Bancplus Corp

The financial services industry is undergoing rapid technological changes with frequent introductions of new technology-driven products and services, including recent rapid developments in artificial intelligence. The effective use of technology increases efficiency and enables financial institutions to reduce costs while increasing customer service and convenience. BancPlus’ future success will depend, at least in part, upon its ability to address the needs of its customers by using technology to provide products and services that will satisfy customer demands for convenience, as well as create additional efficiencies in its operations as it continues to grow and expand its products and service offerings. BancPlus may experience operational challenges as it implements these new technology enhancements or products, which could result in BancPlus not fully realizing the anticipated benefits from such new technology or incurring significant costs to remedy any such challenges in a timely manner.

its employees and information relating to its operations. Threats to data security, including unauthorized access and cyber-attacks, rapidly emerge and change, as a result of the proliferation of new technologies including artificial intelligence, exposing BancPlus to additional costs for protection or remediation and competing time constraints to secure its data in accordance with customer expectations and statutory and regulatory privacy and other requirements. Although BancPlus has not, as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, experienced a cybersecurity threat or incident that materially affected its business, financial condition or results of operations, there can be no guarantee that it will not experience such an incident in the future. It is difficult or impossible to defend against every risk posed by changing technologies, as well as criminals that are intent on committing cyber-crime. The increasing sophistication of cyber-criminals and terrorists make keeping up with new threats difficult and could result in a breach. Controls employed by BancPlus’ information technology department and its other employees and vendors could prove inadequate. BancPlus could also experience a breach due to intentional or negligent conduct on the part of employees or other internal sources, software bugs, other technical malfunctions, or other causes. As a result of any of these threats, BancPlus’ customer accounts may become vulnerable to account takeover schemes or cyber-fraud. BancPlus’ systems and those of its third party vendors may also become vulnerable to damage or disruption due to circumstances beyond its or their control, such as from catastrophic events, power anomalies or outages, natural disasters, network failures, viruses and malware, or other events that could result in significant liability and damage to BancPlus’ reputation, and have an ongoing impact on the security and stability of the Company’s operations. In addition, although the Company maintains insurance coverage that may, subject to terms and conditions, cover certain aspects of cyber and information security risks, such insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover all losses, such as litigation costs or financial losses that exceed the Company’s policy limits or are not covered under any of the Company’s current insurance policies.