Commitments and Contingencies |
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| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 12 – Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation's 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The Corporation enters into commitments to extend credit such as loan commitments, standby letters of credit (SBLCs) and commercial letters of credit to meet the financing needs of its customers. The table below includes the notional amount of unfunded legally binding lending commitments net of amounts distributed (e.g., syndicated or participated) to other financial institutions of $13.0 billion and $14.3 billion at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015. At March 31, 2016, the carrying value of these commitments, excluding commitments accounted for under the fair value option, was $644 million, including deferred revenue of $17 million and a reserve for unfunded lending commitments of $627 million. At December 31, 2015, the comparable amounts were $664 million, $18 million and $646 million, respectively. The carrying value of these commitments is classified in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.
The table below also includes the notional amount of commitments of $9.6 billion and $10.9 billion at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015 that are accounted for under the fair value option. However, the table below excludes cumulative net fair value of $509 million and $658 million 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.
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.
At March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the Corporation had commitments to purchase loans (e.g., residential mortgage and commercial real estate) of $1.4 billion and $729 million, which upon settlement will be included in loans or LHFS.
At March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the Corporation had commitments to purchase commodities, primarily liquefied natural gas of $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion, which upon settlement will be included in trading account assets.
At March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the Corporation had commitments to enter into resale and forward-dated resale and securities borrowing agreements of $86.0 billion and $88.6 billion, and commitments to enter into forward-dated repurchase and securities lending agreements of $54.0 billion and $53.7 billion. These commitments expire within the next 12 months.
The Corporation is a party to operating leases for certain of its premises and equipment. Commitments under these leases are approximately $1.8 billion, $2.2 billion, $1.8 billion, $1.6 billion and $1.3 billion for the remainder of 2016 and the years through 2020, respectively, and $4.7 billion in the aggregate for all years thereafter.
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. The book value protection is provided on portfolios of intermediate investment-grade fixed-income securities and is intended to cover any shortfall in the event that policyholders surrender their policies and market value is below book value. These guarantees are recorded as derivatives and carried at fair value in the trading portfolio. At both March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the notional amount of these guarantees totaled $13.8 billion, and the Corporation's maximum exposure related to these guarantees totaled $3.1 billion, with estimated maturity dates between 2031 and 2039. The net fair value including the fee receivable associated with these guarantees was $10 million and $12 million at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, and reflects the probability of surrender as well as the multiple structural protection features in the contracts.
Merchant Services
In accordance with credit and debit card association rules, the Corporation sponsors merchant processing servicers that process credit and debit card transactions on behalf of various merchants. In connection with these services, a liability may arise in the event of a billing dispute between the merchant and a cardholder that is ultimately resolved in the cardholder's favor. If the merchant defaults on its obligation to reimburse the cardholder, the cardholder, through its issuing bank, generally has until six months after the date of the transaction to present a chargeback to the merchant processor, which is primarily liable for any losses on covered transactions. However, if the merchant processor fails to meet its obligation to reimburse the cardholder for disputed transactions, then the Corporation, as the sponsor, could be held liable for the disputed amount. For the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, the sponsored entities processed and settled $159.4 billion and $154.6 billion of transactions and recorded losses of $6 million and $4 million. A significant portion of this activity was processed by a joint venture in which the Corporation holds a 49 percent ownership. At March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the sponsored merchant processing servicers held as collateral $187 million and $181 million of merchant escrow deposits which may be used to offset amounts due from the individual merchants.
The Corporation believes the maximum potential exposure for chargebacks would not exceed the total amount of merchant transactions processed through Visa and MasterCard for the last six months, which represents the claim period for the cardholder, plus any outstanding delayed-delivery transactions. As of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the maximum potential exposure for sponsored transactions totaled $268.3 billion and $277.1 billion. However, the Corporation believes that the maximum potential exposure is not representative of the actual potential loss exposure and does not expect to make material payments in connection with these guarantees.
Other Derivative Contracts
The Corporation funds selected assets, including securities issued by CDOs and CLOs, through derivative contracts, typically total return swaps, with third parties and VIEs that are not consolidated by the Corporation. The total notional amount of these derivative contracts was $342 million and $371 million with commercial banks and $903 million and $922 million with VIEs at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015. The underlying securities are senior securities and substantially all of the Corporation's exposures are insured. Accordingly, the Corporation's exposure to loss consists principally of counterparty risk to the insurers. In certain circumstances, generally as a result of ratings downgrades, the Corporation may be required to purchase the underlying assets, which would not result in additional gain or loss to the Corporation as such exposure is already reflected in the fair value of the derivative contracts.
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 payment under these agreements was approximately $6.1 billion and $6.0 billion at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015. The estimated maturity dates of these obligations extend up to 2040. The Corporation has made no material payments under these guarantees.
