual arrangements with three payment processors or clearing agents, Global Payments, Repay and Fiserv, which are utilized by Esquire Bank and our ISOs to authorize, clear and settle card transactions.

We have implemented a comprehensive risk mitigation program for our payment processing business which includes detailed policies and procedures applicable to both ISOs and merchants pertaining to due diligence, risk and underwriting and Bank Secrecy Act and card brand network (i.e., Visa and Mastercard) compliance, among other objectives. Our Merchant Acquiring and Risk Policy establishes authorities and guidelines for the Bank to acquire payment processing arrangements with ISOs, payment facilitators, merchants and agent banks through merchant portfolio acquisitions. Such guidelines include initial and ongoing due diligence requirements and approval authorities. All merchants, regardless of how the merchant is acquired, must meet our Merchant Credit/Underwriting Policy requirements. In addition, credit approval requirements and authorities for approving merchants and ISOs are clearly defined in our Merchant Acquiring and Risk Policy.

Our Merchant Acquiring and Risk Policy establishes stringent requirements related to the due diligence conducted initially and on an ongoing basis, requirements for the ISO contract, our responsibilities and the ISO's responsibilities in connection with the sponsorship and other matters. In the event of a potential loss and in accordance with the terms of the ISO Merchant Agreement, we can take the following actions to collect: charge the merchant account; charge the merchant reserve account; charge the ISO reserve account; deduct from the ISO monthly residual on an ongoing basis until fully recovered; and liquidate all or a portion of the ISO merchant portfolio.

In exchange for the liabilities and costs assumed by ISOs, we receive reduced revenue on our payment processing portfolio as compared to direct payment processing providers that do not obtain such indemnification and administrative support. For the year ended December 31, 2025, we received a blended rate of approximately five basis points for payment processing, compared to direct payment processing providers that may receive two to three times that rate for a portfolio with similar risk characteristics. However, we believe that our acquiring bank ISO business model represents less risk for Esquire Bank and we are compensated for the risk assumed. From time to time, we may enter into arrangements with specific merchant and/or ISO counterparties where we have negotiated a higher fee in exchange for assuming more risk.

#### Deposit Funding
Deposits are our primary source of funds to support our earning assets and growth. We offer depository products, including checking, savings, money market and certificates of deposit with a variety of rates. Deposits are insured by the FDIC up to statutory limits. Our unique low cost core deposit model is primarily driven by escrow and operating accounts from law firms and other litigation settlements on a national basis, representing 78% of the $2.06 billion in total deposits at December 31, 2025. Our core deposits (excluding time deposits) represent 99.7% of our total deposits at December 31, 2025. Our total cost of deposits is 0.99% for the year ended December 31, 2025, anchored by our noninterest bearing

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demand deposits and litigation related escrow funds representing 28% and 60%, respectively, of total deposits. We do not use a traditional "brick and mortar" branch network to support our deposit growth and have one branch, located in Jericho, New York and one branch in Los Angeles, California. The vast majority of our commercial loan customers utilize our cash management platform for their commercial deposit balances including, but not limited to, their commercial operating accounts, escrow accounts, and commercial money market accounts.

Deposits have traditionally been our primary source of funds for use in lending and investment activities and we do not utilize borrowings currently or traditionally as a source of funding for asset growth. Besides generating deposits from law firms and litigation settlements, we also generate deposits from our payment processing platform and other local businesses, individuals through client referrals, other relationships and through our single retail branch. We believe we have a stable core deposit base due primarily to the litigation market strategy as we strongly encourage and are successful in having law firm borrowers maintain their operating and escrow banking relationship with us. Our low cost of funds is due to our deposit composition consisting of approximately 99.7% in core deposit accounts at December 31, 2025. Our deposit strategy primarily focuses on developing lending and other service orientated relationships with customers rather than competing with other institutions on rate. Our longer duration escrow or claimant trust settlement deposits represent accounts where the law firm is trustee for the claimant settlement funds and represent $1.23 billion, or 60%, of total deposits. These law firm escrow accounts as well as other fiduciary deposit accounts are for the benefit of the law firm's customers (or claimants) and are titled in a manner to ensure that the maximum amount of FDIC insurance coverage passes through the account to the beneficial owner of the funds held in the account. Therefore, these law firm escrow accounts carry FDIC insurance at the claimant settlement level, not at the deposit account level. Further, the majority of our uninsured deposits represent customers with full relationship banking (loans and associated deposits) including, but not limited to, law firm operating accounts, law firm escrow accounts, merchant reserves, ISO reserves, ACH processing, and custodial accounts.

The Bank participates in sweep programs to provide our customers FDIC insured deposit products and access to treasury secured money market funds. In order to participate in these programs, the Bank places, or sweeps, deposits to these programs where a portion of which may be utilized as a source of liquidity. Access to these sweep programs is not considered when assessing liquidity, which is further discussed in "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources." The litigation market provides unique opportunities for the Bank to access funds due to the significant deposit sources such as mass tort and class action settlements and escrow deposits. As of December 31, 2025, off-balance sheet sweep funds totaled approximately $736.6 million, of which approximately $449.0 million, or 61%, was available to be swept onto the Bank's balance sheet.

#### Credit Risk Management
We control credit risk both through a Board approved Credit Policy, disciplined underwriting of each loan, as well as active credit management processes and procedures to manage risk and minimize loss throughout the life of a transaction. We seek to maintain a broadly diversified loan portfolio in terms of type of customer, type of loan product, geographic area and industries in which our business customers are engaged. We have developed tailored underwriting criteria and credit management processes for each of the various loan product types we offer our customers.

***Underwriting.*** In evaluating each potential loan relationship, we adhere to a disciplined underwriting evaluation process including but not limited to the following:

● understanding the customer's financial condition and ability to repay the loan, including DSCR and global DSCR;

● verifying that the primary and secondary sources of repayment are adequate in relation to the amount and structure of the loan;

● observing appropriate loan to value guidelines for collateral secured loans;

● maintaining our targeted levels of diversification for the loan portfolio, both as to type of borrower and geographic location of collateral;

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● ensuring that each loan is properly documented with perfected liens on collateral;

● assessing industry risk and economic conditions; and

● applying risk rating criteria tailored to our lending activities.

***Commercial Loans.*** These loans are typically made on the basis of the borrower's ability to make repayments from the cash flow of the borrower's business and the collateral securing these loans that may fluctuate in value. Our commercial loans are originated based on the identified cash flow of the borrower and on the underlying collateral provided by the borrower. Most often, for our Litigation-Related Loans, this collateral consists of the case inventory of the law firm (borrowing base) and, to a lesser extent, accounts receivable or equipment.

● *Commercial Litigation-Related Loans (working capital lines of credit, case cost lines of credit, and term loans).* We perform the underwriting criteria typical for commercial business loans (generally, but not limited to, three years of tax returns, three years of financial data, cash flows, partner guarantees, partner personal financials, credit history, background checks, etc.). We also review the firm's case inventory to ascertain the value of their future receivables. Typically, at least three years of successful experience in plaintiff (or contingency fee) practice are required for a law firm. Working capital lines of credit and case cost lines of credit are floating rate, prime-based loans, typically with rate floors. The proceeds of a Case Cost loan can only be used against case expenses. These loans are subject to a general security agreement evidenced by UCC-1 filing on all assets of the borrower, including but not limited to, the full case inventory, accounts receivable, fixtures and deposits where applicable. A key component of the underwriting process is an evaluation of the pending cases of an applicant law firm to determine the probability and amount of future settlements. These loans are based on a borrowing base that was developed by us whereby a law firm's case inventory is segmented into various stages and evaluated taking into account the firm's operating performance and related DSCR. In connection with these loans, the Bank generally requires personal guarantees of key partners in most circumstances and, in certain circumstances an assignment of life insurance of partners, in accordance with our Board approved Lending Policy.

To a lesser extent, we provide financing to a law firm that, through its existence or its partners' professional work histories have demonstrated long-term success with large, complex, and profitable litigation matters. Firms of this nature are structured in such a way that their business model and legal talent profile has been positioned to manage such activity. These are typically firms specializing in Mass Tort or Class Action claims which often exhibit cumulative deficits, fluctuating earnings, and extended periods of negative cash flow. When structured properly, with sufficient due diligence and the application of loan structuring concepts typically associated with asset based lending, such facilities can present manageable risks and above average returns. We will entertain such financing opportunities where the terms, structure, borrower willingness and ability to cooperate with our underwriting requirements will provide an appropriate risk adjusted return. These types of asset based loans are limited to 35% of our total litigation related commercial loan portfolio (based on total credit facility level) as per our Board approved Lending Policy.

***Consumer Loans.*** Consumer loans primarily consist of our personal loans and, to a lesser extent, Consumer Litigation-Related Loans, which include post-settlement consumer loans. Personal loans are purchased or originated to individuals for debt consolidation, medical expenses, living expenses, payment of outstanding bills, or other consumer needs, are generally dependent on the credit quality of the individual borrower and may be secured or unsecured. Post-settlement consumer loans are generally for two year terms with extensions granted based on acceptable supporting documentation regarding case status and viability, at Esquire Bank's discretion. To ensure the value of the settlement amount and likelihood and timeframe of payout, we require an executed settlement agreement or an affidavit of attorney attesting to the existence of an accepted offer. As the settlements are court ordered, the risks of settlements being renegotiated after we have made the loans are minimal. The loan-to-value ("LTV") ratio is generally limited to 50% of the net settlement amount due to the borrower.

***1 – 4 Family Loans.*** Residential mortgage loans are originated or purchased primarily for investment purposes, generally with fixed rates and 30-year or 15-year terms. Adjustable-rate mortgages ("ARMs") are purchased or originated as 1 year ARMs, 5/1 ARMs, or 7/1 ARMs. We perform an extensive credit history review for each borrower. Second

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homes or investment properties are subject to additional requirements. Debt-to-income ("DTI") and DSCR, if applicable, ratios generally conform to industry standards for conforming loans. Flood insurance, title insurance and fire/hazard insurance are mandatory for all applications, as appropriate.

***Commercial Real Estate and Multifamily Loans.*** Loans secured by commercial and multifamily real estate generally have larger balances and involve different risk considerations than 1 – 4 family mortgage loans. Of primary consideration in commercial and multifamily real estate lending is the borrower's creditworthiness and the feasibility and cash flow potential of the project. Payments on loans secured by income properties often depend on successful operation and management of the properties. As a result, repayment of such loans may be subject to a greater extent than 1 – 4 family real estate loans, to adverse conditions in the real estate market or the economy.

In approving a commercial or multifamily real estate loan, we consider and review (i) a global cash flow analysis of the borrower, (ii) the net operating income of the property, (iii) the borrower's expertise, credit history and profitability and (iv) the value of the underlying collateral property. Maximum LTV ratios are 80% of appraised value and we generally require that the properties securing these real estate loans have minimum debt service ratios (the ratio of net operating income to debt service) of 1.15x. Loan terms are fifteen years or less with the option to extend another five years and amortization is based on a 25-to-30-year schedule or less. An environmental report is obtained when the possibility exists that hazardous materials may have existed on the site, or the site may have been impacted by adjoining properties that handled hazardous materials. To monitor cash flows on income producing properties, we require borrowers and loan guarantors to provide personal and business financial statements on an annual basis for loans with a principal balance in excess of $1.5 million.

***Construction Loans.*** Construction lending involves additional risks when compared with permanent 1 – 4 family lending because funds are advanced upon the security of the project, which is of uncertain value prior to its completion. This type of lending also typically involves higher loan principal amounts and is often concentrated with a small number of builders. In addition, generally during the term of a construction loan, interest may be funded by the borrower or disbursed from an interest reserve set aside from the construction loan budget. These loans often involve the disbursement of substantial funds with repayment substantially dependent on the success of the ultimate project and the ability of the borrower to sell or lease the property or obtain permanent take-out financing, rather than the ability of the borrower or guarantor to repay principal and interest. Construction loans are based upon estimates of costs and values associated with the completed project. Underwriting is focused on the borrowers' financial strength, credit history and demonstrated ability to produce a quality product and effectively market and manage their operations.

***Loan Approval Authority.*** Our lending activities follow written, non-discriminatory, underwriting standards and loan origination procedures established by our Board of Directors and management. We have established several levels of lending authority that have been delegated by the Board of Directors to the Directors Loan Committee, the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Credit Officer, the Chief Lending Officer and other personnel in accordance with the Lending Authority in the Loan Policy. Authority limits are based on the total exposure of the borrower and are conditioned on the loan conforming to the policies contained in the Loan Policy. Any Loan Policy exceptions are fully disclosed to the approving authority.

***Loans to One Borrower.*** In accordance with loans-to-one-borrower regulations, the Bank is generally limited to lending no more than 15% of its capital and surplus to any one borrower or borrowing entity. This limit may be increased by an additional 10% for loans secured by readily marketable collateral having a market value, as determined by reliable and continuously available price quotations, at least equal to the amount of funds outstanding. To qualify for this additional 10%, the Bank must perfect a security interest in the collateral and the collateral must have a market value at all times of at least 100% of the loan amount that exceeds the 15% general limit. At December 31, 2025, our regulatory limit on loans-to-one borrower was $43.5 million.

Management understands the importance of concentration risk and continuously monitors to ensure that portfolio risk is balanced between such factors as loan type, geography, collateral, structure, maturity and risk rating, among other things. Our Loan Policy establishes detailed concentration limits and sub limits by loan type and geography.

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***Ongoing Credit Risk Management.*** In addition to the tailored underwriting process described above, we perform ongoing risk monitoring and review processes for all credit exposures. Although we grade and classify our loans internally, we have an independent third party professional firm perform regular loan reviews to confirm loan classifications. We strive to identify potential problem loans early in an effort to aggressively seek resolution of these situations before the loan becomes past due, potentially creates a loss, record any necessary charge-offs promptly and maintain adequate allowance levels for probable credit losses incurred in the loan portfolio.

In general, whenever a particular loan or overall borrower relationship is downgraded to pass-watch, special mention or substandard based on one or more standard loan grading factors, our credit officers engage in active evaluation of the asset to determine the appropriate resolution strategy. Management regularly reviews the status of the watch list and classified assets portfolio as well as the larger credits in the portfolio.

In addition to our general credit risk management processes, we employ incremental risk management processes for our commercial loans to law firms. We require borrowing base updates at least annually and also engage in active review and monitoring of the borrowing base collateral, including assessments of the underlying litigation status and quality of the legal work. Where a relationship is considered to be structured similar to an asset based lending facility, the ongoing credit risk management of the relationship is conducted at least semiannually.

*Commercial Real Estate Lending Credit Risk Management Considerations in the Current Environment.* Due to increases in market interest rates since 2022, management enhanced its ongoing credit risk management monitoring of the commercial real estate loan portfolio. Specifically, management has further analyzed the multifamily and CRE loan portfolios which comprise $372.8 million, or 21.2%, and $107.3 million, or 6.1%, respectively, of total loans, as of December 31, 2025. We have no exposure to office and construction loans, minimal exposure to hospitality ($14.0 million as of December 31, 2025), and a regulatory CRE concentration exposure at both the consolidated and Bank level that is less than 200% of total capital plus the allowance for credit losses.

From a credit risk management perspective, the combined multifamily and CRE portfolio, excluding one nonaccrual loan, totaled $473.2 million and has a current weighted average DSCR and an original LTV (defined as unpaid principal balance as of December 31, 2025 divided by appraised value at origination) of approximately 1.60 and 55%, respectively. When further evaluating this population, loans with below current market rates maturing in (1) less than one year totaled $49.4 million and had a current weighted average DSCR and an original LTV of approximately 1.29 and 67%, respectively; and (2) one to two years totaled $47.6 million and had a current weighted average DSCR and an original LTV of approximately 1.40 and 67%, respectively.

#### Investments
We manage our investments primarily for liquidity purposes, with a secondary focus on returns. All of our debt securities are classified as available-for-sale or held-to-maturity and can be used to collateralize Federal Home Loan Bank of New York ("FHLB") borrowings, FRB borrowings, or other borrowings. At December 31, 2025, our securities had a fair value of $302.0 million and consisted of U.S. Government Agency collateralized mortgage obligations and mortgage-backed securities.

Our investment objectives are primarily to provide and maintain liquidity, establish an acceptable level of interest rate risk, to provide a use of excess funds and to generate a favorable return. Our board of directors has the overall responsibility for the investment portfolio, including approval of our investment policy. The Asset Liability Committee ("ALCO") and management are responsible for implementation of the investment policy and monitoring our investment performance. The board of directors reviews the status of our investment portfolio monthly.

We are required to maintain an investment in FHLB stock, which is based on our level of mortgage related assets ("MRA") and adjusted for any FHLB borrowings, for which we had none at December 31, 2025. Additionally, we are required to maintain an investment in Federal Reserve Bank ("FRB") of New York stock equal to six percent of our capital and surplus. While we have the authority under applicable law to invest in derivative instruments, we had no investments in derivative instruments at December 31, 2025.

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#### Borrowings
We maintain diverse funding sources including borrowing lines at the FHLB, the FRB discount window and other financial institutions. Traditionally, we have not utilized borrowings to fund our operations. The FHLB functions as a central reserve bank providing credit for its member financial institutions. As a member, we are required to own capital stock in the FHLB and are authorized to apply for advances on the security of such stock and certain of our multifamily loans and securities portfolio (principally securities which are obligations of, or guaranteed by, the United States), provided certain standards related to creditworthiness have been met. Advances are made under several different programs, each having its own interest rate and range of maturities. Depending on the program, limitations on the amount of advances are based either on a fixed percentage of an institution's net worth or on the FHLB assessment of the institution's creditworthiness. As of December 31, 2025, we had $455.5 million of available borrowing capacity with the FHLB. We also had a borrowing capacity with the FRB of New York ("FRB") discount window of $48.1 million. The other borrowing lines are maintained primarily for contingency funding sources and totaled $29.0 million. No amounts were outstanding on any of the aforementioned lines as of December 31, 2025.

**Human Capital Resources**

At December 31, 2025, we employed 151 full time equivalent individuals, of which approximately 60% are either minorities or women. None of our employees are represented by a collective bargaining agreement. The Company's national platform employs a business model that combines high-touch service, technology and a relationship-based focus of a community bank with an extensive suite of banking and innovative financial services to businesses and individuals embracing the new digital banking era. We seek to hire well-qualified employees who also fit our corporate culture.

***Training, Development, and Retention.*** We encourage and support the growth and development of our employees and, wherever possible, seek to fill positions by promotion and transfer from within the organization. The Company provides a collaborative environment where opportunities are provided through on the job skills training, firm sponsored training, informal peer mentoring, and interaction with senior leaders. This collaborative environment offers internal mobility as well as competitive compensation and benefits packages allowing for significant employee retention.

***Benefits.*** On an ongoing basis, we further promote the health and wellness of our employees by strongly encouraging work-life balance. Our benefits package includes health care coverage, retirement benefits, life and disability insurance, paid time off and leave policies.

***Community Involvement.*** As part of our Community Reinvestment Act obligations as a community bank, Esquire Bank supports a multitude of diverse, worthy, community-based organizations through a comprehensive grant and lending program. Additionally, the Bank donates to a variety of local and national charitable organizations.

#### Subsidiaries
Esquire Bank, National Association is the sole subsidiary of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. and there are no subsidiaries of Esquire Bank, National Association.

#### Supervision and Regulation
***General.*** Esquire Bank is a national bank organized under the laws of the United States of America and its deposits are insured to applicable limits by the Deposit Insurance Fund (the "DIF"). The lending, investment, deposit-taking, and other business authority of Esquire Bank is governed primarily by federal law and regulations and Esquire Bank is prohibited from engaging in any operations not authorized by such laws and regulations. Esquire Bank is subject to extensive regulation, supervision and examination by, and the enforcement authority of, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the "OCC"), and to a lesser extent through certain back-up authority by the FDIC, as its deposit insurer. Esquire Bank is also subject to federal financial consumer protection and fair lending laws and regulations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, though the OCC is responsible for examining, supervising, and enforcing the Bank's compliance with these laws. The regulatory structure establishes a comprehensive framework of activities in which a national bank may engage and is primarily intended for the protection of depositors, customers and the DIF. The regulatory

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structure gives the regulatory agencies extensive discretion in connection with their supervisory and enforcement activities and examination policies, including policies with respect to the classification of assets and the establishment of adequate credit loss reserves for regulatory purposes.

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. is a bank holding company, due to its control of Esquire Bank, and is therefore subject to the requirements of the BHCA and regulation and supervision by the FRB. The Company files reports with and is subject to periodic examination by the FRB. The Company has made the election under the BHCA to be designated a financial holding company.

Any change in the applicable laws and regulations, whether by the OCC, the FDIC, the FRB or through legislation, could have a material adverse impact on Esquire Bank, the Company and their operations and the Company's stockholders.

What follows is a summary of some of the laws and regulations applicable to Esquire Bank and Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. The summary is not intended to be exhaustive and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the actual laws and regulations.

#### Esquire Bank, National Association

#### Loans and Investments
National banks have authority to originate and purchase any type of loan, including commercial, commercial real estate, 1 – 4 family mortgages or consumer loans. Aggregate loans by a national bank to any single borrower or group of related borrowers are generally limited to 15% of Esquire Bank's capital and surplus, plus an additional 10% if secured by specified readily marketable collateral.

Federal law and OCC regulations limit Esquire Bank's investment authority. Generally, a national bank is prohibited from investing in corporate equity securities for its own account other than companies through which the bank conducts its business. Under OCC regulations, a national bank may invest in investment securities up to specified limits depending upon the type of security. "Investment securities" are generally defined as marketable obligations that are investment grade and not predominantly speculative in nature. The OCC classifies investment securities into five different types and, depending on its type, a national bank may have the authority to deal in and underwrite the security. The OCC has also permitted national banks to purchase certain noninvestment grade securities that can be reclassified and underwritten as loans.

#### Lending Standards
The federal banking agencies adopted uniform regulations prescribing standards for extensions of credit that are secured by liens or interests in real estate or made for the purpose of financing permanent improvements to real estate. Under these regulations, all insured depository institutions, such as Esquire Bank, must adopt and maintain written policies establishing appropriate limits and standards for extensions of credit that are secured by liens or interests in real estate or are made for the purpose of financing permanent improvements to real estate. These policies must establish loan portfolio diversification standards, prudent underwriting standards (including loan-to-value limits) that are clear and measurable, loan administration procedures, and documentation, approval and reporting requirements. The real estate lending policies must reflect consideration of the federal bank regulators' Interagency Guidelines for Real Estate Lending Policies that have been adopted.

#### Federal Deposit Insurance
Deposit accounts at Esquire Bank are insured by the FDIC's DIF.

The FDIC adopted a final rule in 2022, applicable to all insured depository institutions, to increase initial base deposit insurance assessment rate schedules uniformly by two basis points, beginning in the first quarterly assessment period of 2023. The FDIC also concurrently maintained the DIF reserve ratio at 2.0% for 2023. The increase in assessment rate

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schedules is intended to increase the likelihood that the reserve ratio reaches the statutory minimum of 1.35% by the statutory deadline of September 30, 2028.

The FDIC may terminate deposit insurance upon a finding that an institution has engaged in unsafe or unsound practices, is in an unsafe or unsound condition to continue operations or has violated any applicable law, regulation, order or condition imposed by the FDIC. We do not know of any practice, condition or violation that might lead to termination of Esquire Bank's deposit insurance.

#### Capitalization
Federal regulations require FDIC insured depository institutions, including national banks, to meet several minimum capital standards: a common equity Tier 1 capital to risk-based assets ratio, a Tier 1 capital to risk-based assets ratio, a total capital to risk-based assets ratio and a Tier 1 capital to total assets leverage ratio.

The capital standards require the maintenance of common equity Tier 1 capital, Tier 1 capital and total capital to risk-weighted assets of at least 4.5%, 6% and 8%, respectively, and a leverage ratio of at least 4% Tier 1 capital. Common equity Tier 1 capital is generally defined as common stockholders' equity and retained earnings. Tier 1 capital is generally defined as common equity Tier 1 and Additional Tier 1 capital. Additional Tier 1 capital generally includes certain noncumulative perpetual preferred stock and related surplus and minority interests in equity accounts of consolidated subsidiaries. Total capital includes Tier 1 capital (common equity Tier 1 capital plus Additional Tier 1 capital) and Tier 2 capital. Tier 2 capital is comprised of capital instruments and related surplus meeting specified requirements, and may include cumulative preferred stock and long-term perpetual preferred stock, mandatory convertible securities, intermediate preferred stock and subordinated debt. Also included in Tier 2 capital is the allowance for credit losses limited to a maximum of 1.25% of risk-weighted assets and, for institutions that have exercised an opt-out election regarding the treatment of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income ("AOCI"), up to 45% of net unrealized gains on available-for-sale equity securities with readily determinable fair market values. Institutions that have not exercised the AOCI opt-out have AOCI incorporated into common equity Tier 1 capital (including unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale-securities). We exercised the opt-out election regarding the treatment of AOCI. Calculation of all types of regulatory capital is subject to deductions and adjustments specified in the regulations.

In determining the amount of risk-weighted assets for purposes of calculating risk-based capital ratios, a bank's assets, including certain off-balance sheet assets (e.g., recourse obligations, direct credit substitutes, residual interests), are multiplied by a risk weight factor assigned by the regulations based on perceived risks inherent in the type of asset. Higher levels of capital are required for asset categories believed to present greater risk. For example, a risk weight of 0% is assigned to cash and U.S. government securities, a risk weight of 50% is generally assigned to prudently underwritten first lien 1 – 4 family mortgages, a risk weight of 100% is assigned to commercial and consumer loans, a risk weight of 150% is assigned to certain past due loans and a risk weight of between 0% to 600% is assigned to permissible equity interests, depending on certain specified factors.

In addition to establishing the minimum regulatory capital requirements, the regulations limit capital distributions and certain discretionary bonus payments to management if the institution does not hold a "capital conservation buffer" consisting of 2.5% of common equity Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets above the amount necessary to meet its minimum risk-based capital requirements.

Legislation enacted in 2018 required the federal banking agencies to establish a "community bank leverage ratio" of between 8-10% of average total consolidated assets for qualifying institutions with less than $10 billion of assets. Banks meeting the specified requirements and electing to follow the alternative framework would be deemed to comply with the regulatory capital requirements, including the risk-based requirements. The federal agencies final rule issued in 2019 set the community bank leverage ratio at 9%. The Bank has not elected to utilize this alternative framework as of December 31, 2025.

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#### Safety and Soundness Standards
Each federal banking agency, including the OCC, has adopted guidelines establishing general standards relating to internal controls, information and internal audit systems, loan documentation, credit underwriting, interest rate exposure, asset growth, asset quality, earnings, compensation, fees and benefits and information security standards. In general, the guidelines require appropriate systems and practices to identify and manage the risks and exposures specified in the guidelines. The guidelines prohibit excessive compensation as an unsafe and unsound practice and describe compensation as excessive when the amounts paid are unreasonable or disproportionate to the services performed by an executive officer, employee, director, or principal stockholder. In 2023, the OCC issued guidance along with the FDIC and FRB on risks banks may face from third party relationships (e.g. relationships under which the third party provides services to the bank). The guidance outlines the agencies' views on sound risk management principles related to third party relationships, including as related to the performance of adequate due diligence on the third party, appropriate documentation of the relationship, and performance of adequate oversight and auditing in order to limit the risks to the bank.

#### Prompt Corrective Regulatory Action
Federal law requires that the federal bank regulators take "prompt corrective action" with respect to institutions that do not meet minimum capital requirements. For these purposes, the statute establishes five capital tiers: well capitalized, adequately capitalized, undercapitalized, significantly undercapitalized and critically undercapitalized.

National banks that have insufficient capital are subject to certain mandatory and discretionary supervisory measures. For example, a bank that is "undercapitalized" (i.e., fails to meet certain specified regulatory capital measures) is subject to growth limitations and is required to submit a capital restoration plan; a holding company that controls such a bank is required to guarantee that the bank complies with the capital restoration plan. A "significantly undercapitalized" bank is subject to additional restrictions. National banks deemed by the OCC to be "critically undercapitalized" are subject to the appointment of a receiver or conservator.

Under the prompt corrective action requirements, insured depository institutions are required to meet the following in order to qualify as "well capitalized:" (1) a common equity Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 6.5%; (2) a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 8%; (3) a total risk-based capital ratio of 10% and (4) a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 5%. The Bank was well capitalized under the prompt corrective action requirements at December 31, 2025.

#### Dividends
Under federal law and applicable regulations, a national bank may generally declare a cash dividend, without approval from the OCC, in an amount equal to its year-to-date net income plus the prior two years' net income that is still available for cash dividend. Cash dividends exceeding those amounts require application to and approval by the OCC. To pay a cash dividend, a national bank must also maintain an adequate capital conservation buffer under the capital rules discussed above.

#### Transactions with Affiliates and Loans to Insiders
Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act govern transactions between a national bank and its affiliates, which includes the Company. The FRB has adopted Regulation W, which implements and interprets Sections 23A and 23B, in part by codifying prior FRB interpretations.

Under Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act and Regulation W, an affiliate of a bank includes any company or entity that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with the bank. A subsidiary of a bank that is not also a depository institution or a "financial subsidiary" under federal law is generally not treated as an affiliate of the bank for the purposes of Sections 23A and 23B and Regulation W; however, the OCC has the discretion to treat subsidiaries of a bank as affiliates on a case-by-case basis. Section 23A limits the extent to which a bank or its subsidiaries may engage in "covered transactions" with any one affiliate to 10% of the bank's capital stock and surplus. There is an aggregate limit of 20% of the bank's capital stock and surplus for such covered transactions with all affiliates. The term "covered transaction" includes, among other things, the making of a loan to an affiliate, a purchase of assets from an

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affiliate, the issuance of a guarantee on behalf of an affiliate, and the acceptance of securities of an affiliate as collateral for a loan. All such covered transactions are required to be on terms and conditions that are consistent with safe and sound banking practices and may not involve the acquisition of any "low quality asset" from an affiliate. Certain covered transactions, such as loans to or guarantees on behalf of an affiliate, must be secured by collateral in amounts ranging from 100 to 130 percent of the loan amount, depending upon the type of collateral. In addition, Section 23B requires that any covered transaction (and specified other transactions) between a bank and an affiliate must be on terms and conditions that are substantially the same, or at least as favorable, to the bank, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with or involving a non-affiliate.

A bank's loans to its executive officers, directors, any owner of more than 10% of its stock (each, an "insider") and certain entities controlled by any such person (an insider's "related interest") are subject to the conditions and limitations imposed by Section 22(h) of the Federal Reserve Act and the FRB's Regulation O. The aggregate amount of a bank's loans to any insider and the insider's related interests may not exceed the loans-to-one-borrower limit applicable to national banks. Aggregate loans by a bank to its insiders and insiders' related interests may not exceed the bank's unimpaired capital and unimpaired surplus. Regulation O also requires that any loan to an insider or a related interest of an insider be approved in advance by a majority of the board of directors of the bank, with any interested director not participating in the voting, if the loan, when aggregated with any existing loans to that insider or the insider's related interests, would exceed the greater of $25,000 or 5% of the bank's unimpaired capital and surplus, or $500,000. Generally, such loans must be made on substantially the same terms as, and follow credit underwriting procedures that are no less stringent than, those that are prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with other persons and must not involve more than a normal risk of repayment or present other unfavorable features. An exception is made for extensions of credit made pursuant to a benefit or compensation plan of a bank that is widely available to employees of the bank and that does not give any preference to insiders of the bank over other employees of the bank. In addition, with certain exceptions, such as education loans and certain 1 – 4 family mortgages, a bank's loans to its executive officers may not exceed the greater of $25,000 or 2.5% of the bank's unimpaired capital and unimpaired surplus, and in no event may exceed $100,000. As of April 29, 2021, as a matter of policy, the Bank ceased making new loans and extension of credit available to its insiders of the Bank and their related interests.

#### Enforcement
The OCC has extensive enforcement authority over national banks to correct unsafe or unsound practices and violations of law or regulation. Such authority includes the issuance of cease and desist orders, assessment of civil money penalties and removal of officers and directors. The OCC may also appoint a conservator or receiver for a national bank under specified circumstances, such as where (i) the bank's assets are less than its obligations to creditors, (ii) the bank is likely to be unable to pay its obligations or meet depositors' demands in the normal course of business, or (iii) a substantial dissipation of bank assets or earnings has occurred due to a violation of law of regulation or unsafe or unsound practices.

#### Federal Reserve System
Under federal law and regulations, the Bank is required to maintain sufficient liquidity to ensure safe and sound banking practices. Regulation D, promulgated by the FRB, imposes reserve requirements on all depository institutions, including Esquire Bank, which maintain transaction accounts or non-personal time deposits. In March 2020, due to a change in its approach to monetary policy from the COVID-19 pandemic, the FRB implemented a final rule to amend Regulation D requirements and reduce reserve requirement ratios to zero. The FRB has indicated that it has no plans to re-impose reserve requirements, but may do so in the future if conditions warrant.

#### Examinations and Assessments
Esquire Bank is required to file periodic reports with and is subject to periodic examination by the OCC. Federal regulations generally require periodic on-site examinations for all depository institutions. Esquire Bank is required to pay an annual assessment to the OCC to fund the agency's operations.

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#### Community Reinvestment Act and Fair Lending Laws
Under the Community Reinvestment Act ("CRA"), Esquire Bank has a continuing and affirmative obligation consistent with its safe and sound operation to help meet the credit needs of its entire community, including low and moderate income neighborhoods. The CRA does not establish specific lending requirements or programs for financial institutions nor does it limit an institution's discretion to develop the types of products and services that it believes are best suited to its particular community. The CRA requires the OCC to assess Esquire Bank's record of meeting the credit needs of its community and to take that record into account in its evaluation of certain applications by Esquire Bank. For example, the regulations specify that a bank's CRA performance will be considered in its expansion (e.g., branching or merger) proposals and may be the basis for approving, denying or conditioning the approval of an application. As of the date of its most recent OCC evaluation, Esquire Bank was rated "outstanding" with respect to its CRA compliance.

#### Bank Secrecy Act, USA PATRIOT Act, and Anti-Money Laundering Regulations
Esquire Bank is subject to federal anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws, including the Bank Secrecy Act (the "BSA") and the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the "USA PATRIOT Act"), and those laws' implementing regulations issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN"). The USA PATRIOT Act gives the federal government powers to address money laundering and terrorist threats through enhanced domestic security measures, expanded surveillance powers, increased information sharing, and broadened anti-money laundering requirements. By way of amendments to the BSA, Title III of the USA PATRIOT Act implemented measures intended to encourage information sharing among bank regulatory agencies and law enforcement bodies.

Together, the BSA and USA PATRIOT Act impose affirmative obligations on a broad range of financial institutions, including banks, thrifts, brokers, dealers, credit unions, money transfer agents and parties registered under the Commodity Exchange Act.

Among other things, of the BSA and the USA PATRIOT Act, and their implementing regulations require banks to:

● Establish anti-money laundering compliance programs that include policies, procedures, and internal controls; the appointment of an anti-money laundering compliance officer; a training program; independent testing; and customer due diligence;

● File certain reports with FinCEN and law enforcement that are designed to assist in the detection and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing activities;

● Establish programs specifying procedures for obtaining and maintaining certain records from customers seeking to open new accounts, including verifying the identity of customers;

● In certain circumstances, comply with enhanced due diligence policies, procedures and controls designed to detect and report money-laundering, terrorist financing and other suspicious activity;

● Monitor account activity for suspicious transactions; and

● Conduct heightened level of review for certain high risk customers or accounts.

The USA PATRIOT Act also includes prohibitions on correspondent accounts for foreign shell banks and requires compliance with record keeping obligations with respect to correspondent accounts of foreign banks.

The bank regulatory agencies have increased the regulatory scrutiny of compliance with the BSA and the USA PATRIOT Act, and of those institutions' anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing compliance programs. Significant penalties and fines, as well as other supervisory orders may be imposed on a financial institution for non-

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compliance with these requirements. In addition, the federal bank regulatory agencies must consider the effectiveness in combating money laundering activities for financial institutions engaging in a merger transaction.

Esquire Bank has adopted policies and procedures to comply with these requirements.

#### Privacy and Cybersecurity Laws
Esquire Bank is subject to a variety of federal and state privacy laws, which govern the collection, safeguarding, sharing and use of customer information. For example, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires all financial institutions offering financial products or services to retail customers to provide such customers with the financial institution's privacy policy and provide such customers the opportunity to "opt out" of the sharing of certain personal financial information with unaffiliated third parties. It also requires banks to safeguard personal information of consumer customers. Some state laws also protect the privacy of information of state residents and require adequate security for such data.

