Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments

The Corporation is a party to financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers.

Those financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and letters of credit, which involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit risk and interest rate risk in excess of the amounts recognized on the Corporation’s consolidated balance sheets. Exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit and letters of credit is represented by the outstanding amount of those instruments.

The outstanding amounts of commitments to extend credit and letters of credit were as follows:



	March 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
	(in thousands)
Commitments to extend credit	$	6,533,257	$	6,306,583
Standby letters of credit	306,946		309,352
Commercial letters of credit	47,041		48,682

The Corporation records a reserve for unfunded lending commitments, which represents management’s estimate of losses associated with unused commitments to extend credit and letters of credit. See "Note 4 - Loans and Leases Allowance for Credit Losses," for additional details.

Residential Lending

The Corporation originates and sells residential mortgages to secondary market investors. The Corporation provides customary representations and warranties to secondary market investors that specify, among other things, that the loans have been underwritten to the standards of the secondary market investor. The Corporation may be required to repurchase specific loans, or reimburse the investor for a credit loss incurred on a sold loan if it is determined that the representations and warranties have not been met. Under some agreements with secondary market investors, the Corporation may have additional credit exposure beyond customary representations and warranties, based on the specific terms of those agreements.

The Corporation maintains a reserve for estimated credit losses related to loans sold to investors. As of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, the total reserve for losses on residential mortgage loans sold was $2.4 million and $2.1 million, respectively, including reserves for both representation and warranty and credit loss exposures.

Legal Proceedings

The Corporation is involved in various pending and threatened claims and other legal proceedings in the ordinary course of its business activities. The Corporation evaluates the possible impact of these matters, taking into consideration the most recent information available. A loss reserve is established for those matters for which the Corporation believes a loss is both probable and reasonably estimable. Once established, the reserve is adjusted as appropriate to reflect any subsequent developments. Actual losses with respect to any such matter may be more or less than the amount estimated by the Corporation. For matters where a loss is not probable, or the amount of the loss cannot be reasonably estimated by the Corporation, no loss reserve is established.

In addition, from time to time, the Corporation is involved in investigations or other forms of regulatory or governmental inquiry covering a range of possible issues and, in some cases, these may be part of similar reviews of the specified activities of other companies. These inquiries or investigations could lead to administrative, civil or criminal proceedings involving the Corporation, and could result in fines, penalties, restitution, other types of sanctions, or the need for the Corporation to undertake remedial actions, or to alter its business, financial or accounting practices. The Corporation’s practice is to cooperate fully with regulatory and governmental inquiries and investigations.

As of the date of this report, the Corporation believes that any liabilities, individually or in the aggregate, which may result from the final outcomes of pending legal proceedings, or regulatory or governmental inquiries or investigations, will not have a material adverse effect on the financial condition of the Corporation. However, legal proceedings, inquiries and investigations are often unpredictable, and it is possible that the ultimate resolution of any such matters, if unfavorable, may be material to the Corporation’s

results of operations in any future period, depending, in part, upon the size of the loss or liability imposed and the operating results for the that period, and could have a material adverse effect on the Corporation’s business. In addition, regardless of the ultimate outcome of any such legal proceeding, inquiry or investigation, any such matter could cause the Corporation to incur additional expenses, which could be significant, and possibly material, to the Corporation’s results of operations in any future period.

BSA/AML Consent Order

As of March 31, 2019, the Corporation and its bank subsidiary, Lafayette Ambassador Bank, were subject to a Cease and Desist Order Issued Upon Consent ("Consent Order") issued on September 4, 2014 by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System relating to identified deficiencies in the Corporation’s centralized Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering compliance program (the "BSA/AML Compliance Program"), which was designed to comply with the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act, the USA Patriot Act of 2001 and related anti-money laundering regulations (collectively, the "BSA/AML Requirements"). The Consent Order requires, among other things, that the Corporation and Lafayette Ambassador Bank undertake a number of required actions to strengthen and enhance the BSA/AML Compliance Program, and conduct a retrospective review of past account activity and transactions to determine whether suspicious activity was properly identified and reported in accordance with the BSA/AML Requirements. The Corporation and Lafayette Ambassador Bank have implemented numerous enhancements to the BSA/AML Compliance Program, completed the retrospective review required under the Consent Order, and continue to strengthen and refine the BSA/AML Compliance Program to achieve a sustainable program in accordance with the BSA/AML Requirements. In addition to requiring strengthening and enhancement of the BSA/AML Compliance Program, while the Consent Order remains in effect, the Corporation and Lafayette Ambassador Bank are subject to certain restrictions on expansion activities. Further, any failure to comply with the requirements of the Consent Order could result in further enforcement actions, the imposition of material restrictions on the activities of the Corporation or Lafayette Ambassador Bank, or the assessment of fines or penalties.

Fair Lending Investigation

During the second quarter of 2015, Fulton Bank, N.A., the Corporation’s largest bank subsidiary, received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice (the "Department") indicating that the Department had initiated an investigation regarding potential violations of fair lending laws (specifically, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act) by Fulton Bank, N.A. in certain geographies. Fulton Bank, N.A. has been and is cooperating with the Department and responding to the Department’s requests for information. During the third quarter of 2016, the Department informed the Corporation, Fulton Bank, N.A., and three of the Corporation’s other bank subsidiaries, Fulton Bank of New Jersey, The Columbia Bank and Lafayette Ambassador Bank, that the Department was expanding its investigation of potential lending discrimination on the basis of race and national origin to encompass additional geographies that were not included in the initial letter from the Department. In addition to requesting information concerning the lending activities of these bank subsidiaries, the Department also requested information concerning the Corporation and the residential mortgage lending activities conducted under the Fulton Mortgage Company brand, the trade name used by all of the Corporation’s bank subsidiaries for residential mortgage lending. The investigation relates to lending activities during the period January 1, 2009 to the present. The Corporation and the identified bank subsidiaries are cooperating with the Department and responding to the Department’s requests for information. The Corporation and its bank subsidiaries are not able at this time to determine the terms on which this investigation will be resolved or the timing of such resolution. Should the investigation result in an enforcement action against the Corporation or its bank subsidiaries, or a settlement with the Department, the ability of the Corporation and its bank subsidiaries to engage in certain expansion or other activities may be restricted.

SEC Investigation

The Corporation is responding to an investigation by the staff of the Division of Enforcement of the SEC regarding certain accounting determinations that could have impacted the Corporation’s reported earnings per share. The Corporation believes that its financial statements filed with the SEC in Forms 10-K and 10-Q present fairly, in all material respects, its financial condition, results of operations and cash flows as of or for the periods ending on their respective dates. The Corporation is cooperating fully with the SEC and at this time cannot predict when or how the investigation will be resolved.