Edgar Filing: EverBank Financial Corp

10-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF

THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015

EverBank Financial Corp

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



Delaware	001-35533	52-2024090
(State of incorporation)	(Commission File Number)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

501 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville, FL		32202
(Address of principal executive offices)		(Zip Code)

904-281-6000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)



Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of Each Class		Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered

Common Stock, $.01 Par Value		New York Stock Exchange
Depositary Shares, each representing a 1/1,000th of a share of 6.75% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series A		New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
	none

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Yes ý No o

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.

Yes o No ý

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 ý No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data 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 ý No o

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

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 the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.



	Large accelerated filer ý		Accelerated filer o
	Non-accelerated filer ¨ (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)		Smaller reporting company o

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

Yes o No ý

The aggregate market value of the registrant's outstanding voting common stock held by non-affiliates on June 30, 2015 (the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter), determined using the per share closing price on that date on the New York Stock Exchange of $19.65, was approximately $1,802,844,427. There was no non-voting common equity of the registrant outstanding on that date.

As of February 16, 2016, there were 125,104,343 shares of common stock outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Portions of the Registrant's Proxy Statement for the annual meeting of stockholders, scheduled to be held on May 19, 2016, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated. Such Proxy Statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the Registrant's fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.

EverBank Financial Corp

Form 10-K

Index



	Item Number		Page
Part I	Item 1	Business	4
	Item 1A	Risk Factors	16
	Item 1B	Unresolved Staff Comments	26
	Item 2	Properties	26
	Item 3	Legal Proceedings	27
	Item 4	Mine Safety Disclosures	27
Part II	Item 5	Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	28
	Item 6	Selected Financial Data	29
	Item 7	Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	31
	Item 7A	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk	82
	Item 8	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	83
	Item 9	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	146
	Item 9A	Controls and Procedures	146
	Item 9B	Other Information	148
Part III	Item 10	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	149
	Item 11	Executive Compensation	149
	Item 12	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	149
	Item 13	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	149
	Item 14	Principal Accountant Fees and Services	149
Part IV	Item 15	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	150
		Signatures	151

Part I

Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are intended to be protected by the safe harbor provided therein. We generally identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “outlook,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates” or the negative version of those words or other comparable words. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Accordingly, you are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, expectations may prove to have been materially different from the results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Unless otherwise required by law, we also disclaim any obligation to update our view of any such risks or uncertainties or to announce publicly the result of any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this report. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those factors described in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the following:


•	deterioration of general business and economic conditions, including the real estate and financial markets, in the United States and in the geographic regions and communities we serve;


•	risks related to liquidity, including the adequacy of our cash flow from operations and borrowings to meet our short-term liquidity needs;


•	changes in interest rates that affect the pricing of our financial products, the demand for our financial services and the valuation of our financial assets and liabilities, mortgage servicing rights and mortgage loans held for sale;


•	risk of higher loan and lease charge-offs;


•	legislative or regulatory actions affecting or concerning mortgage loan modification, refinancing and foreclosure;


•	risk of individual claims or further fines, penalties, equitable remedies, or other enforcement actions relating to our mortgage related practices;


•	our ability to comply with any supervisory actions to which we are or become subject as a result of examination by our regulators;


•	our ability to comply with the amended consent order and the terms and conditions of our settlement of the Independent Foreclosure Review, including the associated costs;


•	concentration of our commercial real estate loan portfolio;


•	higher than normal delinquency and default rates affecting our mortgage banking business;


•	execution of current or future acquisition, reorganization or disposition transactions including, the risk that we may not realize the anticipated benefits of such transactions;


•	concentration of mass-affluent clients and jumbo mortgages;


•	the effectiveness of the hedging strategies we use to manage our mortgage pipeline;


•	the effectiveness of our derivatives to manage interest rate risk;


•	delinquencies on our equipment leases and reductions in the resale value of leased equipment;


•	increases in loan repurchase requests and our reserves for loan repurchases;


•	failure to prevent a breach to our Internet-based system and online commerce security;


•	soundness of other financial institutions;


