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. Unless the context indicates otherwise, all references in this quarterly report to “Peoples”, “Company”, “Bank”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Peoples Financial Services Corp., its subsidiaries and its and their respective predecessors. The Company services its retail and commercial customers through twenty-eight full-service community banking offices located within the Lackawanna, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming Counties of Pennsylvania and Broome County of New York. Additionally, we operate a Limited Purpose Banking Office (“LPO”) located in and serving Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.

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 consolidated 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 consolidated operating results or financial position of the Company. The consolidated operating results and financial position of the Company for the nine months ended and as of September 30, 2019, are not necessarily indicative of the results of consolidated 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, and impairment of goodwill. 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 period ended December 31, 2018.

Recent accounting standards:

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-02, “Leases”. From the lessees’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. The ROU asset and lease liability are calculated based on the present value of future lease payments using an estimated incremental borrowing rate. The Company utilized the incremental borrowing rate of interest on a collateralized basis for the lease term as quoted by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh (“FHLB”).

Leases are classified as either finance or operating, with classification affecting the pattern of expense recognition in the statement of income 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 is 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 amendments in this ASU were effective for annual periods, and interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2018.

The new standard provides a number of optional practical expedients in transition. We have elected the "package of practical expedients," which permit us not to reassess under the new standard our prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification and initial direct costs. We elected the "use-of-hindsight" practical expedient which allows us to use hindsight in judgments that impact the lease term. In order to establish the value of the ROU and lease liability and in accordance with the guidance, management determined the term of the leases held by carefully evaluating and assessing each lease and applying economic and other relevant factors to determine whether the Company is reasonably certain to exercise or not to exercise a renewal option within each lease. We have also elected an accounting policy not to restate comparative periods upon adoption. The Company elected to adopt this pronouncement using the optional transition method under ASU 2018-11 as of January 1, 2019 and recorded right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for operating leases of $6,523 on its consolidated balance sheets, with no adjustment to stockholders’ equity and no material impact to its consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income.

In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11, “Leases - Targeted Improvements” to provide entities with relief from the costs of implementing certain aspects of the new leasing standard, ASU No. 2016-02. Specifically, under the amendments in ASU 2018-11: (1) entities may elect not to recast the comparative periods presented when transitioning to the new leasing standard, and (2) lessors may elect not to separate lease and non-lease components when certain conditions are met. The amendments were adopted on January 1, 2019 and did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In March 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-01, “Leases (Topic 842) Codification Improvements” which was issued to address lessors’ concerns about determining fair value of underlying leased assets and presentation issues in the statement of cash flows for sales-type and direct financing leases. ASU 2019-01 also clarified for both lessees and lessors that transition disclosures related to Topic 250 were not required for annual periods are also not required for interim periods. ASU 2019-01 was effective for annual periods, and interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company early adopted this ASU 2019-01 effective January 1, 2019 and it did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

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 GAAP in that current GAAP generally delays recognition of the full amount of credit losses until the loss is probable of occurring.
			The amendments in the ASU retain many of the disclosure requirements related to credit quality in current GAAP, updated to reflect the change from an incurred loss methodology to an expected credit loss methodology. In addition, the ASU 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.

			In October 2019, the FASB voted to defer the adoption date for smaller reporting companies from 2020 to 2023. The Company currently qualifies as a smaller reporting company and therefore guidance is effective for the Company in 2023. 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.

We are evaluating the impact of the ASU on our consolidated financial statements. In addition to our allowance for loan losses, we will also record an allowance for credit losses on debt securities instead of applying the impairment model currently utilized. The amount of the adjustments will be impacted by each portfolio’s composition and credit quality at the adoption date as well as economic conditions and forecasts at that time.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13 Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): “Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement” which modifies the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement, based on the FASB Concepts Statement, “Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting – Chapter 8: Notes to Financial Statements”. In accordance with the Concepts Statement, this ASU removes, modifies and adds select disclosure requirements under Topic 820 after consideration of costs and benefits. ASU 2018-13 is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019 for public entities, with early adoption permitted. The adoption of this guidance on January 1, 2020 is not expected to have a material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, “Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment,” - Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. The amendments in this ASU simplify how an entity is required to test goodwill for impairment by eliminating the requirement to calculate the implied fair value of goodwill to measure a goodwill impairment charge. This accounting guidance will be effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019 (effective January 1, 2020 for the Company). Adoption of this ASU is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.