Regulation of the federal bank regulatory agencies require banking organizations to notify their primary federal regulator as soon as possible and no later than 36 hours of determining that a "computer-security incident" that rises to the level of a "notification incident," as those terms are defined in the final rule, has occurred. A notification incident is a "computer-security incident" that has materially disrupted or degraded, or is reasonably likely to materially disrupt or degrade, the banking organization's ability to deliver services to a material portion of its customer base, jeopardize the viability of key operations of the banking organization, or impact the stability of the financial sector. The regulations also require bank service providers to notify any affected bank to or on behalf of which the service provider provides services "as soon as possible" after determining that it has experienced an incident that materially disrupts or degrades, or is reasonably likely to materially disrupt or degrade, covered services provided to such bank for four or more hours.

On July 26, 2023, the SEC issued a final rule that requires registrants, such as the Company, to (i) report material cybersecurity incidents on Form 8-K, (ii) include updated disclosure in Forms 10-K and 10-Q of previously disclosed cybersecurity incidents and disclose previously undisclosed individually immaterial incidents when a determination is made that they have become material on an aggregated basis, (iii) disclose cybersecurity policies and procedures and governance practices, including at the board and management levels in Form 10-K, and (iv) disclose the board of directors' cybersecurity expertise. Please see "Cybersecurity — Cybersecurity Risk, Management and Strategy" for additional discussion.

#### Payment Processing
Esquire Bank is also subject to the rules of Visa, MasterCard and other payment networks in which it participates. If Esquire Bank fails to comply with such rules, the networks could impose fines or require us to stop providing payment processing for cards under such network's brand or routed through such network.

#### Other Regulations
Esquire Bank's operations are also subject to federal laws applicable to credit transactions, such as:

● The Truth-In-Lending Act, governing disclosures of credit terms to consumer borrowers;

● The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, requiring that borrowers for mortgage loans for 1 – 4 family real estate receive various disclosures, including good faith estimates of settlement costs, lender servicing and escrow account practices, and prohibiting certain practices that increase the cost of settlement services;

● The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, requiring financial institutions to provide information to enable the public and public officials to determine whether a financial institution is fulfilling its obligation to help meet the housing needs of the community it serves;

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● The Equal Credit Opportunity Act and other fair lending laws, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex and other prohibited factors in extending credit;

● The Fair Credit Reporting Act, governing the use of credit reports on consumers and the provision of information to credit reporting agencies;

● Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices laws and regulations;

● The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act;

● The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, governing the manner in which consumer debts may be collected; and

● The rules and regulations of the various federal agencies charged with the responsibility of implementing such federal laws.

The operations of Esquire Bank are further subject to the:

● The Truth in Savings Act, which specifies disclosure requirements with respect to deposit accounts;

● The Right to Financial Privacy Act, which imposes a duty to maintain confidentiality of consumer financial records and prescribes procedures for complying with administrative subpoenas of financial records;

● The Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Regulation E promulgated thereunder, which govern automatic deposits to and withdrawals from deposit accounts and customers' rights and liabilities arising from the use of automated teller machines and other electronic banking services; and

● The Check Clearing for the 21 <sup>st</sup> Century Act (also known as "Check 21"), which gives "substitute checks," such as digital check images and copies made from that image, the same legal standing as the original paper check.

#### Holding Company Regulation
The Company, as a bank holding company controlling Esquire Bank, is subject to regulation and supervision by the FRB under the BHCA. The Company is periodically inspected by and is required to submit reports to the FRB and is required to comply with the FRB's rules and regulations. Among other things, the FRB has authority to restrict activities by a bank holding company that are deemed to pose a serious risk to its subsidiary banks. The FRB has historically imposed consolidated capital adequacy guidelines for bank holding companies structured similarly, but not identically, to those of the OCC for national banks. The Dodd-Frank Act directed the FRB to issue consolidated capital requirements for depository institution holding companies that are no less stringent, both quantitatively and in terms of components of capital, than those applicable to the depository institutions themselves. The previously discussed final rule regarding regulatory capital requirements implemented the Dodd-Frank Act as to bank holding company capital standards. The FRB exempts from the consolidated capital requirements bank holding companies that are below $3 billion in asset size, unless otherwise directed in specific cases. Consequently, the Company is not currently subject to the consolidated holding company capital requirements.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 authorizes a bank holding company that meets specified conditions, including depository institutions subsidiaries that are "well capitalized" and "well managed," to elect to become a "financial holding company." A "financial holding company" may engage in a broader array of financial activities than permitted a typical bank holding company. Such activities can include insurance underwriting and investment banking. The Company has elected to be a "financial holding company."

The policy of the FRB is that a bank holding company must serve as a source of financial and managerial strength to its subsidiary banks by providing capital and other support in times of distress. The Dodd-Frank Act codified the source of strength policy.

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Under the prompt corrective action provisions of federal law, a bank holding company parent of an undercapitalized subsidiary bank is required to guarantee, within specified limits, the capital restoration plan that is required of an undercapitalized bank. If an undercapitalized bank fails to file an acceptable capital restoration plan or fails to implement an accepted plan, the FRB may prohibit the bank holding company parent of the undercapitalized bank from paying dividends or making any other capital distribution.

As a bank holding company, the Company is required to obtain the prior approval of the FRB to acquire more than 5% of a class of voting securities of any additional bank or bank holding company or to acquire all or substantially all, the assets of any additional bank or bank holding company. In evaluating an acquisition application, the FRB evaluates factors such as the financial condition, management resources and future prospects of the parties, the convenience and needs of the communities involved and competitive factors. In addition, bank holding companies may generally only engage in activities that are closely related to banking as determined by the FRB. Bank holding companies that meet certain criteria may opt to become a financial holding company and thereby engage in a broader array of financial activities, which the Company has elected to do.

FRB policy is that a bank holding company should pay cash dividends only to the extent that the holding company's net income for the past two years is sufficient to fund the dividends and the prospective rate of earnings retention is consistent with the holding company's capital needs, asset quality and overall financial condition. In addition, FRB guidance sets forth the supervisory expectation that bank holding companies will inform and consult with FRB staff in advance of issuing a cash dividend that exceeds earnings for the quarter and should inform the FRB and should eliminate, defer or significantly reduce dividends if (i) net income available to stockholders for the past four quarters, net of dividends previously paid during that period, is not sufficient to fully fund the dividends, (ii) prospective rate of earnings retention is not consistent with the bank holding company's capital needs and overall current and prospective financial condition, or (iii) the bank holding company will not meet, or is in danger of not meeting, its minimum regulatory capital adequacy ratios.

A bank holding company is required to give the FRB prior written notice of any repurchase or redemption of its outstanding equity securities if the gross consideration for repurchase or redemption, when combined with the net consideration paid for all such repurchases or redemptions during the preceding 12 months, will be equal to 10% or more of the holding company's consolidated net worth. The FRB may disapprove such a repurchase or redemption if it determines that the proposal would constitute an unsafe and unsound practice or violate a law or regulation. Such notice and approval is not required for a bank holding company that meets certain qualitative criteria. However, FRB guidance generally provides for bank holding company consultation with FRB staff prior to engaging in a repurchase or redemption of a bank holding company's stock, regardless of whether a formal written notice is required. Moreover, FRB staff is interpreting the capital regulations as requiring a bank holding company to secure FRB approval prior to redeeming or repurchasing any capital stock that is included in regulatory capital.

As a bank holding company, the above FRB requirements may restrict the Company's ability to pay dividends to stockholders or engage in repurchases or redemptions of its shares.

***Acquisition of Control of the Company.*** Under the Change in Bank Control Act, no person may acquire control of a bank holding company such as the Company unless the FRB has been given prior written notice and has not issued a notice disapproving the proposed acquisition. In evaluating such notices, the FRB takes into consideration such factors as the financial resources, competence, experience and integrity of the acquirer, the future prospects of the bank holding company involved and its subsidiary bank and the competitive effects of the acquisition. Control, as defined under the Change in Bank Control Act, means ownership, control of power to vote 25% or more of any class of voting stock of an institution. Acquisition of more than 10% of any class of a bank holding company's voting stock constitutes a rebuttable presumption of control under the Change in Bank Control Act regulations under certain circumstances including where, as is the case with the Company, the issuer has registered securities under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

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#### Federal Securities Laws
Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.'s common stock is registered with the SEC. Consequently, Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. is subject to the information, proxy solicitation, insider trading and other restrictions and requirements of the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

#### Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is intended to improve corporate responsibility, to provide for enhanced penalties for accounting and auditing improprieties at publicly traded companies and to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures pursuant to the securities laws. We have policies, procedures and systems designed to comply with this Act and its implementing regulations, and we review and document such policies, procedures and systems to ensure continued compliance with this Act and its implementing regulations.

#### Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law on August 16, 2022, among other things, implements a new alternative minimum tax of 15% on corporations with profits in excess of $1 billion, a 1% excise tax on stock repurchases, and several tax incentives to promote clean energy and climate initiatives. These provisions were effective beginning January 1, 2023.

#### Incentive Compensation
In October 2022, the SEC adopted a final rule implementing the incentive-based compensation recovery ("clawback") provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The final rule directs national securities exchanges and associations, including NASDAQ, to require listed companies to develop and implement clawback policies to recover erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation from current or former executive officers in the event of a required accounting restatement due to material non-compliance with any financial reporting requirement under the securities laws, and to disclose their clawback policies and any actions taken under these policies. On June 9, 2023, the SEC approved the NASDAQ proposed clawback listing standards, including the amendments that delay the effective date of the rules to October 2, 2023. The Company's board of directors has approved and maintains a clawback policy that complies with the NASDAQ clawback listing standards. A copy of the Company's clawback policy is included by reference to this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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#### ITEM 1A. Risk Factors

#### Summary of Risk Factors
The following is a summary of some of the material risks and uncertainties that could have an adverse effect on our business.

● **Risks Related to Our Lending Activities** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Because we intend to continue to increase our commercial loans, our credit risk may increase.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o A substantial portion of our loan portfolio consists of multifamily real estate loans and commercial real estate loans, which have a higher degree of risk than other types of loans.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We may increase our purchases or originations of consumer loans, and such loans generally carry greater risk than loans secured by owner-occupied, 1 – 4 family real estate, and these risks will increase as we continue to increase originations of these types of loans.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o A substantial majority of our loans and operations are in New York, and therefore our business is particularly vulnerable to a downturn in the New York City economy.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o If the allowance for credit losses is not sufficient to cover actual credit losses, earnings could decrease.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Our loan portfolio is unseasoned.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We may not be able to adequately measure and limit the credit risk associated with our loan portfolio, which could adversely affect our profitability.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Our New York City multifamily loan portfolio could be adversely impacted by changes in policy legislation or regulation which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

● **Risks Related to Our Business** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We have experienced significant growth, which makes it difficult to forecast our revenue and evaluate our business and future prospects.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o The merger with Signature and any future acquisitions could disrupt the Company's business and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o A substantial portion of our business is dependent on the prospects of the legal industry and changes in the legal industry may adversely affect our growth and profitability.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o A lack of liquidity could adversely affect the Company's financial condition and results of operations.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o The loss of our deposit clients or substantial reduction of our deposit balances could force us to fund our business with more expensive and less stable funding sources.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o The Bank has deposit accounts whose ownership is based on a fiduciary relationship, which management evaluates to identify an appropriate estimate of FDIC insurance coverage, and such estimates may underreport the amount of the Bank's uninsured deposits.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Reputational risk and social factors may impact our results and damage our brand.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We may incur losses related to our exposure to NFL consumer post-settlement loans through our equity method investment in a third party sponsored variable interest entity.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o As a business operating in the financial services industry, our business and operations may be adversely affected in numerous and complex ways by weak economic conditions.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Artificial Intelligence presents risks and challenges that may adversely affect our business.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Interruption of our customers' supply chains and federal funding could negatively impact their business and operations and impact their ability to repay their loans.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We may not be able to grow, and if we do we may have difficulty managing that growth.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Our ten largest deposit clients account for 25.1% of our total deposits.

● **Risks Related to Market Interest Rates** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Interest rate shifts may reduce net interest income and otherwise negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.

● **Risks Related to Operations** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Inflation can have an adverse impact on our business and on our customers.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We are exposed to the risks of natural disasters and global market disruptions.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We rely heavily on our management team and our business could be adversely affected by the unexpected loss of one or more of our officers.

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We are subject to certain operational risks, including, but not limited to, customer or employee fraud and data processing system failures and errors.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o The Company's controls and procedures may fail or be circumvented.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We face risks related to our operational, technological and organizational infrastructure.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o A failure in our operational systems or infrastructure, or those of third parties, could impair our liquidity, disrupt our businesses, result in the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, damage our reputation and cause financial losses.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o The occurrence of fraudulent activity, breaches or failures of our information security controls or cybersecurity-related incidents could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o If our risk management framework is not effective at mitigating risk and loss to us, we could suffer unexpected losses and our results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

● **Risks Related to Competitive Matters** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We operate in a highly competitive industry and face significant competition from other financial institutions and financial services providers, which may decrease our growth or profits.

● **Risks Related to Our Payment Processing Business** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Our merchants or ISOs may be unable to satisfy obligations for which we may ultimately be liable.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Fraud by merchants or others could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Changes in card network rules, standards or fees could adversely affect our business or operations.

● **Risks Related to Laws and Regulation and Their Enforcement** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o As a bank holding company, the sources of funds available to us are limited.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Our business, financial condition, results of operations and future prospects could be adversely affected by the highly regulated environment and the laws and regulations that govern our operations, corporate governance, executive compensation and accounting principles, or changes in any of them.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Federal regulators periodically examine our business, and we may be required to remediate adverse examination findings.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We are subject to the Community Reinvestment Act and fair lending laws, and failure to comply with these laws could lead to material penalties.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o The fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies of the federal government and its agencies could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We face a risk of noncompliance and enforcement action with the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering statutes and regulations.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o We could be adversely affected by the soundness of other financial institutions and other third parties we rely on.

● **Risks Related to Accounting Matters** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Changes in accounting standards could materially impact our financial statements.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Our accounting estimates rely on analytics, models and assumptions, which may not accurately predict events.

● **Risks Related to Our Common Stock** 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o The Company's stock price can be volatile.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;o Anti-takeover provisions could negatively impact our shareholders.

The material risks that management believes affect the Company are described below. You should carefully consider the risks as described below, together with all of the information included herein. The risks described below are not the only risks the Company faces. Additional risks not presently known also may have a material adverse effect on the Company's results of operations and financial condition.

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#### Risks Related to Our Lending Activities

#### Because we intend to continue to increase our commercial loans, our credit risk may increase.
At December 31, 2025, our commercial loans totaled $1.25 billion, or 70.8% of our total loans, including $1.18 billion of Commercial Litigation-Related Loans, which represented 94.6% of our commercial loans. We intend to increase our originations of commercial loans, including our Commercial Litigation-Related Loans, which consist of working capital lines of credit, case cost lines of credit, term loans to law firms, and other commercial litigation-related loans. These loans generally have more risk than 1 – 4 family mortgage loans and commercial loans secured by real estate. Since repayment of commercial loans, including our Commercial Litigation-Related Loans, depends on the successful receipt of settlement proceeds or the successful management and operation of the borrower's businesses, repayment of such loans can be affected by adverse court decisions and adverse conditions in the local and national economy. Commercial Litigation-Related Loans present unique credit risks in that attorney or law firm revenues can be volatile depending on the number of cases, the timing of court decisions, the timing of the overall judicial process, and the timing of those settlements as well as related payments on those settlements. In our experience, an average case can take two to four years to litigate and settle. Determining the value of an attorney's or law firm's case inventory (borrowing base) is also inherently an imprecise exercise. Though repayment of case lines is not dependent on a favorable case settlement, unfavorable outcomes can ultimately impact the cash flows of the borrower. An adverse development with respect to one loan or one Commercial Litigation-Related Loan credit relationship can expose us to significantly greater risk of loss compared to an adverse development with respect to a 1 – 4 family mortgage loan or a commercial real estate loan. Because we plan to continue to increase our originations of these loans, commercial loans generally have a larger average size as compared with other loans such as commercial real estate loans, and the collateral for commercial loans is generally less readily-marketable, losses incurred on a small number of commercial loans could have a disproportionate and material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

***A substantial portion of our loan portfolio consists of multifamily real estate loans and commercial real estate loans, which have a higher degree of risk than other types of loans.***

At December 31, 2025, we had $372.8 million of multifamily loans and $107.3 million of commercial real estate loans. Multifamily and commercial real estate loans represented 27.3% of our total loan portfolio at December 31, 2025. Multifamily and commercial real estate loans are often larger and involve greater risks than other types of lending because payments on such loans are often dependent on the successful operation or development of the property or business involved. Repayment of such loans is often more sensitive than other types of loans to adverse conditions in the real estate market or the general business climate and economy. Accordingly, a downturn in the real estate market and a challenging business and economic environment may increase our risk related to multifamily and commercial real estate loans. Unlike 1 – 4 family mortgage loans, which generally are made on the basis of the borrower's ability to make repayment from their employment and other income and which are secured by real property whose value tends to be more easily ascertainable, multifamily and commercial real estate loans typically are made on the basis of the borrower's ability to make repayment from the cash flow of the commercial venture. If the cash flow from business operations is reduced, the borrower's ability to repay the loan may be impaired. Due to the larger average size of each multifamily and commercial real estate loan as compared with other loans such as 1 – 4 family loans, as well as collateral that is generally less readily-marketable, losses incurred on a small number of multifamily and commercial real estate loans could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

***We may increase our purchases or originations of consumer loans, and such loans generally carry greater risk than loans secured by owner-occupied, 1 – 4 family real estate, and these risks will increase as we continue to increase originations of these types of loans.***

At December 31, 2025, our consumer loans held for investment totaled $22.8 million, or 1.3% of our total loan portfolio, of which $3.1 million, or 13.8%, were post-settlement consumer loans. Consumer loan collections are dependent on the borrower's continuing financial stability and are therefore more likely to be affected by adverse personal circumstances, such as a loss of employment or unexpected medical costs. While our Consumer Litigation-Related Loans, which consist of post-settlement consumer loans, are typically well secured by the settlement amount, we can still be exposed to the financial stability of the borrower as a result of unforeseen rulings or administrative legal anomalies with a

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particular borrower's settlement that eliminate or greatly reduce their settlement amount. Furthermore, the application of various federal and state laws, including bankruptcy and insolvency laws, may limit our ability to recover on such loans. As we increase our purchases or originations of consumer loans, it may become necessary to increase our provision for credit losses in the event our losses on these loans increase, which would reduce our profits.

***A substantial majority of our loans and operations are in New York, and therefore our business is particularly vulnerable to a downturn in the New York City economy.***

Unlike larger financial institutions that are more geographically diversified, a large portion of our business is concentrated primarily in the state of New York, and in New York City in particular. As of December 31, 2025, 36.7% of our loan portfolio was in New York and our loan portfolio had concentrations of 27.8% in New York City. If the local economy, and particularly the real estate market, declines, the rates of delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures, bankruptcies and losses in our loan portfolio would likely increase. As a result of this lack of diversification in our loan portfolio, a downturn in the local economy generally and real estate market specifically could significantly reduce our profitability and growth and adversely affect our financial condition.

#### If the allowance for credit losses is not sufficient to cover actual credit losses, earnings could decrease.
Loan customers may not repay their loans according to the terms of their loans, and the collateral securing the payment of their loans may be insufficient to assure repayment. We may experience significant credit losses, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. Various assumptions and judgments about the collectability of the loan portfolio are made, including the creditworthiness of borrowers and the value of the real estate and other assets serving as collateral for the repayment of many loans. In determining the amount of the allowance for credit losses, management reviews the loans and the loss and delinquency experience and evaluates economic conditions. At December 31, 2025, our allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans, net of unearned income, was 1.37%. The determination of the appropriate level of allowance is subject to judgment and requires us to make significant estimates of current credit risks and trends, all of which are subject to material changes. If assumptions prove to be incorrect, the allowance for credit losses may not cover probable incurred losses in the loan portfolio at the date of the financial statements. Significant additions to the allowance would materially decrease net income. Nonperforming assets totaled $8.6 million as of December 31, 2025, and consisted of one multifamily loan totaling $7.8 million and one commercial loan (a small business merchant uncorrelated to our primary commercial litigation lending platform and other commercial loans) totaling $736 thousand. Nonperforming loans may increase and nonperforming or delinquent loans may adversely affect future performance. In addition, federal and state regulators periodically review the allowance for credit losses and may require an increase in the allowance for credit losses or recognize further loan charge-offs. Any significant increase in our allowance for credit losses or loan charge-offs as required by these regulatory agencies could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Bank regulators periodically review our allowance for credit losses and may require an increase to the provision for credit losses or further loan charge-offs. Any increase in our allowance for credit losses or loan charge-offs as required by these regulatory authorities may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

#### Our loan portfolio is unseasoned.
With a growing and generally unseasoned loan portfolio, our credit risk may continue to increase and our future performance could be adversely affected. While we believe we have underwriting standards designed to manage normal lending risks, it is difficult to assess the future performance of our loan portfolio due to the recent origination of many of these loans. As a result, it is difficult to predict whether any of our loans will become nonperforming or delinquent loans, or whether we will have any nonperforming or delinquent loans that will adversely affect our future performance. At December 31, 2025, the weighted average age of our loans was 8.03 years, 3.69 years, 3.26 years, 3.57 years and 4.26 years for our 1 – 4 family loans, multifamily loans, commercial real estate loans, commercial loans and consumer loans, respectively. At December 31, 2025, the weighted average age of our loan portfolio was 3.61 years, however, the average customer relationship is of a longer term.

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#### We may not be able to adequately measure and limit the credit risk associated with our loan portfolio, which could adversely affect our profitability.
As a part of the products and services that we offer, we make commercial, consumer and commercial real estate loans. The principal economic risk associated with each class of loans is the creditworthiness of the borrower, which is affected by the strength of the relevant business market segment, local market conditions, and general economic conditions. Additional factors related to the credit quality of commercial loans include the quality of the management of the business and the borrower's ability both to properly evaluate changes in the supply and demand characteristics affecting their market for products and services, and to effectively respond to those changes. Additional factors related to the credit quality of consumer loans, particularly consumer post-settlement loans, include the quality of the post-settlement claim and unforeseen court rulings or administrative legal anomalies which could impact the final settlement amount. Additional factors related to the credit quality of commercial real estate loans include tenant vacancy rates and the quality of management of the property. A failure to effectively measure and limit the credit risk associated with our loan portfolio could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

***Our New York City multifamily loan portfolio could be adversely impacted by changes in policy legislation or regulation which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.***

On June 14, 2019, the New York State legislature passed the New York Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019. This legislation represents the most extensive reform of New York State's rent laws in several decades and generally limits a landlord's ability to increase rents on rent regulated apartments and makes it more difficult to convert rent regulated apartments to market rate apartments. As a result, the value of the collateral located in New York State securing the Company's multifamily loans or the future net operating income of such properties could potentially become impaired which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Additionally, new potential policy changes could affect the city's multifamily housing market. The current New York City administration has expressed support for rent freezes and expanded tenant protections, which, if enacted, may reduce rental income and property values across multifamily properties. These market dynamics could adversely impact the credit quality of our borrowers. Lower property cash flows may impair borrowers' ability to service existing debt. In addition, a sustained decline in collateral values could elevate loan-to-value ratios and reduce recovery prospects in the event of foreclosure.

#### Risks Related to our Business

#### We have experienced significant growth, which makes it difficult to forecast our revenue and evaluate our business and future prospects.
From 2016 through 2025, we experienced significant growth following our initial public offering, a capital raise and the conversion from a savings and loan holding company with a savings bank subsidiary to a bank holding company with a national bank subsidiary. On March 12, 2026, the Company announced the entry into a merger agreement with Signature that, if approved, will nearly double the size of the Company. As a result of our recent accelerated growth, our ability to forecast our future results of operations and plan for and model future growth is limited and subject to a number of uncertainties. We have encountered and will continue to encounter risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in the financial services industry, such as the risks and uncertainties described herein. Accordingly, we may be unable to prepare accurate internal financial forecasts and our results of operations in future reporting periods may be below the expectations of investors. If we do not address these risks successfully, our results of operations could differ materially from our estimates and forecasts or the expectations of our stockholders, causing our business to suffer and our stock price to decline.

***The merger with Signature and any future acquisitions could disrupt the Company's business and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.***

On March 12, 2026, the Company announced that it has entered into a merger agreement with Signature. The Company may choose to expand in the future by making additional acquisitions, including other financial institutions,

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branches or fee-based businesses, that could be material to its business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Acquisitions, including the merger with Signature, involve many risks, including, but not limited to, the following:

● an acquisition may negatively affect the Company's results of operations, financial condition or cash flows because it may require us to incur charges or assume substantial debt or other liabilities, may cause adverse tax consequences or unfavorable accounting treatment, may expose us to claims and disputes by third parties, or may not generate sufficient financial return to offset additional costs and expenses related to the acquisition;

● the Company may encounter difficulties or unforeseen expenditures in integrating the operations of any company that it acquires, particularly if key personnel of the acquired company decide not to work for us;

● an acquisition may disrupt our ongoing business, divert resources, increase our expenses and distract our management;

● an acquisition, and in particular the merger, will involve the entry into geographic or business markets in which the Company has little or no prior experience or where competitors have stronger market positions;

● if the Company incurs debt to fund such acquisition, such debt may subject us to material restrictions on our ability to conduct our business as well as financial maintenance covenants; and

● the Company will issue a significant amount of equity securities to the Signature shareholders in connection with the merger transaction, such that existing shareholders will be diluted and earnings per share may decrease.

The occurrence of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

***A substantial portion of our business is dependent on the prospects of the legal industry and changes in the legal industry may adversely affect our growth and profitability.***

We depend on our relationships within the legal community and our products and services tailored to the legal industry account for a significant source of our revenue. As we intend to focus our growth on our Litigation-Related Loan products, changes in the legal industry, including a significant decrease in the number of litigation cases in the United States, reform of the tort industry that reduces the ability of plaintiffs to bring cases or reduces the damages plaintiffs can receive, or a significant increase in the unemployment rate for attorneys, could, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our profitability, financial condition and growth of our business.

#### A lack of liquidity could adversely affect the Company's financial condition and results of operations.
Liquidity is essential to the Company's business. The Company relies on its ability to generate deposits and effectively manage the repayment of its liabilities to ensure that there is adequate liquidity to fund operations. An inability to raise funds through deposits, borrowings, the sale and maturities of loans and securities and other sources could have a substantial negative effect on liquidity. The Company's most important source of funds is its deposits. Deposit balances can decrease when customers perceive alternative investments as providing a better risk adjusted return, which are strongly influenced by such external factors as the direction of interest rates, local and national economic conditions and the availability and attractiveness of alternative investments. Further, the demand for deposits may be reduced due to a variety of factors such as current negative trends in the banking sector, the level of and/or composition of our uninsured deposits, demographic patterns, changes in customer preferences, reductions in consumers' disposable income, the monetary policy of the FRB or regulatory actions that decrease customer access to particular products. If customers move money out of bank deposits and into other investments such as money market funds, the Company would lose a relatively low-cost source of funds, which would increase its funding costs and reduce net interest income. Any changes made to the rates offered on deposits to remain competitive with other financial institutions may also adversely affect profitability and

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liquidity. Other primary sources of funds consist of cash flows from operations, maturities and sales of investment securities and/or loans, brokered deposits, borrowings from the FHLB and/or FRB discount window, and unsecured borrowings. The Company also may borrow funds from third-party lenders, such as other financial institutions. The Company's access to funding sources in amounts adequate to finance or capitalize its activities, or on terms that are acceptable, could be impaired by factors that affect the Company directly or the financial services industry or economy in general, such as disruptions in the financial markets or negative views and expectations about the prospects for the financial services industry, a decrease in the level of the Company's business activity as a result of a downturn in markets or by one or more adverse regulatory actions against the Company or the financial sector in general. Any decline in available funding could adversely impact the Company's ability to originate loans, invest in securities, meet expenses, or to fulfill obligations such as meeting deposit withdrawal demands, any of which could have a material adverse impact on its liquidity, business, financial condition and results of operations.

***The loss of our deposit clients or substantial reduction of our deposit balances could force us to fund our business with more expensive and less stable funding sources.***

As of December 31, 2025, approximately $685.1 million, or 33%, of our total Bank deposits of $2.06 billion, were not FDIC insured. This excludes $11.8 million of the Company's deposits held by the Bank. We have traditionally obtained funds through deposits for use in lending and investment activities. The interest rates stated for borrowings typically exceed the interest rates paid on deposits. Deposit outflows can occur for a number of reasons, including; clients may seek investments with higher yields, clients with uninsured deposits may seek greater financial security during prolonged periods of volatile and unstable market conditions or clients may simply prefer to do business with our competitors, or for other reasons. If a significant portion of our deposits were withdrawn, we may need to rely more heavily on more expensive borrowings and other sources of funding to fund our business and meet withdrawal demands, adversely affecting our net interest margin. The occurrence of any of these events could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

***The Bank has deposit accounts whose ownership is based on a fiduciary relationship, which management evaluates to identify an appropriate estimate of FDIC insurance coverage, and such estimates may underreport the amount of the Bank's uninsured deposits.***

The Bank has deposit accounts whose ownership is based on a fiduciary relationship. The FDIC's regulations generally state that the titling of the deposit account (together with the underlying records) must indicate the existence of the fiduciary relationship in order for insurance coverage to be available on a "pass-through" basis. Fiduciary relationships include, but are not limited to, relationships involving a trustee, agent, nominee, guardian, executor, or custodian. A bank with fiduciary deposit accounts with balances of more than $250,000 must diligently use the available data on these deposit accounts, including data indicating the existence of different principal and income beneficiaries to determine its best estimate of the uninsured portion of these accounts. As of December 31, 2025, the Company had approximately $1.23 billion of law firm escrow (or trust) deposits that were evaluated by management to identify an appropriate estimate of FDIC insurance coverage that passes through each deposit account to the beneficial owner of the funds held in the account. To a lesser extent, the Bank maintains fiduciary accounts for our qualified settlement fund relationships as well as bankruptcy trustee relationships where management estimates are also employed to determine FDIC coverage. Management's uninsured balance estimate may understate the amount of the Bank's uninsured deposits and may not reflect the assessment of the FDIC if the Bank is placed into receivership. Such understated amounts of uninsured deposits would result in less deposit insurance coverage available to our depositors and could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

***Reputational risk and social factors may impact our results and damage our brand.***

Our ability to attract and retain customers is highly dependent upon the perceptions of borrower customers and deposit holders and other external perceptions of our products, services, trustworthiness, business practices, workplace culture, compliance practices or our financial health. In addition, our brand is very important to us. Maintaining and enhancing our brand depends largely on our ability to continue to provide high-quality products and services. Adverse perceptions regarding our reputation could lead to difficulties in generating and maintaining customers as well as in financing their needs. In particular, negative public perceptions regarding our reputation, including negative perceptions regarding our ability to maintain the security of our technology systems and protect customer data or our compliance programs, could

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lead to decreases in the levels of deposits that customers and potential customers choose to maintain with us or significantly increase the costs of attracting and retaining customers. Negative public opinion or damage to our brand could also result from actual or alleged conduct in any number of activities or circumstances, including lending practices, regulatory compliance (including compliance with anti-money laundering statutes and regulations), security breaches (including the use and protection of customer data), corporate governance, resolution of conflicts of interest and ethical issues, sales and marketing, and from actions taken by regulators or other persons in response to such conduct. Such conduct could fall short of our customers' and the public's heightened expectations of financial institutions with rigorous privacy, data protection, data security and compliance practices, and could further harm our reputation. In addition, third parties with whom we have relationships may take actions over which we have limited control that could negatively impact perceptions about us or the financial services industry. The proliferation of social media may increase the likelihood that negative information about the Bank, whether or not the information is accurate, could impact our reputation and business. Once information has spread through social media, it can be difficult to address it effectively, either by correcting inaccuracies or communicating remedial steps taken to address actual issues.

***We may incur losses related to our exposure to NFL consumer post-settlement loans through our equity method investment in a third party sponsored variable interest entity.***

On April 1, 2022, the Company finalized the sale of its legacy NFL consumer post settlement loan portfolio to a third party sponsored entity (or "Fund") in exchange for a nonvoting economic interest in the Fund as the loan portfolio's duration has extended over several years as a result of revisions to various claims administration protocols, the ongoing effects of the pandemic, revisions to qualifying physician requirements and the controversial use of race-based norms on former NFL players' concussion claims. The following summarizes the chronology of related events and its impact to our risk:

On December 10, 2018, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (the "Court") appointed a special investigator in the NFL Concussion Injury Litigation (Case No. 12-md-2323) to ensure the integrity of the NFL Concussion Settlement Program, the efficient processing of valid claims, and impose appropriate sanctions if wrongdoing is found in response to allegations of fraudulent claims. Additionally, on May 8, 2019, the Court modified the rules regarding qualifying physicians by limiting NFL claimants to utilizing doctors in their immediate area (a range of 150 miles from the claimant's home address). We believe that these Court rulings, including other administrative processes enacted by the claims administrator, have extended the duration of the Fund's assets which may increase its credit risk and our risk of loss of our investment. Although we have not encountered any such fraud at this time within our portfolio, if it is determined that any of the Fund's NFL loan borrowers or others committed fraud when filing their application to the NFL Concussion Settlement Program or to Esquire Bank as originator for the related loan, we may experience a loss on our investment, which could have an adverse effect on our operating results. Specifically, the uncertainty related to our borrowers' ("claimants") access to qualified testing, doctors, their attorneys and other administrative support, has introduced incremental duration risk which may further extend the settlement of claims and payoff of the NFL loans beyond the contractual maturity. Moreover, in August 2020, certain former NFL players filed lawsuits with the Court challenging the use of "race norming" to systematically disfavor Black players who submitted claims in the NFL Concussion Settlement Program. In general, the lawsuits alleged that "race-norming" was being used in the claims administration process to artificially reduce estimates of Black players' pre-concussion cognitive functioning levels thereby concluding that Black players suffered lesser impairments from their concussions than their medical diagnoses and tests otherwise indicated. As a result, the plaintiffs allege that Black claimants were determined not to qualify for settlement payments despite sustaining incapacitating injuries comparable to their white counterparts. In March 2021, the Court dismissed one of the lawsuits on procedural grounds. On June 2, 2021, the NFL and class counsel voluntarily pledged to abandon "race-norming" in the assessment of all settlement claims both prospectively and retrospectively. On October 23, 2021, there was further agreement that no race norms or race demographic estimates shall be used in the settlement program going forward and the NFL will not be able to appeal to settlement administrators to require race norms be applied. On March 4, 2022, the Court formally approved an agreement to eliminate any consideration of race in the Settlement Program and modified the neuropsychological testing protocol. Overall, we believe this may represent a positive development for NFL claimants but may again further extend the NFL portfolio duration as the claim settlement process is re-calibrated and new claims protocols are developed for retrospective and prospective claims. If the processing of claims for the Fund's loan portfolio continues to extend beyond our maturity for these loans due to the aforementioned fraud, revisions to qualifying physician requirements, revised protocols due to "race-norming" claims, or the additional

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administrative processes, portfolio delinquencies, credit downgrades and further losses as the result of possible charge-offs of these loans could occur or increase in the future, which would negatively impact our investment. As of December 31, 2025, the carrying amount of our investment in the Fund and our total exposure is $9.0 million, with a remaining life of 3.3 years.

***As a business operating in the financial services industry, our business and operations may be adversely affected in numerous and complex ways by weak economic conditions.***

Our business and operations, which primarily consist of lending money to customers in the form of loans, borrowing money from customers in the form of deposits and investing in securities, are sensitive to general business and economic conditions in the United States. If the U.S. economy weakens, our growth and profitability from our lending, deposit and investment operations could be constrained. Uncertainty about the federal fiscal policymaking process, the medium and long-term fiscal outlook of the federal government, and future tax rates is a concern for businesses, consumers and investors in the United States. In addition, economic conditions in foreign countries could affect the stability of global financial markets, which could hinder U.S. economic growth. Weak economic conditions are characterized by deflation, fluctuations in debt and equity capital markets, a lack of liquidity and/or depressed prices in the secondary market for mortgage loans, increased delinquencies on mortgage, consumer and commercial loans, 1 – 4 family and commercial real estate price declines and lower home sales and commercial activity. All of these factors are detrimental to our business, and the interplay between these factors can be complex and unpredictable. Our business is also significantly affected by monetary and related policies of the U.S. federal government and its agencies. Changes in any of these policies are influenced by macroeconomic conditions and other factors that are beyond our control. Inflation could also negatively impact us through rising costs and interest rates. Adverse economic conditions and government policy responses to such conditions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

#### Artificial Intelligence presents risks and challenges that may adversely affect our business.
Many companies in the finance industry including us and our vendors have begun incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) software and applications into our business activities in order to increase productivity. The AI industry worldwide is developing rapidly, as is the legal and regulatory environment around its use. Reliance on AI therefore presents risks and challenges as we adapt to evolving rules and regulations, concerns regarding data privacy and misuse of intellectual property, and data biases and accuracy of responses to inquiries during use. These potential issues could raise compliance costs and increase security and liability concerns, which may reduce any productivity gained through its use. The complexity surrounding AI use makes it difficult to know the expected impact on our business.

