BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

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.

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 nine months ended September 30, 2022 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2022. 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, 2021.

As of September 30, 2022, 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.

Core Bank

Traditional Banking segment — The Traditional Banking segment provides traditional banking products primarily to customers in the Company’s market footprint. As of September 30, 2022, Republic had 42 full-service banking centers 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 — 7

● Metropolitan Cincinnati, Ohio — 2

● Metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee — 2

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, and increases in the cash surrender value of BOLI.

Traditional Banking operating expenses consist primarily of: salaries and employee benefits; technology, equipment, and communication; occupancy; interchange related expense; marketing and development; FDIC insurance 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 — The Core Bank provides short-term, revolving credit facilities to mortgage bankers across the United States 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 for loans generated in states within its footprint and generally sells servicing for loans generated in states outside of its footprint. 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 2022 and 2021:

● 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 a DDA Card, direct deposit, prepaid card, or check, 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:

o there is no recourse to the taxpayer, 

o no negative credit reporting on the taxpayer, and

o no collection efforts against the taxpayer.

The Company reports fees paid for the EA product as interest income on loans. During 2021, EAs were repaid, on average, within 32 days after the taxpayer’s tax return was submitted to the applicable taxing authority. EAs do not have a contractual due date but the Company considered an EA delinquent in 2022 and 2021 if it remained unpaid 35 days after the taxpayer’s tax return was submitted to the applicable taxing authority. The number of days for delinquency eligibility is based on management’s annual analysis of tax return processing times. Provisions on EAs are estimated when advances are made. Unpaid EAs are charged-off by June 30^th of each year, with EAs collected during the second half of each year recorded as recoveries of previously charged-off loans, unless such collections are subject to guarantor reimbursement under a loan-loss guaranty. 

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.

Settlement of Lawsuit Against Green Dot - On June 3, 2022, the Bank and Green Dot entered into the Settlement Agreement to fully resolve the Lawsuit that the Bank filed against Green Dot in the Delaware Court of Chancery on October 5, 2021.

As previously disclosed in the Company’s prior SEC filings, the Lawsuit arose from Green Dot’s inability to consummate the Sale

Transaction contemplated in the TRS Purchase Agreement through which Green Dot would purchase all of the assets and operations of the Bank’s Tax Refund Solutions business.

In accordance with the Settlement Agreement, on June 6, 2022, Green Dot paid $13 million to the Bank, which was in addition to a $5 million termination fee that Green Dot paid to the Bank during the first quarter of 2022 under the terms of the TRS Purchase Agreement. On June 6, 2022, the Bank and Green Dot filed a stipulation of dismissal of the Lawsuit with the Delaware Court of Chancery, which was effective to dismiss the Lawsuit when filed.

Republic Payment Solutions division — RPS is currently managed and operated within the TRS segment. The RPS division offers general-purpose reloadable prepaid cards as an issuing bank 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 that 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 products – Using separate third-party service providers, the Bank originates two line-of-credit products to generally subprime borrowers in multiple states. The first of these two products (the “LOC I”) has been originated by the Bank since 2014. The second (the “LOC II”) was introduced in January 2021.

o RCS’s LOC I represented the substantial majority of RCS activity during 2021 and 2022. Elastic Marketing, LLC and Elevate Decision Sciences, LLC are third-party service providers for the product and are subject to the Bank’s oversight and supervision. Together, these companies provide the Bank with certain marketing, servicing, technology, and support services, while a separate third party provides customer support, servicing, and other services on the Bank’s behalf. The Bank is the lender for this 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 product. 

The Bank sells participation interests in this 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 LOC I account with each borrower. Loan balances held for sale through this program are carried at the lower of cost or fair value.

o In January 2021, RCS began originating balances through its LOC II. One of RCS’s existing third-party service providers, subject to the Bank’s oversight and supervision, provides the Bank with marketing services and loan servicing for the LOC II product. The Bank is the lender for this product and is marketed as such. Furthermore, the Bank controls the loan terms and underwriting guidelines, and the Bank exercises consumer compliance oversight of this product. 

The Bank sells participation interests in this product. These participation interests are a 95% 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 5% participation interest in each advance, it maintains 100% ownership of the underlying LOC II account with each borrower. Loan balances held for sale through this program are carried at the lower of cost or fair value.

● RCS installment loan product – In December 2019, through RCS, the Bank began offering installment loans with terms ranging from 12 to 60 months to borrowers in multiple states. The same third-party service provider for RCS’s LOC II is the third-party provider for the installment loans. This third-party provider is subject to the Bank’s oversight and supervision and 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. Furthermore, 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 a third-party, who is an affiliate of the Bank’s 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

The following ASUs were adopted by the Company during the nine months ended September 30, 2022:

ASU. No.	Topic	Nature of Update	Date Adopted	Method of Adoption	Financial Statement Impact
2020-06	Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging— Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity	This ASU simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current U.S. GAAP. Consequently, more convertible debt instruments will be reported as a single liability instrument and more convertible preferred stock as a single equity instrument with no separate accounting for embedded conversion features. The ASU removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, which will permit more equity contracts to qualify for it. The ASU also simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas.	January 1, 2022	Prospectively	Immaterial
2021-04	Earnings Per Share (Topic 260), Debt— Modifications and Extinguishments (Subtopic 470-50), Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718), and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Issuer’s Accounting for Certain Modifications or Exchanges of Freestanding Equity-Classified Written Call Options	This ASU provides guidance for a modification or an exchange of a freestanding equity-classified written call option that is not within the scope of another Topic. It specifically addresses: (1) How an entity should treat a modification of the terms or conditions or an exchange of a freestanding equity-classified written call option that remains equity classified after modification or exchange; (2) How an entity should measure the effect of a modification or an exchange of a freestanding equity-classified written call option that remains equity classified after modification or exchange; and (3) How an entity should recognize the effect of a modification or an exchange of a freestanding equity-classified written call option that remains equity classified after modification or exchange.	January 1, 2022	Prospectively	Immaterial

Accounting Standards Update

The following not-yet-effective ASUs were issued since the Company’s most recently filed Form 10-K and are considered relevant to the Company’s financial statements.

			Date Adoption	Adoption	Expected
ASU. No.	Topic	Nature of Update	Required	Method	Financial Impact
2022-02	Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Troubled Debt Restructurings and Vintage Disclosures	This ASU eliminates the TDR recognition and measurement guidance and, instead, requires the Company to evaluate (consistent with the accounting for other loan modifications) whether a modification represents a new loan or a continuation of an existing loan. This ASU also enhances existing disclosure requirements and introduces new requirements related to certain modifications of receivables made to borrowers experiencing financial difficulty. This ASU requires the Company to disclose current-period gross writeoffs by year of origination for financing receivables and net investment in leases within the scope of Subtopic 326-20. Gross writeoff information must be included in the vintage disclosures required for the Company in accordance with ASC 326-20-50-6, which requires that the Company disclose the amortized cost basis of financing receivables by credit quality indicator and class of financing receivable by year of origination. (see Note 4 in this section of the filing)	January 1, 2023	Prospectively	The Company is currently analyzing the impact of this ASU on its financial statements.
2022-03	Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Fair Value Measurement of Equity Securities Subject to Contractual Sale Restrictions	This ASU clarifies that a contractual restriction on the sale of an equity security is not considered part of the unit of account of the equity security and, therefore, is not considered in measuring fair value.	January 1, 2024	Prospectively	Immaterial