Recent accounting pronouncements

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2022

Recent accounting pronouncements

Recent accounting pronouncements

Note 16 – Recent accounting pronouncements

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, “Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments.”  The amendments in this ASU, among other things, require the measurement of all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Financial institutions and other organizations will now use forward-looking information to better inform their credit loss estimates. Many of the loss estimation techniques applied today will still be permitted, although the inputs to those techniques will change to reflect the full amount of expected credit losses. In addition, the ASU amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. The FASB has issued multiple updates to ASU 2016-13 as codified in Topic 326, including ASUs 2019-04, 2019-05, 2019-10, 2019-11, 2020-02, and 2020-03. These ASUs have provided for various minor technical corrections and improvements to the codification as well as other transition matters. Smaller reporting companies who file with the SEC and all other entities who do not file with the SEC are required to apply the guidance for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2022. ASC 326, and the associated amendments, will be applied on a modified retrospective basis upon adoption, and the cumulative effect of adopting the new standard will be recorded as an adjustment to opening retained earnings in the period of adoption. The Company created a cross-functional team to prepare for and implement ASC 326. In preparation for ASC 326, the Company has gathered and validated historical loan loss data to ensure its accuracy for purposes of evaluating appropriate segmentation, modeling method, and to ensure its suitability and reliability for purposes of developing an estimate of expected credit losses under ASC 326. The Company has engaged a vendor to assist in the modeling of expected lifetime losses under ASC 326, and is continuing to develop and refine an approach to estimating the allowance for credit losses. The adoption of ASC 326 will result in significant changes to the Company’s consolidated financial statements, which may include changes in the level of the allowance for credit losses that will be considered adequate, a reduction in total equity and regulatory capital of the Bank, differences in the timing of recognizing changes to the allowance for credit losses and expanded disclosures. The Company has not yet determined an estimate of the effect of these changes. The adoption of ASC 326 will result in significant changes in the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting of the allowance for credit losses.

Effective November 25, 2019, the SEC adopted Staff Accounting Bulletin ("SAB") 119. SAB 119 updated portions of SEC interpretative guidance to align with FASB ASC 326, "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses." It covers topics including (1) measuring current expected credit losses; (2) development governance, and documentation of systematic methodology; (3) documenting the results of a systematic methodology; and (4) validating a systematic methodology.

In March 2022, the FASB issued ASU 2022-02 “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326) Trouble Debt Restructurings and Vintage Disclosures.” ASU 2022-02 addresses areas identified by the FASB as part of its post implementation review of the credit losses

standard (ASU 2016-13) that introduced the current expected credit losses (“CECL”) model. The amendments eliminate the accounting guidance for troubled debt restructurings by creditors that have adopted the CECL model and enhance the disclosure requirements for loan refinancings and restructurings made with borrowers experiencing financial difficulty. In addition, the amendments require a public business entity to disclose current-period gross write-offs for financing receivables and net investment in leases by year of origination in the vintage disclosures. The amendments in this ASU should be applied prospectively, except for the transition method related to the recognition and measurement of TDRs, an entity has the option to apply a modified retrospective transition method, resulting in a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings in the period of adoption. For entities that have adopted ASU 2016-13, ASU 2022-02 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within those fiscal years. For entities that have not yet adopted ASU 2016-13, the effective dates for ASU 2022-02 are the same as the effective dates in ASU 2016-13. Early adoption is permitted if an entity has adopted ASU 2016-13. An entity may elect to early adopt the amendments about TDRs and related disclosure enhancements separately from the amendments related to vintage disclosures. The Company is currently assessing the impact that ASU 2022-02 will have on its consolidated financial statements.

In March 2022, the FASB issued ASU 2022-01, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815), Fair Value Hedging—Portfolio Layer Method.” ASU 2022-01 clarifies the guidance in ASC 815 on fair value hedge accounting of interest rate risk for portfolios of financial assets and is intended to better align hedge accounting with an organization’s risk management strategies. In 2017, FASB issued ASU 2017-12 to better align the economic results of risk management activities with hedge accounting. One of the major provisions of that standard was the addition of the last-of-layer hedging method. For a closed portfolio of fixed-rate prepayable financial assets or one or more beneficial interests secured by a portfolio of prepayable financial instruments, such as mortgages or mortgage-backed securities, the last-of-layer method allows an entity to hedge its exposure to fair value changes due to changes in interest rates for a portion of the portfolio that is not expected to be affected by prepayments, defaults, and other events affecting the timing and amount of cash flows. ASU 2022-01 renames that method the portfolio layer method. For public business entities, ASU 2022-01 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, and interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2022-01 to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, “Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting.” These amendments provide temporary optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform. The ASU provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying generally accepted accounting principles to contract modifications and hedging relationships, subject to meeting certain criteria, that reference LIBOR or another reference rate expected to be discontinued. It is intended to help stakeholders during the global market-wide reference rate transition period. The guidance is effective for all entities as of March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022. Subsequently, in January 2021, the FASB issued ASU 2021-01 “Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Scope.”  This ASU clarifies that certain optional expedients and exceptions in Topic 848 for contract modifications and hedge accounting apply to derivatives that are affected by the discounting transition. The ASU also amends the expedients and exceptions in Topic 848 to capture the incremental consequences of the scope clarification and to tailor the existing guidance to derivative instruments affected by the discounting transition. An entity may elect to apply ASU 2021-01 on contract modifications that change the interest rate used for margining, discounting, or contract price alignment retrospectively as of any date from the beginning of the interim period that includes March 12, 2020, or prospectively to new modifications from any date within the interim period that includes or is subsequent to January 7, 2021, up to the date that financial statements are available to be issued. An entity may elect to apply ASU 2021-01 to eligible hedging relationships existing as of the beginning of the interim period that includes March 12, 2020, and to new eligible hedging relationships entered into after the beginning of the interim period that includes March 12, 2020. The Company has a team to assess ASU 2020-04 and its impact on the Company’s transition away from LIBOR for its loan and other financial instruments.