#### Interruption of our customers' supply chains and federal funding could negatively impact their business and operations and impact their ability to repay their loans.
Any material interruption in our customers' supply chains, such as a material interruption of the resources required to conduct their business, such as those resulting from interruptions in service by third-party providers, trade restrictions, such as increased tariffs or quotas, embargoes or customs restrictions, reductions in federal subsidies or grants, social or labor unrest, natural disasters, epidemics or pandemics or political disputes and military conflicts, that cause a material disruption in our customers' supply chains, could have a negative impact on their business and ability to repay their borrowings with us. In the event of disruptions in our customers' supply chains, the labor and materials they rely on in the ordinary course of business may not be available at reasonable rates or at all. Additionally, changes in distribution of federal funds or freezing of federal funds, including reductions in federal workforce causing unemployment, could have an adverse effect on the ability of consumers and businesses to pay debts and/or affect the demand for loans and deposits.

#### We may not be able to grow, and if we do we may have difficulty managing that growth.
Our business strategy is to continue to grow our assets and expand our operations, including through strategic acquisitions, such as our announced merger with Signature. Our ability to grow depends, in part, upon our ability to expand our market share, successfully attract core deposits, and to identify loan and investment opportunities as well as opportunities to generate fee-based income. We can provide no assurance that we will be successful in increasing the volume of our loans and deposits at acceptable levels and upon terms acceptable to us. We also can provide no assurance

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that we will be successful in expanding our operations organically or through strategic acquisition while managing the costs and implementation risks associated with this growth strategy. We expect to continue to experience growth in the number of our employees and customers and the scope of our operations. Our success will depend upon the ability of our officers and key employees to continue to implement and improve our operational and other systems, to manage multiple, concurrent customer relationships, and to hire, train and manage our employees. In the event that we are unable to perform all these tasks and meet these challenges effectively, including continuing to attract core deposits, our operations, and consequently our earnings, could be adversely impacted.

#### Our ten largest deposit clients account for 25.1% of our total deposits.
As of December 31, 2025, our ten largest bank depositors accounted for, in the aggregate, 25.1% of our total deposits. As a result, a material decrease in the volume of those deposits by a relatively small number of our depositors could reduce our liquidity, in which event it could become necessary for us to replace those deposits with higher-cost deposits or FHLB borrowings, which would adversely affect our net interest income and, therefore, our results of operations.

#### Risks Related to Market Interest Rates

#### Interest rate shifts may reduce net interest income and otherwise negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.
The majority of our banking assets are monetary in nature and subject to risk from changes in interest rates. Like most financial institutions, our earnings and cash flows depend to a great extent upon the level of our net interest income, or the difference between the interest income we earn on loans, investments and other interest earning assets, and the interest we pay on interest bearing liabilities, such as deposits and borrowings. Changes in interest rates can increase or decrease our net interest income, because different types of assets and liabilities may react differently, and at different times, to market interest rate changes. When interest bearing liabilities mature or reprice more quickly, or to a greater degree than interest earning assets in a period, an increase in interest rates could reduce net interest income. Similarly, when interest earning assets mature or reprice more quickly, or to a greater degree than interest bearing liabilities, falling interest rates could reduce net interest income. Additionally, an increase in interest rates may, among other things, reduce the demand for loans and our ability to originate loans and decrease loan repayment rates. A decrease in the general level of interest rates may affect us through, among other things, increased prepayments on our loan portfolio and increased competition for deposits. Accordingly, changes in the level of market interest rates affect our net yield on interest earning assets, loan origination volume and our overall results. Although our asset-liability management strategy is designed to control and mitigate exposure to the risks related to changes in market interest rates, those rates are affected by many factors outside of our control, including governmental monetary policies, inflation, deflation, recession, changes in unemployment, the money supply, international disorder and instability in domestic and foreign financial markets.

#### Risks Related to Operations
***Inflation can have an adverse impact on our business and on our customers.***

Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be worth less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As discussed above under "Risks Related to Market Interest Rates – Interest rate shifts may reduce net interest income and otherwise negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations," as inflation increases and market interest rates rise the value of our investment securities, particularly those with longer maturities, would decrease, although this effect can be less pronounced for floating rate instruments. In addition, inflation generally increases the cost of goods and services we use in our business operations, such as electricity and other utilities, which increases our non-interest expenses. Furthermore, our customers are also affected by inflation and the rising costs of goods and services used in their households and businesses, which could have a negative impact on their ability to repay their loans with us. Sustained higher interest rates by the FRB to tame persistent inflationary price pressures could also push down asset prices and weaken economic activity. A deterioration in economic conditions in the United States and our markets could result in an increase in loan delinquencies and non-performing assets, decreases in loan collateral values and a decrease in demand for our products and services, all of which, in turn, would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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#### We are exposed to the risks of natural disasters and global market disruptions.
We handle a substantial volume of customer and other financial transactions every day. Our financial, accounting, data processing, check processing, electronic funds transfer, loan processing, online and mobile banking, automated teller machines, backup or other operating or security systems and infrastructure may fail to operate properly or become disabled or damaged as a result of a number of factors including events that are wholly or partially beyond our control. This could adversely affect our ability to process these transactions or provide these services. There could be a sudden change in customer transaction volume, electrical, telecommunications or other major physical infrastructure outages, natural disasters, events arising from local or larger scale political or social matters, including terrorist acts, pandemics, and cyber- attacks. We continuously update these systems to support our operations and growth. This updating entails significant costs and creates risks associated with implementing new systems and integrating them with existing ones. Operational risk exposures could adversely impact our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, and cause reputational harm. Additionally, global markets may be adversely affected by natural disasters, inflation, the emergence of widespread health emergencies or pandemics, cyber-attacks or campaigns, military conflict, including the war in Ukraine, terrorism or other geopolitical events. Global market disruptions may affect our business liquidity. Also, any sudden or prolonged market downturn in the United States or abroad, as a result of the above factors or otherwise could result in a decline in revenue and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition, including capital and liquidity levels.

***We rely heavily on our management team and our business could be adversely affected by the unexpected loss of one or more of our officers.***

We are led by a management team with substantial experience in the markets that we serve and the financial products that we offer. Our operating strategy focuses on providing products and services through long-term relationship managers. Accordingly, our success depends in large part on the performance of our key officers, as well as on our ability to attract, motivate and retain highly qualified senior and middle management. Competition for employees is intense, and the process of identifying key personnel with the combination of skills and attributes required to execute our business plan may be lengthy. We may not be successful in retaining our key employees and the unexpected loss of services of one or more of our officers could have a material adverse effect on our business because of their skills, knowledge of our market and financial products, years of industry experience, long-term business and customer relationships and the difficulty of finding qualified replacement personnel. If the services of any of our key personnel should become unavailable for any reason, we may not be able to identify and hire qualified persons on terms acceptable to us, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

#### We are subject to certain operational risks, including, but not limited to, customer or employee fraud and data processing system failures and errors.
Employee errors and employee and customer misconduct could subject us to financial losses or regulatory sanctions and seriously harm our reputation. Misconduct by our employees could include hiding unauthorized activities from us, improper or unauthorized activities on behalf of our customers or improper use of confidential information. It is not always possible to prevent employee errors and misconduct, and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. Employee errors could also subject us to financial claims for negligence. We maintain a system of internal controls and insurance coverage to mitigate against operational risks, including data processing system failures and errors and customer or employee fraud. If our internal controls fail to prevent or detect an occurrence, or if any resulting loss is not insured or exceeds applicable insurance limits, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

***The Company's controls and procedures may fail or be circumvented.***

Our management and board review and update the Company's internal controls over financial reporting, disclosure controls and procedures, and corporate governance policies and procedures. Any system of controls, however well designed and operated, is based in part on certain assumptions and can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurances

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that the objectives of the system are met. Any failure to follow or circumvention of these controls, policies and procedures could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

#### We face risks related to our operational, technological and organizational infrastructure.
Our ability to grow and compete is dependent on our ability to build or acquire the necessary operational and technological infrastructure and to manage the cost of that infrastructure as we expand. Similar to other large corporations, operational risk can manifest itself in many ways, such as errors related to failed or inadequate processes, faulty or disabled computer systems, fraud by employees or outside persons and exposure to external events. As discussed below, we are dependent on our operational infrastructure to help manage these risks. In addition, we are heavily dependent on the strength and capability of our technology systems which we use both to interface with our customers and to manage our internal financial and other systems. Our ability to develop and deliver new products that meet the needs of our existing customers and attract new ones depends on the functionality of our technology systems. Additionally, our ability to run our business in compliance with applicable laws and regulations is dependent on these infrastructures. We continuously monitor our operational and technological capabilities and make modifications and improvements when we believe it will be cost effective to do so. In some instances, we may build and maintain these capabilities ourselves. We also outsource some of these functions to third parties. Specifically, we depend on third parties to provide our core systems processing, essential web hosting and other internet systems, deposit processing and other processing services. In connection with our payment processing business, we (and our ISOs) rely on various third parties to provide processing and clearing and settlement services to us in connection with card transactions. If these third-party service providers experience difficulties, fail to comply with banking regulations or terminate their services and we are unable to replace them with other service providers, our operations could be interrupted. If an interruption were to continue for a significant period of time, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected, perhaps materially. Even if we are able to replace them, it may be at a higher cost to us, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We also face risk from the integration of new infrastructure platforms and/or new third party providers of such platforms into its existing businesses.

***A failure in our operational systems or infrastructure, or those of third parties, could impair our liquidity, disrupt our businesses, result in the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, damage our reputation and cause financial losses.***

Our business, and in particular, our payment processing business, is partially dependent on our ability to process and monitor, on a daily basis, a large number of transactions, many of which are highly complex, across numerous and diverse markets. These transactions, as well as the information technology services we provide to clients, often must adhere to client-specific guidelines, as well as legal and regulatory standards. Due to the breadth of our client base and our geographical reach, developing and maintaining our operational systems and infrastructure is challenging, particularly as a result of rapidly evolving legal and regulatory requirements and technological shifts. Our financial, accounting, data processing or other operating systems and facilities, and, as discussed above, those the third-party service providers upon which we depend, may fail to operate properly or become disabled as a result of events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, such as a spike in transaction volume, cyber-attack or other unforeseen catastrophic events, which may adversely affect our ability to process these transactions or provide services.

***The occurrence of fraudulent activity, breaches or failures of our information security controls or cybersecurity-related incidents could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.***

Our operations rely on the secure processing, storage and transmission of confidential and other sensitive business and consumer information on our computer systems and networks, as well as those of our ISOs and processors. Under the card network rules and various federal and state laws, we are responsible for safeguarding such information. Although we take protective measures to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information across all geographic and product lines, and endeavor to modify these protective measures as circumstances warrant, the nature of the threats continues to evolve. As a result, our computer systems, software and networks are vulnerable to unauthorized access, loss or destruction of data (including confidential client information), account takeovers, unavailability of service, computer viruses or other malicious code, cyber-attacks and other events that could have an adverse security impact. Despite the defensive measures we take to manage our internal technological and operational infrastructure, these threats have in the

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past and may in the future originate externally from third parties such as foreign governments, organized crime and other hackers, and outsource or infrastructure-support providers and application developers, or may originate internally from within our organization. Given the increasingly high volume of our transactions, certain errors may be repeated or compounded before they can be discovered and rectified. In addition, security breaches or failures could result in the bank incurring liability to ISOs, members of the card network and card issuers in relation to our payment processing business.

In particular, information pertaining to us and our customers is maintained, and transactions are executed, on the networks and systems of us, our customers and certain of our third-party partners, such as our online banking or reporting systems, ISO's customers and merchants who are part of our payment processing business. The secure maintenance and transmission of confidential information, as well as execution of transactions over these systems, are essential to protect us and our customers against fraud and security breaches and to maintain our clients' confidence. Breaches of information security also may occur, and in infrequent cases have occurred, through intentional or unintentional acts by those having access or gaining access to our systems or our customers' or counterparties' confidential information, including employees. In addition, increases in criminal activity levels and sophistication, advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries, vulnerabilities in third-party technologies (including browsers and operating systems) or other developments could result in a compromise or breach of the technology, processes and controls that we use to prevent fraudulent transactions and to protect data about us, our customers and underlying transactions, as well as the technology used by our customers to access our systems. We cannot be certain that the security measures we or our ISOs or processors have in place to protect this sensitive data will be successful or sufficient to protect against all current and emerging threats designed to breach our systems or those of our ISOs or processors. Although we have developed, and continue to invest in, systems and processes that are designed to detect and prevent security breaches and cyber-attacks and periodically test our security, a breach of our systems, or those of our ISOs or processors, could result in losses to us or our customers; loss of business and/or customers; damage to our reputation; the incurrence of additional expenses (including the cost of notification to consumers, credit monitoring and forensics, and fees and fines imposed by the card networks); disruption to our business; our inability to grow our online services or other businesses; additional regulatory scrutiny or penalties; or our exposure to civil litigation and possible financial liability — any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

***If our risk management framework is not effective at mitigating risk and loss to us, we could suffer unexpected losses and our results of operations could be materially adversely affected.***

Our risk management framework seeks to achieve an appropriate balance between risk and return, which is critical to optimizing stockholder value. We have established processes and procedures intended to identify, measure, monitor, report and analyze the types of risk to which we are subject, including credit, liquidity, operational, regulatory compliance and reputational. However, as with any risk management framework, there are inherent limitations to our risk management strategies as there may exist, or develop in the future, risks that we have not appropriately anticipated or identified. If our risk management framework proves ineffective, we could suffer unexpected losses and our business and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

#### Risks Related to Competitive Matters
***We operate in a highly competitive industry and face significant competition from other financial institutions and financial services providers, which may decrease our growth or profits.***

Consumer and commercial banking as well as payment processing are highly competitive industries. Our market area contains not only a large number of community and regional banks, but also a significant presence of the country's largest commercial banks. We compete with other state and national financial institutions, as well as savings and loan associations, savings banks, and credit unions, for deposits and loans. In addition, we compete with financial intermediaries, such as consumer finance companies, specialty finance companies, commercial finance companies, mortgage banking companies, insurance companies, securities firms, mutual funds, and several government agencies, as well as major retailers, all actively engaged in providing various types of loans and other financial services, including payment processing. Competition for Litigation-Related Loans is derived primarily from a small number of nationally-oriented financial companies that specialize in this market as well as local community banks. Some of these companies are focused exclusively on loans to law firms, while others offer loans to plaintiffs as well. We also face significant competition from

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many larger institutions, including large commercial banks and third party processors that operate in the payment processing business, and our ability to grow that portion of our business depends on us being able to continue to attract and retain ISOs and merchants. Some of these competitors may have a long history of successful operations nationally as well as in our market area and greater ties to businesses or the legal community and more expansive banking relationships, as well as more established depositor bases, fewer regulatory constraints, and lower cost structures than we do. Competitors with greater resources may possess an advantage through their ability to maintain numerous banking locations in more convenient sites, to conduct more extensive promotional and advertising campaigns, or to operate a more developed technology platform. Due to their size, many competitors may offer a broader range of products and services, as well as better pricing for certain products and services than we can offer. For example, competitors with lower costs of capital may solicit our customers to refinance their loans with a lower interest rate. Further, increased competition among financial services companies due to the recent consolidation of certain competing financial institutions may adversely affect our ability to market our products and services. Technology has lowered barriers to entry and made it possible for banks and specifically finance companies to compete in our market area and for non-banks to offer products and services traditionally provided by banks.

The financial services industry could become even more competitive as a result of legislative, regulatory, and technological changes and continued consolidation. Banks, securities firms, and insurance companies can merge under the umbrella of a financial holding company, which can offer virtually any type of financial service, including banking, securities underwriting, insurance (both agency and underwriting), and payment processing. Our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors, including: (i) our ability to develop, maintain, and build upon long-term customer relationships based on quality service and high ethical standards; (ii) our ability to attract and retain qualified employees to operate our business effectively; (iii) our ability to expand our market position; (iv) the scope, relevance, and pricing of products and services that we offer to meet customer needs and demands; (v) the rate at which we introduce new products and services relative to our competitors; (vi) customer satisfaction with our level of service; and (vii) industry and general economic trends. Failure to perform in any of these areas could weaken our competitive position, which could adversely affect our growth and profitability, which, in turn, could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

#### Risks Related to our Payment Processing Business

#### Our merchants or ISOs may be unable to satisfy obligations for which we may ultimately be liable.
We are subject to the risk of our merchants or ISOs being unable to satisfy obligations for which we may ultimately be liable. If we are unable to collect amounts due from a merchant or ISO because of insolvency or other reasons, we may bear the loss for those full amounts. We manage our credit risk and attempt to mitigate our risk by obtaining cash reserves, both from merchants and ISOs, and through other contractual remedies. It is possible, however, that a default on such obligations by one or more of our ISOs or merchants, could, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

#### Fraud by merchants or others could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
We may be subject to liability for fraudulent transactions initiated by merchants or others. Examples of such fraud include when a merchant or other party knowingly uses a stolen or counterfeit card to make a transaction, or if a merchant intentionally fails to deliver the merchandise or services sold in an otherwise valid transaction. Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to engage in illegal activities such as counterfeiting and fraud. Effective April 1, 2025, Visa will consolidate its Visa Dispute Monitoring Program and Visa Fraud Monitoring Program into a new program called Visa Acquiring Monitoring Program ("VAMP") with the goal of ensuring the integrity of the Visa payment system by monitoring transaction activities to detect and prevent fraudulent behavior. It is possible that incidents of fraud could increase in the future. Failure to effectively manage risk and prevent fraud, including compliance with VAMP, would increase our chargeback liability or other liability including, but not limited to, potential VAMP fines. Increases in chargebacks or other liability could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

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#### Changes in card network rules, standards or fees could adversely affect our business or operations.
In order to provide our payment processing services, we are members of the Visa and MasterCard networks. As such, we are subject to card network rules that could subject us or our ISOs and merchants to a variety of fines or penalties that may be assessed on us, our ISOs, and our merchants. The termination of our membership, or the revocation of registration of any of our ISOs, or any changes in card network rules or standards could increase the cost of operating our payment processor business or limit our ability to provide payment processing to or through our customers, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. From time to time, the card networks increase the fees that they charge to acquirers and we charge to our merchants. It is possible that competitive pressures will result in us absorbing a portion of such increases in the future, which would increase our costs, reduce our profit margin and adversely affect our business and financial condition. In addition, the card networks require certain capital requirements. An increase in the required capital level would further limit our use of capital for other purposes.

#### Risks Related to Laws and Regulation and Their Enforcement

#### As a bank holding company, the sources of funds available to us are limited.
Any future constraints on liquidity at the holding company level could impair our ability to declare and pay dividends or repurchase our common stock. In some instances, notice to, or approval from, the FRB may be required prior to our declaration or payment of dividends or repurchase of common stock. Further, our operations are primarily conducted by our subsidiary, Esquire Bank, which is subject to significant regulation. Federal banking laws restrict the payment of dividends by banks to their holding companies, and Esquire Bank will be subject to these restrictions in paying dividends to us. Because our ability to receive dividends or loans from Esquire Bank is restricted, our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders and repurchase our common stock is also restricted. Additionally, the right of a bank holding company to participate in the assets of its subsidiary bank in the event of a bank-level liquidation or reorganization is subject to the claims of the bank's creditors, including depositors, which take priority, except to the extent that the holding company may be a creditor with a recognized claim.

***Our business, financial condition, results of operations and future prospects could be adversely affected by the highly regulated environment and the laws and regulations that govern our operations, corporate governance, executive compensation and accounting principles, or changes in any of them.***

As a bank holding company, we are subject to extensive examination, supervision and comprehensive regulation by various federal and state agencies that govern almost all aspects of our operations. These laws and regulations are not intended to protect our stockholders. Rather, these laws and regulations are intended to protect customers, depositors, the DIF and the overall financial stability of the U.S. These laws and regulations, among other matters, prescribe minimum capital requirements, impose limitations on the business activities in which we can engage, limit the dividend or distributions that Esquire Bank can pay to us, restrict the ability of institutions to guarantee our debt, and impose certain specific accounting requirements on us that may be more restrictive and may result in greater or earlier charges to earnings or reductions in our capital than generally accepted accounting principles would require. Compliance with these laws and regulations is difficult and costly, and changes to these laws and regulations often impose additional compliance costs. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations, even if the failure follows good faith effort or reflects a difference in interpretation, could subject us to restrictions on our business activities, fines and other penalties, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations, capital base and the price of our securities. Further, any new laws, rules and regulations could make compliance more difficult or expensive. Likewise, the Company operates in an environment that imposes income taxes on its operations at both the federal and state levels to varying degrees. Strategies and operating routines have been implemented to minimize the impact of these taxes. Consequently, any change in tax legislation could significantly alter the effectiveness of these strategies. The net deferred tax asset reported on the Company's balance sheet generally represents the tax benefit of future deductions from taxable income for items that have already been recognized for financial reporting purposes. The bulk of these deferred tax assets consists of deferred credit loss deductions and deferred compensation deductions. The net deferred tax asset is measured by applying currently-enacted income tax rates to the accounting period during which the tax benefit is expected to be realized.

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#### Federal regulators periodically examine our business, and we may be required to remediate adverse examination findings.
The FRB, the OCC and the FDIC, periodically examine our business, including our compliance with laws and regulations. If, as a result of an examination, a federal banking agency were to determine that our financial condition, capital resources, asset quality, earnings prospects, management, liquidity or other aspects of any of our operations had become unsatisfactory, or that we were in violation of any law or regulation, it may take a number of different remedial actions as it deems appropriate. These actions include the power to enjoin "unsafe or unsound" practices, to require affirmative action to correct any conditions resulting from any violation or practice, to issue an administrative order that can be judicially enforced, to direct an increase in our capital, to restrict our growth, to assess civil monetary penalties against our officers or directors, to remove officers and directors and, if it is concluded that such conditions cannot be corrected or there is an imminent risk of loss to depositors, to terminate our deposit insurance and place us into receivership or conservatorship. If we become subject to any regulatory actions, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and growth prospects.

#### We are subject to the Community Reinvestment Act and fair lending laws, and failure to comply with these laws could lead to material penalties.
The Community Reinvestment Act ("CRA"), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Housing Act and other fair lending laws and regulations impose nondiscriminatory lending requirements on financial institutions. A successful challenge to an institution's performance under the CRA or fair lending laws and regulations could result in a wide variety of sanctions, including the required payment of damages and civil money penalties, injunctive relief, imposition of restrictions on mergers and acquisitions activity and restrictions on expansion activity. Private parties may also have the ability to challenge an institution's performance under fair lending laws in private class action litigation.

#### The fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies of the federal government and its agencies could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
In addition to being affected by general economic conditions, our earnings and growth are affected by the policies of the FRB. An important function of the FRB is to regulate the money supply and credit environment. Among the instruments used by the FRB to implement these objectives are open market purchases and sales of U.S. Government securities, adjustments of the discount rate and changes in banks' reserve requirements against bank deposits. These instruments are used in varying combinations to influence overall economic growth and the distribution of credit, bank loans, investments and deposits. Their use also affects interest rates charged on loans or paid on deposits. The FRB's policies determine in large part the cost of funds for lending and investing and the return earned on those loans and investments, both of which affect our net interest margin. Its policies can also adversely affect borrowers, potentially increasing the risk that they may fail to repay their loans. The monetary policies and regulations of the FRB have had a significant effect on the overall economy and the operating results of financial institutions in the past and are expected to continue to do so in the future.

Additionally, Congress and the administration through executive orders controls fiscal policy through decisions on taxation and expenditures. Depending on the industries and markets involved, changes to tax law and increased or reduced public expenditures could affect us directly or the business operations of our customers.

Changes in FRB and other governmental policies, fiscal policy, and our regulatory environment generally are beyond our control, and we are unable to predict what changes may occur or the manner in which any future changes may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

#### We face a risk of noncompliance and enforcement action with the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering statutes and regulations.
The Bank Secrecy Act, the USA Patriot Act and other laws and regulations require financial institutions, among other duties, to institute and maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and to file reports such as suspicious activity reports and currency transaction reports. We are required to comply with these and other anti-money laundering requirements. The federal banking agencies and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network are authorized to impose

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significant civil money penalties for violations of those requirements and have recently engaged in coordinated enforcement efforts against banks and other financial services providers with the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration and Internal Revenue Service. We are also subject to increased scrutiny of compliance with the rules enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. If our policies, procedures and systems are deemed deficient, we would be subject to liability, including fines and regulatory actions, which may include restrictions on our ability to pay dividends and the necessity to obtain regulatory approvals to proceed with certain aspects of our business plan, including our acquisition plans. Failure to maintain and implement adequate programs to combat money laundering and terrorist financing could also have serious reputational consequences for us. Any of these results could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

#### We could be adversely affected by the soundness of other financial institutions and other third parties we rely on.
Financial services institutions are interrelated as a result of trading, clearing, counterparty or other relationships. We have exposure to many different industries and counterparties, and routinely execute transactions with counterparties in the financial services industry, including commercial banks, brokers and dealers, investment banks and other institutional customers. Many of these transactions expose us to credit risk in the event of a default by a counterparty or client. In addition, our credit risk may be exacerbated when our collateral cannot be foreclosed upon or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount of the credit or derivative exposure due. Furthermore, successful operation of our payment processing business depends on the soundness of ISOs, third party processors, payment facilitators, clearing agents and others that we rely on to conduct our payment processing business. Any losses resulting from such third parties could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

#### Risks Related to Accounting Matters

#### Changes in accounting standards could materially impact our financial statements.
From time to time, the FASB or the SEC may change the financial accounting and reporting standards that govern the preparation of our financial statements. Such changes may result in us being subject to new or changing accounting and reporting standards. In addition, the bodies that interpret the accounting standards may change their interpretations or positions on how these standards should be applied. These changes may be beyond our control, can be hard to predict, and can materially impact how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, we could be required to apply a new or revised standard retrospectively, or apply an existing standard differently, also retrospectively, in each case resulting in our needing to revise or restate prior period financial statements.

#### Our accounting estimates rely on analytics, models and assumptions, which may not accurately predict events.
Our accounting policies and methods are fundamental to how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. Our management must exercise judgment in selecting and applying many of these accounting policies and methods so they comply with GAAP and reflect management's judgment of the most appropriate manner to report our financial condition and results. In some cases, management must select the accounting policy or method to apply from two or more alternatives, any of which may be reasonable under the circumstances, yet which may result in our reporting materially different results than would have been reported under a different alternative. Certain accounting policies are critical to presenting our financial condition and results of operations. They require management to make difficult, subjective or complex judgments about matters that are uncertain. Materially different amounts could be reported under different conditions or using different assumptions or estimates. Management considers the accounting policy relating to the allowance for credit losses to be a critical accounting policy. Because of the uncertainty of estimates involved in these matters, we may be required to do one or more of the following: significantly increase the allowance for credit losses or sustain credit losses that are significantly higher than the reserve provided. These could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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#### Risks Related to Our Common Stock

#### The Company's stock price can be volatile.
The Company's stock price can fluctuate in response to a variety of factors, some of which are not under our control. The factors that could cause the Company's stock price to decrease include, but are not limited to: (i) our past and future dividend practice; (ii) our financial condition, performance, creditworthiness and prospects; (iii) variations in our operating results or the quality of our assets; (iv) operating results that vary from the expectations of management, securities analysts and investors; (v) changes in expectations as to our future financial performance; (vi) changes in financial markets related to market valuations of financial industry companies; (vii) current or future financial institutional illiquidity and/or seizures by federal regulators; (viii) the operating and securities price performance of other companies that investors believe are comparable to us; (ix) future sales of our equity or equity-related securities; (x) the credit, mortgage and housing markets, the markets for securities relating to mortgages or housing, and developments with respect to financial institutions generally; and (xi) changes in global financial markets and global economies and general market conditions, such as interest or foreign exchange rates, inflation, recessionary conditions, stock, commodity or real estate valuations or volatility and other geopolitical, regulatory or judicial events.

***Anti-takeover provisions could negatively impact our shareholders.***

Certain provisions in the Company's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, as well as federal banking laws, regulatory approval requirements, and Maryland law, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire the Company, even if doing so would be perceived to be beneficial to the Company's stockholders.

#### ITEM 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.

#### ITEM 1C. Cybersecurity
**Cybersecurity Risk, Management and Strategy**

Cybersecurity is a significant and integrated component of the Company's risk management strategy, designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information contained within the Company's information systems. As a financial services company, cybersecurity threats are present and growing, and the potential exists for a cybersecurity incident to disrupt business operations, compromise sensitive data or both. To date, the Company has not, to its knowledge, experienced an incident materially affecting or reasonably likely to materially affect the Company.

To prepare and respond to incidents, the Company has implemented a multi-layered "defense-in-depth" cybersecurity strategy, integrating people, technology, and processes. This strategy includes employee training, innovative technologies, and policies and procedures in the areas of information security, data governance, business continuity and disaster recovery, privacy, third-party risk management, and incident response.

The Company leverages a variety of industry frameworks and regulatory guidance to develop and maintain its information systems and cybersecurity program, including but not limited to Interagency Guidelines Establishing Information Security Standards, Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council ("FFIEC") Information Technology Examination Handbook (with particular emphasis on the FFIEC's Information Security and Business Continuity Management Handbooks), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLBA") 501(b), and the Center for Internet Security ("CIS") Critical Controls Framework. In addition, the program leverages certain, third-party benchmarking, audits, and third-party threat intelligence sources to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of the program.

Core activities supporting the Company's strategy include cybersecurity training, technology optimization, threat intelligence, vulnerability and patch management and the testing of incident response, business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities.

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Employees play a significant role in the defense against cybersecurity threats. Every employee is responsible for protecting the Company and client information. Accordingly, employees complete formal training and acknowledge security policies annually. In addition, employees are subjected to regular simulated phishing assessments, designed to sharpen threat detection and reporting capabilities.

Employees are supported with solutions designed to identify, prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from incidents. Notable technologies include firewalls, intrusion detection systems, security automation and response capabilities, user behavior analytics, multi-factor authentication, data backups stored at off-site locations and business continuity applications. Notable services include 24/7 security monitoring and response, continuous vulnerability scanning, third-party monitoring, and threat intelligence.

Like many other companies, the Company relies on third-party vendor solutions to support its operations, and these third-party vendors continue to be a source of operational and informational risk. Accordingly, the Company utilizes a third-party risk management program, which includes a detailed onboarding process and periodic reviews of vendors with access to sensitive company data.

As indicated above, supporting the operations are incident response, business continuity, and disaster recovery programs. These programs identify and assess threats and evaluate risk. Further, these programs support a coordinated response when responding to incidents. Periodic exercises and tests verify these programs' effectiveness.

Validating solution and program effectiveness in relation to regulatory compliance and industry standards is important. As such, the Company engages third-party consultants and independent auditors to conduct penetration tests, cybersecurity risk assessments, external audits, and program development and enhancement where applicable.

**Cybersecurity Governance**

***Management Oversight.*** The Chief Technology Officer oversees the Information Technology Department which, among other things, is responsible for identifying, assessing and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats and has more than thirty years of experience in the information technology field. The Chief Technology Officer is a member of various management committees and participates in Board of Directors' meetings as well as Audit Committee meetings where the overall status of information technology and security is discussed including the related policies and risk assessments. Any material findings related to the risk assessment, risk management and control decisions, service provider arrangements, results of testing, security breaches or violations are discussed as are management's responses and any recommendations for policy and program enhancements.

Further, the Chief Technology Officer is a member of the Compliance Committee chaired by the Chief Compliance Officer, which consists of members of senior and executive management, as is it charged with maintaining Bank-wide compliance with relevant statutes, regulations, and interpretations as well as consumer protection.

***Board Oversight.*** The Board of Directors is responsible for reviewing the overall policies and practices for risk management, including delegation of oversight for particular areas of risk to the appropriate subcommittees. Collectively, the Board of Directors and its subcommittees are responsible for discussing with management major financial risk exposures as well as significant operational, compliance, reputational, strategic and cybersecurity risks, and the steps management has taken to monitor and manage such exposures to be within the Company's risk tolerance.

#### ITEM 2. Properties
At December 31, 2025, we conducted business through our corporate headquarters, full service branches in Jericho, New York (Nassau County) and Los Angeles, California, and one administrative office in Boca Raton, Florida. All the current locations are leased properties. At December 31, 2025, the total net book value of our leasehold improvements, furniture, fixtures and equipment was approximately $4.4 million.

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#### ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings
Periodically, we are involved in claims and lawsuits, such as claims to enforce liens, condemnation proceedings on properties in which we hold security interests, claims involving the making and servicing of real property loans and other issues incident to our business. At December 31, 2025, we are not a party to any pending legal proceedings that we believe would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

#### ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.

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#### PART II

#### ITEM 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our shares of common stock are traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol "ESQ". The approximate number of holders of record of Esquire Financial Holding, Inc.'s common stock as of March 1, 2026 was 15,308. The Company's common stock began trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market on June 27, 2017.

Pursuant to the regulations of the SEC, the graph below compares our performance with that of the total return for the KBW® Bank Index and the NASDAQ® Composite Index from December 31, 2020 through December 31, 2025. The graph assumes the reinvestment of dividends in additional shares of the same class of equity securities as those listed below.

![Graphic](esq-20251231x10k006.jpg)

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| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | Year Ended December 31, | Year Ended December 31, | Year Ended December 31, | Year Ended December 31, | Year Ended December 31, | Year Ended December 31, |
| Index | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Esquire Financials Holdings, Inc. | 100.00 | 164.15 | 225.43 | 260.34 | 414.28 | 531.89 |
| KBW Bank Index | 100.00 | 135.05 | 103.01 | 98.07 | 130.19 | 167.69 |
| NASDAQ Composite Index | 100.00 | 121.39 | 81.21 | 116.47 | 149.83 | 180.33 |

---

In 2022, we initiated a regular quarterly dividend on our common stock. Any determination to pay cash dividends on our common stock is made by our board of directors and depends on a number of factors, including:

● our historical and projected financial condition, liquidity and results of operations;

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● our capital levels and requirements;

● statutory and regulatory prohibitions and other limitations;

● any contractual restriction on our ability to pay cash dividends, including pursuant to the terms of any of our credit agreements or other borrowing arrangements;

● our business strategy;

● tax considerations;

● any acquisitions or potential acquisitions that we may examine;

● general economic conditions; and

● other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.

The following table summarizes information as of December 31, 2025 relating to equity compensation plans of the Company pursuant to which grants of options, restricted stock awards ("RSAs") or other rights to acquire shares may be granted from time to time.

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| <br>**Plan Category** | <br>**Number of securities**<br>**to be issued upon**<br>**exercise of**<br>**outstanding options,**<br>**warrants and rights** <br>**(a)** | <br>**Weighted-average**<br>**exercise price of**<br>**outstanding options,**<br>**warrants and rights**<br>**(b)** | **Number of securities**<br>**remaining available for**<br>**future issuance under**<br>**equity compensation**<br>**plans (excluding securities**<br>**reflected in column (a))**<br>**(c)** |
| Equity Compensation Plans Approved by Security Holders | 376910 | $34.88 | 380000 |
| Equity Compensation Plans Not Approved by Security Holders |  |  |  |
| **Total Equity Compensation Plans** | 376910 | $34.88 | 380000 |

---

The following table presents information regarding purchase of our common stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2025 and the stock repurchase program approved by our Board of Directors.

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Period** | **Total number of shares purchased** | **Average price paid per share** | **Total number of shares purchased as part of publicly announced plans or programs** | **Maximum number of shares that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs (1)** |
| October 1, 2025 through October 31, 2025 |  | $— |  | 257694 |
| November 1, 2025 through November 30, 2025 |  |  |  | 257694 |
| December 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025 |  |  |  | 257694 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) On January 9, 2019, the Company announced a share repurchase program, which authorized the purchase of up to 300,000 shares of common stock. There is no expiration date for the stock repurchase program.

