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Commitments, Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements, Legal Proceedings and Regulatory Matters | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments, Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements, Legal Proceedings and Regulatory Matters | Commitments, Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements, Legal Proceedings, Regulatory Matters and Operational Matters The Corporation utilizes a variety of financial instruments in the normal course of business to meet the financial needs of its customers and to manage its own exposure to fluctuations in interest rates. These financial instruments include lending-related and other commitments (see below) as well as derivative instruments (see Note 10). The following is a summary of lending-related commitments:
($ in Thousands) | Mar 31, 2022 | Dec 31, 2021
Commitments to extend credit, excluding commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale(a)(b) | $ | 10,973,357 |  | $ | 10,848,136 |
Commercial letters of credit(a) | 9,827 |  | 5,992 |
Standby letters of credit(c) | 257,039 |  | 248,292 |
(a) These off-balance sheet financial instruments are exercisable at the market rate prevailing at the date the underlying transaction will be completed and, thus, are deemed to have no current fair value, or the fair value is based on fees currently charged to enter into similar agreements and was not material at March 31, 2022 or December 31, 2021. (b) Interest rate lock commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale are considered derivative instruments and are disclosed in Note 10. (c) The Corporation has established a liability of $2 million for both March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, as an estimate of the fair value of these financial instruments. Lending-related Commitments As a financial services provider, the Corporation routinely enters into commitments to extend credit. Such commitments are subject to the same credit policies and approval process accorded to loans made by the Corporation, with each customer’s creditworthiness evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require the payment of a fee. The Corporation’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to these financial instruments is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary by the Corporation upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the customer. Since a significant portion of commitments to extend credit are subject to specific restrictive loan covenants or may expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash flow requirements. An allowance for unfunded commitments is maintained at a level believed by management to be sufficient to absorb expected lifetime losses related to unfunded commitments (including unfunded loan commitments and letters of credit). The following table presents a summary of the changes in the allowance for unfunded commitments:
($ in Thousands) | Three months ended Mar 31, 2022 | Year Ended Dec 31, 2021
Allowance for Unfunded Commitments |  |
Balance at beginning of period | $ | 39,776 |  | $ | 47,776 |
Provision for unfunded commitments | (1,000) |  | (8,000) |
Balance at end of period | $ | 38,776 |  | $ | 39,776 |
Lending-related commitments include commitments to extend credit, commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale, commercial letters of credit, and standby letters of credit. Commitments to extend credit are legally binding agreements to lend to customers at predetermined interest rates, as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contracts. Interest rate lock commitments to originate residential mortgage loans held for sale and forward commitments on residential mortgage loans and TBA securities are considered derivative instruments, and the fair value of these commitments is recorded in other assets and accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. The Corporation’s derivative and hedging activity is further described in Note 10. Commercial and standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Commercial letters of credit are issued specifically to facilitate commerce and typically result in the commitment being drawn on when the underlying transaction is consummated between the customer and the third party, while standby letters of credit generally are contingent upon the failure of the customer to perform according to the terms of the underlying contract with the third party. Other Commitments The Corporation invests in qualified affordable housing projects, historic projects, new market projects, and opportunity zone funds for the purpose of community reinvestment and obtaining tax credits and other tax benefits. Return on the Corporation's investment in these projects and funds comes in the form of the tax credits and tax losses that pass through to the Corporation, and deferral or elimination of capital gain recognition for tax purposes. The aggregate carrying value of these investments at March 31, 2022 was $259 million, compared to $268 million at December 31, 2021, included in tax credit and other investments on the consolidated balance sheets. The Corporation utilizes the proportional amortization method to account for investments in qualified affordable housing projects. Under the proportional amortization method, the Corporation amortizes the initial cost of the investment in proportion to the tax credits and other tax benefits. The Corporation recognized additional income tax