Adoption of New Accounting Standards

In February 2015, the FASB issued revised guidance to simplify the consolidation assessment required to evaluate whether organizations should consolidate certain legal entities such as limited partnerships, limited liability corporations, and securitization structures. The guidance also removed the indefinite deferral of specialized guidance for certain investment funds. The Company adopted ASU No. 2015-02, “Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis” during the first quarter of 2016. The adoption of ASU 2015-02 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.



Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, “Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities.”  This ASU requires an entity to: (i) measure equity investments at fair value through net income, with certain exceptions; (ii) present in OCI the changes in instrument-specific credit risk for financial liabilities measured using the fair value option; (iii) present financial assets and financial liabilities by measurement category and form of financial asset; (iv) calculate the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes based on an exit price and; (v) assess a valuation allowance on deferred tax assets related to unrealized losses of AFS debt securities in combination with other deferred tax assets. The ASU provides an election to subsequently measure certain nonmarketable equity investments at cost less any impairment and adjusted for certain observable price changes. The ASU also requires a qualitative impairment assessment of such equity investments and amends certain fair value disclosure requirements. This ASU is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is only permitted for the provision related to instrument-specific credit risk. The Company is currently assessing the impact ASU 2016-01 will have on its consolidated financial statements.



In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842).”  This ASU requires lessees to put most leases on their balance sheets but recognize expenses in the income statement in a manner similar to today’s accounting. The guidance also eliminates the real estate-specific provisions and changes the guidance on sale-leaseback transactions, initial direct costs and lease executory costs for all entities. For lessors, the standard modifies the classification criteria and the accounting for sales-type and direct financing leases. This ASU is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact ASU 2016-02 will have on its consolidated financial statements.



In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-05, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Effect of Derivative Contract Novations on Existing Hedge Accounting Relationships.” This ASU clarifies that a change in the counterparty to a derivative instrument that has been designated as the hedging instrument in an existing hedging relationship would not, in and of itself, be considered a termination of the derivative instrument or a change in a critical term of the hedging relationship. This ASU is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2016. Early adoption is permitted. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2016-05 to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.



In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-06, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Contingent Put and Call Options in Debt Instruments.”  This ASU clarifies that in assessing whether an embedded contingent put or call option is clearly and  closely related to the debt host, an entity is required to perform only the four-step decision sequence in ASC 815-15-25-42 (as amended by the ASU). The entity does not have to separately assess whether the event that triggers its ability to exercise the contingent option is itself indexed only to interest rates or credit risk. This ASU is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2016. Early adoption is permitted. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2016-06 to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.



In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-07, “Investments – Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323): Simplifying the Transition to the Equity Method of Accounting.” This ASU simplifies the equity method of accounting by eliminating the requirement to retrospectively apply the equity method to an investment that subsequently qualifies for such accounting as a result of an increase in the level of ownership interest or degree of influence. This ASU is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2016. The amendments should be applied prospectively and early adoption is permitted. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2016-07 to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.



In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-08, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Principal versus Agent Considerations (Reporting Revenue Gross versus Net).” This ASU amends the principal-versus-agent implementation guidance and illustrations in the FASB’s new revenue standard (ASU 2014-09) and clarifies that an entity should evaluate whether it is the principal or the agent for each specified good or service promised in a contract with a customer. The ASU has the same effective date as the new revenue standard (as amended by the one-year deferral and the early adoption provisions in ASU 2015-14). In addition, entities are required to adopt the ASU by using the same transition method they used to adopt the new revenue standard. The Company is currently assessing the impact ASU 2016-08 will have on its consolidated financial statements.



In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, “Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting.” This ASU simplifies several aspects of the accounting for employee share-based payment transactions, including the accounting for income taxes, forfeitures, and statutory tax withholding requirements, as well as classification in the statement of cash flows. This ASU is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2016. Early adoption is permitted; however, if the Company elects to early adopt, then all amendments must be adopted in the same period. The Company is currently assessing the impact ASU 2016-09 will have on its consolidated financial statements.



In April 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-10, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Identifying Performance Obligations and Licensing.” This ASU amends certain aspects of the FASB’s new revenue standard, specifically the standard’s guidance on identifying performance obligations and the implementation guidance on licensing. The amendments in this update affect the guidance in ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which is not yet effective. The ASU has the same effective date as the new revenue standard (as amended by the one-year deferral and the early adoption provisions in ASU 2015-14). The Company is currently assessing the impact ASU 2016-10 will have on its consolidated financial statements.

Affordable Housing Entities

The Company invests in private investment funds that make equity investments in multifamily affordable housing properties that provide affordable housing tax credits for these investments. The activities of these entities are financed with a combination of invested equity capital and debt. For the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company recognized amortization of $130,000 and $175,000, respectively, and tax credits of $210,000 and $257,000, respectively, associated with these investments within “Income tax expense” on the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Income.  The carrying value of the Company’s investments in these qualified affordable housing projects was $8.3 million and $8.5 million as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively.  The Company recorded a liability of $5.5 million for the related unfunded commitments as of March 31, 2016, which are expected to be paid from 2016 to 2019.