•	changes in currency exchange rates or other political or economic changes in certain foreign countries;


•	the competitive industry and market areas in which we operate;


•	historical growth rate and performance may not be a reliable indicator of future results;


•	loss of key personnel;


•	fraudulent and negligent acts by loan applicants, mortgage brokers, mortgage warehouse finance customers, other vendors and our employees;


•	costs of compliance or failure to comply with laws, rules, regulations and orders that govern our operations;


•	failure to establish and maintain effective internal controls and procedures;


•	impact of current and future legal and regulatory changes, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the Dodd-Frank Act) and the capital requirements promulgated by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel Committee);


•	effects of changes in existing United States (U.S.) government or government-sponsored mortgage programs;


•	changes in laws and regulations that may restrict our ability to originate or increase our risk of liability with respect to certain mortgage loans;


•	legislative action regarding foreclosures or bankruptcy laws;


•	changes to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP);


•	environmental liabilities with respect to properties that we take title to upon foreclosure


•	fluctuations in our stock price; and


•	inability of EverBank (EB), our banking subsidiary, to pay dividends.

Item 1. Business

Overview

EverBank Financial Corp, a Delaware corporation, is a unitary savings and loan holding company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. References to “we,” “our,” “us,” or the “Company” refer to the holding company and its subsidiaries that are consolidated for financial reporting purposes. We are a diversified financial services company that provides a wide range of financial products and services to individuals as well as small and mid-size business clients nationwide through scalable, low-cost distribution channels that are connected by technology-driven, centralized platforms which provide operating leverage throughout our business. We market and distribute our banking products and services primarily through our integrated online and mobile financial portal, high-volume financial centers in targeted Florida markets and other national business relationships. Our consumer and commercial lending businesses are nationwide and target clients through retail and commercial lending offices in major metropolitan markets throughout the country.

As of December 31, 2015, we had total assets of $26.6 billion, total deposits of $18.2 billion and total shareholder's equity of $1.9 billion. Our principal executive offices are located at 501 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, Florida and our telephone number is (904) 281-6000. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, under the symbol “EVER.”

Financial Information About Our Business Segments

We evaluate our overall financial performance through three financial reporting segments: Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate Services. Consumer Banking includes consumer deposit services and activities, wealth management, residential lending and servicing, and capital markets. Commercial Banking includes commercial deposit services and activities, commercial and commercial real estate lending, commercial finance and mortgage warehouse finance. Corporate Services provides support services to the Consumer and Commercial Banking segments. Financial information with respect to our business segments including revenue, operating income or loss and total assets is contained in Note 29 to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Consumer Banking

Deposits and Wealth Management

Our consumer deposit franchise provides a stable, flexible source of low all-in cost funds and is focused on fostering strong relationships with individual and small and mid-sized size business clients nationwide. These clients maintain an average deposit balance per household (excluding escrow deposits) of $105,923 as of December 31, 2015, which we believe is more than three times the peer median.

Deposit clients can choose to manage their relationship with us through our omni channel platform including the Online Financial Center, tablet and mobile applications, phone and email, or our network of financial centers in key Florida metropolitan areas, which have average deposits per branch of $364.8 million as of December 31, 2015. Our distribution channels, client acquisition strategies and centralized operating platform provide the flexibility to tailor deposit growth to scale the business efficiently. Our unique products and product design, distribution and marketing strategies allow us to effectively control organic deposit growth, providing flexibility and efficiency in funding asset growth opportunities.

Our World Markets deposit offering provides clients with a toolkit for global diversification including WorldCurrency® deposits denominated in 21 foreign currencies and MarketSafe® structured deposits, which totaled $567.8 million and $149.8 million respectively as of December 31, 2015. In addition, World Markets clients held over $175.8 million of precious metals in custody with us in non-Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured EverBank Metals Select® accounts as of December 31, 2015.

We provide comprehensive financial advisory, planning, brokerage and other wealth management services to our mass-affluent and high net worth clients through our registered broker dealer and registered investment adviser subsidiaries.

Residential Lending and Servicing

We originate prime residential loans nationwide through retail lending offices in large metropolitan areas, direct channels, financial centers and correspondent relationships supported by a centrally controlled underwriting, processing and fulfillment infrastructure. We have expanded our retail and correspondent distribution channels in recent years with an emphasis on prime jumbo residential loans which we either retain on our balance sheet or sell into the secondary market. These channels and products serve the needs of our core clients and are strategic to our balance sheet growth objectives.

We generate mortgage servicing business through the retention of servicing from our origination activities, whole loan acquisitions, and related servicing activities. We service a diverse portfolio of both products and investors including agency and private pools of mortgages secured by properties throughout the United States. During 2014, we realigned the profile of our servicing business through the strategic sale of our default servicing operations and higher delinquency servicing rights to Ditech Financial LLC (Ditech), formerly known as GreenTree Servicing LLC. In 2015, we executed sales of $8.2 billion in unpaid principal balance (UPB), representing our remaining non-core servicing operations not included in the 2014 sale to Ditech.

Capital Markets

We opportunistically supplement organic originations by purchasing loans and securities when those investments have more attractive risk-adjusted returns than those we can originate and retain. Our decision to originate, retain, acquire, securitize or sell assets is grounded in our rigorous analytical approach to investing and our disciplined approach to balancing risk against performance. Our flexibility to retain or sell originated assets or acquire assets enables us to achieve attractive risk adjusted returns in a variety of market conditions and enhance stockholder value.

Commercial Banking

Commercial Deposits

We continued to increase our emphasis on commercial deposits in 2015 in order to deepen existing relationships with our large number of small and mid-size business clients and to attract new commercial clients. We distinguish ourselves from competitors based on our attractive product offering, client service and value proposition. Commercial deposit balances represented 23% of our total deposits as of December 31, 2015 compared to 19% as of December 31, 2014.

Commercial & Commercial Real Estate Lending

We originate commercial real estate loans for the acquisition and refinancing of stabilized commercial real estate for owner users, investors and developers nationwide. Our portfolio is diversified by property type and geographic location and includes owner occupied, single-tenant, multi-tenant commercial and multi-family properties with an average loan size of approximately $3.5 million. We underwrite stabilized properties with experienced borrowers, strong property/tenant cash flow and collateral. We offer our clients competitive fixed and floating interest rates with flexible terms.

Commercial Finance

Our commercial finance platform includes vendor equipment finance, lender finance, capital equipment finance and business credit. Our vendor equipment finance division originates equipment leases and loans nationwide through relationships with over 900 equipment manufacturers, distributors and dealers with large groups of high quality clients. Our equipment leases and loans generally finance essential-use health care, office product, technology, industrial and other types of equipment primarily to small and mid-size lessees and borrowers. Our typical equipment financings range from approximately $10,000 to $5.0 million per transaction with typical finance terms ranging from 36 to 72 months. We have significantly increased origination activity within our equipment business since 2010 by expanding within both our served markets as well as expanding into new markets.

The lender finance business focuses on providing revolving and term credit facilities secured by equipment and receivables primarily to specialty finance companies on a national basis. We have achieved significant growth in this business since inception, as new client acquisition has driven strong growth in committed facilities as both agent and participant. These credit facilities typically have an initial term of 36 to 84 months and range in size from $15.0 million to more than $50.0 million.

The capital equipment finance business, which commenced in late 2014, is a secured asset finance company providing structured equipment financing loans and leases to middle market companies with transaction sizes of $3.0 million to $20.0 million and terms ranging from 36 to 84 months. This business targets industries like transportation, construction, manufacturing, healthcare and energy with underlying assets that typically have high resale residual value.

Business credit is our asset-based lending (ABL) operation we purchased in May 2015 with advances and commitments of $94.0 million and $187.0 million, respectively, at acquisition. This ABL portfolio consists of secured revolving and term loans to middle market companies in need of working capital or companies undergoing restructuring. These loans typically range from $5.0 million to $40.0 million in commitments, are secured by tightly monitored, liquid inventory and receivables at discounted advance rates which results in reduced losses in the event of default.

Our commercial finance activities provide us with access to approximately 37,000 small business clients nationwide, which creates opportunities to potentially cross-sell other commercial and consumer banking and lending products and services.

Mortgage Warehouse Finance

Our warehouse finance business provides mortgage loan financing to mid-sized, established mortgage banking companies across the country with a proven track record of originating quality mortgages. A majority of our warehouse financing loans are short-term revolving facilities, which may include sublimits, collateralized by agency and government residential loans originated by our clients. Our loan commitment sizes generally range from $30 million to $150 million. The majority of the advances made on these facilities are made as short-term repurchase agreements which protects us by providing us ownership of the collateral in the event of default. The advances made on these facilities are discounted based on the relative risk of the underlying collateral with higher advance rates on agency and government deliverable mortgages and smaller advance rates on servicing advances and mortgage servicing assets.

Corporate Services

Our Corporate Services segment provides services to the Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking segments including executive management, technology, legal, human resources, marketing, corporate development, treasury, accounting, finance and other services and transaction related support.

Competition

We face substantial competition in all areas of our operations including internet banks and national, regional and community banks within the markets we serve. We also compete with many other types of financial institutions such as savings and loan institutions, credit unions, mortgage companies, finance companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies, factoring companies and other financial intermediaries.

Competition for loans is often driven by interest rates, loan origination and related fees and services. Because of our lower all-in cost structure relative to our competition, we are often able to offer borrowers more favorable interest rates than may be available from other lenders. In addition, because we originate assets to hold on our balance sheet as well as sell in the secondary markets, we seek to attract borrowers by offering loan products such as jumbo residential mortgage loans that may not be available from other lenders. We have successfully executed both sales and securitizations of our jumbo preferred fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) products.

Competition for deposit products is generally based on pricing because of the ease with which clients can transfer deposits from one institution to another. Our multi-channel deposit strategy has lower fixed operating costs than traditional models because we do not incur the expenses associated with primarily operating through a traditional branch network. In order to generate deposits, we pass a portion of these cost savings to our clients through competitive interest rates and fees. Besides price competition, we also seek to increase our deposit market share through product differentiation by offering deposit products that provide investment opportunities such as our WorldCurrency®, MarketSafe® and EverBank Metals Select^sm deposit products.

We also compete based on the accessibility of our product offerings through our multiple distribution channels. Finally, we seek to distinguish our products and services from other banks through the quality of our online offerings and website and mobile functionality.

Supervision and Regulation

Government Regulation

We and EverBank are subject to comprehensive supervision and regulation that affect virtually all aspects of our operations. This supervision and regulation is designed primarily to protect depositors, borrowers, customers and the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF), administered by the FDIC, and the banking system as a whole, and generally is not intended for the protection of stockholders. The following summarizes certain of the more important statutory and regulatory provisions applicable to us.

Certain of the regulatory requirements that are applicable to the Company and EverBank are described below. This description is not intended to be a complete explanation of such requirements and their effects on the Company and EverBank, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the actual statutes and regulations. Any change in laws, regulations, or supervisory actions, whether by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the FDIC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), or Congress, could have a material adverse impact on the Company and EverBank.

See also the discussion under “Risk Factors-Regulatory and Legal Risks.”

Recent Regulatory Developments

Mortgage servicing “horizontal review.” A “horizontal review” of the residential mortgage foreclosure operations of fourteen mortgage servicers, including EverBank, by the federal banking agencies resulted in formal enforcement actions against all of the banks subject to the horizontal review. On April 13, 2011, each of the Company and EverBank entered into a consent order with the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) with respect to EverBank's mortgage foreclosure practices and the Company's oversight of those practices. The OCC succeeded the OTS with respect to EverBank's consent order, and the FRB succeeded the OTS with respect to the Company's consent order. The consent orders require, among other things, that the Company establish a new compliance program for mortgage servicing and foreclosure operations and that the Company ensure that it has dedicated resources for communicating with borrowers, policies and procedures for outsourcing foreclosure or related functions and management information systems that ensure timely delivery of complete and accurate information. EverBank was also required to retain an independent firm as part of an “Independent Foreclosure Review” program to conduct a review of residential foreclosure actions that were pending at any time between January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010, as well as residential foreclosure sales that occurred during this time period, in order to determine among other things, whether any borrowers sustained financial injury as a result of any errors, misrepresentations or deficiencies and to provide remediation, as appropriate.

