First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA) 10-K2023 FY Annual report

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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Item 1. Business

General

First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (the “Parent Company” and when including all of its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis, “BancShares,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on August 7, 1986, to become the holding company of First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (“FCB”), its banking subsidiary. FCB opened in 1898 as the Bank of Smithfield in Smithfield, North Carolina, and later changed its name to First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company.

BancShares has expanded through de novo branching and acquisitions and as of December 31, 2023, operates a network of more than 600 branches and offices in 30 states, predominantly located in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Western United States, providing a broad range of financial services to individuals, businesses and professionals. At December 31, 2023, BancShares had total consolidated assets of $213.76 billion.

Throughout its history, the operations of BancShares have been significantly influenced by descendants of Robert P. Holding, who came to control FCB during the 1920s. Robert P. Holding’s children and grandchildren have served as members of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of BancShares and of the Board of Directors of FCB (collectively with the Board of BancShares, the “Boards”), as chief executive officers and in other executive management positions and, since BancShares’ formation in 1986, have remained stockholders owning a large percentage of its common stock.

The Chairman of the Boards and Chief Executive Officer, Frank B. Holding, Jr., is the grandson of Robert P. Holding. Hope Holding Bryant, Vice Chairwoman of the Boards, is Robert P. Holding’s granddaughter. Peter M. Bristow, President and member of the Boards, is the brother-in-law of Frank B. Holding, Jr. and Hope Holding Bryant.

BancShares provides financial services for a wide range of consumer and commercial clients. This includes retail and mortgage banking, wealth management, small and middle market banking, factoring and leasing. BancShares provides commercial factoring, receivables management and secured financing services to businesses (generally manufacturers or importers of goods) that operate in various industries, including apparel, textile, furniture, home furnishings and consumer electronics. BancShares also provides deposit, cash management and lending to homeowner associations and property management companies. In addition, BancShares owns a fleet of railcars and locomotives that are leased to railroads and shippers. See Business Segments below for more information on markets we serve and products and services we offer.

In addition to our banking operations, we provide various investment products and services through FCB’s wholly owned subsidiaries, including First Citizens Investor Services, Inc. (“FCIS”) and First Citizens Asset Management, Inc. (“FCAM”), and a non-bank subsidiary First Citizens Capital Securities, LLC (“FCCS”). As a registered broker-dealer, FCIS provides a full range of investment products, including annuities, brokerage services and third-party mutual funds. As registered investment advisors, FCIS and FCAM provide investment management services and advice. FCCS is a broker dealer that also provides underwriting and private placement services.

The SVBB Acquisition (as defined and described below) expanded our client base to serve private equity and venture capital clients and also complimented our existing wealth management business by adding enhanced digital capabilities. The SVBB Acquisition further diversified our loan portfolio and business mix, particularly across technology and life sciences and healthcare industries, and wealth clients as further discussed in the “Business Segments” section below. Our loan classes, including those acquired in the SVBB Acquisition, are described in Note 1—Significant Accounting Policies and Basis of Presentation of Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplemental Data.

BancShares delivers products and services to its customers through an extensive branch network and additionally operates a nationwide digital bank. Services offered at most branches include accepting deposits, cashing checks and providing for consumer and commercial cash needs. Consumer and business customers may also conduct banking transactions through various digital channels.

Statistical information regarding our business activities is found in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Business Combinations

In addition to organically growing our business, BancShares has historically pursued growth through strategic mergers and acquisitions to enhance organizational value, strengthen its presence in existing markets, as well as expand its footprint in new markets.

On March 27, 2023 (the “SVBB Acquisition Date”), FCB acquired substantially all loans and certain other assets and assumed all customer deposits and certain other liabilities, of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A. (“SVBB”) from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) pursuant to the terms of a purchase and assumption agreement (the “SVBB Purchase Agreement”) by and among FCB, the FDIC, and the FDIC, as receiver of SVBB (the “SVBB Acquisition”). SVBB was established following the closure of the former Silicon Valley Bank. BancShares maintains the Silicon Valley Bank brand as Silicon Valley Bank, a division of FCB.

On January 3, 2022 (the “CIT Merger Date”), BancShares completed its merger (the “CIT Merger”) with CIT Group Inc. (“CIT”) and its subsidiary CIT Bank, N.A., a national banking association (“CIT Bank”). BancShares maintains the CIT brand as CIT Group, a division of FCB.

The SVBB Acquisition and CIT Merger are described further in the “Business Combinations” section of Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 2—Business Combinations included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Business Segments

As of December 31, 2022, BancShares managed its business and reported its financial results in General Banking, Commercial Banking, and Rail segments. All other financial information is included in the “Corporate” component of segment disclosures in this 10-K. In conjunction with the SVBB Acquisition, BancShares added a new business segment, which is referred to as the Silicon Valley Banking (“SVB”) segment. Prior periods were not impacted by this update.

Reportable segments are discussed further in the “Results by Business Segments” section of Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Item 8. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 23—Business Segment Information.

Revenue is generated from interest earned on loans and from fees for banking and advisory services. We primarily originate loans by utilizing our branch network and industry referrals, as well as direct digital marketing efforts. We derive our Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loans through a network of SBA originators. We periodically purchase loans on a whole-loan basis. We also invest in community development that supports the construction of affordable housing in our communities in line with our Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (“CRA”) initiatives.

The Commercial Banking segment provides a range of lending, leasing, capital markets, asset management and other financial and advisory services, primarily to small and middle market companies in a wide range of industries including: energy; healthcare; tech media and telecom; asset-backed lending; capital finance; maritime; corporate banking; aerospace and defense; and sponsor finance. Loans offered are primarily senior secured loans collateralized by accounts receivable, inventory, machinery and equipment, transportation equipment and/or intangibles, and are often used for working capital, plant expansion, acquisitions, or recapitalizations. These loans include revolving lines of credit and term loans and, depending on the nature of the collateral, may be referred to as collateral-backed loans, asset-based loans or cash flow loans. We provide senior secured loans to developers and other commercial real estate (“CRE”) professionals. Additionally, we provide small business loans and leases, including both capital and operating leases, through a highly automated credit approval, documentation and funding process.

We provide factoring, receivable management, and secured financing to businesses that operate in several industries. These include: apparel, textile, furniture, home furnishings, and consumer electronics. Factoring entails the assumption of credit risk with respect to trade accounts receivable arising from the sale of goods from our factoring clients to their customers that have been factored (i.e., sold or assigned to the factor). Our factoring clients, which are generally manufacturers or importers of goods, are the counterparties on factoring, financing, or receivables purchasing agreements to sell trade receivables to us. Our factoring clients’ customers, which are generally retailers, are the account debtors and obligors on trade accounts receivable that have been factored.

Revenue is generated from: interest and fees on loans; rental income on operating lease equipment; fee income and other revenue from banking services and capital markets transactions; and commissions earned on factoring-related activities. We derive most of our commercial lending business through direct marketing to borrowers, lessees, manufacturers, vendors, and distributors. We also utilize referrals as a source for commercial lending business. We may periodically buy participations or syndications of loans and lines of credit and purchase loans on a whole-loan basis.

The Rail segment offers customized leasing and financing solutions on a fleet of railcars and locomotives to railroads and shippers throughout North America. Railcar types include covered hopper cars used to ship grain and agricultural products, plastic pellets, sand, and cement; tank cars for energy products and chemicals; gondolas for coal, steel coil and mill service products; open-top hopper cars for coal and aggregates; boxcars for paper and auto parts; and centerbeams and flat cars for lumber. Revenue is generated primarily from rental income on operating lease equipment.

Competition

The financial services industry is highly competitive and continues to evolve as a result of changes in regulation, technology, product delivery systems, the accelerating pace of consolidation among financial service providers, and the general market and economic climate. BancShares competes with national, regional and local financial services providers. In recent years, the ability of non-bank financial entities to provide services previously limited to commercial banks has intensified competition. Non-bank financial service providers are not subject to the same significant regulatory restrictions as traditional commercial banks and, as such, can often operate with greater flexibility and lower cost structures. More than ever, customers have the ability to select from a variety of traditional and nontraditional alternatives. Competition is based on a number of factors including, among others, customer service, quality and range of products and services offered, price, reputation, interest rates on loans and deposits and customer convenience. Our non-bank services compete with other insurance companies, investment firms and brokerage firms.

Deposits (based on branch location) as of December 31, 2023, in North Carolina and South Carolina represented approximately 25.5%, and 7.8%, respectively, of total deposits. FCB’s deposit market share as of June 30, 2023 in North Carolina and South Carolina was 11.0% and 9.3%, respectively, which makes FCB the third largest bank in North Carolina and the fourth largest bank in South Carolina based on deposit market share according to the FDIC Deposit Market Share Report. The two banks larger than FCB based on deposits in both North Carolina and South Carolina were Bank of America and Truist Bank. The additional bank larger than FCB based on deposits in South Carolina was Wells Fargo. These banks collectively held 60.8% and 41.9% of North Carolina and South Carolina deposits, respectively.

Acquisitions contributed to deposit growth in 2023 and 2022. The SVBB Acquisition increased deposits by $38.48 billion as of December 31, 2023, and the CIT Merger increased deposits by approximately $39.43 billion at the CIT Merger Date, primarily related to the Direct Bank.

As of December 31, 2023, FCB had more than 600 total domestic branches and offices, which included 217 in North Carolina, 124 in South Carolina and 92 in California.

Geographic Locations

As of December 31, 2023, BancShares operated branches in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

See Concentration Risk section in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for information on our commercial and consumer loan concentrations by state.

As of December 31, 2023, BancShares employed approximately 15,715 full-time staff and approximately 306 part-time staff for a total of 16,021 employees. Women and ethnically diverse associates make up approximately 56% and 37% of total employees, respectively.

Our ability to attract, retain and develop associates who align with our purpose is key to our success. Our human capital strategy is predicated on ensuring the organization has the right people with the right skills in the right places at the right time for the right cost to fulfill our strategic objectives. Our human resources team works to formalize the process of defining and deploying the mission-critical talent needed to align our program with our financial and strategic goals and objectives. Our key human capital initiatives include scaling and developing talent, enhancing performance/leadership management and coaching, and supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. We seek individuals with diverse backgrounds that reflect the markets we serve because we understand our differences contribute to a diversity of thought that enhances associate and customer relationships and drives innovation of our products and services.

The retention and integration of key legacy Silicon Valley Bank and CIT employees have also been significant initiatives. The Board monitors these initiatives and associated risks primarily through its Risk Committee.

To assist with these goals, we monitor and evaluate various metrics, specifically around attraction, retention and development of talent. For example, we monitor annual voluntary turnover as compared to industry benchmarks to confirm that our compensation and benefits structures, and our commitment to career development, are successful in a competitive talent market. Our annual voluntary turnover, minus acquisition headcount, is typically lower than commonly used industry benchmarks. Aside from the expected effects from acquisition activity, voluntary turnover remained below the financial services industry benchmark through December 2023. We believe this reflects our strong corporate culture, competitive compensation and benefits structure, and commitment to career development.

Our leadership is committed to embracing diversity, disavowing discrimination and making progress on our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. To this end, our diversity, equity and inclusion team is focused on raising awareness of the importance of these actions in our workplace and identifying and promoting educational and engagement opportunities. We currently offer six business resource groups for associates at FCB: Asian & Pacific Islanders, Black & African Americans, Hispanic, LGBTQ+, Veterans & Military and Women. These groups are provided guidance and support by a group of senior leaders representing diverse associates and organizations across FCB. We understand that formalized groups such as these play a key role in attracting and retaining diverse talent, as well as helping the bank meet key business objectives.

We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits to our associates. We make talent attraction and retention a priority by offering, among other things, internal career mobility and a total rewards package that emphasizes a holistic approach to well-being and a thoughtful approach to performance management. Our competitive benefits offerings include a 401(k) plan with employer matching opportunities, healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off and other employee assistance programs.

Regulatory Considerations

The Parent Company, FCB, and certain of its subsidiaries are subject to regulation, supervision, and examination by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Federal Reserve” or “FRB”), the FDIC, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“CFPB”), the North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks (“NCCOB”), and other regulatory authorities as “regulated entities.” FCB’s insurance activities are subject to licensing and regulation by state insurance regulatory agencies. Various laws and regulations administered by these and other regulatory agencies affect BancShares’ corporate practices, including the payment of dividends or other capital distributions, the incurrence of debt, and the acquisition of financial institutions and other companies. Laws and regulations also affect business practices, such as the payment of interest on deposits, the charging of interest on loans, the types of business conducted and the location of offices. In addition, numerous statutes and regulations also apply to and restrict the activities of BancShares, including limitations on the ability to pay dividends, capital requirements, reserve requirements, deposit insurance requirements and restrictions on transactions with related persons and entities controlled by related persons. The impact of these statutes and regulations is discussed below and in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

In 2022 and 2023, BancShares completed two acquisitions that resulted in the organization being subject to heightened supervision and enhanced regulatory standards as a large banking organization with over $100 billion in total consolidated assets, including certain enhanced prudential standards and oversight under the applicable transition provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) by the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC with respect to FCB. Based on asset size, BancShares is required to establish and maintain an enhanced enterprise risk management program, governance standards, and compliance system that are commensurate with its asset size, risk profile, complexity, and activities. BancShares is continuing to develop its compliance and enterprise risk management program to integrate the entities acquired in connection with the CIT Merger and SVBB Acquisition. BancShares expects any future bank mergers and acquisitions may be impacted in the near term by the enhanced regulatory review. Additionally, in light of the bank failures in early 2023, the bank regulators are re-evaluating regulatory requirements and standards applicable to banking organizations with $100 billion or more in total consolidated assets, and have proposed amendments to several key regulations and requirements for such organizations. As BancShares continues to grow, it may cross additional risk-based asset thresholds, subjecting it to additional regulatory requirements.

