Note 12: Capital

The ability of the Company to pay cash dividends to its stockholders and to service its debt historically was dependent on the receipt of cash dividends from its subsidiaries. However, Busey Bank sustained significant losses during 2008 and 2009 resulting in pressure on its capital, which was relieved through injections of capital from the Company. Under applicable regulatory requirements, an Illinois state-chartered bank such as Busey Bank may not pay dividends in excess of its net profits. Because Busey Bank has been in a retained earnings deficit position since 2009, it has not been able to pay dividends since that time.

With prior approval from its regulators, however, an Illinois state-chartered bank in this situation may be able to reduce its capital stock, by amending its charter to decrease the authorized number of shares, and then make a subsequent distribution to its holding company. Using this approach, and with the approval of its regulators, Busey Bank distributed $50.0 million to the Company on January 22, 2013, and distributed $60.0 million to the Company on October 22, 2014. The Company will continue to evaluate the appropriateness of future capital distributions.

The Company and Busey Bank are subject to regulatory capital requirements administered by federal and state banking agencies that involve the quantitative measure of their assets, liabilities, and certain off-balance-sheet items, as calculated under regulatory accounting practices. Quantitative measures established by regulations to ensure capital adequacy require the Company and Busey Bank to maintain minimum amounts and ratios (set forth in the table below) of total, Tier 1 capital and Common Equity Tier 1 capital (as defined in the regulations) to risk-weighted assets (as defined in the regulations), and, for the Bank, Tier 1 capital (as defined in the regulations) to average assets (as defined in the regulations). Failure to meet minimum capital requirements may cause regulatory bodies to initiate certain discretionary and/or mandatory actions that, if undertaken, may have a direct material effect on our financial statements. The Company, as a financial holding company, is required to be “well capitalized” in the capital categories shown in the table below. As of September 30, 2015, the Company and Busey Bank met all capital adequacy requirements to which they were subject, including the guidelines to be considered “well capitalized.”

					Minimum				Minimum To Be
	Actual				Capital Requirement				Well Capitalized
	Amount		Ratio		Amount		Ratio		Amount		Ratio
	(dollars in thousands)
As of September 30, 2015:
Total Capital (to Risk Weighted Assets)
Consolidated	$	496,409	17.07	%	$	232,628	8.00	%	$	290,785	10.00	%
Busey Bank	$	443,626	15.40	%	$	230,493	8.00	%	$	288,116	10.00	%

Tier 1 Capital (to Risk Weighted Assets)
Consolidated	$	459,497	15.80	%	$	174,471	6.00	%	$	232,628	8.00	%
Busey Bank	$	407,037	14.13	%	$	172,870	6.00	%	$	230,493	8.00	%

Common Equity Tier 1 Capital (to Risk Weighted Assets)
Consolidated	$	335,084	11.52	%	$	130,853	4.50	%	$	189,010	6.50	%
Busey Bank	$	407,037	14.13	%	$	129,653	4.50	%	$	187,276	6.50	%

Tier 1 Capital (to Average Assets)
Consolidated	$	459,497	11.81	%	$	155,655	4.00	%	N/A		N/A
Busey Bank	$	407,037	10.59	%	$	154,322	4.00	%	$	192,903	5.00	%

On July 21, 2010, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) into law, which required the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to establish minimum capital levels for bank holding companies on a consolidated basis that are as stringent as those required for insured depository institutions. The components of Tier 1 capital were restricted to capital instruments that at the time of signing were considered to be Tier 1 capital for insured depository institutions. As a result, the proceeds of trust preferred securities are excluded from Tier 1 capital unless such securities were issued prior to May 19, 2010 by bank holding companies with less than $15.0 billion of assets. As the Company has assets of less than $15.0 billion, it is able to maintain its trust preferred proceeds as Tier 1 capital but it will have to comply with new capital mandates in other respects, and it will not be able to raise Tier 1 capital through the issuance of trust preferred securities in the future.

In July 2013, the U.S. federal banking authorities approved the implementation of the Basel III regulatory capital reforms and issued rules effecting certain changes required by the Dodd-Frank Act (the “Basel III Rules”). The Basel III Rules are applicable to all U.S. banks that are subject to minimum capital requirements, as well as to bank and savings and loan holding companies other than “small bank holding companies” (generally non-public bank holding companies with consolidated assets of less than $1 billion). The Basel III Rules not only increased most of the required minimum regulatory capital ratios, but they also introduced a new Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio and the concept of a capital conservation buffer. The Basel III Rules also expanded the definition of capital as in effect currently by establishing criteria that instruments must meet to be considered Additional Tier 1 Capital (Tier 1 Capital in addition to Common Equity) and Tier 2 Capital. A number of instruments that generally qualified as Tier 1 Capital no longer qualify, or their qualifications changed, as the Basel III Rules are being fully implemented.

The Basel III Rules also permitted banking organizations with less than $15.0 billion in assets to retain, through a one-time election, the past treatment for accumulated other comprehensive income, which did not affect regulatory capital. First Busey and the Bank made this election in the first quarter of 2015 to avoid variations in the level of their capital depending on fluctuations in the fair value of their securities portfolio. The Basel III Rules maintained the general structure of the prompt corrective action framework, while incorporating increased requirements. The prompt corrective action guidelines were also revised to add the Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio. In order to be a “well-capitalized” depository institution under the new Basel III Rules, a bank and holding company must maintain a Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio of 6.5% or more; a Tier 1 Capital ratio of 8% or more; a Total Capital ratio of 10% or more; and a leverage ratio of 5% or more. Financial institutions became subject to the new Basel III Rules on January 1, 2015, with phase-in periods for many of the changes. As of September 30, 2015, the Company and the Bank were in compliance with the current phase Basel III Rules and management believes that the Company and the Bank would meet all capital adequacy requirements under the Basel III Rules on a fully phased-in basis as if such requirements had been in effect.