UCB 10-Q Quarter ended June 30, 2016

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

x QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Quarterly Period Ended June 30, 2016

OR

¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Transition Period from ___________ to ___________

Commission file number 001-35095

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

YES x NO ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Date File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

YES x NO ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).

YES ¨ NO x

Common stock, par value $1 per share 70,820,500 shares voting and zero shares non-voting outstanding as of July 31, 2016.

INDEX

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC.

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income (Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC.

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC.

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Shareholders' Equity (Unaudited)

For the Six Months Ended June 30,

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC.

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

The accounting and financial reporting policies of United Community Banks, Inc. (“United”) and its subsidiaries conform to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) and reporting guidelines of banking regulatory authorities and regulators. The accompanying interim consolidated financial statements have not been audited. All material intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. A more detailed description of United’s accounting policies is included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

In management’s opinion, all accounting adjustments necessary to accurately reflect the financial position and results of operations on the accompanying financial statements have been made. These adjustments are normal and recurring accruals considered necessary for a fair and accurate statement. The results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results for the full year or any other interim periods.

Certain 2015 amounts have been reclassified to conform to the 2016 presentation.

In April 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. 2015-03, Interest – Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30) Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs . To simplify presentation of debt issuance costs, the amendments in this update require that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability consistent with debt discounts.  The standard was effective January 1, 2016 and has been retrospectively reflected in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet, with a corresponding reclassification for December 31, 2015 between other assets for $9.68 million, brokered deposits for $7.90 million and long-term debt for $1.78 million.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) . This update requires a lessee to recognize in the statement of financial position a liability to make lease payments (the lease liability) and a right-of-use asset representing its right to use the underlying asset for the lease term. For leases with a term of 12 months or less, a lessee is permitted to make an accounting policy election not to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities. For public entities, this update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, with modified retrospective application to prior periods presented. Upon adoption, United will gross up its balance sheet by the present value of future minimum lease payments. Such payments amounted to $23.5 million at December 31, 2015.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-05, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Effect of Derivative Contract Novations on Existing Hedge Accounting Relationships . This update clarifies that a change in the counterparty to a derivative instrument that has been designated as the hedging instrument under Topic 815 does not, in and of itself, require dedesignation of that hedging relationship provided that all other hedge accounting criteria continue to be met. For public entities, this update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, with application on either a prospective or modified retrospective basis. The adoption of this update is not expected to have a material impact on United’s consolidated financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-06, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Contingent Put and Call Options in Debt Instruments . This update clarifies the requirements for assessing whether contingent call (put) options that can accelerate the payment of principal on debt instruments are clearly and closely related to their debt hosts. An entity performing the assessment under this update is required to assess the embedded call (put) options solely in accordance with a four-step decision sequence as outlined in the guidance. Consequently, when a call (put) option is contingently exercisable, an entity does not have to assess whether the event that triggers the ability to exercise a call (put) option is related to interest rates or credit risks. For public entities, this update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, with application on a modified retrospective basis. The adoption of this update is not expected to have a material impact on United’s consolidated financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-07, Investments – Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323): Simplifying the Transition to the Equity Method of Accounting . This update eliminates the requirement that when an investment qualifies for use of the equity method as a result of an increase in the level of ownership interest or degree of influence, an investor must adjust the investment, results of operations, and retained earnings retroactively on a step-by-step basis as if the equity method had been in effect during all previous periods that the investment had been held. The amendments require that the equity method investor add the cost of acquiring the additional interest in the investee to the current basis of the investor’s previously held interest and adopt the equity method of accounting as of the date the investment becomes qualified for equity method accounting. Therefore, upon qualifying for the equity method of accounting, no retroactive adjustment of the investment is required. For public entities, this update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, with application a prospective basis. The adoption of this update is not expected to have a material impact on United’s consolidated financial statements.

