Basis of Presentation (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Shore Bancshares, Inc. and its subsidiary with all significant intercompany transactions eliminated. The consolidated financial statements conform to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and to prevailing practices within the banking industry. The accompanying interim financial statements are unaudited; however, in the opinion of management all adjustments necessary to present fairly the consolidated financial position at June 30, 2020, the consolidated results of income and comprehensive income for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, changes in stockholders’ equity for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 and cash flows for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, have been included. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. The amounts as of December 31, 2019 were derived from the 2019 audited financial statements. The results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any other interim period or for the full year. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the Annual Report of Shore Bancshares, Inc. on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. For purposes of comparability, certain immaterial reclassifications have been made to amounts previously reported to conform with the current period presentation.

When used in these notes, the term “the Company” refers to Shore Bancshares, Inc. and, unless the context requires otherwise, its consolidated subsidiary, Shore United Bank (the “Bank”).

Risks and Uncertainties

Risks and Uncertainties

The novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) spread rapidly across the world in the first quarter of 2020 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The government and private sector responses to contain its spread began to significantly affect our operations in March and continues to do so. The pandemic will likely adversely affect our operations in subsequent quarters, although such effects may vary significantly. The duration and extent of the effects over longer terms cannot be reasonably estimated at this time. The risks and uncertainties resulting from the pandemic most likely to affect our future earnings, cash flows and financial condition in future quarters primarily include the nature and duration of the financial effects felt by our customers and the related impact on the customers' ability to fulfill their financial obligations to the Company as well as the potential decline of real estate values resulting from market disruption which may impair the recorded values of collateral-dependent loans.  Further, these factors, in addition to those pervasive to the industry and overall U.S. economy, may negatively impact the overall value of our Company in such a way that an impairment charge to the carrying value of goodwill is required.  Accordingly, significant estimates used in the preparation of our financial statements related to the allowance for credit losses and valuation of goodwill may be subject to significant adjustments in future periods.  The greater the duration and severity of the pandemic the more likely that estimates will be materially impacted by its effects.

Recent Accounting Standards and Other Authoritative Guidance

Recent Accounting Standards and Other Authoritative Guidance

ASU No. 2016-13 – In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments.”  The amendments in this ASU, among other things, require the measurement of all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Financial institutions and other organizations will now use forward-looking information to better inform their credit loss estimates. Many of the loss estimation techniques applied today will still be permitted, although the inputs to those techniques will change to reflect the full amount of expected credit losses. In addition, the ASU amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. At the FASB’s October 16, 2019 meeting, the Board affirmed its decision to amend the effective date of this ASU for many companies.   Public business entities that are SEC filers, excluding those meeting the smaller reporting company definition, will retain the initial required implementation date of fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019.  All other entities will be

required to apply the guidance for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2022. At this time, the Company has established a project management team which meets periodically to discuss and assign roles and responsibilities, key tasks to complete, and a general timeline to be followed for implementation. The team has been working with an advisory consultant and has purchased a vendor model for implementation. Historical data has been collected and uploaded to the new model and the team is in the process of finalizing the methodologies that will be utilized. The team is currently running a parallel simulation to its current incurred loss impairment model. The Company is continuing to evaluate the extent of the potential impact of this standard and continues to keep current on evolving interpretations and industry practices via webcasts, publications, conferences, and peer bank meetings.

Effective November 25, 2019, the SEC adopted Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 119.  SAB 119 updated portions of SEC interpretative guidance to align with FASB ASC 326, “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses.”  It covers topics including (1) measuring current expected credit losses; (2) development, governance, and documentation of a systematic methodology; (3) documenting the results of a systematic methodology; and (4) validating a systematic methodology.

ASU No. 2019-12 – In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740) – Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes.”  The ASU is expected to reduce cost and complexity related to the accounting for income taxes by removing specific exceptions to general principles in Topic 740 (eliminating the need for an organization to analyze whether certain exceptions apply in a given period) and improving financial statement preparers’ application of certain income tax-related guidance. This ASU is part of the FASB’s simplification initiative to make narrow-scope simplifications and improvements to accounting standards through a series of short-term projects.  For public business entities, the amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, and interim periods within those fiscal years.  Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact that ASU 2019-12 will have on its consolidated financial statements.

ASU No. 2020-01 – In January 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-01, “Investments – Equity Securities (Topic 321), Investments – Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323), and Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) – Clarifying the Interactions between Topic 321, Topic 323, and Topic 815.”  The ASU is based on a consensus of the Emerging Issues Task Force and is expected to increase comparability in accounting for these transactions.  ASU 2016-01 made targeted improvements to accounting for financial instruments, including providing an entity the ability to measure certain equity securities without a readily determinable fair value at cost, less any impairment, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment of the same issuer.  Among other topics, the amendments clarify that an entity should consider observable transactions that require it to either apply or discontinue the equity method of accounting.  For public business entities, the amendments in the ASU are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 31, 2020, and interim periods within those fiscal years.  Early adoption is permitted. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2020-01 to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

