The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

What does a nearly century-old community bank do to stay relevant in the New York-metro market? The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC), founded in 1927, has navigated decades of change by focusing on local business and consumer needs, a strategy that led to a significant shift in 2025, culminating in a major merger with ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. This move created a formidable regional presence with approximately $14 billion in combined total assets, a massive jump from its year-end 2024 total assets of $4.1 billion, so you have to ask: what does this new scale mean for its future profitability and its community-first mission? We'll break down how this institution, which reported a Q1 2025 net income of $3.8 million, actually works and makes money, especially now that it's part of a much larger entity.

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) History

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) has a deep history, starting as a small community bank before evolving into a publicly traded holding company and, most recently, completing a major merger. To understand its trajectory, you have to look past the corporate entity to its banking roots, which stretch back nearly a century.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The First National Bank of Long Island, the core subsidiary, was established in 1927. The parent holding company, The First of Long Island Corporation, was formally incorporated much later, on February 7, 1984.

Original location

The bank's original location was in Glen Head, New York, a vital part of its community banking focus.

Founding team members

The institution was founded by a group of local business leaders who saw a need for a community-focused financial institution. Specific names of all original founders are not widely publicized, but their collective vision established the foundation for decades of local service.

Initial capital/funding

The initial capital funding for the bank's establishment in 1927 was a modest $25,000. That's a small sum that launched a major regional player.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's most transformative period was defintely in 2024 and 2025, culminating in its acquisition. This shift from a regional bank holding company to part of a larger, diversified entity fundamentally changed its structure and future outlook. Before that, the key was disciplined, localized growth.

The strategic decision to merge, valued at approximately $284 million at the time of announcement, was driven by the need for greater scale and resources in a competitive financial market. This move created one of the top 5 community banks on Long Island in terms of deposit market share.

• Formation of the Holding Company (1984): Separating the bank's operations from the parent corporation allowed for more flexible capital management and facilitated the acquisition-led growth strategy.
• The 2025 Merger: The acquisition by ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. was the final, most significant transformation, effectively ending The First of Long Island Corporation as an independent entity on June 2, 2025. The combined company operates under the ConnectOne brand.
• Financial Context of the Merger: Leading up to the merger, the company reported Q1 2025 net income of $3.8 million, or $0.17 per share, with $878.1 million in available liquidity as of March 31, 2025. This provided a strong, albeit smaller, capital base for the transaction.

The company's history shows a clear evolution from a single-branch local bank to a multi-billion dollar holding company, a journey that provides crucial context for understanding its Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC).

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) Ownership Structure

The First of Long Island Corporation's independent ownership structure was fundamentally altered in 2025, culminating in a merger that transitioned its public shareholders into owners of a larger, consolidated entity. As of November 2025, the company no longer trades as a separate entity, having been absorbed by ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.

Given Company's Current Status

The First of Long Island Corporation was a publicly traded bank holding company on the NASDAQ under the ticker FLIC until June 2, 2025, when it completed its merger with ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.. This transaction was a major strategic move, effectively dissolving FLIC as an independent entity and making ConnectOne the surviving corporation.

The combined company now operates under the ConnectOne brand, creating a premier New York-metro community bank with approximately $14 billion in total assets. Former FLIC shareholders received 0.5175 shares of ConnectOne common stock for each share of FLIC stock they owned, and they now collectively own approximately 24% of the common stock of ConnectOne. This is a classic example of a strategic acquisition to gain scale and expand market reach across New York, New Jersey, and Southeast Florida.

If you want to understand the motivations behind the pre-merger investment decisions that led to this outcome, you should be Exploring The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

Prior to the merger's completion in June 2025, The First of Long Island Corporation's ownership was a typical mix for a regional bank, with a significant portion held by retail investors. This structure dictated the shareholder vote on the merger, which was approved in February 2025.

Institutional investors like Wellington Management Group LLP and Bank of America Corp. /DE/ were actively adjusting their positions in the quarters leading up to the merger, demonstrating the shifting sentiment around the deal. The high retail ownership meant the company's fate was defintely in the hands of a diverse group of individual shareholders.