Based on our asset size, we are required to comply with certain enhanced prudential standards applicable to Category IV banking organizations, subject to the applicable transition periods. BancShares has developed and is implementing policies, programs, and systems designed to meet the enhanced prudential standards applicable to the organization, including annual capital plan submissions and biennial supervisory stress testing by the Federal Reserve under CCAR, enhanced enterprise-wide risk management requirements, and enhanced liquidity management requirements, including liquidity stress tests and liquidity buffer requirements. In the event BancShares’ assets grow to meet or exceed the thresholds for the applicability of certain enhanced prudential standards, even as a Category IV banking organization, BancShares will be subject to such enhanced prudential standards on a tailored basis. For example, if BancShares has $50 billion or more in weighted short-term wholesale funding, under the FRB’s regulations, it will be subject to the modified Liquidity Coverage Ratio (“LCR”) and Net Stable Funding Ratio (“NSFR”) requirements. In the event BancShares becomes a Category III banking organization, which would occur when BancShares exceeds $250 million in total consolidated assets or has $100 billion in total assets, and $75 billion or more in nonbank assets, off-balance sheet exposure, or weighted short-term wholesale funding, BancShares will be subject to full or reduced LCR and NSFR requirements, annual company-run capital stress testing, resolution planning requirements, annual supervisory capital stress testing under CCAR, additional risk-based capital requirements (countercyclical capital buffer once active), the supplementary leverage ratio, and additional liquidity reporting requirements. Additionally, the federal banking agencies have proposed new regulations and guidance that would impose heightened requirements on banking organizations with at least $100 billion in total consolidated assets, including those related to long-term debt requirements, bank resolution planning (CIDI Rule), climate-related financial risk management, and enhanced capital and liquidity requirements (Basel III endgame). BancShares is evaluating the potential impact of such regulations and guidance on the organization, but it is expected that the additional requirements will increase its regulatory-related compliance costs.

In July 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy that encouraged the federal banking agencies to review the current framework for merger oversight practices under the BHCA and the Bank Merger Act (the “BMA”). On March 25, 2022, the FDIC issued a request for information on the effectiveness of the existing framework for evaluating bank mergers and acquisitions under the FDI Act with particular focus on the increase in asset concentration among banking organizations with more than $100 billion in total assets. The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC are currently working with the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) in developing updated guidelines for review of bank mergers and acquisitions. On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and DOJ jointly issued the 2023 Merger Guidelines for the review of mergers and acquisitions under the federal antitrust laws. The 2023 Merger Guidelines represent a significant revision of the regulatory framework for merger enforcement and are designed to address business markets and practices in the modern economy, while also strengthening the agencies’ oversight of mergers that may violate the federal antitrust laws. The 2023 Merger Guidelines do not apply to transactions subject to review under the the BMA. The DOJ’s 1995 Bank Merger Guidelines continue as the framework for competitive analysis of bank mergers pending release and adoption of new bank merger guidelines.

On January 29, 2024, the OCC announced a proposed rule to eliminate expedited processing and use of streamlined application forms with respect to transactions subject to its review and approval under the BMA. Additionally, the proposed rule would codify an agency policy statement outlining general principles to be followed by the OCC staff when reviewing applications under the BMA. Such principles would, among other things, establish indicators of proposed transactions that generally are consistent with regulatory approval, as well as those that raise supervisory or regulatory concerns and therefore would require applicants to address or remediate specific areas of concern in order to secure regulatory approval. The OCC’s proposal suggests that generally there will be additional scrutiny of transactions under the BMA by the agency. The Federal Reserve and FDIC have not proposed a similar rulemaking, but the agencies may be impacted or influenced by the actions of the OCC. The OCC’s proposed rule is subject to a public comment period and the timing and prospects for the adoption by the OCC of a final rule are uncertain at this time.

The federal banking agencies have in recent years increased their focus on banks’ third-party risk management controls and practices. On June 6, 2023, the federal banking agencies adopted interagency guidance on risk management of third-party relationships. The guidance applies broadly to any business agreement between a banking organization and another entity, by contract or otherwise (including affiliated entities), and it requires banking organizations to analyze the risks associated with each third-party relationship and establish effective governance and risk management processes for all stages of a third-party relationship, including planning, due diligence and third-party selection, contract negotiation, ongoing monitoring, and termination.

Failure to meet regulatory capital requirements may result in certain actions by federal banking agencies that could have a direct material effect on the consolidated financial statements of BancShares and constraints on capital distributions and discretionary executive compensation. As of December 31, 2023, the Regulatory Capital Ratios of BancShares exceeded the applicable Basel III requirements and the well capitalized thresholds as further addressed under “Stockholders’ Equity and Capital Adequacy” in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

BancShares will participate in the Federal Reserve’s CCAR process in the first instance in 2024. During the CCAR process, the Federal Reserve will set BancShares’ SCB requirement, which will replace the capital conservation buffer requirement for the organization.

As noted above, the federal banking agencies issued a proposal to adopt the Basel III endgame standards, which would make several changes to the capital and liquidity rules applicable to BancShares and other banking organizations with $100 billion or more in total consolidated assets. Among the proposed changes, the federal banking agencies would eliminate the AOCI opt-out that is currently available for Category IV banking organizations, like BancShares, which allows for such eligible banking organizations to not recognize unrealized gains and losses in their available-for-sale securities portfolio. BancShares is currently evaluating the potential impact of the Basel III endgame proposal on the organization.

Additionally, under the FDI Act, IDIs, such as FCB, are prohibited from making capital distributions, including the payment of dividends, if, after making such distributions, the institution would become “undercapitalized” as such term is used in the statute. Furthermore, under Basel III capital guidelines, banking institutions with a Regulatory Capital Ratio above the Basel III minimum but below the Basel III requirement will face constraints on dividends, equity repurchases and compensation based on the amount of the shortfall. Based on FCB’s current financial condition, the Parent Company currently does not expect these provisions to have any material impact on its ability to receive dividends from FCB. The Parent Company’s non-bank subsidiaries pay dividends to the Parent Company periodically without impact from these provisions.

In 2023, FCB submitted a limited scope Resolution Plan under the CIDI Rule and guidance from the FDIC, prior to which it was not required to do so.

FCB receives management fees from its subsidiaries and the Parent Company for expenses incurred for performing various functions on their behalf. These fees are charged to each company based upon the estimated cost for usage of services by that company. The fees are eliminated from the consolidated financial statements.

On October 24, 2023, the federal banking agencies adopted an interagency final rule to strengthen and modernize the existing CRA regulations. Under the final rule, the federal banking agencies will evaluate a bank’s CRA performance based upon the varied activities that it conducts and the communities in which it operates. CRA evaluations and data collection requirements will be tailored based on bank size and type. FCB is considered a large bank with assets of greater than $10 billion under the final rule, and therefore will be evaluated under new lending, retail services and products, community development financing, and community development services tests. The final rule includes CRA assessment areas associated with mobile and online banking, and new metrics and benchmarks to assess retail lending performance. In addition, the final rule emphasizes smaller loans and investments that can have a high impact and be more responsive to the needs of LMI communities. The final rule will take effect on April 1, 2024; however, compliance with the majority of the final rule’s provisions will not be required until January 1, 2026, and the data reporting requirements of the final rule will not take effect until January 1, 2027.

As part of the CIT Merger, BancShares implemented a community benefit plan for the combined bank. The community benefit plan was developed in collaboration with representatives of national, state, and local community reinvestment organizations. Under the community benefit plan, FCB committed to invest $16 billion over a five-year period beginning in 2021 in the communities served by FCB, including $3.2 billion in home purchase, home improvement and mortgage refinance loans focused on LMI and minority borrowers in majority-minority geographies, $5.9 billion in small business lending, and $6.9 billion in community development lending and investments. The plan also provides for $50 million in CRA grants.

In addition, FCB worked with national, statewide, and local community reinvestment organizations to establish an addendum to the bank’s existing commitment in connection with the SVBB Acquisition. On November 14, 2023, FCB announced an expanded commitment to communities in Northern California and Eastern Massachusetts. The addendum recognizes legacy Silicon Valley Bank relationships but establishes a new $6.5 billion community benefit target with the following components: $2.25 billion in small business lending, $3.6 billion in CRA development lending and investing, and $650 million in residential mortgages to LMI borrowers and in selected LMI census tracts. Additionally, FCB is committing to $35 million in CRA grants, with $10 million of that sum dedicated to an affordable home mortgage subsidy program.

An institution subject to the BSA, such as FCB (and FC International, as described below), in addition to maintaining a written BSA/AML compliance program, must also provide AML training to employees, designate an AML compliance officer and annually audit the AML program to assess its effectiveness. The United States has imposed economic sanctions on transactions with certain designated foreign countries, nationals and others. Failure of a financial institution to maintain and implement adequate BSA, AML and OFAC programs, or to comply with all the relevant laws and regulations, could have serious legal and reputational consequences, including material fines and sanctions. FCB has implemented a program designed to facilitate compliance with the full extent of the applicable BSA and OFAC related laws, regulations and related sanctions.

On January 1, 2021, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which enacted the most significant overhaul of the BSA and related AML laws since the Patriot Act. Notable amendments include (1) significant changes to the collection of beneficial ownership information and the establishment of a beneficial ownership registry, which requires certain entities to report beneficial ownership information to the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) (which will be maintained by FinCEN and made available upon request to financial institutions); (2) enhanced whistleblower provisions, which provide that one or more whistleblowers who voluntarily provide original information leading to the successful enforcement of violations of the AML laws in any judicial or administrative action brought by the Secretary of the Treasury or the United States Attorney General resulting in monetary sanctions exceeding $1 million will receive not more than 30% of the monetary sanctions collected and will receive increased protections; (3) increased penalties for violations of the BSA; (4) improvements to existing information sharing provisions that permit financial institutions to share information relating to Suspicious Activity Reports with foreign branches, subsidiaries, and affiliates (except those located in China, Russia, or certain other jurisdictions) for the purpose of combating illicit finance risks; and (5) expanded duties and powers of FinCEN. Many of the amendments require the United States Department of the Treasury (“Treasury Department”) and FinCEN to promulgate rules. On September 29, 2022, FinCEN issued final regulations implementing the amendments with respect to beneficial ownership and these rules went into effect on January 1, 2024.

To promote fairness and transparency for mortgages, credit cards, and other consumer financial products and services, the CFPB is responsible for interpreting and enforcing federal consumer financial laws that, among other things, govern the provision of deposit accounts along with mortgage origination and servicing. Some federal consumer financial laws enforced by the CFPB include the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, TILA, the Truth in Savings Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The CFPB is also authorized to prevent any institution under its authority from engaging in an unfair, deceptive, or abusive act or practice in connection with consumer financial products and services.

Under TILA, as implemented by Regulation Z, mortgage lenders are required to make a reasonable and good faith determination based on verified and documented information that a consumer applying for a mortgage loan has a reasonable ability to repay the loan according to its terms. Mortgage lenders are required to determine consumers’ ability to repay in one of two ways. The first alternative requires the mortgage lender to consider eight enumerated underwriting factors when making the credit decision. Alternatively, the mortgage lender can originate QMs, which are entitled to a presumption that the creditor making the loan satisfied the ATR requirements. In general, a QM is a mortgage loan without negative amortization, interest-only payments, balloon payments, or terms exceeding 30 years. In addition, to be a QM the points and fees paid by a consumer cannot exceed 3% of the total loan amount.

Additionally, the CFPB has the authority to take supervisory and enforcement action against banks and other financial services companies under the agency’s jurisdiction that fail to comply with federal consumer financial laws. As an IDI with total assets of more than $10 billion, FCB is subject to the CFPB’s supervisory and enforcement authorities. In recent years, the CFPB has significantly increased its enforcement staff and been active in bringing enforcement actions against banks and other financial institutions to enforce consumer financial laws. The CFPB has launched an initiative aimed at eliminating or restricting a number of fees assessed by financial institutions, including overdraft and non-sufficient funds (“NSF”) fees as well as other transaction- and account management-related fees deemed by the CFPB to be “junk fees.” In January 2024, the CFPB proposed two rules addressing financial institutions’ consumer overdraft and NSF fee practices. The first proposed rule would narrow an existing exemption from the TILA and its implementing Regulation Z for the extension of overdraft credit, thereby subjecting overdraft credit to disclosure and other regulatory compliance obligations under those authorities. The second proposed rule would prohibit the imposition of NSF fees on transactions that are declined instantaneously or near-instantaneously. Further, in 2023, the CFPB brought enforcement actions against a number of financial institutions for overdraft practices that the CFPB alleged to be unlawful and ordered each of these institutions to pay a substantial civil money penalty in addition to customer restitution. The CFPB found that these institutions engaged in unlawful overdraft practices by, among other things, systematically and repeatedly charging fees to customers with insufficient funds in their accounts, imposing overdraft fees without adequate disclosures, charging overdraft fees without proper consent, and misleading customers about the terms and costs of overdraft coverage.

The Dodd-Frank Act also permits states to adopt stricter consumer protection laws and in certain circumstances allows state attorneys general to enforce compliance with both state and federal laws and regulations. The FDIC has backup enforcement authority over a depository institution holding company, such as the Parent Company, if the conduct or threatened conduct of such holding company poses a risk to the DIF, although such authority may not be used if the holding company is generally in sound condition and does not pose a foreseeable and material risk to the DIF.

The changing privacy laws in the United States create new individual privacy rights and impose increased obligations on companies handling personal information, including the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), which applies to for-profit businesses that conduct business in California and meet certain revenue or data collection thresholds. The California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which became effective on January 1, 2023 and becomes enforceable on March 29, 2024, amended the scope and several of the substantive requirements of the CCPA, as well as created an administrative and enforcement division, specific to CCPA compliance.

In New York, the cybersecurity regulation (the “NY Cybersecurity Regulation”) adopted by the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) in 2017, and subsequently amended through November 1, 2023, requires financial services institutions regulated by NYDFS, including BancShares or certain subsidiaries, to, among other things, implement certain cybersecurity controls and make reports to NYDFS upon the occurrence of certain cybersecurity events. The majority of the latest amended provisions of the NY Cybersecurity Regulation will take effect on April 29, 2024.

