Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited consolidated interim financial statements of United Bankshares, Inc. and Subsidiaries (“United” or “the Company”) have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles for interim financial information generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) and with the instructions for Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, the financial statements do not contain all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. In preparing the consolidated financial statements, management is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The financial statements presented as of June 30, 2020 and 2019 and for the three-month and six-month periods then ended have not been audited. The consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2019 has been extracted from the audited financial statements included in United’s 2019 Annual Report to Shareholders. The Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements appearing in United’s 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which includes descriptions of significant accounting policies, should be read in conjunction with these interim financial statements. Please refer to Notes 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 in these Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for updated accounting policies for acquired loans, investment securities, troubled debt restructurings (“TDRs”), the allowance for credit losses and mortgage servicing rights (“MSRs”). In the opinion of management, any adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of financial position and results of operations for the interim periods have been made. Such adjustments are of a normal and recurring nature.

The accompanying consolidated interim financial statements include the accounts of United and its wholly owned subsidiaries. United operates in two business segments: community banking and mortgage banking. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in the consolidated financial statements. Information is presented in these notes to the unaudited consolidated interim financial statements with dollars expressed in thousands, except per share or unless otherwise noted.

New Accounting Standards

In March 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2020-04, Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting. 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.” ASU No. 2020-04 is effective for public business entities on March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022. United is implementing a transition plan to identify and modify its loans and other financial instruments with attributes that are either directly or indirectly influenced by LIBOR. The Company is assessing ASU No. 2020-04 and its impact on the Company’s transition away from LIBOR for its loan and other financial instruments.

In February 2020, FASB issued ASU No. 2020-03, Codification Improvements to Financial Instruments. This update makes narrow-scope changes that are intended to improve the board’s standards for financial instruments accounting, including the credit losses standard issued in 2016, as part of FASB’s ongoing project to improve and clarify its Accounting Standards Codification and avoid unintended application. ASU No. 2020-03 was effective for public business entities upon issuance of this final update in March 2020. ASU No. 2020-03 did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In January 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-01, Investments—Equity Securities (Topic 321), Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323), and Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815)—Clarifying the Interactions

between Topic 321, Topic 323, and Topic 815. The new guidance addresses accounting for the transition into and out of the equity method and measuring certain purchased options and forward contracts to acquire investments. ASU No. 2020-01 is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim fiscal periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2020; early adoption is permitted. ASU No. 2020-01 is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In November 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-08, Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718) and Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Codification Improvements—Share-Based Consideration Payable to a Customer. ASU No. 2019-08 requires companies to measure and classify (on the balance sheet) share-based payments to customers by applying the guidance in Topic 718, Compensation—Stock Compensation. As a result, the amount recorded as a reduction in revenue would be measured based on the grant-date fair value of the share-based payment. The amendments in this update become effective for annual periods and interim periods within those annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019. ASU No. 2019-08 was adopted by United on January 1, 2020. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In April 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-04 “Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments.” The amendments clarify the scope of the credit losses standard and address issues related to accrued interest receivable balances, recoveries, variable interest rates and prepayments. The amendments also address partial-term fair valued hedges, fair value hedge basis adjustments. The amendments to the credit losses and hedging standards have the same effective dates as those standards, unless an entity has already adopted the standards. The amendments to recognition and measurement guidance are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019; early adoption is permitted. ASU No. 2019-04 was adopted by United on January 1, 2020. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-14 “Compensation – Retirement Benefits - Defined Benefits – General (Topic 715-20): Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans.” This update amends ASC Topic 715 to add, remove, and clarify disclosure requirements related to defined benefit pension and other post retirement plans. The ASU’s changes related to disclosures are part of the FASB’s disclosure framework project, which the FASB launched in 2014 to improve effectiveness of disclosures in notes to financial statements. ASU No. 2018-14 is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim fiscal periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2020; early adoption is permitted. ASU No. 2018-14 is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13 “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820), Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement.” This amendment changes the fair value measurement disclosure requirements of ASC Topic 820 and is the result of a broader disclosure project called FASB Concepts Statement, Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting – Chapter 8: Notes to Financial Statements, which was finalized in August 2018. ASU No. 2018-13 is effective for all entities for fiscal years, and interim fiscal periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019; early adoption is permitted for any eliminated or modified disclosure upon issuance of this ASU. ASU No. 2018-13 was adopted by United on January 1, 2020 and did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, “Targeting Improvement to Accounting for Hedging Activities.” This ASU amends ASC 815 and its objectives are to improve the transparency and understandability of information conveyed to financial statement users about an entity’s risk management activities by better aligning the entity’s financial reporting for hedging relationships with those risk management activities and reduce the complexity and simplify the application of hedge accounting by preparers. This ASU makes certain targeted improvements to simplify the application of the hedge accounting, including to derivative instruments as well as allow a one-time election to reclassify fixed-rate, prepayable debt securities from a held to maturity classification to an available for sale

