Basis of Presentation and Informational Disclosures (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2024

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (the “Company” or “NWBI”), a Maryland corporation headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, is a bank holding company regulated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“FRB”). The primary activity of the Company is the ownership of all of the issued and outstanding common stock of Northwest Bank, a Pennsylvania-chartered savings bank (“Northwest”). Northwest is regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and the Pennsylvania Department of Banking. Northwest operates 139 community-banking offices throughout Pennsylvania, Western New York, Eastern Ohio, and Indiana.

The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiary, Northwest, and Northwest’s subsidiaries Northwest Capital Group, Inc., Great Northwest Corporation, and Mutual Federal Interest Company, Inc. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions for Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information or footnotes required for complete annual financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary for the fair presentation of the Company’s financial position and results of operations have been included. The Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared using the accounting policies described in the financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 updated, as required, for any new pronouncements or changes.

Reclassifications

Certain items previously reported have been reclassified to conform to the current year’s reporting format.

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

In March 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2023-02, "Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323): Accounting for Investments in Tax Credit Structures Using the Proportional Amortization Method." This ASU allows reporting entities to elect to account for qualifying tax equity investments using the proportional amortization method, regardless of the program giving rise to the related income tax credits. Entities must make an accounting policy election to apply the proportional amortization method on a tax credit-program-by-tax-credit-program basis. The ASU’s amendments also remove the specialized guidance for low-income-housing tax credit ("LIHTC") investments that are not accounted for using the proportional amortization method and instead require that those LIHTC investments be accounted for using the guidance in other accounting standards. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, with early adoption permitted. This ASU is applied on a modified retrospective or retrospective basis with the amendments to remove the specialized guidance for LIHTCs also being able to be applied on a prospective basis. This guidance was adopted on January 1, 2024 and did not have a material impact to the Company's financial statements.