OceanFirst Financial : 2023 Supplemental Report ESG Report

2023

ENVIRONMENTAL

SOCIAL AND

GOVERNANCE

REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Our Mission and Values	1
Letter from our Chairman and CEO	2
About OceanFirst	4
Our Social Commitment	6
Access to Capital and Services
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Employee Health and Wellness
Supporting Our Community
Our Dedication to Environmental Priorities	22
Our Focus on Governance	26
2023 Human Capital Report	28
SASB Index 2023	54

OceanFirst Bank

OceanFirst ESG report

Our Mission and Values

Since 1902, when our organization was founded as Point Pleasant Building and Loan Association, we have been committed to helping our neighbors realize their dreams. We began by enabling home ownership and providing resources for saving, and then expanded over time - offering ways to invest for the future, providing the credit to build thriving businesses, and helping to enhance our communities and support our neighbors.

Today, as OceanFirst, that commitment is as strong as ever. Our communities now span the Northeastern United States from Boston to Virginia, and we offer even more ways to help individuals, families, businesses, and organizations fulfill their aspirations. As a resource to our communities - and as good corporate citizens - we continue to be guided by a strong mission:

Our mission is to build relationships and financial solutions that empower clients to achieve their goals. By providing innovative products backed by outstanding service, we will achieve our vision of enhancing our commitment and responsiveness to the markets, customers, and team members we serve.

Core Values

TEAMWORK

INTEGRITY

PERFORMANCE

LEADERSHIP

COMMITMENT

CUSTOMER

FOCUS

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Letter From Chairman and CEO

It has been two years since OceanFirst Financial Corp. published our initial Environmental, Social and Governance Report ("ESG Report"). Since that time, the business environment has been continually barraged by new economic realities, shifting customer demands, and technological changes. While we have moved beyond the worst ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a major subject of our last ESG Report, our society has been facing such challenges as high inflation, elevated interest rates, and geopolitical tensions that have implications for our domestic economic well-being.

The potential volatility caused by these and other external forces makes it all the more important for businesses to operate from a solid and stable foundation - embodied in sustainable ESG policies and practices. By demonstrating leadership with regards to ESG matters, we are expressing a commitment to serve all our stakeholders in a responsible manner.

We recognize that the way we approach ESG issues has a broad impact on our customers, employees, stockholders, communities, and society, as well as on the way our organization manages risk, drives long-term financial performance, and creates enterprise value.

We have all heard the advice that to understand someone's experiences, needs and concerns, we must "walk a mile in their shoes." In 2023, we decided to do exactly that, launching an initiative to listen to and learn firsthand about the needs of our communities by literally walking their streets. A number of OceanFirst executives, myself included, engaged in a series

of what we call "walkabouts" - meeting with local organizations and community leaders in their backyards, visiting neighborhoods, and seeing what local people

and businesses want and need from their banking partners. To-date, we've been to Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Camden, Neptune, New Brunswick and Trenton, NJ; Bronx, NY; and Philadelphia, PA - and the effort continues. What we've learned through this process will help us focus OceanFirst's ESG practices and all our resources where our communities need them most. The walkabouts have already led to many new or enhanced initiatives, a number of which are described in this Report.

OceanFirst's ESG-related initiatives are designed to address key environmental, social, and governance issues by focusing on the areas where we believe we can make the greatest positive impact: providing access to capital; investing in and supporting our communities; fostering diversity, inclusion and employee well-being; protecting our planet; and governing our organization in an ethical and responsible manner. Our more recent key ESG activities are highlighted below, and are described in more detail in the pages that follow.

Equitable Access to Capital. We are actively engaged in efforts to enhance access to vital financial resources among all the individuals and businesses across our market area. OceanFirst Bank provided approximately $103 million in loans and nearly $22 million in investments for community development- related purposes in 2023, as well as $106 million in loans to minority- and women-ownedbusinesses. We also established important initiatives such as our NeighborFirst new homebuyers program, small business lines of credit, and expanded support for financial literacy programs.

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OceanFirst ESG report

Investing in Our Communities. As part of our Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) commitment, a dedicated team engages with our communities to build awareness of our applicable lending programs, including partnerships with local organizations dedicated to increasing access to credit. Home mortgage loans across our CRA-designatedmarkets totaled $42.5 million in 2023. OceanFirst Foundation also has supported our communities, providing over $48 million in grants since inception to non-profitorganizations that promote health and wellness, access to housing, youth development and education, the arts, and the overall quality of life.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We continually strive to make OceanFirst a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization. Under the leadership of our Diversity and Inclusion Council, which reports to the Board of Directors, we have continued to advance OceanFirst's diversity initiatives. We conducted over 1,550 hours of Diversity Training in 2023. To recruit and cultivate diverse talent, we offer mentoring and career development programs for employees, and have partnered with organizations such as the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Environmental Stewardship. Among our initiatives to mitigate the impact of climate change, OceanFirst provided approximately $56 million in financing for energy efficient new construction or renovations in 2023. Within our own organization, we actively pursue efforts to reduce energy usage, waste and water consumption by constructing or renovating office and branch locations in an energy-efficientmanner, offering digital alternatives to traditional physical branches, and migrating many transactions to all-electronic,paperless formats.