Given Company's Leadership

The leadership team of The First of Long Island Corporation transitioned its roles upon the merger, with key executives moving into positions within the combined ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. structure. This move ensures the former FLIC expertise is still leveraged, particularly its deep knowledge of the Long Island market.

• Christopher Becker: Former President and CEO of The First of Long Island Corporation, he was appointed Vice Chairman of ConnectOne's Board of Directors following the merger. This is a critical role for integrating the two bank cultures and strategies.
• Patrick Michael O'Neill: Held the title of President and Chief Executive Officer of FLIC prior to the merger.
• Glen Robert Covey: Served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of FLIC.

The final financial results for the independent FLIC, reported for the first quarter of 2025, showed a net income of $3.8 million, or $0.17 per share, demonstrating the financial position the executive team managed right up to the closing of the merger. The transition of leadership, especially the appointment of former FLIC directors to the ConnectOne board, was a key part of the merger agreement to maintain continuity and stakeholder representation.

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) Mission and Values

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) has always anchored its purpose in community banking, prioritizing a 'Customer First' approach over pure scale, which is why its culture is so focused on personalized service and local expertise. This dedication to integrity and local relationships is the defintely the core of its long-term strategy, even as it prepares for a major transition in mid-2025.

You're looking at a bank holding company whose mission is less about abstract global finance and more about the tangible financial health of Long Island and New York City businesses and families. That local focus is what drives their value proposition.

Given Company's Core Purpose

While a single, formal mission statement isn't always plastered on the wall, the company's actions and public filings consistently point to a clear, dual-focused purpose: delivering personalized financial solutions while maintaining a rock-solid financial foundation for its shareholders. The recent Q1 2025 earnings show that stability, with a book value per share of $16.91 as of March 31, 2025, even amidst the costs of the pending merger.

• Community Focus: Serve the financial needs of small-to-middle market businesses, professionals, and consumers in its core Long Island and New York City markets.
• Relationship Banking: Build long-term customer relationships through personalized, extraordinary service.
• Integrity and Stability: Operate with transparency, ethical practices, and a conservative credit culture to ensure stability.

Official mission statement

The First of Long Island Corporation's commitment is best understood through its operational philosophy-a dedication to a 'Customer First' banking experience. This means providing a full suite of lending, deposit, and digital products, but doing so with a local touch. For example, their focus on disciplined underwriting standards helps maintain a high-quality loan portfolio, which is the bedrock of a community bank's stability.

Here's the quick math on their stability: they had $878.1 million in total liquidity available as of March 31, 2025, which shows a strong capacity to manage economic shifts and meet client needs.

Vision statement

The near-term vision for The First of Long Island Corporation is tied to its strategic merger with ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc., expected to close around June 1, 2025. This move is designed to create a premier New York-metro community bank with significant scale.

• Strategic Growth: Combine with ConnectOne to form a larger, more competitive entity with approximately $14 billion in total assets.
• Enhanced Presence: Establish the combined company as one of the top 5 community banks on Long Island by deposit market share.
• Unlocking Opportunity: Leverage ConnectOne's commercial expertise and modern infrastructure to serve FLIC's distinguished client base and unlock new opportunities for stakeholders.

This vision isn't just about getting bigger; it's about gaining the muscle of a larger institution while retaining the people-first culture, a critical balance for any merger. You can dive deeper into the implications of this shift by Exploring The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Given Company slogan/tagline

The First National Bank of Long Island, the operating subsidiary, uses a clear, action-oriented tagline that sums up its service-driven culture.

• 'Go First, Go Far'

This simple phrase communicates the idea that their commitment-their employees going 'first' for the customer-is what helps clients reach their financial goals and ultimately 'go far.' It's a message that resonates with the small-to-middle market businesses they serve, which is a smart way to connect their service model to client success. The bank's culture of delivering extraordinary service is what gives that tagline real meaning.

