Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2014

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Organization

Organization

City National Corporation (the “Corporation”) is the holding company for City National Bank (the “Bank”). The Bank delivers banking, trust and investment services through 77 offices in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia. As of June 30, 2014, the Corporation had four consolidated investment advisory affiliates and one unconsolidated subsidiary, Business Bancorp Capital Trust I. Because the Bank comprises substantially all of the business of the Corporation, references to the “Company” mean the Corporation and the Bank together. The Corporation is approved as a financial holding company pursuant to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.

Consolidation

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. Redeemable noncontrolling interests are noncontrolling ownership interests that are redeemable at the option of the holder or outside the control of the issuer. The redeemable noncontrolling interests of third parties in the Corporation’s investment advisory affiliates are not considered to be permanent equity and are reflected 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

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, other real estate owned (“OREO”), valuation of share-based compensation awards, income taxes, goodwill and intangible asset impairment, securities impairment, private equity and alternative investment impairment, valuation of assets and liabilities acquired in business combinations, including contingent consideration liabilities, subsequent valuations of acquired impaired loans, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) indemnification asset, 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. The Company’s estimates and assumptions are expected to change as changes in market conditions and the Company’s portfolio occur in subsequent periods.

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The Company is on the accrual basis of accounting for income and expenses. The results of operations reflect any adjustments, all of which are of a normal recurring nature, unless otherwise disclosed in this Form 10-Q, and which, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the periods presented. In accordance with the usual practice of banks, assets and liabilities of individual trust, agency and fiduciary funds have not been included in the financial statements. These unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013.

The results for the 2014 interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for the full year. The Company has not made any significant changes in its critical accounting policies or in its estimates and assumptions from those disclosed in its 2013 Annual Report other than the adoption of new accounting pronouncements and other authoritative guidance that became effective for the Company on or after January 1, 2014. Refer to Accounting Pronouncements for discussion of accounting pronouncements adopted in 2014.

Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation.