THE ORIENTAL BANK CODA PROFIT SHARING PLAN
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2019 AND 2018 AND YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2019
11
(6)
Related-Party Transactions
Certain Plan investments are shares of the Company’s common stock. The Employer is the Plan sponsor and trustee
and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and, therefore, qualifies as a party in interest. At December 31, 2019
and 2018, the Plan held an investment of 262,176 and 276,306 shares of the Company’s common stock,
respectively. The fair value of the common stock at December 31, 2019 and 2018 was $6,189,993 and $4,548,003,
respectively.
Transamerica serves as custodian and manages the pooled separate accounts and stable value fund, therefore,
qualifies as party in interest. Transamerica contracted Oriental Insurance, LLC, a subsidiary of the Company,
as the
insurance agent. Another party in interest to the Plan is MidAdtlantic, which serves as the custodian for the Plan.
The recordkeeper of the Plan is Oriental Pension Consultants, Inc. (“OPC”), a subsidiary of the Company. Fees
charged by OPC for services provided were assumed by the Employer.
(7)
Income Taxes
The trust that forms part of the Plan (the “Trust”) is intended to be exempt from Puerto Rico and U.S. federal
incomes taxes pursuant to the PR Code and the US Code, respectively.
Accordingly, the IRS ruled on March 31,
2014 that the Trust constitutes a qualified trust under Section 401(a) of the US Code, and, therefore, the Trust is not
subject to U.S. federal income tax.
The PR Treasury ruled on March 28, 2018 that the Plan constitutes a qualified
plan pursuant to the provisions of Section 1081.01 of the PR Code and, therefore, the Trust is not subject to Puerto
Rico income tax.
As applicable, the Plan is required to operate in accordance with the provisions of the PR Code
and the US Code to maintain its qualification.
The Plan administrator believes that the Plan is designed and
operating in compliance with such provisions and, therefore, remains qualified under the PR Code and the US Code.
U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require plan management to evaluate tax positions taken by the Plan
and recognize a tax liability (or asset) if the Plan has taken an uncertain position that more likely than not would not
be sustained upon examination by the IRS and the PR Treasury.
As of December 31, 2019, and 2018, there are no
uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken that would require recognition or disclosure in the financial
statements.
The Plan is subject to routine audits by taxing jurisdictions.
However, there are currently no audits in
progress for any tax periods. The Plan is no longer subject to income tax examinations for the years prior to 2015.
(8)
Excess Contributions Payable to Participants
The Plan is subject to certain non-discrimination rules under the PR Code. As of December 31, 2019, the Plan failed
certain of the non-discrimination tests under the PR Code due to lower contribution percentages by non-highly
compensated eligible employees relative to the contribution percentages of highly compensated eligible employees.
In order to meet the requirements of the non-discrimination rules, the Plan refunded a portion of the contributions
made by highly compensated participants, in accordance with applicable provisions of the PR Code. The refund for
2019, paid in March 2020,
totaled $56,812 and was included as other liabilities in the Plan’s statement of net assets
available for benefits. For the year ended on December 31, 2018, the Plan was in compliance with all of the non-
discrimination tests under the PR Code.
(9)
Non-Exempt Prohibited Transaction
From
December 31, 2013 through December 31, 2018, Oriental Bank engaged in certain non-exempt prohibited
transactions under ERISA in connection with Plan assets. As a result of such transactions, Oriental Bank benefited
from the use of Plan assets by receiving certain commissions from a third party without offset or rebates to the Plan.
Oriental Bank remitted $567,528, including interest, to the Plan and allocated this amount to Plan participants in
May 2020 as remediation for said transactions. It is recorded as an account receivable in the Plan’s statement of net
assets available for benefits.