In April 2022, the federal banking agencies, including the FDIC, issued a rule mandating cybersecurity notification requirements for banking organizations and their service providers. Specifically, the rule requires banking organizations to notify their primary federal regulator as soon as possible and no later than 36 hours after the discovery of a “computer-security incident” that rises to the level of a “notification incident”, as those terms are defined under the final rule. Banks’ service providers are required under the rule to notify any affected bank to or on behalf of which the service provider provides services “as soon as possible” after determining that it has experienced an incident that materially disrupts or degrades, or is reasonably likely to materially disrupt or degrade, covered services provided to such bank for as much as four hours. Federal banking agencies have also adopted guidelines for establishing information security standards and cybersecurity programs for implementing safeguards under the supervision of the board of directors. These guidelines, along with related regulatory materials, increasingly focus on risk management and processes related to information technology and the use of third parties in the provision of financial services.

In July 2023, the SEC adopted new cybersecurity rules for public companies, like BancShares. Under these new rules, public companies must disclose a material cybersecurity incident within four days of management’s determination that the incident is material. Companies also must include enhanced cybersecurity risk assessment and management, strategy and governance disclosures, including disclosures regarding management’s role in overseeing the public company’s cybersecurity risk management and compliance program, in their annual reports. See Item 1C. Cybersecurity for additional information.

In Europe and in the United Kingdom, both the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the UK General Data Protection Regulation impose extensive obligations on companies that process personal data of individuals in Europe, with the potential for significant fines for non-compliance (up to four percent of total annual worldwide revenue). Some of its requirements include prompt notice of data breaches, in certain circumstances, to affected individuals and supervisory authorities.

Congress, federal and state regulators, as well as regulators outside the United States, have implemented or are considering implementing data protection laws or regulations, which could create new individual privacy rights and impose increased obligations on companies handling personal information, impacting our data security- and privacy-related internal controls and risk profile.

On October 19, 2023, the CFPB announced a proposed rule to adopt a regulation regarding personal financial data rights that is designed to promote “open banking.” If enacted as proposed, the regulation would require, among other things, that data providers, including any financial institution, make available to consumers and certain authorized third parties upon request certain covered transaction, account and payment information.

On October 30, 2023, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order on the use of and risks associated with artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems, requiring certain federal agencies, including the CFPB, to address potential discrimination in the housing and consumer financial markets relating to the use by financial institutions of AI technologies.

In 2021, the OCC issued proposed principles for climate-related financial risk management for national banks with more than $100 billion in total assets. In 2022, the FDIC and FRB issued their own proposed principles for climate risk management by larger banking organizations. On October 24, 2023, the federal banking agencies jointly finalized principles for climate-related financial risk management for banking organizations with $100 billion or more in total consolidated assets. The principles are consistent with the risk management framework in the agencies’ existing rules and regulations, with a focus on addressing physical and transition risks associated with climate change. The principles cover the following areas: strategic planning; governance; policies, procedures, and limits; data, risk measurement and reporting; risk management; and scenario analysis. Based on our asset size, BancShares is expected to implement the principles under the guidance. The guidance sets forth principles which the agencies expect will be incorporated into the risk-management programs of covered banking organizations, but not binding requirements. BancShares expects that its examiners will refer to the principles in the guidance as best practices for managing climate-related financial risks. In addition, states in which we conduct business have taken, or are considering taking, similar actions on climate-related financial risks.

Separate from the federal banking agencies, on March 21, 2022, the SEC issued a proposed climate disclosure rule, which if adopted, would require BancShares to disclose certain climate-related information such as governance of climate-related risks and relevant risk management processes that could affect it, a climate related financial statements matrix and more. Implementation of the proposed climate disclosure rule has been delayed by the SEC on multiple occasions, and the proposed rule has yet to be finalized. On December 6, 2023, the SEC noted in its regulatory agenda that the adoption of final climate disclosure rules has been moved to April 2024.

In October 2022, the SEC adopted final rules implementing the incentive-based compensation recovery (“clawback”) provisions mandated by Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The final rules directed U.S. stock exchanges to require listed companies to implement, disclose and enforce clawback policies to recover excess incentive-based compensation that current or former executive officers received based on financial reporting measures that are later restated. In June 2023, the SEC approved the proposed clawback listing standards of the Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC (“Nasdaq”), which now require Nasdaq-listed companies, including BancShares, to (i) adopt and implement a compliant clawback policy; (ii) file the clawback policy as an exhibit to their annual reports; and (iii) provide certain disclosures relating to any compensation recovery triggered by the clawback policy. Our clawback policy is filed herein as Exhibit 97.

Specialty business operations, specifically the rail, maritime, and other equipment financing operations, are subject to various laws, rules, and regulations administered by authorities in jurisdictions where business is conducted. In the United States, equipment financing and leasing operations, including for railcars, ships, and other equipment, are subject to rules and regulations relating to safety, operations, maintenance, and mechanical standards promulgated by various federal and state agencies and industry organizations, including the United States Department of Transportation, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Association of American Railroads, the Maritime Administration, the United States Coast Guard, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, state agencies regulate some aspects of rail and maritime operations with respect to health and safety matters.

In connection with the CIT Merger, FCB established as a wholly-owned subsidiary, FC International, Inc. (“FC International”), which is a corporation chartered by the Federal Reserve pursuant to Section 25A of the Federal Reserve Act (“Edge Act”) and the Federal Reserve’s Regulation K. Edge Act corporations are banking organizations that are authorized to engage in international banking and foreign financial transactions, and the U.S. activities of such corporations are generally limited to those that are incidental to their foreign operations. FCB established FC International for the purpose of holding the equity interests in the foreign nonbank subsidiaries (“foreign companies”) that FCB acquired in the CIT Merger. Certain of the foreign companies have been, or are in the process of being, wound-down or dissolved. The active foreign companies acquired by FCB support the railcar leasing business acquired from CIT in Canada and Mexico. FC International is subject to supervision and regulation by the Federal Reserve, including examination, reporting, capital, and the BSA and AML requirements pursuant to the Edge Act and the Federal Reserve’s Regulation K.

We are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could have a material impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations and cash flows. As a financial services organization, certain elements of risk are inherent in our transactions and operations and are present in the business decisions we make. We encounter risks as part of the normal course of our business, and our success is dependent on our ability to identify, understand and manage the risks presented by our business activities. We categorize risks into the following areas, and the principal risks and uncertainties that management believes make an investment in us speculative or risky are summarized within their respective areas:

The risks and uncertainties that management believes are material to an investment in us are described below. Additional risks and uncertainties that are not currently known to management or that management does not currently deem material could also have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, the results of our operations or our business. If such risks and uncertainties were to materialize or the likelihoods of the risks were to increase, we could be adversely affected, and the market price of our securities could significantly decline.

We plan to continue to grow our business organically. However, we have pursued and expect to continue to pursue acquisition opportunities that we believe support our business strategies and may enhance our profitability. We must generally satisfy a number of material conditions prior to consummating any acquisition including, in many cases, federal and state regulatory approval or requirements, and we may be subject to potentially increased regulatory requirements in the future. Our regulators will consider, among other things, our capital, liquidity, profitability, regulatory compliance, adequacy of risk management, and levels of goodwill when considering acquisition and expansion proposals. The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC are currently reevaluating the framework for review of bank mergers and acquisitions. On January 29, 2024, the OCC announced a proposed rule to eliminate expedited processing and use of streamlined application forms with respect to transactions subject to its review and approval under the BMA. Additionally, the OCC’s proposal highlights additional scrutiny of transactions generally. The Federal Reserve and FDIC have not proposed a similar rulemaking, but the agencies may be impacted or influenced by the actions of the OCC.

We may fail to complete strategic and competitively significant business opportunities as a result of our inability to obtain required regulatory approvals in a timely manner or at all, or the approval for such opportunity could include conditions imposing additional costs or limitations that reduce the anticipated related benefits. Our recent acquisitions include the SVBB Acquisition in March 2023 and the CIT Merger in January 2022.

We may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of our previous acquisitions and fully integrating our prior acquisitions may be more difficult, costly or time-consuming than expected. Acquisitions of financial institutions, assets of financial institutions or other operating entities involve operational risks and uncertainties. In addition, acquired companies or assets may have unknown or contingent liabilities, exposure to unexpected asset quality problems that require write downs or write-offs, additional regulatory requirements or difficulty retaining key employees and customers.

In the past, we have acquired, and may in the future continue to acquire, the assets and assume certain liabilities of failed banks in FDIC-assisted transactions. FDIC-assisted transactions, such as the SVBB Acquisition, present unique risks because of the limited due diligence, expedited timelines and minimal negotiation of terms. To mitigate certain of those risks, including credit risks of acquired loans, FDIC-assisted transactions typically provide for FDIC assistance, including potential loss-sharing. For example, in connection with the SVBB Acquisition, FCB entered into a commercial shared loss agreement with the FDIC pursuant to which the FDIC is obligated to reimburse FCB for (i) 0% of losses on the first $5 billion of covered loans and (ii) 50% of losses in excess of $5 billion on covered loans. In addition, FCB agreed to reimburse the FDIC for 50% of recoveries related to covered loans in the SVBB Acquisition. Although loss sharing agreements reduce the credit risks of, and capital required for, FDIC-assisted transactions, these transactions often require additional resources and time to service acquired problem loans, costs related to integration of personnel and operating systems, and the establishment of processes and internal controls to service acquired assets in accordance with applicable FDIC standards. If the covered loans are not managed in accordance with the commercial shared loss agreement, the FDIC has the right to refuse or delay payment for loan losses.

Furthermore, reimbursable losses are based on the book value of the relevant loans as determined by the FDIC as of the effective date of the transaction. Therefore, the amount that we realize on the loans acquired in the SVBB Acquisition could differ materially from the carrying value that will be reflected in our consolidated financial statements, based upon the timing and amount of collections on the covered loans in future periods. Any losses we experience on the assets acquired in the SVBB Acquisition that are not covered under the commercial shared loss agreement could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Following the consummation of the SVBB Acquisition, the size and geographic and operational scope of our business has increased significantly. The SVBB Acquisition was a substantial reason for our increased asset size from total consolidated assets of $109.30 billion at December 31, 2022 to $213.76 billion at December 31, 2023. The SVBB Acquisition, like the CIT Merger, increased the breadth and complexity of our business with the addition of new business lines in which we have not previously engaged and expanded our geographic scope to new areas. Further, legacy Silicon Valley Bank loans were concentrated within certain industries, including technology, life science and healthcare, and with private equity and venture capital clients. Our future success depends, in part, upon the ability to manage this expanded business while strengthening our reputation among the venture capital and private equity communities, and other participants in the industries that legacy Silicon Valley Bank served, which will pose substantial challenges for management, including challenges related to the management and monitoring of new and expanded operations and associated increased costs and complexity.

Due to these and other issues relating to acquisitions, we may not be able to realize projected cost savings, synergies or other benefits associated with any prior or future acquisition. Failure to efficiently integrate any acquired entities or assets into our existing operations could significantly increase our operating costs and consequently have material adverse effects on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our profitability depends on our ability to compete successfully. We operate in a highly competitive industry, and we expect competition to intensify. We compete with other banks and specialized financial services providers in our market areas. Our primary competitors include local, regional and national banks; credit unions; commercial finance companies; leasing companies; various wealth management providers; independent and captive insurance agencies; mortgage companies; and other non-bank providers of financial services. Some of our larger competitors, including certain banks with a significant presence in our market areas, have the capacity to offer products and services we do not offer, which may enable them to be more aggressive than us in competing for loans and deposits. Some of our non-bank competitors operate in less stringent regulatory environments, and certain competitors are not subject to federal or state income taxes. The fierce competitive pressures that we face adversely affect pricing for many of our products and services.

Additionally, technology and other changes are allowing parties to complete financial transactions that historically have involved banks through alternative methods without involving banks. For example, consumers can now maintain funds that would have historically been held as bank deposits in brokerage accounts, mutual funds or virtual accounts. Consumers can also complete transactions, such as paying bills or transferring funds directly without the assistance of banks. Transactions utilizing digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and other similar assets, have increased substantially. Certain characteristics of digital asset transactions, such as the speed with which such transactions can be conducted, the ability to transact without the involvement of regulated intermediaries, the ability to engage in transactions across multiple jurisdictions, and the anonymous nature of the transactions, are appealing to certain consumers. Accordingly, digital asset service providers—which, at present, are not subject to as extensive regulation as banking organizations and other financial institutions—have become active competitors for our customers’ banking business and may have greater flexibility in competing for business. The process of eliminating banks as intermediaries, known as “disintermediation,” could result in the loss of fee income, as well as the loss of customer deposits and the related income generated from those deposits. Further, an initiative by the CFPB, as prompted by the Biden Administration, to promote “open and decentralized banking” through the proposal of a personal financial data rights rule designed to facilitate the transfer of customer information at the direction of the customer to other financial institutions could lead to greater competition for products and services among banks and nonbanks alike if a final rule is adopted. The timing of and prospects for any such action are uncertain at this time. The loss of these revenue streams and the lower cost deposits as a source of funds could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We are a BHC incorporated in the state of Delaware. Certain anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law and certain provisions contained in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (our “Certificate of Incorporation) and Amended and Restated Bylaws (our “Bylaws”) could delay or prevent the removal of our directors and other management. The provisions could also delay or make more difficult a tender offer, merger or proxy contest a stockholder might consider to be in their best interests. For example, our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws:

These provisions, as well as provisions of the BHCA and other relevant statutes and regulations that require advance notice and applications for regulatory approval of changes in control of banks and BHCs, may discourage bids for our common stock at a premium over market price, adversely affecting the price that could be received by our stockholders for our common stock. Additionally, the fact that the Holding family and entities related to various family members hold or control shares representing approximately 50% of the voting power of our common stock may discourage potential takeover attempts and bids for our common stock at a premium over market price.

