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Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)
 6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Nature of Operations
Nature of Operations. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (“Cullen/Frost”) is a financial holding company and a bank holding company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas that provides, through its subsidiaries, a broad array of products and services throughout numerous Texas markets. The terms “Cullen/Frost,” “the Corporation,” “we,” “us” and “our” mean Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. and its subsidiaries, when appropriate. In addition to general commercial and consumer banking, other products and services offered include trust and investment management, insurance, brokerage, mutual funds, leasing, treasury management, capital markets advisory and item processing.
Basis of Presentation
Basis of Presentation. The consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q include the accounts of Cullen/Frost and all other entities in which Cullen/Frost has a controlling financial interest. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The accounting and financial reporting policies we follow conform, in all material respects, to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and to general practices within the financial services industry.
The consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q have not been audited by an independent registered public accounting firm, but in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of our financial position and results of operations. All such adjustments were of a normal and recurring nature. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, the financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements, and notes thereto, for the year ended December 31, 2018, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 6, 2019 (the “2018 Form 10-K”). Operating results for the interim periods disclosed herein are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for a full year or any future period.
Use of Estimates
Use of Estimates. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The allowance for loan losses and the fair values of financial instruments and the status of contingencies are particularly subject to change.
Reclassification, Policy [Policy Text Block] Reclassifications and Restatements. Certain items in prior financial statements have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation.
New Accounting Pronouncements, Policy [Policy Text Block] In addition, as of January 1, 2019, we adopted certain accounting standard updates related to accounting for leases (Topic 842 - Leases), primarily Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-02 and subsequent updates. Among other things, these updates require lessees to recognize a lease liability, measured on a discounted basis, related to the lessee's obligation to make lease payments arising under a lease contract; and a right-of-use asset related to the lessee’s right to use, or control the use of, a specified asset for the lease term. The updates did not significantly change lease accounting requirements applicable to lessors and did not significantly impact our financial statements in relation to contracts whereby we act as a lessor. We adopted the updates using a modified-retrospective transition approach and recognized right-of-use lease assets and related lease liabilities totaling $170.5 million and $174.4 million, respectively, as of January 1, 2019. We elected to apply certain practical adoption expedients provided under the updates whereby we did not reassess (i) whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases, (ii) the lease classification for any expired or existing leases and (iii) initial direct costs for any existing leases. We did not elect to apply the recognition requirements of the updates to any short-term leases (as discussed below). As of June 30, 2019, right-of-use lease assets and related lease liabilities totaled $284.5 million and $291.7 million, respectively. During the
second quarter of 2019, we recognized a right-of-use asset totaling $121.7 million and a related lease liability totaling $121.7 million in connection with the commencement of the lease of our new corporate headquarters facility in downtown San Antonio. See Note 6 - Commitments and Contingencies.
We lease certain office facilities and office equipment under operating leases. We also own certain office facilities which we lease to outside parties under operating lessor leases; however, such leases are not significant. We do not apply the recognition requirements of Topic 842 - Leases to short-term operating leases. A short-term operating lease has an original term of 12 months or less and does not have a purchase option that is likely to be exercised. For non-short-term operating leases, we recognized lease right-of-use assets and related lease liabilities on our balance sheet upon commencement of the lease in accordance with Topic 842 - Leases. In recognizing lease right-of-use assets and related lease liabilities, we account for lease and non-lease components (such as taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance costs) separately as such amounts are generally readily determinable under our lease contracts. Lease payments over the expected term are discounted using our incremental borrowing rate referenced to the Federal Home Loan Bank Secure Connect advance rates for borrowings of similar term. We also consider renewal and termination options in the determination of the term of the lease. If it is reasonably certain that a renewal or termination option will be exercised, the effects of such options are included in the determination of the expected lease term. Generally, we cannot be reasonably certain about whether or not we will renew a lease until such time the lease is within the last two years of the existing lease term. However, renewal options related to our regional headquarter facilities or operations centers are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, typically in advance of such time frame. When we are reasonably certain that a renewal option will be exercised, we measure/remeasure the right-of-use asset and related lease liability using the lease payments specified for the renewal period or, if such amounts are unspecified, we generally assume an increase (evaluated on a case-by-case basis in light of prevailing market conditions) in the lease payment over the final period of the existing lease term.
We also adopted ASU 2017-08 “Receivables - Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20) - Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities” as of January 1, 2019. ASU 2017-08 shortens the amortization period for certain callable debt securities held at a premium to require such premiums to be amortized to the earliest call date unless applicable guidance related to certain pools of securities is applied to consider estimated prepayments. Under prior guidance, entities were generally required to amortize premiums on individual, non-pooled callable debt securities as a yield adjustment over the contractual life of the security. ASU 2017-08 does not change the accounting for callable debt securities held at a discount. Upon adoption, using a modified retrospective transition adoption approach, we recognized a cumulative effect reduction to retained earnings totaling$12.6 million. We expect premium amortization expense for 2019 will be approximately $5.2 million higher than what would have been the case had we continued to amortize the affected securities to their respective maturity dates.
