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

SANTA CRUZ, Calif., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Santa Cruz County Bank (OTC: SCZC) announced today its rank as 22^nd in the Top Performing 200 Community Banks and Thrifts in the United States. This is the fifth consecutive year Santa Cruz County Bank has ranked in the Top 200 Community Banks and Thrifts in the United States. Performance data and rankings were released in American Banker Magazine's May 2018 publication. A total of 633 publicly traded institutions, with less than $2 billion in assets, were included in the nationwide ranking. Ranking was based upon 3-year average return on equity for the years ending December 31, 2015, 2016 and 2017.   

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

David Heald, President and CEO commented, "In the past five years we have progressed from 115^th in rank to 22^nd in the nation. Our continuous improvement is the result of our focus and commitment to maintain top performance within our industry. Our Board of Directors, our Management team and our entire staff are to be commended for our performance."

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

NATIONAL, STATE, AND LOCAL RATINGS AND AWARDS
S&P Global Top 100 Community Banks 2017: Santa Cruz County Bank ranked 63^rd in the nation out of nearly 3,000 banks with assets under $1 billion.

Financial Management Consulting (FMC) Group: Santa Cruz County Bank ranked as the top bank in California for overall performance for the first quarter of 2018 and #1 in asset quality and lowest in non-performing assets. The Bank ranked 3^rd in overall performance among 185 California banks and ranked 1^st (lowest) in non-performing assets for the full year in 2017. The Bank has ranked in FMC's top ten banks in California for the past three years.

The Findley Reports, Inc.: Santa Cruz County Bank was named a Super Premier Performing Bank for its 2017 performance. The Bank has received the top ranking of Super Premier by Findley for eight consecutive years.

Bauer Financial Reports, Inc.: Santa Cruz County Bank rated five star or "Superior" for its financial strength for the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

Independent Banker Magazine, published by the ICBA:  Santa Cruz County Bank ranked 22^nd in its Top Best Performing Member Community Banks for return on average equity.

COMMUNITY AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
2018: Farm Bureau of Santa Cruz County, Al Smith Friend of Agriculture Award, for support of agriculture.

2018: Voted "Best Bank" by the readers of Good Times, a weekly publication with distribution throughout Santa Cruz County for six consecutive years.

2018: Voted "Best Bank" by the readers of Santa Cruz Sentinel, a daily publication with distribution throughout Santa Cruz County for four consecutive years.

2017: Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County "Big Step Award" for the 2016 Holiday Food Drive.

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

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

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

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SOURCE Santa Cruz County Bank