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Commitments, Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements, Legal Proceedings and Regulatory Matters
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments, Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements, Legal Proceedings and Regulatory Matters Commitments, Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements, Legal Proceedings and Regulatory Matters
The Corporation utilizes a variety of financial instruments in the normal course of business to meet the financial needs of its customers and to manage its own exposure to fluctuations in interest rates. These financial instruments include lending-related and other commitments (see below) as well as derivative instruments (see Note 10). The following is a summary of lending-related commitments:
 
March 31, 2019
December 31, 2018
 
($ in Thousands)
Commitments to extend credit, excluding commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale(a)(b)
$
8,687,001

$
8,720,293

Commercial letters of credit(a)
6,192

7,599

Standby letters of credit(c)
256,389

255,904


(a) These off-balance sheet financial instruments are exercisable at the market rate prevailing at the date the underlying transaction will be completed and, thus, are deemed to have no current fair value, or the fair value is based on fees currently charged to enter into similar agreements and is not material at March 31, 2019 or December 31, 2018.
(b) Interest rate lock commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale are considered derivative instruments and are disclosed in Note 10.
(c) The Corporation has established a liability of $2 million at both March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, as an estimate of the fair value of these financial instruments.
Lending-related Commitments
As a financial services provider, the Corporation routinely enters into commitments to extend credit. Such commitments are subject to the same credit policies and approval process accorded to loans made by the Corporation, with each customer’s creditworthiness evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require the payment of a fee. The Corporation’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to these financial instruments is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary by the Corporation upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the customer. Since a significant portion of commitments to extend credit are subject to specific restrictive loan covenants or may expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash flow requirements. An allowance for unfunded commitments is maintained at a level believed by management to be sufficient to absorb estimated probable losses related to unfunded commitments (including unfunded loan commitments and
letters of credit). The allowance for unfunded commitments totaled $26 million at March 31, 2019 and $24 million at December 31, 2018, and is included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.
Lending-related commitments include commitments to extend credit, commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale, commercial letters of credit, and standby letters of credit. Commitments to extend credit are legally binding agreements to lend to customers at predetermined interest rates, as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contracts. Interest rate lock commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale and forward commitments to sell residential mortgage loans are considered derivative instruments, and the fair value of these commitments is recorded on the consolidated balance sheets. The Corporation’s derivative and hedging activity is further described in Note 10. Commercial and standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Commercial letters of credit are issued specifically to facilitate commerce and typically result in the commitment being drawn on when the underlying transaction is consummated between the customer and the third party, while standby letters of credit generally are contingent upon the failure of the customer to perform according to the terms of the underlying contract with the third party.
Other Commitments
The Corporation invests in qualified affordable housing projects, federal and state historic projects, and new market projects for the purpose of community reinvestment and obtaining tax credits and other tax benefits. Return on the Corporation's investment in these projects comes in the form of the tax credits and tax losses that pass through to the Corporation. The aggregate carrying value of these investments at March 31, 2019 was $169 million, compared to $136 million at December 31, 2018, included in investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries on the consolidated balance sheets. The Corporation utilizes the proportional amortization method to account for investments in qualified affordable housing projects.
Under the proportional amortization method, the Corporation amortizes the initial cost of the investment in proportion to the tax credits and other tax benefits. The Corporation recognized additional income tax expense attributable to the amortization of investments in qualified affordable housing projects of $5 million for both the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. The Corporation's remaining investment in qualified affordable housing projects accounted for under the proportional amortization method totaled $160 million at March 31, 2019 and $132 million at December 31, 2018.
The Corporation’s unfunded equity contributions relating to investments in qualified affordable housing, federal and state historic projects, and new market projects are recorded in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. The Corporation’s remaining unfunded equity contributions totaled $73 million and $51 million at March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively.
For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and the year ended December 31, 2018, the Corporation did not record any impairment related to qualified affordable housing investments.
The Corporation has principal investment commitments to provide capital-based financing to private and public companies through either direct investments in specific companies or through investment funds and partnerships. The timing of future cash requirements to fund such principal investment commitments is generally dependent on the investment cycle, whereby privately held companies are funded by private equity investors and ultimately sold, merged, or taken public through an initial offering, which can vary based on overall market conditions, as well as the nature and type of industry in which the companies operate. The Corporation also invests in loan pools that support CRA loans. The timing of future cash requirements to fund these pools is dependent upon loan demand, which can vary over time. The aggregate carrying value of these investments was $25 million at both March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, included in investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries on the consolidated balance sheets.
Legal Proceedings
The Corporation is party to various pending and threatened claims and legal proceedings arising in the normal course of business activities, some of which involve claims for substantial amounts. Although there can be no assurance as to the ultimate outcomes, the Corporation believes it has meritorious defenses to the claims asserted against it in its currently outstanding matters, including the matters described below, and with respect to such legal proceedings, intends to continue to defend itself vigorously. The Corporation will consider settlement of cases when, in management’s judgment, it is in the best interests of both the Corporation and its shareholders.
On at least a quarterly basis, the Corporation assesses its liabilities and contingencies in connection with all pending or threatened claims and litigation, utilizing the most recent information available. On a matter by matter basis, an accrual for loss is established for those matters which the Corporation believes it is probable that a loss may be incurred and that the amount of such loss can be reasonably estimated. Once established, each accrual is adjusted as appropriate to reflect any subsequent
developments. Accordingly, management’s estimate will change from time to time, and actual losses may be more or less than the current estimate. For matters where a loss is not probable, or the amount of the loss cannot be estimated, no accrual is established.
Resolution of legal claims is inherently unpredictable, and in many legal proceedings various factors exacerbate this inherent unpredictability, including where the damages sought are unsubstantiated or indeterminate, it is unclear whether a case brought as a class action will be allowed to proceed on that basis, discovery is not complete, the proceeding is not yet in its final stages, the matters present legal uncertainties, there are significant facts in dispute, there are a large number of parties (including where it is uncertain how liability, if any, will be shared among multiple defendants), or there is a wide range of potential results.
The Corporation does not believe it is presently subject to any legal proceedings the resolution of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flows.
Regulatory Matters
A variety of consumer products, including mortgage and deposit products, and certain fees and charges related to such products, have come under increased regulatory scrutiny. It is possible that regulatory authorities could bring enforcement actions, including civil money penalties, or take other actions against the Corporation and the Bank in regard to these consumer products. The Bank could also determine of its own accord, or be required by regulators, to refund or otherwise make remediation payments to customers in connection with these products. It is not possible at this time for management to assess the probability of a material adverse outcome or reasonably estimate the amount of any potential loss related to such matters.
Mortgage Repurchase Reserve
The Corporation sells residential mortgage loans to investors in the normal course of business. Residential mortgage loans sold to others are predominantly conventional residential first lien mortgages originated under the Corporation's usual underwriting procedures, and are most often sold on a nonrecourse basis, primarily to the GSEs. The Corporation’s agreements to sell residential mortgage loans in the normal course of business usually require certain representations and warranties on the underlying loans sold, related to credit information, loan documentation, collateral, and insurability. Subsequent to being sold, if a material underwriting deficiency or documentation defect is discovered, the Corporation may be obligated to repurchase the loan or reimburse the GSEs for losses incurred (collectively, “make whole requests”). The make whole requests and any related risk of loss under the representations and warranties are largely driven by borrower performance.
As a result of make whole requests, the Corporation has repurchased loans with principal balances of approximately $305 thousand during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and $2 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The loss reimbursement and settlement claims paid for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and for the year ended December 31, 2018 were negligible. Make whole requests during 2018 and the first three months of 2019 generally arose from loans sold during the period of January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2018. Since January 1, 2012, loans sold totaled $11.3 billion at the time of sale, and consisted primarily of loans sold to GSEs. As of March 31, 2019, approximately $7.3 billion of these sold loans remain outstanding.