Our Bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of us; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholder to us or our stockholders; (iii) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware or as to which the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware; or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us governed by the internal affairs doctrine. These choice of forum provisions do not preclude or contract the scope of exclusive federal or concurrent jurisdiction for any actions brought under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Accordingly, our choice of forum provisions will not relieve us of our duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with these laws, rules and regulations.

These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees or agents, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees or agents.

If a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

As an FHC, we are a separate legal entity from FCB. We derive most of our revenue and cash flow from dividends paid by FCB. These dividends are the primary source from which we pay dividends on our common and preferred stock and interest and principal on our debt obligations. State and federal laws impose restrictions on the dividends that FCB may pay to us. In general, we are required to submit an annual capital plan to the FRB that includes any planned dividends, redemptions, or stock repurchases over a set planning horizon. The FRB could prohibit or limit our payment of dividends, redemptions, or stock repurchases if it determines that payment of the dividend or such redemption or stock repurchase would constitute an unsafe or unsound practice. In the event FCB is unable to pay dividends to us for an extended period of time, we may not be able to service our debt obligations or pay dividends on our common or preferred stock, and the inability to receive dividends from FCB could consequently have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our financial performance is subject to risks associated with the loss of customer confidence and demand. A fragile, weakening or changing economy, or ambiguity surrounding the economic future, may lessen the demand for our products and services. Our performance may also be negatively impacted if we fail to attract and retain customers because we are not able to successfully anticipate, develop and market products and services that satisfy market demands. Such events could impact our performance through fewer loans, reduced fee income and fewer deposits, each of which could result in reduced net income.

The financial services industry is continually undergoing rapid technological change with frequent introduction of new technology-driven products and services. The effective use of technology increases efficiency and enables financial institutions to better serve customers and to reduce costs. The rapid growth of new digital technologies related to the digitization of banking services and capabilities, including through internet services, smart phones and other mobile devices, requires us to continuously evaluate our product and service offerings to ensure they remain competitive. These trends were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic increasing demand for mobile banking solutions. Our success depends in part on our ability to adapt and deliver our products and services in a manner responsive to evolving industry standards and consumer preferences. New technologies by banks and non-bank service providers may create risks if our products and services are no longer competitive with then-current standards, and could negatively affect our ability to attract or maintain a loyal customer base. In addition, our utilization of new technologies may also create risks that our customers may not be ready for or may not adopt such technologies. We may not be able to effectively implement new technology-driven products and services that allow us to remain competitive or be successful in marketing these products and services to our customers. These risks may affect our ability to grow and could reduce our revenue streams from certain products and services, while increasing expenses associated with developing more competitive solutions, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Maintaining our reputation is important to our business and our brand. We are subject to reputational risks that could harm our business and prospects and arise from numerous sources, including those discussed further in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Sources of reputational risks may include, among others, cyberattacks, legal claims and regulatory action, fraudulent activities aimed at us or parties with whom we do business, inaccurate or incomplete data, insufficient operational infrastructure or oversight, malicious actions by employees, non-compliance with applicable law or regulatory policies by us or parties with whom we do business, any inability to provide reliable financial reports or maintain effective internal controls, failure of our environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) practices to meet investor or stakeholder expectations, and public perceptions of our business practices, including our deposit pricing and acquisition activity.

Our reputation may also be damaged by adverse publicity or negative information regarding us, whether or not true, that may be published or broadcast by the media or posted on social media, non-mainstream news services or other parts of the internet. This risk can be magnified by the speed and pervasiveness with which information is disseminated through those channels.

Reputational harm may lead to, among other things, a decline in our deposit balances and have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Safely conducting and growing our business requires that we create and maintain an appropriate operational and organizational control infrastructure. Operational risk can arise in numerous ways, including, but not limited to, employee fraud, customer fraud, control lapses in bank operations and information technology, and pace of change brought about by organizational growth. Our dependence on our employees and internal and third-party automated systems and vendors to record and process transactions may further increase the risk that technical failures or system-tampering will result in losses that are difficult to detect. Our internal controls that are intended to safeguard and maintain our operational and organizational infrastructure and information, as well as oversee and monitor control effectiveness, have inherent limitations and may not be successful. We may be subject to disruptions of our operating systems arising from events that are wholly or partially beyond our control. In addition, our railcars are used to transport a variety of products including, but not limited to, cement, energy products, chemicals and coal. An accidental derailment of these railcars could result in personal injury and property damage, which could be significant, as well as potential environmental remediation and restoration obligations and penalties. Failure to maintain appropriate operational infrastructure and oversight or to safely operate our business can lead to loss of service to customers, reputational harm, legal actions and noncompliance with various laws and regulations, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our businesses are highly dependent on the security and efficacy of our infrastructure, computer and data management systems, as well as those of third parties with whom we interact or on whom we rely. Our businesses rely on the secure processing, transmission, storage and retrieval of confidential, proprietary and other information in our computer and data management systems and networks, and in the computer and data management systems and networks of third parties. In addition, to access our network, products and services, our customers and other third parties may use personal mobile devices or computing devices that are outside of our network environment and are subject to their own cybersecurity risks, which may provide a point of entry for adverse effects on our own network environment.

We, our customers, regulators and other third parties have been subject to, and are likely to continue to be the target of, cyberattacks. These cyberattacks include computer viruses, malicious or destructive code, ransomware, phishing attacks, denial of service or other security breaches that could result in the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, loss or destruction of confidential, proprietary or personal data. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we have been and will continue to be required to expend significant resources to continuously enhance our protective measures and may be required to expend significant resources to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities or incidents. We anticipate we will continue to experience cyberattacks, and we acknowledge that we cannot implement guaranteed preventive measures against all security threats. Additionally, a security breach may be difficult to detect, even after it occurs, which may compound the issue related to such breach.

Continued geopolitical and geographical turmoil, including the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as increasing tensions in the South China Sea, has heightened the risk of cyberattacks and has created new risks for cybersecurity. For example, the United States government has warned that sanctions imposed against Russia by the United States in response to its conflict with Ukraine could motivate Russia to engage in malicious cyber activities against the United States. In addition, the United States government has warned that Iran may pose an increased cyber threat to U.S. critical infrastructure, such as the financial services sector, as the conflicts in the Middle East continue. If such cyberattacks occur, it could result in severe costs and disruptions to governmental entities and companies and their operations. The impact of the conflict and retaliatory measures is continually evolving and cannot be predicted with certainty. Compared to previous years, FCB has a higher risk of being impacted by geopolitical events due to FCB’s expanded geographic footprint and increased prominence. Our Enterprise Cyber Security Office (“ECSO”) continues in its efforts to closely monitor changes in the threat landscape.

We also face indirect technology, cybersecurity and operational risks relating to customers and other third parties with whom we do business or upon whom we rely to facilitate or enable our business activities, including financial counterparties; financial intermediaries such as clearing agents, exchanges and clearing houses; vendors and other external dependencies; regulators; and providers of critical infrastructure such as internet access and electrical power. As a result of increasing consolidation, interdependence and complexity of financial entities and technology systems, an event that materially degrades, or disrupts systems of one or more financial entities could have a material impact on counterparties or other market participants, including us. This consolidation interconnectivity and complexity increases the risk of operational failure, for both individual and industry-wide bases, as disparate systems need to be integrated, often on an accelerated basis. Any third-party technology failure, cyberattack or other information or security breach, termination or constraint could, among other things, adversely affect our ability to effect transactions, service our customers, manage our exposure to risk or expand our businesses.

Cyberattacks or other information or security breaches, whether directed at us or third parties, may result in a material loss or have material consequences. Furthermore, the public perception that a cyberattack on our systems has been successful, correct or not, may damage our reputation with customers and third parties. A successful penetration or circumvention of system security could cause us negative consequences, including loss of customers and business opportunities, disruption to our operations and business, misappropriation or destruction of our confidential information and that of our customers, or damage to our customers’ and third parties’ computers or systems. In addition, such penetration or circumvention could result in a violation of applicable data privacy and protection laws and other laws, litigation exposure, regulatory fines, penalties or intervention, loss of confidence in our security measures, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensatory costs and additional compliance costs. The consequences and results of any such penetration or circumvention could adversely impact our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition.

We are subject to litigation risks in the ordinary course of our business. Claims and legal actions, including supervisory actions by our regulators, that have been or may be initiated against us (including against entities that we acquire) from time to time could involve large monetary sums and significant defense costs. During the last credit crisis, we saw the number of cases and our expenses related to those cases increase and we expect to see the same in future credit crises. The outcomes of such cases are always uncertain until finally adjudicated or resolved.

In the course of our business, we may foreclose on and take title to real estate that contains or was used in the manufacture or processing of hazardous materials or that is subject to other environmental risks. In addition, we may lease equipment to our customers that is used to mine, develop, and process hazardous materials, and our railcars may be used to transport hazardous materials. As a result, we could be subject to environmental liabilities or claims for negligence, property damage or personal injury with respect to these properties or equipment. We may be held liable to a governmental entity or to third parties for property damage, personal injury, investigation and clean-up costs incurred by these parties in connection with environmental contamination, accidents or other hazardous risks, or may be required to investigate or clean up hazardous or toxic substances or chemical releases at a property. The costs associated with investigation or remediation activities could be substantial. In addition, if we are the owner or former owner of a contaminated site or equipment involved in a hazardous incident, we may be subject to common law claims by third parties based on damages and costs resulting from environmental contamination, property damage, personal injury or other hazardous risks emanating from the property or related to the equipment.

We establish reserves for legal claims when payments associated with the claims become probable and our liability can be reasonably estimated. We may still incur legal costs for a matter even if we have not established a reserve. In addition, the actual amount paid in resolution of a legal claim may be substantially higher than any amounts reserved for the matter. The ultimate resolution of a legal proceeding, depending on the remedy sought and any relief granted, could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Substantial legal claims or significant regulatory action against us could have material adverse financial effects or cause significant reputational harm to us, which in turn could seriously harm our business prospects. We may be exposed to substantial uninsured legal liabilities and regulatory actions which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. For additional information, refer to the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 24—Commitments and Contingencies, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

As a human capital-intensive business, our success depends to a great extent on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled and qualified executive officers and management, financial, compliance, technical, operations, sales, and support employees, which has taken on heightened importance because of the significant expansion of the size and geographic and operational scope of our business that occurred in connection with the CIT Merger and SVBB Acquisition. We face significant competition in the recruitment of qualified executive officers and employees. Losses of, or changes in, our current executive officers or other personnel and their expertise and services, or substantial increases in the costs of employee compensation or benefits, may disrupt our business and could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. We have developed an executive officer succession plan intended to avoid significant disruptions in our business, but it may be ineffective, or we may fail in implementing it. In order to be successful in retaining current executive officers and other key personnel we recognize that it is important to both maintain personnel to support current operations, as well as attract and hire additional key personnel to assist with executing growth, expansion and acquisition strategies. We may be unsuccessful in retaining our current executive officers or other key personnel, or hiring additional key personnel to assist in executing our growth, expansion and acquisition strategies, all of which could cause those strategies to fail or be less successful than they would otherwise be.

Our compensation practices are subject to review and oversight by the Federal Reserve, the FDIC and other regulators. The federal banking agencies have issued joint guidance on executive compensation designed to help ensure that a banking organization’s incentive compensation policies do not encourage imprudent risk taking and are consistent with the safety and soundness of the organization. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act required those agencies, along with the SEC, to adopt rules to require reporting of incentive compensation and to prohibit certain compensation arrangements. In October 2022, the SEC adopted final rules requiring national securities exchanges, including Nasdaq where we are currently listed, to establish new listing standards relating to policies for the recovery of erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation, which are often referred to as “clawback policies.” The final rules directed U.S. stock exchanges to require listed companies to implement, disclose and enforce clawback policies to recover excess incentive-based compensation that current or former executive officers received based on financial reporting measures that are later restated. In June 2023, the SEC approved the Nasdaq’s proposed clawback listing standards, which now require us and other Nasdaq-listed companies to (i) adopt and implement a compliant clawback policy; (ii) file the clawback policy as an exhibit to our annual reports; and (iii) provide certain disclosures relating to any compensation recovery triggered by the clawback policy. If, as a result of complying with the new rules, we are unable to attract and retain qualified employees, or do so at rates necessary to maintain our competitive position, or if the compensation costs required to attract and retain employees become more significant, our performance, including our competitive position, could be materially adversely affected.

As technology continues to evolve, criminals are using increasingly more sophisticated techniques to commit and hide fraudulent activity. Fraudulent activity that we have been and are likely to continue to be exposed to can come in many forms, including debit card/credit card fraud, check fraud, wire fraud, electronic scanning devices attached to ATM machines, social engineering, digital fraud, malware, and phishing, smishing, or vishing attacks to obtain personal information and fraudulent impersonation of our customers through the use of falsified documents, fake identification, or stolen credentials. We expect that combating fraudulent activities as they evolve will require continued ongoing investments and attention in the future as significant fraud could cause us direct losses or impair our customer relationships, among other potential consequences, adversely impacting our reputation or results of operation.

Natural or man-made disasters (including, but not limited to, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis, fires, pollution, and explosions), global pandemics, acts of war, terrorist activities, climate change or other adverse external events could hurt our financial performance (i) directly through damage to our facilities or other impacts to our ability to conduct business in the ordinary course, and (ii) indirectly through such damage or impacts to our customers, suppliers or other counterparties. In particular, a significant amount of our business is concentrated in North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Texas, New York and Florida, including areas where our facilities and retail and commercial customers have been and in the future could be impacted by hurricanes and flooding, earthquakes wildfires, and rising sea levels. We also do business in Georgia, Virginia, Nebraska, Arizona, New Jersey, Hawaii, Nevada, as well as in Canada, all of which also include areas significantly exposed to the foregoing risks. We could also suffer adverse results to the extent that disasters, wars, terrorist activities, riots or civil unrest affect the broader markets or economy or our operations specifically. Our ability to minimize the consequences of such events is in significant measure reliant on the quality of our disaster recovery planning and our ability, if any, to forecast the events, and such quality and ability may be inadequate.