Corporate Governance. We have continued to embrace sound corporate governance policies and practices, which we believe are essential to operate our business on a basis of integrity, ethicality and trust. As part of our emphasis on governance, we have strengthened our efforts to address newer risks to our enterprise, our customers and our employees, particularly in the area of cybersecurity and data protection.

I want to emphasize that ESG is a priority at the highest levels of the OceanFirst organization. Our ESG Committee, reporting to the Leadership Committee of the Board of Directors, is tasked with monitoring existing efforts and recommending new strategies to ensure that we pursue ESG initiatives aligned with our stakeholders' priorities and corporate best practices. Our commitment to define, measure and disclose our ESG efforts is reflected in this Report, including data presented in accordance with Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) guidelines which can be found beginning on page 54.

We are proud of the positive impact we've made to- date through OceanFirst's ESG efforts. There is more to be done, and we look forward to continuing to share updates with you regarding our future progress.

Chairman of the Board and

Chief Executive Officer

May, 2024

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About OceanFirst

ABOUT OCEANFIRST

OceanFirst Financial Corp. is the holding company for OceanFirst Bank N.A., a regional bank that provides financial services throughout New Jersey, and in the major metropolitan markets of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. Founded in 1902, OceanFirst is one of the largest and oldest community-based financial institutions headquartered in New Jersey, with total assets of $13.5 billion as of December 31, 2023. The Bank provides a wide array of commercial and residential financing, deposit, trust and asset management, treasury management, and investment services, and has been a leader in deploying digital technology to meet customers' changing needs.

Building on our heritage as a community banking institution, OceanFirst is committed to providing high-quality financial solutions and exceptional client service, delivering profitable growth, and responsibly serving the needs of our team members and communities.

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OceanFirst ESG report

1902	920	OCFC
YEAR FOUNDED	EMPLOYEES	NASDAQ

$13.5B $10.1B $10.4B

ASSETS

LOANS RECEIVABLE

DEPOSITS

43	1,800+ $29.7M
VIDEO TELLER	CUSTOMER CHATS	E-WALLET
MACHINES	PER MONTH	TRANSACTIONS

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Our Social Commitment

Access to Capital and Services

As a community banking institution, the most significant contribution we can make to the economic well-being of our customers and communities is to deploy capital and deliver banking services in a manner that ensures equitable access to financial resources and opportunities. We are especially proud of our

support for programs designed to extend financial resources to the less economically advantaged individuals and businesses in our market area. OceanFirst Bank provided approximately $103 million in loans and $22 million investments for affordable housing, community revitalization and economic development in 2023, and has provided total loans and investments of more than $445 million for such projects over a three-year period.

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OceanFirst ESG report

$445M

LOANS AND INVESTMENTS FOR AFFORDABLE

HOUSING, COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION AND

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OVER A THREE-

YEAR PERIOD.

7

Our Social Commitment

RESIDENTIAL LENDING AND

CONSUMER SERVICES

OceanFirst granted $366.6 million in residential mortgages in 2023, bringing our total outstanding home mortgage loans to over $3 billion and making the dream of home ownership a reality for over 8,000 households. The Bank also funded almost $55 million in home equity and other consumer loans in 2023, which frequently are used for purposes such as home improvement and education.

Our specialized offerings to increase access to credit and financial services included the following:

Home Buyer Programs. We established the NeighborFirst Program in 2022 to help low- and moderate- income homebuyers purchase a home with reduced or subsidized down payments, discounted rates, and other features. Eligible homebuyers also may be eligible for grants towards closing costs. Since the program's inception, we have originated over $56 million in loans to more than 200 borrowers thought NeighborFirst. The Bank also participated in the Home Buyer Dream Program created by the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB), providing almost $3 million in loans and $137,000 in grants to facilitate home purchases.

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Lending. In 2023, we expanded our CRA mortgage lending team to four individuals. The team is charged with reaching out to our communities to build awareness of and interest in our applicable lending programs, including

forming partnerships with local organizations that are dedicated to increasing access to credit. Thanks to the efforts of our team as well as other initiatives, we provided $42.5 million in home mortgage loans across our designated CRA markets. In addition, CRA-eligible grants and donations totaled $1.3 million, a 36% increase over 2022, and CRA-eligible volunteer hours continued to grow.

Financial Literacy. The Bank provides educational resources, such as Financial Literacy materials and programs, to help our neighbors build healthy financial habits. In 2023, we provided 332 hours of Financial Literacy programs, often in partnership with local nonprofit organizations and schools, to hundreds of members of our communities.

Habitat for Humanity. OceanFirst is an active supporter of Habitat for Humanity in many New Jersey counties including Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Monmouth, Ocean, as well as South Central New Jersey and Philadelphia. A highly respected nationwide program, Habitat helps community residents build or rehabilitate homes through their own "sweat equity" and the assistance of local volunteers. Our grants enable Habitat chapters to lift up local families and provide a pathway to affordable homeownership. Since 1996, OceanFirst Foundation has made grants totaling more than $525,000 to Habitat chapters and the Bank has extended loans totaling more than $211,000,000 to build and revitalize affordable housing over the past three years.

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