At Farmers & Merchants Bank, the basis of each customer relationship, many of which span generations, is trust. You have chosen to do business with Farmers & Merchants Bank, and we are obligated to honor that relationship with great care, beginning with the information you have chosen to share with us. We believe that your privacy should not be compromised. At the same time, we want to offer you the array of financial products and services you need to accomplish your financial goals. We believe we can do both through the privacy policy outlined below.

At Farmers & Merchants Bank, we believe the confidentiality and protection of customer information is one of our fundamental responsibilities. And while information is critical to providing quality service, we recognize that one of our most important assets is our customers’ trust. Thus, the safekeeping of customer information is a priority for Farmers & Merchants Bank.

Information about consumers is accumulated from a variety of sources. Some information is provided to Farmers & Merchants Bank directly by customers themselves. Other data is developed by Farmers & Merchants Bank as a function of providing a product or service to a customer. Still other information is obtained from outside sources. We will limit the use and collection of information about our customers to that, which is necessary to administer our business, provide superior service, and offer opportunities that we think will be of interest to customers. This means that we will use information to help us identify and mitigate potential risks or loss to Farmers & Merchants Bank. We will use information to help identify additional products or services which we believe customers might want to know about. We will use this information only in accordance with the principles set out in this Policy.

We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:

• Information we receive from you on applications or other forms;
• Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others; and
• Information we receive from a consumer reporting agency.

If you decide to close your account(s) or become an inactive customer, we will adhere to the privacy policies and practices as described in this notice.

We continually strive to maintain complete and accurate information about you and your accounts. Should you ever believe that our records contain inaccurate or incomplete information about you, please notify us. We will investigate your concerns and correct all inaccuracies.

At Farmers & Merchants Bank, employee access to personally identifiable customer information is limited to those with a business reason to know such information. Employees are educated on the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of customer information and on these Privacy Principles. Because of the importance of these issues, all Farmers & Merchants Bank employees are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of customer information and employees who violate these Privacy Principles will be subject to disciplinary measures.

Farmers & Merchants Bank is committed to the security of your financial and personal information. All of our operational and data processing systems are in a secure environment that protects your account information from being accessed by third parties. We maintain and grant access to customer information only in accordance with our internal security standards.

It is the bank’s policy not to reveal specific information about customer accounts or other personally identifiable data to unaffiliated third parties for their independent use, except for the exchange of information with reputable information reporting agencies to maximize the accuracy and security of such information or in performance of bona fide corporate due diligence or business matters, unless 1) the information is provided to help complete a customer-initiated transaction; 2) the customer requests or permits it; 3) the disclosure is required by or allowed by law (e.g., subpoena, investigation of fraudulent activity, request by regulator, etc.); or 4) the customer has been informed about the possibility of disclosure for marketing or similar purposes through a prior communication and given the opportunity to decline (i.e., “opt out”).

When we do provide customer information to a third party, we will insist – through a written agreement – that the third party adhere to privacy principles similar to those to which Farmers & Merchants Bank adheres for keeping this information confidential.