There has been increasing political and social attention to the issue of climate change and related environmental sustainability matters. Federal and state legislators and regulatory agencies have proposed and continue to advance numerous legislative and regulatory initiatives seeking to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. For example, on October 21, 2021, the Financial Stability Oversight Council published a report identifying climate-related financial risk as an “emerging threat” to financial stability, on December 16, 2021, the OCC issued proposed principles for climate-related financial risk management for national banks with more than $100 billion in total assets, on March 21, 2022, the SEC issued proposed requirements for companies to disclose information about climate-related risks that are likely to have an impact on their business, as well as climate goals or planning processes that the company has developed in response thereto, and on March 30, 2022 and December 2, 2022, the FDIC and Federal Reserve issued their own proposed principles, respectively, for climate risk management by larger banking organizations, and on October 24, 2023, the federal banking agencies jointly finalized principles for climate-related financial risk management for banking organizations with $100 billion or more in total consolidated assets. On December 6, 2023, the SEC noted in its regulatory agenda that it has delayed the adoption of a final rule on disclosure of climate-related risks until April 2024. There is no assurance as to the timing of a final rule or if the rule will be adopted as proposed. In addition, states in which we conduct business have taken, or are considering taking, similar actions on climate-related financial risks. See Item 1. Business—Regulatory Considerations—Other Regulations applicable to the Parent Company and FCB—Climate-Related Regulation and Risk Management for additional information. To the extent that these initiatives lead to the promulgation of new regulations or supervisory guidance applicable to us, we would expect to experience increased compliance costs and other compliance-related risks. Moreover, this could result in increased management time and attention to ensure we are compliant with the regulations and expectations. Such climate change-related measures may also result in the imposition of taxes and fees, the required purchase of emission credits or the implementation of significant operational changes, each of which may require us to expend significant capital and incur compliance, operating, maintenance and remediation costs.

Third party vendors provide key components of our business infrastructure, including certain data processing and information services. Their services could be difficult to quickly replace in the event of failure or other interruption in service. Failures of certain vendors to provide services could adversely affect our ability to deliver products and services to our customers. Third party vendors also present information security risks to us, both directly and indirectly through our customers. Our monitoring of significant vendor risks, including the financial stability of critical vendors, may be inadequate and incomplete. These effects include the direct impact of disease as well as secondary effects on third-party vendors, including pandemic-related changes to how vendors are engaged, onboarded and monitored. The failure of a critical third-party vendor to provide key components of our business infrastructure could substantially disrupt our business and cause us to incur significant expense while harming our relationships with our customers.

Our data governance program is reliant on the execution of procedures, process controls and system functionality, and errors may occur. Incomplete, inconsistent, or inaccurate data could lead to non-compliance with regulatory requirements and result in fines. Additionally, adverse impacts on customers could result in reputational harm and customer attrition. Inaccurate or incomplete data presents the risk that business decisions relying on such data will prove inefficient, ineffective or harmful to us. Additionally, information we provide to our investors and regulators may be negatively impacted by inaccurate or incomplete data, which could have a wide range of adverse consequences such as legal liability and reputational harm.

Several high-profile cases of employee misconduct have occurred at other financial institutions. Such an event may lead to large regulatory fines, as well as an erosion in customer confidence, which could impact our financial and competitive position. Our system of controls and procedures addressing employee misconduct and our employee code of ethics and policies governing our compensation, conduct and sales practices may be inadequate to deter and respond to potential employee misconduct. Malicious actions by an employee could have a wide range of adverse consequences such as legal liability and reputational harm.

The FDIC maintains a Deposit Insurance Fund (“DIF”) to protect insured depositors in the event of bank failures. The DIF is funded by fees assessed on IDIs including FCB. Future deposit premiums paid by banks, including FCB, will depend on FDIC rules, which are subject to change, the level of the DIF and the magnitude and cost of future bank failures. For example, in November 2023, the FDIC finalized a special assessment of $16.30 billion, of which $64 million was FCB’s assessed amount to help recoup losses to the DIF from protecting uninsured depositors following the bank closures earlier in 2023. We may be required to pay significantly higher FDIC premiums if market developments change such that the DIF balance is reduced or the FDIC changes its rules to require higher premiums.

Effectively managing credit risks is essential for the operation of our business. There are credit risks inherent in making any loan, including risks of repayment, risks with respect to the period of time over which the loan may be repaid, risks relating to proper loan underwriting and guidelines, risks resulting from changes in economic and industry conditions, risks in dealing with individual borrowers and risks resulting from uncertainties as to the future value of collateral. Our loan approval procedures and our credit risk monitoring may be or become inadequate to appropriately manage the inherent credit risks associated with lending. Our credit administration personnel, policies and procedures may not adequately adapt to changes in economic or other conditions affecting customers and the quality of our loan portfolio. Any failure to manage such credit risks may materially adversely affect our business, consolidated results of operations and financial condition because it may lead to loans that we make not being paid back in part or in full on a timely basis or at all.

As an integral part of their examination process, our banking regulators periodically review the ALLL and may require us to increase it by recognizing additional provisions for credit losses charged to expense or to decrease the allowance by recognizing loan charge-offs, net of recoveries. Any such required additional credit loss provisions or loan charge-offs could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our loans and leases include concentrations in certain industries in healthcare, such as medical and dental industries, as well as the rail business. A significant portion of the loans acquired in the SVBB Acquisition were concentrated within certain industries, including technology, life science and healthcare, and with private equity and venture capital clients, areas in which we did not have significant exposure prior to the SVBB Acquisition. Although we believe our combined loan portfolio is diversified, borrowers in certain industries may have a heightened vulnerability to negative economic conditions. For example, statutory or regulatory changes relevant to the medical and dental industries, or economic conditions in the market generally, could negatively impact these borrowers’ businesses and their ability to repay their loans with us. Additionally, smaller practices such as those in the dental industry generally have fewer financial resources in terms of capital or borrowing capacity than larger entities, and generally have a heightened vulnerability to negative economic conditions. Repayment of loans in the portfolios for early-stage and mid-stage privately held companies, including those acquired in the SVBB Acquisition, may depend upon receipt by those borrowers of additional financing from venture capitalists or others, or, in some cases, a successful sale to a third-party, public offering or other form of liquidity event. In addition, decreases in the amount of equity capital available to early-stage and mid-stage companies, including through a decrease in merger and acquisition activity, could adversely impact the ability of borrowers to repay our loans in these industries. If such events occur, our levels of nonperforming assets and charge offs may increase, and we may be required to increase our ALLL through additional provisions on our income statement, which would reduce reported net income and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Due to our substantial concentration in our rail business, if there is a significant downturn in shipping by railcar, it could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, volatility in the price of, and demand for oil and gas may have negative effects on not only our loan exposures in the exploration and production section, but may also lead to a decreased demand for our railcars.

As a lender, we are exposed to the risk that our customers will be unable to repay their loans and other obligations in accordance with the terms of the relevant agreements, and that any collateral securing the payment of their loans and obligations may be insufficient to assure full repayment. Credit losses are inherent in the business of making loans and entering into other financial arrangements. Factors that influence our credit losses include overall economic conditions affecting businesses and consumers, generally, but also residential and CRE valuations. For example, real property collateral values may be impacted by economic conditions in the real estate market and may result in losses on loans that, while adequately collateralized at the time of origination, become inadequately collateralized over time. CRE loans may involve a higher risk of default compared to our other types of loans as a result of several factors, including, but not limited to, prevailing economic conditions and volatility in real estate markets, occupancy, rental collections, interest rates, and collateral value. Recent trends including the growth of e-commerce, adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and long-term work-from-home arrangements, as well as increases in variable rates on CRE loans in connection with the significant increase over a span of 17 months in the target for the federal funds rate from near zero to 5.25% - 5.50% by July 2023, have had an adverse impact on the CRE sector, including retail stores, hotels and office buildings, creating greater risk exposure for our CRE loan portfolio. In addition, our reliance on junior liens is concentrated in our consumer revolving mortgage loan portfolio. Approximately two-thirds of the consumer revolving mortgage portfolio is secured by junior lien positions, and lower real estate values for collateral underlying these loans may cause the outstanding balance of the senior lien to exceed the value of the collateral, resulting in a junior lien loan becoming effectively unsecured. Inadequate collateral values, rising interest rates and unfavorable economic conditions could result in greater delinquencies, write-downs or charge-offs in future periods, which could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and capital adequacy.

The soundness and stability of many financial institutions may be closely interrelated as a result of credit, trading, clearing, counterparty and other relationships between the institutions. As a result, concerns about, or a default or threatened default by, one institution could lead to significant market-wide liquidity and credit problems, losses or defaults by other institutions. For example, the failures of several high-profile banking institutions in early 2023 caused significant market volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and decreased confidence in the U.S. banking system. In response to the recent bank failures, the United States government has proposed a variety of measures and new regulations designed to strengthen capital levels, liquidity standards, and risk management practices and otherwise restore confidence in financial institutions. Any reforms, if adopted, could have a significant impact on banks and BHCs, including us. In addition, we have exposure to numerous financial services providers, including banks, securities brokers and dealers and other financial services providers. Our monitoring of the financial conditions of financial institutions with which we have credit exposure is inherently limited and may be inadequate, and transactions with those institutions expose us to credit risk through the possibility of counterparty default.

Market Risks

Our business is subject to periodic fluctuations based on international, national, regional and local economic conditions. These fluctuations are not predictable, cannot be controlled and have had and may continue to have or further have a material adverse impact on our operations and financial condition. Our banking operations are primarily located within several states but are locally oriented and community-based. Our retail and commercial banking activities are primarily concentrated within the same geographic footprint. The markets in which we have the greatest presence are North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Texas, New York, and Florida. We also do business in Canada, primarily related to our rail portfolio. Worsening economic conditions within our markets, particularly within those with our greatest presence, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Accordingly, we expect to continue to be dependent upon local business conditions, rail industry conditions and conditions in the local residential and commercial real estate markets we serve. Unfavorable changes in unemployment, real estate values, inflation, interest rates, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and other factors could weaken the economies of the communities we serve and otherwise adversely affect our business. Thus far, this includes higher unrealized losses on investment securities, but could create additional adverse impacts to provision for credit losses and declines in demand for our products and services.

We conduct limited business operations in certain foreign jurisdictions, and we engage in certain cross border lending and leasing transactions. An economic recession or downturn or business disruption associated with the political or economic environments in the international markets in which we operate could similarly adversely affect us.

In addition, the political environment, the level of United States debt and global economic conditions can have a destabilizing effect on financial markets. Weakness in any of our market areas could have an adverse impact on our earnings, and consequently, our financial condition and capital adequacy. For example, a U.S. government debt default, threatened default, or downgrade of the sovereign credit ratings of the United States by credit rating agencies, could have an adverse impact on the financial markets, interest rates and economic conditions in the United States and worldwide. The U.S. debt ceiling and budget deficit concerns in recent years have increased the possibility of U.S. government shutdowns, forced federal spending reductions, debt defaults, credit-rating downgrades and an economic slowdown or recession in the United States. Political tensions may make it difficult for Congress to agree on any further increases to or suspension of the debt ceiling in a timely manner or at all, which may lead to a default by the U.S. government or downgrades of its credit ratings. Many of the investment securities held in FCB’s portfolio are issued by the U.S. government and government agencies and sponsored entities, which are generally viewed as among the most conservative investment options. While the likelihood may be remote, a government default or threat of default would impact the price and liquidity of U.S. government securities. A debt default or further downgrade to the U.S. government’s sovereign credit rating or its perceived creditworthiness could also adversely affect the ability of the U.S. government to support the financial stability of the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, respectively, as well as the Federal Home Loan Banks (“FHLBs”). Since banks are sensitive to the risk of downturns, the stock prices of all banks typically decline, sometimes substantially, if the market believes that a downturn has become more likely or is imminent. This effect can and often does occur indiscriminately, initially without much regard to different risk postures of different banks. Weakness in any of our market areas could have an adverse impact on our earnings, and consequently, our financial condition and capital adequacy.

Our results of operations and cash flows are highly dependent upon net interest income (“NII”). Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors that are beyond our control, including general economic and market conditions and policies of various governmental and regulatory agencies, particularly the actions of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”). Changes in monetary policy, including changes in interest rates, could influence interest income, interest expense, and the fair value of our financial assets and liabilities. If changes in interest rates on our interest-earning assets are not equal to the changes in interest rates on our interest-bearing liabilities, our NII and, therefore, our net income, could be adversely impacted.

If indicators show signs that inflation is stabilizing, the FOMC may begin to reduce interest rates over the next 12 months. Any future change in monetary policy by the Federal Reserve resulting in lower interest rates may negatively impact our performance and financial condition due to the composition of our interest rate sensitive assets and liabilities. Our portfolio is generally in a net asset-sensitive position whereby our assets reprice faster than our liabilities, which is generally concentrated at the short end of the yield curve. While our interest expense may decline, the impact on our interest-rate sensitive assets may be greater, resulting in a potential decrease to our NII.

As interest rates rise, our interest expense will increase and our net interest margin (“NIM”) may decrease, negatively impacting our performance and our financial condition. To the extent banks and other financial services providers compete for interest-bearing deposit accounts through higher interest rates, our deposit base could be reduced if we are unwilling to pay those higher rates. If we decide to compete with those higher interest rates, our cost of funds could increase and our NIM could be reduced, dependent on the timing and sensitivities of our interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. Additionally, higher interest rates may impact our ability to originate new loans. Increases in interest rates could adversely affect the ability of our borrowers to meet higher payment obligations. If this occurred, it could cause an increase in nonperforming assets and net charge-offs.

