Derivative Financial Instruments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Derivative Financial Instruments

Derivative Financial Instruments

Note 28—Derivative Financial Instruments

The Company uses certain derivative instruments to meet the needs of customers as well as to manage the interest rate risk associated with certain transactions. The following table summarizes the derivative financial instruments used by the Company:

				December 31, 2023						December 31, 2022
	Balance Sheet	Notional		Estimated Fair Value				Notional		Estimated Fair Value
(Dollars in thousands)	Location	Amount		Gain		Loss		Amount		Gain		Loss
Fair value hedge of interest rate risk:
Pay fixed rate swap with counterparty	Other Assets	$	9,188	$	220	$	—	$	12,289	$	414	$	—
Not designated hedges of interest rate risk:
Customer related interest rate contracts:
Matched interest rate swaps with borrowers	Other Assets and Other Liabilities		11,327,419		60,145		803,539		10,480,171		8,539		1,033,980
Matched interest rate swaps with counterparty (1)	Other Assets		11,235,952		108,820		—		10,400,733		201,263		—
Economic hedges of interest rate risk:
Pay floating rate swap with counterparty	Other Assets		1,660,000		(5)		—		—		—		—
Not designated hedges of interest rate risk – mortgage banking activities:
Contracts used to hedge mortgage servicing rights	Other Assets and Other Liabilities		142,000		2,605		—		35,000		—		163
Contracts used to hedge mortgage pipeline	Other Assets and Other Liabilities		77,500		1,154		947		51,000		800		—
Total derivatives		$	24,452,059	$	172,939	$	804,486	$	20,979,193	$	211,016	$	1,034,143

(1) The fair value of the interest rate swap derivative assets was reduced by $635.3 million in variation margin payments applicable to swaps centrally cleared through LCH and CME.

Cash Flow Hedges of Interest Rate Risk

The Company is exposed to interest rate risk in the course of its business operations and manages a portion of this risk through the use of derivative financial instruments, in the form of interest rate swaps. We account for interest rate swaps that are classified as cash flow hedges on the balance sheet at fair value. We had no cash flow hedges as of December 31, 2023 and 2022. For more information regarding the fair value of the Company’s derivative financial instruments, see Note 25—Fair Value, to these financial statements.

The Company did not maintain any cash flow hedges on the balance sheet throughout the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 (See Note 15—Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) for activity in accumulated comprehensive income (loss) and the amounts reclassified into earnings). With the Company not maintaining any cash flow hedges at December 31, 2023 and 2022, there was no collateral pledged.

Balance Sheet Fair Value Hedge

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company maintained loan swaps, with an aggregate notional amount of $9.2 million and $12.3 million, respectively, accounted for as a fair value hedge. The amortized cost basis of the loans being hedged were $9.7 million and $10.3 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2023 and 2022. This derivative protects us from interest rate risk caused by changes in the SOFR curve in relation to a certain designated fixed rate loan. The derivative converts the fixed rate loan to a floating rate. Settlement occurs in any given period where there is a difference in the stated fixed rate and variable rate and the difference is recorded in net interest income. The fair value of this hedge is recorded in either other assets or in other liabilities depending on the position of the hedge with the offset recorded in loans.

Non-designated Hedges of Interest Rate Risk

Customer Swap

The Company maintains interest rate swap contracts with loan customers of respondent bank customers of the Correspondent Banking Division, in addition to loan customers of the Bank, that are classified as non-designated hedges and are not speculative in nature. These agreements are designed to convert customer’s variable rate loans with the Company and respondent bank customers to fixed rate. These interest rate swaps are executed with loan customers to facilitate a respective risk management strategy and allow the customer to pay a fixed rate of interest to the Company. These interest rate swaps are simultaneously hedged by executing offsetting interest rate swaps with unrelated market counterparties to minimize the net risk exposure to the Company resulting from the transactions and allow the Company to receive a variable rate of interest. The interest rate swaps pay and receive interest based on a one-month SOFR floating rate plus a credit spread, with payments being calculated on the notional amount. During the second quarter of 2023, the Company transitioned the majority of these interest rate swap contracts to SOFR as the reference rate. For discussion related to reference rate reform, please refer to Accounting Standards Adopted within Note 1—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies. The interest rate swaps are settled monthly with varying maturities.

The variation margin settlement payment and the related derivative instruments fair value are considered a single unit of account for accounting and financial reporting purposes. Depending on the net position of the swaps with LCH and CME, the fair value, net of the variation margin, is reported in Derivative Assets or Derivative Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. In addition, the expense or income attributable to the variation margin for the centrally cleared swaps with LCH and CME is reported in Noninterest Income, specifically within Correspondent and Capital Markets Income. The daily settlement of the derivative exposure does not change or reset the contractual terms of the instrument.

