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BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2020
BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES  
Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation — The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Republic Bancorp, Inc. (the “Parent Company”) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Republic Bank & Trust Company and Republic Insurance Services, Inc. As used in this filing, the terms “Republic,” the “Company,” “we,” “our,” and “us” refer to Republic Bancorp, Inc., and, where the context requires, Republic Bancorp, Inc. and its subsidiaries. The term “Bank” refers to the Company’s subsidiary bank: Republic Bank & Trust Company. The term “Captive” refers to the Company’s insurance subsidiary: Republic Insurance Services, Inc. All significant intercompany balances and transactions are eliminated in consolidation.

Republic is a financial holding company headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. The Bank is a Kentucky-based, state-chartered non-member financial institution that provides both traditional and non-traditional banking products through five reportable segments using a multitude of delivery channels. While the Bank operates primarily in its market footprint, its non-brick-and-mortar delivery channels allow it to reach clients across the U.S. The Captive is a Nevada-based, wholly-owned insurance subsidiary of the Company. The Captive provides property and casualty insurance coverage to the Company and the Bank, as well as a group of third-party insurance captives for which insurance may not be available or economically feasible.

Republic Bancorp Capital Trust is a Delaware statutory business trust that is a wholly-owned unconsolidated finance subsidiary of Republic Bancorp, Inc.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, the financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2020. For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in Republic’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

As of June 30, 2020, the Company was divided into five reportable segments: Traditional Banking, Warehouse, Mortgage Banking, TRS, and RCS. Management considers the first three segments to collectively constitute “Core Bank” or “Core Banking” operations, while the last two segments collectively constitute RPG operations. MemoryBank®, the Company’s national branchless banking platform, is part of the Traditional Banking segment.

The Company’s financial condition at June 30, 2020 and results of operation for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the public’s response to it.

For additional discussion regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact to the Company, see the following Footnotes in this section of the filing:

Footnote 2 “Investment Securities”
Footnote 4 “Loans and Allowance for Credit Losses”
Footnote 9 “Off Balance Sheet Risks, Commitments, and Contingent Liabilities”

Core Bank

Traditional Banking segment — The Traditional Banking segment provides traditional banking products primarily to customers in the Company’s market footprint. As of June 30, 2020, Republic had 42 full-service banking centers and two LPOs with locations as follows:

Kentucky — 28

Metropolitan Louisville — 18

Central Kentucky — 7

Georgetown — 1

Lexington — 5

Shelbyville — 1

Northern Kentucky — 3

Covington — 1

Crestview Hills — 1

Florence — 1

Southern Indiana — 3

Floyds Knobs — 1

Jeffersonville — 1

New Albany — 1

Metropolitan Tampa, Florida — 8*

Metropolitan Cincinnati, Ohio — 2

Metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee — 3*

*Includes one LPO

Republic’s headquarters are in Louisville, which is the largest city in Kentucky based on population.

Traditional Banking results of operations are primarily dependent upon net interest income, which represents the difference between the interest income and fees on interest-earning assets and the interest expense on interest-bearing liabilities. Principal interest-earning Traditional Banking assets represent investment securities and commercial and consumer loans primarily secured by real estate and/or personal property. Interest-bearing liabilities primarily consist of interest-bearing deposit accounts, securities sold under agreements to repurchase, as well as short-term and long-term borrowing sources. FHLB advances have traditionally been a significant borrowing source for the Bank.

Other sources of Traditional Banking income include service charges on deposit accounts, debit and credit card interchange fee income, title insurance commissions, fees charged to clients for trust services, and increases in the cash surrender value of BOLI.

Traditional Banking operating expenses consist primarily of salaries and employee benefits, occupancy and equipment expenses, communication and transportation costs, data processing, interchange related expenses, marketing and development expenses, FDIC insurance expense, franchise tax expense and various other general and administrative costs. Traditional Banking results of operations are significantly impacted by general economic and competitive conditions, particularly changes in market interest rates, government laws and policies and actions of regulatory agencies.

Warehouse Lending segment — Through its Warehouse segment, the Core Bank provides short-term, revolving credit facilities to mortgage bankers across the U.S. through mortgage warehouse lines of credit. These credit facilities are primarily secured by single-family, first-lien residential real estate loans. The credit facility enables the mortgage banking clients to close single-family, first-lien residential real estate loans in their own name and temporarily fund their inventory of these closed loans until the loans are sold to investors approved by the Bank. Individual loans are expected to remain on the warehouse line for an average of 15 to 30 days. Reverse mortgage loans typically remain on the line longer than conventional mortgage loans. Interest income and loan fees are accrued for each individual loan during the time the loan remains on the warehouse line and collected when the loan is sold. The Core Bank receives the sale proceeds of each loan directly from the investor and applies the funds to pay off the warehouse advance and related accrued interest and fees. The remaining proceeds are credited to the mortgage-banking client.