The balance in the mortgage repurchase reserve at the balance sheet date reflects the estimated amount of potential loss the Corporation could incur from repurchasing a loan, as well as loss reimbursements, indemnifications, and other settlement resolutions. The following summarizes the changes in the mortgage repurchase reserve for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and for the year ended December 31, 2018:
 
Three Months Ended March 31, 2019
 
Year Ended December 31, 2018
 
($ in Thousands)
Balance at beginning of period
$
752

 
$
987

Repurchase provision expense
48

 
345

Adjustments to provision expense

 
(450
)
Charge offs, net
(70
)
 
(218
)
Amount recorded at acquisition

 
88

Balance at end of period
$
730

 
$
752


The Corporation may also sell residential mortgage loans with limited recourse (limited in that the recourse period ends prior to the loan’s maturity, usually after certain time and / or loan paydown criteria have been met), whereby repurchase could be required if the loan had defined delinquency issues during the limited recourse periods. At March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, there were approximately $31 million and $47 million, respectively, of residential mortgage loans sold with such
recourse risk. There have been limited instances and immaterial historical losses on repurchases for recourse under the limited recourse criteria.
The Corporation has a subordinate position to the FHLB in the credit risk on residential mortgage loans it sold to the FHLB in exchange for a monthly credit enhancement fee. The Corporation has not sold loans to the FHLB with such credit risk retention since February 2005. At March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, there were $54 million and $57 million, respectively, of such residential mortgage loans with credit risk recourse, upon which there have been negligible historical losses to the Corporation.