Commitment and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure

Commitments and Contingencies

Truist utilizes a variety of financial instruments to mitigate exposure to risks and meet the financing needs and provide investment opportunities for clients. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit, letters of credit and financial guarantees, derivatives, and other investments. Truist also has commitments to fund certain affordable housing investments and contingent liabilities related to certain sold loans.

Tax Credit and Certain Equity Investments

The following table summarizes certain tax credit and certain equity investments:

(Dollars in millions)	Balance Sheet Location	Mar 31, 2024		Dec 31, 2023
Investments in affordable housing projects and other qualified tax credits:
Carrying amount	Other assets	$	6,907	$	6,754
Amount of future funding commitments included in carrying amount	Other liabilities	2,515		2,473
Lending exposure	Loans and leases for funded amounts	2,044		1,981
Renewable energy investments:
Carrying amount	Other assets	291		285
Amount of future funding commitments not included in carrying amount	NA	744		747
SBIC and certain other equity method investments:
Carrying amount	Other assets	774		758
Amount of future funding commitments not included in carrying amount	NA	560		589

The following table presents a summary of tax credits and amortization expense associated with the Company’s tax credit investment activity. Activity related to the Company’s renewable energy investments, other than qualified tax credits, was immaterial.

		Three Months Ended March 31,
(Dollars in millions)	Income Statement Location	2024		2023
Tax credits:
Investments in affordable housing projects, other qualified tax credits, and other community development investments	Provision for income taxes	$	185	$	157
Amortization and other changes in carrying amount:
Investments in affordable housing projects and other qualified tax credits	Provision for income taxes	$	171	$	148
Other community development investments	Other noninterest income	2		2

Letters of Credit and Financial Guarantees

In the normal course of business, Truist utilizes certain financial instruments to meet the financing needs of clients and to mitigate exposure to risks. Such financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and certain contractual agreements, including standby letters of credit and financial guarantee arrangements.

The following is a summary of selected notional amounts of off-balance sheet financial instruments:

(Dollars in millions)	Mar 31, 2024		Dec 31, 2023
Commitments to extend, originate, or purchase credit and other commitments	$	207,966	$	207,285
Residential mortgage loans sold with recourse	167		173
CRE mortgages serviced for others covered by recourse provisions	9,656		9,661
Other loans serviced for others covered by recourse and other provisions	1,247		1,032
Letters of credit	6,513		6,239

Total Return Swaps

The Company facilitates matched book TRS transactions on behalf of clients, whereby a VIE purchases reference assets identified by a client and the Company enters into a TRS with the VIE, with a mirror-image TRS facing the client. The Company provides senior financing to the VIE in the form of demand notes to fund the purchase of the reference assets. Reference assets are typically fixed income instruments primarily composed of syndicated bank loans. The TRS contracts pass through interest and other cash flows on the reference assets to the third-party clients, along with exposing those clients to decreases in value on the assets and providing them with the rights to appreciation on the assets. The terms of the TRS contracts require the third parties to post initial margin collateral, as well as ongoing margin as the fair values of the underlying reference assets change. The following table provides a summary of the TRS transactions with VIE purchases. VIE assets include trading loans and bonds:

(Dollars in millions)	Mar 31, 2024		Dec 31, 2023
Total return swaps:
VIE assets	$	1,698	$	1,641
Trading loans and bonds	1,645		1,572
VIE liabilities	105		50

The Company concluded that the associated VIEs should be consolidated because the Company has (i) the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of the VIE and (ii) the obligation to absorb losses and the right to receive benefits, which could potentially be significant. The activities of the VIEs are restricted to buying and selling the reference assets, and the risks/benefits of any such assets owned by the VIEs are passed to the third-party clients via the TRS contracts. For additional information on TRS contracts and the related VIEs, see “Note 16. Derivative Financial Instruments.”

Pledged Assets

Certain assets were pledged to secure municipal deposits, securities sold under agreements to repurchase, certain derivative agreements, and borrowings or borrowing capacity, as well as to fund certain obligations related to nonqualified defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans and for other purposes as required or permitted by law. Assets pledged to the FHLB and FRB are subject to applicable asset discounts when determining borrowing capacity. The Company has capacity for secured financing from both the FRB and FHLB and letters of credit from the FHLB. The Company’s letters of credit from the FHLB can be used to secure various client deposits, including public fund relationships. Excluding assets related to nonqualified benefit plans, the majority of the agreements governing the pledged assets do not permit the other party to sell or repledge the collateral. The following table provides the total carrying amount of pledged assets by asset type:

(Dollars in millions)	Mar 31, 2024		Dec 31, 2023
Pledged securities	$	40,105	$	41,270
Pledged loans:
FRB	71,692		73,898
FHLB	66,946		67,748
Unused borrowing capacity:
FRB	53,548		55,252
FHLB	25,031		24,712

Legal Proceedings and Other Matters

Truist and its subsidiaries are routinely named as defendants in or parties to numerous actual or threatened legal proceedings and other matters and are or may be subject to potential liability in connection with them. The legal proceedings and other matters may be formal or informal and include litigation and arbitration with one or more identified claimants, certified or purported class actions with yet-to-be-identified claimants, and regulatory or other governmental information-gathering requests, examinations, investigations, and enforcement proceedings. Claims may be based in law or equity—such as those arising under contracts or in tort and those involving banking, consumer-protection, securities, antitrust, tax, employment, and other laws—and some present novel legal theories, allegations of substantial or indeterminate damages, demands for injunctive or similar relief, and requests for fines, penalties, restitution, or alterations in Truist’s business practices. Our legal proceedings and other matters exist in varying stages of adjudication, arbitration, negotiation, or investigation and span our business lines and operations.