classification. ASU No. 2017-12 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018; early adoption is permitted. United adopted the standard on January 1, 2019 using the modified retrospective approach. As part of this adoption, the Company made a one-time election to transfer eligible HTM securities to the AFS category in order to optimize the investment portfolio management for capital and risk management considerations. The Company transferred HTM securities with a carrying amount of $11,544, which resulted in a decrease of $1,098 to AOCI.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-04, “Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350).” ASU 2017-04 eliminates the requirement to calculate the implied fair value of goodwill to measure a goodwill impairment charge. Instead, entities will record an impairment charge based on the excess of a reporting unit’s carrying amount over its fair value. ASU 2017-04 was adopted by United on January 1, 2020. The adoption of ASU 2017-04 did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses.” ASU No. 2016-13 changes the impairment model for most financial assets and certain other instruments that aren’t measured at fair value through net income. The standard replaces the “incurred loss” approach with an “expected loss” model for instruments measured at amortized cost and requires entities to record allowances for available for sale debt securities rather than reduce the carrying amount under the current other-than-temporary impairment (OTTI) model. ASU No. 2016-13 also simplifies the accounting model for purchased credit-impaired debt securities and loans. Entities will apply the standard’s provisions as a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the first reporting period in which the guidance is effective. United engaged a third-party service provider to assist with the implementation of the new accounting standard. ASU No. 2016-13 was adopted by United on January 1, 2020 using a modified retrospective approach. At the January 1, 2020 date of adoption, based on forecasts of macroeconomic conditions and exposures at that time, the aggregate impact to United was a net increase to the allowance for credit losses of $57,442 and a decrease to retained earnings of $44,331, with the difference being an adjustment to deferred tax assets. United has elected to phase-in the impact to retained earnings using a five-year transition provision, allowed by the Federal Reserve Board and other federal banking agencies in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, to delay for two years the full impact of ASU No. 2016-13 on regulatory capital, followed by a three-year transition period. The adoption of ASU No. 2016-13 had an insignificant impact on the Company’s held to maturity and available for sale securities portfolios.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842)”. ASU No. 2016-02 includes a lessee accounting model that recognizes two types of leases, finance leases and operating leases, while lessor accounting will remain largely unchanged from the current GAAP. ASU No. 2016-02 requires, amongst other things, that a lessee recognize on the balance sheet a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for leases with terms of more than twelve months. The recognition, measurement, and presentation of expenses and cash flows arising from a lease by a lessee will depend on its classification as a finance or operating lease. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-11 “Leases (Topic 842), Targeted Improvements.” This update creates an additional transition method, and a lessor practical expedient to not separate lease and non-lease components if specified criteria are met. The new transition method allows companies to use the effective date of the new leases standard as the date of initial application transition. Companies that elect this transition option will not adjust their comparative period financial information for the effect of ASC Topic 842, nor will they make the new required lease disclosure for periods before the effective date. In addition, these companies will carry forward their ASC Topic 840 disclosures for comparative periods. The practical expedient permits lessors to make an accounting policy election by class of underlying asset to not separate lease and non-lease components if specified criteria are met. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-10 “Codification Improvements to ASC Topic 842, Leases.” This update includes narrow amendments to clarify how to apply certain aspects of the new leases standard. The amendments address the rate implicit in the lease, impairment of the net investment in the lease, lessee reassessment of lease classification, lessor reassessment of lease term and purchase options, variable payments that depend on an index or rate and certain transition adjustments. ASU 2018-10 does not make any substantive changes to the core provisions or principals of the new leases standard. United adopted 

the standard using the modified retrospective transition method on January 1, 2019. The Company evaluated and elected the package of practical expedients, which allows for existing leases to be accounted for consistent with current guidance, with the exception of the balance sheet recognition for lessees. The Company has also elected the practical expedient on not separating lease and nonlease components and instead treating them as a single lease component. Adoption of the standard resulted in the recognition of additional net lease assets and lease liabilities of $67,040 and $70,692, respectively, as of January 1, 2019. Of the difference between these two amounts, $1,049 was recorded as an adjustment to retained earnings.