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) How It Works

The First of Long Island Corporation, through its subsidiary The First National Bank of Long Island, operated as a traditional community bank, generating revenue primarily from the spread between interest earned on loans and investments and interest paid on customer deposits. This standalone model concluded in the second quarter of 2025 when the company was acquired by ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc., creating a larger New York-metro community bank with approximately $14 billion in total assets.

Given Company's Product/Service Portfolio

Given Company's Operational Framework

FLIC's operational success was built on a focused, regional community banking model, which emphasized deep local knowledge and strong personal relationships across Nassau and Suffolk Counties and parts of New York City. The bank's revenue streams were simple: interest income from loans and securities, plus noninterest income from service charges and fees. Breaking Down The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors, you see this clearly in the numbers.

In the first quarter of 2025, for example, the company reported net income of $3.8 million, which came largely from its core lending and deposit-gathering activities. The operational process was defintely straightforward:

• Deposit Gathering: Attracting capital through a network of branches and digital services, which provided the low-cost funding base for lending.
• Loan Origination and Underwriting: Focusing on commercial and residential loans, with disciplined underwriting to manage credit risk.
• Investment Management: Investing excess funds in securities to generate additional interest income and manage liquidity.

That is how a community bank makes money, by managing that interest rate spread well.

Given Company's Strategic Advantages

The First of Long Island Corporation maintained its market position through distinct, non-replicable advantages before the merger. These advantages are what made it an attractive target for ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. To be fair, its local focus was its biggest asset.

• Strong Local Presence: Deep, established customer relationships and market expertise in the Long Island and New York City metro area, giving it a competitive edge over larger, less localized banks.
• Conservative Credit Culture: A disciplined approach to underwriting and risk management that historically resulted in a high-quality loan portfolio and stable financial performance. The book value per share was robust at $16.91 on March 31, 2025.
• Relationship-Focused Banking: Personalized service for small to middle market businesses and high-net-worth individuals, which helped retain customers in a competitive landscape.

The ultimate strategic move, of course, was the merger in 2025. This move immediately translated FLIC's local strength into a massive increase in scale, with the combined entity now holding approximately $14 billion in total assets and establishing itself as one of the top five banks on Long Island in terms of deposit market share. This is a clear action to maximize returns for stakeholders.

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) How It Makes Money

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) operates primarily as a traditional community bank, generating the vast majority of its revenue by lending money at a higher interest rate than it pays out to depositors-a process known as earning a net interest margin (NIM).

The First of Long Island Corporation's Revenue Breakdown

As of the first quarter of 2025, which is the most recent available data, the company's financial engine is overwhelmingly driven by its core banking activities. Total revenue for the quarter was approximately $21.37 million.

The Net Interest Income (NII) of $18.8 million in Q1 2025 accounted for the lion's share, increasing by 3.6% year-over-year. This growth is a good sign, but it's heavily dependent on the current interest rate environment and the bank's ability to manage its cost of funds.

Noninterest income, which was approximately $2.57 million for the quarter, comes from fees and other services. This stream saw a slight decrease of 2.1%, largely due to nonrecurring items in the prior year, but recurring fees like merchant card services and bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) accretion are still contributing.

Business Economics

A community bank's economic health is best judged by its Net Interest Margin (NIM), which tells you how effective it is at profiting from its lending activities. For FLIC, the NIM stood at 1.91% in the first quarter of 2025. That's a tight margin, but it represents an improvement from the previous quarter, suggesting better management of deposit costs.

Here's the quick math on how the model works:

• Loan Portfolio: The bank had total loans of approximately $3.16 billion as of March 31, 2025, which are the primary interest-earning assets.
• Deposit Base: Total deposits were stable at around $3.3 billion. A key risk here is that 49.5% of total deposits were uninsured as of March 31, 2025, which can make the funding base sensitive to market sentiment.
• Pricing Strategy: The bank's ability to keep its interest expense low, even as market rates rise, is crucial. They are focused on attracting and retaining lower-cost core deposits to widen that NIM.

