Leases (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

LEASES

Leases

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (“Topic 842”), to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by requiring the recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet. Most prominent among the changes in the standard is the recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities by lessees for those leases classified as operating leases. Under the standard, disclosures are required to meet the objective of enabling users of financial statements to assess the amount, timing, and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases.

Upon adoption the Bank has elected to use the following optional exemptions that are permitted under Topic 842, which have been applied consistently:

•the Bank elected the optional transition method and there was no impact to retained earnings from recognizing the appropriate amount of lease assets and liabilities on the balance sheet as of the adoption date of the standard. Prior period financial statements were not restated.

•the Bank elected the expedient package to not reassess (1) whether any existing or expired contracts are or contain leases, (2) lease classification for any existing or expired leases, and (3) initial direct costs for any existing leases.

•the Bank elected to not separate lease components from non-lease components for all classes of underlying assets for lessee or lessor transactions.

We determine if a contract is a lease or contains a lease at inception. The right to use leased assets for the lease term are considered ROU assets. Operating lease assets are included in “Other assets” while finance lease assets are included in “Premises, equipment and software, net.” Lease liabilities for operating leases are included in “Other liabilities” while finance leases are included in “Long-term debt” on our consolidated balance sheet.

Lease ROU assets and operating lease liabilities are recognized based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term at commencement date. Because most of our leases do not provide an implicit rate, we use our incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the commencement date in determining the present value of future payments. The lease ROU asset also incorporates any amortization incurred, including initial direct costs, and excludes lease incentives received. Our lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease, and the lease term incorporates these when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise these options. The Bank enters into certain lease agreements with both lease and non-lease components, which are not separated out for lessees and lessors on a relative standalone basis.

We have operating and finance leases for branches, corporate offices, and data centers. Our equipment leases are not material. At September 30, 2019, we had 433 branches, of which 279 are owned and 154 are leased. We lease our headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, and other office or data centers are either owned or leased.

The Bank may enter into certain lease arrangements with a term of 12 months or less, and we have elected to exclude these from capitalization. The length of our commitments for leases ranges from 2019 to 2062, some of which include options to extend or terminate the leases.

As of September 30, 2019, assets recorded under operating leases were $231 million, while assets recorded under finance leases were $4 million. We utilized a secured incremental borrowing rate based on the remaining term of the lease as of the effective date for the discount rate to determine our lease ROU assets and liabilities. The following schedule presents lease-related assets and liabilities, their weighted average remaining life, and the weighted average discount rate.


(Dollar amounts in millions)	September 30, 2019

Operating assets and liabilities
Operating right-of-use assets, net of amortization	$	231
Operating lease liabilities	250
Weighted average remaining lease term (years)
Operating leases	9.1
Finance leases	19.1
Weighted average discount rate
Operating leases	3.2		%
Finance leases	3.3		%

The components of lease expense are as follows:


(In millions)	Three Months Ended September 30, 2019		Nine Months Ended September 30, 2019

Operating lease costs	$	12	$	36





Variable lease costs	14		40

Total lease cost	$	26	$	76

Supplemental cash flow information related to leases is as follows:


(In millions)	Three Months Ended September 30, 2019		Nine Months Ended September 30, 2019

Cash paid for amounts in the measurement of lease liabilities:
Operating cash disbursements from operating leases	$	13	$	37

ROU assets obtained in exchange for lease liabilities:


(In millions)	Three Months Ended September 30, 2019		Nine Months Ended September 30, 2019

New operating lease liabilities	$	6	$	10





New finance lease liabilities	3		6

Total	$	9	$	16

Maturities analysis for lease liabilities as of September 30, 2019 is as follows (undiscounted lease payments):


(In millions)

2019 ¹	$	33
2020	49
2021	44
2022	39
2023	32
Thereafter	120
Total	$	317

¹Contractual maturities for the three months remaining in 2019.

The Bank enters into certain lease agreements where it is the lessor of real estate. Real estate leases are made from bank-owned and subleased property to generate cash flow from the property, including from leasing vacant suites in which the Bank occupies portions of the building. Operating lease income was $3 million for both the third quarters of 2019 and 2018, and $9 million and $8 million for the first nine months of 2019 and 2018.

The Bank also has a lending division that makes equipment leases, considered to be sales-type leases or direct financing leases, totaling $332 million at both September 30, 2019 and 2018. The Bank uses leasing of equipment as a venue for customers to access equipment without purchasing upfront. The Bank recorded income of $3 million and $4 million on these leases for the third quarters of 2019 and 2018, and $11 million for both the first nine months of 2019 and 2018.