BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2014

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Premises and Equipment

Estimated useful lives are as follows:

Office buildings	10 to 30 years
Leasehold improvements(1)	10 to 30 years
Software(2)	3 to 5 years
Furniture, fixtures and equipment	3 to 10 years
Automobiles	5 years

⁽¹⁾Leasehold improvements are depreciated over the shorter of the useful lives of the assets or the remaining term of the leases. The useful life of the leasehold improvements may be extended beyond the base term of the lease contract when the lease contract includes renewal option period(s) that are reasonably assured of being exercised at the date the leasehold improvements are purchased.  At no point does the depreciable life exceed the economic useful life of the leasehold improvement or the expected term of the lease contract.

⁽²⁾Standard depreciable period for software is three years. However, for larger software implementation projects, a five-year period is utilized. For the 2012 information technology ("IT") transformation, the Company utilized a depreciable period of five years.