Banks Have Started Recording Goodwill Impairments, Is More to Come?

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A growing number of banks may need to record goodwill impairment charges once the coronavirus crisis finally shows up in their credit quality.

A handful of banks have already announced impairment charges, doing so in the first and second quarter of this year. Some have written off as much as $1 billion of goodwill, dragging down their earnings and, in some cases, dividends. Volatility in the stock market could make this worse in the second half of the year.

“It was a very hot topic for all of our financial institutions,” says Ashley Ensley, a partner in DHG’s financial services practice. “Everyone was talking about it. Everybody was looking at it. Whether you determined you did … or didn’t have a triggering event, I expect that everyone that had goodwill on their books likely took a hard look at that amount this quarter.”

Goodwill at U.S. banks totaled $342 billion in the first quarter, up from $283 billion a decade ago, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Goodwill is an intangible asset that reconciles the premium paid for acquired assets and liabilities to their fair value. It’s recorded after an acquisition, and can only be written down if the subsequent carrying value of the deal exceeds its book value. Although goodwill is an intangible asset excluded from tangible common equity, the non-cash charge can have tangible consequences for acquisitive banks. It immediately hits the bottom line, reducing income and, potentially, even capital.

Several banks have announced charges this year. PacWest Bancorp, a $27.4 billion bank based in Beverly Hills, California, took a charge of $1.47 billion. Great Western, a $12.9 billion bank based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, took a charge of $741 million. And Cadence Bancorp., an $18.9 billion bank based in Houston, Texas, recorded an after-tax impairment charge of $413 million.

Boston-based Berkshire Hills Bancorp announced a $554 million charge during its second-quarter earnings that wiped out all its goodwill. The charge, combined with higher loan loss provisions, led to a loss of $10.93 a share. Without the goodwill charge, the bank would’ve reported a loss of only 13 cents a share.

“The primary causes of the goodwill impairment were economic and industry conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic that caused volatility and reductions in the market capitalization of the Company and its peer banks, increased loan provision estimates, increased discount rates and other changes in variables driven by the uncertain macro-environment,” the bank said in its quarterly filing.

Goodwill impairment assessments begin by evaluating qualitative factors for positive and negative evidence — both internally and in the macroeconomic environment — that could cause a bank’s fair value to diverge from its book value.

“It really is not a one-size-fits-all analysis,” says Robert Bondy, a partner in Plante Moran’s financial services group. “Just because a bank — even in the same marketplace — has an impairment, it’s hard to cast that shadow over everybody.”

One reason banks may need to consider impairing their goodwill is that bank stock prices are meaningfully down for the year. The KBW Regional Banking Index, a collection of 50 banks with between $9 billion and $63 billion in assets, is off by 33%. This is especially important given the deceleration in bank deals, which makes it hard to evaluate what premiums banks could fetch in a sale.

“[It’s been] one or two quarters and overall markets have rebounded but bank stocks haven’t,” says Jay Wilson, Jr., vice president at Mercer Capital. “You can certainly presume that the annual impairment test, when it comes up in 2020, is going to be a more robust exercise than it was previously.”

Banks could also write off more goodwill if asset quality declines. That has yet to happen, despite higher loan loss provisions — and in some cases, banks saw credit quality improve in the second quarter.

The calendar could influence this as well. Wilson says the budgeting process and cyclical cadence of accounting means that annual tests often occur near year-end — though, if a triggering event happens before then, a company can conduct an interim test.

That’s why more banks could record impairment charges if bank stocks don’t rally before the end of the year, Wilson says. In this way, goodwill accumulation and impairment mirror the broader economy.

“Whenever the cycle turns, banks are inevitably in the middle of it,” he says. “There’s no way, if you’re a bank to escape the economic or the business cycle.”

Former CFPB Head on a Post-Pandemic Banking Industry

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Banks across the country have been frontline responders in the unfolding economic crisis.

Many are offering forbearance and modifications to borrowers facing health emergencies or financial hardship. But they should take care not to assume business will get back to normal for their consumers, even as states reopen and economic activity thaws, says former CFPB Director Richard Cordray.

Cordray, the former Ohio Attorney General, headed up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after its inception in the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act until his resignation in 2017. The sometimes-controversial agency focuses on consumers’ financial rights and protections; its jurisdiction extends to institutions above $10 billion in assets.

Bank Director recently spoke with Cordray after a COMPLY Summit Series webinar that he participated in about how banks can navigate customer relationships during and after the pandemic.

BD: This pandemic has led banks to roll out consumer-friendly policies, like waiving or suspending overdraft or late fees. Do you think these changes are permanent, or do you see them coming back?
RC: The fees have been put on hiatus at certain banks, but they’re still out there. It has been better practice for banks, during this crisis, to be very consumer friendly —  recognizing that, through what is clearly no fault of their own, many of their customers have been required to stay at home, their businesses have been shuttered and they don’t have income coming in — and give them a break.

BD: What should guide banks as they decide how to help consumers?
RC: At this point, I think the pressure on banks is mostly reputational. If banks are not perceived as serving their customers in involuntary distress well, they end up in trouble as a matter of public branding. There’s a certain normative effect on banks now, in the depths this crisis, that has nothing to do with what they’re legally allowed or not allowed to do.

If bank customers are going regain their footing in the future, shoving them into bankruptcy or financial ruin is not helpful and it’s not in the bank’s own interest. Reputational risk is a real and significant thing that banks have to think about. All you have to do is think about Wells Fargo and how their reputation has been damaged in recent years. Banks do not want to take on the brand of being a company that’s not sensitive to their customers.

BD: There have also been consumer-friendly practices coming out of the CARES act and different edicts from state government for moratoriums on evictions. How can financial institutions aid in these efforts?
RC: To the extent that banks hold car loans or mortgages [that aren’t subject to CARES Act relief], they have a judgment to make: Are they going to afford similar relief to their customers? Some are, some aren’t. If you’re holding auto loans, you can dictate that there will be no auto repossessions during this period. I think that would be by far the better practice.

BD: We’ve seen announcements from regulators encouraging banks to work with customers. Is there anything regulators or banks could be doing more of?
RC: I think it would make sense for mortgages holders to give forbearance to their customers, whether or not its mandated by the CARES Act. Foreclosure is a last resort. If we have a rash of foreclosures, they’re going to get tied up in the courts and it’ll be difficult for mortgage holders to foreclose quickly. They will start to suffer the loss of the abandoned and vacant houses that we saw during the last crisis, and that’s something to be avoided at all costs for them.

BD: Once we return to a more normal operating environment, I imagine many of these types of forbearance relief will go away. Do you have any thoughts about how banks can help customers through this transition?
RC: The wrong way to do this would be to say that debts accumulated over the course of the emergency orders need to be repaid all at once. That is not realistic and is not going to be successful. If people couldn’t make those payments during this period, they’re not going to have all that money suddenly to pay it just because we came to the end of this period. The result will be foreclosures, evictions and repossessions. The right thing to do is have that amount be repayable over time or put it on the back end of the loan.