Mortgage Banking segment — Mortgage Banking activities primarily include 15-, 20- and 30-year fixed-term single-family, first-lien residential real estate loans that are originated and sold into the secondary market, primarily to the FHLMC and the FNMA. The Bank typically retains servicing on loans sold into the secondary market. Administration of loans with servicing retained by the Bank includes collecting principal and interest payments, escrowing funds for property taxes and property insurance, and remitting payments to secondary market investors. The Bank receives fees for performing these standard servicing functions.

Republic Processing Group

Tax Refund Solutions segment — Through the TRS segment, the Bank is one of a limited number of financial institutions that facilitates the receipt and payment of federal and state tax refund products and offers a credit product through third-party tax preparers located throughout the U.S., as well as tax-preparation software providers (collectively, the “Tax Providers”). Substantially all of the business generated by the TRS segment occurs in the first half of the year. The TRS segment traditionally operates at a loss during the second half of the year, during which time the segment incurs costs preparing for the upcoming year’s tax season.

RTs are fee-based products whereby a tax refund is issued to the taxpayer after the Bank has received the refund from the federal or state government. There is no credit risk or borrowing cost associated with these products because they are only delivered to the taxpayer upon receipt of the tax refund directly from the governmental paying authority. Fees earned by the Company on RTs, net of revenue share, are reported as noninterest income under the line item “Net refund transfer fees.”

The EA tax credit product is a loan that allows a taxpayer to borrow funds as an advance of a portion of their tax refund. The EA product had the following features during 2019 and 2020:

Offered only during the first two months of each year;
The taxpayer was given the option to choose from multiple loan-amount tiers, subject to underwriting, up to a maximum advance amount of $6,250;
No requirement that the taxpayer pays for another bank product, such as an RT;
Multiple funds disbursement methods, including direct deposit, prepaid card, check, or Walmart Direct2Cash®, based on the taxpayer-customer’s election;
Repayment of the EA to the Bank is deducted from the taxpayer’s tax refund proceeds; and
If an insufficient refund to repay the EA occurs:
othere is no recourse to the taxpayer, 
ono negative credit reporting on the taxpayer, and
ono collection efforts against the taxpayer.

The Company reports fees paid for the EA product as interest income on loans. EAs are generally repaid within three weeks after the taxpayer’s tax return is submitted to the applicable taxing authority. EAs do not have a contractual due date but the Company considers an EA delinquent if it remains unpaid three weeks after the taxpayer’s tax return is submitted to the applicable taxing authority. Provision on EAs are estimated when advances are made, with Provision for all expected EA losses made in the first quarter of each year. Unpaid EAs are charged off by June 30th of each year, with EAs collected during the second half of each year recorded as recoveries of previously charged off loans.

Related to the overall credit losses on EAs, the Bank’s ability to control losses is highly dependent upon its ability to predict the taxpayer’s likelihood to receive the tax refund as claimed on the taxpayer’s tax return. Each year, the Bank’s EA approval model is based primarily on the prior-year’s tax refund payment patterns. Because the substantial majority of the EA volume occurs each year before that year’s tax refund payment patterns can be analyzed and subsequent underwriting changes made, credit losses during a current year could be higher than management’s predictions if tax refund payment patterns change materially between years.

In response to changes in the legal, regulatory and competitive environment, management annually reviews and revises the EAs product parameters. Further changes in EA product parameters do not ensure positive results and could have an overall material negative impact on the performance of the EA product offering and therefore on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.

Republic Payment Solutions — RPS is managed and operated within the TRS segment. The RPS division is an issuing bank offering general-purpose reloadable prepaid cards through third-party service providers. For the projected near-term, as the prepaid card program matures, the operating results of the RPS division are expected to be immaterial to the Company’s overall results of operations and will be reported as part of the TRS segment. The RPS division will not be considered a separate reportable segment until such time, if any, that it meets quantitative reporting thresholds.

The Company reports fees related to RPS programs under Program fees. Additionally, the Company’s portion of interchange revenue generated by prepaid card transactions is reported as noninterest income under “Interchange fee income.”