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting . This update simplifies several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. The amendments require that excess tax benefits and deficiencies be recognized as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement and as an operating activity in the statement of cash flows. In addition, an entity can make a policy election to either estimate the number of awards that are expected to vest or account for forfeitures as they occur. The guidance modifies the threshold to qualify for equity classification to permit withholding up to the maximum statutory tax rate and clarifies that cash paid by an employer when directly withholding shares for tax-withholding purposes should be classified as a financing activity. For public entities, this update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016. The adoption of this update is not expected to have a material impact on United’s consolidated financial statements.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments . The new guidance replaces the incurred loss impairment methodology in current GAAP with an expected credit loss methodology and requires consideration of a broader range of information to determine credit loss estimates. Financial assets measured at amortized cost will be presented at the net amount expected to be collected by using an allowance for credit losses. Purchased credit impaired loans will receive an allowance account at the acquisition date that represents a component of the purchase price allocation. Credit losses relating to available-for-sale debt securities will be recorded through an allowance for credit losses, with such allowance limited to the amount by which fair value is below amortized cost. Application of this update will primarily be on a modified retrospective approach, although the guidance for debt securities for which an other-than-temporary impairment has been recognized before the effective date and for loans previously covered by ASC 310-30, Receivables – Loans and Debt Securities Acquired with Deteriorated Credit Quality will be applied on a prospective basis. For public entities, this update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. United is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance on its consolidated financial statements.

Acquisition of Palmetto Bancshares, Inc.

On September 1, 2015, United completed the acquisition of Palmetto Bancshares, Inc. (“Palmetto”) and its wholly-owned bank subsidiary The Palmetto Bank. Information related to the fair value of assets and liabilities acquired is included in United’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. During second quarter 2016, within the one year measurement period, United received additional information regarding the acquisition date fair values of premises and equipment and other real estate owned (“OREO”). As a result the provisional values assigned to the acquired premises and equipment and OREO have been adjusted to $17.0 million and $2.63 million, respectively, which represent a decrease of $640,000 and $497,000, respectively, from amounts previously disclosed. The tax effect of these adjustments was reflected as an increase to the deferred tax asset of $437,000, with the net amount of $700,000 reflected as an increase to goodwill.

Acquisition of MoneyTree Corporation

On May 1, 2015, United completed the acquisition of MoneyTree Corporation (“MoneyTree”) and its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, First National Bank. Information related to the fair value of assets and liabilities acquired is included in United’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. The following table presents the period of acquisition as comparative 2015 information. The table discloses the impact of the merger with MoneyTree from the acquisition date through June 30, 2015 and certain pro forma information as if MoneyTree had been acquired on January 1, 2014. These results combine the historical results of MoneyTree with United’s consolidated statement of income and, while certain adjustments were made for the estimated impact of certain fair value adjustments and other acquisition-related activity, they are not necessarily indicative of what would have occurred had the acquisition taken place on January 1, 2014.

Merger-related costs of $3.17 million from the acquisition have been excluded from the 2015 pro forma information presented below. Furthermore, no adjustments have been made to the pro forma information to eliminate MoneyTree’s pre-acquisition provision for loan losses or OREO write downs. The actual results and pro forma information were as follows (in thousands) :

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

United enters into reverse repurchase agreements in order to invest short-term funds. In addition, United enters into repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements with the same counterparty in transactions commonly referred to as collateral swaps that are subject to master netting agreements under which the balances are netted in the balance sheet in accordance with ASC 210-20, Offsetting.

The following table presents a summary of amounts outstanding under reverse repurchase agreements and derivative financial instruments including those entered into in connection with the same counterparty under master netting agreements as of the dates indicated (in thousands) .

At June 30, 2016, United recognized the right to reclaim cash collateral of $33.5 million and the obligation to return cash collateral of $4.76 million. At December 31, 2015, United recognized the right to reclaim cash collateral of $6.26 million and the obligation to return cash collateral of $3.73 million. The right to reclaim cash collateral and the obligation to return cash collateral were included in the consolidated balance sheet in other assets and other liabilities, respectively.

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

The following table presents additional detail regarding repurchase agreements accounted for as secured borrowings and the securities underlying these agreements as of the dates indicated (in thousands) .

United is obligated to promptly transfer additional securities if the market value of the securities falls below the repurchase agreement price.  United manages this risk by maintaining an unpledged securities portfolio that it believes is sufficient to cover a decline in the market value of the securities sold under agreements to repurchase.

The amortized cost basis, unrealized gains and losses and fair value of securities held-to-maturity as of the dates indicated are as follows (in thousands) .

⁽¹⁾ All are residential type mortgage-backed securities or U.S. government agency commercial mortgage backed securities.

UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

The cost basis, unrealized gains and losses, and fair value of securities available-for-sale as of the dates indicated are presented below (in thousands) .

⁽¹⁾ All are residential type mortgage-backed securities or U.S. government agency commercial mortgage backed securities.

Securities with a carrying value of $1.31 billion and $1.63 billion were pledged to secure public deposits, derivatives and other secured borrowings at June 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively.

The following table summarizes held-to-maturity securities in an unrealized loss position as of the dates indicated ( in thousands) .