Allowance for Credit Losses on Loans (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Receivables [Abstract]

Allowance for Credit Losses on Loans

Effective January 1, 2020, the Corporation has modified its accounting policy for the ACL on loans. The updated policy is detailed below.

The Corporation has made an accounting policy election to exclude accrued interest from the amortized cost basis of loans 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 loans totaled $11.2 million and $11.0 million, respectively, as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019.

The ACL on loans is management’s estimate of expected credit losses over the expected life of the loans at the reporting date.  The ACL on loans is increased through a provision for credit losses recognized in the Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Income and by recoveries of amounts previously charged-off. The ACL on loans is reduced by charge-offs on loans.  Loan charge-offs are recognized when management believes the collectability of the principal balance outstanding is unlikely.  Full or partial charge-offs on collateral dependent individually analyzed loans are generally recognized when the collateral is deemed to be insufficient to support the carrying value of the loan.

The level of the ACL on loans is based on management’s ongoing review of all relevant information, from internal and external sources, relating to past events, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Historical credit loss experience provides the basis for the calculation of loss given default and the estimation of expected credit losses. As discussed further below, adjustments to historical information are made for differences in specific risk characteristics, such as differences in underwriting standards, portfolio mix, delinquency level, or term, as well as for changes in environmental conditions, that may not be reflected in historical loss rates.

Management employs a process and methodology to estimate the ACL on loans that evaluates both quantitative and qualitative factors. The methodology for evaluating quantitative factors consists of two basic components. The first component involves

pooling loans into portfolio segments for loans that share similar risk characteristics. Pooled loan portfolio segments include commercial real estate (including commercial construction), commercial and industrial, residential real estate (including homeowner construction), home equity and other consumer loans. The second component involves individually analyzed loans that do not share similar risk characteristics with loans that are pooled into portfolio segments. Individually analyzed loans include nonaccrual commercial loans, loans classified as troubled debt restructured loans and certain other loans based on the underlying risk characteristics and the discretion of management to individually analyze such loans.

For loans that are individually analyzed, the ACL is measured using a discounted cash flow method based upon the loan’s contractual effective interest rate, or at the loan’s observable market price, or, if the loan is collateral dependent, at the fair value of the collateral. Factors management considers when measuring the extent of expected credit loss include payment status, collateral value, borrower financial condition, guarantor support and the probability of collecting scheduled principal and interest payments when due. For collateral dependent loans for which repayment is to be provided substantially through the sale of the collateral, management adjusts the fair value for estimated costs to sell. For collateral dependent loans for which repayment is to be provided substantially through the operation of the collateral, such as accruing troubled debt restructured loans, estimated costs to sell are not incorporated into the measurement. Management may also adjust appraised values to reflect estimated market value declines or apply other discounts to appraised values for unobservable factors resulting from its knowledge of circumstances associated with the collateral.

For pooled loans, the Corporation utilizes a discounted cash flow (“DCF”) methodology to estimate credit losses over the expected life of the loan. The life of the loan excludes expected extensions, renewal and modifications, unless 1) the extension or renewal options are included in the original or modified contract terms and not unconditionally cancellable by the Corporation, or 2) management reasonably expects at the reporting date that a troubled debt restructuring will be executed with an individual borrower. The methodology incorporates the probability of default and loss given default, which are identified by default triggers such as past due by 90 or more days, whether a charge-off has occurred, the loan is nonaccrual, the loan has been modified in a troubled debt restructuring or the loan is risk-rated as special mention or classified. The probability of default for the life of the loan is determined by the use of an econometric factor. Management utilizes the national unemployment rate as an econometric factor with a one-year forecast period and one-year straight-line reversion period to the historical mean of its macroeconomic assumption in order to estimate the probability of default for each loan portfolio segment. Utilizing a third party regression model, the forecasted national unemployment rate is correlated with the probability of default for each loan portfolio segment. The DCF methodology combines the probability of default, the loss given default, maturity date and prepayment speeds to estimate a reserve for each loan. The sum of all the loan level reserves are aggregated for each portfolio segment and a loss rate factor is derived.

Quantitative loss factors are also supplemented by certain qualitative risk factors reflecting management’s view of how losses may vary from those represented by quantitative loss rates. These qualitative risk factors include: 1) changes in lending policies and procedures, including changes in underwriting standards and collection, charge-off, and recovery practices not considered elsewhere in estimating credit losses; 2) changes in international, national, regional, and local economic and business conditions and developments that affect the collectability of the portfolio, including the condition of various market segments; 3) changes in the nature and volume of the portfolio and in the terms of loans; 4) changes in the experience, ability, and depth of lending management and other relevant staff; 5) changes in the volume and severity of past due loans, the volume of nonaccrual loans, and the volume and severity of adversely classified or rated loans; 6) changes in the quality of the institution’s loan review system; 7) changes in the value of underlying collateral for collateral dependent loans; 8) the existence and effect of any concentrations of credit, and changes in the level of such concentrations; and 9) the effect of other external factors such as legal and regulatory requirements on the level of estimated credit losses in the institution’s existing portfolio. Qualitative loss factors are applied to each portfolio segment with the amounts determined by historical loan charge-offs of a peer group of similar-sized regional banks.

Because the methodology is based upon historical experience and trends, current economic data, reasonable and supportable forecasts, as well as management’s judgment, factors may arise that result in different estimations. While significant deterioration in the economic forecast due to the COVID-19 pandemic was estimated in the ACL on loans as of March 31, 2020, continued uncertainty regarding the severity and duration of the pandemic and related economic effects will continue to affect the ACL. Deteriorating conditions or assumptions could lead to further increases in the ACL on loans. In addition, various regulatory agencies periodically review the ACL on loans. Such agencies may require additions to the allowance based on their judgments about information available to them at the time of their examination. The ACL on loans is an estimate, and ultimate losses may vary from management’s estimate.