Republic Credit Solutions segment — Through the RCS segment, the Bank offers consumer credit products. In general, the credit products are unsecured, small dollar consumer loans and are dependent on various factors. RCS loans typically earn a higher yield but also have higher credit risk compared to loans originated through the Traditional Banking segment, with a significant portion of RCS clients considered subprime or near-prime borrowers. The Bank uses third-party service providers for certain services such as marketing and loan servicing of RCS loans. Additional information regarding consumer loan products offered through RCS follows:

RCS line-of-credit product – The Bank originates a line-of-credit product to generally subprime borrowers in multiple states. Elevate Credit, Inc., a third-party service provider subject to the Bank’s oversight and supervision, provides the Bank with certain marketing, servicing, technology, and support services for the RCS line-of-credit program, while a separate third-party also provides customer support, servicing, and other services for the RCS line-of-credit product on the Bank’s behalf. The Bank is the lender for the RCS line-of-credit product and is marketed as such. Further, the Bank controls the loan terms and underwriting guidelines, and the Bank exercises consumer compliance oversight of the RCS line-of-credit product. 

The Bank sells participation interests in the RCS line-of-credit product. These participation interests are a 90% interest in advances made to borrowers under the borrower’s line-of-credit account, and the participation interests are generally sold three business days following the Bank’s funding of the associated advances. Although the Bank retains a 10% participation interest in each advance, it maintains 100% ownership of the underlying RCS line-of-credit account with each borrower. The RCS line-of-credit product represents the substantial majority of RCS activity. Loan balances held for sale through this program are carried at the lower of cost or fair value.

RCS installment loan products – From the first quarter of 2016 through the first quarter of 2018, the Bank piloted a consumer installment loan product across the U.S. using a third-party service provider. As part of the program, the Bank sold 100% of the balances generated through the program back to its third-party service provider approximately 21 days after origination. During the second quarter of 2018, the Bank and its third-party service provider suspended the origination of new loans and the sale of unsold loans through this program. Since program suspension in 2018, the Bank has carried all unsold loans under this program as “held for investment” on its balance sheet and has continued to wind down those balances. Additionally, loans under this program are carried at fair value under a fair value option on the Bank’s balance sheet with the portfolio marked to market monthly. Approximately $667,000 of balances remained held for investment under this program as of June 30, 2020.

Through a new program launched in December 2019, the Bank began offering RCS installment loans with terms ranging from 12 to 60 months to borrowers in multiple states. A third-party service provider subject to the Bank’s oversight and supervision provides the Bank with marketing services and loan servicing for these RCS installment loans. The Bank is the lender for these RCS installment loans, and is marketed as such. Further, the Bank controls the loan terms and underwriting guidelines, and the Bank exercises consumer compliance oversight of this RCS installment loan product. Currently, all loan balances originated under this RCS installment loan program are carried as “held for sale” on the Bank’s balance sheet, with the intention to sell these loans to its third-party service provider generally within sixteen days following the Bank’s origination of the loans. Loans originated under this RCS installment loan program are carried at fair value under a fair-value option, with the portfolio marked to market monthly.

RCS healthcare receivables products – The Bank originates healthcare-receivables products across the U.S. through two different third-party service providers. In one program, the Bank retains 100% of the receivables originated. In the other program, the Bank retains 100% of the receivables originated in some instances, and in other instances, sells 100% of the receivables within one month of origination. Loan balances held for sale through this program are carried at the lower of cost or fair value.

The Company reports interest income and loan origination fees earned on RCS loans under “Loans, including fees,” while any gains or losses on sale and mark-to-market adjustments of RCS loans are reported as noninterest income under “Program fees.”

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

Effective January 1, 2020, the Company adopted ASC 326 Financial Instruments – Credit Losses, which replaces the pre-January 1, 2020 “probable-incurred” method for calculating the Company’s ACL with the CECL method. CECL is applicable to financial assets measured at amortized cost, including loan and lease receivables and HTM securities. CECL also applies to certain off-balance sheet credit exposures. In addition to CECL, ASC 326 made changes to the accounting for AFS debt securities. One such change is to require credit losses to be presented as an allowance rather than as a write-down on AFS debt securities that the Company does not intend or will likely not be compelled to sell.

The Company adopted ASC 326 primarily using the modified retrospective method for its financial instruments and off-balance sheet credit exposures. Results for periods beginning after December 31, 2019 will be presented under CECL while prior-period amounts will continue to be reported under previously applicable GAAP.

The Company adopted ASC 326 using the prospective transition approach for debt securities for which OTTI had been recognized prior to January 1, 2020. As a result, the amortized cost basis will remain the same before and after the effective date of CECL. The effective interest rate on these debt securities was not changed. Recoveries of amounts previously written off relating to improvements in cash flows after January 1, 2020 will be recorded in earnings when received.

