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Nonaccrual Loans and Leases <br />The Bank generally places a loan or lease on nonaccrual status when management believes that full <br />and timely collection of principal or interest has become doubtful; or it is 90 days past due as to principal <br />or interest payments based on its contractual terms, unless it is well secured and in the process of <br />collection. The Bank determines loans to be past due if payment is not received in accordance with <br />contractual terms. <br />When the Bank places a loan or lease on nonaccrual status, previously accrued but uncollected interest <br />is reversed against interest income of the current period. When there are doubts about the ultimate <br />collection of the recorded balance on a nonaccrual loan or lease, cash payments by the borrower are applied <br />as a reduction of the principal balance, under the cost recovery method. Otherwise, the Bank records such <br />payments as income. <br />Nonaccrual loans and leases are generally returned to accrual status when either (1) they become <br />current as to principal and interest, there is a sustained period of repayment performance by the borrower <br />and the bank expects payment of remaining contractual principal and interest; or (2) they are both well <br />secured and in the process of collection. <br />Not all impaired loans or leases are placed on nonaccrual status; for example, restructured loans <br />performing under restructured terms beyond a specific period may be classified as accruing, but may still <br />be deemed impaired (see Allowance for Credit Losses and Troubled Debt Restructurings below). <br />Allowance for Credit Losses <br />The Bank maintains an allowance for loan and lease losses (the "Allowance") against the carrying <br />value of the loans and leases to absorb estimated probable credit losses within the portfolio. The Allowance <br />is maintained at a level which, in management's judgment, is adequate to absorb probable losses that have <br />been incurred and can be reasonably estimated as of the balance sheet date. The Allowance is increased <br />through provisions for loan and lease losses charged to earnings and reduced by principal charge -offs, net <br />of recoveries. <br />The Allowance consists of two components, allocated and unallocated. The Bank determines the <br />allocated component of the Allowance by measuring credit impairment on (i) an individual basis for larger <br />balance loans in the commercial portfolio that are on nonaccrual status and commercial and mortgage loans <br />in a troubled debt restructuring, and (ii) on a collective basis for groups of loans with similar risk <br />characteristics and large groups or pools of homogeneous loans with smaller balances that are not <br />evaluated on a case -by -case basis such as credit card, residential mortgages and consumer installment <br />loans. <br />The Bank considers a loan to be impaired on an individual basis when, based on current information <br />and events, it is probable that it will be unable to collect all amounts due according to the contractual terms <br />of the loan. The Bank measures impairment by comparing the present value of the expected future cash <br />flows discounted at the loan's effective interest rate with the recorded investment in the loan, except for <br />collateral -dependent loans. For collateral dependent loans, the Bank measures impairment by comparing <br />the fair value of the collateral on an "as -is" basis less disposition costs with the recorded investment in the <br />loan. On a case -by -case basis, the Bank may measure impairment based upon a loan's observable market <br />price. <br />For loans assessed on a collective basis, the calculation of the allocated reserve considers historical <br />loss experience for each type of loan, management's ongoing review of internal risk ratings and associated <br />trends and factors including: <br />• Trends in the volume and severity of delinquent loans, nonaccrual loans, troubled debt restructuring <br />and other loan modifications; <br />• Trends in the quality of risk management and loan administration practices including findings of <br />internal and external reviews of loans and effectiveness of collection practices; <br />-9- <br />2011 Bank of the West Annual Report <br />