Heartland BancCorp Completes Acquisition of Northern Kentucky/ Cincinnati-Focused Victory Community Bank - Seite 2

In May 2019, Heartland was ranked #44 on the American Banker Magazine’s list of Top 200 Publicly Traded Community Banks and Thrifts based on three-year average return on equity (“ROE”) as of December 31, 2018.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about (i) the benefits of a merger between Heartland Bank and Victory Community Bank, including future financial and operating results, cost savings enhancements to revenue and accretion to reported earnings that may be realized from the merger; (ii) Heartland Bank’s plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts; and (iii) other statements identified by words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “targets,” “projects,” or words of similar meaning generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Heartland’s management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the control of Heartland. In addition, these forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions with respect to future business strategies and decisions that are subject to change. Actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results discussed in these forward-looking statements because of the following factors, among others,: (1) the assumptions and estimates used by Heartland’s management include both assumptions as to certain business decisions that are subject to change and, in many respects, subjective judgment, and thus is susceptible to multiple interpretations and periodic revisions based on actual experience and business developments, and thus, may not be realized; (2) the businesses of Heartland Bank and Victory Community Bank may not be combined successfully, or such combination may take longer, be more difficult, time-consuming or costly to accomplish than expected; (3) the expected growth opportunities or cost savings from the merger may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; (4) deposit attrition, operating costs, customer losses and business disruption following the merger, including adverse effects on relationships with employees, may be greater than expected; (5) legislative or regulatory changes, including changes in accounting standards, may adversely affect the businesses in which Heartland and Victory are engaged; (6) changes in the interest rate environment may adversely affect net interest income; (7) results may be adversely affected by continued diversification of assets and adverse changes to credit quality; (8) competition from other financial services companies in Heartland Bank’s, Victory Community Bank’s and Victory Mortgage’s markets could adversely affect operations; (9) the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the employees and customers of Heartland Bank, as well as the resulting effect on the business, financial condition and results of operations on Heartland Bank; and (10) the economy could experience a slowdown that could adversely affect credit quality and loan originations.