Accounting Standards Updates
Information about certain recently issued accounting standards updates is presented below. Also refer to Note 20 - Accounting Standards Updates in our 2018 Form 10-K for additional information related to previously issued accounting standards updates.
ASU 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842).” ASU 2016-02, among other things, requires lessees to recognize a lease liability, which is a lessee's obligation to make lease payments arising from a lease, measured on a discounted basis; and a right-of-use asset, which is an asset that represents the lessee’s right to use, or control the use of, a specified asset for the lease term. We adopted ASU 2016-02, along with several other subsequent codification updates related to lease accounting, as of January 1, 2019. See Note 1 - Significant Accounting Policies for additional information.
ASU 2016-13, “Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments.” ASU 2016-13 requires 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 and requires enhanced disclosures related to the significant estimates and judgments used in estimating credit losses, as well as the credit quality and underwriting standards of an organization’s portfolio. In addition, ASU 2016-13 amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. In April 2019, ASU 2019-04, “Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments,” was issued to address certain codification improvements and to provide certain accounting policy electives related to accrued interest as well as disclosure related to credit losses, among other things. In May 2019, ASU 2019-05, “Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Targeted Transition Relief,” was issued to provide transition relief in connection with the adoption of ASU 2016-03 whereby entities would have the option to irrevocably elect the fair value option for certain financial assets previously measured at amortized cost basis. ASU 2016-13, as updated, will be effective on January 1, 2020. We are currently evaluating the potential impact of ASU 2016-13 on our financial statements. In that regard, we have formed a cross-functional working group, under the direction of our Chief Financial Officer and our Chief Credit Officer. The working group is comprised of individuals from various functional areas including credit, risk management, finance and information technology, among others. We are currently working through our implementation plan which includes assessment and documentation of processes, internal controls and data sources; model development, documentation and validation; and system configuration, among other things. We are also in the process of implementing a third-party vendor solution to assist us in the application of ASU 2016-13. The adoption of ASU 2016-13 could result in an increase in the allowance for loan losses as a result of changing from an “incurred loss” model, which encompasses allowances for current known and inherent losses within the portfolio, to an “expected loss” model, which encompasses allowances for losses expected to be incurred over the life of the portfolio. Furthermore, ASU 2016-13 will necessitate that we establish an allowance for expected credit losses for certain debt securities and other financial assets. While we are currently unable to reasonably estimate the impact of adopting ASU 2016-13, we expect that the impact of adoption will be significantly influenced by the composition, characteristics and quality of our loan and securities portfolios as well as the prevailing economic conditions and forecasts as of the adoption date.
ASU 2017-08, “Receivables - Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20) - Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities.” ASU 2017-08 shortens the amortization period for certain callable debt securities held at a premium to require such premiums to be amortized to the earliest call date unless applicable guidance related to certain pools of securities is applied to consider estimated prepayments. Under prior guidance, entities were generally required to amortize premiums on individual, non-pooled callable debt securities as a yield adjustment over the contractual life of the security. ASU 2017-08 did not change the accounting for callable debt securities held at a discount. We adopted ASU 2017-08 effective January 1, 2019 and recognized a cumulative effect adjustment reducing retained earnings by $12.6 million. See Note 1 - Significant Accounting Policies.
ASU 2017-12, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) - Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities.” ASU 2017-12 amends the hedge accounting recognition and presentation requirements in ASC 815 to improve the transparency and understandability of information conveyed to financial statement users about an entity’s risk management activities to better align the entity’s financial reporting for hedging relationships with those risk management activities and to reduce the complexity of and simplify the application of hedge accounting. ASU 2017-12 became effective for us on January 1, 2019 and did not have a significant impact on our financial statements. In April 2019, ASU 2019-04 was issued to clarify certain aspects of accounting for hedging activities addressed by ASU 2017-12, among other things.
ASU 2018-16, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) - Inclusion of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) Overnight Index Swap (“OIS”) Rate as a Benchmark Interest Rate for Hedge Accounting Purposes.” The amendments in this update permit use of the OIS rate based on SOFR as a U.S. benchmark interest rate for hedge accounting purposes under Topic 815 in addition to the interest rates on direct U.S. Treasury obligations, the LIBOR swap rate, the OIS rate based on the Fed Funds Effective Rate and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”) Municipal Swap Rate. ASU 2018-16 became effective for us on January 1, 2019 and did not have a significant impact on our financial statements.