Commitments and Contingencies |
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| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies
In the normal course of business, the Corporation enters into a number of off-balance sheet commitments. These commitments expose the Corporation to varying degrees of credit and market risk and are subject to the same credit and market risk limitation reviews as those instruments recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. For more information on commitments and contingencies, see Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation’s 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Credit Extension Commitments
The Corporation enters into commitments to extend credit such as loan commitments, SBLCs and commercial letters of credit to meet the financing needs of its customers. The following table includes the notional amount of unfunded legally binding lending commitments net of amounts distributed (i.e.,
syndicated or participated) to other financial institutions. The distributed amounts were $10.3 billion and $10.6 billion at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019. At September 30, 2020, the carrying value of these commitments, excluding commitments accounted for under the fair value option, was $1.9 billion, including deferred revenue of $17 million and a reserve for unfunded lending commitments of $1.9 billion. At December 31, 2019, the comparable amounts were $829 million, $16 million and $813 million, respectively. The carrying value of these commitments is classified in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.
Legally binding commitments to extend credit generally have specified rates and maturities. Certain of these commitments have adverse change clauses that help to protect the Corporation against deterioration in the borrower’s ability to pay.
The table below includes the notional amount of commitments of $3.3 billion and $4.4 billion at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 that are accounted for under the fair value option. However, the table excludes cumulative net fair value of $122 million and $90 million at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 on these commitments, which is classified in accrued expenses and other liabilities. For more information regarding the Corporation’s loan commitments accounted for under the fair value option, see Note 15 – Fair Value Option.
(1) At both September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, $5.1 billion of these loan commitments were held in the form of a security.
(2) The notional amounts of SBLCs and financial guarantees classified as investment grade and non-investment grade based on the credit quality of the underlying reference name within the instrument were $25.4 billion and $10.5 billion at September 30, 2020, and $27.9 billion and $8.6 billion at December 31, 2019. Amounts in the table include consumer SBLCs of $521 million and $413 million at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019.
(3) At September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, included are letters of credit of $1.7 billion and $1.4 billion related to certain liquidity commitments of VIEs. For more information, see Note 6 – Securitizations and Other Variable Interest Entities.
(4) Includes business card unused lines of credit.
Other Commitments
At September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Corporation had commitments to purchase loans (e.g., residential mortgage and commercial real estate) of $169 million and $86 million, which upon settlement will be included in trading account assets, loans or LHFS, and commitments to purchase commercial loans of $365 million and $1.1 billion, which upon settlement will be included in trading account assets.
At September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Corporation had commitments to purchase commodities, primarily liquefied natural gas, of $539 million and $830 million, which upon settlement will be included in trading account assets.
At September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Corporation had commitments to enter into resale and forward-dated resale and securities borrowing agreements of $127.7 billion and $97.2 billion, and commitments to enter into forward-dated repurchase and securities lending agreements of $68.7
billion and $24.9 billion. These commitments generally expire within the next 12 months.
At September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Corporation had a commitment to originate or purchase up to $3.8 billion and $3.3 billion on a rolling 12-month basis, of auto loans and leases from a strategic partner. This commitment extends through November 2022 and can be terminated with 12 months prior notice.
Other Guarantees
Bank-owned Life Insurance Book Value Protection
The Corporation sells products that offer book value protection to insurance carriers who offer group life insurance policies to corporations, primarily banks. At September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the notional amount of these guarantees totaled $7.1 billion and $7.3 billion. At both September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Corporation’s maximum exposure related to these guarantees totaled $1.1 billion, with estimated maturity dates between 2033 and 2039.
Merchant Services
Prior to July 1, 2020, a significant portion of the Corporation's merchant processing activity was performed by a joint venture in which it held a 49 percent ownership interest. On July 29, 2019, the Corporation gave notice to the joint venture partner of the termination of the joint venture upon the conclusion of its current term on June 30, 2020. Effective July 1, 2020, the Corporation received its share of the joint venture's merchant contracts and began performing merchant processing services for these merchants. While merchants bear responsibility for any credit or debit card charges properly reversed by the cardholder, the Corporation, in its role as merchant acquirer, may be held liable for any reversed charges that cannot be collected from the merchants due to, among other things, merchant fraud or insolvency.
The Corporation, as a card network member bank, also sponsors other merchant acquirers, principally its former joint venture partner with respect to merchants distributed to that partner upon the termination of the joint venture. If reversed charges applicable to these merchants cannot be collected from either the merchants or merchant acquirers, the Corporation may be held liable for these reversed charges. The Corporation’s risk in this area primarily relates to circumstances where a cardholder has purchased goods or services for future delivery. The Corporation mitigates this risk by requiring cash deposits, guarantees, letters of credit or other types of collateral from certain merchants. The total amount of transactions processed for the preceding six-month period, which was $311.7 billion, is an estimate of the Corporation’s maximum potential exposure as of September 30, 2020. However, for the reasons described above, the Corporation does not believe the maximum potential exposure is representative of the actual potential loss exposure. At September 30, 2020 and 2019, the Corporation’s reserves for contingent losses and the losses incurred related to the merchant processing activity were not significant. The Corporation will continue to monitor its exposure in this area due to the potential economic impacts of COVID-19.
