Prospectus excerpt:  At a meeting of the board of directors (the “Board”) of the Corporation duly convened and held on April 5, 2017, the Board duly adopted resolutions (i) approving and adopting the conversion of the outstanding preferred stock of Astoria Financial Corporation (“Astoria”) into a number of shares of preferred stock of the Corporation (the “Preferred Stock”), and the issuance of the Corporation’s depository shares, each representing a 1/40th ownership interest in the Preferred Stock, as contemplated by the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of March 6, 2017, by and between the Corporation and Astoria and (ii) appointing an authorized committee (the “Authorized Committee”) of the Board to fix the rights, preferences, privileges, and voting powers, and limitations and restrictions of the Corporation Preferred Stock, that, taken as a whole, are not materially less favorable than the rights, privileges and voting powers and limitations and restrictions of the preferred stock of Astoria, taken as a whole. Thereafter, on September 26, 2017, the Authorized Committee duly adopted the following resolution creating a series of 135,000 shares of Preferred Stock of the Corporation designated as “6.50% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series A”: