Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements of the Company include the accounts of the Corporation, its non-bank subsidiaries, the Bank and the Bank’s wholly owned subsidiaries, after the elimination of all material intercompany transactions. It also includes noncontrolling interest, which is the portion of equity in a subsidiary not attributable to a parent.  Preferred stock of consolidated bank affiliates that is owned by third parties is reflected as Noncontrolling interest in the equity section of the consolidated balance sheets. This preferred stock was liquidated or redeemed in full by the Bank in July and August of 2011. Redeemable noncontrolling interest includes noncontrolling ownership interests that are redeemable at the option of the holder or outside the control of the issuer. The redeemable equity ownership interests of third parties in the Corporation’s investment advisory affiliates are not considered to be permanent equity and are reflected as Redeemable noncontrolling interest in the mezzanine section between liabilities and equity in the consolidated balance sheets. Noncontrolling interests’ share of subsidiary earnings is reflected as Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest in the consolidated statements of income.

The Company’s investment management and wealth advisory affiliates are organized as limited liability companies.  The Corporation generally owns a majority position in each affiliate and certain management members of each affiliate own the remaining shares. The Corporation has contractual arrangements with its affiliates whereby a percentage of revenue is allocable to fund affiliate operating expenses (“operating share”) while the remaining portion of revenue (“distributable revenue”) is allocable to the Corporation and the noncontrolling owners. All majority-owned affiliates that meet the prescribed criteria for consolidation are consolidated. The Corporation’s interests in investment management affiliates in which it holds a noncontrolling share are accounted for using the equity method. Additionally, the Company has various interests in variable interest entities (“VIEs”) that are not required to be consolidated. See Note 16 for a more detailed discussion on VIEs.

Use of Estimates

The Company’s accounting and reporting policies conform to generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and practices in the financial services industry. To prepare the financial statements in conformity with GAAP, management must make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the reporting period. Circumstances and events that differ significantly from those underlying the Company’s estimates and assumptions could cause actual financial results to differ from those estimates. The material estimates included in the financial statements relate to the allowance for loan and lease losses, the reserve for off-balance sheet credit commitments, valuation of stock options and restricted stock, income taxes, goodwill and intangible asset impairment, securities available-for-sale impairment, private equity and alternative investment impairment, valuation of assets and liabilities acquired in business combinations, subsequent valuations of acquired impaired loans, FDIC indemnification assets, valuation of noncontrolling interest and the valuation of financial assets and liabilities reported at fair value.

The Company has applied its critical accounting policies and estimation methods consistently in all periods presented in these financial statements.