Basis of Presentation and Accounting Policies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2024

Basis of Presentation and Accounting Policies

Note 1 - Basis of Presentation and Accounting Policies

General

The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements of Synovus Financial Corp. include the accounts of the Parent Company and its consolidated subsidiaries. Synovus Financial Corp. is a financial services company based in Columbus, Georgia. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Synovus Bank, a Georgia state-chartered bank that is a member of the Federal Reserve System, the Company provides commercial and consumer banking in addition to a full suite of specialized products and services, including private banking, treasury management, wealth management, mortgage services, premium finance, asset-based lending, structured lending, capital markets, and international banking. Synovus also provides financial planning and investment advisory services through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Synovus Trust and Synovus Securities.

The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to the SEC Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X; therefore, they do not include all information and footnotes necessary for a fair presentation of financial position, results of operations, comprehensive income (loss), and cash flows in conformity with GAAP. All adjustments consisting of normally recurring accruals that, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair presentation of the consolidated financial position and results of operations for the periods covered by this Report have been included. The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing in Synovus' 2023 Form 10-K.

Reclassifications

Prior periods' consolidated financial statements are reclassified whenever necessary to conform to the current periods' presentation.

Use of Estimates in the Preparation of Financial Statements

In preparing the consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, management is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of the respective consolidated balance sheets and the reported amounts of revenue and expense for the periods presented. Actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.

Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change relate to the determination of the ACL, estimates of fair value, income taxes, and contingent liabilities.

Significant Accounting Policies Update

On April 1, 2024, Synovus transferred $2.72 billion in fair value of mortgage-backed securities from available for sale to held to maturity. At the time of transfer, $537.4 million of unrealized losses, net of tax, were retained in accumulated other comprehensive income and will be amortized over the remaining life of the securities.

Transfer between Investment Securities Categories – When an investment security is transferred from the AFS to HTM category, the security's fair value becomes its new amortized cost, net of any allowance for credit losses and is a non-cash transaction. Unrealized gains or losses at the date of transfer of these securities continue to be reported in AOCI and are amortized into interest income on a level-yield basis over the remaining life of the security, in a manner consistent with the amortization or accretion of the original purchase premium or discount on the associated security.

Investment Securities Held to Maturity – Securities that Synovus has the full intent and ability to hold until maturity are classified as HTM and are carried at amortized cost, net of any allowance for credit losses. Accrued interest is excluded from the amortized cost of HTM securities and is included within other assets on the consolidated balance sheets. HTM securities are generally placed on non-accrual status using factors similar to those described for loans as referenced in "Part II - Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Note 1 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" of Synovus' 2023 Form 10-K.

Allowance for Credit Losses on Held to Maturity Investment Securities – The Company assesses expected credit losses on HTM securities on a collective basis by major security type. All of the Company's HTM securities are either guaranteed or issued by U.S. government sponsored enterprises, are highly rated by major credit rating agencies and have a long history of no credit losses, and therefore, the zero-credit loss assumption has been applied. Any expected credit loss is provided through an allowance for credit losses on HTM securities and deducted from the amortized cost basis of the security. Synovus has elected to not measure an allowance on its accrued interest receivable as a result of the timely reversal of interest receivable deemed uncollectible. Interest accrued but not received for a security placed on non-accrual is reversed against interest income. Cash collected on non-accrual HTM securities is generally applied to reduce the securities amortized cost basis and not as interest income.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The following table provides a brief description of accounting standards adopted or issued in 2024 and the estimated effect on the Company’s financial statements.


Standard	Description	Required date of adoption	Effect on Company's financial statements or other significant matters
Standards Adopted (or partially adopted)
ASU 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures	In November 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-07 to improve segment reporting disclosures. The amendments in this ASU improve financial reporting by requiring disclosure of incremental segment information including significant segment expenses regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker as well as the amount and composition of other segment items on an annual and interim basis for all public entities to enable investors to develop more decision-useful financial analyses. Retrospective application is required in all prior periods unless impracticable to do so.	Annual periods beginning on January 1, 2024	The Company will present the new disclosure requirements for the annual period beginning on January 1, 2024, and interim periods starting on January 1, 2025. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the incremental segment information that will be required to be disclosed as well as the impact to the Segment Reporting footnote disclosed in the Form 10-K.



Standard	Description	Required date of adoption	Effect on Company's financial statements or other significant matters
Standards Issued But Not Yet Adopted

ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures	In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09 to enhance the transparency and decision usefulness of income tax disclosures. The ASU addresses investor requests for more transparency about income tax information through improvements to income tax disclosures primarily related to the rate reconciliation and income taxes paid information. Retrospective application in all prior periods is permitted.	January 1, 2025	The Company will adopt the new disclosures for the annual periods beginning on January 1, 2025. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the incremental income taxes information that will be required to be disclosed as well as the impact to the Income Taxes footnote in the Form 10-K.