The Company adopted ASC 326 using the prospective transition approach for PCD assets that were previously classified as PCI assets under ASC 310-30. As allowed by ASC 326, the Company did not reassess whether PCI assets met the PCD criteria as of the date of adoption. On January 1, 2020, the amortized cost basis of PCD assets was adjusted to reflect the addition of $1.4 million of ACLL formerly classified under previous GAAP as a non-accretable credit discount within gross loans. The remaining noncredit discount on PCD assets will be accreted into interest income at the effective interest rate as of January 1, 2020.

The Company elected the fair value option for its RCS installment loan product in 2016. This product will continue to be accounted for at fair value under CECL.

When measuring an ACL, CECL primarily differs from the probable-incurred method by: a) incorporating a lower “expected” threshold for loss recognition versus a higher “probable” threshold; b) requiring life-of-loan considerations; and c) requiring reasonable and supportable forecasts.

In accordance with the adoption of ASC 326 and CECL, the Company recorded on January 1, 2020 a $6.7 million, or 16%, increase in the ACLL for its loans, a $51,000 ACLS for its investment debt securities, and a $456,000 ACLC for its off-balance sheet credit exposures. Of the $6.7 million increase in ACLL, approximately $1.4 million was a gross-up reclassification of non-accretable discount on previously-PCI, now-PCD, loans as mentioned above, and the remaining $5.3 million was a difference in ACL between CECL and the probable-incurred method. The Company also made a cumulative effect entry of $4.3 million to reduce its opening balance of retained earnings upon adoption of ASC 326, with no impact on 2020 earnings for these adoption entries. The adoption date increase in ACLL for the Company’s loans primarily reflects additional ACLL for longer duration loan portfolios, such as the Company's residential real estate and consumer loan portfolios. No additional segmentation of the Bank's loan portfolios was deemed necessary upon adoption.

The following table illustrates the impact of ASC 326 adoption:

 

Allowance for Credit Losses as of January 1, 2020

As Reported

Impact

Under

Pre-ASC 326

of ASC 326

(in thousands)

    

ASC 326

    

Adoption

    

Adoption

Assets:

Allowance for credit losses on debt securities:

AFS debt securities - Corporate bonds

$

$

$

HTM debt securities - Corporate bond

51

51

Allowance for credit losses on debt securities

$

51

$

$

51

Allowance for credit losses on loans:

Traditional Banking:

Residential real estate:

Owner occupied

$

8,928

$

4,729

$

4,199

Nonowner occupied

 

1,885

 

1,737

 

 

148

Commercial real estate

 

10,759

 

10,486

 

 

273

Construction & land development

 

3,599

 

2,152

 

 

1,447

Commercial & industrial

 

1,564

 

2,882

 

 

(1,318)

Lease financing receivables

 

147

 

147

 

 

Home equity

 

4,373

 

2,721

 

 

1,652

Consumer:

Credit cards

 

1,053

 

1,020

 

 

33

Overdrafts

 

1,169

 

1,169

 

 

Automobile loans

 

605

 

612

 

 

(7)

Other consumer

 

857

 

550

 

 

307

Total Traditional Banking

34,939

28,205

6,734

Warehouse lines of credit

 

1,794

 

1,794

 

 

Total Core Banking

36,733

29,999

6,734

Republic Processing Group:

Tax Refund Solutions:

Easy Advances

Other TRS loans

234

234

Republic Credit Solutions

 

13,118

 

13,118

 

 

Total Republic Processing Group

13,352

13,352

Allowance for credit losses on loans

$

50,085

$

43,351

 

$

6,734

Liabilities:

Allowance for credit losses on OBS credit exposures

$

456

$

$

456

The following ASUs were also adopted by the Company during the six months ended June 30, 2020:

ASU. No.

    

Topic

    

Nature of Update

    

Date Adopted

    

Method of Adoption

    

Financial Statement Impact

2017-04

Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350)

This ASU simplifies goodwill impairment testing by eliminating Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. The ASU also eliminates the requirements for any reporting unit with a zero or negative carrying amount to perform a qualitative assessment and, if it fails that qualitative test, to perform Step 2 of the goodwill impairment test. An entity still has the option to perform the qualitative assessment for a reporting unit to determine if the quantitative impairment test is necessary.

January 1, 2020

Prospectively

Immaterial

2020-04

Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting

This ASU provides temporary optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform. The new guidance provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying GAAP to contract modifications and hedging relationships, subject to meeting certain criteria, that reference LIBOR or another reference rate expected to be discontinued. The ASU is intended to help during the global market-wide reference rate transition period; therefore, it will be in effect for a limited time through December 31, 2022.

March 12, 2020

Prospectively

This ASU is expected to assist in the Company's transition away from LIBOR as a reference rate.