🧾 What This Document Is

This is a first-quarter 2026 earnings report released by Valley National Bancorp. Think of it as the company's official scorecard for January, February, and March. It's an attachment (Exhibit 99.1) to a standard filing with the SEC, designed to quickly inform investors and the public about the company's financial health and recent performance.

🏢 What The Company Does

👉 In simple terms, Valley National Bancorp is a large regional bank. It operates as Valley National Bank, with over $64 billion in assets and more than 200 offices. Founded in 1927, it serves customers in states like New Jersey, New York, Florida, and California, offering everything from checking accounts and mortgages to business loans and wealth management. Its strategy is to be relationship-focused—big enough for complex needs but small enough to know its customers.

💰 Financial Highlights: The Scorecard

The bank's profitability improved dramatically from a year ago but slipped a bit from the end of 2025.

• Net Income (Profit): $163.9 million for Q1 2026. This is down from $195.4 million in Q4 2025 but way up from $106.1 million in Q1 2025.
• Earnings Per Share (EPS): Profit for each share of stock was $0.28. This fell from $0.33 last quarter but rose from $0.18 a year ago.
• "Adjusted" Profit (Non-GAAP): If you remove one-time gains and losses, the underlying profit was $168.9 million, or $0.29 per share. This gives a clearer picture of the core business's health.

Why it matters: The big jump from last year shows strong recovery and growth. The slight dip from the previous quarter is common and can be driven by seasonal costs or market fluctuations.

🚀 Key Moves: Strategy in Action

The CEO, Ira Robbins, highlighted two main strategic pushes:

1. Growing "Cheap" Deposits: The bank focused on attracting more low-cost customer deposits (like checking and savings accounts) while reducing its reliance on more expensive "brokered" deposits. Direct customer deposits grew by $955 million, allowing them to cut brokered deposits by $278.5 million.
2. Preparing for an AI Future: The company is investing early in artificial intelligence talent and tools. The goal isn't to replace people but to augment what their bankers can do, improve the client experience, and make the bank more efficient.

📦 Financial Position: A Snapshot

The bank's balance sheet grew and changed in important ways.

• Total Deposits: $52.9 billion, up $676.5 million from last quarter. This is the lifeblood of a bank—it's the money they use to make loans.
• Total Loans: $50.8 billion, increased by $692.1 million. Growth was led by Commercial Real Estate (CRE) loans (+$466M) and Commercial & Industrial (C&I) loans (+$143M).
• A Key Risk Metric: The bank's concentration of "non-owner-occupied" CRE loans (a riskier category) is ~329% of its risk-based capital. This is a high number that regulators watch closely, though it did improve slightly from 333% last quarter.

Why it matters: Growing low-cost deposits while making more loans generally boosts profitability. However, the high CRE concentration is a notable risk to monitor.

💸 Cash Flow & Profit Engine

• Net Interest Margin (NIM): This is the profit margin on the bank's core lending business. It held steady at 3.17%, which is strong. It was up 21 basis points (0.21%) from a year ago.
• Net Interest Income: The actual dollar profit from lending was $472.8 million, up from last quarter. The main reason? They got better at paying less interest on deposits (cost fell 18 basis points).

Why it matters: A stable or rising NIM means the bank is effectively managing the spread between what it earns on loans and pays on deposits—a critical skill in a changing interest rate environment.

⚖️ Credit Quality: Keeping Loans Healthy

The bank set aside money for potential loan losses and saw signs of improvement.

• Provision for Credit Losses: They added $21.2 million to their loss reserves this quarter, similar to last quarter and much lower than a year ago.
• Net Charge-Offs: Loans written off as uncollectible were $17.5 million, down from $22.6 million last quarter and nearly half of the $41.9 million from a year ago.
• Troubled Loans: Loans 30+ days past due but still accruing interest fell to $127.9 million (0.25% of total loans).

Why it matters: Lower charge-offs and fewer past-due loans are clear signs that credit quality is improving, which reduces the bank's risk of future losses.

🔮 What's Next: The Roadmap

The bank is signaling a continued focus on its strategic priorities: growing core deposits, diversifying its loan portfolio, and leveraging technology (especially AI) to enhance client relationships and efficiency. The hiring of "strategically focused bankers" suggests targeted growth in specific business lines or markets.

⚖️ The Big Picture: Strengths & Risks

👍 Strengths:

• Strong year-over-year profit growth.
• Successfully growing low-cost deposits, which boosts margins.
• Improving credit quality metrics.
• Investing in technology and talent for the future.

⚠️ Risks:

• High concentration in commercial real estate loans remains a key vulnerability.
• Reliance on indirect (brokered) deposits, though declining, is still part of the mix.
• Operating in a rapidly changing environment with rising AI adoption and potential economic shifts.

🧠 The Analogy

Think of Valley like a homeowner who refinanced their expensive credit card debt into a cheaper mortgage, is steadily paying down cards with the highest interest first, and is now investing in a smart home system to make life easier and save on utilities—all while their house (the local property market) is still a bit overvalued.

🧩 Final Takeaway

Valley National Bancorp had a solid quarter, showing strong profit growth from a year ago, improving its funding structure with cheaper deposits, and seeing better credit quality. Its main challenges are managing a large real estate loan portfolio and successfully navigating technological change, to which it is committing significant resources.