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Participants in the Company's stock-based incentive plans may have shares withheld to cover income taxes upon the vesting of RSAs pursuant to the terms of the applicable plan and not under the Company's share repurchase program. Shares repurchased pursuant to these plans during the three months ended December 31, 2025 were as follows:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Period** | **Total number of shares purchased** | **Average price paid per share** |
| October 1, 2025 through October 31, 2025 |  | $— |
| November 1, 2025 through November 30, 2025 |  |  |
| December 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025 | 37620 | 106.01 |

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Participants in the Company's stock-based incentive plans may also net settle shares in order to facilitate the exercise of stock options which is considered a cashless option exercise resulting in a net issuance of shares to the participant with no change in treasury stock.

#### ITEM 6. [Reserved]

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#### ITEM 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
This discussion and analysis reflects our financial statements and other relevant statistical data, and is intended to enhance your understanding of our financial condition and results of operations. The information in this section has been derived from the financial statements, which appear elsewhere in this Annual Report. You should read the information in this section in conjunction with the other business and financial information provided in this Annual Report.

#### Overview
We are a financial holding company headquartered in Jericho, New York and registered under the BHC Act. Through our wholly owned bank subsidiary, Esquire Bank, National Association, we are a full service commercial bank dedicated to serving the financial needs of the legal and small business communities (as well as their owners and employees) on a national basis, and commercial and retail customers in the New York metropolitan market. We offer tailored products and solutions to the legal community and their clients as well as dynamic and flexible payment processing solutions to small business owners, both on a national basis. We also offer traditional banking products for businesses and consumers in our local market areas (a subset of the New York and Los Angeles markets).

Our results of operations depend primarily on our net interest income which is the difference between the interest income we earn on our interest-earning assets and the interest we pay on our interest-bearing liabilities. Our results of operations also are affected by our provisions for credit losses, noninterest income and noninterest expense. Noninterest income currently consists primarily of payment processing income, ASP fee income and customer related fees and charges. Noninterest expense currently consists primarily of employee compensation and benefits, data processing costs, occupancy and equipment costs and professional and consulting services. Our results of operations also may be affected significantly by general and local economic and competitive conditions, changes in market interest rates, governmental policies, the litigation market and actions of regulatory authorities.

The Company's foundation for success has been our nationwide branchless litigation and payment processing verticals supported by our forward-thinking senior managers, outstanding client service teams, and inclusive corporate culture. The future of our success will be the ability to continue developing and embracing cutting-edge technology to significantly leverage these verticals, differentiating us from other technology enabled financial firms and creating the catalyst for industry leading growth and returns.

**Proposed Signature Merger**

On March 11, 2026, the Company, Esquire Merger Sub, Inc., a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of the Company ("Merger Sub"), and Signature Bancorporation, Inc. entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (as may be amended, modified or supplemented from time to time in accordance with its terms, the "merger agreement"), pursuant to which Esquire and Signature have agreed to combine their respective businesses.

Under the merger agreement, Merger Sub will merge with and into Signature, with Signature as the surviving entity (the "merger"), and immediately following the merger, Signature will merge with and into the Company, with the Company as the surviving entity (the "second step merger"). Immediately following the second step merger, Signature Bank, an Illinois-chartered non-member bank and a wholly owned subsidiary of Signature ("Signature Bank"), will merge with and into Esquire Bank, with Esquire Bank as the surviving bank (the "bank merger" and, together with the merger and the second step merger, the "mergers").

Under the terms of the merger agreement, shareholders of Signature will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 2.63 shares of Esquire common stock for each share of Signature common stock, subject to adjustment. The per share value equates to $260.48 for Signature shareholders based on the closing price of Esquire common stock on March 11, 2026, or approximately $348.4 million in aggregate transaction value. The exchange ratio is subject to an adjustment based on the disposition value of certain Signature Bank loans with a total par value of approximately $70 million ("Schedule A Loans"). The adjusted exchange ratio at closing will be no higher than 2.80 and no lower than 2.50. Signature has initiated a sale process and is expected to dispose of Schedule A Loans prior to closing. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval, approval of Esquire and Signature shareholders, and other customary closing conditions.

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#### Critical Accounting Estimates
A summary of our significant accounting policies is described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report. Critical accounting estimates are necessary in the application of certain accounting policies and procedures and are particularly susceptible to significant change. Critical accounting policies are defined as those involving significant judgments and assumptions by management that could have a material impact on the carrying value of certain assets or on income under different assumptions or conditions. Management believes that the most critical accounting policies, which involve the most complex or subjective decisions or assessments, are as follows:

***Allowance for Credit Losses on Loans Held for Investment.*** Management considers the accounting policy relating to the allowance for credit losses on loans held for investment to be a critical accounting policy given the inherent subjectivity and uncertainty in estimating the levels of the allowance required to cover credit losses in the portfolio and the material effect that such judgments can have on the results of operations*.* See Note 1 "Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" for discussion of our allowance for credit losses on loans held for investment policy.

The Company is required under the CECL Standard to estimate and record lifetime credit losses expected to be incurred on such financial instruments over the entire contractual term at the time they are recorded in the financial statements, such as with the funding or purchasing of a loan, or a commitment to lend unless the commitment is unconditionally cancellable. Because this allowance methodology follows a forward-looking lifetime expected loss approach, it is not necessary for a loss event to have been incurred before a credit loss is recognized. The estimation process in determining an appropriate level for the allowance for credit losses requires consideration of past events, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts, and involves a significant degree of management judgment. The Company determines the allowance for credit losses using methods it believes are appropriate given the characteristics of each loan portfolio and applies these methods consistently over time.

The Company employs a static pool methodology for all loan segments. In a static pool approach, statistical information about a pool of loans originated during a specified period is tracked over its life (including losses, delinquencies, and prepayments). In general, this methodology operates by calculating a rate representing the current balance expected to not be collected for each pool. This loss rate is then applied against the current portfolio loans with similar characteristics of those established in the pool.

In accordance with the CECL Standard, the Company must estimate expected credit losses over the contractual term of a loan, adjusted for expected prepayments. In estimating the life of a loan, the Company cannot extend the contractual term of a loan for expected extensions, renewals, and modifications, unless there is a borrower-held extension or renewal option that is not unconditionally cancelable. In developing the estimate of expected credit losses, the Company must reflect information about past events, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. This information should include what is reasonably available without undue cost and effort and may include information sourced internally, externally, or a combination of both.

The estimation of expected credit losses requires the use of forward-looking information that is both reasonable and supportable, including information that relates to economic forecasts and how those forecasts are expected to impact expected future losses. The Company incorporates reasonable and supportable forecasts as qualitative adjustments applied to the historical loss rates over the reasonable and supportable forecast period. The CECL Standard does not require a specific method for developing economic forecasts, nor does it require a specific timeframe over which a reasonable and supportable forecast should be employed in the Company's CECL model. While the Company is not precluded from utilizing economic forecasts over the entire contractual term of a loan, the Company utilizes forecasts it believes are reasonable and supportable. The Company considers its methodologies to determine reasonable and supportable forecasts and reversion techniques to be accounting estimates rather than accounting policies or principles. For periods beyond which the Company is unable to determine a reasonable and supportable forecast, it will revert to unadjusted historical loss information in accordance with the CECL Standard. Management assesses the sensitivity of key assumptions by stressing the quantitative inputs utilized in its economic forecasts. This sensitivity analysis provides management with a hypothetical result to assess the sensitivity of our allowance for credit losses to a change in a key quantitative input.

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Qualitative factors are used to supplement the static pool methodology to determine total estimated expected credit losses during a given period. Because the static pool methodology estimates losses based on historical loss information, management utilizes qualitative factors to measure expected credit losses which are not sufficiently captured within the static pool model during a given period.

On a quarterly basis, management determines the extent to which qualitative factors are used to bring the allowance for credit losses to a level deemed appropriate. These adjustments to the allowance for credit losses may be positive or negative to the quantitatively modeled results from the static pool methodology. Final qualitative adjustments to the allowance for credit losses are subject to management judgment.

The Company measures the allowance for credit losses on a collective basis by pooling loans according to similar risk characteristics. When a loan is deemed to no longer share risk characteristics similar to others in the portfolio, the Company evaluates such loans on an individual basis. Management may consider changes to a borrower's circumstances impacting cash collections, delinquency and non-accrual status, probability of default, industry, or other facts and circumstances when determining whether a loan shares risk characteristics with other loans in a pool. For a loan that does not share risk characteristics with other loans in a pool and is not collateral dependent, expected credit loss is measured based on the discounted value of the expected future cash flows and the amortized cost of the loan. If an entity determines that foreclosure of the collateral is probable, the CECL Standard requires the entity to measure expected credit losses of collateral dependent loans based on the difference between the current fair value of the collateral and the amortized cost basis of the financial asset. As of December 31, 2025, there was one collateral dependent multifamily loan secured by real estate totaling $7.8 million that was individually analyzed, and one collateral dependent commercial loan secured by business assets totaling $736 thousand that was individually analyzed, with no associated specific reserve on either loan on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

When applying this critical accounting estimate, management's inputs and estimates of the timing and amounts of future losses are subject to significant judgment as these projected cash flows rely upon factors that depend on current or expected future conditions. Management expects there to be differences between actual and estimated results.

Future changes to the allowance for credit losses may be necessary based on changes in economic, market, or other conditions. Changes to estimates could result in a material change in the allowance for credit losses and charges to provision for credit losses would materially decrease the Company's net income. The Company's loan portfolio may experience significant credit losses, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

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#### Selected Financial Data
The following information is derived in part from the consolidated financial statements of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** | **2022** | **2021** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands, except share and per share data)** | **(Dollars in thousands, except share and per share data)** | **(Dollars in thousands, except share and per share data)** | **(Dollars in thousands, except share and per share data)** | **(Dollars in thousands, except share and per share data)** |
| **Balance Sheet Data:** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total assets | $2365661 | $1892503 | $1616876 | $1395639 | $1178770 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 235887 | 126329 | 165209 | 164122 | 149156 |
| Securities available-for-sale, at fair value | 246505 | 241746 | 122107 | 109269 | 148384 |
| Securities held-to-maturity, at cost | 60193 | 68660 | 77001 | 78377 |  |
| Loans, held for investment | 1758427 | 1397021 | 1207413 | 947295 | 784517 |
| Total deposits | 2063007 | 1642236 | 1407299 | 1228236 | 1028409 |
| Total stockholders' equity | 289598 | 237094 | 198555 | 158158 | 143735 |
| **Income Statement Data:** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Interest income | $139417 | $113373 | $91888 | $60993 | $44531 |
| Interest expense | 17936 | 13444 | 8115 | 1647 | 828 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net interest income | 121481 | 99929 | 83773 | 59346 | 43703 |
| Provision for credit losses | 9675 | 4700 | 4525 | 3490 | 6955 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net interest income after provision for credit losses | 111806 | 95229 | 79248 | 55856 | 36748 |
| Payment processing income | 20215 | 20875 | 22316 | 21944 | 20856 |
| Other noninterest income | 4865 | 4020 | 7435 | 2981 | 168 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest income | 25080 | 24895 | 29751 | 24925 | 21024 |
| Employee compensation and benefits | 42314 | 37845 | 32481 | 25774 | 21741 |
| Other expenses | 28920 | 22998 | 20636 | 16206 | 13323 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest expense | 71234 | 60843 | 53117 | 41980 | 35064 |
| Net income before income taxes | 65652 | 59281 | 55882 | 38801 | 22708 |
| Income tax expense | 14830 | 15623 | 14871 | 10283 | 4783 |
| Net income | $50822 | $43658 | $41011 | $28518 | $17925 |
| **Per Share Data:** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Earnings per share: |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Basic | $6.30 | $5.58 | $5.31 | $3.73 | $2.40 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Diluted | 5.87 | 5.14 | 4.91 | 3.47 | 2.26 |
| Book value per share<sup>(1)</sup> | 33.86 | 28.38 | 23.96 | 19.30 | 17.77 |
| Tangible book value per share<sup>(2)</sup> | 33.86 | 28.38 | 23.96 | 19.30 | 17.77 |
| **Selected Performance Ratios:** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Return on average assets | 2.43% | 2.57% | 2.89% | 2.31% | 1.77% |
| Return on average equity | 19.41 | 20.14 | 23.20 | 19.44 | 13.42 |
| Interest rate spread | 5.46 | 5.48 | 5.57 | 4.85 | 4.40 |
| Net interest margin | 6.02 | 6.06 | 6.09 | 4.99 | 4.49 |
| Efficiency ratio<sup>(3)</sup> | 48.60 | 48.74 | 46.79 | 49.82 | 54.17 |
| Loan to deposit ratio | 85.24 | 85.07 | 85.80 | 77.13 | 76.28 |
| Average interest earning assets to average interest bearing liabilities | 162.96 | 172.03 | 188.86 | 201.47 | 215.72 |
| Average equity to average assets | 12.53 | 12.75 | 12.44 | 11.89 | 13.22 |

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **At or For the Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** | **2022** | **2021** |
| **Asset Quality Ratios (Loans Held for Investment):** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Allowance for credit losses to total loans | 1.37% | 1.50% | 1.38% | 1.29% | 1.16% |
| Allowance for credit losses to nonperforming loans<sup>(4)</sup> | 280% | 192% | 152% | NM | NM |
| Net charge-offs (recoveries) to average outstanding loans | 0.44% | 0.03% | 0.04% | 0.04% | 1.29% |
| Nonperforming loans to total loans<sup>(4)</sup> | 0.49% | 0.78% | 0.91% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Nonperforming loans to total assets<sup>(4)</sup> | 0.36% | 0.58% | 0.68% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Nonperforming assets to total assets<sup>(5)</sup> | 0.36% | 0.58% | 0.68% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| **Capital Ratios (Esquire Bank):**  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total capital to risk weighted assets | 15.43% | 15.92% | 15.38% | 15.44% | 15.89% |
| Tier 1 capital to risk weighted assets | 14.18% | 14.67% | 14.13% | 14.21% | 14.79% |
| Tier 1 common equity to risk weighted assets | 14.18% | 14.67% | 14.13% | 14.21% | 14.79% |
| Tier 1 leverage capital ratio | 11.87% | 11.70% | 12.07% | 10.98% | 11.46% |
| **Other:**  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Number of offices | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Number of full-time equivalent employees | 148 | 138 | 140 | 115 | 110 |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) For purposes of computing book value per share, book value equals total common stockholders' equity divided by total number of shares of common stock outstanding. Total common stockholders' equity equals total stockholders' equity, less preferred equity. Preferred equity was $0 as of the dates indicated.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2) The Company had no intangible assets as of the dates indicated. Thus, tangible book value per share is the same as book value per share for each of the periods indicated.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3) See "Non-GAAP Financial Measure Reconciliation" below for the computation of the efficiency ratio.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4) Nonperforming loans include nonaccrual loans, loans past due 90 days and still accruing interest and loans modified for borrowers experiencing financial difficulty.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5) Nonperforming assets include nonperforming loans, other real estate owned and other foreclosed assets.

#### Non-GAAP Financial Measure Reconciliation
The efficiency ratio is a non-GAAP measure of expense control relative to recurring revenue. We calculate the efficiency ratio by dividing total noninterest expenses excluding non-recurring items by the sum of total net interest income and total noninterest income as determined under GAAP, but excluding net gains on securities from this calculation and other non-recurring income sources, if applicable, which we refer to below as recurring revenue. We believe that this provides one reasonable measure of recurring expenses relative to recurring revenue.

We believe that this non-GAAP financial measure provides information that is important to investors and that is useful in understanding our financial position, results and ratios. However, this non-GAAP financial measure is supplemental and is not a substitute for an analysis based on GAAP measures. As other companies may use different calculations for this measure, this presentation may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures by other companies.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

---

| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **For the Years Ended December 31,**  | **For the Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** | **2022** | **2021** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| **Efficiency Ratio:**  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net interest income | $121481 | $99929 | $83773 | $59346 | $43703 |
| Noninterest income | 25080 | 24895 | 29751 | 24925 | 21024 |
| Less: net gain on equity investments |  |  | (4013) |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Recurring revenue | $146561 | $124824 | $109511 | $84271 | $64727 |
| Total noninterest expense | $71234 | $60843 | $53117 | $41980 | $35064 |
| Efficiency ratio | 48.6% | 48.7% | 48.5% | 49.8% | 54.2% |

---

#### Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition for the Years Ended December 31, 2025 and 2024
***Assets***. Our total assets were $2.37 billion at December 31, 2025, an increase of $473.2 million from $1.89 billion at December 31, 2024, due to growth in loans held for investment of $361.4 million, or 25.9%, and increases in cash and cash equivalents of $109.6 million, or 86.7%.

***Loan Portfolio Analysis.*** At December 31, 2025, loans were $1.76 billion, or 74.3% of total assets, compared to $1.40 billion, or 73.8% of total assets, at December 31, 2024. Our higher yielding variable rate commercial loans increased $325.0 million, or 35.3%, to $1.25 billion at December 31, 2025 from $920.6 million at December 31, 2024 where commercial litigation related loan growth was $342.5 million, or 41.0%, to $1.18 billion in 2025. Commercial real estate loans increased $20.3 million, or 23.3%, to $107.3 million at December 31, 2025 from $87.0 million at December 31, 2024. Multifamily loans increased $17.6 million, or 5.0%, to $372.8 million at December 31, 2025 from $355.2 million at December 31, 2024. Consumer loans increased $3.4 million or 17.7%, to $22.8 million at December 31, 2025 from $19.3 million at December 31, 2024. 1 – 4 family loans decreased $4.8 million, or 32.9%, to $9.8 million at December 31, 2025 from $14.7 million at December 31, 2024.

***Loan Portfolio Composition.*** The following table sets forth the composition of our loan portfolio by type of loan at the dates indicated.

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2025** | **2024** | **2024** | **2023** | **2023** |
|  | **Amount** | **Percent** | **Amount** | **Percent** | **Amount** | **Percent** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| Real estate: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily | $372800 | 21.2% | $355165 | 25.4% | $348241 | 28.8% |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate | 107293 | 6.1 | 87038 | 6.2 | 89498 | 7.4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family | 9835 | 0.6 | 14665 | 1.1 | 17937 | 1.5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total real estate | 489928 | 27.9 | 456868 | 32.7 | 455676 | 37.7 |
| Commercial | 1245555 | 70.8 | 920567 | 65.9 | 737914 | 61.1 |
| Consumer | 22762 | 1.3 | 19339 | 1.4 | 14491 | 1.2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total loans held for investment | $1758245 | 100.0% | $1396774 | 100.0% | $1208081 | 100.0% |
| Deferred loan fees and unearned premiums, net | 182 |  | 247 |  | (668) |  |
| Allowance for credit losses | (24022) |  | (20979) |  | (16631) |  |
| Loans held for investment, net | $1734405 |  | $1376042 |  | $1190782 |  |

---

The following table sets forth the composition of our held for investment Litigation-Related Loan portfolio by type of loan at the dates indicated.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,** | **December 31,** | **December 31,** | **December 31,** | **December 31,** | **December 31,** |
|  | **2025** | **2025** | **2024** | **2024** | **2023** | **2023** |
|  | **Amount** | **Percent** | **Amount** | **Percent** | **Amount** | **Percent** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| **Litigation-Related Loans:** |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Commercial Litigation-Related: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Working capital lines of credit | $782182 | 66.2% | $531574 | 63.4% | $373338 | 60.7% |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Case cost lines of credit | 209469 | 17.7 | 185204 | 22.1 | 152165 | 24.8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Term loans | 186674 | 15.8 | 119061 | 14.2 | 86954 | 14.1 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total Commercial Litigation-Related | 1178325 | 99.7 | 835839 | 99.7 | 612457 | 99.6 |
| Consumer Litigation-Related: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Post-settlement consumer loans | 3130 | 0.3 | 2716 | 0.3 | 2406 | 0.4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Structured settlement loans |  |  |  |  | 16 |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total Consumer Litigation-Related | 3130 | 0.3 | 2716 | 0.3 | 2422 | 0.4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total Litigation-Related Loans | $1181455 | 100.0% | $838555 | 100.0% | $614879 | 100.0% |

---

At December 31, 2025, our Litigation-Related Loans, which include commercial and consumer lending to attorneys, law firms and plaintiffs/claimants, totaled $1.18 billion, or 67.2% of our total loan portfolio, compared to $838.6 million at December 31, 2024. We also had Commercial Litigation-Related committed and uncommitted undrawn lines of credit totaling $106.9 million and $797.5 million, respectively, at December 31, 2025, compared to $85.0 million and $580.3 million, respectively, at December 31, 2024.

Litigation-Related post-settlement consumer loans increased $414 thousand to $3.1 million as of December 31, 2025, from $2.7 million as of December 31, 2024.

***Loan Maturity.*** The following table sets forth certain information at December 31, 2025 regarding the contractual maturity of our held for investment loan portfolio. Demand loans, loans having no stated repayment schedule or maturity, and overdraft loans are reported as being due in one year or less. The table does not include any estimate of prepayments that could significantly shorten the average life of all loans and may cause our actual repayment experience to differ from that shown below.

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| <br>**December 31, 2025** | <br>**Multifamily** | **Commercial**<br>**Real Estate** | <br>**1 – 4 Family** | <br>**Commercial** | <br>**Consumer** | <br>**Total** |
|  | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** |
| Amounts due in: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;One year or less | $77133 | $2105 | $2240 | $801717 | $2191 | $885386 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;More than one to five years | 285742 | 104822 | 6590 | 402922 | 20571 | 820647 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;More than five to fifteen years | 9925 | 366 | 628 | 40916 |  | 51835 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;More than fifteen years |  |  | 377 |  |  | 377 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total | $372800 | $107293 | $9835 | $1245555 | $22762 | $1758245 |

---

The following table sets forth fixed and adjustable-rate held for investment loans at December 31, 2025 that are contractually due after December 31, 2026.

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Due After December 31, 2026** | **Due After December 31, 2026** | **Due After December 31, 2026** |
|  | **Fixed** | **Adjustable** | **Total** |
|  | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** |
| Real estate: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily | $291284 | $4383 | $295667 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate | 98446 | 6742 | 105188 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family | 7595 |  | 7595 |
| Commercial | 74909 | 368929 | 443838 |
| Consumer | 3460 | 17111 | 20571 |
| Total | $475694 | $397165 | $872859 |

---

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

At December 31, 2025, substantially all of our $1.25 billion commercial loans are variable rate and tied to prime, comprising approximately 71% of our loan portfolio. Additionally, approximately 90% of our commercial loans have interest rate floor protection as of December 31, 2025.

#### Nonperforming Assets
Nonperforming assets include loans that are 90 or more days past due or on nonaccrual status, including real estate and other loan collateral acquired through foreclosure and repossession. Loans 90 days or greater past due may remain on an accrual basis if adequately collateralized and in the process of collection.

Real estate that we acquire as a result of foreclosure or by deed-in-lieu of foreclosure is classified as foreclosed real estate until it is sold. When property is acquired, it is initially recorded at the fair value less costs to sell at the date of foreclosure, establishing a new cost basis. Holding costs and declines in fair value after acquisition of the property result in charges against income. At December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, we did not have any foreclosed assets.

Nonperforming assets totaled $8.6 million as of December 31, 2025, and consisted of one multifamily loan totaling $7.8 million and one commercial loan (a small business merchant uncorrelated to our primary commercial litigation lending platform and other commercial loans) totaling $736 thousand. Nonperforming assets totaled $10.9 million as of December 31, 2024.

The following table sets forth information regarding our nonperforming assets at the dates indicated.

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| **Nonaccrual loans:** |  |  |  |
| Multifamily | $7836 | $10940 | $10940 |
| Commercial real estate |  |  |  |
| 1 – 4 family |  |  |  |
| Commercial | 736 |  |  |
| Consumer |  |  |  |
| Total nonaccrual loans | 8572 | 10940 | 10940 |
| Other real estate owned |  |  |  |
| Loans past due 90 days and still accruing |  |  | 69 |
| Total nonperforming assets | $8572 | $10940 | $11009 |
| Total loans held for investment<sup>(1)</sup> | $1758427 | $1397021 | $1207413 |
| Total assets | $2365661 | $1892503 | $1616876 |
| Allowance for credit losses | $24022 | $20979 | $16631 |
| Total nonaccrual loans to total loans | 0.49% | 0.78% | 0.91% |
| Total nonperforming assets to total assets | 0.36% | 0.58% | 0.68% |
| Allowance for credit losses to nonaccrual loans | 280% | 192% | 152% |
| Allowance for credit losses to nonperforming loans | 280% | 192% | 152% |
| Allowance for credit losses to total loans at end of the period<sup>(1)</sup> | 1.37% | 1.50% | 1.38% |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) Loans are presented before the allowance for credit losses and include net deferred loan fees and unearned premiums.

#### Allowance for Credit Losses
Please see "— Critical Accounting Policies — Allowance for Credit losses" for additional discussion of our allowance policy.

The allowance for credit losses is maintained at levels considered adequate by management to provide for probable credit losses inherent in the loan portfolio as of the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition reporting dates. The

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

allowance for credit losses is based on management's assessment of various factors affecting the loan portfolio, including portfolio composition, delinquent and nonaccrual loans, national and local business conditions and loss experience and an overall evaluation of the quality of the underlying collateral.

The following table sets forth activity in our allowance for credit losses for the periods indicated.

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
|  | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** |
| Allowance at beginning of year | $20979 | $16631 | $12223 |
| Impact of CECL adoption |  |  | 283 |
| Provision for credit losses | 9675 | 4700 | 4525 |
| Charge-offs: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily | 3275 |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family | 79 |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial | 3250 |  | 5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Consumer | 57 | 390 | 439 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total charge-offs | 6661 | 390 | 444 |
| Recoveries: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Consumer | 29 | 38 | 44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total recoveries | 29 | 38 | 44 |
| Allowance at end of year | $24022 | $20979 | $16631 |

---

The following table presents average loans and credit loss experience for the periods indicated.

---

| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2025** | **2025** |  | **2024** | **2024** | **2024** |  | **2023** | **2023** | **2023** |
|  | <br>**Average**<br>**Loans** <sup>(1)</sup> | <br>**Net**<br>**Charge-offs** | **Net**<br>**Charge-offs**<br>**to Average**<br>**Loans** |  | <br>**Average**<br>**Loans** <sup>(1)</sup> | <br>**Net**<br>**Charge-offs** | **Net**<br>**Charge-offs**<br>**to Average**<br>**Loans** |  | <br>**Average**<br>**Loans** <sup>(1)</sup> | <br>**Net**<br>**Charge-offs** | **Net**<br>**Charge-offs**<br>**to Average**<br>**Loans** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily | $363895 | $3275 | 0.90 | % | $349360 | $— |  | % | $304848 | $— | —% |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate | 95724 |  |  |  | 88272 |  |  |  | 90735 |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family | 10439 | 79 | 0.76 |  | 15898 |  |  |  | 22109 |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial | 1022283 | 3250 | 0.32 |  | 786534 |  |  |  | 621730 | 5 | 0.00 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Consumer | 19346 | 28 | 0.14 |  | 18698 | 352 | 1.88 |  | 13477 | 395 | 2.93 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total | $1511687 | $6632 | 0.44 | % | $1258762 | $352 | 0.03 | % | $1052899 | $400 | 0.04% |

---

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) Excludes net deferred loan fees and unearned premiums.

***Allocation of Allowance for Credit losses.*** The following tables set forth the allowance for credit losses allocated by loan category and the percent of the allowance in each category to the total allocated allowance at the dates indicated. The allowance for credit losses allocated to each category is not necessarily indicative of future losses in any particular category and does not restrict the use of the allowance to absorb losses in other categories.

---

| | | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2025** | **2025** | **2024** | **2024** | **2024** | **2023** | **2023** | **2023** |
|  | <br>**Allowance**<br>**for Credit**<br>**Losses** | **Percent of**<br>**Allowance**<br>**for Credit**<br>**Losses to**<br>**Total**<br>**Allowance** | **Percent of**<br>**Loans in**<br>**Each**<br>**Category**<br>**to Total**<br>**Loans** | <br>**Allowance**<br>**for Credit**<br>**Losses** | **Percent of**<br>**Allowance**<br>**for Credit**<br>**Losses to**<br>**Total**<br>**Allowance** | **Percent of**<br>**Loans in**<br>**Each**<br>**Category**<br>**to Total**<br>**Loans** | <br>**Allowance**<br>**for Credit**<br>**Losses** | **Percent of**<br>**Allowance**<br>**for Credit**<br>**Losses to**<br>**Total**<br>**Allowance** | **Percent of**<br>**Loans in**<br>**Each**<br>**Category**<br>**to Total**<br>**Loans** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| Multifamily | $6026 | 25.1% | 21.2% | $5116 | 24.4% | 25.4% | $3236 | 19.5% | 28.8% |
| Commercial real estate | 795 | 3.3 | 6.1 | 691 | 3.3 | 6.2 | 823 | 4.9 | 7.4 |
| 1 – 4 family | 35 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 52 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 58 | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| Commercial | 16285 | 67.8 | 70.8 | 14283 | 68.1 | 65.9 | 12056 | 72.5 | 61.1 |
| Consumer | 881 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 837 | 4.0 | 1.4 | 458 | 2.8 | 1.2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total allocated allowance | $24022 | 100.0% | 100.0% | $20979 | 100.0% | 100.0% | $16631 | 100.0% | 100.0% |

---

At December 31, 2025, special mention and substandard loans totaled $12.3 million and $8.6 million, respectively, compared to $4.0 million and $10.9 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2024. The $8.3 million increase in special mention balances primarily relates to law firm related commercial loans totaling $6.3 million and a $6.0 million multifamily loan (to the same sponsor as the $7.8 million nonaccrual substandard loan) offset by the transfer of a non-litigation related loan to substandard. Loans rated special mention and substandard totaled $4.0 million and $10.9 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2023. Substandard loans were driven by the one nonaccrual multifamily loan as of December 31, 2023.

Our special mention and substandard loans as a percentage of loans was 0.7% and 0.5% as of December 31, 2025, respectively, and 0.3% and 0.8% as of December 31, 2024, respectively. Our special mention and substandard loans as a percentage of loans was 0.3% and 0.9% as of December 31, 2023, respectively. The ratio of nonperforming loans to total loans and total assets was 0.49% and 0.36%, respectively, as of December 31, 2025, as compared to 0.78% and 0.58%, respectively, as of December 31, 2024. The ratio of nonperforming loans to total loans and total assets was 0.91% and 0.68%, respectively, as of December 31, 2023.

The allowance for credit losses to nonperforming loans was 280% as of December 31, 2025, as compared to 192% as of December 31, 2024. The allowance for credit losses to nonperforming loans was 152% as of December 31, 2023. The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of loans was 1.37% and 1.50% as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The increase in the allowance as a percentage of loans was general reserve driven considering loan growth and the qualitative factors associated with the current uncertain economic environment including, but not limited to, its potential impact on the New York metro commercial real estate market. The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of loans was 1.38% as of December 31, 2023.

Although we believe that we use the best information available to establish the allowance for credit losses, future adjustments to the allowance for credit losses may be necessary and our results of operations could be adversely affected if circumstances differ substantially from the assumptions used in making the determinations. Furthermore, while we believe we have established our allowance for credit losses in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, there can be no assurance that regulators, in reviewing our loan portfolio, will not require us to increase our allowance for credit losses. In addition, because future events affecting borrowers and collateral cannot be predicted with certainty, there can be no assurance that the existing allowance for credit losses is adequate or that

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

increases will not be necessary should the quality of any loans deteriorate as a result of the factors discussed above. Any material increase in the allowance for credit losses may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

**Payment Processing Credit Risk**

From a payment processing perspective, we continuously evaluate credit exposure, primarily defined as merchant returns and chargebacks, by merchant industry type and category. We have also assessed the level and adequacy of our ISO and merchant reserves held on deposit at Esquire Bank. Currently, based on our assessments, we have not identified any elevated credit risk and our returns and chargeback ratios are within normal levels and commensurate to the merchant portfolio risk profile.

#### Debt Securities Portfolio
At December 31, 2025 and 2024, all debt securities available-for-sale were carried at fair value and we had no investments in a single company or entity, other than government and government agency securities, which had an aggregate book value in excess of 10% of our equity. Securities available-for-sale totaled $246.5 million at December 31, 2025, as compared to $241.7 million at December 31, 2024, supported by purchases at current market interest rates totaling $47.6 million, offsetting portfolio amortization totaling $50.6 million. Securities held-to-maturity decreased $8.5 million due to portfolio amortization and totaled $60.2 million at December 31, 2025, as compared to $68.7 million at December 31, 2024.

Management evaluates securities available-for-sale in unrealized loss positions to determine whether the impairment is due to credit-related factors. Due to the decline in fair value being attributable to changes in interest rates, not credit quality and because the Company does not have the intent to sell the securities and it is likely that it will not be required to sell the securities before their anticipated recovery, the Company does not consider the securities to be impaired at December 31, 2025.

As of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, none of the Company's available-for-sale securities were in an unrealized loss position due to credit, and therefore no allowance for credit losses on available-for-sale securities was required. Additionally, there was no allowance for credit losses on securities held-to-maturity due to the high credit quality composition consisting of issuances from government sponsored agencies.

No impairment charges were recorded for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

***Portfolio Maturities and Yields.*** The composition and maturities of the investment securities portfolio at December 31, 2025, are summarized in the following table. Maturities are based on the final contractual payment dates and do not reflect the impact of prepayments or early redemptions that may occur. No tax-equivalent yield adjustments have been made as we have no tax free interest earning assets.

---

| | | | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** |
|  |  |  | **More Than One Year** | **More Than One Year** | **More Than Five Years** | **More Than Five Years** |  |  |  |  |
|  | **One Year or Less** | **One Year or Less** | **through Five Years** | **through Five Years** | **Through Ten Years** | **Through Ten Years** | **More Than Ten Years** | **More Than Ten Years** | **Total** | **Total** |
|  | <br>**Amortized** <br>**Cost** | **Weighted**<br>**Average**<br>**Yield** | <br>**Amortized** <br>**Cost** | **Weighted**<br>**Average**<br>**Yield** | <br>**Amortized** <br>**Cost** | **Weighted**<br>**Average**<br>**Yield** | <br>**Amortized** <br>**Cost** | **Weighted**<br>**Average**<br>**Yield** | <br>**Amortized** <br>**Cost** | **Weighted**<br>**Average**<br>**Yield** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| Securities available-for-sale: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Mortgage backed securities-agency | $— | —% | $4697 | 3.09% | $7658 | 4.04% | $85342 | 1.89% | $97697 | 2.12% |
| Collateralized mortgage obligations-agency |  |  |  |  | 9003 | 5.21 | 151720 | 4.96 | 160723 | 4.98 |
| Total securities available-for-sale | $— | —% | $4697 | 3.09% | $16661 | 4.68% | $237062 | 3.86% | $258420 | 3.90% |
| Securities held-to-maturity: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Collateralized mortgage obligations-agency | $— | —% | $— | —% | $— | —% | $60193 | 2.94% | $60193 | 2.94% |
| Total securities held-to-maturity | $— | —% | $— | —% | $— | —% | $60193 | 2.94% | $60193 | 2.94% |

---

#### Deposits
Total deposits increased $420.8 million, or 25.6%, to $2.06 billion at December 31, 2025 from $1.64 billion at December 31, 2024, primarily due to our focus on client acquisition and expansion/growth in our national litigation platform. We continue to focus on the acquisition and expansion of core deposit relationships, which we define as all deposits except for certificates of deposit. Core deposits totaled $2.06 billion at December 31, 2025, or 99.7% of total deposits at that date. Certificates of deposit totaled $6.2 million at December 31, 2025, or 0.3% of total deposits at that date.

The following tables set forth the distribution of average deposits by account type at the dates indicated.