expense attributable to the amortization of investments in qualified affordable housing projects of $8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The Corporation's remaining investment in qualified affordable housing projects accounted for under the proportional amortization method totaled $253 million at March 31, 2022 and $262 million at December 31, 2021. The Corporation’s unfunded equity contributions relating to investments in federal and state qualified affordable housing and federal and state historic projects are recorded in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. The Corporation’s remaining unfunded equity contributions totaled $69 million at March 31, 2022 and $80 million at December 31, 2021. For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the year ended December 31, 2021, the Corporation did not record any impairment related to qualified affordable housing investments. The Corporation has principal investment commitments to provide capital-based financing to private companies through either direct investment in specific companies or through investment funds and partnerships. The timing of future cash requirements to fund such principal investment commitments is generally dependent on the investment cycle, whereby privately held companies are funded by private equity investors and ultimately sold, merged, or taken public through an initial offering, which can vary based on overall market conditions, as well as the nature and type of industry in which the companies operate. The Corporation also invests in loan pools that support CRA loans. The timing of future cash requirements to fund these pools is dependent upon loan demand, which can vary over time. The aggregate carrying value of these investments was $25 million at both March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, included in tax credit and other investments on the consolidated balance sheets. Legal Proceedings The Corporation is party to various pending and threatened claims and legal proceedings arising in the normal course of business activities, some of which involve claims for substantial amounts. Although there can be no assurance as to the ultimate outcomes, the Corporation believes it has meritorious defenses to the claims asserted against it in its currently outstanding matters and intends to continue to defend itself vigorously with respect to such legal proceedings. The Corporation will consider settlement of cases when, in management’s judgment, it is in the best interests of the Corporation and its shareholders. On at least a quarterly basis, the Corporation assesses its liabilities and contingencies in connection with all pending or threatened claims and litigation, utilizing the most recent information available. On a matter by matter basis, an accrual for loss is established for those matters which the Corporation believes it is probable that a loss may be incurred and that the amount of such loss can be reasonably estimated. Once established, each accrual is adjusted as appropriate to reflect any subsequent developments. Accordingly, management’s estimate will change from time to time, and actual losses may be more or less than the current estimate. For matters where a loss is not probable, or the amount of the loss cannot be estimated, no accrual is established. Resolution of legal claims is inherently unpredictable, and in many legal proceedings various factors exacerbate this inherent unpredictability, including where the damages sought are unsubstantiated or indeterminate, it is unclear whether a case brought as a class action will be allowed to proceed on that basis, discovery is not complete, the proceeding is not yet in its final stages, the matters present legal uncertainties, there are significant facts in dispute, there are a large number of parties (including where it is uncertain how liability, if any, will be shared among multiple defendants), or there is a wide range of potential results. A lawsuit, Evans et al v. Associated Banc-Corp et al, was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin - Green Bay Division on January 13, 2021 by one current and one former participant in the Associated Banc-Corp 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the “Plan”) as representatives of a putative class. The plaintiffs alleged that Associated Banc-Corp, the Associated Banc-Corp Plan Administrative Committee, and current and past members of such committee during the relevant time period (the “Defendants”) breached their fiduciary duties with respect to the Plan in violation of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, by applying an imprudent and inappropriate preference for products associated with Associated Banc-Corp within the Plan, and that the Defendants failed to monitor or control the recordkeeping expenses paid to Associated Trust Company, N.A. On March 18, 2021, the Defendants filed a motion to dismiss. On April 8, 2021, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint which dropped the record keeping claim, added Associated Trust Company N.A. and Kellogg Asset Management, LLC as defendants, and alleged various breaches of fiduciary duty related to the selection and monitoring of, and the fees charged by, proprietary collective investment trusts. The plaintiffs, in part, seek an accounting and disgorgement of certain profits, as well as certain equitable restitution and equitable monetary relief. The Corporation intends to vigorously defend against this lawsuit. It is not possible for management to assess