The course and outcome of legal proceedings and other matters are inherently unpredictable. This is especially so when a matter is still in its early stages, the damages sought are indeterminate or unsupported, significant facts are unclear or disputed, novel questions of law or other meaningful legal uncertainties exist, a request to certify a proceeding as a class action is outstanding or granted, multiple parties are named, or regulatory or other governmental entities are involved. As a result, we often are unable to determine how or when actual or threatened legal proceedings and other matters will be resolved and what losses may be incrementally and ultimately incurred. It is possible that the ultimate resolution of these matters, including those described below, if unfavorable, may be material to the consolidated financial position, consolidated results of operations, or consolidated cash flows of Truist, or cause significant reputational consequences.

Truist establishes accruals for legal proceedings and other matters when potential losses become probable and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. Accruals are evaluated each quarter and may be adjusted, upward or downward, based on our best judgment after consultation with counsel and others. No assurance exists that our accruals will not need to be adjusted in the future. Actual losses may be higher or lower than any amounts accrued, possibly to a significant degree.

The Company estimates reasonably possible losses, in excess of amounts accrued, of up to approximately $375 million as of March 31, 2024. This estimate does not represent Truist’s maximum loss exposure, and actual losses may vary significantly. Also, the outcome of a particular matter may be one that the Company did not take into account in its estimate because the Company judged the likelihood of that outcome to be remote. In addition, the matters underlying this estimate may change from time to time. Estimated losses, like accruals, are based upon currently available information and involve considerable uncertainties and judgment.

For certain matters, Truist may be unable to estimate the loss or range of loss, even if it believes that a loss is probable or reasonably possible, until developments in the matter provide additional information sufficient to support such an estimate. These matters are not accrued for and are not reflected in the estimate of reasonably possible losses.

The following is a description of certain legal proceedings and other matters in which Truist is involved:

Bickerstaff v. SunTrust Bank

This class action case was filed in Fulton County State Court on July 12, 2010, and an amended complaint was filed on August 9, 2010. Plaintiff alleges that all overdraft fees charged to his account which related to debit card and ATM transactions are actually interest charges and therefore subject to the usury laws of Georgia. The amended complaint asserts claims for violations of civil and criminal usury laws, conversion, and money had and received, and seeks damages on a class-wide basis, including refunds of challenged overdraft fees and pre-judgment interest. On October 6, 2017, the trial court granted plaintiff’s motion for class certification and defined the class as “Every Georgia citizen who had or has one or more accounts with SunTrust Bank and who, from July 12, 2006, to October 6, 2017 (i) had at least one overdraft of $500.00 or less resulting from an ATM or debit card transaction (the “Transaction”); (ii) paid any Overdraft Fees as a result of the Transaction; and (iii) did not receive a refund of those Fees,” and the granting of a certified class was affirmed on appeal. The class seeks a return of up to $452 million in paid overdraft fees from the 2006 to 2017 period above, plus prejudgment interest which, based on the amount of claimed fees, was estimated to be approximately $407 million as of March 31, 2024. A court-ordered mediation was held on February 28, 2024, but no resolution was reached. On March 4, 2024, the trial court issued an order granting in part and denying in part Truist’s motions to amend the class definition to narrow the scope of the class, to compel arbitration against certain class members, and for summary judgment. Truist and the class filed separate notices of appeal from the trial court’s order, and Truist has filed a notice of cross-appeal. The trial court suspended the previously scheduled trial date of April 29, 2024, related pre-trial deadlines pending appeal.

Recordkeeping Matters

The SEC and CFTC have requested information from various subsidiaries of the Company that conduct broker-dealer, investment adviser, and swap dealer activities regarding compliance with applicable recordkeeping requirements for business-related electronic communications. The Company has cooperated with these requests and is in advanced discussions regarding resolutions of these matters with the agencies though there can be no assurance as to the outcome of these discussions.

Investigation Regarding Trusts

In 2016 and 2018, the Civil Division of the U.S. DOJ issued subpoenas to a corporate predecessor of Truist Bank under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act. These subpoenas requested documents and other information related to specified trusts for which Truist Bank serves as trustee. Truist Bank is continuing to cooperate in the investigation.

FDIC Special Assessment

In November 2023, the FDIC issued a final rule to implement a special assessment to recoup losses to the DIF associated with bank failures in the first half of 2023. The assessment is based on an insured depository institution’s estimated uninsured deposits reported as of December 31, 2022. The special assessment for Truist is $582 million, with $507 million recognized in the fourth quarter of 2023 and an additional $75 million recognized in the first quarter of 2024 due to an increase in the estimated relevant losses to the DIF reported by the FDIC in February 2024. The special assessment will be paid in eight quarterly installments beginning in the second quarter of 2024. The ultimate amount of expenses associated with the special assessment will also be impacted by the finalization of the losses incurred by the FDIC in the resolutions of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which could result in additional expense.