CAPITAL AND REGULATORY MATTERS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

REGULATORY MATTERS [Abstract]

REGULATORY MATTERS

(21)  CAPITAL AND REGULATORY MATTERS

The Company is subject to various regulatory capital requirements administered by the federal and state banking agencies.  Failure to meet minimum capital requirements can initiate certain mandatory and possibly additional discretionary actions by regulators that, if undertaken, could have a direct material adverse effect on the Company’s financial statements.  Under capital adequacy guidelines and the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action, the Company must meet specific capital guidelines that involve quantitative measures of the Company’s assets, liabilities and certain off-balance sheet items as calculated under regulatory accounting practices.  The Company’s capital amounts and classification are also subject to qualitative judgments by regulators about components, risk weightings and other factors.  Quantitative measures established by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve to ensure capital adequacy require the Company to maintain minimum capital amounts and ratios (risk-based capital ratios).  All banking companies are required to have core capital (“Tier 1”) of at least 4% of risk-weighted assets, total capital of at least 8% of risk-weighted assets and a minimum Tier 1 leverage ratio of 4% of adjusted average assets.  The regulations also define well capitalized levels of Common equity Tier 1 capital, Tier 1 capital, total capital and Tier 1 leverage as 6.5%, 8%,10% and 5%, respectively.  The Company and the Bank had common equity Tier 1, Tier 1, total capital and Tier 1 leverage above the well capitalized levels at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, as set forth in the following table:

	2015		2014
	Amount	Ratio	Amount	Ratio
	(Dollars in thousands)
Common Equity Tier 1 capital (to risk-weighted assets)
BancorpSouth, Inc.	$    1,402,041	12.07%	NA	NA
BancorpSouth Bank	1,369,419	11.80	NA	NA
Tier 1 capital (to risk-weighted assets)
BancorpSouth, Inc.	1,425,239	12.27	$    1,351,807	13.27%
BancorpSouth Bank	1,369,419	11.80	1,298,449	12.76
Total capital (to risk-weighted assets)
BancorpSouth, Inc.	1,552,280	13.37	1,479,791	14.52
BancorpSouth Bank	1,496,460	12.90	1,426,433	14.02
Tier 1 leverage capital (to average assets)
BancorpSouth, Inc.	1,425,239	10.61	1,351,807	10.55
BancorpSouth Bank	1,369,419	10.23	1,298,449	10.17

On December 11, 2014, the Company announced a stock repurchase program whereby the Company may acquire up to an aggregate of 6% or 5,764,000 shares of its common stock in the open market at prevailing market prices or in privately negotiated transactions during the period between December 11, 2014 through November 30, 2016.  The extent and timing of any repurchases will depend on market conditions and other corporate, legal and regulatory considerations.  Repurchased shares will be held as authorized but unissued shares.  These authorized but unissued shares will be available for use in connection with the Company’s stock option plans, other compensation programs, other transactions or for other corporate purposes as determined by the Company’s Board of Directors.  At December 31, 2015, 2,882,000 shares had been repurchased under this program.