ASU No. 2020-04 – In March 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2020-04 “Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting.” These amendments provide temporary optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform. The ASU provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying generally accepted accounting principles to contract modifications and hedging relationships, subject to meeting certain criteria, that reference the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or another reference rate expected to be discontinued. It is intended to help stakeholders during the global market-wide reference rate transition period. The guidance is effective for all entities as of March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022. At present, the Bank has limited exposure to LIBOR based pricing. LIBOR based loans only comprise 14 loans or 2.6% of the loan portfolio. The Bank is confident it can successfully negotiate a migration to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) between now and the implementation date. The Bank will notify customers within 120 days prior to migration to SOFR. The Bank acknowledges the replacement rate will be more volatile based on different countries migrating to different indexes and limited liquidity to support the rate. The Bank further acknowledges the volatility will be greatly influenced by the support provided by the Federal Reserve.   

On March 12, 2020, the SEC finalized amendments to its “accelerated filer” and “large accelerated filer” definitions. The amendments increase the threshold criteria for meeting these filer classifications and are effective on April 27, 2020. Any

changes in filer status are to be applied beginning with the filer’s first annual report filed with the SEC subsequent to the effective date.  Prior to these changes, the Company was required to comply with section 404(b) of the Sarbanes Oxley Act concerning auditor attestation over internal control over financial reporting as an “accelerated filer” as it had more than $75 million in public float but less than $700 million at the end of the Company’s most recent second quarter.  The rule change expands the category of “smaller reporting companies” to include entities with public float of less than $700 million and less than $100 million in annual revenues.  The Company expects to meet this expanded category of small reporting company and will no longer be considered an accelerated filer after the 2020 Annual Report. If the Company’s annual revenues exceed $100 million, its category will change back to “accelerated filer”.  The classifications of “accelerated filer” and “large accelerated filer” require a public company to obtain an auditor attestation concerning the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting (“ICFR”) and include the opinion on ICFR in its annual report on Form 10-K.  Smaller reporting companies also have additional time to file quarterly and annual financial statements.  All public companies are required to obtain and file annual financial statement audits, as well as provide management’s assertion on effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, but the external auditor attestation of internal control over financial reporting is not required for smaller reporting companies.  As the Bank has total assets exceeding $1.0 billion, it remains subject to FDICIA, which requires an auditor attestation concerning internal controls over financial reporting.  As such, other than the additional time provided to file quarterly and annual financial statements, this change does not significantly change the Company’s annual reporting and audit requirements.

In March 2020, (Revised in April 2020) various regulatory agencies, including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, (“the agencies”) issued an interagency statement on loan modifications and reporting for financial institutions working with customers affected by COVID-19. The interagency statement was effective immediately and impacted accounting for loan modifications. Under Accounting Standards Codification 310-40, “Receivables – Troubled Debt Restructurings by Creditors,” (“ASC 310-40”), a restructuring of debt constitutes a troubled debt restructuring (“TDR”) if the creditor, for economic or legal reasons related to the debtor’s financial difficulties, grants a concession to the debtor that it would not otherwise consider. The agencies confirmed with the staff of the FASB that short-term modifications made on a good faith basis in response to COVID-19 to borrowers who were current prior to any relief, are not to be considered TDRs. This includes short-term (e.g., six months) modifications such as payment deferrals, fee waivers, extensions of repayment terms, or other delays in payment that are insignificant. Borrowers considered current are those that are less than 30 days past due on their contractual payments at the time a modification program is implemented. As of June 30, 2020, the Company has offered payment deferrals for commercial and consumer customers for up to six months. The loan modifications offered to specific loan types are as follows:

● Full payment-balloon or full amortization loans – Once the deferral period has ended, the Company will go back to billing principal and interest. As payments are made, all funds will go towards interest until all accrued interest has been caught up. Once the accrued interest is satisfied, future payments will be broken out for both principal and interest. The amount of principal that had been deferred will be re-amortized when the balloon maturity/payoff date occurs.

● Full payment ARM loans – Once the deferral period has ended, the Company will go back to billing principal and interest. As payments are made, all funds will go towards interest until all accrued interest has been caught up. Once the accrued interest is satisfied, future payments will be broken out for both principal and interest. The amount of principal that had been deferred will be re-amortized when the ARM repricing occurs.

● Full Payment Rate Reset Loans - Once the deferral period has ended, the Company will go back to billing principal and interest. As payments are made, all funds will go towards interest until all accrued interest has been caught up. Once the accrued interest is satisfied, future payments will be broken out for both principal and interest. The amount of principal that had been deferred will be re-amortized when the rate reset occurs.

● Principal deferral only loans (any type) - Once the deferral period has ended, the Company will go back to billing principal and interest. The principal amount that has been deferred will be re-amortized when either the maturity, ARM repricing or rate reset occurs.

● Consumer loans – Borrowers are required to sign an amendment to the initial loan agreement at the time of deferral, which re-amortizes the loan and extends the maturity date based on the number of months deferred.

This interagency guidance is expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements; however, this impact cannot be quantified at this time.