Representations and Warranties Obligations and Corporate Guarantees
For more information on representations and warranties obligations and corporate guarantees, see Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation’s 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The reserve for representations and warranties obligations and corporate guarantees was $1.4 billion and $1.8 billion at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 and is included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet and the related provision is included in other income in the Consolidated Statement of Income. The representations and warranties reserve represents the Corporation’s best estimate of probable incurred losses, is based on our experience in previous negotiations, and is subject to judgment, a variety of assumptions, and known or unknown uncertainties. Future representations and warranties losses may occur in excess of the amounts recorded for these exposures; however, the Corporation does not expect such amounts to be material to the Corporation's financial condition and liquidity. See Litigation and Regulatory Matters below for the Corporation's combined range of possible loss in excess of the reserve for representations and warranties and the accrued liability for litigation.
Fixed Income Clearing Corporation Sponsored Member Repo Program
The Corporation acts as a sponsoring member in a repo program whereby the Corporation clears certain eligible resale and repurchase agreements through the Government Securities Division of the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation on behalf of clients that are sponsored members in accordance with the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation’s rules. As part of this program, the Corporation guarantees the payment and performance of its sponsored members to the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation. The Corporation’s guarantee obligation is secured by a security interest in cash or high-quality securities collateral placed by clients with the clearinghouse and therefore, the potential for the Corporation to incur significant losses under this arrangement is remote. The Corporation’s maximum potential exposure, without taking into consideration the related collateral, was $8.0 billion and $9.3 billion at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019.
Other Guarantees
The Corporation has entered into additional guarantee agreements and commitments, including sold risk participation swaps, liquidity facilities, lease-end obligation agreements, partial credit guarantees on certain leases, real estate joint venture guarantees, divested business commitments and sold put options that require gross settlement. The maximum potential future payments under these agreements are approximately $9.0 billion and $8.7 billion at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019. The estimated maturity dates of these obligations extend up to 2049. The Corporation has made no material payments under these guarantees. For more information on maximum potential future payments under VIE-related liquidity commitments, see Note 6 – Securitizations and Other Variable Interest Entities.
In the normal course of business, the Corporation periodically guarantees the obligations of its affiliates in a variety of transactions including ISDA-related transactions and non-ISDA related transactions such as commodities trading, repurchase agreements, prime brokerage agreements and other transactions.
Guarantees of Certain Long-term Debt
The Corporation, as the parent company, fully and unconditionally guarantees the securities issued by BofA Finance LLC, a 100 percent owned finance subsidiary of the Corporation, and effectively provides for the full and unconditional guarantee of trust securities issued by certain statutory trust companies that are 100 percent owned finance subsidiaries of the Corporation.
Litigation and Regulatory Matters
The following disclosure supplements the disclosure in Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation’s 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K (the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure).
In the ordinary course of business, the Corporation and its subsidiaries are routinely defendants in or parties to many pending and threatened legal, regulatory and governmental actions and proceedings. In view of the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of such matters, particularly where the claimants seek very large or indeterminate damages or where the matters present novel legal theories or involve a large number of parties, the Corporation generally cannot predict the eventual outcome of the pending matters, the timing of the ultimate resolution of these matters, or any eventual loss, fines or penalties related to each pending matter.
In accordance with applicable accounting guidance, the Corporation establishes an accrued liability when those matters present loss contingencies that are both probable and estimable. In such cases, there may be an exposure to loss in excess of any amounts accrued. As a matter develops, the Corporation, in conjunction with any outside counsel handling the matter, evaluates on an ongoing basis whether such matter presents a loss contingency that is probable and estimable. Once the loss contingency is deemed to be both probable and estimable, the Corporation will establish an accrued liability and record a corresponding amount of litigation-related expense. The Corporation continues to monitor the matter for further developments that could affect the amount of the accrued liability that has been previously established. Excluding expenses of internal and external legal service providers, litigation-related expense of $636 million and $717 million was recognized for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 compared to $352 million and $539 million for the same periods in 2019.
For a limited number of the matters disclosed in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure, for which a loss, whether in excess of a related accrued liability or where there is no accrued liability, is reasonably possible in future periods, the Corporation is able to estimate a range of possible loss. In determining whether it is possible to estimate a range of possible loss, the Corporation reviews and evaluates these matters on an ongoing basis, in conjunction with any outside counsel handling the matter, in light of potentially relevant factual and legal developments. With respect to such matters, in cases in which the Corporation possesses sufficient appropriate information to estimate a range of possible loss, that estimate is aggregated and disclosed below. There may be other disclosed matters for which a loss is probable or
reasonably possible but such an estimate of the range of possible loss may not be possible. For those disclosed matters where an estimate of the range of possible loss is possible, as well as for representations and warranties exposures, management currently estimates the aggregate range of reasonably possible loss for these exposures is $0 to $1.3 billion in excess of the accrued liability, if any.
The estimated range of possible loss, as well as the Corporation's accrued liability, is based upon currently available information and is subject to significant judgment, a variety of assumptions and known and unknown uncertainties. The matters underlying the estimated range of possible loss and liability accrual are unpredictable and will change from time to time, and actual losses may vary significantly from the current estimate or accrual. Therefore, this estimated range of possible loss represents what the Corporation believes to be an estimate of possible loss only for certain matters meeting these criteria. It does not represent the Corporation’s maximum loss exposure.
Information is provided in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure regarding the nature of the litigation and, where specified, associated claimed damages. Based on current knowledge, and taking into account accrued liabilities, management does not believe that loss contingencies arising from pending matters in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure will have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial condition or liquidity of the Corporation. However, in light of the significant judgment, variety of assumptions and uncertainties involved in these matters, some of which are beyond the Corporation’s control, and the very large or indeterminate damages sought in some of these matters, an adverse outcome in one or more of these matters could be material to the Corporation’s businesses or results of operations for any particular reporting period, or cause significant reputational harm.
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