As the interest rate swaps associated with this program do not meet the strict hedge accounting requirements, changes in the fair value of both the customer swaps and the offsetting swaps are recognized directly in earnings. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the interest rate swaps had an aggregate notional amount of approximately $22.6 billion and $20.9 billion, respectively. At December 31, 2023, the fair value of the interest rate swap derivatives is recorded in Other Assets at $169.0 million in Other Liabilities at $803.5 million. The fair value of derivative assets at December 31, 2023 was reduced by $635.3 million in variation margin payments applicable to swaps centrally cleared through LCH and CME. At December 31, 2022, the fair value of the interest rate swap derivatives was recorded in Other Assets at $209.8 million and Other Liabilities at $1.0 billion. The fair value of derivative liabilities at December 31, 2022 was reduced by $824.3 million in variation margin payments applicable to swaps centrally cleared through LCH and CME. All changes in fair value are recorded through earnings within Correspondent and Capital Markets Income, a component of Noninterest Income on the Consolidated Statements of Net Income. There was a net gain of $596,000 and $174,000 recorded on these derivatives for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, we provided $251.5 million of cash collateral on the counterparty, which is included in Cash and Cash Equivalents on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as Deposits in Other Financial Institutions (Restricted Cash). The Company also provided $104.1 million in investment securities at market value as collateral on the counterparty, which is included in Investment Securities – Available for Sale. Counterparties provided $45.2 million of cash collateral to the Company to secure swap asset positions that were not centrally cleared, which is included in Interest-bearing Deposits within Total Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Balance Sheet Economic Hedge

During 2023, management began executing a series of short-term interest rate hedges to address monthly accrual mismatches related to the Company’s Assumable Rate Conversion (“ARC”) program and its transition from LIBOR to SOFR after June 30, 2023. The Company is required to execute the correspondent side of its back-to-back swaps with customers with the central clearinghouses (CME or LCH). Term SOFR was not available to execute through CME and LCH, and therefore, management elected to convert to the CME-eligible daily SOFR. Because many of the respondent bank customers converted to Term SOFR, this created interest rate basis risk. To address this risk, monthly interest rate hedges were executed to minimize the impact of accrual mismatches between the monthly Term SOFR used by the customer and the daily SOFR rates used by the central clearinghouses.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company maintained an aggregate notional amount of $1.7 billion short-term interest rate hedges that were accounted for as economic hedges. As noted above, the derivatives protect the Company from interest rate risk caused by changes in the term and daily SOFR accrual mismatches. The fair value of these hedges is recorded in either Other Assets or in Other Liabilities depending on the position of the hedge with the offset recorded in Correspondent Banking and Capital Market Income, a component of Noninterest Income on the Consolidated Statements of Net Income. There was a net loss of $5,000 for these derivatives for the year ended December 31, 2023. The Company did not have any of these short-term interest rate hedges at December 31, 2022.

Foreign Exchange

The Company may enter into foreign exchange contracts with customers to accommodate their need to convert certain foreign currencies into U.S. Dollars. To offset the foreign exchange risk, the Company may enter into substantially identical agreements with an unrelated market counterparty to hedge these foreign exchange contracts. At December 31, 2023 and 2022, there were no outstanding contracts or agreements related to foreign currency. There was no gain or loss recorded related to the foreign exchange derivative for the years ended December 31, 2023 or 2022.

Mortgage Banking

The Company also has derivatives contracts that are not classified as accounting hedges to mitigate risks related to the Company’s mortgage banking activities. These instruments may include financial forwards, futures contracts, and options written and purchased, which are used to hedge MSRs; while forward sales commitments are typically used to hedge the mortgage pipeline. Such instruments derive their cash flows, and therefore their values, by reference to an underlying instrument, index or referenced interest rate. The Company does not elect hedge accounting treatment for any of these derivative instruments and as a result, changes in fair value of the instruments (both gains and losses) are recorded in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Net Income in Mortgage Banking Income.

Mortgage Servicing Rights (“MSRs”)

Derivatives contracts related to MSRs are used to help offset changes in fair value and are written in amounts referred to as notional amounts. Notional amounts provide a basis for calculating payments between counterparties but do not represent amounts to be exchanged between the parties and are not a measure of financial risk. On December 31, 2023, the Company had derivative financial instruments outstanding with notional amounts totaling $142.0 million related to MSRs, compared to $35.0 million on December 31, 2022. The estimated net fair value of the open contracts related to the MSRs was recorded as a gain of $2.6 million at December 31, 2023, compared to a loss of $163,000 at December 31, 2022.

The following table presents the Company’s notional value of forward sale commitments and the fair value of those obligations along with the fair value of the mortgage loan pipeline.

(Dollars in thousands)	2023		2022
Mortgage loan pipeline	$	65,051	$	40,850
Expected closures		54,993		37,210
Fair value of mortgage loan pipeline commitments		1,154		524
Forward sales commitments		77,500		51,000
Fair value of forward commitments		(947)		276