In August 2013, EverBank reached an agreement with the OCC that ended its participation in the Independent Foreclosure Review program mandated by the April 2011 consent order and replaced it with an accelerated remediation process. The agreement included a cash payment of $39.9 million which was made by EverBank to a settlement fund to provide relief to qualified borrowers. In addition, EverBank contributed $6.3 million to organizations certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or other tax-exempt organizations that have as a principal mission providing affordable housing, foreclosure prevention and/or educational assistance to low and moderate income individuals and families. This agreement did not eliminate all of our risks associated with foreclosure-related practices, and it did not protect EverBank from potential individual borrower claims or class action lawsuits, any of which could result in additional expenses. Consistent with the agreement, an amendment to the April 2011 consent order was entered into on October 15, 2013. All terms of the April 2011 consent order that were not explicitly superseded by the amendment remained in effect without modification. As of December 31, 2015, the settlement fund established at the termination of the Independent Foreclosure Review paid $37.5 million in remediation to about 31,000 borrowers, for a 95% cash-rate. Based upon this cash-rate, the OCC is permitting termination of the settlement fund in the first quarter of 2016. The remaining funds will escheat to the applicable state treasurer’s office.

In October 2013, EverBank, along with other mortgage servicers, also received a letter from the OCC requesting, in connection with the April 2011 consent order as amended, that EverBank provide the OCC with an action plan to identify errors and remediate potentially harmed borrowers serviced by EverBank from January 1, 2011 through the date EverBank independently validated that it had corrected all material errors identified during the Independent Foreclosure Review. EverBank submitted its action plan in 2013, which did not require an independent third party review. Pursuant to this plan, EverBank, through an independent paying agent, is in the process of making remediation payments totaling $1.64 million to approximately 48,000 borrowers. As of December 31, 2015, EverBank has paid $1.6 million in remediation to about 34,500 borrowers, for a 76% cash rate. At December 31, 2015, EverBank has accrued $1.2 million for potential remediation payments to be made to borrowers under that action plan. EverBank will be remediating two populations of borrowers.

On June 17, 2015, EverBank, entered into an amended consent order with the OCC that released EverBank from many of the requirements of the 2011 consent order, as amended in 2013, but found that certain aspects remained incomplete and imposed certain additional supervisory conditions related to EverBank’s residential mortgage servicing operations. These conditions included, among other things, limits on the acquisition of new third party residential mortgage loans and servicing rights, restrictions on providing servicing to third parties, restrictions on the outsourcing or sub-servicing of EverBank servicing activities to others, and new appointments of senior officers responsible for residential mortgage servicing or residential mortgage servicing risk management and compliance.

On January 5, 2016, the OCC terminated EverBank’s consent order, as amended in 2013 and 2015, having determined that EverBank had complied the requirements of such order. In conjunction with the termination, EverBank was required by the OCC to pay $1 million in civil money penalties pertaining to certain improper fees charged to borrowers between January 2011 and March 2015. The Company’s consent order with the FRB relating to its oversight of mortgage foreclosure practices currently remains in place.

Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) has had and will continue to have a broad impact on the financial services industry, imposing significant regulatory and compliance changes, including a fundamental restructuring of the supervisory regime applicable to federal savings associations (also referred to as thrifts) and savings and loan holding companies (also referred to as thrift holding companies), the imposition of increased capital, leverage and liquidity requirements, and numerous other provisions designed to improve supervision and oversight of, and strengthen safety and soundness within, the financial services sector. Additionally, the Dodd-Frank Act established a new framework of authority to conduct systemic risk oversight within the financial system distributed among new and existing federal regulatory agencies, including the Financial Stability Oversight Council, or Oversight Council, the FRB, the OCC and the FDIC.

