BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2025

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. 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 geographic market footprint where it has physical locations, its non-brick-and-mortar delivery channels allow it to reach clients across the U.S.

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 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 months ended March 31, 2025 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year ending December 31, 2025. 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, 2024. Certain amounts presented in prior periods have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation. These reclassifications had no impact on previously reported prior periods’ net income or shareholders’ equity.

BUSINESS SEGMENT COMPOSITION

As of March 31, 2025, the Company was divided into five reportable segments: Traditional Banking, Warehouse Lending, TRS, RPS, and RCS. Management considers the first two segments to collectively constitute “Core Bank” or “Core Banking” operations, while the last three segments collectively constitute RPG operations.

The Company’s Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer serves as the Company’s CODM. Income (loss) before income tax expense is the reportable measure of segment profit or loss that the CODM regularly reviews and uses to allocate resources and assess performance. See additional discussion regarding segment information under Footnote 15 “Segment Information” in this section of the filing.

Core Bank

Traditional Banking segment — The Traditional Banking segment provides traditional banking products primarily to customers in the Company’s market footprint. As of March 31, 2025, Republic had 47 banking centers with locations as follows:

● Kentucky — 29

● Metropolitan Louisville — 19

● Central Kentucky — 6

● Georgetown — 1

● Lexington — 5

● Northern Kentucky (Metropolitan Cincinnati) — 4

●Bellevue— 1

● Covington — 1

● Crestview Hills — 1

● Florence — 1

● Indiana — 3

● Southern Indiana (Metropolitan Louisville) — 3

● Floyds Knobs — 1

● Jeffersonville — 1

● New Albany — 1

● Florida — 7

● Metropolitan Tampa — 7

● Ohio — 4

● Metropolitan Cincinnati — 4

● Tennessee — 4

● Metropolitan Nashville — 4

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. Advances for reverse mortgage loans and construction loans typically remain on the line longer than conventional mortgage loans. Interest income and loan fees are accrued for each individual advance during the time the advance 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.

Republic Processing Group

Tax Refund Solutions segment — Through the TRS segment, the Bank facilitates the receipt and payment of federal and state tax refund products and offers a credit product through Tax Providers. The majority of the business generated by the TRS business occurs during the first half of each year. During the second half of each year, TRS generates limited revenue and incurs costs preparing for the next year’s tax season. During December 2024, TRS originated $139 million of ERAs related to tax returns that were anticipated to be filed during the first quarter 2025 tax filing 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 RA product is a loan made in conjunction with the filing of a taxpayer’s federal tax return, which allows the taxpayer to borrow funds as an advance of a portion of their tax refund. The RA product had the following features during the first quarters of 2025 and 2024:

● 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 $6,500 for the 2024 Tax Season and $6,250 for the 2025 Tax Season;

● No requirement that the taxpayer pays for another bank product, such as an RT;

● Multiple disbursement methods were available through most Tax Providers, including direct deposit, prepaid card, or check, based on the taxpayer-customer’s election;

● Repayment of the RA to the Bank is deducted from the taxpayer’s tax refund proceeds; and

● If an insufficient refund to repay the RA 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.

Since its introduction in December of 2022, the ERA loan product has been structured similarly to the RA with the primary differences being the timing of when the ERAs are originated and the documentation available to underwrite the ERAs. The ERA is originated prior to the taxpayer receiving their fiscal year taxable income documentation, e.g., W-2, and the filing of the taxpayer’s final federal tax return. As such, the Company generally uses paystub information to underwrite the ERA. The repayment of the ERA is incumbent upon the taxpayer client returning to the Bank’s Tax Provider for the filing of their final federal tax return in order for the tax refund to potentially be received by the Bank from the federal government to pay off the advance. The ERA product had the following features during the 2024 and 2025 tax filing seasons:

● Only offered during December and the up-coming January in connection with the upcoming first quarter tax business for each period;

● The taxpayer had the option to choose from multiple loan tiers, subject to underwriting, up to a maximum advance amount of $1,000 for the 2024 Tax Season and $2,000 for the 2025 Tax Season;

● No requirement that the taxpayer pays for another bank product, such as an RT;

● Multiple disbursement methods available through most Tax Providers, including direct deposit or prepaid card, based on the taxpayer-customer’s election;

● Repayment of the ERA to the Bank deducted from the taxpayer’s tax refund proceeds; and

● If an insufficient refund to repay the ERA, including the failure to file a final federal tax return through a Republic Tax Provider:

o 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 RAs, including ERAs, as interest income on loans. The number of days for delinquency eligibility is based on management’s annual analysis of tax return processing times. RAs, including ERAs that were originated related to the first quarter 2024 tax filing season were repaid, on average, within 32 days after the taxpayer’s tax return was submitted to the applicable taxing authority. RAs do not have a contractual due date, but as it did during 2024, the Company considered an RA delinquent during the first three months of 2025 if it remained unpaid 35 days after the taxpayer’s tax return was submitted to the applicable taxing authority.

