Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES [Abstract]  
The Company

The Company

Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation (Nasdaq: AUB) is the holding company for Atlantic Union Bank. Atlantic Union Bank has 130 branches and approximately 150 ATMs located throughout Virginia, and in portions of Maryland and North Carolina. Certain non-bank financial services affiliates of Atlantic Union Bank include: Atlantic Union Equipment Finance, Inc., which provides equipment financing; Dixon, Hubard, Feinour & Brown, Inc., which provides investment advisory services; Atlantic Union Financial Consultants, LLC, which provides brokerage services; and Union Insurance Group, LLC, which offers various lines of insurance products.

Effective March 1, 2021, Middleburg Financial, the Bank’s wealth management division was rebranded to Atlantic Union Bank Wealth Management, and Middleburg Investment Services, LLC changed its name to Atlantic Union Financial Consultants, LLC.

Effective October 1, 2021, Old Dominion Capital Management, Inc., and its subsidiary, Outfitter Advisors, Ltd., merged with and into DHFB, as part of an internal reorganization to streamline operations. Old Dominion Capital Management operates as a division of DHFB.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. The unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP for interim financial information and follow general practice within the banking industry. Accordingly, the unaudited consolidated financial statements do not include all the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements; however, in the opinion of management all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the results of the interim periods presented have been made. The results of operations for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year or any other period.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s 2020 Form 10-K. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to current period presentation.

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

In March 2020, the FASB issued Topic 848. This guidance provides temporary, optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform associated with the LIBOR transition. LIBOR and other interbank offered rates are widely used benchmark or reference rates that have been used in the valuation of loans, derivatives, and other financial contracts. Topic 848 provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying GAAP to contract modifications and hedging relationships, subject to meeting certain criteria, that reference LIBOR or another reference rate expected to be discontinued. Topic 848 is intended to help stakeholders during the global market-wide reference rate transition period. The amendments are effective as of March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022 and can be adopted at an instrument level. As of March 31, 2021, the Company utilized the expedient to assert probability of the hedged interest, regardless of any expected modification in terms related to reference rate reform for the newly executed cash flow hedges. The Company expects to incorporate other components of Topic 848 at a later date. This amendment does not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

On January 1, 2021, the Company adopted Topic 740. This guidance was issued to simplify accounting for income taxes by removing specific technical exceptions that often produce information difficult for users of financial statements to understand. The amendments also improve consistent application of and simplify GAAP for other areas of Topic 740 by clarifying and amending existing guidance. The Company’s adoption of Topic 740 did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash and Cash Equivalents

For purposes of reporting cash flows, the Company defines cash and cash equivalents as cash, cash due from banks, interest-bearing deposits in other banks, money market investments, other interest-bearing deposits, and federal funds sold.

Restricted cash is disclosed in Note 7 “Commitments and Contingencies” and is comprised of cash maintained at various correspondent banks as collateral for the Company’s derivative portfolio and is included in interest-bearing deposits in other banks in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. In addition, the Company is required to maintain reserve balances with the Federal Reserve Bank based on the type and amount of deposits; however, on March 15, 2020 the Federal Reserve announced that reserve requirement ratios would be reduced to zero percent effective March 26, 2020 due to economic conditions, which eliminated the reserve requirement for all depository institutions.

Accrued Interest Receivable

Accrued Interest Receivable

The Company has elected to exclude accrued interest from the amortized cost basis in its determination of the ALLL, as well as the ACL reserve for securities. Accrued interest receivable totaled $46.2 million and $56.7 million on loans held for investment, $5.1 million and $6.8 million on HTM securities, and $13.0 million and $11.9 million on AFS securities at September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively, and is included in “Other Assets” on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company’s policy is to write off accrued interest receivable through reversal of interest income when it becomes probable the Company will not be able to collect the accrued interest. For the quarters ended September 30, 2021 and September 30, 2020, accrued interest receivable write offs were not material to the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Segment Reporting

Segment Reporting

Operating segments are components of a business about which separate financial information is available and evaluated regularly by the chief operating decision makers in deciding how to allocate resources and assessing performance.  The Bank is the Company’s only reportable operating segment upon which management makes decisions regarding how to allocate resources and assess performance.  While the Company’s chief operating decision makers do have some limited financial information about its various financial products and services, that information is not complete since it does not include a full allocation of revenue, costs, and capital from key corporate functions; therefore, the Company evaluates financial performance on the Company-wide basis.  Management continues to evaluate these business units for separate reporting as facts and circumstances change.