While much of the Dodd-Frank Act has been implemented in the form of final rules from the banking agencies, the full extent of the impact such requirements will have on our operations continues to be unclear. The changes resulting from the Dodd-Frank Act may impact the profitability of our business activities, require changes to certain of our business practices, impose upon us more stringent capital, liquidity and leverage requirements or otherwise adversely affect our business. These changes may also require us to invest significant management attention and resources to evaluate and make any changes necessary to comply with new statutory and regulatory requirements. Failure to comply with the new requirements may negatively impact our results of operations and financial condition. While we cannot predict what effect any presently contemplated or future changes in the laws or regulations or their interpretations would have on us, these changes could be materially adverse to us and our investors.

The following items provide a brief description of the relevant provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and their potential impact on our operations and activities, both currently and prospectively.

Change in Thrift Supervisory Structure. The Dodd-Frank Act, among other things, as of July 21, 2011, transferred the functions and personnel of the OTS among the OCC, FDIC and FRB. As a result, the OTS no longer supervises or regulates savings associations or savings and loan holding companies. The Dodd-Frank Act preserves the federal savings association charter (which includes both federal savings associations and federal savings banks); however, supervision of federal savings associations, such as EverBank, has been transferred to the OCC. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act has transferred the supervision of savings and loan holding companies, such as us, to the FRB while taking a number of steps to align the regulation of savings and loan holding companies to that of bank holding companies. The FRB has issued final rules to implement changes mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, including requiring a savings and loan holding company to serve as a source of strength for its subsidiary depository institutions, requiring savings and loan holding companies to satisfy supervisory standards applicable to financial holding companies (e.g., “well capitalized” and “well managed” status) and, for most savings and loan holding companies, to elect to be treated as a financial holding company, in order to conduct those activities permissible for a financial holding company, and promulgating capital requirements for savings and loan holding companies (for example, under the so-called “Collins Amendment”). As a result of this change in supervision and related requirements, we are subject to new, and in some cases heightened examination and reporting requirements. The Dodd-Frank Act also provides various agencies with the authority to assess additional supervisory fees.

Creation of New Governmental Agencies. The Dodd-Frank Act created various new governmental agencies such as the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the CFPB, an independent agency housed within the FRB. The CFPB has a broad mandate to issue regulations, examine compliance and take enforcement action under the federal consumer financial laws, including with respect to EverBank. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act permits states to adopt consumer protection laws and regulations that are stricter than those regulations promulgated by the CFPB, and state attorneys general are permitted to enforce consumer protection rules adopted by the CFPB against certain institutions.

Limitation on Federal Preemption. The Dodd-Frank Act has reduced the ability of national banks and federal savings associations to rely upon federal preemption of state consumer financial laws. Although the OCC, as the primary regulator of federal savings associations, has the ability to make preemption determinations where certain conditions are met, the new limitations placed on preemption determinations have the potential to create a patchwork of federal and state compliance obligations. This could, in turn, result in significant new regulatory requirements applicable to us, with attendant potentially significant changes in our operations and increases in our compliance costs. It could also result in uncertainty concerning compliance, with attendant regulatory and litigation risks. While some uncertainty remains as to how the OCC will address preemption determinations going forward, on July 20, 2011, the OCC issued a final rule implementing certain Dodd-Frank Act preemption provisions. Among other things, the rule states that federal savings associations, such as EverBank, are subject to the same laws, legal standards and OCC regulations regarding the preemption of state law as national banks. In promulgating the rule, the OCC stated that its prior preemption determinations and regulations remain valid. As a result, we expect EverBank should have the benefit of those determinations and regulations.

