Commitments, Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements, and Contingent Liabilities

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) and derivative instruments (see Note 11). The following is a summary of lending-related commitments.



	March 31, 2015		December 31, 2014
	($ in Thousands)
Commitments to extend credit, excluding commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale(1)(2)	$	6,362,769	$	6,884,411
Commercial letters of credit (1)	11,938		9,179
Standby letters of credit (3)	333,716		353,292


⁽¹⁾	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, 2015 or December 31, 2014.


⁽²⁾	Interest rate lock commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale are considered derivative instruments and are disclosed in Note 11.


⁽³⁾	The Corporation has established a liability of $3 million at March 31, 2015 compared to $4 million at December 31, 2014, 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 $25 million at both March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, and is included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. See Note 7 for additional information on the allowance for unfunded commitments.

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 11. 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 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 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 low-income housing, small-business commercial real estate, new market tax credit projects, and historic tax credit projects to promote the revitalization of low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods throughout the local communities of its bank subsidiary. As a limited partner in these unconsolidated projects, the Corporation is allocated tax credits and deductions associated with the underlying projects. The aggregate carrying value of these investments at March 31, 2015 was $41 million, compared to $27 million at December 31, 2014, included in other assets on the consolidated balance sheets. Related to these investments, the Corporation had remaining commitments to fund of $28 million at both March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014.

Contingent Liabilities

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 current 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.

A lawsuit, R.J. ZAYED v. Associated Bank, N.A., was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota on January 29, 2013. The lawsuit relates to a Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Oxford Global Partners and related entities (“Oxford”) and individuals and was brought by the receiver for Oxford. Oxford was a depository customer of the Bank. The lawsuit claims that the Bank is liable for failing to uncover the Oxford Ponzi scheme, and specifically alleges the Bank aided and abetted (1) the fraudulent scheme; (2) a breach of fiduciary duty; (3) conversion; and (4) false representations and omissions. The lawsuit seeks unspecified consequential and punitive damages. The District Court granted the Bank’s motion to dismiss the complaint on September 30, 2013. On March 2, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the District Court and remanded the case back to the District Court for further proceedings. It is not possible for management to assess the probability of a material adverse outcome or reasonably estimate the amount of any potential loss at this time. A lawsuit by investors in the same Ponzi scheme, Herman Grad, et al v. Associated Bank, N.A., brought in Brown County, Wisconsin in October 2009 was dismissed by the circuit court, and the dismissal was affirmed by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in June 2011 in an unpublished opinion.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) is investigating the Bank’s compliance with fair housing laws, particularly from the period 2008 to 2011. There are several possible outcomes from this matter, including administrative or court proceedings, or a conciliation agreement with HUD. The Corporation believes it has been in compliance in all material respects with all applicable laws and regulations related to fair housing. 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 investigation by HUD.

Beginning in late 2013, the Corporation began reviewing a variety of legacy products provided by third parties, including debt protection and identity protection products. In connection with this review, the Corporation has made, and plans to make, remediation payments to affected customers and former customers, and has reserved accordingly.

Debt protection and identity protection products have recently received increased regulatory scrutiny, and it is possible that regulatory authorities could bring enforcement actions, including civil money penalties, or take other actions against the Corporation in regard to these legacy 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 this matter.

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 our 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 $800,000 and $5 million during the three months ended March 31, 2015 and the year ended December 31, 2014, respectively, and paid loss reimbursement or settlement claims of approximately $6,000 and $734,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2015 and the year ended December 31, 2014, respectively. The Corporation had a mortgage repurchase reserve for potential claims on loans previously sold of $2 million at March 31, 2015, compared to $3 million at December 31, 2014. Make whole requests during 2014 and the first three months of 2015 generally arose from loans sold during the period January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2014, which totaled $18.9 billion at the time of sale, and consisted primarily of loans sold to GSEs. As of March 31, 2015, approximately $7.5 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, 2015			For The Year Ended December 31, 2014
	($ in Thousands)
Balance at beginning of period	$	3,258		$	5,737
Repurchase provision expense	128			505
Adjustments to provision expense	(950		)	(2,250		)
(Charge offs) recoveries	45			(734		)
Balance at end of period	$	2,481		$	3,258

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, 2015 and December 31, 2014, there were approximately $52 million and $46 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, 2015 and December 31, 2014, there were $167 million and $178 million, respectively, of such residential mortgage loans with credit risk recourse, upon which there have been negligible historical losses to the Corporation.