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.
Payment Protection Insurance Claims Matter
In the U.K., the Corporation previously sold payment protection insurance (PPI) through its international card services business to credit card customers and consumer loan customers. PPI covers a consumer's loan or debt repayment if certain events occur such as loss of job or illness. In response to an elevated level of customer complaints across the industry, heightened media coverage and pressure from consumer advocacy groups, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigated and raised concerns about the way some companies have handled complaints related to the sale of these insurance policies. In November 2015, the FCA issued proposed guidance on the treatment of certain PPI claims.
The reserve for PPI claims was $301 million and $360 million at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015. The Corporation recorded no expense for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015. It is possible that the Corporation will incur additional expense related to PPI claims; however, the amount of such additional expense cannot be reasonably estimated.
The following supplements the disclosure in Note 12 – Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation's 2015 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 what the eventual outcome of the pending matters will be, what the timing of the ultimate resolution of these matters will be, or what the eventual loss, fines or penalties related to each pending matter may be.
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 $388 million and $370 million was recognized for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015.
For a limited number of the matters disclosed in this Note, and 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 its matters on an ongoing basis, in conjunction with any outside counsel handling the matter, in light of potentially relevant factual and legal developments. 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 matters where an estimate of the range of possible loss is possible, management currently estimates the aggregate range of possible loss is $0 to $2.4 billion in excess of the accrued liability (if any) related to those matters. This estimated range of possible loss is based upon currently available information and is subject to significant judgment and a variety of assumptions, and known and unknown uncertainties. The matters underlying the estimated range will change from time to time, and actual results may vary significantly from the current estimate. 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 below, or in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure, regarding the nature of all of these contingencies and, where specified, the amount of the claim associated with these loss contingencies. Based on current knowledge, management does not believe that loss contingencies arising from pending matters, including the matters described herein and in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure, will have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial position or liquidity of the Corporation. However, in light of the inherent 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 results of operations or liquidity for any particular reporting period.
Interchange and Related Litigation
On February 24, 2016, in the consolidated action filed by certain opt-out litigants to the Interchange settlement pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the court granted defendants' motion for reconsideration, holding that the court had supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiffs' state law claims and dismissing those claims on the merits. The court also denied plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration. Plaintiffs have appealed the dismissal of their complaint to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Mortgage-backed Securities Litigation
The Corporation and its affiliates, Countrywide entities and their affiliates, and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (Merrill Lynch) entities and their affiliates have been named as defendants in a number of cases relating to their various roles as issuer, originator, seller, depositor, sponsor, underwriter and/or controlling entity in MBS offerings, pursuant to which the MBS investors were entitled to a portion of the cash flow from the underlying pools of mortgages. These cases generally include purported class action suits and actions by individual MBS purchasers. Although the allegations vary by lawsuit, these cases generally allege that the registration statements, prospectuses and prospectus supplements for securities issued by securitization trusts contained material misrepresentations and omissions, in violation of the Securities Act of 1933 and/or state securities laws and other state statutory and common laws.
These cases generally involve allegations of false and misleading statements regarding: (i) the process by which the properties that served as collateral for the mortgage loans underlying the MBS were appraised; (ii) the percentage of equity that mortgage borrowers had in their homes; (iii) the borrowers' ability to repay their mortgage loans; (iv) the underwriting practices by which those mortgage loans were originated; (v) the ratings given to the different tranches of MBS by rating agencies; and (vi) the validity of each issuing trust's title to the mortgage loans comprising the pool for that securitization (collectively, MBS Claims). Plaintiffs in these cases generally seek unspecified compensatory damages, unspecified costs and legal fees and, in some instances, seek rescission.
The Corporation, Countrywide, Merrill Lynch and their affiliates may have claims for or may be subject to claims for contractual indemnification in connection with their various roles in regard to MBS. Certain of these entities have received claims for indemnification related to MBS securities actions, including claims from underwriters of MBS that were issued by these entities, and from underwriters and issuers of MBS backed by loans originated by these entities.
Federal Home Loan Bank Seattle Litigation
On April 25, 2016, the parties settled these claims for $190 million, substantially all of which was previously accrued.
Takefuji Litigation
On March 15, 2016, the Japanese Supreme Court found in favor of Merrill Lynch International and Merrill Lynch Japan Securities resulting in the dismissal of all of Takefuji's claims. There are no further rights to appeal and this matter is now complete.
SEC Investigations
The Corporation continues to be in discussions with the SEC with respect to its investigations of the Corporation's U.S. broker-dealer subsidiary, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., regarding compliance with SEC Rule 15c3-3. There can be no assurances that these discussions will lead to a resolution or whether the SEC will institute administrative or civil proceedings.
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