Organization and Basis of Presentation

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

Organization and Basis of Presentation

Note 1. Organization and Basis of Presentation

Organization

Formerly known as Queens County Bancorp, Inc., New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (on a stand-alone basis, the “Parent Company” or, collectively with its subsidiaries, the “Company”) was organized under Delaware law on July 20, 1993 and is the holding company for New York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank (hereinafter referred to as the “Community Bank” and the “Commercial Bank,” respectively, and collectively as the “Banks”). In addition, for the purpose of these Consolidated Financial Statements, the “Community Bank” and the “Commercial Bank” refer not only to the respective banks but also to their respective subsidiaries.

The Community Bank is the primary banking subsidiary of the Company. Founded on April 14, 1859 and formerly known as Queens County Savings Bank, the Community Bank converted from a state-chartered mutual savings bank to the capital stock form of ownership on November 23, 1993, at which date the Company issued its initial offering of common stock (par value: $0.01 per share) at a price of $25.00 per share. The Commercial Bank was established on December 30, 2005.

Reflecting nine stock splits, the Company’s initial offering price adjusts to $0.93 per share. All share and per share data presented in this report have been adjusted to reflect the impact of the stock splits.

The Company changed its name to New York Community Bancorp, Inc. on November 21, 2000 in anticipation of completing the first of eight business combinations that expanded its footprint well beyond Queens County to encompass all five boroughs of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County in New York, and seven counties in the northern and central parts of New Jersey. The Company expanded beyond this region to south Florida, northeast Ohio, and central Arizona through its FDIC-assisted acquisition of certain assets and its assumption of certain liabilities of AmTrust Bank (“AmTrust”) in December 2009, and extended its Arizona franchise through its FDIC-assisted acquisition of certain assets and its assumption of certain liabilities of Desert Hills Bank (“Desert Hills”) in March 2010. On June 28, 2012, the Company completed its 11th transaction when it assumed the deposits of Aurora Bank FSB.

Reflecting this strategy of growth through acquisitions, the Community Bank currently operates 239 branches, four of which operate directly under the Community Bank name. The remaining 235 Community Bank branches operate through seven divisional banks—Queens County Savings Bank, Roslyn Savings Bank, Richmond County Savings Bank, and Roosevelt Savings Bank (in New York), Garden State Community Bank in New Jersey, AmTrust Bank in Florida and Arizona, and Ohio Savings Bank in Ohio.

The Commercial Bank currently operates 35 branches in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Westchester County, and Long Island (all in New York), including 18 branches that operate under the name “Atlantic Bank.”

Basis of Presentation

The following is a description of the significant accounting and reporting policies that the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries follow in preparing and presenting their consolidated financial statements, which conform to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and to general practices within the banking industry. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the Company to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Estimates that are particularly susceptible to change in the near term are used in connection with the determination of the allowances for loan losses; the valuation of loans held for sale; the evaluation of goodwill for impairment; the evaluation of other-than-temporary impairment (“OTTI”) on securities; and the evaluation of the need for a valuation allowance on the Company’s deferred tax assets. The current economic environment has increased the degree of uncertainty inherent in these material estimates.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and other entities in which the Company has a controlling financial interest. All inter-company accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation. These unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K. The Company currently has unconsolidated subsidiaries in the form of wholly-owned statutory business trusts, which were formed to issue guaranteed capital debentures (“capital securities”). Please see Note 7, “Borrowed Funds,” for additional information regarding these trusts.

When necessary, reclassifications are made to prior-year amounts to conform to the current-year presentation.