We cannot control or predict with certainty changes in interest rates. The forecasts of future NII by our interest rate risk monitoring system are estimates and may be inaccurate. Actual interest rate movements may differ from our forecasts, and unexpected actions by the FOMC may have a direct impact on market interest rates. The Federal Reserve announced in January of 2022 that it would be slowing the pace of its bond purchasing and increasing the target range for the federal funds rate over time. On January 1, 2022, the target range for the federal funds rate was 0%; however, over the past two years, the FOMC has steadily increased the target range, reaching a range of 5.25% to 5.50% as of December 31, 2023, with the FOMC deciding to maintain this target range as of January 31, 2024. Although economists are projecting that the target funds rate will most likely decline in small periodic increments, it remains uncertain whether the FOMC will begin to reduce the federal funds rate, the extent and frequency of any such reductions, whether the FOMC will leave the rate at its current elevated level for a lengthy period of time or whether FOMC will increase the targeted federal funds rate should inflation return to elevated levels.

Fair value discounts that are recorded at the time an asset is acquired are accreted into interest income based on United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The rate at which those discounts are accreted is unpredictable and the result of various factors including prepayments and estimated credit losses. Post-acquisition credit deterioration results in the recognition of provision expense. Volatility in earnings could unfavorably influence investor interest in our common stock, thereby depressing the market value of our stock and the market capitalization of BancShares.

Our investment securities portfolio contains certain equity securities and corporate bonds of other financial institutions. As a result, a portion of our investment securities portfolio is subject to fluctuation due to changes in the financial stability and market value of other financial institutions, as well as interest rate sensitivity to economic and market conditions. Such fluctuations could reduce the value of our investment securities portfolio and consequently have an adverse effect on our results of operations. We have seen volatile earnings impacts related to the fair value of equity securities in recent periods.

Our goodwill could become impaired in the future. At December 31, 2023, we had $346 million of goodwill recorded as an asset on our balance sheet. We test goodwill for impairment at least annually, comparing the estimated fair value of a reporting unit with its net book value. We also test goodwill for impairment when certain events occur, such as a significant decline in our expected future cash flows, a significant adverse change in the business climate or a sustained decline in the price of our common stock. These tests may result in a write-off of goodwill deemed to be impaired, which could have a significant impact on our financial results.

Although publicly traded, our common stock, particularly our Class B common stock, has less liquidity and public float than many other large, publicly traded financial services companies. Lower liquidity increases the price volatility of our common stock and could make it difficult for our stockholders to sell or buy our common stock at specific prices.

Excluding the impact of liquidity, the market price of our common stock can fluctuate widely in response to other factors, including expectations of financial and operating results, actual operating results, actions of institutional stockholders, speculation in the press or the investment community, market perception of acquisitions, including the CIT Merger and the SVBB Acquisition, rating agency upgrades or downgrades, the anticipated or actual incurrence of additional debt, stock prices of other companies that are similar to us, general market expectations related to the financial services industry and the potential impact of government actions affecting the financial services industry. For example, the closing price per share of our Class A common stock, par value $1 per share (“Class A common stock”) on the Nasdaq Global Select Market ranged from a low of $509.06 to a high of $1,512.07 during the year ended December 31, 2023.

Our deposit base represents our primary source of core funding and balance sheet liquidity. We typically have the ability to stimulate core deposit growth through reasonable and effective pricing strategies. However, these deposits are subject to fluctuation due to certain factors outside our control, such as increasing competitive pressures for retail or corporate customer deposits, changes in interest rates and returns on other investment classes, or a loss of confidence by customers in us or in the banking sector generally which could result in a significant outflow of deposits within a short period of time, which may have a material adverse effect on our liquidity position. In circumstances where our ability to generate needed liquidity is impaired, we need access to other sources of funding such as borrowings from the FHLBs and the Federal Reserve, Federal Funds purchased lines, and brokered deposits. In connection with the SVBB Acquisition, FCB issued a five-year note of approximately $36 billion payable to the FDIC (the “Purchase Money Note”) and FCB also entered into an Advance Facility Agreement, dated as of March 27, 2023 and effective as of November 20, 2023 (the “Advance Facility Agreement”) with the FDIC, pursuant to which the FDIC is providing total advances available through March 27, 2025 of up to $70 billion (subject to certain limits described below under Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 2—Business Combinations), of which $15.11 billion was immediately available at December 31, 2023. We may draw on the Advance Facility Agreement through March 27, 2025 to provide liquidity to offset deposit withdrawal or runoff of former SVBB deposit accounts and to fund the unfunded commercial lending commitments acquired in connection with the SVBB Acquisition. While we maintain access to these non-core funding sources, including the Advance Facility Agreement, these sources are dependent on the availability of collateral as well as the counterparty’s willingness and ability to lend. Failure to access sources of liquidity may affect our ability to pay deposits and fund our operations.

Based on our asset size, we are subject to enhanced liquidity risk management requirements as a Category IV banking organization, including reporting, liquidity stress testing, a liquidity buffer and resolution planning, subject to the applicable transition periods. Were we to meet or exceed certain other thresholds for asset size and other risk-based factors, we would become subject to additional requirements under the Tailoring Rules. We expect to incur significant expense in continuing to develop policies, programs and systems designed to comply with all such requirements applicable to us. Failure to develop and maintain an adequate liquidity risk management and monitoring process may lead to adverse regulatory action (including possible restrictions on our activities), along with inadequate liquidity.

Revenues derived from transaction fees associated with overdraft and NSF programs are included in noninterest income. In 2023, we collected approximately $42 million in overdraft fees (down from approximately $49 million in 2022), due to the reduction in our fees for overdrafts and elimination of NSF fees announced in January 2022. In 2021, certain members of Congress and the leadership of the CFPB expressed a heightened interest in bank overdraft and NSF programs. In December 2021, the CFPB published a report providing data on banks’ overdraft and NSF fee revenues as well as observations regarding consumer protection issues relating to such programs and in October 2022, the CFPB published further guidance concerning unlawful practices related to overdraft fees. In January 2024, the CFPB published proposed rulemakings aimed at restricting financial institutions’ overdraft credit and NSF fee practices. The CFPB also has pursued enforcement actions against banking organizations, and their executives, that oversee overdraft and NSF practices that are deemed to be unlawful and has indicated that it will continue to do so.

Capital Adequacy Risks

Our primary capital sources have been retained earnings and debt issued through both private and public markets. Rating agencies regularly evaluate our creditworthiness and assign credit ratings to us and FCB. The ratings of the agencies are based on a number of factors, some of which are outside our control. In addition to factors specific to our financial strength and performance, the rating agencies also consider conditions generally affecting the financial services industry. We may not be able to maintain our current credit ratings. Rating reductions could adversely affect our access to funding sources and increase the cost of obtaining funding.

Based on existing capital levels, we and FCB are well capitalized under current leverage and risk-based capital standards. Our ability to grow is contingent on our ability to generate or otherwise access sufficient capital to remain well capitalized under current and future capital adequacy guidelines.

Under capital adequacy and other regulatory requirements, we, together with FCB, must meet certain capital adequacy and liquidity guidelines, subject to qualitative judgments by regulators about components, risk weightings and other factors.

We and FCB are subject to capital rules issued by the federal banking agencies including required minimum capital and leverage ratios. Regulators have implemented and may, from time to time, implement changes to these regulatory capital adequacy and liquidity requirements. These requirements, and any other new laws or regulations related to capital or liquidity, or any existing requirements that we may become subject to as a result of our significantly increased asset size by virtue of the CIT Merger and SVBB Acquisition or future acquisitions, could adversely affect our ability to pay dividends, restrict certain business activities, including share repurchases, or compel us to raise capital, each of which may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. On July 27, 2023, the federal banking agencies issued a proposed rule to implement the Basel III endgame standards into the capital and liquidity requirements for banking organizations with $100 billion or more in total consolidated assets. Among other things, the proposed rule would substantially change the existing calculation of risk-weighted assets and require banking organizations to use revised models for such calculations. The proposed rule would apply to FCB and BancShares directly based upon our current asset size. Refer to the “Regulatory Considerations” section in Item 1. Business of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding the capital requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act and Basel III.

We are required to submit an annual capital plan to the Federal Reserve and to be subject to supervisory stress testing under the Federal Reserve’s CCAR process on a biennial basis as a Category IV banking organization, subject to the applicable transition periods. Under the CCAR process, the Federal Reserve will evaluate our planned capital distributions (e.g., dividends) included in our capital plan over the planning horizon (i.e., nine consecutive quarters, beginning with the quarter preceding the quarter in which the capital plan is submitted over which the relevant projections extend) to determine whether we will be able to meet our ongoing capital needs under a range of different economic scenarios. Failure to obtain a non-objection on our capital plan submitted to the Federal Reserve, or to demonstrate capital adequacy under the CCAR process, could result in restrictions in our ability to declare and pay dividends, repurchase shares, or make other capital distributions. Refer to the “Regulatory Considerations” section of Item 1. Business of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding the annual capital plan submission to the Federal Reserve and supervisory stress testing under the CCAR process.

In connection with the SVBB Acquisition, FCB issued the five-year Purchase Money Note of approximately $36 billion payable to the FDIC, which was subsequently amended and restated to adjust the principal amount to approximately $36.07 billion. On August 29, 2023, the federal banking agencies released a notice of proposed rulemaking that requires large banks with total assets of $100 billion or more to maintain a minimum amount of long-term debt that can be used, in the instance of a bank’s failure, to absorb losses and increase options to resolve the failed bank. Our existing debt, together with any future incurrence of additional indebtedness, including under the Advance Facility Agreement and the Purchase Money Note, could have consequences that are materially adverse to our business, financial condition or results of operations. For example, it could: (i) limit our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, debt service requirements, acquisitions and general corporate or other purposes; (ii) restrict us from making strategic acquisitions or cause us to make non-strategic divestitures; (iii) restrict us from paying dividends to our stockholders; (iv) increase our vulnerability to general economic and industry conditions; or (v) require a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to be dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness and dividends on the preferred stock, thereby reducing our ability to use cash flows to fund our operations, capital expenditures and future business opportunities.

Compliance Risks

We operate in a highly regulated industry and are subject to many laws, rules, and regulations at both the federal and state levels. These broad-based laws, rules, and regulations include, but are not limited to, expectations relating to AML, lending limits, client privacy, fair lending, prohibitions against unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, regulatory reporting, and community reinvestment,

In addition, we must comply with other regulations that protect the DIF and the stability of the United States financial system, including laws and regulations that, among other matters, prescribe minimum capital requirements, impose limitations on our business activities and investments, limit the dividends or distributions that we can pay, restrict the ability of our bank subsidiaries to guarantee our debt and impose certain specific accounting requirements that may be more restrictive and may result in greater or earlier charges to earnings or reductions in our capital than GAAP. Compliance with laws and regulations can be difficult and costly, and changes in laws and regulations often result in additional compliance costs.

We are subject to extensive federal and applicable state regulation and supervision, primarily through FCB and certain nonbank subsidiaries. Banking regulations are primarily intended to protect depositors’ funds, amounts held within the DIF, and the banking system as a whole, not stockholders. These regulations affect our lending practices, capital structure, investment practices, dividend policy, growth, and governance and controls, among other things. Congress and federal regulatory agencies continually review banking laws, regulations, and policies for possible changes.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the related rules and regulations issued by the SEC and Nasdaq, as well as numerous other more recently enacted statutes and regulations, including the Dodd-Frank Act, Economic Growth Act, and regulations promulgated thereunder, have increased the scope, complexity and cost of corporate governance and reporting and disclosure practices, including the costs of completing our external audit and maintaining our internal controls. Such additional regulation and supervision may limit our ability to pursue business opportunities and result in a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

Changes to statutes, regulations, or regulatory policies, including changes in interpretation or implementation of statutes, regulations, or policies, could affect us in substantial and unpredictable ways. Such changes could subject us to additional costs, limit the types of financial services and products we may offer, or increase the ability of nonbanks to offer competing financial services and products, among other things. Failure to comply with laws, regulations, or policies could result in sanctions by regulatory agencies (including potential limitations on our future acquisitions or operations, or requirements to forfeit assets), civil money penalties, or reputation damage.

Data privacy and security risks have become the subject of increasing legislative and regulatory focus in recent years. The federal banking agencies have proposed regulations that would enhance cyber risk management standards, which apply to a wide range of LFIs and their third-party service providers, including us and FCB, and would focus on cyber risk governance and management, management of internal and external dependencies, and incident response, cyber resilience, and situational awareness. Virtually all states have also proposed or adopted information security legislation and regulations, which require, among other things, notification to affected individuals and/or attorneys general, in the event of a data breach.

We collect, process, maintain, and store personal information of customers, prospects and employees. We employ data security and technology solutions to support adherence to our data protection obligations and risk mitigation efforts. The collection, sharing, use, disclosure, and protection of these types of information are governed by federal and state law. An increasing number of states have actual or proposed privacy and information security regulations, the intent of which is to increase transparency related to how personal information is processed, choices individuals have to control how their information is used and to protect the privacy of such information. For example, in June of 2018, the Governor of California signed into law the CCPA. The CCPA, which became effective on January 1, 2020, and was amended in November 2020 by the CPRA, applies to for-profit businesses that conduct business in California and meet certain revenue or data collection thresholds. The CPRA, which became effective on January 1, 2023, amended the scope and several of the substantive requirements of the CCPA, as well as created an administrative and enforcement. In addition, NYDFS adopted the NY Cybersecurity Regulation in February 2017. The NY Cybersecurity Regulation requires that financial services institutions regulated by NYDFS, including BancShares, among other things, implement and maintain a cybersecurity program and a cybersecurity policy that will be monitored and tested periodically, develop controls and technology standards for data protection, establish policies and procedures with respect to due-diligence evaluation and cybersecurity practices of vendors who will have access to the institution’s information systems or non-public information, annually certify compliance with the regulation, and provide notice to NYDFS within 72 hours of a cybersecurity event that has a reasonable likelihood of materially harming the institution or that must be reported to another government or self-regulating agency. NYDFS further amended its cybersecurity regulation effective November 1, 2023 with the majority of the amended provisions to take effect on April 29, 2024. Among other things, the adopted amendments will require new reporting, governance and oversight measures, enhanced cybersecurity safeguards and technical requirements, and mandatory notification to NYDFS in the event that the financial services institution makes an extortion payment in connection with a cybersecurity event involving it.

