Summary of Significant Accounting and Reporting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Summary of Significant Accounting and Reporting Policies

Nature of Operations

Nature of Operations

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (“Hilltop” and, collectively with its subsidiaries, the “Company”) is a financial holding company registered under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. The Company’s primary line of business is to provide business and consumer banking services from offices located throughout Texas through PlainsCapital Bank (the “Bank”). In addition, the Company provides an array of financial products and services through its broker-dealer, mortgage origination and insurance subsidiaries.

The Company provides its products and services through three primary operating subsidiaries, PlainsCapital Corporation (“PlainsCapital”), Hilltop Securities Holdings LLC (“Hilltop Securities”) and National Lloyds Corporation (“NLC”). PlainsCapital is a financial holding company, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that provides, through its subsidiaries, traditional banking services, wealth and investment management and treasury management primarily in Texas and residential mortgage lending throughout the United States. Hilltop Securities is a holding company, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that provides, through its subsidiaries, investment banking and other related financial services, including municipal advisory, sales, trading and underwriting of taxable and tax-exempt fixed income securities, equity trading, clearing, securities lending, structured finance and retail brokerage services throughout the United States. NLC is a property and casualty insurance holding company, headquartered in Waco, Texas, that provides, through its subsidiaries, fire and homeowners insurance to low value dwellings and manufactured homes primarily in Texas and other areas of the southern United States.

On January 1, 2015, Hilltop completed its acquisition of SWS Group, Inc. (“SWS”) in a stock and cash transaction, whereby SWS merged with and into Hilltop Securities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop initially formed for the purpose of facilitating this transaction (the “SWS Merger”). SWS’s broker-dealer subsidiaries, Southwest Securities (“Southwest Securities”) and SWS Financial Services, Inc. (“SWS Financial”), became subsidiaries of Hilltop Securities. Immediately following the SWS Merger, SWS’s banking subsidiary, Southwest Securities, FSB (“SWS FSB”), was merged into the Bank, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop. As a result of the SWS Merger, each outstanding share of SWS common stock was converted into the right to receive 0.2496 shares of Hilltop common stock and $1.94 in cash, equating to $6.92 per share based on Hilltop’s closing price on December 31, 2014 and resulting in an aggregate purchase price of $349.1 million, consisting of 10.1 million shares of common stock, $78.2 million in cash and $70.3 million associated with Hilltop’s existing investment in SWS common stock. Additionally, due to appraisal rights proceedings filed in connection with the SWS Merger, the merger consideration is subject to change, and is therefore, preliminary as of the date of this report. Based on preliminary purchase date valuations, the fair value of the assets acquired was $3.3 billion, including $707.5 million in securities, $863.8 million in non-covered loans and $1.2 billion in broker-dealer and clearing organization receivables. The fair value of liabilities assumed was $2.9 billion, consisting primarily of deposits of $1.3 billion and $1.1 billion in broker-dealer and clearing organization payables.

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”), and in conformity with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). In the opinion of management, these financial statements contain all adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the results of the interim periods presented. Accordingly, the financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 (“2014 Form 10-K”). Results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for a full year or any future period.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Estimates regarding the allowance for loan losses, the fair values of financial instruments, the amounts receivable under the loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) (“FDIC Indemnification Asset”), reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses, the mortgage loan indemnification liability, and the potential impairment of assets are particularly subject to change. The Company has applied its critical accounting policies and estimation methods consistently in all periods presented in these consolidated financial statements. As discussed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the SWS Merger purchase date valuations associated with loans, intangibles and taxes are considered preliminary because management’s review and approval of certain key assumptions is not complete.

Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior period consolidated financial statements to conform with the current period presentation.

Hilltop owns 100% of the outstanding stock of PlainsCapital. PlainsCapital owns 100% of the outstanding stock of the Bank and 100% of the membership interest in PlainsCapital Equity, LLC. The Bank owns 100% of the outstanding stock of PrimeLending, a PlainsCapital Company (“PrimeLending”), PCB-ARC, Inc. and RGV-ARC, Inc. and has a 100% membership interest in PlainsCapital Securities, LLC.

PrimeLending owns a 100% membership interest in PrimeLending Ventures Management, LLC, the controlling and sole managing member of PrimeLending Ventures, LLC (“Ventures”).

Hilltop has a 100% membership interest in Hilltop Securities, which operates through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, First Southwest Holdings, LLC (“First Southwest”), Southwest Securities and SWS Financial (collectively, the “Hilltop Broker-Dealers”). The principal subsidiaries of First Southwest are First Southwest Company, LLC (“FSC”), a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and a member of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), and First Southwest Asset Management, LLC, a registered investment advisor under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940. Southwest Securities is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and FINRA and a member of the NYSE, and SWS Financial is an introducing broker-dealer that is also registered with the SEC and FINRA.

Hilltop also owns 100% of NLC, which operates through its wholly owned subsidiaries, National Lloyds Insurance Company (“NLIC”) and American Summit Insurance Company (“ASIC”).

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the above-named entities. All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated. Noncontrolling interests have been recorded for minority ownership in entities that are not wholly owned and are presented in compliance with the provisions of Noncontrolling Interest in Subsidiary Subsections of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”).

PlainsCapital also owns 100% of the outstanding common securities of PCC Statutory Trusts I, II, III and IV (the “Trusts”), which are not included in the consolidated financial statements under the requirements of the Variable Interest Entities Subsections of the ASC, because the primary beneficiaries of the Trusts are not within the consolidated group.