---

| | | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** |
|  | **2025** | **2025** | **2025** | **2024** | **2024** | **2024** | **2023** | **2023** | **2023** |
|  | **Average**<br>**Balance** | <br>**Percent** | **Average**<br>**Cost** | **Average**<br>**Balance** | <br>**Percent** | **Average**<br>**Cost** | **Average**<br>**Balance** | <br>**Percent** | **Average**<br>**Cost** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| Demand (noninterest bearing) | $570842 | 31.55% | 0.00% | $510868 | 34.78% | 0.00% | $497795 | 40.61% | 0.00% |
| Savings, NOW and Money Market | 1231143 | 68.05 | 1.43 | 945899 | 64.39 | 1.36 | 715004 | 58.32 | 1.07 |
| Time | 7239 | 0.40 | 3.87 | 12281 | 0.84 | 4.49 | 13159 | 1.07 | 3.62 |
| Total deposits | $1809224 | 100.00% | 0.99% | $1469048 | 100.00% | 0.91% | $1225958 | 100.00% | 0.66% |

---

Our deposit strategy primarily focuses on developing full service commercial banking relationships nationally with our clients through commercial lending facilities, payment processing, and other unique commercial cash management services in our two national verticals, rather than competing with other institutions on rate. As of December

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31, 2025, the aggregate amount of uninsured deposits (deposits in amounts greater than or equal to $250,000) was $685.1 million, or 33.2%, of our total Bank deposits of $2.06 billion, excluding $12.1 million of the Company's deposits held by the Bank. Due to the nature of our larger mass tort and class action settlements related to the litigation vertical, we participate in FDIC insured sweep programs as well as treasury secured money market funds. At December 31, 2025, our off-balance sheet sweeps funds totaled $736.6 million, of which $449.0 million, or 61.0%, was able to be swept on balance sheet as reciprocal client relationship money market deposits. Our core low-cost deposit growth and off-balance sheet client funds continue to clearly demonstrate our highly efficient, full service commercial relationships and tech-enabled cash management platform.

As of December 31, 2024, the aggregate amount of uninsured deposits was $463.9 million, or 28.2%, of our total Bank deposits of $1.64 billion, excluding $12.4 million of the Company's deposits held by the Bank. As of December 31, 2023, the aggregate amount of uninsured deposits was $381.6 million, or 27.1%, of our total Bank deposits of $1.41 billion, excluding $5.5 million of the Company's deposits held by the Bank.

As of December 31, 2025, the Company had approximately $1.23 billion of longer duration law firm escrow (or trust) deposits with the majority of these law firms also having a commercial lending relationship with the Bank. Law firm escrow accounts, as well as other fiduciary deposit accounts, are for the benefit of the law firm's customers (or claimants) and are titled in a manner to ensure that the maximum amount of FDIC insurance coverage passes through the account to the beneficial owner of the funds held in the account. Therefore, these law firm escrow accounts carry FDIC insurance at the claimant settlement level, not at the deposit account level. The FDIC insured and uninsured deposited balances reflect management's determination of settlement claims deposited as of period end. In addition, as of December 31, 2025, the aggregate amount of our uninsured certificates of deposit was $3.0 million. We have no deposits that are uninsured for any reason other than being in excess of the maximum amount for federal deposit insurance. The following table sets forth the maturity of the uninsured certificates of deposit as of December 31, 2025.

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31, 2025** |
|  | **(In thousands)** |
| **Maturing period:** |  |
| Three months or less | $1038 |
| Over three months through six months | 1098 |
| Over six months through twelve months | 278 |
| Over twelve months | 626 |
| Total | $3040 |

---

#### Borrowings
At December 31, 2025, we had the ability to borrow a total of $455.5 million from the FHLB. We also had a borrowing capacity with the FRB discount window of $48.1 million. At December 31, 2025, we also had $29.0 million in aggregate unsecured lines of credit with unaffiliated correspondent banks. No amounts were outstanding on any of the aforementioned lines as of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024.

#### Stockholders' Equity
Total stockholders' equity increased $52.5 million, or 22.1%, to $289.6 million at December 31, 2025, from $237.1 million at December 31, 2024. The increase for the year ended December 31, 2025 was primarily due to net income of $50.8 million, decreases in other comprehensive losses related to net unrealized gains in our available-for-sale securities portfolio of $5.8 million, and amortization of share-based compensation of $5.0 million, partially offset by dividends declared to common stockholders of $6.0 million, and shares from employees related to income tax withholding on share-based compensation of $4.0 million.

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#### Average Balance Sheets and Related Yields and Rates
The following tables present average balance sheet information, interest income, interest expense and the corresponding average yields earned and rates paid for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023. The average balances are daily averages and, for loans, include both performing and nonperforming balances. Interest income on loans includes the effects of net premium amortization and net deferred loan origination fees accounted for as yield adjustments. No tax-equivalent adjustments have been made as we have no tax exempt investments.

---

| | | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2025** | **2025** | **2024** | **2024** | **2024** | **2023** | **2023** | **2023** |
|  | **Average**<br>**Balance** | <br>**Interest** | **Average**<br>**Yield/Cost** | **Average**<br>**Balance** | <br>**Interest** | **Average**<br>**Yield/Cost** | **Average**<br>**Balance** | <br>**Interest** | **Average**<br>**Yield/Cost** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| INTEREST EARNING ASSETS |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Loans held for investment | $1511997 | $119576 | 7.91% | $1258914 | $98458 | 7.82% | $1051903 | $81188 | 7.72% |
| Securities, includes restricted stock | 333259 | 12598 | 3.78% | 265714 | 8636 | 3.25% | 210776 | 5020 | 2.38% |
| Securities purchased under agreements to resell |  |  |  |  |  | —% | 27142 | 1526 | 5.62% |
| Interest earning cash and other | 172890 | 7243 | 4.19% | 123805 | 6279 | 5.07% | 85454 | 4154 | 4.86% |
| Total interest earning assets | 2018146 | 139417 | 6.91% | 1648433 | 113373 | 6.88% | 1375275 | 91888 | 6.68% |
| NONINTEREST EARNING ASSETS | 70630 |  |  | 52157 |  |  | 45703 |  |  |
| TOTAL AVERAGE ASSETS | $2088776 |  |  | $1700590 |  |  | $1420978 |  |  |
| INTEREST BEARING LIABILITIES |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Savings, NOW, money market deposits | $1231143 | $17652 | 1.43% | $945899 | $12889 | 1.36% | $715004 | $7635 | 1.07% |
| Time deposits | 7239 | 280 | 3.87% | 12281 | 551 | 4.49% | 13159 | 476 | 3.62% |
| Total deposits | 1238382 | 17932 | 1.45% | 958180 | 13440 | 1.40% | 728163 | 8111 | 1.11% |
| Borrowings | 42 | 4 | 9.52% | 44 | 4 | 9.09% | 46 | 4 | 8.70% |
| Total interest bearing liabilities | 1238424 | 17936 | 1.45% | 958224 | 13444 | 1.40% | 728209 | 8115 | 1.11% |
| NONINTEREST BEARING LIABILITIES |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Demand deposits | 570842 |  |  | 510868 |  |  | 497795 |  |  |
| Other liabilities | 17688 |  |  | 14755 |  |  | 18210 |  |  |
| Total noninterest bearing liabilities | 588530 |  |  | 525623 |  |  | 516005 |  |  |
| Stockholders' equity | 261822 |  |  | 216743 |  |  | 176764 |  |  |
| TOTAL AVG. LIABILITIES AND EQUITY | $2088776 |  |  | $1700590 |  |  | $1420978 |  |  |
| Net interest income |  | $121481 |  |  | $99929 |  |  | $83773 |  |
| Net interest spread |  |  | 5.46% |  |  | 5.48% |  |  | 5.57% |
| Net interest margin |  |  | 6.02% |  |  | 6.06% |  |  | 6.09% |
| Deposits (including nonint. demand deposits) | $1809224 | $17932 | 0.99% | $1469048 | $13440 | 0.91% | $1225958 | $8111 | 0.66% |

---

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The following table presents the dollar amount of changes in interest income and interest expense for major components of interest earning assets and interest bearing liabilities for the periods indicated. The table distinguishes between: (1) changes attributable to volume (changes in volume multiplied by the prior period's rate); (2) changes attributable to rate (change in rate multiplied by the prior year's volume); and (3) total increase (decrease) (the sum of the previous columns). Changes attributable to both volume and rate are allocated ratably between the volume and rate categories.

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended**  | **Years Ended**  | **Years Ended**  |
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025 vs. 2024** | **2025 vs. 2024** | **2025 vs. 2024** |
|  | **Increase** | **Increase** | |
|  | **(Decrease) due to** | **(Decrease) due to** | |
|  | **Volume** | **Rate** | **Total**<br>**Increase**<br>**(Decrease)** |
|  | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** |
| **Interest earned on:** |  |  |  |
| Loans held for investment | $20003 | $1115 | $21118 |
| Securities, includes restricted stock | 2413 | 1549 | 3962 |
| Interest earning cash and other | 2188 | (1224) | 964 |
| Total interest income | 24604 | 1440 | 26044 |
| **Interest paid on:** |  |  |  |
| Savings, NOW, money market deposits | 4060 | 703 | 4763 |
| Time deposits | (203) | (68) | (271) |
| Total deposits | 3857 | 635 | 4492 |
| Borrowings |  |  |  |
| Total interest expense | 3857 | 635 | 4492 |
| Change in net interest income | $20747 | $805 | $21552 |

---

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended**  | **Years Ended**  | **Years Ended**  |
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2024 vs. 2023** | **2024 vs. 2023** | **2024 vs. 2023** |
|  | **Increase** | **Increase** | |
|  | **(Decrease) due to** | **(Decrease) due to** | |
|  | **Volume** | **Rate** | **Total**<br>**Increase**<br>**(Decrease)** |
|  | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** |
| **Interest earned on:** |  |  |  |
| Loans held for investment | $16682 | $588 | $17270 |
| Securities, includes restricted stock | 1507 | 2109 | 3616 |
| Securities purchased under agreements to resell | (1526) |  | (1526) |
| Interest earning cash and other | 1938 | 187 | 2125 |
| Total interest income | 18601 | 2884 | 21485 |
| **Interest paid on:** |  |  |  |
| Savings, NOW, money market deposits | 2002 | 3252 | 5254 |
| Time deposits | (33) | 108 | 75 |
| Total deposits | 1969 | 3360 | 5329 |
| Borrowings |  |  |  |
| Total interest expense | 1969 | 3360 | 5329 |
| Change in net interest income | $16632 | $(476) | $16156 |

---

#### Comparison of Operating Results for the Years Ended December 31, 2025 and 2024
***General.*** Net income increased $7.2 million, or 16.4%, to $50.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 from $43.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The increase resulted from a $21.6 million increase in net interest

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income, and a decrease in tax expense of $793 thousand, partially offset by an increase in noninterest expense of $10.4 million and in increase in the provision for credit losses of $5.0 million.

***Net Interest Income.*** Net interest income increased $21.6 million, or 21.6%, to $121.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 from $99.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, due to a $26.0 million increase in interest income, partially offset by a $4.5 million increase in interest expense.

Our net interest margin decreased 4 basis points to 6.02% for the year ended December 31, 2025 from 6.06% for the year ended December 31, 2024, primarily due to elevated average interest earning cash balances of $49.1 million that negatively impacted our net interest margin by approximately 8 basis points. Average loan yields increased 9 basis points to 7.91% while average loans increased $253.1 million, or 20.1%, to $1.51 billion, led by higher yielding litigation related loan growth of $253.7 million, or 37.2%. Average securities increased $67.5 million, or 25.4%, to $333.3 million and securities yields increased by 53 basis points to 3.78%. Average deposits increased $340.2 million, or 23.2%, to $1.81 billion, led by increases in litigation related escrow or IOLTA, money market (primarily commercial), and noninterest bearing commercial demand deposits totaling $208.4 million, $80.4 million, and $60.0 million, respectively. Our cost of deposits, including noninterest bearing demand deposits, increased 8 basis points to 0.99% due to changes in deposit composition.

***Interest Income.*** Interest income increased $26.0 million, or 23.0%, to $139.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 from $113.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 and was attributable to increases in income on loans, securities and interest earning cash.

Loan interest income increased $21.1 million, or 21.4%, to $119.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 from $98.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This increase was attributable to a $253.1 million, or 20.1%, increase in the average loan balance primarily due to commercial loan growth focused in our higher yielding litigation related loans that grew $253.7 million, or 37.2%, increasing total loan yields by 9 basis points to 7.91%. The increase in loan interest income was driven by an increase of $20.0 million related to growth in average loan volumes (substantially all litigation related commercial loans) and $1.1 million due to increases in average loan rates. Overall, the commercial loan portfolio average balance increased $235.4 million to $1.02 billion, driving commercial loan yields to 9.37% for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Securities interest income increased $4.0 million, or 45.9%, to $12.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 from $8.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 with $2.4 million attributable to average volume increases and $1.5 million attributable to increases in average rate. Average securities increased $67.5 million, or 25.4%, to $333.3 million and securities yields increased by 53 basis points to 3.78%.

Income on interest earning cash increased $964 thousand, to $7.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 with $2.2 million attributable to average volume increases (funded with core deposits), offset by $1.2 million due to decreases in short-term rates. Average interest earning cash balances increased $49.1 million, or 39.7%, to $172.9 million, negatively impacting our net interest margin by approximately 8 basis points as cash is one of our lowest yielding assets at 4.19% .

***Interest Expense.*** Interest expense increased $4.5 million, or 33.4%, to $17.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 from $13.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, with $3.9 million attributable to increases in average deposit balances (primarily commercial money market and litigation related escrow or IOLTA), as well as a $635 thousand increase due to changes in deposit composition. Average deposits increased $340.2 million, or 23.2%, to $1.81 billion, led by increases in litigation related escrow or IOLTA, commercial money market and noninterest bearing demand deposits totaling $208.4 million, $80.4 million, and $60.0 million, respectively.

***Provision for Credit losses.*** Our provision for credit losses increased $5.0 million to $9.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 from $4.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This increase was driven by $6.6 million in net charge-offs primarily comprised of (1) a small business merchant related commercial loan charge-off totaling $3.3 million ($736 thousand on nonaccrual as of December 31, 2025) in the second quarter of 2025; and (2) a multifamily loan charge-off totaling $2.9 million in the first quarter of 2025 ($7.8 million on nonaccrual as of December 31, 2025). As of December 31, 2025, our allowance to loans ratio was 1.37% as compared to 1.50% as of December 31, 2024. Based on

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management's evaluation of current credit risk in our commercial real estate and commercial portfolios as well as increases in the general reserves considering loan growth, loan composition, and the current uncertain economic and short-term interest rate environment, management believes the allowance for credit losses is adequate at December 31, 2025.

***Noninterest Income.*** Noninterest income information is as follows:

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Year Ended** | **Year Ended** |  |  |
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **Change** | **Change** |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **Amount**  | **Percent** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| Payment processing fees: |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Payment processing income | $19550 | $20147 | $(597) | (3.0)% |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;ACH income | 665 | 728 | (63) | (8.7) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total payment processing fees | 20215 | 20875 | (660) | (3.2) |
| Customer related fees, service charges and other: |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Administrative service income | 2995 | 2738 | 257 | 9.4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Gain on equity investment | 432 |  | 432 | NA |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Other | 1438 | 1282 | 156 | 12.2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total customer related fees, service charges and other | 4865 | 4020 | 845 | 21.0 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest income | $25080 | $24895 | $185 | 0.7% |

---

Payment processing income was $20.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, a $660 thousand decrease from the same period in 2024, primarily due to changes in our overall merchant risk profile and merchant composition. Payment processing volumes for the credit and debit card processing platform increased $3.1 billion, or 8.6%, to $39.5 billion while transactions volume totaled 590.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2025. ASP fee income increased $257 thousand to $3.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 as compared to the same period in 2024. ASP fee income is directly impacted by the average balances of off-balance sheet sweep funds as well as current short-term market interest rates. Other income increased $156 thousand, or 12.2%, to $1.4 million due to increases in loan and other banking fees. For the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company recognized a $432 thousand gain on certain equity investments.

***Noninterest Expense.*** Noninterest expense information is as follows:

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Year Ended** | **Year Ended** |  |  |
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **Change** | **Change** |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **Amount**  | **Percent** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| **Noninterest expense:** |  |  |  |  |
| Employee compensation and benefits | $42314 | $37845 | $4469 | 11.8% |
| Occupancy and equipment | 4907 | 4093 | 814 | 19.9 |
| Professional and consulting services | 5498 | 3824 | 1674 | 43.8 |
| FDIC and regulatory assessments | 1118 | 943 | 175 | 18.6 |
| Advertising and marketing | 3614 | 3514 | 100 | 2.8 |
| Travel and business relations | 1650 | 966 | 684 | 70.8 |
| Data processing | 8458 | 6660 | 1798 | 27.0 |
| Other operating expenses | 3675 | 2998 | 677 | 22.6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest expense | $71234 | $60843 | $10391 | 17.1% |

---

Employee compensation and benefits costs increased primarily due to increases in regional BDO incentive pay or sales commissions, year-end bonuses, employee benefit costs, stock grants and related stock-based compensation, and, to a lesser extent, the impact of year end salary increases and employee hires. The increase in BDO incentive pay is directly tied to our litigation related/commercial loan and core deposit growth, attracting full-service commercial banking clients nationally. Data processing costs increased due to increases in core banking processing volumes and the continued implementation/improvement of technology supporting client relationships and lead acquisition initiatives (CRM platform, digital marketing, business development, and lending) as well as overall risk management across all platforms. Professional and consulting services costs increased due to continuously evaluating business development opportunities,

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increased insurance and accounting costs, and costs related to staffing needs, including our new Los Angeles branch. Occupancy and equipment costs increased due to the replacement and accelerated amortization of certain internally developed software to support our digital marketing and risk management platforms and costs related to our new Los Angeles branch. Travel and business relations expenses increased resulting from our high touch sales efforts that complement our digital marketing efforts and additional travel related to the opening and associated training for our new Los Angeles branch.

***Income Tax Expense.*** We recorded income tax expense of $14.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, reflecting an effective tax rate of 22.6%, compared to $15.6 million, or an effective tax rate of 26.4%, for the year ended December 31, 2024. The decrease in effective tax rate resulted from certain discrete tax benefits related to share-based compensation.

#### Comparison of Operating Results for the Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
***General.*** Net income increased $2.6 million, or 6.5%, to $43.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $41.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase resulted from a $16.2 million increase in net interest income, partially offset by an increase in noninterest expense of $7.7 million and a decrease in noninterest income of $4.9 million.

***Net Interest Income.*** Net interest income increased $16.2 million, or 19.3%, to $99.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $83.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, due to a $21.5 million increase in interest income, partially offset by a $5.3 million increase in interest expense.

Our net interest margin decreased 3 basis points to 6.06% for the year ended December 31, 2024 from 6.09% for the year ended December 31, 2023. Our net interest margin was positively impacted by growth in higher yielding variable rate commercial loans and growth in lower-cost escrow or IOLTA deposits nationally. Interest earning asset yields increased 20 basis points, primarily due to growth in higher yielding variable rate commercials loans and the cost of interest bearing liabilities increased 29 basis points, due to increases in short-term interest rates as well as management proactively increasing rates on IOLTA accounts in certain states where we operate. Interest earning asset growth was primarily funded by a $200.1 million, or 33.7%, increase in average IOLTA deposits to $793.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $593.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

***Interest Income.*** Interest income increased $21.5 million, or 23.4%, to $113.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $91.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and was attributable to an increase in loan, securities, interest earning cash and other. In early 2024, management elected to temper multifamily and commercial real estate loan growth in response to the economic environment and has ratably purchased short duration agency mortgage backed securities with commensurate risk adjusted yields, enhancing our liquidity while improving the securities to total assets ratio to 17%.

Loan interest income increased $17.3 million, or 21.3%, to $98.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $81.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. This increase was attributable to a $207.0 million, or 19.7%, increase in the average loan balance primarily due to growth in our higher yielding national litigation lending platform and, to a lesser extent, our regional multifamily loan portfolio as we tempered multifamily production as a matter of strategy in 2024, and a 10 basis point increase in loan yields to 7.82%. Our commercial loan platform drove a $15.1 million increase in interest income, of which $16.1 million was due to higher average loan balances, offset by a $933 thousand decrease due to a yield decrease of 15 basis points, driving a portfolio yield of 9.72%. Additionally, our multifamily platform contributed $3.1 million to the increase in interest income, of which, $1.8 million was due to increased volume and $1.2 million was due to a 38 basis point increase in yields, driving a portfolio yield of 4.29%. Approximately 66% of our loan portfolio is comprised of variable rate commercial loans tied to prime that were positively impacted by increases in short-term interest rates.

Securities interest income increased $3.6 million, or 72.0%, to $8.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $5.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. This increase was attributable to an 87 basis point increase in yields, driven by our investing strategy of deploying excess cash flow into short duration agency mortgage-backed

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securities while tempering our real estate lending, as well as a $54.9 million, or 26.1%, increase in average securities balances. The increase in securities income was comprised of a $2.1 million increase as a result of the increases in average rate and a $1.5 million increase due to increases in average balance.

Interest earning cash and other interest income increased $2.1 million, to $6.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $4.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. This increase was attributable to a 21 basis point increase in yields driven by the movement in short-term interest rates.

Securities purchased under agreements to resell interest income decreased $1.5 million, or 100.0%, to $0 for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $1.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. In the third quarter of 2023, management elected to close out its reverse repurchase agreements and reinvest these funds into higher yielding commercial loans.

***Interest Expense.*** Interest expense increased $5.3 million, or 65.7%, to $13.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $8.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, primarily attributable to increases in average rate (primarily IOLTA) comprising $3.4 million of the increase and the remaining increase of $2.0 million (primarily IOLTA) attributable to average deposit balances. Average interest bearing deposit balances (primarily IOLTA) increased $230.0 million, or 31.6%, to $958.2 million, when compared to December 31, 2023. Our deposit cost-of-funds, excluding demand deposits, increased 29 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2024 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, due to increases in short-term interest rates as well as management proactively increasing rates on IOLTA accounts in the various states we operate.

***Provision for Credit losses.*** Our provision for credit losses was $4.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to $4.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. This increase was general reserve driven considering loan growth and qualitative factors associated with the current short-term interest rate environment as well as the current uncertain economic environment including, but not limited to, its potential impact on the New York metro multifamily commercial real estate market.

***Noninterest Income.*** Noninterest income information is as follows:

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended** | **Years Ended** |  |  |
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **Change** | **Change** |
|  | **2024** | **2023** | **Amount**  | **Percent** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| Payment processing fees: |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Payment processing income | $20147 | $21450 | $(1303) | (6.1)% |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;ACH income | 728 | 866 | (138) | (15.9) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total payment processing fees | 20875 | 22316 | (1441) | (6.5) |
| Customer related fees, service charges and other: |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Administrative service income | 2738 | 2467 | 271 | 11.0 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net gain on equity investments |  | 4013 | (4013) | (100.0) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Other | 1282 | 955 | 327 | 34.2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total customer related fees, service charges and other | 4020 | 7435 | (3415) | (45.9) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest income | $24895 | $29751 | $(4856) | (16.3)% |

---

Payment processing income was $20.9 million in 2024, a $1.4 million decrease when compared to 2023, primarily due to anticipated ISO attrition and changes in our overall merchant risk profile. Payment processing volumes and transactions for the credit and debit card processing platform increased $3.3 billion, or 10.0%, to $36.3 billion and transactions decreased 9.0 million, or 1.5%, to 603.7 million transactions, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the same period in 2023. We continue to focus on the expansion of sales channels through ISOs, prudently managing risk while focusing on new merchant originations, increasing overall volumes as well as risk profiles, and expanding our technology and other resources in this vertical. The Company utilizes proprietary and industry leading customized technology to ensure card brand and regulatory compliance, supports multiple processing platforms, manages

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daily risk across 88,000 small business merchants in all 50 states, and performed commercial treasury clearing services for $36.3 billion in volume across 603.7 million transactions in 2024. Administrative service income increased $271 thousand, or 11.0%, to $2.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. Off-balance sheet sweep funds totaled $554.4 million at December 31, 2024, demonstrating the continued strength of our branchless core business model. Other income increased $327 thousand, or 34.2%, to $1.3 million primarily due to loan and other banking related fees. Net gain on equity investments decreased $4.0 million due to a nonrecurring gain on our Litify fintech investment in the first quarter of 2023. In 2023, Litify, Inc. ("Litify") was reorganized into a partnership and an unrelated third party acquired a majority ownership in the reorganized entity. As an equity holder and party to the reorganization and sale transaction, a majority of the Company's partnership interests were exchanged for cash and undiscounted noncash consideration of approximately $5.3 million. As a result, the Company recognized a gain on its investment of $4.0 million in 2023. In 2024, the Company received cash consideration resulting in a realized gain on its Litify investment of approximately $500 thousand, offset by an equity method loss of approximately $500 thousand recognized on its investment in a third party sponsored NFL consumer post settlement loan fund.

***Noninterest Expense.*** Noninterest expense information is as follows:

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended** | **Years Ended** |  |  |
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **Change** | **Change** |
|  | **2024** | **2023** | **Amount**  | **Percent** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| **Noninterest expense:** |  |  |  |  |
| Employee compensation and benefits | $37845 | $32481 | $5364 | 16.5% |
| Occupancy and equipment | 4093 | 3363 | 730 | 21.7 |
| Professional and consulting services | 3824 | 5447 | (1623) | (29.8) |
| FDIC and regulatory assessments | 943 | 793 | 150 | 18.9 |
| Advertising and marketing | 3514 | 1823 | 1691 | 92.8 |
| Travel and business relations | 966 | 985 | (19) | (1.9) |
| Data processing | 6660 | 5165 | 1495 | 28.9 |
| Other operating expenses | 2998 | 3060 | (62) | (2.0) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest expense | $60843 | $53117 | $7726 | 14.5% |

---

Employee compensation and benefits costs increased due to the full year's impact of key hires (throughout 2023) to support future growth and excellence in client service as well as the impact of year end salary increases, bonuses, incentive pay to BDOs, and stock-based compensation increases. During 2024, we experienced the full year impact of our 2023 key hires including, but not limited to, our regional senior BDOs, sales support, lending underwriting/lending support, and risk management staffing initiatives. Advertising and marketing costs increased as we continued to advance our digital marketing platform across our commercial litigation platform nationally, expand our thought leadership in this national vertical, and directly support our regional BDOs with targeted ABM campaigns. Data processing costs increased due to increases in core banking processing volumes and additional costs related to enhanced risk management systems and other technology implementations. Occupancy and equipment costs increased due to amortization of internally developed software to support our digital marketing and risk management platforms and additional office space to support growth. Professional services costs decreased primarily due to our 2023 hiring initiatives noted above and related costs associated with the executive search firm utilized. Our investment in current resources has and will continue to support our future growth.

***Income Tax Expense.*** We recorded income tax expense of $15.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, reflecting an effective tax rate of 26.4%, compared to $14.9 million, or an effective tax rate of 26.6%, for the year ended December 31, 2023.

#### Management of Market Risk
***General.*** The principal objective of our asset and liability management function is to evaluate the interest rate risk within the balance sheet and pursue a controlled assumption of interest rate risk while maximizing net income and preserving adequate levels of liquidity and capital. The board of directors of our bank has oversight of our asset and liability

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management function, which is managed by our Asset/Liability Management Committee. Our Asset/Liability Management Committee meets regularly to review, among other things, the sensitivity of our assets and liabilities to market interest rate changes, local and national market conditions and market interest rates. That group also reviews our liquidity, capital, deposit mix, loan mix and investment positions.

As a financial institution, our primary component of market risk is interest rate volatility. Fluctuations in interest rates will ultimately impact both the level of income and expense recorded on most of our assets and liabilities, and the fair value of all interest earning assets and interest bearing liabilities, other than those which have a short-term to maturity. Interest rate risk is the potential of economic losses due to future interest rate changes. These economic losses can be reflected as a loss of future net interest income and/or a loss of current fair values. The objective is to measure the effect on net interest income and to adjust the balance sheet to minimize the inherent risk while at the same time maximizing income.

We manage our exposure to interest rates primarily by structuring our balance sheet in the ordinary course of business. We do not typically enter into derivative contracts for the purpose of managing interest rate risk, but we may do so in the future. Based upon the nature of our operations, we are not subject to foreign exchange or commodity price risk. We do not own any trading assets.

***Net Interest Income Simulation.*** We use an interest rate risk simulation model to test the interest rate sensitivity of net interest income and the balance sheet. Instantaneous parallel rate shift scenarios are modeled and utilized to evaluate risk and establish exposure limits for acceptable changes in net interest margin. These scenarios, known as rate shocks, simulate an instantaneous change in interest rates and use various assumptions, including, but not limited to, prepayments on loans and securities, deposit decay rates, pricing decisions on loans and deposits, reinvestment and replacement of asset and liability cash flows.

The following table presents the estimated changes in net interest income of Esquire Bank, National Association, calculated on a bank-only basis, which would result from changes in market interest rates over twelve-month periods beginning December 31, 2025.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2025** |
|  | **Estimated** |  |
| **Changes in** | **12-Months** |  |
| **Interest Rates** | **Net Interest** |  |
| **(Basis Points)** | **Income** | **Change** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| 300 | $179789 | $31321 |
| 200 | 168035 | 19567 |
| 100 | 157091 | 8623 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 0 | 148468 |  |
| -100 | 139626 | (8842) |
| -200 | 130716 | (17752) |
| -300 | 121665 | (26803) |

---

***Economic Value of Equity Simulation.*** We also analyze our sensitivity to changes in interest rates through an economic value of equity ("EVE") model. EVE represents the present value of the expected cash flows from our assets less the present value of the expected cash flows arising from our liabilities adjusted for the value of off-balance sheet contracts. EVE attempts to quantify our economic value using a discounted cash flow methodology. We estimate what our EVE would be as of a specific date. We then calculate what EVE would be as of the same date throughout a series of interest rate scenarios representing immediate and permanent, parallel shifts in the yield curve.

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The following table presents the estimated changes in EVE of Esquire Bank, National Association, calculated on a bank-only basis, that would result from changes in market interest rates as of December 31, 2025.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2025** |
| **Changes in** | **Economic** |  |
| **Interest Rates** | **Value of** |  |
| **(Basis Points)** | **Equity** | **Change** |
|  | **(Dollars in thousands)** | **(Dollars in thousands)** |
| 300 | $562251 | $95613 |
| 200 | 533739 | 67101 |
| 100 | 501959 | 35321 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 0 | 466638 |  |
| -100 | 423174 | (43464) |
| -200 | 375111 | (91527) |
| -300 | 320662 | (145976) |

---

Many assumptions are used to calculate the impact of interest rate fluctuations. Actual results may be significantly different than our projections due to several factors, including the timing and frequency of rate changes, market conditions and the shape of the yield curve. The computations of interest rate risk shown above do not include actions that our management may undertake to manage the risks in response to anticipated changes in interest rates, and actual results may also differ due to any actions taken in response to the changing rates.

#### Liquidity and Capital Resources
Liquidity is the ability to meet current and future financial obligations of a short-term nature. Our primary sources of funds consist of deposit inflows, loan repayments and maturities and sales of securities. While maturities and scheduled amortization of loans and securities are predictable sources of funds, deposit flows and mortgage prepayments are greatly influenced by general interest rates, economic conditions and competition.

We regularly review the need to adjust our investments in liquid assets based upon our assessment of: (1) expected loan demand, (2) expected deposit flows, (3) yields available on interest earning deposits and securities, and (4) the objectives of our asset/liability management program. Excess liquid assets are invested generally in interest earning deposits and short-and intermediate-term securities.

Our most liquid assets are cash and cash equivalents. The levels of these assets are dependent on our operating, financing, lending and investing activities during any given period. At December 31, 2025 and 2024, cash and cash equivalents totaled $235.9 million and $126.3 million, respectively.

At December 31, 2025, through pledging of our securities and certain loans, we had the ability to borrow a total of $455.5 million from the FHLB and $48.1 million from the FRB discount window. At December 31, 2025, we also had $29.0 million in aggregated unsecured lines of credit with unaffiliated correspondent banks. No amounts were outstanding on any of the aforementioned lines as of December 31, 2025.

At December 31, 2025, our off-balance sheet sweeps funds totaled $736.6 million, of which $449.0 million, or 61.0%, was able to be swept on balance sheet as reciprocal client relationship deposits.

Our overall liquidity position (cash, borrowing capacity, and available reciprocal client sweep balances) totaled $1.22 billion at December 31, 2025, or 59.0% of total deposits, creating a highly liquid and unlevered balance sheet

We have no material commitments or demands that are likely to affect our liquidity other than set forth below. In the event loan demand were to increase faster than expected, or any unforeseen demand or commitment were to occur, we could access our borrowing capacity with the FHLB, FRB, other correspondent bank lines or obtain additional funds through reciprocal deposits.

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Esquire Bank is subject to various regulatory capital requirements administered by Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the "OCC"), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. At December 31, 2025 and 2024, Esquire Bank exceeded all applicable regulatory capital requirements, and was considered "well capitalized" under regulatory guidelines.

We manage our capital to comply with our internal planning targets and regulatory capital standards administered by the OCC and review capital levels on a monthly basis.

The following table presents our capital ratios as of the indicated dates for Esquire Bank.

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | <br>**"Well Capitalized"** | **For Capital Adequacy**<br>**Purposes**<br>**Minimum Capital with**<br>**Conservation Buffer** | <br>**Actual**<br>**At December 31, 2025** |
| **Total Risk-based Capital Ratio** |  |  |  |
| Bank | 10.00% | 10.50% | 15.43% |
| **Tier 1 Risk-based Capital Ratio** |  |  |  |
| Bank | 8.00% | 8.50% | 14.18% |
| **Common Equity Tier 1 Capital Ratio** |  |  |  |
| Bank | 6.50% | 7.00% | 14.18% |
| **Tier 1 Leverage Ratio** |  |  |  |
| Bank | 5.00% | 4.00% | 11.87% |

---

Effective January 1, 2020, the federal banking agencies adopted a rule to establish for institutions with assets of less than $10 billion that meet other specified criteria a "community bank leverage ratio" (the ratio of a bank's tangible equity capital to average total consolidated assets) of 9% that such institutions may elect to utilize in lieu of the generally applicable leverage and risk-based capital requirements noted above. A "qualifying community bank" with capital exceeding 9% will be considered compliant with all applicable regulatory capital and leverage requirements, including the requirement to be "well capitalized". For the current period, Esquire Bank has elected to continue to utilize the generally applicable leverage and risk based requirements and not apply the community bank leverage ratio.

***Effects of Inflation.*** The impact of inflation, as it affects banks, differs substantially from the impact on non-financial institutions. Banks have assets which are primarily monetary in nature and which tend to move with inflation. This is especially true for banks with a high percentage of rate sensitive interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. A bank can further reduce the impact of inflation with proper management of its rate sensitivity gap. This gap represents the difference between interest rate sensitive assets and interest rate sensitive liabilities. The Company attempts to structure its assets and liabilities and manages its gap to protect against substantial changes in interest rate scenarios, in order to minimize the potential effects of inflation.

#### ITEM 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
The quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk are included under the section of this Annual Report entitled "Item 7 — Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Management of Market Risk."

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#### ITEM 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![Graphic](esq-20251231x10k009.jpg) | ![Graphic](esq-20251231x10k010.jpg) |
| ![Graphic](esq-20251231x10k009.jpg) | **Crowe LLP**<br>Independent Member Crowe Global |

---

**REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM**

Shareholders and the Board of Directors of

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.

Jericho, New York

**Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting**

We have audited the accompanying consolidated statements of financial condition of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (the "Company") as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in stockholders' equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2025, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the "financial statements"). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework: (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2025 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework: (2013) issued by COSO.

**Basis for Opinions**

The Company's management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Report by Management on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements and an opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB") and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

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Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

**Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting**

A company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

**Critical Audit Matter**

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

*Allowance for Credit Losses – Qualitative Factor Adjustments*

Management estimates a quantitative component of the allowance for credit losses for loans utilizing a static pool methodology in which expected credit losses are calculated by leveraging the Company's historical loss rates on a pool of loans over a period equal to the weighted average remaining life of the portfolio segment. The Company incorporates reasonable and supportable forecasts and adjustments for differences in current loan-specific risk characteristics as qualitative factor adjustments to arrive at the Company's overall estimate of current expected credit losses within the loan portfolio. The determination of qualitative factor adjustments involves significant judgment and the use of subjective measurement by management.

We identified auditing the qualitative factor adjustments as a critical audit matter because of the higher degree of auditor effort and judgment required to evaluate management's judgments and significant assumptions applied in the determination of qualitative factor adjustments.

The primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter were comprised of testing the effectiveness of controls over the evaluation of the qualitative factors, including controls addressing (i) management's reconciliation and testing of significant data inputs into the qualitative models and (ii) management's review and approval of the qualitative factors, including significant assumptions and judgments pertaining to the qualitative factor adjustments, as well as substantively testing management's process related to the determination of qualitative factor adjustments within the allowance for credit losses, which included (i) reconciling and testing the significant data inputs, including their relevance and reliability, (ii) evaluating the reasonableness of management's significant assumptions and judgments pertaining to

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the qualitative factor adjustments, including conformance with management's policies, and (iii) evaluating the overall reasonableness of the allowance for credit losses.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

/s/ Crowe LLP

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2006.