Congress and federal regulators have also implemented or are considering implementing similar laws or regulations which could create new individual privacy rights and impose increased obligations on companies handling personal data. For example, on November 23, 2021, the federal financial regulatory agencies published a final cybersecurity rule which took effect on April 1, 2022. In addition, in July 2023, the SEC adopted new cybersecurity disclosure rules for public companies, like BancShares. Refer to the “Regulatory Considerations” section of Item 1. Business of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding the various privacy, data protection and cybersecurity regulations that are applicable to BancShares.

We continue to monitor developments and changes to applicable privacy and information security regulations and adapt our current practices to changing requirements. Failure to meet regulatory requirements may subject us to fines, litigation, or regulatory enforcement actions. We acknowledge that changes to our business practices, policies, or systems, unplanned or otherwise, may also adversely impact our operating results.

Our rail business line is subject to various laws, rules and regulations administered by authorities in various jurisdictions. In the United States, our equipment financing and leasing operations, including for our portfolio of railcars, maritime lending and other equipment financing and leasing, are subject to rules and regulations relating to safety, operations, maintenance and mechanical standards promulgated by various federal and state agencies and industry organizations, including the United States Department of Transportation, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Association of American Railroads, the Maritime Administration, the United States Coast Guard, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. We are also subject to regulation by governmental agencies in foreign countries in which we do business. Our business operations and our equipment financing and leasing portfolios may be adversely impacted by rules and regulations promulgated by governmental and industry agencies, which could require substantial modification, maintenance, or refurbishment of our railcars, ships or other equipment, or could potentially make such equipment inoperable or obsolete. Failure to comply with these laws, rules and regulations could result in sanctions by regulatory agencies (including potential limitations on our future acquisitions or operations, or requirements to forfeit assets), civil money penalties, or reputation damage. Additionally, we may incur significant expenses in our efforts to comply with these laws, rules and regulations.

Based on our asset size, we are subject to enhanced prudential standards under Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act, as amended by the Economic Growth Act, and implemented by the federal banking agencies’ Tailoring Rules, subject to the applicable transition periods. The federal banking agencies are re-evaluating the applicability of enhanced prudential standards for Category IV and Category III banking organizations, and there may be changes to the Tailoring Rules to apply additional enhanced prudential standards to such organizations, which would increase BancShares’ compliance costs. Along with our growth, expectations are heightened to maintain strong risk management. In addition, if we fail to develop and maintain at a reasonable cost the systems and processes necessary to comply with the standards and requirements imposed by these rules, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additionally, as we grow, and our assets exceed certain thresholds, regulatory requirements that we are subject to, as well as our compliance expenses, will increase. For example, after reporting $50 billion or more in weighted short-term wholesale funding, we will be subject to modified LCR and NSFR requirements, and we will be subject to full LCR and NSFR requirements after reporting $75 billion or more in weighted short-term wholesale funding, nonbank assets, off-balance sheet exposure, or cross-jurisdictional activities in addition to other enhanced prudential standards as a Category III banking organization (or a Category II banking organization in the case of cross-jurisdictional assets). Refer to the “Regulatory Considerations” section of Item 1. Business of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding the enhanced prudential standards that we are subject to as a Category IV banking organization, and how our regulatory requirements will change based on our total assets and other risk-based factors under the Tailoring Rules.

We are subject to supervision and examination by the CFPB for compliance with the CFPB’s regulations and policies. The CFPB has broad rulemaking authority to administer and carry out the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act with respect to financial institutions that offer covered financial products and services to consumers. The CFPB is responsible for adopting rules identifying practices or acts that are unfair, deceptive or abusive in connection with any transaction with a consumer for a consumer financial product or service, or the offering of a consumer financial product or service. The CFPB has increased enforcement staff and initiated enforcement actions against a variety of bank and non-bank market participants with respect to a number of consumer financial products and services that has resulted in those participants expending significant time, money and resources to adjust to the initiatives being pursued by the CFPB. The CFPB has pursued a more aggressive enforcement policy in respect of a range of regulatory compliance matters under the Biden Administration. CFPB enforcement actions may serve as precedent for how the CFPB interprets and enforces consumer protection laws, including practices or acts that are deemed to be unfair, deceptive or abusive, with respect to all supervised institutions, including us. which may result in the imposition of higher standards of compliance with such laws. The limitations and restrictions that may be placed upon us by the CFPB with respect to our consumer product offerings and services may produce significant, material effects on our profitability.

Corporate tax rates affect our profitability and capital levels. We are subject to the income tax laws of the United States, its states and their municipalities and to those of the foreign jurisdictions in which we do business. These tax laws are complex and may be subject to different interpretations. We must make judgments and interpretations about the application of these tax laws when determining our provision for income taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities and our valuation allowance. Changes to the tax laws, administrative rulings or court decisions could increase our provision for income taxes and reduce our net income. The United States corporate tax code may be reformed by the United States Congress and additional guidance may be issued by the Treasury Department. In August 2022, Congress enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which instituted, among other things, a 1% excise tax on certain corporate stock repurchases which took effect on January 1, 2023. As a result, effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2022, BancShares may be subject to a Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (“CAMT”). BancShares will treat any CAMT that may be applicable to tax years beginning after December 31, 2022 as a period cost. Further changes in tax laws and regulations, and income tax rates in particular, could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations. These changes could also affect our Regulatory Capital Ratios as calculated in accordance with the Basel III standards.

We are subject to a variety of risks arising from ESG matters. ESG matters include, but are not limited to, climate risk, hiring practices, the diversity of our work force, and racial and social justice issues involving our personnel, customers and third parties with whom we otherwise do business. Investors have begun to consider the steps taken and resources allocated by financial institutions and other commercial organizations to address ESG matters when making investment and operational decisions. If our ESG practices do not meet (or are viewed as not meeting) investor or other industry stakeholder expectations and standards, which continue to evolve, our reputation and employee and customer retention may be negatively impacted. The Biden Administration, through executive orders and leadership appointments at the federal agencies, has communicated and sought to implement an agenda focused on oversight and legislative initiatives in a variety of areas material to our business, including addressing climate-related risks, promoting diversity and equality within the banking industry and addressing other ESG matters relevant to us.

We could also incur additional costs and require additional resources to monitor, report and comply with various ESG practices. For example, on March 12, 2022, the SEC proposed new climate disclosure rules, which if adopted, would require new climate-related disclosure in SEC filings, including certain climate-related metrics and greenhouse gas emissions data, information about climate-related targets and goals, transition plans, if any, and extensive attestation requirements. Federal banking agencies have also issued principles related to climate risk management. See Item 1. Business—Regulatory Considerations—Other Regulations applicable to the Parent Company and FCB—Climate-Related Regulation and Risk Management for additional information. Further, we may be exposed to negative publicity based on the identity and activities of those to whom we lend and with which we otherwise do business and the public’s view of the approach and performance of our customers and business partners with respect to ESG matters. Moreover, management time and attention to ESG matters may be required to increase to ensure we are compliant with the regulations and expectations. Our failure to comply with any applicable rules or regulations with respect to ESG practices could lead to penalties and adversely impact our access to capital and employee retention, and could also impact third parties on which we rely, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Asset Risks

Our portfolio includes leased equipment, including, but not limited to, railcars and locomotives, technology and office equipment and medical equipment. The realization of equipment values (residual values) during the life and at the end of the term of a lease is an important element in the profitability of our leasing business. At the inception of each lease, we record a residual value for the leased equipment based on our estimate of the future value of the equipment at the end of the lease term or end of the equipment’s estimated useful life. If the market value of leased equipment decreases at a rate greater than we projected, whether due to rapid technological or economic obsolescence, unusual wear and tear on the equipment, excessive use of the equipment, recession or other adverse economic conditions impacting supply and demand, it could adversely affect the current values or the residual values of such equipment.

Financial Reporting Risks

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) and the SEC periodically modify the standards governing the preparation of our financial statements. The nature of these changes is not predictable and has impacted and could further impact how we record transactions in our financial statements, which has led to and could lead to material changes in assets, liabilities, stockholders’ equity, revenues, expenses and net income. Implementation of new accounting rules or standards could additionally require us to implement technology changes which could impact ongoing earnings.

Accounting policies and processes are fundamental to how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. Management must exercise judgment in selecting and applying many of these accounting policies and processes so they comply with GAAP. In some cases, management must select the accounting policy or method to apply from two or more alternatives, any of which may be reasonable under the circumstances, yet may result in us reporting materially different results than would have been reported under a different alternative.

Management has identified certain accounting policies as being critical because they require management to make difficult, subjective or complex conclusions about matters that are uncertain. Materially different amounts could be reported under different conditions or using different assumptions or estimates. Because of the uncertainty surrounding management’s judgments and the estimates pertaining to these matters, we may be required to adjust accounting policies or restate prior period financial statements. Refer to “Critical Accounting Estimates” included in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We rely on qualitative and quantitative models to measure risks and to estimate certain financial values. Such models may be used in many processes including, but not limited to, the pricing of various products and services, classifications of loans, setting interest rates on loans and deposits, quantifying interest rate and other market risks, forecasting losses, measuring capital adequacy and calculating economic and regulatory capital levels. Models may also be used to estimate the value of financial instruments and balance sheet items. Inaccurate or erroneous models present the risk that business decisions relying on the models will prove inefficient, ineffective or harmful to us. Additionally, information we provide to our investors and regulators may be negatively impacted by inaccurately designed or implemented models. For further information on risk monitoring, refer to the “Risk Management” section included in Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We must have effective internal controls over financial reporting in order to provide reliable financial reports, to effectively prevent fraud and to operate successfully as a public company. If we are unable to provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our reputation and operating results will be harmed and we may violate regulatory requirements or otherwise become subject to legal liability. We may discover material weaknesses or significant deficiencies requiring remediation, which would require additional expense and diversion of management attention, among other consequences. A “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal controls over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Any failure to maintain effective internal controls or to implement any necessary improvement of our internal controls in a timely manner could, among other things, result in losses from fraud or error, harm our reputation or cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition and the market value of our common stock.

As required by GAAP, the SVBB Acquisition was accounted for under the purchase method of accounting and is based upon a preliminary valuation that involves significant estimates that are subject to change. The opening balances of acquired assets and assumed liabilities in connection with the SVBB Acquisition have been recorded at estimated fair value based on information currently available to us. In developing these fair value estimates, management was required to make significant estimates involving, among other things, the assigned risk ratings to loans based on credit quality, appraisals and estimated collateral values, estimated expected cash flows and appropriate liquidity and discount rates. The loans purchased in connection with the SVBB Acquisition have credit profiles that differ from most banking companies. For example, many of the legacy Silicon Valley Bank loans acquired were made to early-stage, privately held companies with modest or negative cash flows and/or no established record of profitable operations. In addition, a significant portion of the loans were comprised of larger loans equal to or greater than $20 million, and collateral for many of the legacy Silicon Valley Bank loans in the technology, life science and healthcare industries include intellectual property and other intangible assets, which are difficult to value and not readily salable in the case of default. Furthermore, the receivables from the FDIC for the commercial shared loss agreement involve significant estimates that involve uncertainty. In addition, the core deposit intangibles were valued using the after-tax cost savings method under the income approach. This method estimates the fair value by discounting to present value the favorable funding spread attributable to the core deposit balances over their estimated average remaining lives. The valuation considered a dynamic approach to interest rates and alternative cost of funds. The favorable funding spread is calculated as the difference in the alternative cost of funds and the net deposit cost.

The estimates used in creating the preliminary fair value estimates of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed may change as additional information becomes available, which could lead to changes in our fair value estimates. We continue to review information relating to events or circumstances existing at the SVBB Acquisition Date that could impact the preliminary fair value estimates. Until management finalizes its fair value estimates for the acquired assets and assumed liabilities, the preliminary gain on acquisition can be updated for a period not to exceed one year following the SVBB Acquisition Date. The fair value measurements of certain other assets and liabilities are preliminary as we identify and assess information regarding the nature of these assets and liabilities and review the associated valuation assumptions and methodologies. The tax treatment of FDIC-assisted acquisitions is complex and subject to interpretations that may result in future adjustments of deferred taxes as of the SVBB Acquisition Date. As such, the amounts recorded for tax assets and liabilities are considered provisional as we continue to evaluate the nature and extent of permanent and temporary differences between the book and tax bases of the acquired assets and liabilities assumed, as well as the tax impact on the preliminary gain on acquisition.

Item 1C. Cybersecurity

BancShares maintains robust processes for assessing, identifying, and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats that are integrated with our overall risk management program. As part of its cybersecurity risk management framework, BancShares leverages a Three Lines of Defense model (the “Three Lines Model”) to promote clarity of roles and responsibilities in managing risk. Under the Three Lines Model, the ECSO led by our Chief Information Security Officer (the “CISO”), acts as a first line of defense and has primary responsibility for identifying, assessing, monitoring, and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats. Our CISO reports to our Chief Information & Operations Officer (“CIOO”), who reports directly to our Chief Executive Officer. As a part of the ECSO, Enterprise Incident Management (“EIM”) maintains incident response playbooks (i.e., standard operating procedures) to identify, respond, classify, and analyze incidents and events in accordance with BancShares’ Enterprise Severity Matrix, and our Security Operation Center identifies, assesses, manages, and monitors potential cybersecurity events with EIM. In addition, BancShares maintains a third-party risk management team tasked with evaluating, identifying, and managing risk from all third-party engagements, including from cybersecurity threats.

The second-line independent risk management, including compliance, enterprise risk management, and operational risk management, works with the first line ECSO to evaluate, assess, and manage material risks using an established Risk Appetite Framework that is designed to require that the cybersecurity organization appropriately document the current risk landscape and the activities undertaken to mitigate risk that falls outside of the enterprise risk tolerance. The third-line in the Three Lines Model is our internal audit team, which assesses the effectiveness of related controls.