Mortgage Loan Origination and Risk Retention. The Dodd-Frank Act contains additional regulatory requirements that may affect our mortgage origination and servicing operations, result in increased compliance costs and may impact revenue. For example, in addition to numerous new disclosure requirements, the Dodd-Frank Act imposes new standards for mortgage loan originations on all lenders, including banks and savings associations. Most significantly, the new standards prohibit us from originating a residential mortgage loan without verifying a borrower's ability to repay, limit the total points and fees that we and/or a broker may charge on conforming and jumbo loans to 3% of the total loan amount and prohibit certain prepayment penalty practices. Also, the Dodd-Frank Act, in conjunction with the FRB's final rule on loan originator compensation effective April 1, 2011, prohibits certain compensation payments to loan originators and the steering of consumers to loans not in their interest because the loans will result in greater compensation for a loan originator. These standards have resulted in a myriad of new system, pricing and compensation controls in order to ensure compliance and to decrease repurchase requests and foreclosure defenses. In addition, regulations adopted pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act became effective on December 24, 2015, generally require securitizers to retain an economic interest of 5% in the credit risk relating to residential mortgage loans collateralizing asset-backed securities (ABS) that they sponsor if the loans have not complied with the ability to repay standards.

Annual Company-Run Stress Tests. We and EverBank are also subject to stress testing requirements that implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act requiring banking organizations with total consolidated assets of more than $10 billion but less than $50 billion to conduct annual company-run stress tests, report the results to their primary federal regulator and the FRB, and (following a certain date) to publish a summary of certain aspects of the results. Stress testing requirements include baseline, adverse, and severely adverse economic and financial scenarios to assess potential impacts on our consolidated earnings, losses and capital over a nine quarter planning horizon. According to regulatory standards, a summary of the results of certain aspects of this stress analysis will be released publicly and will contain company specific information and results. It is anticipated that our capital ratios reflected in the stress test calculation will be an important factor considered by our regulators in evaluating whether proposed payments of dividends, or stock repurchases may be an unsafe or unsound practice and whether our capital levels are adequate to support our operations and growth.

EverBank is already subject to stress testing and reporting requirements, beginning in 2013. EverBank’s first submission to the OCC used data as of September 30, 2013 and the scenarios released by the regulators in November 2013. Based on this submission, EverBank met all regulatory thresholds. Required public disclosure of EverBank’s stress testing results commenced with

our company-run stress tests for the following cycle, using data as of September 30, 2014, and with a summary of results published on June 29, 2015.

Due to a change in rules, the stress testing cycle for EverBank that would have begun on October 1, 2015 instead began on January 1, 2016, using financial data as of December 31, 2015. The scenarios were provided on January 28, 2016, and EverBank will be required to conduct and submit the results of the stress tests to our regulators by July 31 and publish a summary of those results between October 15, 2016 and October 31, 2016, unless that time period is extended by the regulators. Subsequent years are expected to follow the same schedule for EverBank. EverBank Financial Corp will also become subject to these requirements beginning in 2017.

Basel III and the Basel III Capital Rules. While we were historically required by the OTS to have a prudential level of capital to support our risk profile, the OTS did not subject savings and loan holding companies, such as us, to consolidated regulatory capital requirements. Through December 31, 2014, there were no regulatory capital requirements directly applicable to us as a unitary savings and loan holding company apart from the regulatory capital requirements for savings associations that are applicable to EverBank. The Dodd-Frank Act subjects us to capital requirements that are not less stringent than such requirements generally applicable to insured depository institutions, such as EverBank, or quantitatively lower than such requirements in effect for insured depository institutions as of July 21, 2010. The risk-based capital guidelines that applied to EverBank through December 31, 2014, are based upon the 1988 capital accord of the international Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a committee of central banks and bank supervisors, as implemented by the U.S. federal banking agencies on an interagency basis.

In July 2013, our primary federal regulator, the Federal Reserve, and EverBank’s primary federal regulator, the OCC, published final rules (Basel III Capital Rules) establishing a new comprehensive capital framework for U.S. banking organizations. The Basel III Capital 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 revised the risk-based capital requirements applicable to savings and loan holding companies and depository institutions, including us and EverBank. The Basel III Capital Rules define the components of regulatory 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 replaced the prior 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 Basel III Capital Rules became effective for the Company and EverBank on January 1, 2015 (subject to phase-in periods as discussed below).