Provisions on RAs are estimated when advances are made. Unpaid RAs, including ERAs, related to the first quarter tax filing season of a given year are charged-off by June 30th of that year, unless they are deemed to be uncollectible earlier than June 30th, at which time they are charged off. RAs collected during the second half of that year, not subject to loan loss guarantee arrangements, are recorded as recoveries of previously charged-off loans.

Republic Payment Solutions segment - The RPS segment offers a range of payment-related products and services to consumers through third party service providers. The Bank offers both issuing solutions and money movement capabilities.

Issuing Solutions:

The RPS segment offers prepaid and debit solutions primarily marketed to consumers through third-party marketer-servicers.

Prepaid solutions include the issuing of payroll and general purpose reloadable (“GPR”) cards. Characteristics of these cards include the following:

● Similar to a traditional debit card with features including traditional point of sale purchasing, ATM withdrawals and direct deposit;

● Funds associated with these products are typically held in pooled accounts at the Bank with the Bank maintaining records of individual balances within these pooled accounts; and

● Payroll cards facilitate the loading of an employer’s payroll onto a card via direct deposit with GPR cards generally distributed through retail locations and reloadable through participating retail load networks.

Debit solutions include the issuing of demand deposit accounts, savings accounts and/or debit cards. In addition to offering traditional point of sale purchasing, ATM withdrawals, and direct deposit options, these accounts may include overdraft protection.

Money Movement:

The Bank participates in traditional money movement solutions including ACH transactions, wire transfer, check processing, and the Mastercard Remote Payment and Presentment Service (“RPPS”). These capabilities are complementary to issuing within RPS, as well as, generally facilitating the movement of money for the TRS and RCS Divisions.

The Company reports its share of client-related charges and fees for 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.

1) Elastic Marketing, LLC and Elevate Decision Sciences, LLC are third-party service providers for the LOC I 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. Furthermore, 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.

2) Similar to its LOC I product, the Bank provides oversight and supervision to a third party for its LOC II product. In return, this third party 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 95% participation interests in the LOC II product. These 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 – Through RCS, the Bank offers 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 three different third-party service providers.

o For two of the programs, the Bank retains 100% of the receivables, with recourse in the event of default.

o For the remaining program, in some instances the Bank retains 100% of the receivables originated, with recourse in the event of default, and in other instances, the Bank sells 100% of the receivables generally within one month of origination. Loan balances held for sale through this program are carried at the lower of cost or fair value.

For the RCS line of credit and healthcare receivable products, the Company reports interest income and loan origination fees earned on RCS loans under “Loans, including fees,” while any net gains or losses on sale and mark-to-market adjustments of RCS loans are reported as noninterest income under “RCS Program fees.” The Company has elected fair value accounting for its RCS installment loan product that it sells after an initial holding period. As a result, interest income on loans, loan origination fees, net gains or losses on sale, and mark-to-market adjustments for the RCS installment product are reported as noninterest income under “RCS Program fees.”

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

The following ASUs were adopted by the Company during the three months ended March 31, 2025:

				Method of	Financial
ASU. No.	Topic	Nature of Update	Date Adopted	Adoption	Statement Impact
2024-02	Codification Improvements—Amendments to Remove References to the Concepts Statements	This ASU contains amendments to the Codification that remove references to various Concepts Statements. In most instances the references are extraneous and not required to understand or apply the guidance. In other instances the references were used in prior Statements to provide guidance in certain topical areas.	January 1, 2025	Prospectively	Immaterial

Accounting Standards Update

The following not-yet-effective ASUs are considered relevant to the Company’s financial statements.

			Date Adoption	Adoption	Expected
ASU. No.	Topic	Nature of Update	Required	Method	Financial Impact
2023-09	Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures	Among other things, these amendments require that public business entities on an annual basis (1) disclose specific categories in the rate reconciliation and income tax paid information and (2) provide additional information for reconciling items that meet a quantitative threshold (if the effect of those reconciling items is equal to or greater than 5 percent of the amount computed by multiplying pretax income [or loss] by the applicable statutory income tax rate).	Annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2024.	Prospectively	The Company will update its income tax disclosures upon adoption within its 2025 Form 10-K.
2024-03	Income Statement—Reporting Comprehensive Income—Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses	This ASU requires public companies to disclose, in the notes to financial statements, specified information about certain costs and expenses at each interim and annual reporting period.	Annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2026, and interim periods within annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2027.	Retrospectively	The Company is currently analyzing the impact of this ASU on its financial statements. ​
2025-01	Income Statement—Reporting Comprehensive Income—Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Clarifying the Effective Date	This ASU amends the effective date of ASU No. 2024-03 to clarify that all public business entities are required to adopt the guidance in annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim periods within annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2027.	Annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2026, and interim periods within annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2027.	Retrospectively	The Company is currently analyzing the impact of this ASU on its financial statements. ​