Livingston, New Jersey

March 13, 2026

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#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,** <br>**2025** | **December 31,** <br>**2024** |
| **Assets:** |  |  |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $235887 | $126329 |
| Securities available-for-sale, at fair value | 246505 | 241746 |
| Securities held-to-maturity, at cost (fair value of $55,500 and $60,931, at December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively) | 60193 | 68660 |
| Securities, restricted, at cost | 3173 | 3034 |
| Loans held for investment | 1758427 | 1397021 |
| Less: allowance for credit losses | (24022) | (20979) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Loans, net of allowance | 1734405 | 1376042 |
| Premises and equipment, net | 4379 | 2436 |
| Accrued interest receivable | 12640 | 10124 |
| Deferred tax assets, net | 11117 | 13129 |
| Other assets  | 57362 | 51003 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total assets** | $2365661 | $1892503 |
| **Liabilities:** |  |  |
| Deposits: |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Demand | $576455 | $497958 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Savings, NOW and money market | 1480380 | 1130174 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Time | 6172 | 14104 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total deposits | 2063007 | 1642236 |
| Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 13056 | 13173 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total liabilities** | 2076063 | 1655409 |
| **Commitments and contingencies** |  |  |
| **Stockholders' equity:** |  |  |
| Preferred stock, par value $0.01; authorized 2,000,000 shares; none issued |  |  |
| Common stock, par value $0.01; authorized 15,000,000 shares; 8,708,923 and 8,473,651 shares issued, respectively; and 8,552,405 and 8,354,753 shares outstanding, respectively | 87 | 85 |
| Additional paid-in capital | 109889 | 104052 |
| Retained earnings | 197787 | 152932 |
| Accumulated other comprehensive loss | (8489) | (14287) |
| Treasury stock at cost (156,518 and 118,898 shares, respectively) | (9676) | (5688) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total stockholders' equity** | 289598 | 237094 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total liabilities and stockholders' equity** | $2365661 | $1892503 |

---

*See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.*

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#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| **Interest income:** |  |  |  |
| Loans held for investment | $119576 | $98458 | $81188 |
| Securities, includes restricted stock | 12598 | 8636 | 5020 |
| Securities purchased under agreements to resell |  |  | 1526 |
| Interest earning cash and other | 7243 | 6279 | 4154 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total interest income | 139417 | 113373 | 91888 |
| **Interest expense:** |  |  |  |
| Savings, NOW and money market deposits | 17652 | 12889 | 7635 |
| Time deposits | 280 | 551 | 476 |
| Borrowings | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total interest expense | 17936 | 13444 | 8115 |
| Net interest income | 121481 | 99929 | 83773 |
| Provision for credit losses | 9675 | 4700 | 4525 |
| Net interest income after provision for credit losses | 111806 | 95229 | 79248 |
| **Noninterest income:** |  |  |  |
| Payment processing fees | 20215 | 20875 | 22316 |
| Administrative service income | 2995 | 2738 | 2467 |
| Net gain on equity investments | 432 |  | 4013 |
| Customer related fees, service charges and other | 1438 | 1282 | 955 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest income | 25080 | 24895 | 29751 |
| **Noninterest expense:** |  |  |  |
| Employee compensation and benefits  | 42314 | 37845 | 32481 |
| Occupancy and equipment | 4907 | 4093 | 3363 |
| Professional and consulting services  | 5498 | 3824 | 5447 |
| FDIC and regulatory assessments | 1118 | 943 | 793 |
| Advertising and marketing  | 3614 | 3514 | 1823 |
| Travel and business relations  | 1650 | 966 | 985 |
| Data processing | 8458 | 6660 | 5165 |
| Other operating expenses | 3675 | 2998 | 3060 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest expense  | 71234 | 60843 | 53117 |
| Net income before income taxes  | 65652 | 59281 | 55882 |
| Income tax expense  | 14830 | 15623 | 14871 |
| Net income  | $50822 | $43658 | $41011 |
| Earnings per share |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Basic | $6.30 | $5.58 | $5.31 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Diluted | $5.87 | $5.14 | $4.91 |

---

*See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.*

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#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
**(Dollars in thousands)**

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| Net income | $50822 | $43658 | $41011 |
| Other comprehensive income (loss): |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Unrealized gains (losses) arising during the period on securities available-for-sale | 7790 | (1450) | 2595 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Tax effect | (1992) | 398 | (713) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total other comprehensive income (loss) | 5798 | (1052) | 1882 |
| Total comprehensive income | $56620 | $42606 | $42893 |

---

*See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.*

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

---

| | | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | <br>**Preferred**<br>**shares** | <br>**Common**<br>**shares** | <br>**Preferred**<br>**stock** | <br>**Common**<br>**stock** | <br>**Additional**<br>**paid-in**<br>**capital** | <br>**Retained**<br>**earnings** | **Accumulated**<br>**other**<br>**comprehensive**<br>**(loss) income** | <br>**Treasury**<br>**stock** | <br>**Total**<br>**stockholders'**<br>**equity** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;**Balance at January 1, 2023** |  | 8195333 | $— | $82 | $96387 | $77712 | $(15117) | $(906) | $158158 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net income |  |  |  |  |  | (568) |  |  | (568) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Balance at January 1, 2023 (as adjusted for change in accounting principle) |  | 8195333 |  | 82 | 96387 | 77144 | (15117) | (906) | 157590 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net income |  |  |  |  |  | 41011 |  |  | 41011 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Other comprehensive income |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1882 |  | 1882 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Exercise of stock options, net of repurchases (11,142 shares) |  | 26272 |  | 1 | 109 |  |  |  | 110 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Restricted stock grants |  | 96872 |  | 1 | (1) |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Stock compensation expense |  |  |  |  | 3218 |  |  |  | 3218 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Cash dividends declared to common stockholders ($0.475 per share) |  |  |  |  |  | (3894) |  |  | (3894) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Shares received related to tax withholding |  | (22629) |  |  |  |  |  | (1076) | (1076) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Purchase of common stock |  | (8000) |  |  |  |  |  | (286) | (286) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;**Balance at December 31, 2023** |  | 8287848 | $— | $84 | $99713 | $114261 | $(13235) | $(2268) | $198555 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net income |  |  |  |  |  | 43658 |  |  | 43658 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Other comprehensive loss |  |  |  |  |  |  | (1052) |  | (1052) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Exercise of stock options, net of repurchases (15,918 shares) |  | 90874 |  | 1 | 504 |  |  |  | 505 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Restricted stock grants, net of forfeitures (3,200 shares) |  | 21592 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Stock compensation expense |  |  |  |  | 3835 |  |  |  | 3835 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Cash dividends declared to common stockholders ($0.60 per share) |  |  |  |  |  | (4987) |  |  | (4987) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Shares received related to tax withholding |  | (45561) |  |  |  |  |  | (3420) | (3420) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;**Balance at December 31, 2024** |  | 8354753 | $— | $85 | $104052 | $152932 | $(14287) | $(5688) | $237094 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net income |  |  |  |  |  | 50822 |  |  | 50822 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Other comprehensive income |  |  |  |  |  |  | 5798 |  | 5798 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Exercise of stock options, net of repurchases (24,223 shares) |  | 180178 |  | 2 | 885 |  |  |  | 887 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Restricted stock grants, net of forfeitures (2,692 shares) |  | 55094 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Stock compensation expense |  |  |  |  | 4952 |  |  |  | 4952 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Cash dividends declared to common stockholders ($0.70 per share) |  |  |  |  |  | (5967) |  |  | (5967) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Shares received related to tax withholding |  | (37620) |  |  |  |  |  | (3988) | (3988) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;**Balance at December 31, 2025** |  | 8552405 | $— | $87 | $109889 | $197787 | $(8489) | $(9676) | $289598 |

---

*See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.*

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
**(Dollars in thousands)**

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| **Cash flows from operating activities:** |  |  |  |
| Net income  | $50822 | $43658 | $41011 |
| Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Provision for credit losses | 9675 | 4700 | 4525 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Depreciation and amortization of premises and equipment | 1218 | 880 | 707 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Stock compensation expense | 4952 | 3835 | 3218 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Net gain on equity investments | (432) |  | (4013) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Deferred tax benefit | 20 | (1106) | (2551) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Net amortization (accretion): |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Securities | 469 | 430 | 429 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Loans | (109) | (484) | (1291) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Right of use asset | 748 | 572 | 567 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Software | 1718 | 1835 | 1263 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Changes in other assets and liabilities: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Accrued interest receivable | (2516) | (994) | (3362) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other assets | (6504) | (11091) | 794 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Operating lease liability  | (890) | (721) | (627) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 669 | 698 | 1731 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Net cash provided by operating activities | 59840 | 42212 | 42401 |
| **Cash flows from investing activities:** |  |  |  |
| Net change in loans | (367929) | (189476) | (259227) |
| Net change in securities purchased under agreements to resell |  |  | 49567 |
| Purchases of securities available-for-sale | (47599) | (157862) | (22820) |
| Purchases of securities held-to-maturity |  |  | (5978) |
| Principal repayments on securities available-for-sale | 50261 | 36447 | 12249 |
| Principal repayments on securities held-to-maturity | 8367 | 8237 | 7253 |
| Purchases of securities, restricted | (139) | (106) | (118) |
| Proceeds from equity investment | 1232 | 1467 | 6674 |
| Purchase of equity investment | (700) | (3824) |  |
| Purchases of premises and equipment | (3161) | (714) | (605) |
| Development of capitalized software | (2421) | (2435) | (2399) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Net cash used in investing activities | (362089) | (308266) | (215404) |
| **Cash flows from financing activities:** |  |  |  |
| Net increase in deposits | 420771 | 234937 | 179063 |
| Decrease in borrowings | (2) | (2) | (2) |
| Exercise of stock options, net of repurchases | 887 | 505 | 110 |
| Tax withholding payments for vested equity awards | (3988) | (3420) | (1076) |
| Cash dividends paid to common stockholders | (5861) | (4846) | (3719) |
| Purchase of common stock |  |  | (286) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Net cash provided by financing activities | 411807 | 227174 | 174090 |
| **Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents** | 109558 | (38880) | 1087 |
| Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the period | 126329 | 165209 | 164122 |
| **Cash and cash equivalents at end of the period** | $235887 | $126329 | $165209 |
| **Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information:** |  |  |  |
| Cash paid during the period for: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Interest | $17960 | $13430 | $8134 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Taxes | 15295 | 18002 | 17587 |
| Noncash transactions: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Dividends declared but not paid | 106 | 141 | 175 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Exchange of noncash instruments |  | (300) | 1750 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Right of use asset obtained in exchange for lease liability |  | 2035 |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Cumulative change in accounting principle (Note 1) |  |  | (568) |

---

*See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.*

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

#### NOTE 1 — Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
*Business*

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. is a financial holding company incorporated in Maryland and headquartered in Jericho, New York. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Esquire Bank, National Association (the "Bank"), is a full-service commercial bank, with branch offices in Jericho, New York and Los Angeles, California, as well as an administrative office in Boca Raton, Florida. The Bank is dedicated to serving the financial needs of the litigation industry and small businesses nationally, as well as commercial and retail customers in the New York metropolitan area.

The Bank offers tailored products and solutions to the legal community and their clients as well as dynamic and flexible payment processing solutions to small business owners, both on a national basis. Banking products offered for businesses and consumers include checking, savings, money market and time deposits, a wide range of commercial and consumer loans, as well as customary banking services. These activities, primarily anchored by our legal community focus, generate a stable source of low cost deposits and a diverse asset base to support our overall operations.

The Bank operates a payment processing platform through third party Independent Sales Organizations ("ISOs"). As an acquiring bank, fees are charged to merchants for the settlement of credit card, debit card and ACH transactions. The Bank's revenue from these operational services is presented as payment processing fees on the Consolidated Statement of Income.

The Consolidated Financial Statements include Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Esquire Bank, N.A. and are referred to as "the Company." Intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation.

*Dividend Restriction*

Banking regulations require maintaining certain capital levels and may limit the dividends paid by the bank to the holding company or by the holding company to shareholders.

*Basis of Presentation and Use of Estimates*

The accounting and financial reporting policies are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). The preparation of financial statements requires that management make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Such estimates are subject to change in the future as additional information becomes available or previously existing circumstances are modified. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

*Statement of Cash Flows*

For purposes of the accompanying statements of cash flows, cash and cash equivalents are defined as the amounts included in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition under the captions "Cash and cash equivalents", with contractual maturities of less than 30 days. Net cash flows are primarily reported for customer loan and deposit transactions.

*Securities Purchased Under Agreements to Resell*

The Company may enter into purchases of securities under agreements to resell identical securities which consist of mortgage loans that meet the GNMA pooling qualifications. The cash advanced to the counterparty are reflected as assets

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

on the Statement of Financial Condition and are accounted for at cost. The Company obtains possession of securities collateral with a market value equal to or in excess of the principal amount loaned under the resell agreement and has the right to request additional collateral, based on its daily monitoring of the fair value of the securities.

*Debt Securities*

Securities are classified as either available-for-sale or held-to-maturity at purchase. Securities where management intends to hold to maturity are designated as held-to-maturity. All other securities are designated as available-for-sale. Securities available-for-sale are carried at fair value and unrealized gains and losses on these securities are reported, net of applicable taxes, as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income, a component of stockholders' equity. Securities held-to-maturity are carried at cost and gains and losses on these securities are unrecognized.

Interest income on securities, including amortization of premiums and accretion of discounts, is recognized using the level yield method without anticipating prepayments (except for mortgage-backed securities where prepayments are anticipated) over the lives of the individual securities. Realized gains and losses on sales of securities are computed using the specific identification method.

*Allowance for credit losses on securities held-to-maturity*

The Company pools securities held-to-maturity based on shared risk characteristics with losses estimated assuming future cash flows not expected to be collected. For securities held-to-maturity with no historical losses, the Company can rely on external data. For example, credit rating agencies' loss data and default rates can be utilized on specific bonds with associated grades. Agency rating changes can be incorporated along with current and forecasted conditions to determine the allowance for credit losses associated with securities held-to-maturity. All of the Company's securities held-to-maturity are agency backed securities and have no expected credit losses under current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Factors considered in management's expectation of no expected credit losses in the securities held-to-maturity portfolio are the explicit guarantee by a sovereign government, long history of no credit losses, and consistent high credit rating by rating agencies. The Company's securities held-to-maturity are either explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the U.S. government agencies, are highly rated by major ratings agencies, and have a long history of no credit losses. Accordingly, there was no allowance for credit losses on securities held-to-maturity as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.

*Allowance for credit losses on securities available-for-sale* 

For securities available-for-sale in an unrealized loss position, the Company first assesses whether it intends to sell, or is more likely than not that it will be required to sell the security before recovery of its amortized cost basis. If either of the criteria regarding intent or requirement to sell is met, the security's amortized cost basis is written down to fair value through income. For securities available-for-sale that do not meet these criteria, the Company evaluates whether the decline in fair value has resulted from credit losses or other factors. In making this assessment, management considers the extent to which fair value is less than amortized cost, any changes to the rating of the security by a rating agency, and adverse conditions specifically related to the security, among other factors. If the assessment indicates that a credit loss exists, the present value of the expected cash flows expected to be collected from the security are compared to the amortized cost basis of the security. If the present value of the cash flows expected to be collected is less than the amortized cost basis, a credit loss exists and an allowance for credit losses is recorded for the credit loss, limited by the amount that the fair value is less than the amortized cost basis. Any impairment that has not been recorded through an allowance for credit losses is recognized in other comprehensive income. All of the Company's securities available-for-sale have no expected credit losses under current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Accordingly, there was no allowance for credit losses on securities available-for-sale as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

Changes in the allowance for credit losses are recorded as credit loss expense (or reversal). Losses are charged against the allowance when management believes the uncollectibility of an available-for-sale security is confirmed or when either of the criteria regarding intent or requirement to sell is met.

Accrued interest receivable on securities available-for-sale is excluded from the Company's estimate of credit losses.

*Loans*

Loans that management has the intent and ability to hold for the foreseeable future until maturity or payoff are stated at amortized cost, consisting of the principal amount outstanding, net of deferred loan fees and costs for originated loans and net of unamortized premiums or discounts for purchased loans. Interest income is recognized using the level yield method. Net deferred loan fees, origination costs, unamortized premiums or discounts are recognized in interest income over the loan term as a yield adjustment. The Company has made a policy election to exclude accrued interest from the amortized cost basis of loans and report accrued interest separately from the related loan balance in accrued interest receivable on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

*Nonaccrual*

Interest income on mortgage and commercial loans is discontinued at the time the loan is 90 days delinquent unless the loan is well-secured and in process of collection. Consumer loans are typically charged-off no later than 120 days past due. Past due status is based on the contractual terms of the loan. In all cases, loans are placed on nonaccrual or charged-off at an earlier date if collection of principal or interest is considered doubtful. A loan is moved to nonaccrual status in accordance with the Company's policy, typically after 90 days of non-payment.

All interest accrued but not received for loans placed on nonaccrual is reversed against interest income. Interest received on such loans is accounted for on the cash-basis or cost-recovery method, until qualifying for return to accrual. Loans are returned to accrual status when all the principal and interest amounts contractually due are brought current and future payments are reasonably assured.

*Allowance for credit losses on loans held for investment*

The allowance for credit losses on loans held for investment is a valuation allowance that is deducted from the amortized cost basis of loans to present the net amount expected to be collected on the loans. Losses are charged against the allowance when management believes it has confirmed the loan balance is uncollectible. Subsequent recoveries are credited to the allowance.

The methodology for determining the allowance for credit losses on loans held for investment is considered a critical accounting policy by management given the judgment required for determining assumptions used, uncertainty of economic forecasts, and subjectivity of any qualitative factors considered. The Company utilizes the Static Pool methodology to calculate the quantitative component of the allowance for credit losses for its entire loan portfolio. The Static Pool methodology leverages the average of the historical loss rates on similar pools of loans over the lookback period, with each pool equal to the weighted average remaining life of the portfolio segment.

The Company incorporates reasonable and supportable forecasts as qualitative adjustments applied to the historical loss rates over the reasonable and supportable forecast period, with reversion to historical loss rates thereafter. The Company has elected a one-year reasonable and supportable forecast period and straight-line reversion to the historical loss rate over a one-year period. Forecast adjustments reflect the extent to which the Company expects current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts to differ from the conditions that existed for the period over which historical information was evaluated. Further qualitative adjustments to historical loss information are made for differences in current loan-specific risk characteristics such as differences in underwriting standards, portfolio mix, delinquency level, or term,

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

as well as changes in environmental conditions, such as unemployment rates, property values, or other relevant factors. Management evaluates the adequacy of the allowance on a quarterly basis.

In calculating the allowance for credit losses, the Company assesses whether financial assets share similar risk characteristics. If similar risk characteristics exist, management must measure expected credit losses of financial assets on a collective (pool) basis, considering the risk associated with the designated pool. If similar risk characteristics do not exist based on various factors, management must measure the financial asset for expected credit losses on an individual basis. Management may consider changes to a borrower's circumstances impacting cash collections, delinquency and non-accrual status, probability of default, industry, or other facts and circumstances when determining whether a loan shares risk characteristics with other loans in a pool. For a loan that does not share risk characteristics with other loans in a pool and is not collateral dependent, expected credit loss is measured based on the discounted value of the expected future cash flows and the amortized cost of the loan. If the Company determines that foreclosure of the collateral is probable, or that the borrower is experiencing financial difficulty and repayment is expected to be provided substantially through the operation or sale of the collateral, the Company measures expected credit losses of collateral dependent loans based on the difference between the current fair value of the collateral and the amortized cost basis of the financial asset. The fair value of the collateral is adjusted for estimated costs to sell the collateral in instances where the repayment of the loan is dependent on the sale of the collateral.

The Company evaluates its loan pooling methodology at least annually. The Company has identified the following portfolio segments and measures the allowance for credit losses using the following methods:

Commercial Loans and Lines of Credit ("Commercial"). Loans in this classification consist primarily of commercial loans originated to law firms nationally to provide a combination of lines-of-credit and term loans for working capital, litigation case costs, marketing and growth initiatives, and other operating needs arising during the normal course of business. The credit quality of these commercial loans is largely dependent upon the valuation of the borrowers' current case inventory of claimants and cash flows from operations to service the debt. To a lesser extent, this category also includes other commercial loans to ISOs and small to mid-size businesses to provide financing for normal business operating needs. The credit quality of the ISO portfolio is largely dependent upon the overall merchant portfolio and associated revenue stream or residual generated from their merchant portfolio serviced by the bank as well as their cash flow from operations to service the debt.

Consumer. Consumer loans are primarily personal loans and, to a lesser extent, post-settlement consumer loans made to plaintiffs and claimants. Personal loans are for debt consolidation, medical expenses, living expenses, payment of outstanding bills, or other consumer needs on both a secured and unsecured basis. Post-settlement consumer loans are generally bridge loans to individuals secured by proceeds from settled cases. These loans generally meet the "life needs" of claimants in various litigation matters due to the delay between the time of settlement and actual payment of the settlement. Repayment of consumer loans is largely dependent on the credit quality of the individual borrower and/or the claimant settlement amount, if applicable.

Multifamily. The multifamily real estate loan portfolio consists of loans secured by apartment buildings and mixed-use buildings (predominantly residential income producing) in our primary market area. Repayment of loans in this portfolio is largely dependent on the sufficiency of cash flows from the collateral property to pay operating expenses and debt service as well as the collateral valuation. Increases in interest rates, increases in vacancy rates, and other economic events such as unemployment rates could negatively impact the future net operating income of the properties.

Commercial Real Estate ("CRE"). CRE loans consist primarily of loans secured by mixed use properties, warehouses, retail properties, and, to a lesser extent, several hospitality properties. Repayment of loans in this portfolio is largely dependent on successful operation or management of collateral properties as well as the collateral valuation and is generally more sensitive to weakened economic conditions, and commercial real estate prices.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

1 – 4 Family. Mortgage loans are primarily secured by 1 – 4 family cash flowing investment properties in our market area. The residential mortgage loan portfolio includes 1 – 4 family income producing investment properties, primary and secondary owner-occupied residences, investor coops and condos. The credit quality of this portfolio is largely dependent on economic factors, such as unemployment rates and real estate prices.

*Off-Balance Sheet Credit Exposures*

The Company estimates expected credit losses over the contractual period in which the Company is exposed to credit risk via a contractual obligation to extend credit unless that obligation is unconditionally cancellable by the Company. The allowance for credit losses on off-balance sheet exposures is adjusted through provision for credit losses expense. The estimate includes consideration of the likelihood that funding will occur and an estimate of expected credit losses on commitments expected to be funded over its estimated life.

*Premises and Equipment*

Premises and equipment, including leasehold improvements, are stated at cost, net of accumulated depreciation and amortization. Equipment, which includes furniture and fixtures, are depreciated over the assets' estimated useful lives using the straight-line method (three to ten years). Amortization of leasehold improvements is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lesser of the expected lease term or the estimated useful life of the asset. Costs incurred to improve or extend the life of existing assets are capitalized. Repairs and maintenance are charged to expense.

*Internal-Use Software*

Implementation costs with respect to internal-use software are capitalized once the project stage is complete. Project stage includes determining the performance requirements, strategic decisions related to allocation of resources, determining the technology needed to achieve performance requirements, selection of vendors, and other items. Costs during the project stage are expensed as incurred. Once the internal-use software is placed into operation, capitalized software costs are amortized using the straight-line method over three to five years. Internal use-software assets totaled $3,633 and $4,121, net of accumulated amortization, as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, and are included within Other assets on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. The related software amortization expense totaled $1,718 and $1,835, for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, and are included within Occupancy and equipment on the Consolidated Statements of Income.

*Securities, Restricted, at Cost*

The Bank is a member of the FHLB system and the FRB, and Atlantic Central Banker's Bank where members are required to own a certain number of shares of stock in order to conduct business with these institutions. FHLB stock holdings are based on the level of MRA, borrowings and other factors while FRB stock holding levels are capital based. These equity investments are carried at cost and classified as restricted securities which are periodically evaluated for impairment based on the ultimate recovery of par value. Dividends from these equity investments are reported as interest income on the Consolidated Statements of Income.

*Loan Commitments*

The Company enters into commitments to extend credit to customers to meet their financing needs which are in the form of lines of credit, letters of credit, and loan funding commitments. The face amount of these financial instruments represents the exposure to loss before considering customer collateral or ability to repay. Such financial instruments are recorded on balance sheet at cost when funded and presented as loans on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

*Investment in Variable Interest Entities*

The Company has invested in variable interest entities ("VIEs") where the investments are considered a significant variable interest in the VIEs, but the Company does not have the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the VIEs' economic performance. Therefore, the Company is not considered the primary beneficiary of the VIEs and does not consolidate the entities in the Company's financial statements. The Company's maximum exposure to loss is limited to the carrying amount of its investment and accounted for under the equity method which is presented within Other assets on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

During 2022, the Company sold its legacy National Football League ("NFL") consumer post-settlement loan portfolio to a VIE in exchange for a nonvoting interest valued at $13,500 where the Company remained as servicer of the loan portfolio at the discretion of the VIE manager. Gains or losses on this investment are the result of changes in projected cash flows from the VIE's loan portfolio based on expected claim settlements and the Company's exposure is limited to its investment. The Company did not recognize an equity method gain or loss on its investment for the year ended December 31, 2025. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company recognized an equity method loss of approximately $500 on its investment. As of December 31, 2025, the investment's carrying amount was $9,014 with a remaining life of 3.3 years, and a carrying amount of $9,405 as of December 31, 2024.

During 2024 and 2025, the Company invested cash in United Payment Systems, LLC (doing business as Payzli) in exchange for a 24.99% ownership interest. Payzli is an end-to-end payment technology company that acts as a single source for payment services, business management software, web enablement and mobile solutions. In 2025 and 2024, the Company did not recognize an equity method gain or loss on its investment. The investments carrying amount was $4,824 and $4,124 as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively and there are no remaining unfunded commitments as of December 31, 2025. The Company funded $700 and $3,824 for the years ended December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

*Transfers of Financial Assets*

Transfers of financial assets are accounted for as sales, when control over the assets has been relinquished. Control over transferred assets is deemed to be surrendered when the assets have been isolated from the Company, the transferee obtains the right (free of conditions that constrain it from taking advantage of that right) to pledge or exchange the transferred assets, and the Company does not maintain effective control over the transferred assets through an agreement to repurchase them before their maturity.

*Income Taxes*

Income taxes are provided for under the asset and liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred taxes of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period the change occurs. Deferred tax assets are reduced, through a valuation allowance, if necessary, by the amount of such benefits that are not expected to be realized based on current available evidence.

A tax position is recognized as a benefit only if it is "more likely than not" that the tax position would be sustained in a tax examination, with a tax examination being presumed to occur. The amount recognized is the largest amount of tax benefit that is greater than 50% likely of being realized on examination. For tax positions not meeting the "more likely than not" test, no tax benefit is recorded. The Company recognizes interest and/or penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense on the Consolidated Statements of Income.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

*Earnings per Share*

Basic earnings per share is net earnings allocated to stock divided by the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the period. Any outstanding preferred shares are considered participating securities for computation of basic earnings per share. Diluted earnings per share include the dilutive effect of additional potential shares issuable under stock options and RSAs.

*Share-Based Payment*

The Company issues incentive and non-statutory stock options, restricted stock awards ("RSAs"), and performance restricted stock units ("PSUs") to certain employees and directors pursuant to its equity incentive plans, which have been approved by the stockholders. Share-based awards are granted by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors.

Under the plans, options are granted with an exercise price equal to the fair value of the Company's stock at the date of the grant. Options granted vest over three to five years and have ten-year contractual terms. All options provide for accelerated vesting upon a change in control (as defined in the plans).

The fair value of each option award is estimated on the date of grant using a closed form option valuation (Black-Scholes) model that uses the assumptions noted in the table below. Expected volatilities are based on peer volatility. The Company uses peer data to estimate option exercise and post-vesting termination behavior. The expected term of options granted is based on peer data and represents the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding, which takes into account that the options are not transferable. The risk-free interest rate for the expected term of the option is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of the grant.

Restricted shares are granted at the fair value on the date of grant and vest over three to six years with a third vesting at each of the last three anniversary dates. Restricted shares have the same voting rights as common stock and nonvested restricted shareholders do not have rights to the accrued dividends until vested.

Share payouts of PSUs will be earned based on the Company's performance with respect to two equally weighted metrics, return on average assets and diluted EPS growth. Performance is measured against pre-established financial targets over a two-year performance period and will cliff vest on the three-year anniversary from the date of grant. Compensation expense on PSUs is based upon the fair value of the shares on the date of the grant for the expected aggregate share payout.

*Segment Reporting*

*The Company's operations are exclusively in the financial services industry where it focuses on community banking. The Chief Executive Officer is designated the chief operating decision maker ("CODM") who evaluates the Company's performance and allocates resources based on the Company being one operating segment, that of community banking. All of the Company's activities are interrelated, and each activity is dependent and assessed based on the manner in which it supports the other activities of the Company. The CODM is provided with the Company's consolidated statements of financial condition and operations and evaluates the Company's operating results as reflected in these statements. In the opinion of management, the Company does not have any other reportable segments as defined by Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 280, "Disclosure about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information."*

*Reclassifications*

There have been no reclassifications to prior year amounts to conform to their current presentation.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

*Comprehensive Income*

Comprehensive income consists of net income and other comprehensive (loss) income which includes unrealized gains and losses on securities available-for-sale.

*Fair Value of Financial Instruments*

Fair values of financial instruments are estimated using relevant market information and other assumptions, as more fully disclosed in a separate note. Fair value estimates involve uncertainties and matters of significant judgment regarding interest rates, credit risk, prepayments, and other factors, especially in the absence of broad markets for particular items. Changes in assumptions or in market conditions could significantly affect the estimates.

*Loss Contingencies*

Loss contingencies, including claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business, are recorded as liabilities when the likelihood of loss is probable and an amount or range of loss can be reasonably estimated. Management does not believe there now are such matters that will have a material effect on the Consolidated Financial Statements.

*Standards Adopted in 2023*

On January 1, 2023, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-13, "Financial Instruments — Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments", as amended, which replaces the incurred loss methodology with an expected loss methodology, referred to as the "current expected credit loss" ("CECL" or the "CECL Standard") methodology. The measurement of expected credit losses under the CECL methodology is applicable to financial assets measured at amortized cost, including loan receivables and securities held-to-maturity, as well as off-balance sheet credit exposures, including loan commitments, standby letters of credit, and financial guarantees. The CECL Standard significantly made changes to estimates of credit losses related to financial assets measured at amortized cost, including loans receivable and certain other contracts. In addition, the CECL Standard made changes to the accounting for available-for-sale securities. One such change is to require credit losses to be presented as an allowance rather than as a write-down on available-for-sale securities that management does not intend to sell or believes that it is more likely than not they will be required to sell.

The Company adopted the CECL Standard using the modified retrospective method for all financial assets measured at amortized cost and off-balance sheet credit exposures. Results for reporting periods beginning with January 1, 2023, are presented under the CECL Standard.

The adoption of the CECL Standard resulted in an initial increase of $283 to the allowance for credit losses and an increase of $500 to the reserve for unfunded commitments in other liabilities. The after-tax cumulative effect of adopting the CECL Standard was a decrease to retained earnings of $568 as of January 1, 2023.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

The following table illustrates the allowance for credit losses impact of the CECL Standard:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **January 1, 2023** | **January 1, 2023** | **January 1, 2023** |
|  | **As Reported**<br>**Under**<br>**CECL** | <br>**Pre-CECL**<br>**Adoption** | **Impact of**<br>**CECL**<br>**Adoption** |
| Assets: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Loans |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily  | $2025 | $2017 | $8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate | 913 | 1022 | (109) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family | 61 | 192 | (131) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial | 9159 | 8645 | 514 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Consumer | 348 | 347 | 1 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Allowance for credit losses on loans | $12506 | $12223 | $283 |
| Liabilities: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Allowance for credit losses on unfunded commitments | $500 | $— | $500 |

---

*Standards Adopted in 2025*

In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, "Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures", intended to enhance the transparency of income tax disclosures, primarily related to the rate reconciliation and income taxes paid information. Specifically, the amendments in this ASU require disclosure of: (i) a tabular reconciliation, using both percentages and reporting currency amounts, with prescribed categories that are required to be disclosed, and the separate disclosure and disaggregation of prescribed reconciling items with an effect equal to 5% or more of the amount determined by multiplying pretax income from continuing operations by the applicable statutory rate; (ii) a qualitative description of the states and local jurisdictions that make up the majority (greater than 50%) of the effect of the state and local income taxes; and (iii) amount of income taxes paid, net of refunds received, disaggregated by federal, state, and foreign taxes and by individual jurisdictions that comprise 5% or more of total income taxes paid, net of refunds received. The ASU also includes other amendments to improve the effectiveness of income tax disclosures. The update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. The Company adopted this standard utilizing the retrospective method on the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2025, resulting in expanded disclosure in Note 8 of our Consolidated Financial Statements.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

#### NOTE 2 — Debt Securities
The following tables summarize the major categories of securities as of the dates indicated:

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** |
|  | <br>**Amortized**<br>**Cost** | **Gross**<br>**Unrealized**<br>**Gains** | **Gross**<br>**Unrealized**<br>**Losses** | <br>**Fair**<br>**Value** |
| Securities available-for-sale: |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Mortgage-backed securities – agency | $97697 | $92 | $(12094) | $85695 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Collateralized mortgage obligations ("CMOs") – agency | 160723 | 1443 | (1356) | 160810 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total available-for-sale | $258420 | $1535 | $(13450) | $246505 |
|  |  | **Gross** | **Gross** |  |
|  | **Amortized** | **Unrecognized** | **Unrecognized** | **Fair** |
|  | **Cost** | **Gains** | **Losses** | **Value** |
| Securities held-to-maturity: |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency | $60193 | $26 | $(4719) | $55500 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total held-to-maturity | $60193 | $26 | $(4719) | $55500 |
|  | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** |
|  |  | **Gross** | **Gross** |  |
|  | **Amortized** | **Unrealized** | **Unrealized** | **Fair** |
|  | **Cost** | **Gains** | **Losses** | **Value** |
| Securities available-for-sale: |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Mortgage-backed securities – agency | $103009 | $— | $(17057) | $85952 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency | 158442 | 271 | (2919) | 155794 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total available-for-sale | $261451 | $271 | $(19976) | $241746 |
|  |  | **Gross** | **Gross** |  |
|  | **Amortized** | **Unrecognized** | **Unrecognized** | **Fair** |
|  | **Cost** | **Gains** | **Losses** | **Value** |
| Securities held-to-maturity: |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency | $68660 | $— | $(7729) | $60931 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total held-to-maturity | $68660 | $— | $(7729) | $60931 |

---

Mortgage-backed securities included all pass-through certificates guaranteed by FHLMC, FNMA, or GNMA and the CMOs are backed by government agency pass-through certificates. CMOs, by virtue of the underlying residential collateral or structure, are fixed rate current pay sequentials. As actual maturities may differ from contractual maturities because certain borrowers have the right to call or prepay certain obligations, these securities are not considered to have a single maturity date.

There were no sales or calls of securities in 2025, 2024 and 2023.

At December 31, 2025, securities having a fair value of $252,426 were pledged to the FHLB for borrowing capacity totaling $235,656. At December 31, 2024 securities having a fair value of $249,636 were pledged to the FHLB for borrowing capacity totaling $232,343. At December 31, 2025 and 2024, the Company had no outstanding FHLB advances.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

At December 31, 2025, securities having a fair value of $49,580 were pledged to the FRB for borrowing capacity totaling $48,096. At December 31, 2024, securities having a fair value of $53,040 were pledged to the FRB for borrowing capacity totaling $51,363. At December 31, 2025 and 2024, the Company had no outstanding FRB borrowings.