the probability of a material adverse outcome or reasonably estimate the amount of any potential loss at this time with respect to this lawsuit. Regulatory Matters A variety of consumer products, including mortgage and deposit products, and certain fees and charges related to such products, have come under increased regulatory scrutiny. It is possible that regulatory authorities could bring enforcement actions, including civil money penalties, or take other actions against the Corporation and the Bank in regard to these consumer products. The Bank could also determine of its own accord, or be required by regulators, to refund or otherwise make remediation payments to customers in connection with these products. It is not possible at this time for management to assess the probability of a material adverse outcome or reasonably estimate the amount of any potential loss related to such matters. Operational Matters In November 2021, we became aware that during several routine purges of old documents, certain documents that were more than seven years old relating to active accounts were inadvertently purged from our electronic database. The active account documents that were inadvertently purged related to (1) certain customer documents obtained as part of bank acquisitions, and (2) certain customer documents that were transferred to a new cold storage system without correct retention coding. Both the acquisitions and the transfer occurred years ago. The majority of the documents inadvertently purged were signature cards. We have undertaken measures to replace (if possible) or otherwise lessen the impact on customers of any inadvertently purged documents. While the impact on the Company of this incident has been immaterial to date, and we are not aware of any material adverse customer impact, it is not possible at this time for management to reasonably estimate the amount of any potential loss related to this incident. Mortgage Repurchase Reserve The Corporation sells residential mortgage loans to investors in the normal course of business. Residential mortgage loans sold to others are predominantly conventional residential first lien mortgages originated under the Corporation's usual underwriting procedures, and are most often sold on a nonrecourse basis, primarily to the GSEs. The Corporation’s agreements to sell residential mortgage loans in the normal course of business usually require certain representations and warranties on the underlying loans sold, related to credit information, loan documentation, collateral, and insurability. Subsequent to being sold, if a material underwriting deficiency or documentation defect is discovered, the Corporation may be obligated to repurchase the loan or reimburse the GSEs for losses incurred (collectively, “make whole requests”). The make whole requests and any related risk of loss under the representations and warranties are largely driven by borrower performance. Additionally, beginning in the third quarter of 2021, qualifying residential mortgage loans guaranteed by U.S. government agencies have been sold into GNMA pools. As a result of make whole requests, the Corporation has repurchased loans with aggregate principal balances of $2 million and $8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively. There were no loss reimbursement and settlement claims paid in the three months ended March 31, 2022, and approximately $114,000 of such claims were paid for the year ended December 31, 2021. Make whole requests during 2021 and the first three months of 2022 generally arose from loans sold during the period of January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021. Since January 1, 2017, loans sold totaled $7.2 billion at the time of sale, and consisted primarily of loans sold to GSEs. As of March 31, 2022, $4.6 billion of loans originated since January 1, 2017 remain outstanding. The balance in the mortgage repurchase reserve at the balance sheet date reflects the estimated amount of potential loss the Corporation could incur from repurchasing a loan, as well as loss reimbursements, indemnifications, and other settlement resolutions. The mortgage repurchase reserve, included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets, was $1 million at both March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021. The Corporation may also sell residential mortgage loans with limited recourse (limited in that the recourse period ends prior to the loan’s maturity, usually after certain time and / or loan paydown criteria have been met), whereby repurchase could be required if the loan had defined delinquency issues during the limited recourse periods. At March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, there were $8 million and $10 million, respectively, of residential mortgage loans sold with such recourse risk. There have been limited instances and immaterial historical losses on repurchases for recourse under the limited recourse criteria. The Corporation has a subordinate position to the FHLB in the credit risk on residential mortgage loans it sold to the FHLB in exchange for a monthly credit enhancement fee. The Corporation has not sold loans to the FHLB with such credit risk retention since February 2005. At March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, there were $23 million and $24 million, respectively, of such residential mortgage loans with credit risk recourse, upon which there have been immaterial historical losses to the Corporation.

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