1. Summary of significant accounting policies:

Nature of operations:

Peoples Financial Services Corp., a bank holding company incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania, provides a full range of financial services through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company (“Peoples Bank”), including its subsidiary, Peoples Advisors, LLC (collectively, the “Company” or “Peoples”). The Company services its retail and commercial customers through twenty-seven full-service community banking offices located within the Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming Counties of Pennsylvania and Broome County of New York.

Basis of presentation:

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP’) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10-01 of Regulation S-X. In the opinion of management, all normal recurring adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position and results of operations for the periods presented have been included. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Prior-period amounts are reclassified when necessary to conform to the current year’s presentation. These reclassifications did not have any effect on the operating results or financial position of the Company. The operating results and financial position of the Company for the three and nine months ended and as of September 30, 2017, are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations and financial position that may be expected in the future.

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates that are particularly susceptible to material change in the near term relate to the determination of the allowance for loan losses, fair value of financial instruments, the valuation of real estate acquired in connection with foreclosures or in satisfaction of loans, the valuation of deferred tax assets, determination of other-than-temporary impairment losses on securities, impairment of goodwill and fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in business combinations. Actual results could differ from those estimates. For additional information and disclosures required under GAAP, reference is made to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.

Derivative instruments and hedging activities

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”), provides the disclosure requirements for derivatives and hedging activities with the intent to provide users of financial statements with an enhanced understanding of: (a) how and why an entity uses derivative instruments, (b) how the entity accounts for derivative instruments and related hedged items, and (c) how derivative instruments and related hedged items affect an entity’s financial position, financial performance, and cash flows. Further, qualitative disclosures are required that explain the Company’s objectives and strategies for using derivatives, as well as quantitative disclosures about the fair value of and gains and losses on derivative instruments, and disclosures about credit-risk-related contingent features in derivative instruments.

As required by ASC 815, the Company records all derivatives on the balance sheet at fair value. The accounting for changes in the fair value of derivatives depends on the intended use of the derivative, whether the Company has elected to designate a derivative in a hedging relationship and apply hedge accounting and whether the hedging relationship has satisfied the criteria necessary to apply hedge accounting. Currently, none of the Company’s derivatives are designated in qualifying hedging relationships, as the derivatives are not used to manage risks within the Company’s assets or liabilities. As such, all changes in fair value of the Company’s derivatives are recognized directly in earnings.

In accordance with the FASB’s fair value measurement guidance in ASU 2011-04, the Company made an accounting policy election to measure the credit risk of its derivative financial instruments that are subject to master netting agreements on a net basis by counterparty portfolio.

Recent accounting standards:

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).” The updated standard is a new comprehensive revenue recognition model that requires revenue to be recognized in a manner that depicts the transfer of goods or services to a customer at an amount that reflects the consideration expected to be received in exchange for those goods or services. In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-14 which deferred the effective date of ASU 2014-09 by one year. During 2016, the FASB issued ASU Nos. 2016-10, 2016-12 and 2016-20 that provide additional guidance related to the identification of performance obligations within a contract, assessing collectability, contract costs, and other technical corrections and improvements. ASU 2014-09 will become effective for the Company for the annual period beginning after December 15, 2017 and for interim periods within the annual period. ASU 2014-09 allows for either full retrospective or modified retrospective adoption. The Company has not selected a transition method. However, the Company’s revenue is comprised of net interest income on financial assets and financial liabilities, which is explicitly excluded from the scope of ASU 2014-09, and non-interest income. Based on the Company’s analysis of the effect of the new standard on its recurring revenue streams, it does not expect these changes to have a significant impact on the Company’s financial statements. Upon adoption on January 1, 2018, no significant adjustment to opening retained earnings is expected.

