NOTE 18 - REGULATORY CAPITAL

On January 1, 2015, the Company and Bank became subject to the new Basel III Capital Rules with full compliance with all of the final rule's requirements phased in over a multi-year schedule, to be fully phased-in by January 1, 2019. In July 2013, the Company’s primary federal regulator, the Federal Reserve, published final rules (the “Basel III Capital Rules”) establishing a new comprehensive capital framework for U.S. banking organizations. The rules implement the Basel Committee’s December 2010 framework known as “Basel III” for strengthening international capital standards as well as certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Basel III Capital Rules substantially revise the risk-based capital requirements applicable to bank holding companies and depository institutions compared to the previous U.S. risk-based capital rules. The Basel III Capital Rules define the components of capital and address other issues affecting the numerator in banking institutions’ regulatory capital ratios. The Basel III Capital Rules also address risk weights and other issues affecting the denominator in banking institutions’ regulatory capital ratios and replace the existing risk-weighting approach with a more risk-sensitive approach. The Basel III Capital Rules also implement the requirements of Section 939A of the Dodd-Frank Act to remove references to credit ratings from the federal banking agencies’ rules.

 

The rules include a new common equity Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets minimum ratio of 4.5%, raise the minimum ratio of Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets from 4.0% to 6.0%, require a minimum ratio (“Min. Ratio”) of Total Capital to risk-weighted assets of 8.0%, and require a minimum Tier 1 leverage ratio of 4.0%. A new capital conservation buffer (“CCB”) is also established above the regulatory minimum capital requirements. This capital conservation buffer will be phased-in beginning January 1, 2016 at 0.625% of risk-weighted assets and increase each subsequent year by an additional 0.625% until reaching its final level of 2.5% on January 1, 2019. Strict eligibility criteria for regulatory capital instruments were also implemented under the final rules. The final rules also revise the definition and calculation of Tier 1 capital, Total Capital, and risk-weighted assets.

 

As of December 31, 2015, the Company and Bank were well-capitalized under the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action under the new Basel III Capital Rules. Management believes, as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, that the Company and the Bank met all capital adequacy requirements to which they were subject. The Company’s and the Bank’s actual regulatory capital amounts and ratios are presented in the following table.