The following table provides the gross unrealized and unrecognized losses and fair value, aggregated by investment category and length of time the individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized or unrecognized loss position:

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** |
|  | **Less Than 12 Months** | **Less Than 12 Months** | **12 Months or Longer** | **12 Months or Longer** | **Total** | **Total** |
|  | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrealizedLosses** | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrealizedLosses** | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrealizedLosses** |
| Securities available-for-sale: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Mortgage-backed securities – agency | $1626 | $(15) | $72692 | $(12079) | $74318 | $(12094) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency |  |  | 20400 | (1356) | 20400 | (1356) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total available-for-sale | $1626 | $(15) | $93092 | $(13435) | $94718 | $(13450) |
|  | **Less Than 12 Months** | **Less Than 12 Months** | **12 Months or Longer** | **12 Months or Longer** | **Total** | **Total** |
|  | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrecognizedLosses** | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrecognizedLosses** | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrecognizedLosses** |
| Securities held-to-maturity: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency | $— | $— | $48406 | $(4719) | $48406 | $(4719) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total held-to-maturity | $— | $— | $48406 | $(4719) | $48406 | $(4719) |
|  | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** |
|  | **Less Than 12 Months** | **Less Than 12 Months** | **12 Months or Longer** | **12 Months or Longer** | **Total** | **Total** |
|  | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrealizedLosses** | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrealizedLosses** | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrealizedLosses** |
| Securities available-for-sale: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Mortgage-backed securities – agency | $6341 | $(84) | $79610 | $(16973) | $85951 | $(17057) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency | 94642 | (998) | 10729 | (1921) | 105371 | (2919) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total available-for-sale | $100983 | $(1082) | $90339 | $(18894) | $191322 | $(19976) |
|  | **Less Than 12 Months** | **Less Than 12 Months** | **12 Months or Longer** | **12 Months or Longer** | **Total** | **Total** |
|  | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrecognizedLosses** | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrecognizedLosses** | **FairValue** | **GrossUnrecognizedLosses** |
| Securities held-to-maturity: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency | $— | $— | $56523 | $(7729) | $56523 | $(7729) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total held-to-maturity | $— | $— | $56523 | $(7729) | $56523 | $(7729) |

---

Management evaluates securities available-for-sale in unrealized loss positions to determine whether the impairment is due to credit-related factors. Due to the decline in fair value being attributable to changes in interest rates, not credit quality and because the Company does not have the intent to sell the securities and it is likely that it will not be required to sell the securities before their anticipated recovery, the Company does not consider the securities to be impaired at December 31, 2025.

As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, none of the Company's available-for-sale securities were in an unrealized loss position due to credit, and therefore no allowance for credit losses on available-for-sale securities was required. Additionally, there was no allowance for credit losses on securities held-to-maturity due to the high credit quality composition consisting of issuances from government sponsored agencies as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

Accrued interest receivable on securities totaling $1,052 at December 31, 2025 and $1,066 at December 31, 2024, was included in Accrued interest receivable in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition and excluded from amortized cost and estimated fair value in the tables above.

#### NOTE 3 — Loans
The composition of loans by class is summarized as follows:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2024** |
| Real estate: |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily  | $372800 | $355165 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate | 107293 | 87038 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family | 9835 | 14665 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total real estate | 489928 | 456868 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial | 1245555 | 920567 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Consumer | 22762 | 19339 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total loans held for investment | 1758245 | 1396774 |
| Deferred fees and unearned premiums, net | 182 | 247 |
| Allowance for credit losses | (24022) | (20979) |
| Loans held for investment, net | $1734405 | $1376042 |

---

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

The following tables present the activity in the allowance for credit losses by class for the years ending December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023:

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | <br>**Multifamily** | **Commercial** <br>**Real Estate** | <br>**1-4 Family** | <br>**Commercial** | <br>**Consumer** | <br>**Total** |
| December 31, 2025 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Allowance for credit losses: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Beginning balance | $5116 | $691 | $52 | $14283 | $837 | $20979 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Provision for credit losses | 4185 | 104 | 62 | 5252 | 72 | 9675 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Recoveries |  |  |  |  | 29 | 29 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Loans charged-off | (3275) |  | (79) | (3250) | (57) | (6661) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total ending allowance balance | $6026 | $795 | $35 | $16285 | $881 | $24022 |
| December 31, 2024 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Allowance for credit losses: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Beginning balance | $3236 | $823 | $58 | $12056 | $458 | $16631 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Provision (credit) for credit losses | 1880 | (132) | (6) | 2227 | 731 | 4700 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Recoveries |  |  |  |  | 38 | 38 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Loans charged-off |  |  |  |  | (390) | (390) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total ending allowance balance | $5116 | $691 | $52 | $14283 | $837 | $20979 |
| December 31, 2023 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Allowance for credit losses: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Beginning balance, prior to adoption of CECL Standard | $2017 | $1022 | $192 | $8645 | $347 | $12223 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Impact of adopting CECL Standard | 8 | (109) | (131) | 514 | 1 | 283 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Provision (credit) for credit losses | 1211 | (90) | (3) | 2902 | 505 | 4525 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Recoveries |  |  |  |  | 44 | 44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Loans charged-off |  |  |  | (5) | (439) | (444) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total ending allowance balance | $3236 | $823 | $58 | $12056 | $458 | $16631 |

---

As of December 31, 2025, there was one collateral dependent multifamily loan secured by real estate totaling $7,836 and one collateral dependent commercial loan secured by business assets totaling $736, with no associated specific reserve for either loan on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. As of December 31, 2024, there was one collateral dependent multifamily loan secured by real estate totaling $10,940, with no associated specific reserve on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

The following tables present the aging of the past due loans measured at amortized cost, excluding deferred fees and unearned premiums, net, due to immateriality, by class of loans as of December 31, 2025 and 2024:

---

| | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | <br>**30-59**<br>**Days** <br>**Past Due** | <br>**60-89**<br>**Days** <br>**Past Due** | <br>**90 Days**<br>**or More**<br>**Past Due** | <br>**Nonaccrual**<br>**Loans** | **Total Past**<br>**Due &**<br>**Nonaccrual**<br>**Loans** | <br>**Loans Not**<br>**Past Due** | <br>**Total** |
| December 31, 2025 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily  | $— | $— | $— | $7836 | $7836 | $364964 | $372800 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate |  |  |  |  |  | 107293 | 107293 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family |  |  |  |  |  | 9835 | 9835 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial |  |  |  | 736 | 736 | 1244819 | 1245555 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Consumer | 12 |  | 7 |  | 19 | 22743 | 22762 |
| Total | $12 | $— | $7 | $8572 | $8591 | $1749654 | $1758245 |
|  |  |  |  |  | **Total Past** |  |  |
|  | **30-59** | **60-89** | **90 Days** |  | **Due &** |  |  |
|  | **Days**  | **Days**  | **or More** | **Nonaccrual** | **Nonaccrual** | **Loans Not** |  |
|  | **Past Due** | **Past Due** | **Past Due** | **Loans** | **Loans** | **Past Due** | **Total** |
| December 31, 2024 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily  | $— | $— | $— | $10940 | $10940 | $344225 | $355165 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial real estate |  |  |  |  |  | 87038 | 87038 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 – 4 family |  |  |  |  |  | 14665 | 14665 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial |  | 2 |  |  | 2 | 920565 | 920567 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Consumer |  |  |  |  |  | 19339 | 19339 |
| Total | $— | $2 | $— | $10940 | $10942 | $1385832 | $1396774 |

---

*Credit Quality Indicators*

The Company categorizes loans into risk categories based on relevant information about the ability of borrowers to service their debt such as: current financial information, historical payment experience, credit documentation, public information, and current economic trends, among other factors. The Company analyzes loans individually by classifying the loans as to credit risk. This analysis is performed whenever a credit is extended, renewed or modified, or when an observable event occurs indicating a potential decline in credit quality, and no less than annually for large balance loans.

The Company uses the following definitions for risk ratings:

Special Mention — Loans classified as special mention have a potential weakness that deserves management's close attention. If left uncorrected, these potential weaknesses may result in deterioration of the repayment prospects for the loan or of the institution's credit position at some future date.

Substandard — Loans classified as substandard are inadequately protected by the current net worth and paying capacity of the obligor or of the collateral pledged, if any. Loans so classified have a well-defined weakness or weaknesses that jeopardize the liquidation of the debt. They are characterized by the distinct possibility that the institution will sustain some loss if the deficiencies are not corrected.

Doubtful — Loans classified as doubtful have all the weaknesses inherent in those classified as substandard, with the added characteristic that the weaknesses make collection or liquidation in full, on the basis of currently existing facts, conditions, and values, highly questionable and improbable.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

Loans not meeting the criteria above that are analyzed individually as part of the above described process are considered to be pass rated loans.

The following is a summary of the credit risk profile of loans, measured at amortized cost, by internally assigned grade as of the periods indicated, the years represent the year of originations for non-revolving loans:

---

| | | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** | **2022** | **2021** | **2020 and Prior** | **Revolving** | **Revolving-Term** | **Total** |
| Multifamily: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | $45320 | $26402 | $104575 | $26107 | $98922 | $57783 | $— | $— | $359109 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  | 6019 |  |  |  | 6019 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard | 7836 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 7836 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 53156 | 26402 | 104575 | 26107 | 104941 | 57783 |  |  | 372964 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  |  |  | 3275 |  |  | 3275 |
| Commercial real estate: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 25648 | 1803 | 2785 | 56556 | 6823 | 13658 |  |  | 107273 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 25648 | 1803 | 2785 | 56556 | 6823 | 13658 |  |  | 107273 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1-4 family: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass |  |  |  | 1783 |  | 8058 |  |  | 9841 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total |  |  |  | 1783 |  | 8058 |  |  | 9841 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  |  |  | 79 |  |  | 79 |
| Commercial: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 115547 | 40222 | 25418 | 6247 | 1154 | 271 | 1046671 | 3036 | 1238566 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  | 1290 |  |  | 4989 |  | 6279 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  |  |  | 736 |  | 736 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 115547 | 40222 | 25418 | 7537 | 1154 | 271 | 1052396 | 3036 | 1245581 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  |  |  |  | 3250<sup>(1)</sup> |  | 3250<sup>(1)</sup> |
| Consumer: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 2128 | 794 | 2460 | 851 |  | 974 | 13354 | 2207 | 22768 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 2128 | 794 | 2460 | 851 |  | 974 | 13354 | 2207 | 22768 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  | 57 |  |  |  |  | 57 |
| Total: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 188643 | 69221 | 135238 | 91544 | 106899 | 80744 | 1060025 | 5243 | 1737557 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  | 1290 | 6019 |  | 4989 |  | 12298 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard | 7836 |  |  |  |  |  | 736 |  | 8572 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total loans | $196479 | $69221 | $135238 | $92834 | $112918 | $80744 | $1065750 | $5243 | $1758427 |
| Total current period gross charge-offs | $— | $— | $— | $57 | $— | $3354 | $3250<sup>(1)</sup> | $— | $6661 |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) Represents a commercial loan to a small business merchant.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

---

| | | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** | **December 31, 2024** |
|  | **2024** | **2023** | **2022** | **2021** | **2020** | **2019 and Prior** | **Revolving** | **Revolving-Term** | **Total** |
| Multifamily: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | $26687 | $104953 | $26657 | $107510 | $22996 | $55583 | $— | $— | $344386 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  | 10940 |  |  |  | 10940 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 26687 | 104953 | 26657 | 107510 | 33936 | 55583 |  |  | 355326 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Commercial real estate: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 1834 | 3040 | 57620 | 10315 | 1714 | 12471 |  |  | 86994 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 1834 | 3040 | 57620 | 10315 | 1714 | 12471 |  |  | 86994 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1-4 family: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass |  |  | 1823 |  |  | 12846 |  |  | 14669 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total |  |  | 1823 |  |  | 12846 |  |  | 14669 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total real estate: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 28521 | 107993 | 86100 | 117825 | 24710 | 80900 |  |  | 446049 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | - |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  | 10940 |  |  |  | 10940 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 28521 | 107993 | 86100 | 117825 | 35650 | 80900 |  |  | 456989 |
| Commercial: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 59298 | 41051 | 17473 | 2167 | 239 | 378 | 792851 | 3240 | 916697 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  | 3987 |  | 3987 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 59298 | 41051 | 17473 | 2167 | 239 | 378 | 796838 | 3240 | 920684 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Consumer: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 2251 | 3964 | 2285 |  | 296 | 993 | 9559 |  | 19348 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total | 2251 | 3964 | 2285 |  | 296 | 993 | 9559 |  | 19348 |
| Current period gross charge-offs |  | 38 | 352 |  |  |  |  |  | 390 |
| Total: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Pass | 90070 | 153008 | 105858 | 119992 | 25245 | 82271 | 802410 | 3240 | 1382094 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Special Mention |  |  |  |  |  |  | 3987 |  | 3987 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Substandard |  |  |  |  | 10940 |  |  |  | 10940 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Doubtful |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total loans | $90070 | $153008 | $105858 | $119992 | $36185 | $82271 | $806397 | $3240 | $1397021 |
| Total current period gross charge-offs | $— | $38 | $352 | $— | $— | $— | $— | $— | $390 |

---

The Company considers the performance of the loan portfolio and its impact on the allowance for credit losses. For smaller dollar commercial and consumer loan classes, the Company evaluates credit quality based on the aging status of the loan, which was previously presented, and by payment activity.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

*Loan Modifications to Borrowers Experiencing Financial Difficulty*

During the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company modified the terms of one $10,940 multifamily loan which was restructured into two notes for $8,000 and $2,940, respectively, with an extension resulting in an 18 month remaining term where the $2,940 note was charged off and the $8,000 note is at market terms.

During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company did not modify the terms of any loans or commitments to lend to borrowers experiencing financial difficulty in the form of an interest rate reduction, term extension, principal forgiveness, or other-than-significant payment delay.

The following tables present the amortized cost at the time of modification of the one multifamily loan experiencing financial difficulty that was modified in 2025. The percentage of the amortized cost basis of the loan as compared to the amortized cost basis of total multifamily loans is also presented below:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Year Ended** | **Year Ended** |
|  | **December 31, 2025** | **December 31, 2025** |
|  | <br>**Term**<br>**Extension** | **Total**<br>**Class of**<br>**Financing**<br>**Receivable** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily | $8000 | 0.6% |
| Total | $8000 | 0.6% |

---

The Company closely monitors the performance of modified loans to borrowers experiencing financial difficulty to understand the effectiveness of its modification efforts. The following table presents the performance of the loan that was modified in the last twelve months:

---

| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | <br><br>**Current** | **30-59**<br>**Days** <br>**Past Due** | **60-89**<br>**Days** <br>**Past Due** | **90 Days**<br>**or More**<br>**Past Due** | <br>**Total** |
| December 31, 2025 |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Multifamily  | $7836 | $— | $— | $— | $7836 |
| Total | $7836 | $— | $— | $— | $7836 |

---

The Company has not committed to lend any additional amounts to the borrower of the one multifamily loan experiencing financial difficulty that was modified.

*Related Party Loans*

Loans to related parties include loans to directors, their related companies and executive officers of the Company. There were no related party loans during 2025 and 2024.

*Pledged Loans*

At December 31, 2025, loans totaling $319,433 were pledged to the FHLB for borrowing capacity totaling $219,805. At December 31, 2024, loans totaling $297,843 were pledged to the FHLB for borrowing capacity totaling $199,357.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

#### NOTE 4 — Premises and Equipment
The following is a summary of premises and equipment at December 31:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **2025** | **2024** |
| Leasehold improvements | $6160 | $3617 |
| Furniture, fixtures and equipment | 5761 | 5143 |
|  | 11921 | 8760 |
| Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization | 7542 | 6324 |
| Total premises and equipment, net | $4379 | $2436 |

---

Depreciation and amortization of premises and equipment, reflected as a component of occupancy and equipment in the Consolidated Statements of Income, was $1,218, $880 and $707 for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

#### NOTE 5 — Deposits
The contractual maturities of certificates of deposit as of December 31, 2025, are as follows:

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | **Total** |
| 2026 | $3950 |
| 2027 | 2222 |
| Total | $6172 |

---

As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, certificates of deposit greater than $250 were $3,040 and $9,324, respectively. Certificates of deposit include deposits insured through the certificates of deposit account registry service ("CDARS") totaling $0 and $2,101 as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Deposits from principal officers, directors, and their affiliates at December 31, 2025 and 2024 were $3,981 and $8,673, respectively.

#### NOTE 6 — Borrowings
The Company had a secured borrowing of $40 and $42 as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, relating to certain loan participations sold by the Company that did not qualify for sales treatment.

At December 31, 2025 and 2024, we had the ability to borrow a total of $455,461 and $431,700, respectively, from the FHLB. We also had a borrowing capacity with the FRB discount window of $48,096 and $51,363 at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. These borrowings are collateralized by loans and securities. At December 31, 2025 and 2024, we also had lines of credit with other financial institutions totaling $29,000 and $17,500, respectively. No amounts were outstanding on any of the aforementioned lines as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.

#### NOTE 7 — Noninterest Income
The majority of the Company's revenue-generating transactions are not subject to ASC 606, including revenue generated from financial instruments, such as loans, letters of credit, and investment securities. Descriptions of revenue-

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

generating activities that are within the scope of ASC 606, and are presented in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income as components of noninterest income, are as follows:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Year Ended December 31,**  | **Year Ended December 31,**  | **Year Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| Payment processing fees: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Payment processing income | $19550 | $20147 | $21450 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;ACH income | 665 | 728 | 866 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total payment processing fees | 20215 | 20875 | 22316 |
| Customer related fees, service charges and other: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Administrative service income | 2995 | 2738 | 2467 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net gain on equity investments <sup>(1)</sup> | 432 |  | 4013 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Other | 1438 | 1282 | 955 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total customer related fees, service charges and other | 4865 | 4020 | 7435 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total noninterest income | $25080 | $24895 | $29751 |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) Represents a valuation adjustment, not within the scope of ASC 606.

The Company has made no significant judgments in applying the revenue guidance prescribed in ASC 606 that affect the determination of the amount and timing of revenue from the above-described contracts with customers.

● Payment processing income – We provide payment processing services as an acquiring bank through the third-party or ISO business model in which we process credit and debit card transactions on behalf of merchants. We enter into a tri-party merchant agreement, between the Company, ISO and each merchant. The Company's performance obligation is clearing and settling credit and debit transactions on behalf of the merchants. The Company recognizes revenue monthly once it summarizes and computes all revenue and expenses applicable to each ISO, which is our performance obligation.

● ACH income – We provide ACH services for merchants and other commercial customers. Contracts are entered into with third parties that require ACH transactions processed on behalf of their customers. Fees are variable and based on the volume of transactions within a given month. Our performance obligations are processing and settling ACHs on behalf of the customers. Our obligation is satisfied within each business day when the transactions (ACH files) are sent to the FRB for clearing. Revenue is recognized based on the total volume of transactions processed that month for a given customer.

● Administrative service income – Administrative service income is derived primarily from the management of qualified settlement funds ("QSFs"), which are funds from settled mass torts and class action lawsuits. Our performance obligations with the QSFs are outlined in court approved orders which includes ensuring funds are invested into safe investment vehicles such as U.S. treasuries and FDIC insured products. Our fees for placing these funds in appropriate vehicles are earned over the course of a month, representing the period over which the Company satisfies the performance obligation.

● Other – The other category includes revenue from service charges on deposit accounts, debit card fees, asset management fees, and certain loan related fees where revenue is recognized as performance obligations are satisfied.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

#### NOTE 8 — Income Taxes
The following summarizes components of income tax expense for the years ended December 31. Income tax expense is entirely related to domestic activities as the Company did not have any foreign operations.

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| **Current:** |  |  |  |
| Federal expense | $10378 | $12889 | $13066 |
| State and city expense | 4432 | 3839 | 4356 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total current tax expense | 14810 | 16728 | 17422 |
| **Deferred:** |  |  |  |
| Federal expense (benefit) | 369 | (1097) | (1874) |
| State and city benefit | (349) | (8) | (677) |
| Total deferred tax expense (benefit) | 20 | (1105) | (2551) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Income tax expense | $14830 | $15623 | $14871 |

---

The following is a reconciliation of the Company's statutory federal income tax rate of 21% to its effective tax rate at December 31 in accordance with the guidance in ASU 2023-09:

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **2025** | **2025** | **2024** | **2024** | **2023** | **2023** |
| Federal tax expense at statutory rate | $13787 | 21.00% | $12449 | 21.00% | $11735 | 21.00% |
| State and local income taxes, net of federal income tax benefit<sup>(1)</sup> | 3246 | 4.95 | 2878 | 4.85 | 2867 | 5.13 |
| Nontaxable or nondeductible items |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Stock-based compensation excess tax benefit | (2743) | (4.18) | (770) | (1.30) | (356) | (0.64) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive compensation | 967 | 1.47 | 623 | 1.05 | 535 | 0.96 |
| Other reconciling items | (427) | (0.65) | 443 | 0.75 | 90 | 0.16 |
| Total | $14830 | 22.59% | $15623 | 26.35% | $14871 | 26.61% |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) State and local taxes in New York and New York City made up the majority (greater than 50 percent) of the tax effect in this category.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

The following summarizes the components of the Company's deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities at December 31:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **2025** | **2024** |
| **Deferred tax assets:** |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Stock based compensation | $928 | $1469 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Allowance for credit losses | 6458 | 5541 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Deferred loan fees, net | 53 |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Unrealized loss on securities available-for-sale | 3427 | 5419 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Other | 2280 | 2565 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total deferred tax assets | 13146 | 14994 |
| **Deferred tax liabilities:** |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Fixed assets | (2029) | (1736) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Investment in partnership |  | (45) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Deferred loan fees, net |  | (84) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total deferred tax liabilities | (2029) | (1865) |
| Deferred tax asset, net | $11117 | $13129 |

---

The Company no longer has New York state and city net operating loss carryforwards as of December 31, 2024.

Realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income. A valuation allowance is provided when it is more likely than not that some portion of the deferred tax asset will not be realized. Based on its evaluation, the Company has determined that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, will be realized.

The components of income taxes paid for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 are as follows:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Federal taxes paid | $10887 | $13700 | $13400 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;State and local taxes paid: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;New York | 2601 | 3036 | 2783 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;California | 920 | 200 | 75 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other | 887 | 1066 | 1329 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total state and local taxes paid: | 4408 | 4302 | 4187 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total income taxes paid | $15295 | $18002 | $17587 |

---

The Company does not have any unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2025 and 2024, and does not expect this to increase in the next twelve months. There were no interest and penalties recorded in the Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023. The Company is subject to U.S. federal income tax as well as income tax in 14 state and local jurisdictions. The Company is no longer subject to examination by taxing authorities for years before 2022.

#### NOTE 9 — Employee Benefits
*401(k) Plan*

A savings plan is maintained under section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code and covers substantially all current full-time employees. Newly hired employees can elect to participate in the savings plan after completing one month of service. The Company matched 100% of employee contributions up to 2% of their salary, resulting in total expenses of $484, $345 and $276 in 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

*Share Based Payment Plans*

The Company issues incentive and non-statutory stock options, RSAs, and PSUs to certain employees and directors pursuant to its equity incentive plans, which have been approved by the stockholders. Share-based awards are granted by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors.

The 2019 Equity Incentive Plan authorizes the issuance of up to 300,000 shares of the Company's common stock. As of December 31, 2025, substantially all shares have been granted under the 2019 Equity Incentive Plan.

The 2021 Equity Incentive Plan authorizes the issuance of up to 400,000 shares of the Company's common stock. As of December 31, 2025, substantially all shares have been granted under the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan.

The 2024 Equity Incentive Plan authorizes the issuance of up to 500,000 shares of the Company's common stock pursuant to grants of stock options, restricted stock and restricted stock units, of which: (i) no more than 500,000 shares may be granted as stock options, and (ii) no more than 400,000 shares may be granted as restricted stock awards and restricted stock units, except as set forth in the following sentence. If restricted stock or restricted stock units are granted in excess of the 400,000 limit, for each such share of restricted stock or restricted stock unit so granted, the remaining shares available for grant from the share reserve shall be reduced by three (3) for each one (1) share of restricted stock or restricted stock unit that is granted in excess of such limit. As of December 31, 2025, a total of 379,720 shares remain available for grant under the 2024 Equity Incentive Plan (assuming performance-based awards are earned at target).

Under the plans, options are granted with an exercise price equal to the fair value of the Company's stock at the date of the grant. Options granted vest over three to five years and have ten-year contractual terms. All options provide for accelerated vesting upon a change in control (as defined in the plans).

The fair value of each option award is estimated on the date of grant using a closed form option valuation (Black-Scholes) model that uses the assumptions noted in the table below. Expected volatilities are based on peer volatility. The Company uses peer data to estimate option exercise and post-vesting termination behavior. The expected term of options granted is based on peer data and represents the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding, which takes into account that the options are not transferable. The risk-free interest rate for the expected term of the option is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of the grant.

Restricted shares are granted at the fair value on the date of grant and vest over three to six years with a third vesting at each of the last three anniversary dates. Restricted shares have the same voting rights as common stock and nonvested restricted shareholders do not have rights to the accrued dividends until vested.

Share payouts of PSUs will be earned based on the Company's performance with respect to two equally weighted metrics, return on average assets and diluted EPS growth. Performance is measured against pre-established financial targets over a two-year performance period and will cliff vest on the three-year anniversary from the date of grant. Compensation expense on PSUs is based upon the fair value of the shares on the date of the grant for the expected aggregate share payout.

The fair value of options granted was determined using the following weighted-average assumptions as of grant date.

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| Risk-free interest rate | 3.89% | 4.16% | 3.94% |
| Expected term | 84 months | 84 months | 84 months |
| Expected stock price volatility | 30.6% | 30.1% | 32.0% |
| Dividend yield | 0.65% | 0.82% | 1.29% |
| Weighted average fair value | $40.00 | $28.92 | $17.27 |

---

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

The following table presents a summary of the activity related to options for the year ended December 31, 2025:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Year Ended December 31, 2025** | **Year Ended December 31, 2025** | **Year Ended December 31, 2025** |
|  | <br>**Options** | <br>**Weighted**<br>**Average**<br>**Exercise**<br>**Price** | **Weighted**<br>**Average**<br>**Remaining**<br>**Contractual**<br>**Life (Years)** |
| Outstanding at beginning of year | 559308 | $24.72 |  |
| Granted | 22737 | 106.23 |  |
| Exercised | (204401) | 14.91 |  |
| Forfeited | (734) | 63.08 |  |
| Expired |  |  |  |
| Outstanding at period end | 376910 | $34.88 | 4.77 |
| Vested or expected to vest | 376910 | $34.88 | 4.77 |
| Exercisable at period end | 320443 | $26.69 | 4.01 |

---

The Company recognized compensation expense related to options of $757, $731 and $658 for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. At December 31, 2025, unrecognized compensation cost related to nonvested options was approximately $1,656 and is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 2.33 years. The intrinsic value for outstanding options, net of expected forfeitures was $25,421 at December 31, 2025. The intrinsic value for exercisable options was $24,155 at December 31, 2025.

The following table presents information related to stock options exercises for the years ended December 31:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** | **Years Ended December 31,** |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| Intrinsic value of options exercised | $15297 | $5531 | $1134 |
| Cash received from option exercises | 885 | 505 | 109 |
| Excess tax benefit from option exercises | 2644 | 424 | 296 |

---

The following table presents a summary of the activity related to restricted stock for the year ended December 31, 2025:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Year Ended December 31, 2025** | **Year Ended December 31, 2025** |
|  | <br>**Shares** | **Weighted Average**<br>**Grant Date**<br>**Fair Value** |
| Outstanding at beginning of year | 414114 | $37.87 |
| Granted | 57786 | 96.16 |
| Vested | (105174) | 25.55 |
| Forfeited | (2692) | 92.89 |
| Outstanding at period end | 364034 | $50.28 |

---

The Company recognized compensation expense related to restricted stock of $3,698, $3,103 and $2,560 for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, there was $12,409 of total unrecognized compensation cost related to nonvested shares granted under the plan. The cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 3.37 years.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

The following table presents a summary of the activity related to PSUs for the year ended December 31 2025:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Year Ended December 31, 2025** | **Year Ended December 31, 2025** |
|  | <br>**Units** | **Weighted Average**<br>**Grant Date**<br>**Fair Value** |
| Expected aggregate share payout at beginning of year |  | $— |
| Granted | 19474 | 85.32 |
| Vested |  |  |
| Forfeited |  |  |
| Expected aggregate share payout at period end | 19474 | $85.32 |
| Minimum aggregate share payout at period end |  |  |
| Maximum aggregate share payout at period end | 29211 | $85.32 |

---

The Company recognized compensation expense related to PSUs of $497 for the year ended December 31 2025 and no PSU expense for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023. As of December 31, 2025, there was $1,164 of total unrecognized compensation cost related to nonvested PSUs based on the expected aggregate share payout to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.10 years.

#### NOTE 10 — Earnings per Share
The factors used in the earnings per share computation follow:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| Basic: |  |  |  |
| Net income | $50822 | $43658 | $41011 |
| Weighted average shares outstanding | 8061589 | 7817626 | 7716367 |
| Basic earnings per share | $6.30 | $5.58 | $5.31 |
| Diluted: |  |  |  |
| Net income | $50822 | $43658 | $41011 |
| Weighted average shares outstanding for basic earnings per share | 8061589 | 7817626 | 7716367 |
| Add: Dilutive effects of share based awards | 600630 | 669415 | 629219 |
| Weighted average shares and dilutive potential shares | 8662219 | 8487041 | 8345586 |
| Diluted earnings per share | $5.87 | $5.14 | $4.91 |

---

Share based awards totaling 72,597, 74,050 and 96,450 shares of stock were not considered in computing diluted earnings per share for 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively, because they were anti-dilutive.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

#### NOTE 11 — Commitments and Contingent Liabilities
*Change-In-Control Arrangements*

Certain key executive officers have arrangements that provide for the payment of a multiple of base salary, should a change-in control, as defined, occur. These payments are limited under guidelines for deductibility pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code.

*Credit Related Commitments*

The Company provides off-balance sheet financial products to customers in the form of commitments to extend credit which are agreements to lend to customers in accordance with contractual provisions. These commitments usually have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require the payment of a fee. Total commitments outstanding do not necessarily represent future cash flow requirements as many commitments expire without being funded.

Each customer's creditworthiness is evaluated prior to issuing these commitments and may require the customer to pledge certain collateral (i.e., inventory, income-producing property) prior to the extension of credit. Fixed rate commitments are subject to interest rate risk based on changes in prevailing rates during the commitment period. The Company is also subject to credit risk in the event that the commitments are drawn upon and the customer is unable to repay the obligation.

Letters of credit are irrevocable commitments issued at the request of customers. They authorize the beneficiary to draw drafts for payment in accordance with the stated terms and conditions. Letters of credit substitute the Company's creditworthiness for that of the customer and are issued for a fee commensurate with the risk.

The Company can issue two types of letters of credit: commercial (documentary) letters of credit and standby letters of credit. Commercial letters of credit are commonly issued to finance the purchase of goods and are typically short-term in nature. Standby letters of credit are issued to back financial or performance obligations of a Bank customer and are typically issued for periods up to one year. Due to their long-term nature, standby letters of credit require adequate collateral in the form of cash or other liquid assets. In most instances, standby letters of credit expire without being drawn upon.

The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as extending credit facilities to comparable customers. The reserve for unfunded commitments in other liabilities totaled $500 as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2025** | **2024** | **2024** |
|  | Fixed Rate | Variable Rate | Fixed Rate | Variable Rate |
| Unused lines of credit | $10 | $100344 | $15 | $97588 |
| Standby letters of credit | 10217 |  | 7474 |  |
| Total credit related commitments | $10227 | $100344 | $7489 | $97588 |

---

The fixed rate credit related loan commitments have interest rates of 18.00% and maturities ranging from 1 month to 4 years.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

*Litigation*

The Company and its subsidiary are subject to certain pending and threatened legal actions that arise out of the normal course of business. In the opinion of management at the present time, the resolution of any pending or threatened litigation will not have a material adverse effect on its Consolidated Financial Statements.

#### NOTE 12 — Leases
The Company recognizes the present value of its operating lease payments related to its office facilities and retail branches as operating lease assets and corresponding lease liabilities on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. These operating lease assets represent the Company's right to use an underlying asset for the lease term, and the lease liability represents the Company's obligation to make lease payments over the lease term. As these leases do not provide an implicit rate, the Company used its incremental borrowing rate, the rate of interest to borrow on a collateralized basis for a similar term, at the lease commencement date in order to determine present value.

Short-term lease payments, those leases with original terms of 12 months or less, are recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Income, on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Certain leases may include one or more options to renew. The exercise of lease renewal options is typically at the Company's discretion and are included in the operating lease liability if it is reasonably certain that the renewal option will be exercised. Certain real estate leases may contain lease and non-lease components, such as common area maintenance charges, real estate taxes, and insurance, which are generally accounted for separately and are not included in the measurement of the lease liability since they are generally able to be segregated. The Company does not sublease any of its leased properties. The Company does not lease properties from any related parties.

As of December 31, 2025, right of use ("ROU") lease assets and related lease liabilities were $2,091 and $2,641, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, ROU lease assets and related lease liabilities were $3,187 and $3,497 respectively. ROU assets are included within Other assets and related lease liabilities are included within Accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

As of December 31, 2025, the Company was obligated under several non-cancelable leases for certain premises and equipment. The minimum annual rental commitments, exclusive of taxes and other charges, under non-cancelable lease agreements for premises at December 31, 2025, are summarized as follows:

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | **Operating Lease**<br>**Liabilities** |
| 2026 | $988 |
| 2027 | 240 |
| 2028 | 248 |
| 2029 | 255 |
| 2030 | 263 |
| Thereafter  | 1129 |
| Total operating lease payments  | 3123 |
| Less: interest | 482 |
| Present value of operating lease liabilities | $2641 |

---

In addition to the table above, as of December 31, 2025, the Company had an additional future operating lease commitment for its future corporate headquarters of approximately $24,356 that has been executed but not yet commenced. This operating lease is expected to commence no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026 with a lease term of 12.25 years.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** |
| Weighted-average remaining lease term | 6.73<br> years | 6.30<br> years |
| Weighted-average discount rate | 4.42% | 4.27% |

---

The components of total lease cost are as follows:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended** | **Years Ended** | **Years Ended** |
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| Operating lease cost | $890 | $630 | $630 |
| Short-term lease cost | 114 | 128 | 219 |
| Total lease cost | $1004 | $758 | $849 |
| Cash paid for operating leases | $1149 | $911 | $909 |

---

#### NOTE 13 — Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. There are three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair values.

Level 1 — Quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets that the entity has the ability to access as of the measurement date.

Level 2 — Significant other observable inputs other than Level 1 prices such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data.

Level 3 — Significant unobservable inputs that reflect a company's own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability.

For available-for-sale securities where quoted prices are not available, fair values are calculated based on market prices of similar securities (Level 2).

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

Assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis are summarized below:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Fair Value Measurements Using** | **Fair Value Measurements Using** | **Fair Value Measurements Using** |
|  | **Quoted PricesIn ActiveMarkets For Identical Assets** <br>**(Level 1)** | **SignificantOtherObservableInputs**<br>**(Level 2)** | **SignificantUnobservableInputs**<br>**(Level 3)** |
| December 31, 2025 |  |  |  |
| Assets |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Securities available-for-sale |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mortgage-backed securities – agency | $— | $85695 | $— |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency |  | 160810 |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total available-for-sale | $— | $246505 | $— |
| December 31, 2024 |  |  |  |
| Assets |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Securities available-for-sale |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mortgage-backed securities – agency | $— | $85952 | $— |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;CMOs – agency |  | 155794 |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total available-for-sale | $— | $241746 | $— |

---

There were no transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 during the year ended December 31, 2025.

*Estimated Fair Value of Financial Instruments*

Fair value estimates are made at specific points in time and are based on existing on-and off-balance sheet financial instruments. Such estimates are generally subjective in nature and dependent upon a number of significant assumptions associated with each financial instrument or group of financial instruments, including estimates of discount rates, risks associated with specific financial instruments, estimates of future cash flows, and relevant available market information. Changes in assumptions could significantly affect the estimates. In addition, fair value estimates do not reflect the value of anticipated future business, premiums or discounts that could result from offering for sale at one time the Company's entire holdings of a particular financial instrument, or the tax consequences of realizing gains or losses on the sale of financial instruments.

The Company used the following method and assumptions in estimating the fair value of its financial instruments:

Debt Securities: The fair values for debt securities are determined by quoted market prices in active markets, if available (Level 1). For securities where quoted prices are not available, fair values are calculated based on market prices of similar securities (Level 2), using matrix pricing. Matrix pricing is a mathematical technique commonly used to price debt securities that are not actively traded, values debt securities without relying exclusively on quoted prices for the specific securities but rather by relying on the securities' relationship to other benchmark quoted securities with observable transactions (Level 2 inputs).