In January 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-01, “Financial Instruments – Overall.” The guidance in this ASU among other things, (1) requires equity investments with certain exceptions, to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income, (2) simplifies the impairment assessment of equity investments without readily determinable fair values by requiring a qualitative assessment to identify impairment, (3) eliminates the requirement for public businesses entities to disclose the methods and significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value that is required to be disclosed for financial instruments measured at amortized cost on the balance sheet, (4) requires public business entities to use the exit price notion when measuring the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes, (5) requires an entity to present separately in other comprehensive income the portion of the change in fair value of a liability resulting from a change in the instrument-specific credit risk when the entity has elected to measure the liability at fair value in accordance with the fair value option for financial instruments, (6) requires separate presentation of financial assets and financial liabilities by measurement category and form of financial asset on the balance sheet or the accompanying notes to the financial statements and (7) clarifies that an entity should evaluate the need for a valuation allowance on a deferred tax asset related to available-for-sale securities. The guidance in this ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company is in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of this guidance on the Company’s financial statements but due to the nature of the Company’s investments it is not expected to have a significant impact, if any.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases”. From the lessee's perspective, the new standard establishes a right-of-use (“ROU”) model that requires a lessee to record a ROU asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with terms longer than 12 months. Leases will be classified as either finance or operating, with classification affecting the pattern of expense recognition in the income statement for a lessee. From the lessor's perspective, the new standard requires a lessor to classify leases as either sales-type, finance or operating. A lease will be treated as a sale if it transfers all of the risks and rewards, as well as control of the underlying asset, to the lessee. If risks and rewards are conveyed without the transfer of control, the lease is treated as a financing. If the lessor doesn’t convey risks and rewards or control, an operating lease results. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early application is permitted. A modified retrospective transition approach is required for lessees for capital and operating leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements, with certain practical expedients available. A modified retrospective transition approach is required for lessors for sales-type, direct financing, and operating leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements, with certain practical expedients available. The Company’s initial findings conclude that the new pronouncement will not have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements as the current projected minimum lease payments under existing lease contracts subject to the new pronouncement are less than one percent of its current assets.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. This ASU will have a significant impact on the Company’s calculation and accounting for its Allowance for Loan Losses as well as credit losses related to investment securities available-for-sale. A summary of significant provisions of this ASU is as follows:

The ASU requires that a financial asset (or a group of financial assets) measured at amortized cost basis be presented, net of a valuation allowance for credit losses, at an amount expected to be collected on the financial asset(s), and that the income statement include the measurement of credit losses for newly recognized financial assets as well as changes in expected losses on previously recognized financial assets. The provisions of this ASU require measurement of expected credit losses based on relevant information including past events, historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportive forecasts that affect the collectability of the asset. The provisions of this ASU differ from current U.S. GAAP in that current U.S. GAAP generally delays recognition of the full amount of credit losses until the loss is probable of occurring.

The amendments in the Update retain many of the disclosure requirements related to credit quality in current U.S. GAAP, updated to reflect the change from an incurred loss methodology to an expected credit loss methodology. In addition, the Update requires that disclosure of credit quality indicators in relation to the amortized cost of financing receivables, a current requirement, be further disaggregated by year of origination.

This ASU requires that credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities be presented as an allowance rather than as a write-down, and limits the amount of the allowance for credit losses to the amount by which the fair value is below amortized cost. For purchased investment securities available-for-sale with a more-than-insignificant amount of credit deterioration since origination, the ASU requires an allowance be determined in a manner similar to other investment securities available-for-sale; however, the initial allowance would be added to the purchase price, with only subsequent changes in the allowance recorded in credit loss expense, and interest income recognized at the effective rate excluding the discount embedded in the purchase price related to estimated credit losses at acquisition.

This ASU will be effective for the Company for interim and annual periods beginning in the first quarter of 2020. Earlier adoption is permitted beginning in the first quarter of 2019. The Company will record the effect of implementing this ASU through a cumulative-effect adjustment through retained earnings as of the beginning of the reporting period in which Topic 326 is effective.

The Company cannot yet determine the magnitude of any such one-time cumulative adjustment or of the overall impact of the new standard on our financial condition or results of operations. Further, any impact on the allowance upon adoption is currently unknown but any change in allowance levels will affect regulatory capital and ratios.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230) –Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments. This Update provides clarification regarding eight specific cash flow issues with the objective of reducing diversity in practice in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. For the Company, the amendments in this Update are effective beginning in the first quarter 2018. The amendments in this Update should be applied using a retroactive transition method to each period presented. The Company anticipates there will be no adjustments to the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, as previously reported, as a result of the clarifications provided in the Update.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) to simplify the accounting for goodwill impairment. This guidance, among other things, removes step 2 of the goodwill impairment test thus eliminating the need to determine the fair value of individual assets and liabilities of the reporting unit. Upon adoption of this ASU, goodwill impairment will be the amount by which a reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its fair value, not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill. This may result in more or less impairment being recognized than under current guidance. This Update will become effective for the Company’s annual and interim goodwill impairment tests beginning in the first quarter of 2020.

In August 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU 2017-12, “Derivatives and Hedging: Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities”. The purpose of this updated guidance is to better align a company’s financial reporting for hedging activities with the economic objectives of those activities. ASU 2017-12 is effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption, including adoption in an interim period, permitted. The Company plans to adopt ASU 2017-12 on January 1, 2019. ASU 2017-12 requires a modified retrospective transition method in which the Company will recognize the cumulative effect of the change on the opening balance of each affected component of equity in the statement of financial position as of the date of adoption. While the Company continues to assess all potential impacts of the standard, we currently expect adoption to have an immaterial impact on our consolidated financial statements, as exposure to derivatives contracts is only offered under special circumstances. The Company will continue to assess the financial statement impact as adoption draws closer and/or exposure to derivatives contracts grows to a level deemed to be material.