The most significant near-term factor impacting the company's economics is its pending merger with ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. The merger was expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, which would fundamentally change the independent business model and financial structure of The First of Long Island Corporation. This is defintely the biggest strategic move on the table, and it means the current independent model is essentially at its sunset. You should review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC). with this merger in mind.

The First of Long Island Corporation's Financial Performance

When you look at the Q1 2025 metrics, you see a bank maintaining strong capital but facing profitability headwinds in a challenging rate environment, which is common for smaller regional banks.

• Net Income: The company reported a net income of $3.8 million for Q1 2025, down from $4.4 million in the prior year's quarter.
• Earnings Per Share (EPS): Diluted EPS for the quarter was $0.17.
• Return on Assets (ROA): The ROA, a measure of how efficiently assets generate profit, was low at 0.37%.
• Return on Equity (ROE): The ROE, which shows return to shareholders, was 3.98%. Both ROA and ROE are below what a seasoned analyst would consider healthy for a bank.
• Book Value Per Share: This metric, a good proxy for a bank's liquidation value, was $16.91 as of March 31, 2025, an increase from $16.77 at the end of 2024.
• Credit Quality: Nonaccrual loans were $3.5 million, but past due loans saw a significant jump to $7.5 million from $270,000 at the end of 2024, which warrants close monitoring.

The bottom line is that while liquidity remains strong at $878.1 million available as of March 31, 2025, the core profitability metrics (ROA and ROE) show a business under pressure, which is a key reason for the pending merger. The merger is the primary action that will change the trajectory of these financial metrics going forward.

The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) Market Position & Future Outlook

The First of Long Island Corporation's market position fundamentally shifted in 2025, moving from a standalone community bank to a key component of a larger, premier New York-metro regional bank following its merger with ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (CNOB). The combined entity now boasts approximately $14 billion in total assets and is strategically positioned to accelerate growth by combining ConnectOne's commercial lending expertise with FLIC's deep-rooted Long Island deposit franchise.

This merger, completed in June 2025, immediately established the combined company as one of the top 5 banks on Long Island in terms of deposit market share, securing a powerful regional foothold. The future outlook is centered on realizing the projected merger accretion (synergies) and successfully integrating the two distinct operating models-FLIC's traditional branch network with ConnectOne's modern, technology-driven approach.

Competitive Landscape

The combined bank operates in the highly competitive New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, facing off against both money-center giants and other aggressive regional players. Its competitive edge is a hybrid model: a commercial-focused, tech-forward platform backed by a strong, stable deposit base inherited from The First of Long Island Corporation. The following table illustrates its position relative to two key regional competitors, based on their respective sizes as of mid-2025.

Here's the quick math: ConnectOne's post-merger assets of $14 billion are comparable to Dime Community Bancshares' $14.20 billion in total assets as of June 2025, but significantly smaller than Provident Financial Services' $24.54 billion.

Opportunities & Challenges

The strategic rationale for the merger provides the clearest picture of near-term opportunities, but the execution risk is real. The combined company must deliver on the promised cost savings and revenue synergies to justify the initial tangible book value dilution.

Industry Position

The combined ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. is a formidable regional player, having successfully crossed the critical $10 billion asset threshold, which brings both increased regulatory scrutiny and greater market visibility. The former The First of Long Island Corporation's contribution was a stable, low-cost core deposit franchise, which is defintely a premium asset in the current high-interest-rate environment.

• Scale & Efficiency: The bank projects an efficiency ratio of approximately 45% in 2025, adjusted for a full phase-in of cost savings, positioning it as a highly efficient operator compared to many peers.
• Long Island Dominance: The combination immediately secured a top-five deposit market share position on Long Island, a wealthy, deposit-rich area.
• Commercial Focus: The core strategy remains a focus on small to middle-market businesses, leveraging technology to offer a full suite of commercial banking and lending products.

For a deeper dive into the shareholder base that supported this strategic shift, you should be Exploring The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why? Exploring The First of Long Island Corporation (FLIC) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?