Securities (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Allowance for Credit Losses on Securities

Effective January 1, 2020, the Corporation has modified its accounting policy for the assessment of available for sale debt securities for impairment. The updated policy is detailed below.

The Corporation has made an accounting policy election to exclude accrued interest from the amortized cost basis of debt securities and reports accrued interest separately in other assets in the Unaudited Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Corporation also excludes accrued interest from the estimate of credit losses. Accrued interest receivable on available for sale debt securities totaled $2.8 million and $2.9 million, respectively, as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019.

A debt security is placed on nonaccrual status at the time any principal or interest payments become more than 90 days delinquent or if full collection of interest or principal becomes uncertain. Accrued interest for a debt security placed on nonaccrual is reversed against interest income. There were no debt securities on nonaccrual status and therefore there was no accrued interest related to debt securities reversed against interest income for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019.

For available for sale debt securities in an unrealized loss position, management first assesses whether the Corporation intends to sell, or if it is likely that the Corporation will be required to sell the security before recovery of its amortized cost basis. If either of the criteria regarding intent or requirement to sell is met, the security’s amortized cost basis is written down to fair value through a provision for credit losses charge to earnings. For debt securities available for sale that do not meet either these criteria, management evaluates whether the decline in fair value has resulted from credit losses or other factors. In making this

assessment, management considers both quantitative and qualitative factors.

A substantial portion of available for sale debt securities held by the Corporation are obligations issued by U.S. government agency and U.S. government-sponsored enterprises, including mortgage-backed securities. These securities are either explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the U.S. government, are highly rated by major credit rating agencies and have a long history of no credit losses. For these securities, management takes into consideration the long history of no credit losses and other factors to assess the risk of nonpayment even if the U.S. government were to default. As such, the Corporation has elected the practical expedient of a zero loss estimate due to credit for these securities. For available for sale debt securities that are not guaranteed by U.S. government agencies and U.S. government-sponsored enterprises, such as individual name issuer trust preferred debt securities and corporate bonds, management utilizes a third party credit modeling tool based on observable market data, which assists management in identifying any potential credit risk associated with its available for sale debt securities. This model estimates probability of default, loss given default and exposure at default for each security. In addition, qualitative factors are also considered, including the extent to which fair value is less than amortized cost, changes to the credit rating of the security by a rating agency, and adverse conditions specifically related to the security, among other factors. If a credit loss exists based on the results of this assessment, an ACL (contra asset) is recorded, limited by the amount that the fair value is less than the amortized cost basis. Any impairment that has not been recorded through an ACL is considered market-related and is recognized in other comprehensive income, net of taxes.

Changes in the ACL on available for sale debt securities are recorded as provision for (or reversal of) credit losses. Losses are charged against the ACL when management believes the uncollectibility of an available for sale debt security is confirmed or when either of the criteria regarding intent or requirement to sell is met.