19.RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

In an exposure draft issued in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposed changes to the accounting guidance related to the impairment of financial assets and the recognition of credit losses. The FASB proposal would require financial institutions to reserve for losses for the duration of the credit exposure as opposed to reserving for probable losses. The new methodology would be known as the “current expected credit losses” (CECL) methodology. The FASB is currently in the process of re-deliberating significant issues raised through feedback received from comment letters and outreach activities. Among other things, the guidance in the proposed update regarding an entity’s estimate of expected credit losses will be clarified as follows:

An entity should revert to a historical average loss experience for the future periods beyond which the entity is able to make or obtain reasonable and supportable forecasts;

An entity should consider all contractual cash flows over the life of the related financial assets;

When determining the contractual cash flows and the life of the related financial assets:

An entity should consider expected prepayments;

An entity should not consider expected extensions, renewals, and modifications unless the entity reasonably expects that it will execute a troubled debt restructuring with a borrower;

An entity’s estimate of expected credit losses should always reflect the risk of loss, even when that risk is remote. However, an entity would not be required to recognize a loss on a financial asset in which the risk of nonpayment is greater than zero yet the amount of loss would be zero;

In addition to using a discounted cash flow model to estimate expected credit losses, an entity would not be prohibited from developing an estimate of credit losses using loss-rate methods, probability-of-default methods or a provision matrix using loss factors;

The final guidance on expected credit losses will include implementation guidance describing the factors that an entity should consider to adjust historical loss experience for current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecast.

FASB expects to issue this proposed accounting standard update in the first quarter of 2016 with implementation beginning in the fiscal year following December 15, 2018 for public companies. Upon adoption, the change in this accounting guidance could result in an increase in the Company's allowance for loan losses and require the Company to record loan losses more rapidly. Upon final issuance of the standard, the Company will be able to better evaluate the potential impact of this new standard on its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2014, the FASB issued an accounting standard update (ASU 2014-14) related to; Receivables – Troubled Debt Restructurings by Creditors (Subtopic 310-40) Classification of Certain Government-Guaranteed Mortgage Loans upon Foreclosure. The update requires that a mortgage loan be derecognized and that a separate other receivable be recognized upon foreclosure if the following conditions are met: (1) The loan has a government guarantee that is not separable from the loan before foreclosure; (2) At the time of foreclosure, the creditor has the intent to convey the real estate property to the guarantor and make a claim on the guarantee, and the creditor has the ability to recover under that claim; (3) At the time of foreclosure, any amount of the claim that is determined on the basis of the fair value of the real estate is fixed. Upon foreclosure, the separate other receivable should be measured based on the amount of the loan balance (principal and interest) expected to be recovered from the guarantor. The amendments in the update are effective for public business entities for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2014. The Company adopted this accounting standard during the first quarter of 2015 and it did not have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In June 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-12, Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718) Accounting for Share-Based Payments When the Terms of an Award Provide That a Performance Target Could Be Achieved after the Requisite Service Period, an amendment to the stock compensation accounting guidance to clarify that a performance target that affects vesting of a share-based payment and that could be achieved after the requisite service period be treated as a performance condition. As such, the performance target should not be reflected in estimating the grant-date fair value of the award. Compensation cost should be recognized in the period in which it becomes probable that the performance target will be achieved and should represent the compensation cost attributable to the period(s) for which the requisite service has already been rendered. This amendment is effective for annual reporting periods, including interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2015. Early adoption is permitted. Entities may apply the amendments in this update either (a) prospectively to all awards granted or modified after the effective date or (b) retrospectively to all awards with performance targets that are outstanding as of the beginning of the earliest annual period presented in the financial statements and to all new or modified awards thereafter. The Company does not expect this amendment to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which supersedes nearly all existing revenue recognition guidance under U.S. GAAP. The core principle of ASU 2014-09 is to recognize revenues when promised goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled for those goods or services. ASU 2014-09 defines a five step process to achieve this core principle and, in doing so, more judgment and estimates may be required within the revenue recognition process than are required under existing U.S. GAAP: identify the contract(s) with a customer; identify the performance obligations in the contract; determine the transaction price; allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; recognize revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies a performance obligation. The standard is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and interim periods therein, using either of the following transition methods: a full retrospective approach reflecting the application of the standard in each prior reporting period with the option to elect certain practical expedients, or a retrospective approach with the cumulative effect of initially adopting ASU 2014-09 recognized at the date of adoption (which includes additional footnote disclosures). The Company is evaluating the impact of the adoption of ASU 2014-09 on its consolidated financial statements and has not yet determined the method by which it will adopt the standard effective in the first quarter of 2018.

In January 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-04 related to; Receivables – Troubled Debt Restructurings by Creditors (Subtopic 310-40) Reclassification of Residential Real Estate Collateralized Consumer Mortgage Loans upon Foreclosure. The update applies to all creditors who obtain physical possession of residential real estate property collateralizing a consumer mortgage loan in satisfaction of a receivable. The amendments in this update clarify when an in-substance repossession or foreclosure occurs and requires disclosure of both (1) the amount of foreclosed residential real estate property held by a creditor and (2) the recorded investment in consumer mortgage loans collateralized by residential real estate property that are in the process of foreclosure according to local requirements of the applicable jurisdiction. The amendments in the update are effective for public business entities for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2014. The Company adopted this accounting standard during the first quarter of 2015 and it did not have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01 related to Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10) Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. The update applies to all entities that hold financial assets or owe financial liabilities. The amendments in this update make targeted improvements to U.S. GAAP as follows:

Require equity investments to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income;

Simplify the impairment assessment of equity investments without readily determinable fair values by requiring a qualitative assessment to identify impairment;

Require public business entities to use the exit price notion when measuring fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes;

Require separate presentation of financial assets and financial liabilities by measurement category and form of financial asset;

Clarify that an entity should evaluate the need for a valuation allowance on a deferred tax asset related to available-for-sale securities

The amendments are effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company is evaluating the impact of the adoption of ASU 2016-01 on its consolidated financial statements, but does not expect it to have a significant impact.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. ASU 2016-02 requires the recognition of a right-of-use asset and related lease liability by lessees for leases classified as operating leases under GAAP. The amendments in this update are effective for the Company for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption of the amendments in this update are permitted. A modified retroactive approach must be applied for leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this new guidance on the consolidated financial statements.