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

The following table presents the carrying amounts and fair values (represents exit price) of the Company's financial instruments not carried at fair value:

---

| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2025, Using:** | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2025, Using:** | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2025, Using:** | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2025, Using:** | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2025, Using:** |
|  | **Carrying**<br>**Value** | <br>**(Level 1)** | <br>**(Level 2)** | <br>**(Level 3)** | <br>**Total** |
|  | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** |
| **Financial Assets:** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $235887 | $235887 | $— | $— | $235887 |
| Securities, held-to-maturity | 60193 |  | 55500 |  | 55500 |
| Securities, restricted, at cost | 3173 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Loans held for investment, net | 1734405 |  |  | 1710581 | 1710581 |
| Accrued interest receivable | 12640 |  | 1147 | 11493 | 12640 |
| **Financial Liabilities:** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Time deposits | 6172 |  | 6146 |  | 6146 |
| Demand and other deposits | 2056835 | 2056835 |  |  | 2056835 |
| Secured borrowings | 40 |  |  | 40 | 40 |
| Accrued interest payable | 1 |  | 1 |  | 1 |

---

---

| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2024, Using:** | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2024, Using:** | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2024, Using:** | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2024, Using:** | **Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2024, Using:** |
|  | **Carrying**<br>**Value** | **(Level 1)** | **(Level 2)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; **(Level 3)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;** | <br>**Total** |
|  | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** | **(In thousands)** |
| **Financial Assets:** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $126329 | $126329 | $— | $— | $126329 |
| Securities, held-to-maturity | 68660 |  | 60931 |  | 60931 |
| Securities, restricted, at cost | 3034 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Loans held for investment, net | 1376042 |  |  | 1351736 | 1351736 |
| Accrued interest receivable | 10124 |  | 1139 | 8985 | 10124 |
| **Financial Liabilities:** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Time deposits | 14104 |  | 14083 |  | 14083 |
| Demand and other deposits | 1628132 | 1628132 |  |  | 1628132 |
| Secured borrowings | 42 |  |  | 42 | 42 |
| Accrued interest payable | 25 |  | 25 |  | 25 |

---

#### NOTE 14 — Capital
Banks are subject to regulatory capital requirements administered by federal banking agencies. Capital adequacy guidelines and additionally for banks, prompt corrective action regulations, involve quantitative measures of assets, liabilities and certain off-balance sheet items calculated under regulatory accounting practices. Capital amounts and classifications are also subject to qualitative judgments by regulators. Failure to meet capital requirements can initiate regulatory action. The final rules of implementing the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's capital guidelines for U.S. Banks (Basel III rules) became effective for the Company on January 1, 2015, with full compliance with all of the requirements being phased in over a multi-year schedule, and fully phased in on January 1, 2019. The net unrealized gain or loss on available-for-sale securities and certain deferred tax assets are not included in computing regulatory capital. Management believes as of December 31, 2025, the Bank met all capital adequacy requirements to which it is subject.

Prompt corrective action regulations provide five classifications: well capitalized, adequately capitalized, undercapitalized, significantly undercapitalized and critically undercapitalized, although these terms are not used to represent overall financial condition. If adequately capitalized, regulatory approval is required to accept brokered deposits. If undercapitalized, capital distributions are limited, as is asset growth and expansion, and capital restoration plans are required.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

As of December 31, 2025, the most recent notification from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation categorized the Bank as "well capitalized" under the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action. To be categorized as "well capitalized," the Bank must maintain minimum total risk-based, Tier 1 risk-based and Tier 1 leverage ratios as set forth in the table below. Since that notification, there are no conditions or events that management believes have changed the institution's category.

---

| | | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  |  |  |  |  | **For Capital** | **For Capital** | **To be Well** | **To be Well** |
|  |  |  | **Required** | **Required** | **Adequacy Purposes** | **Adequacy Purposes** | **Capitalized Under** | **Capitalized Under** |
|  |  |  | **For Capital** | **For Capital** | **Including Capital** | **Including Capital** | **Prompt Corrective** | **Prompt Corrective** |
|  | **Actual** | **Actual** | **Adequacy Purposes** | **Adequacy Purposes** | **Conservation Buffer** | **Conservation Buffer** | **Action Regulations** | **Action Regulations** |
|  | **Amount** | **Ratio** | **Amount** | **Ratio** | **Amount** | **Ratio** | **Amount** | **Ratio** |
| **December 31, 2025** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total capital to risk weighted assets | $289582 | 15.43% | $150164 | 8.00% | $197091 | 10.50% | $187706 | 10.00% |
| Tier 1 (core) capital to risk weighted assets | 266106 | 14.18 | 112623 | 6.00 | 159550 | 8.50 | 150164 | 8.00 |
| Tier 1 (common) capital to risk weighted assets | 266106 | 14.18 | 84468 | 4.50 | 131394 | 7.00 | 122009 | 6.50 |
| Tier 1 (core) capital to adjusted total assets | 266106 | 11.87 | 89639 | 4.00 | 89639 | 4.00 | 112049 | 5.00 |
| **December 31, 2024** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total capital to risk weighted assets | $237066 | 15.92% | $119108 | 8.00% | $156330 | 10.50% | $148886 | 10.00% |
| Tier 1 (core) capital to risk weighted assets | 218420 | 14.67 | 89331 | 6.00 | 126553 | 8.50 | 119108 | 8.00 |
| Tier 1 (common) capital to risk weighted assets | 218420 | 14.67 | 66999 | 4.50 | 104220 | 7.00 | 96776 | 6.50 |
| Tier 1 (core) capital to adjusted total assets | 218420 | 11.70 | 74675 | 4.00 | 74675 | 4.00 | 93344 | 5.00 |

---

#### NOTE 15 — Parent Company Only Condensed Financial Information
Condensed financial information of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. follows:

CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **December 31,**  | **December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** |
| **ASSETS:** |  |  |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $12074 | $12620 |
| Investment in banking subsidiary | 257617 | 204133 |
| Loans, net of allowance | 4523 | 4322 |
| Equity investment in variable interest entities | 13838 | 13529 |
| Other assets | 2580 | 3153 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total assets | $290632 | $237757 |
| **LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY:** |  |  |
| Other liabilities | $1034 | $663 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total stockholders' equity | 289598 | 237094 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Total liabilities and equity | $290632 | $237757 |

---

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF INCOME AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| Net interest income after provision for credit losses | $187 | $241 | $600 |
| Dividends received from the Bank | 7500 | 10000 |  |
| Net gain on equity investments | 432 |  | 4013 |
| Other noninterest income | 448 | 273 | 161 |
| Other expense | (6709) | (5302) | (4294) |
| Income before income tax and undistributed subsidiary income | 1858 | 5212 | 480 |
| Income tax benefit (expense) | 1277 | 1260 | (122) |
| Equity in undistributed subsidiary income | 47687 | 37186 | 40653 |
| Net income | $50822 | $43658 | $41011 |
| Comprehensive income | $56620 | $42606 | $42893 |

---

CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| **Cash flows from operating activities:** |  |  |  |
| Net income | $50822 | $43658 | $41011 |
| Adjustments: |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Provision for credit losses | 70 |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Stock compensation expense | 4952 | 3835 | 3218 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net gain on equity investments | (432) |  | (4013) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Equity in undistributed subsidiary income | (47687) | (37186) | (40653) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Change in other assets | 164 | 3132 | (86) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Change in other liabilities | 266 | 23 | (16) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities | 8155 | 13462 | (539) |
| **Cash flows from investing activities:** |  |  |  |
| Change in other assets | (271) | 3558 | (5913) |
| Net proceeds on equity investments | 1232 | 1467 | 6674 |
| Purchase of equity investment | (700) | (3824) |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net cash provided by investing activities | 261 | 1201 | 761 |
| **Cash flows from financing activities:** |  |  |  |
| Exercise of stock options, net of repurchases | 887 | 505 | 110 |
| Tax withholding payments for vested equity awards | (3988) | (3420) | (1076) |
| Cash dividends paid to common stockholders | (5861) | (4846) | (3719) |
| Purchase of common stock |  |  | (286) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net cash used in financing activities | (8962) | (7761) | (4971) |
| **(Decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents** | (546) | 6902 | (4749) |
| Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the period | 12620 | 5718 | 10467 |
| **Cash and cash equivalents at end of the period** | $12074 | $12620 | $5718 |

---

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.

#### NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
**December 31, 2025 and 2024**

**(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)**

#### NOTE 16 — Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss
The following presents changes in accumulated other comprehensive loss by component, net of tax, for the years ending December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  | **Years Ended December 31,**  |
|  | **2025** | **2024** | **2023** |
| Unrealized (Losses) Gains on Securities Available-for-Sale | **Unrealized (Losses) Gains onSecurities Available-for-Sale** | **Unrealized (Losses) Gains onSecurities Available-for-Sale** | **Unrealized (Losses) Gains onSecurities Available-for-Sale** |
| Beginning balance | $(14287) | $(13235) | $(15117) |
| Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax | 5798 | (1052) | 1882 |
| Net current period other comprehensive income (loss) | 5798 | (1052) | 1882 |
| Ending balance | $(8489) | $(14287) | $(13235) |

---

There were no reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive loss for the years presented.

#### NOTE 17 — Subsequent Event
On March 11, 2026, the Company, Esquire Merger Sub, Inc., a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of the Company ("Merger Sub"), and Signature Bancorporation, Inc. entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (as may be amended, modified or supplemented from time to time in accordance with its terms, the "merger agreement"), pursuant to which Esquire and Signature have agreed to combine their respective businesses.

Under the merger agreement, Merger Sub will merge with and into Signature, with Signature as the surviving entity (the "merger"), and immediately following the merger, Signature will merge with and into the Company, with the Company as the surviving entity (the "second step merger"). Immediately following the second step merger, Signature Bank, an Illinois-chartered non-member bank and a wholly owned subsidiary of Signature ("Signature Bank"), will merge with and into Esquire Bank, with Esquire Bank as the surviving bank (the "bank merger" and, together with the merger and the second step merger, the "mergers").

Under the terms of the merger agreement, shareholders of Signature will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 2.63 shares of Esquire common stock for each share of Signature common stock, subject to adjustment. The exchange ratio is subject to an adjustment based on the disposition value of certain Signature Bank loans with a total par value of approximately $70 million ("Schedule A Loans"). The adjusted exchange ratio at closing will be no higher than 2.80 and no lower than 2.50. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval, approval of Esquire and Signature shareholders, and other customary closing conditions.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### ITEM 9. Changes In and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.

#### ITEM 9A. Controls and Procedures
**Disclosure Controls and Procedures**

An evaluation was performed under the supervision and with the participation of the Company's management, including the Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company's disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) promulgated under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) as of December 31, 2025. Based on that evaluation, the Company's Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer concluded that the Company's disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by the Annual Report.

**Report by Management on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting**

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining an effective system of internal control over financial reporting. The Company's system of internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. There are inherent limitations in the effectiveness of any system of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of human error and circumvention or overriding of controls. Accordingly, even an effective system of internal control over financial reporting can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risks that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management has assessed the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025. This assessment was based on criteria for effective internal control over financial reporting described in *Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013)* issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this assessment, management believes that, as of December 31, 2025, the Company maintained effective internal control over financial reporting based on those criteria.

Crowe LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, audited the consolidated financial statements of the Company included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Their report is included in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data under the heading "Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm." Included in their report is an attestation on the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

**Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting**

There has been no change in the Company's internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2025, that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

#### ITEM 9B. Other Information
During the fourth quarter of 2025, none of our directors or officers adopted or terminated any contract, instruction or written plan for the purchase or sale of Company securities that was intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c) or any "non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement," as that term is used in SEC regulations.

#### ITEM 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
Not applicable.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### PART III

#### ITEM 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Esquire Financial has adopted a Code of Ethics that applies to its Principal Executive Officer, Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer or Controller or persons performing similar functions. A copy of the Code is available on Esquire Financial's website at www.esquirebank.com under "Investor Relations — Governance Documents."

The information contained under the section captioned "Proposal I — Election of Directors" in the Company's definitive Proxy Statement for the 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Proxy Statement") is incorporated herein by reference.

#### ITEM 11. Executive Compensation
The information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the section captioned "Proposal I — Election of Directors — Compensation Discussion and Analysis" of the Proxy Statement.

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **ITEM 12.** | **Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters** |

---

The information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the section captioned "Voting Securities and Principal Holders" of the Proxy Statement.

#### ITEM 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
The information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the sections captioned "Proposal I — Election of Directors — Transactions with Certain Related Persons," "— Board Independence" and "— Meetings and Committees of the Board of Directors" of the Proxy Statement.

#### ITEM 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
Our independent registered public accounting firm is Crowe LLP, New York, New York, Auditor Firm ID: 173. The information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the section captioned "Proposal III — Ratification of Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm" of the Proxy Statement.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### PART IV

#### ITEM 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
2.1 [Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated March 11, 2026, by and among Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc., Esquire Merger Sub, Inc. and Signature Bancorporation, Inc. (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-38131), originally filed by the Company on March 12, 2026)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000110465926026781/tm268605d1_ex2-1.htm)

3.1 [Articles of Incorporation of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 in the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-218372) originally filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933 with the Commission on May 31, 2017, and all amendments or reports filed thereto)](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000157104917005526/t1701677_ex3-1.htm)

3.2 [Bylaws of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 in the Registration Statement on Form S-1/A (File No. 333-218372) originally filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933 with the Commission on June 22, 2017, and all amendments or reports filed thereto)](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000157104917006125/t1701939_ex3-3.htm)

4.1 [Form of Common Stock Certificate of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 in the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-218372) originally filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933 with the Commission on May 31, 2017, and all amendments or reports filed thereto)](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000157104917005526/t1701677_ex4-1.htm)

4.2 [Description of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. Common Stock (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 in the Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 001-38131) originally filed by the Company on March 12, 2020)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000155837020002498/esq-20191231ex42f46a861.htm)

10.1 [Employment Agreement by and among Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc., Esquire Bank and Andrew C. Sagliocca (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 in the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-218372) originally filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933 with the Commission on May 31, 2017, and all amendments or reports filed thereto)†](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000157104917005526/t1701677_ex10-4.htm)

10.2 [Employment Agreement by and among Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc., Esquire Bank and Eric Bader (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.5 in the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-218372) originally filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933 with the Commission on May 31, 2017, and all amendments or reports filed thereto)†](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000157104917005526/t1701677_ex10-5.htm)

10.3 [Employment Agreement by and among Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc., Esquire Bank and Ari Kornhaber (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 in the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-218372) originally filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933 with the Commission on May 31, 2017, and all amendments or reports filed thereto)†](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000157104917005526/t1701677_ex10-6.htm)

10.4 [Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. 2011 Stock Compensation Plan, as amended (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.8 in the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-218372) originally filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933 with the Commission on May 31, 2017, and all amendments or reports filed thereto)†](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000157104917005526/t1701677_ex10-8.htm)

10.5 [Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference to Appendix A to the proxy statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (File No. 001-38131), filed by the Company with the Commission on Schedule 14A under the Exchange Act on October 3, 2017)†](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000114420417051102/v476042_def14a.htm)

10.6 [First Amendment to the Employment Agreement by and among Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc., Esquire Bank and Eric Bader dated December 19, 2018 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.10 in the Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 001-38131) originally filed by the Company on March 14, 2019)†](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000155837019002020/esq-20181231ex1010b256d.htm)

10.7 [Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference to Appendix A to the proxy statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (File No. 001-38131), filed by the Company with the Commission on Schedule 14A under the Exchange Act on April 18, 2019†](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000114420419020165/tv518956_def14a.htm)

10.8 [Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference to Appendix A to the proxy statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (File No. 001-38131), filed by the Company with the Commission on Schedule 14A under the Exchange Act on April 16, 2021)†](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000110465921051121/tm2112239d1_def14a.htm)

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| 10.9 | [Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. 2024 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference to Appendix A to the proxy statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (File No. 001-38131), filed by the Company with the Commission on Schedule 14A under the Exchange Act on April 18, 2024)†](https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000155837024005276/esq-20240530xdef14a.htm) |
| 19 | [Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. Insider Trading Policy](esq-20251231xex19.htm) |
| 21  | [Subsidiaries of Registrant](esq-20251231xex21.htm) |
| 23 | [Consent of Crowe LLP](esq-20251231xex23.htm) |
| 31.1  | [Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002](esq-20251231xex31d1.htm)  |
| 31.2  | [Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002](esq-20251231xex31d2.htm)  |
| 32  | [Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002](esq-20251231xex32.htm)  |
| 97.1 | [Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. Clawback Policy (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 97.1 in the Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 001-38131) originally filed by the Company on March 29, 2024)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1531031/000155837024004363/esq-20231231xex97d1.htm) |
| 101  | The following materials from the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, formatted in Inline XBRL: (i) Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition, (ii) Consolidated Statements of Income, (iii) Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income, (iv) Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders' Equity (v) Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and (v) Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements |
| 104 | The cover page from the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, formatted in Inline XBRL |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;† Management contract or compensation plan or arrangement.

#### ITEM 16. Form 10-K Summary
None.

[**Table of Contents**](#TOC)

#### SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.** | **ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.** |
| Date: March 13, 2026  |  |  |
|  | By: | /s/ Andrew C. Sagliocca |
|  |  | Andrew C. Sagliocca  |
|  |  | Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President  |
|  |  | (Duly Authorized Representative) |

---

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Signatures**  | **Title**  | **Date**  |
| /s/ Andrew C. Sagliocca | Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President | March 13, 2026 |
| Andrew C. Sagliocca | (Principal Executive Officer) |  |
| /s/ Michael Lacapria | Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer | March 13, 2026 |
| Michael Lacapria | (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |  |
| /s/ Anthony Coelho | Chairman | March 13, 2026 |
| Anthony Coelho |  |  |
| /s/ Todd Deutsch | Director | March 13, 2026 |
| Todd Deutsch |  |  |
| /s/ Raymond Kelly | Director | March 13, 2026 |
| Raymond Kelly |  |  |
| /s/ Robert J. Mitzman | Director | March 13, 2026 |
| Robert J. Mitzman |  |  |
| /s/ Rena Nigam | Director | March 13, 2026 |
| Rena Nigam |  |  |
| /s/ Richard T. Powers | Director | March 13, 2026 |
| Richard T. Powers |  |  |
| /s/ Kevin C. Waterhouse | Director | March 13, 2026 |
| Kevin C. Waterhouse |  |  |
| /s/ Selig Zises | Director | March 13, 2026 |
| Selig Zises |  |  |

---

## Ex-19

**Exhibit 19**

**ESQUIRE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.**

**INSIDER TRADING POLICY**

**2025**

![Graphic](esq-20251231xex19001.jpg)

**Policy Statement**

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (the "Company") is a public company the common stock of which is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market and registered under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). Pursuant to the Exchange Act, the Company files periodic reports and proxy statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Esquire Bank (the "Bank") is the Company's wholly owned subsidiary.

The purchase or sale of securities while aware of material nonpublic information, or the disclosure of material nonpublic information to others who then trade in the Company's securities, is prohibited by the federal securities laws. Insider trading violations are pursued vigorously by the SEC and the U.S. Attorneys and are punished severely. While the regulatory authorities concentrate their efforts on the individuals who trade, or who tip or provide inside information to others who trade, the federal securities laws also impose potential liability on companies and other "controlling persons" if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent insider trading by company personnel.

The Company's Board of Directors has adopted this Policy both to satisfy the Company's obligation to prevent insider trading and to help Company personnel avoid the severe consequences associated with violations of insider trading laws. This Policy is also intended to prevent even the appearance of improper conduct on the part of anyone employed by or associated with the Company (not just so-called insiders).

The consequences of an insider trading violation can be severe:

*Traders and Tippers*. Company personnel who trade on insider information, or who tip information to a person who then trades (even if the Company insider does not trade and does not profit from the tippee's trading), may be subject to the following penalties:

A civil penalty of the greater of $1,000,000 or three times the profit gained or loss avoided;

A criminal fine of up to $5,000,000 (regardless of the size of the profit gained or loss avoided); and

A jail term of up to 20 years.

*Control Persons*. Based on a Company insider's unlawful trading or tipping, the Company and its supervisory personnel may subject to the following penalties:

A civil penalty of the greater of $1,000,000 or three times the profit gained or loss avoided as a result of the Company's insider violation; and

A criminal penalty of up to $5,000,000, for an individual, or $25,000,000 for the Company.

------

**Statement of Policies**

It is the policy of the Company that no director, officer or other employee of the Company (references to the Company include the Bank and other subsidiaries of the Company or the Bank) who is aware of material nonpublic information relating to the Company may, directly or through family members or other persons or entities, (a) buy or sell securities of the Company (other than pursuant to a pre-approved trading plan that complies with SEC Rule 10b5-1), or engage in any other action to take personal advantage of that information, or (b) pass that information on to others outside the Company, including family and friends. In addition, it is the policy of the Company that no director, officer or other employee of the Company who, in the course of working for the Company, learns of material nonpublic information about a company with which the Company does business, including a customer or supplier of the Company, may trade in that company's securities until the information becomes public or is no longer material.

In addition, the Company may not trade in securities of the Company while in possession of material nonpublic information relating to the Company, consistent with applicable law.

Transactions that may be necessary or justifiable for independent reasons (such as the need to raise money for an emergency expenditure) are not excepted from the policy. The securities laws do not recognize such mitigating circumstances, and, in any event, even the appearance of an improper transaction must be avoided to preserve the Company's reputation for adhering to the highest standard of conduct.

*Policy Regarding the Confidentiality of Information Regarding the Company and the Disclosure of Information to Others*. Personnel of the Company should not discuss internal matters or developments with anyone outside of the Company, except as required in the performance of regular corporate duties. Personnel of the Company with knowledge of material nonpublic information should only disclose such information to other such personnel on a need-to-know basis. The Company is required under Regulation FD of the federal securities laws to avoid the selective disclosure of material nonpublic information. The Company has established procedures for releasing material information in a manner designed to achieve broad public dissemination of the information immediately upon its release. You may not, therefore, disclose information to anyone outside the Company or its business in an internet "chat room" or similar internet-based form.

*Material Information*. Material information is any information that a reasonable investor would consider important in making a decision to buy, hold, or sell securities. Any information that could be expected to affect the Company's stock price, whether it is positive or negative, should be considered material. Some examples of information that ordinarily would be regarded as material are:

Projections of future earnings or losses, or other earnings guidance;

Earnings that are inconsistent with the consensus expectations of the investment community;

Financial or accounting problems;

------

Significant non-recurring gains or losses;

Events that could result in restating financial information;

A pending or proposed merger, acquisition or tender offer;

A pending or proposed acquisition or disposition of a significant asset;

A change in dividend policy, the declaration of a stock split, or an offering of additional securities;

A stock repurchase program;

A stock or debt offering;

Any event requiring the filing or furnishing of a Form 8-K; and

A change in management;

*Twenty-Twenty Hindsight*. Remember, anyone scrutinizing your transactions will be doing so after the fact, with the benefit of hindsight. As a practical matter, before engaging in any transaction, you should carefully consider how enforcement authorities and others might view the transaction in hindsight.

*When Information is "Public"*. If you are aware of material nonpublic information, you may not trade until the information has been disclosed broadly to the marketplace (such as by press release or an SEC filing) and the investing public has had time to absorb the information fully. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, as a general rule, information should not be considered fully absorbed by the marketplace until the second business day after the information is released. If, for example, the Company were to make an announcement on a Monday, you should not trade in the Company's securities until Wednesday. If an announcement were made on a Friday (or before the market opens on Monday), Tuesday generally would be the first eligible trading day.

*Transactions by Family Members*. The insider trading policy also applies to your family members who reside with you, anyone else who lives in your household, and any family members who do not live in your household but whose transactions in Company securities are directed by you or are subject to your influence or control (such as parents or children who consult with you before they trade in Company securities). You are responsible for the transactions of these and other persons and therefore should make them aware of the need to confer with you before they trade in the Company's securities.

*Applicability of Policy to Inside Information Regarding Other Companies*. This Policy and the guidelines described herein also apply to material nonpublic information relating to other companies and entities, including the Company's customers, vendors, suppliers or acquisition candidates (collectively, "business partners") when that information is obtained in the course of employment with, or other services performed on behalf of, the Company. Civil and criminal penalties and termination of employment may result from trading on inside information regarding the Company's business partners. All employees should treat material nonpublic information about

------

the Company's business partners with the same care required with respect to information related directly to the Company.

*Black Out Periods Relating to Earnings Releases.* As a precaution, the Company specifically prohibits directors, senior officers and certain designated employees from engaging in any transaction involving a purchase or sale of the Company's securities during any period commencing with which are the periods commencing with the 20th day of the third month of each calendar quarter (March 20, June 20, September 20 and December 20) and ending at the close of business on the trading day following the date of public disclosure of financial information for that quarter (black-out period). An email will be sent to each director, senior officer and certain designated employees confirming the commencement of the quarterly blackout period. This policy is set forth in the Addendum to this Policy. It should be noted that just because an individual is not specifically "blacked-out" from trading does not exclude them from this policy. Once again, any person who possesses material nonpublic information regarding the Company is prohibited from entering into transactions involving the Company's stock until such information becomes available to the public.

**Transactions Under Company Plans**

*Stock Options*. The Company's insider trading policy does not apply to the exercise of an employee stock option, or to the exercise of a tax withholding right pursuant to which you elect to have the Company withhold shares subject to an option to satisfy tax withholding requirements. The policy does apply, however, to any sale of stock following exercise or as part of a broker-assisted cashless exercise of an option, or any other market sale for the purpose of generating the cash needed to pay the exercise price of an option. Additionally, the Company should not generally make option awards to Named Executive Officers (as defined in SEC Regulation S-K) in the four business days before the filing of a periodic report on Forms 10-Q and 10-K as applicable or the filing or furnishing of a Current Report on Form 8-K that discloses material non-public information (including earnings information but excluding a Form 8-K that discloses only the grant of a material new option award) and ending one business day after such filing.

*Restricted Stock Awards*. The Company's insider trading policy does not apply to the vesting of restricted stock, or the exercise of a tax withholding right pursuant to which you elect to have the Company withhold shares of stock to satisfy tax withholding requirements upon the vesting of any restricted stock. The policy does apply, however, to any market sale of vested restricted stock.

**Additional Prohibited Transactions**

The Company considers it improper and inappropriate for any director, officer or other employee of the Company to engage in short-term or speculative transactions in the Company's securities. It is therefore the Company's policy that directors, officers and other employees may not engage in any of the following transactions:

*Short-term Trading*. An employee's short-term trading of the Company's securities may be distracting to the employee and may unduly focus the employee on the Company's short-term stock market performance instead of the Company's long-term business objectives. For these

------

reasons, and to comply with Section 16(b) of the Exchange Act to avoid "short-swing profit" transactions that are recaptured under Section 16(b) of the Exchange Act, any director, senior officer or other designated employee of the Company who purchases Company securities in the open market may not sell any company securities of the same class during the six months following the purchase.

*Hedging*. Ownership of the Company's securities by the Company's officers and members of the Board of Directors promotes alignment of the interests of the Company's stockholders with those of its leadership. The Company recognizes that transactions that are designed to hedge or offset declines in the market value of the Company's securities can disrupt this alignment, interfere with the Company's compensation programs and philosophies, and undermine policies regarding stock ownership. Further, hedging is highly speculative and gives the appearance of a lack of confidence in the Company's future prospects and therefore is inappropriate for officers and directors. Accordingly, any hedging, derivative or other equivalent transaction that is specifically designed to reduce or limit the extent to which declines in the trading price of the Company's securities would affect the value of the securities of the Company owned by an officer or director is prohibited. Examples of prohibited hedging transactions include (i) short sales of the Company common stock (the practice of selling a security borrowed from another), (ii) buying put options or selling call options relating to the Company common stock, (iii) selling security futures contracts relating to Company common stock, (iv) entering into prepaid variable forward sale contracts, equity swaps, or zero cost collars relating to the Company common stock, and (v) contributing Company common stock to an exchange fund in exchange for an interest in the fund. Cashless exercises of employee stock options are not deemed short sales for purposes of this policy.

*Short Sales*. Short sales of the Company's securities evidence an expectation on the part of the seller that the securities will decline in value, and therefore signal to the market that the seller has no confidence in the Company or its short-term prospects. In addition, short sales may reduce the seller's incentive to improve the Company's performance. For these reasons, short sales of the Company's securities are prohibited by this Policy. In addition, Section 16(c) of the Exchange Act prohibits officers and directors from engaging in short sales.

*Margin Accounts and Pledges*. Securities held in a margin account may be sold by the broker without the customer's consent if the customer fails to meet a margin call. Similarly, securities held in an account that may be borrowed against or are otherwise pledged (or hypothecated) as collateral for a loan may be sold in foreclosure if the borrower defaults on the loan. Because a margin sale or foreclosure sale may occur at a time when the pledgor is aware of material nonpublic information or otherwise is not permitted to trade in Company securities, directors, senior officers and other designated employees are prohibited from holding Company securities in a margin account or pledging Company securities as collateral for a loan.

*Post-Termination Transactions*. This Policy Statement continues to apply to your transactions in Company securities even after you have terminated employment. If you are in possession of material nonpublic information when your employment terminates, you may not trade in Company securities until that information has become public or is no longer material.

**10b5-1 Plans**

------

Rule 10b5-1 provides a defense from insider trading liability under SEC Rule 10b-5. If a director or employee enters into a "10b5-1 plan" for trading in Company securities and the 10b5-1 plan meets the requirements of Rule 10b5-1 (including satisfaction of a cooling-off period and inclusion in the plan of certain certifications), Company securities may be purchased or sold pursuant to that plan without regard to certain insider trading restrictions that would otherwise apply at the time of the transaction.

Generally, a 10b5-1 plan must be entered into when the director or employee entering into a plan is not aware of material nonpublic information. Once the plan is adopted, the director or employee must not exercise any influence over the amount of securities to be traded, the price at which they are to be traded or the date of the trade. The plan must set the amount, pricing and timing of transactions in advance or delegate discretion on such matters to an independent third party.

Any 10b5-1 plan must be submitted to Eric S. Bader, or his designee, for Company approval at least five business days prior to entry into the plan and during an open trading window. All 10b5-1 trading plans are subject to substantive SEC rules, and certain information regarding the trading plan will be required to be disclosed in the Company's SEC filings, including a description of the material terms of such trading plans.

**Gifts of Securities** 

Bona fide gifts of securities are not generally viewed as involving the laws prohibiting insider trading, unless the person making the gift has reason to believe that the recipient intends to sell the Company securities while the insider is aware of material nonpublic information. However, recent changes in SEC reporting rules now require gifts bv a director or executive officer to be reported with the SEC on a Form 4 within two business days of its occurrence. Consequently, directors and executive officers are required to obtain pre-clearance of gifts.

**Strict Compliance Expected**

The Company expects the strictest compliance with these procedures by all personnel at every level. Failure to follow these procedures may result in severe legal difficulties for you, as well as for the Company. A failure to follow both the letter and the spirit of this memorandum shall be considered a matter of extreme seriousness and may be grounds for termination of employment or other disciplinary action, whether or not the failure to comply results in a violation of law. Needless to say, a violation of law, or even an SEC investigation that does not result in prosecution, can tarnish the Company's and an individual's reputation and irreparably damage a career.

*Company Assistance*. Any person who has a question about this Policy Statement or its application to any proposed transaction may obtain additional guidance from Eric S. Bader, whose telephone number is (516) 535-2002. Ultimately, however, the responsibility for adhering to this Policy Statement and avoiding unlawful transactions rests with individual employee.

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**ADDENDUM TO THE COMPANY'S INSIDER TRADING POLICY**

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Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (the "Company") is a public company the common stock of which is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market and registered under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). Pursuant to the Exchange Act, the Company files periodic reports and proxy statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Esquire Bank (the "Bank") is the Company's wholly owned subsidiary.

As a public company, the directors, officers and employees of the Company have a responsibility not to participate in the market for the Company's Common Stock while in possession of "material information" about the Company that has not been publicly disclosed. Under the Insider Trading and Securities Enforcement Act of 1988 ("Act"), the Company can be held liable for employee violations of the insider trading laws, unless it has adopted policies and procedures to prevent insider trading. Recent efforts by the SEC to police insider trading laws have highlighted the need for awareness of the responsibilities and potential liability in this area. Executive officers and directors of the Company are also subject to various reporting obligations regarding their ownership, and changes in their ownership, of Company common stock.

The Company has adopted policies and procedures regarding insider trading and the confidentiality of information that are applicable to all employees, officers and directors. This addendum addresses additional restrictions that are applicable only to Directors, Senior Officers and designated employees of the Company.

<u>Additional Restrictions on Purchases and Sales During Certain "Blackout" Periods</u> 

The following additional procedures with respect to the participation in the market for the Company's Common Stock by the directors, senior officers and designated employees of the Company have been adopted by the Board of Directors in order to assure compliance with the federal securities laws. It should be emphasized that these procedures are designed to: (i) avoid even the appearance of trading on insider information, (ii) as a cautionary matter, eliminate the ongoing question of when knowledge of unreported quarterly and year-end financial information may be considered "material" under the insider trading laws, and (iii) enable the Company to assure that the insider trading reporting requirements of Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are being complied with. *This is in addition to the general prohibition on participation in the market for the Common Stock while in possession of material, nonpublic information, regardless of the time period.*

The following procedures should be followed by Directors, Senior Officers and designated employees:

1. **Quarterly Blackout Periods.** During the period commencing on the 20th day of the third month of each calendar quarter (March 20, June 20, September 20 and December 20) and ending at the end of the first full trading day after the financial results of the quarter or year-end

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have been publicly announced, directors, senior officers and designated employees should refrain from participating, directly or indirectly, in the market for the Common Stock. The prohibition on trading during the blackout periods is in addition to the general prohibition, which could apply at any time during the year, on trading while in possession of material, nonpublic information regarding the Company.

2. **Pre-Clearance of all Trades and Gifts.** Prior to the execution, or the placing, of any order with respect to, or any trades in, the Company's Common Stock, or the gifting of shares of Company Common Stock, Eric Bader should be notified. This will enable the Company to better assure compliance with the prohibition on trading during the quarterly blackout periods or while in possession of material, nonpublic information, as well as the reporting obligations (e.g., Forms 4 and 5 under Section 16(a) of the federal securities laws) relating to changes in the stock ownership by executive officers and directors. A recent change in SEC rules now requires gifts to be reported within two days of the gift transaction.

The following positions are hereby designated "senior officer" positions for purposes of the Company policy on participating in the market for the Company's Common Stock during the blackout periods:

Executive Officers, Senior Vice Presidents and above, and any employees that work on the preparation of the quarterly and annual financial statements of the Company.

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**ESQUIRE BANK BOARD OF DIRECTORS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT**

I acknowledge that I have received a copy of the Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc., Insider Trading Policy. I have read the Insider Trading Policy and understand it. I agree to comply with the requirements outlined.

DIRECTOR Signature: _________________________________________________<br>

Date: _______________________________________________________________<br>

Please Print Name: ____________________________________________________

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## Ex-21

**EXHIBIT 21**

**SUBSIDIARIES OF THE REGISTRANT**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | **State of Incorporation** | **Ownership Percentage** |
| Esquire Bank, National Association | Federal | 100% |

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## Ex-23

**Exhibit 23**

**CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM**

We consent to the incorporation by reference in Registration Statement Nos. 333-280231, 333-256679, 333-232164, 333-219252 and 333-222215 on Form S-8 and No. 333-278832 on Form S-3 of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. of our report dated March 13, 2026 relating to the consolidated financial statements of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. and the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

/s/ Crowe LLP<br>

Livingston, New Jersey

March 13, 2026

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## Exhibit 31.1

**Exhibit 31.1**

**Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002**

I, Andrew C. Sagliocca, certify that:

1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.;

2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant is made known to us by others within the entity, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;b)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;c)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;d)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in this case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;b)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| Date: March 13, 2026  | /s/ Andrew C. Sagliocca |
|  | Andrew C. Sagliocca |
|  | Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President |

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## Exhibit 31.2

**Exhibit 31.2**

**Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002**

I, Michael Lacapria, certify that:

1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.;

2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant is made known to us by others within the entity, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;b)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;c)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;d)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in this case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;b)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| Date: March 13, 2026 | /s/ Michael Lacapria |
|  | Michael Lacapria |
|  | Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer |

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## Ex-32

**Exhibit 32**

**Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer**

**Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002**

Andrew C. Sagliocca, Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc., (the "Company") and Michael Lacapria, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, each certify in his capacity as an officer of the Company that they have reviewed the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (the "Report") and that to the best of their knowledge:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the Report fully complies with the requirements of Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| Date: March 13, 2026 | /s/ Andrew C. Sagliocca |
|  | Andrew C. Sagliocca |
|  | Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President |
| Date: March 13, 2026  | /s/ Michael Lacapria |
|  | Michael Lacapria |
|  | Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer |

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The purpose of this statement is solely to comply with Title 18, Chapter 63, Section 1350 of the United States Code, as amended by Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

A signed original of this written statement required by Section 906 has been provided to Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. and will be retained by Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.

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