We maintain processes for escalation from each line, including processes to report information to management, management-level committees and to committees of the Board and the Board as a whole, as appropriate. For example, Risk Appetite Statements, top risks, and issues are reported to the Management Committees and the Risk Committee of the Board to monitor progress, identify trends, and escalate issues.

BancShares follows a defense-in-depth and layered-control framework to protect the organization against cybersecurity threats and attacks. ECSO remains committed to maintaining and improving preventative and detective controls and enhancing our defenses in response to the evolving threat landscape. This mission is supported by policy, standards, and procedures which align to industry standards, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework, and are enforced through the firm’s preventive and detective controls.

Additionally, BancShares has implemented a threat awareness program that includes cross-organizational information sharing capability for threat intelligence and membership and engagement with intelligence communities including the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Homeland Security, and others. BancShares also utilizes external experts and third-party assessors to maximize its risk intelligence coverage and management ability.

BancShares engages internal auditors, external assessors, and consultants to benchmark, scale, manage, and identify cybersecurity threats. Consultants also assess BancShares’ cybersecurity systems and complete vulnerability testing. These groups assist the ECSO with cybersecurity risk management and identification.

Governance

The Board retains supervisory oversight responsibility for the organization and its activities, including enterprise risk management and cybersecurity threats, subject to the committee delegation described below. The Board conducts oversight of management through its subcommittees, presentations from senior leadership, and routine board-directed reporting to ensure management continues to operate and conduct business in alignment with Risk Appetite Statements.

Oversight of cybersecurity and the ECSO organization is the responsibility of the Risk Committee. The Risk Committee further oversees cybersecurity and other risks through a subcommittee, the Enterprise Risk Oversight Committee (“EROC”), as well as additional management-level subcommittees beneath the Risk Committee including the Technology & Security Risk Committee (“TSRC”) and the Operational Risk Committee (“ORC” and, together with the EROC and TSRC, the “Management Committees”). Management Committees, which include as members the CISO and other cybersecurity leadership, have clear lines of communication with the Board and its committees. The Management Committees are designed with a purpose-driven scope and decision-making authority and are required to provide the Board with regular reporting of management’s current business activities and the potential risk associated with those activities. Management Committees are informed by EIM following the incident management process as per internal policies and standards.

In addition, the Audit Committee of the Board (the “Audit Committee”) monitors internal audit’s coverage of cybersecurity governance, risks, and related controls, including any identified deficiencies, from cybersecurity or other risks, that could adversely affect the ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial data. The Risk Committee coordinates with Audit Committee for review of information security matters, as needed.

The Board may from time to time create informal working groups to enable deeper and more detailed discussions related to our technology needs and investments and inform the Board on cybersecurity risks, among other topics. For example, our Board recently established and authorized a Task Force on Technology (the “Task Force”) to assist and support the Board in a strategic review of the role of technology in our operations, our current and future investments in technology resources, and the current board oversight of risk, governance, and controls surrounding technology and cybersecurity. The Task Force is comprised of members of the Board, working closely with management, including the CIOO.

The CISO is responsible for assessing and managing material cyber risks. His expertise with assessing and managing material cyber risks is based on more than 20 years of cybersecurity experience with prior roles as a CISO and Global Head of Operations. The CISO is informed about and monitors the prevention, detection, mitigation, and remediation of cybersecurity by the ECSO through regular reporting and escalations, as required. He, the CIOO, and others report information about material risks from cybersecurity threats to the Board or a committee or subcommittee of the Board, as described below.

The Risk Committee receives information on cybersecurity risk, including risk appetite utilization, breaches and emerging risks, and the control environment, directly or indirectly, from various sources, including each of the CISO, the EROC, Management Committees, the Task Force, the TSRC and the ORC. Additionally, the Risk Committee reviews BancShares’ information security policies and program with a focus on whether they are appropriate to protect data, records, and proprietary information of BancShares as well as that of its customers and employees.

Item 2. Properties

We are headquartered in a nine-story building with approximately 163,000 square feet that is located in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is owned by FCB. In addition, FCB owns and occupies two separate facilities in Raleigh as well as a facility in Columbia, South Carolina, which serve as data and operations centers. The addition of SVBB in 2023 and CIT in 2022 primarily increased leased space, as both occupied office space and a branch network. As of December 31, 2023, FCB operated more than 600 branches and offices throughout the United States. FCB owns many of our branch buildings and leases other facilities from third parties. We believe that these properties are in good condition and well maintained, and are suitable and adequate for our business needs.

Additional information relating to leased office space is set forth in Note 6—Leases and additional information relating to premises and equipment is set forth in Note 7—Premises and Equipment, of BancShares’ Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

The Parent Company and certain of its subsidiaries are named as defendants in various legal actions arising from our normal business activities in which damages in various amounts were claimed. Although the amount of any ultimate liability with respect to those matters cannot be determined, in the opinion of management, no legal actions currently exist that would be material to BancShares’ consolidated financial statements. Additional information relating to legal proceedings is set forth in Note 24—Commitments and Contingencies, of BancShares’ Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

PART II

The Parent Company has two classes of common stock—Class A common stock and Class B common stock. Shares of Class A common stock have one vote per share, while shares of Class B common stock have 16 votes per share. The Class A common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol FCNCA. The Class B common stock is traded on the over-the-counter market and quoted on the OTC Pink Market under the symbol FCNCB. As of February 16, 2024, there were aggregates of 986 and 134 active holders of record and individual participants in securities position listings with respect to the Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively. The market volume for Class B common stock is extremely limited. On many days there is no trading and, to the extent there is trading, it is generally low volume. Over-the-counter market quotations for BancShares Class B common stock represent inter-dealer prices without retail markup, markdown or commissions, and may not represent actual transaction prices.

The average monthly trading volume for the Class A common stock was 1,423,077 shares during the fourth quarter of 2023 and 2,468,115 shares for the year ended December 31, 2023. The Class B common stock monthly trading volume averaged 1,150 shares during the fourth quarter of 2023 and 1,838 shares for the year ended December 31, 2023.

There were no repurchases of our stock during the three months ended December 31, 2023.

The graph and table below compare the cumulative total shareholder return (“CTSR”) of our Class A common stock to selected industry and broad-market indices. The broad-market index comparison is to the Nasdaq US Benchmark Total Return Index and the industry index comparison is to the KBW Nasdaq Bank Total Return Index, which is composed of the largest banking companies and includes all money center banks and regional banks. Each trend line assumes $100 was invested on December 31, 2018, and dividends were reinvested for additional shares.

The performance graph represents past performance and should not be considered to be an indication of future performance.

Management’s discussion and analysis (“MD&A”) of earnings and related financial data is presented to assist in understanding BancShares’ financial condition and results of operations. Unless otherwise noted, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” and “BancShares” in this MD&A refer to our consolidated financial condition and results of operations.

This MD&A is expected to provide our investors with a view of our financial condition and results of operations from our management’s perspective. This MD&A should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Throughout this MD&A, references to a specific “Note” refer to Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. Although certain amounts for prior years have been reclassified to conform with financial statement presentations for 2023, the reclassifications had no effect on stockholders’ equity or net income as previously reported. Refer to Note 1—Significant Accounting Policies and Basis of Presentation.

Management uses certain non-GAAP financial measures in its analysis of the financial condition and results of operations of BancShares. See the "Non-GAAP Financial Measurements" section of this MD&A for a reconciliation of these financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures in accordance with GAAP.

On March 27, 2023, we completed the SVBB Acquisition. The SVBB Acquisition is described further below in the “Significant Events in 2023” section of this MD&A and in Note 2—Business Combinations.

BancShares’ financial data for periods prior to the SVBB Acquisition does not include any amounts related to SVBB and, therefore, may not be directly comparable to financial data as of or for the year ended December 31, 2023. The SVBB Acquisition is a primary reason for many of the increases in 2023 compared to 2022 as discussed below in the “Results of Operations” and “Balance Sheet” sections of this MD&A.

Comparisons of the financial data as of and for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 are contained in Item 7. of BancShares’ Annual Report on Form 10-K as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 filed with the SEC on February 24, 2023 and available through FCB’s investor relations website www.ir.firstcitizens.com or the SEC’s EDGAR database.

Key Strategic Objectives

Significant Events in 2023

The SVBB Acquisition is further discussed in Note 2—Business Combinations.

In conjunction with the SVBB Acquisition, BancShares added the SVB segment. Prior periods were not impacted by this update. Information about our segments is included in Note 23—Business Segment Information and in the section entitled “Results by Business Segment” in this MD&A.

During the first half of 2023, the FOMC continued to raise its target for the federal funds rate in an effort to combat inflation. The FOMC raised interest rates at each of its January, March, May and July meetings by 25 bps. However, the FOMC did not raise interest rates during its June, September and December meetings, and the benchmark federal funds rate was maintained at a range between 5.25% - 5.50%. Although future rate hikes are possible, there is optimism that the FOMC’s interest rate is likely at or near its peak for this tightening cycle, and the Federal Reserve has signaled it may cut rates in 2024.

The FOMC reported that it will continue to monitor economic and financial market developments and the effects of their earlier rate increases in determining the extent to which additional policy firming may be appropriate to return inflation to 2% over time. Although the FOMC has made progress combating inflation, efforts to control inflation have raised concerns over the possibility of a recession. In addition, geopolitical events, including the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are likely to maintain upward pressure on inflation and weigh on economic activity. Also, mortgage rates increased during 2023 and mortgage demand from homebuyers softened. The timing and impact of inflation, volatility in the stock market, rising interest rates, and a possible recession will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and difficult to predict.

Early in 2023, the banking industry experienced increased volatility, resulting in the failure of multiple regional banking institutions. These failures have increased industry concerns related to capital and liquidity, deposit outflows, uninsured deposit concentrations, and unrealized losses on investment securities. More recently, there is growing concern in the banking industry about the exposure to certain sectors of CRE, and credit trends in these exposures may deteriorate.

The following tables in this MD&A include financial data for the years ended December 31, 2023 (the “current year”), December 31, 2022 (the “prior year”), and December 31, 2021. Financial position data includes balances as of December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021. As mentioned above, we focus our discussion on trends for 2023 compared to 2022.

The SVBB Acquisition is a primary reason for many of the increases in 2023 compared to 2022 as discussed below and in the “Results of Operations” and “Balance Sheet” sections of this MD&A.

The following table summarizes BancShares’ results in accordance with GAAP, unless otherwise noted. Refer to the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measurements” at the end of this MD&A for a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

Selected Financial Data

Refer to the “Results of Operations” section of this MD&A for further discussion.

We fund our business primarily through deposits. Deposits represented approximately 79.5% of total funding at December 31, 2023. The following table summarizes the composition, average size and uninsured percentages of our deposits.

Select Deposit Data

The General Banking segment includes deposits from our branch network, which deploys a relationship-based approach to deposit gathering. The remaining deposits in the General Banking segment are primarily related to the Direct Bank, a nationwide digital bank, which enables us to increase deposits to meet the needs of our business, albeit at a higher incremental cost compared to the branch network. The Commercial Banking segment includes deposits of commercial customers, and the SVB segment includes deposits related to the SVBB Acquisition. The remainder of deposits primarily include brokered deposits of $1.49 billion in Corporate and $13 million of deposits in the Rail segment.

As displayed in the table above, the average size of deposits varies across our business segments. The uninsured data represents the percentage of deposits in the respective segments and Corporate. At December 31, 2023, total uninsured deposits were approximately $54.15 billion or 37% of total deposits. This represents an increase in uninsured deposits from $29.13 billion or 33% of total deposits at December 31, 2022 due to deposits in the SVB segment, which have higher average account balance.

Deposit Trends

SVB deposits declined from $56.01 billion at the SVBB Acquisition Date to $49.26 billion at March 31, 2023. As shown in the table above, SVB deposits began to stabilize in the second quarter. The table above also indicates that aggregate deposits for the General Banking, Commercial Banking, and Rail segments and Corporate increased during 2023, primarily from deposit growth in the Direct Bank, which is included in the General Banking segment.

We strive to maintain a strong liquidity position, and our risk appetite for liquidity is low. At December 31, 2023, liquidity metrics remained strong as we had $57.28 billion in liquid assets consisting of $32.69 billion in cash and interest-earning deposits at banks (primarily held at the Federal Reserve) and $24.59 billion in high-quality liquid securities. We have unused borrowing capacity with the FHLB and Federal Reserve of $13.62 billion and $5.12 billion, respectively.

FCB and the FDIC, as lender and as collateral agent, also entered into the Advance Facility Agreement, dated as of March 27, 2023, and effective as of November 20, 2023, providing total advances available through March 27, 2025 of up to $70 billion, subject to limits subsequently described in this MD&A as referenced below, solely to provide liquidity to offset deposit withdrawal or runoff of former SVBB deposit accounts and to fund the unfunded commercial lending commitments acquired in the SVBB Acquisition. The immediate available capacity of the Advance Facility Agreement was $15.11 billion at December 31, 2023. Refer to the “Liquidity Risk” section of this MD&A for further discussion.

At December 31, 2023, our investment securities portfolio primarily consisted of debt securities available for sale and held to maturity as summarized below. The duration of our investment securities was approximately 2.9 years at December 31, 2023. The investment securities available for sale portfolio had an average duration of 2.2 years and the held to maturity portfolio had an average duration of 4.4 years. Refer to the “Interest-earning Assets - Investment securities” section of this MD&A and Note 3—Investment Securities for further information.

Table 4

Our capital position remains strong, and all Regulatory Capital Ratios for BancShares and FCB significantly exceed the PCA well capitalized thresholds and Basel III Requirements as further discussed in the “Capital” section of this MD&A and Note 19—Regulatory Capital.

NII is affected by changes in interest rates and changes in the amount and composition of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. The following tables present the average balances, yields on interest-earning assets, rates on interest-bearing liabilities, and changes in NII due to changes in: (i) volume (average balances of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities) and (ii) yields or rates.