Note 16 - Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Disclosure Text Block Supplement [Abstract]

Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans [Text Block]

(16) Employee Benefit Plans

Bancorp has a combined employee stock ownership and profit sharing plan (“KSOP”). The plan is a defined contribution plan and is available to all employees meeting certain eligibility requirements. In general, for employees who work more than 1,000 hours per year, Bancorp matches employee contributions up to 6% of the employee’s salary, and contributes an amount of Bancorp stock equal to 2% of the employee’s salary. Employer matching expenses related to contributions to the plan for 2015, 2014, and 2013 were $1.8 million, $1.7 million, and $1.7 million, respectively, and are recorded within salaries and employee benefits. Employee and employer contributions are made in accordance with the terms of the plan. As of December 31, 2015 and 2014, the KSOP held 433,400 and 489,005, respectively, shares of Bancorp stock.

In addition Bancorp has non-qualified plans into which directors and certain senior officers may defer director fees or salary/incentives. Bancorp matched certain executives’ deferrals into the senior officers’ plan amounting to approximately $171 thousand, $228 thousand, and $205 thousand in 2015, 2014 and 2013 respectively. At December 31, 2015 and 2014, the amounts included in other liabilities in the consolidated financial statements for this plan were $4.9 million and $4.7 million, were comprised primarily of participants’ contributions, and represented the fair value of mutual fund investments directed by participants.

Bancorp sponsors an unfunded non-qualified defined benefit retirement plan for three key officers (two current and one retired), and has no plans to increase the number of or the benefits to participants. Benefits vest based on 25 years of service. The former officer and one current officer are fully vested, and one current officer will be fully vested in 2017. Bancorp uses a December 31 measurement date for this plan. At December 31, 2015 and 2014, the accumulated benefit obligation for the plan included in other liabilities in the consolidated financial statements was $2.1 million and $2.2 million, respectively. Discount rates of 4.28% and 3.85% were used in 2015 and 2014, respectively, in determining the actuarial present value of the projected benefit obligation. The actuarially determined pension costs are expensed and accrued over the service period, and benefits are paid from Bancorp’s assets. Bancorp maintains life insurance policies, for which it is the ultimate beneficiary, on certain current and former executives. The income from these policies helps offset the cost of benefits. The liability for Bancorp’s plan met the benefit obligation as of December 31, 2015 and 2014. 

Information about the components of the net periodic benefit cost of the defined benefit plan, recorded in salaries and employee benefits, is as follows:

	Year ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2015		2014		2013
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Service cost	$	-	$	-	$	-
Interest cost		83		90		83
Expected return on plan assets		-		-		-
Amortization of prior service cost		-		-		-
Amortization of net losses		59		36		60
Net periodic benefit cost	$	142	$	126	$	143

The benefits expected to be paid in each year from 2016 to 2020 and beyond are listed in the table below.

(In thousands)	Benefits
2016	$	84
2017		84
2018		84
2019		84
2020		84
Beyond 2020		3,278
Total future payments	$	3,698

The expected benefits to be paid are based on the same assumptions used to measure Bancorp’s benefit obligation at December 31, 2015. There are no obligations for other post-retirement and post-employment benefits.