Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION

General

WSFS Financial Corporation (the Company or WSFS) is a savings and loan holding company organized under the laws of the State of Delaware. Substantially all of the Company's assets are held by its subsidiary, Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB (WSFS Bank or the Bank), is a federal savings bank organized under the laws of the United States (U.S.).

The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company, WSFS Bank, WSFS Wealth Management, LLC (Powdermill®), WSFS Capital Management, LLC (West Capital), Cypress Capital Management, LLC (Cypress), Christiana Trust Company of Delaware® (Christiana Trust DE) and WSFS SPE Services, LLC. The Company also has one unconsolidated subsidiary, WSFS Capital Trust III (the Trust). WSFS Bank has three wholly owned subsidiaries: Beneficial Equipment Finance Corporation (BEFC), WSFS Investment Group, Inc. (WSFS Wealth Investments) and 1832 Holdings, Inc., and one majority-owned subsidiary, NewLane Finance Company (NewLane Finance®).

Overview

Founded in 1832, the Bank is one of the ten oldest bank and trust companies continuously operating under the same name in the U.S. The Company provides residential and commercial real estate, commercial and consumer lending services, as well as retail deposit and cash management services. The Company's core banking business is commercial lending funded primarily by customer-generated deposits. In addition, the Company offers a variety of wealth management and trust services to individual, corporate and institutional clients. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures the Company's customers’ deposits to their legal maximums.

The Company serves its Customers primarily from 112 offices located in Pennsylvania (52), Delaware (42), New Jersey (16), Virginia (1), and Nevada (1), its ATM network, website at www.wsfsbank.com, and mobile apps. Information on the Company's website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Basis of Presentation

The Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (GAAP). In preparing the Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Although the Company's estimates contemplate current conditions and how it expects them to change in the future, it is reasonably possible that actual conditions in 2021 could be worse than anticipated in those estimates, which could materially affect its results of operations and financial condition. The accounting for the allowance for credit losses and reserves for lending related commitments, goodwill, intangible assets, post-retirement benefit obligations, the fair value of financial instruments, and income taxes are subject to significant estimates. Among other effects, changes to these estimates could result in future impairment of investment securities, goodwill and intangible assets and the establishment of the allowance and reserve for lending related commitments as well as increased post-retirement benefits expense.

Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior year’s Consolidated Financial Statements to conform to the current year’s presentation. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions were eliminated in consolidation.

Business Combinations

On March 1, 2019, the Company acquired Beneficial Bancorp, Inc. (Beneficial), including its subsidiary Beneficial Bank, a community bank headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, creating the largest, premier, locally-headquartered community bank in the Delaware and greater Philadelphia region. Beneficial merged with and into WSFS, with WSFS continuing as the surviving corporation and simultaneously, Beneficial Bank merged with and into WSFS Bank, with WSFS Bank continuing as the surviving bank. This acquisition grew the Company's market share, deepened the Company's presence in the Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey markets, and enhanced its customer base. The results of Beneficial's operations are included in the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements since the date of the acquisition. See Note 3 for further information.