Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

3 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Note 6. Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

In the normal course of business, Pinnacle Bank has entered into off-balance sheet financial instruments which include commitments to extend credit (i.e., including unfunded lines of credit) and standby letters of credit. Commitments to extend credit are usually the result of lines of credit granted to existing borrowers under agreements that the total outstanding indebtedness will not exceed a specific amount during the term of the indebtedness. Typical borrowers are commercial concerns that use lines of credit to supplement their treasury management functions, and thus their total outstanding indebtedness may fluctuate during any time period based on the seasonality of their business and the resultant timing of their cash flows. Other typical lines of credit are related to home equity loans granted to consumers. Commitments to extend credit generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. At September 30, 2020, these commitments amounted to $9.2 billion, of which approximately $1.1 billion related to home equity lines of credit.

Standby letters of credit are generally issued on behalf of an applicant (Pinnacle Bank's customer) to a specifically named beneficiary and are the result of a particular business arrangement that exists between the applicant and the beneficiary.  Standby letters of credit have fixed expiration dates and are usually for terms of two years or less unless terminated beforehand due to criteria specified in the standby letter of credit. A typical arrangement involves the applicant routinely being indebted to the beneficiary for such items as inventory purchases, insurance, utilities, lease guarantees or other third party commercial transactions. The standby letter of credit would permit the beneficiary to obtain payment from Pinnacle Bank under certain prescribed circumstances. Subsequently, Pinnacle Bank would then seek reimbursement from the applicant pursuant to the terms of the standby letter of credit. At September 30, 2020, these commitments amounted to $191.6 million.

Pinnacle Bank typically follows the same credit policies and underwriting practices when making these commitments as it does for on-balance sheet instruments. Each customer's creditworthiness is typically evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and the amount of collateral obtained, if any, is based on management's credit evaluation of the customer. Collateral held varies but may include cash, real estate and improvements, marketable securities, accounts receivable, inventory, equipment and personal property.

The contractual amounts of these commitments are not reflected in the consolidated financial statements and only amounts drawn upon would be reflected in the future. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the contractual amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. However, should the commitments be drawn upon and should Pinnacle Bank's customers default on their resulting obligation to Pinnacle Bank, the maximum exposure to credit loss, without consideration of collateral, is represented by the contractual amount of those commitments. At September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, Pinnacle Financial had accrued $21.2 million and $2.4 million, respectively, for the inherent risks associated with these off-balance sheet commitments. The adoption of ASU 2016-13 effective January 1, 2020, which introduced the CECL methodology for measuring credit losses, as discussed more fully in Note. 1 Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, increased the opening balance of our accrual for off-balance sheet commitments at adoption by $8.8 million. The remainder of the increase is largely attributable to the anticipated economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on Pinnacle Financial's CECL credit loss modeling for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020.

In June 2020, a purported class action lawsuit was filed against Pinnacle Bank alleging, among other claims, that Pinnacle Bank failed to pay fees to purported agents of PPP borrowers that the plaintiff alleged were owed under the PPP in violation of SBA regulations. During the third quarter of 2020, this suit was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff, though the plaintiff could file the suit again. Pinnacle Bank disputed the plaintiff’s initial claims and would vigorously defend itself in connection with any future proceeding relating to the alleged claims.

Various legal claims also arise from time to time in the normal course of business. In the opinion of management, the resolutions of these claims outstanding at September 30, 2020 are not expected to have a material adverse impact on Pinnacle Financial's consolidated financial condition, operating results or cash flows.