Item 2. | MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Congress passed the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995 to encourage corporations to provide investors with information about the company’s anticipated future financial performance, goals, and strategies. The act provides a safe haven for such disclosure; in other words, protection from unwarranted litigation if actual results are not the same as management expectations.
United desires to provide its shareholders with sound information about past performance and future trends. Consequently, any forward-looking statements contained in this report, in a report incorporated by reference to this report, or made by management of United in this report, in any other reports and filings, in press releases and in oral statements, involve numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of the words “expect,” “may,” “could,” “intend,” “project,” “estimate,” “believe,” “anticipate,” and other words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and estimates, which although believed to be reasonable, may turn out to be incorrect, such as statements about the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon these estimates and statements. United cannot assure that any of these statements, estimates, or beliefs will be realized and actual results may differ from those contemplated in these “forward-looking statements.” United undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
POSSIBLE FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (“FDIC”) SPECIAL ASSESSMENT
On May 11, 2023, the FDIC released a proposed rule that would impose special assessments to recover the losses to the deposit insurance fund (“DIF”) resulting from the FDIC’s use, in March 2023, of the systemic risk exception to the least-cost resolution test under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act in connection with the receiverships of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The FDIC stated that it currently estimates those assessed losses to total $15.8 billion and that the amount of the special assessments would be adjusted as the loss estimate changes. Under the proposed rule, the assessment base would be an insured depository institution’s (“IDI”) estimated uninsured deposits, as reported in the IDI’s December 31, 2022 Call Report, excluding the first $5 billion in estimated uninsured deposits. The special assessments would be collected at an annual rate of approximately 12.5 basis points per year (3.13 basis points per quarter) over eight quarters in 2024 and 2025, with the first assessment period beginning January 1, 2024 (with the first assessment payment due by June 28, 2024). Under the proposed rule, the estimated loss pursuant to the systemic risk determination would be periodically adjusted, and the FDIC would retain the ability to cease collection early, extend the special assessment collection period and impose a final shortfall special assessment on a one-time basis. In its December 31, 2022 Call Report, United Bank, United’s only IDI, reported estimated uninsured deposits of approximately $9.5 billion. United expects the special assessments would be tax deductible. Although the proposal could be changed and the timing of accounting recognition is still under consideration, if the assessments, as proposed, were recorded as an expense in a single quarter, United estimates that expense would be approximately $11 million.
TRANSITION FROM THE LONDON INTERBANK OFFERED RATE (LIBOR)
In 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, publicly announced its intention to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit the rates used to calculate LIBOR after 2021. ICE Benchmark Administration (the publisher of LIBOR) discontinued publication of the one-week and two-month U.S. Dollar LIBOR settings on December 31, 2021, and will cease the publication of overnight, one-month, three-month, six-month, and twelve-month U.S. Dollar LIBOR settings on June 30, 2023. It is assumed that LIBOR will either cease to be provided by any administrator or will no longer be representative of an acceptable market benchmark after these respective dates. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have issued joint supervisory guidance encouraging banks to cease entering into any new contracts using LIBOR by December 31, 2021. Accordingly, United took steps to ensure compliance with the joint supervisory guidance, and no new contracts using LIBOR have been originated after December 31, 2021.
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