Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitment, Contingencies and Guarantees

COMMERCIAL COMMITMENTS

Regions issues off-balance sheet financial instruments in connection with lending activities. The credit risk associated with these instruments is essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to customers and is subject to Regions’ normal credit approval policies and procedures. Regions measures inherent risk associated with these instruments by recording a reserve for unfunded commitments based on an assessment of the likelihood that the guarantee will be funded and the creditworthiness of the customer or counterparty. Collateral is obtained based on management’s assessment of the creditworthiness of the customer. Credit risk is represented in unused commitments to extend credit, standby letters of credit and commercial letters of credit.

Credit risk associated with these instruments as of December 31 is represented by the contractual amounts indicated in the following table:


	2022		2021
	(In millions)
Unused commitments to extend credit	$	65,460	$	60,935
Standby letters of credit	1,962		1,779
Commercial letters of credit	75		97
Liabilities associated with standby letters of credit	35		28
Assets associated with standby letters of credit	37		29
Reserve for unfunded credit commitments	118		95

Unused commitments to extend credit—To accommodate the financial needs of its customers, Regions makes commitments under various terms to lend funds to consumers, businesses and other entities. These commitments include (among others) credit card and other revolving credit agreements, term loan commitments and short-term borrowing agreements. Many of these loan commitments have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. Since many of these commitments are expected to expire without being funded, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future liquidity requirements.

Standby letters of credit—Standby letters of credit are also issued to customers which commit Regions to make payments on behalf of customers if certain specified future events occur. Regions has recourse against the customer for any amount required to be paid to a third party under a standby letter of credit. The credit risk involved in the issuance of these guarantees is essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to clients and as such, the instruments are collateralized when necessary. Historically, a large percentage of standby letters of credit expire without being funded. The contractual amount of standby letters of credit represents the maximum potential amount of future payments Regions could be required to make and represents Regions’ maximum credit risk.

Commercial letters of credit—Commercial letters of credit are issued to facilitate foreign or domestic trade transactions for customers. As a general rule, drafts will be drawn when the goods underlying the transaction are in transit.

LEGAL CONTINGENCIES

Regions and its subsidiaries are routinely subject to actual or threatened legal proceedings, including litigation and regulatory matters, arising in the ordinary course of business. Litigation matters range from individual actions involving a single plaintiff to class action lawsuits and can involve claims for substantial or indeterminate alleged damages or for injunctive or other relief. Regulatory investigations and enforcement matters may involve formal or informal proceedings and other inquiries initiated by various governmental agencies, law enforcement authorities, and self-regulatory organizations, and can result in fines, penalties, restitution, changes to Regions’ business practices, and other related costs, including reputational damage. At any given time, these legal proceedings are at varying stages of adjudication, arbitration, or investigation, and may relate to a variety of topics, including common law tort and contract claims, as well as statutory consumer protection-related claims, among others.

Assessment of exposure that could result from legal proceedings is complex because these proceedings often involve inherently unpredictable factors, including, but not limited to, the following: whether the proceeding is in early stages; whether damages or the amount of potential fines, penalties, and restitution are unspecified, unsupported, or uncertain; whether there is a potential for punitive or other pecuniary damages; whether the matter involves legal uncertainties, including novel issues of law; whether the matter involves multiple parties and/or jurisdictions; whether discovery or other investigation has begun or is not complete; whether material facts may be disputed or unsubstantiated; whether meaningful settlement discussions have commenced; and whether the matter involves class allegations. As a result of these complexities, Regions may be unable to develop an estimate or range of loss.

Regions evaluates legal proceedings based on information currently available, including advice of counsel. Regions establishes accruals for those matters when a loss is considered probable and the related amount is reasonably estimable.

Additionally, when it is practicable and reasonably possible that it may experience losses in excess of established accruals, Regions estimates possible loss contingencies. Regions currently estimates that the aggregate amount of reasonably possible losses that it may experience, in excess of what has been accrued, is immaterial. While the final outcomes of legal proceedings are inherently unpredictable, management is currently of the opinion that the outcomes of pending and threatened matters will not have a material effect on Regions’ business, consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows as a whole.

As available information changes, the matters for which Regions is able to estimate, as well as the estimates themselves, will be adjusted accordingly. Regions’ estimates are subject to significant judgment and uncertainties, and the matters underlying the estimates will change from time to time. In the event of unexpected future developments, it is possible that an adverse outcome in any such matter could be material to Regions’ business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows as a whole for any particular reporting period of occurrence.

Some of Regions’ exposure with respect to loss contingencies may be offset by applicable insurance coverage. However, in determining the amounts of any accruals or estimates of possible loss contingencies, Regions does not take into account the availability of insurance coverage. To the extent that Regions has an insurance recovery, the proceeds are recorded in the period the recovery is received.

REGULATORY MATTER CONCLUDED DURING 2022

On September 28, 2022, Regions entered into a Consent Order with the CFPB regarding the previously disclosed investigation by the CFPB into certain of Regions' historical overdraft practices and policies. The terms of the Consent Order include payment by Regions of a non-tax deductible $50 million civil monetary penalty and customer redress of approximately $141 million. These payment amounts were mitigated by $50 million in insurance reimbursement proceeds that were received and recorded in non-interest income in the fourth quarter of 2022.

GUARANTEES

FANNIE MAE LOSS SHARE GUARANTEE

Regions sells commercial loans to Fannie Mae through the DUS lending program and through other platforms. The DUS program provides liquidity to the multi-family housing market. Regions services loans sold to Fannie Mae and is required to provide a loss share guarantee equal to one-third of the principal balance for the majority of the commercial servicing portfolio. At December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company's DUS servicing portfolio totaled approximately $4.9 billion and $4.7 billion, respectively. Regions has additional loans sold to Fannie Mae outside of the DUS program that are also subject to a loss share guarantee and at December 31, 2022 and 2021, these serviced loans totaled approximately $655 million and $400 million, respectively. Regions' maximum quantifiable contingent liability related to all loans subject to a loss share guarantee was approximately $1.8 billion and $1.7 billion at December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The Company would be liable for this amount only if all of the loans it services for Fannie Mae, for which the Company retains some risk of loss, were to default and all of the collateral underlying these loans was determined to be without value at the time of settlement. Therefore, the maximum quantifiable contingent liability is not representative of the actual loss the Company would be expected to incur. The estimated fair value of the associated loss share guarantee recorded as a liability on the Company's consolidated balance sheets was immaterial at both December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Refer to Note 1 for additional information.

VISA INDEMNIFICATION

As a member of the Visa USA network, Regions, along with other members, indemnified Visa USA against litigation. On October 3, 2007, Visa USA was restructured and acquired several Visa affiliates. In conjunction with this restructuring, Regions' indemnification of Visa USA was modified to cover specific litigation (“covered litigation”).

A portion of Visa's proceeds from its IPO was put into escrow to fund the covered litigation. To the extent that the amount available under the escrow arrangement, or subsequent fundings of the escrow account resulting from reductions in the class B share conversion ratio, is insufficient to fully resolve the covered litigation, Visa will enforce the indemnification obligations of Visa USA's members for any excess amount. At this time, Regions has concluded that it is not probable that covered litigation exposure will exceed the class B share value.