The Basel III Capital Rules, among other things, (i) introduced a new capital measure called “Common Equity Tier 1” (CET1), (ii) specified that Tier 1 capital consist of CET1 and “Additional Tier 1 capital” instruments meeting specified requirements, (iii) defined CET1 narrowly by requiring that most deductions/adjustments to regulatory capital measures be made to CET1 and not to the other components of capital and (iv) expanded the scope of the deductions/adjustments from capital as compared to existing regulations. Under the Basel III Capital Rules, for most banking organizations, including the Company, the most common form of Additional Tier 1 capital is non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock, and the most common form of Tier 2 capital is subordinated notes and a portion of the allocation for loan losses, in each case, subject to the Basel III Capital Rules’ specific requirements.

Under the Basel III Capital Rules, the initial minimum capital ratios as of January 1, 2015 are as follows:


•	4.5% CET1 to risk-weighted assets.


•	6.0% Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets.


•	8.0% Total capital to risk-weighted assets.


•	4.0% Tier 1 capital to average consolidated assets as reported on consolidated financial statements (known as the "leverage ratio").

The Basel III Capital Rules provide for a number of deductions from and adjustments to CET1. These include, for example, the requirement that mortgage servicing rights, deferred tax assets arising from temporary differences that could not be realized through net operating loss carrybacks and significant investments in non-consolidated financial entities be deducted from CET1 to the extent that any one such category exceeds 10% of CET1 or all such categories in the aggregate exceed 15% of CET1.

The Basel III Capital Rules also introduced a new “capital conservation buffer”, composed entirely of CET1, on top of these minimum risk-weighted asset ratios. The capital conservation buffer is designed to absorb losses during periods of economic stress. Banking institutions with a ratio of CET1 to risk-weighted assets above the minimum but below the capital conservation buffer will face constraints on dividends, equity repurchases and compensation based on the amount of the shortfall. When fully phased in on January 1, 2019, the Basel III Capital Rules will require us and EverBank to maintain (i) a minimum ratio of CET1 to risk-weighted assets of at least 4.5%, plus the 2.5% capital conservation buffer, effectively resulting in a minimum ratio of CET1 to risk-weighted assets of at least 7%, (ii) a minimum ratio of Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets of at least 6.0%, plus the capital conservation buffer, effectively resulting in a minimum Tier 1 capital ratio of 8.5%, (iii) a minimum ratio of Total capital (Tier 1 plus Tier 2) to risk-weighted assets of at least 8.0%, plus the capital conservation buffer, effectively resulting in a minimum total capital ratio of 10.5% and (iv) a minimum leverage ratio of 4%, calculated as the ratio of Tier 1 capital to average assets (as compared to a previous minimum leverage ratio of 3% for banking organizations that either have the highest supervisory rating or have implemented the appropriate federal regulatory authority's risk-adjusted measure for market risk).

Under the Basel III Capital Rules, the effects of certain accumulated other comprehensive items (except gains and losses on cash flow hedges where the hedged item is not recognized on a banking organization’s balance sheet at fair value) are not excluded; however, certain banking organizations, including us and EverBank, may make a one-time permanent election to continue to exclude these items. The Basel III Capital Rules also preclude counting certain hybrid securities, such as trust preferred securities, as Tier 1 capital of bank or savings and loan holding companies. However for bank or savings and loan holding companies that had assets of less than $15 billion as of December 31, 2009 which includes us, trust preferred securities issued prior to May 19, 2010 can be treated

as Additional Tier 1 capital to the extent that they do not exceed 25% of Tier 1 capital after applying all capital deductions and adjustments.

Implementation of the deductions and other adjustments to CET1 began on January 1, 2015 and will be phased-in over a three-year period (beginning at 40% on January 1, 2015 and an additional 20% per year thereafter until fully phased-in at January 1, 2018). The implementation of the capital conservation buffer will begin on January 1, 2016 at the 0.625% level and be phased in over a three-year period (increasing by that amount on each subsequent January 1, until it reaches 2.5% on January 1, 2019).

The Basel III Capital Rules prescribe a standardized approach for risk weightings that expand the risk-weighting categories from the prior capital rules to a much larger and more risk-sensitive number of categories, depending on the nature of the assets, generally ranging from 0% for U.S. government and agency securities to 600% for certain equity exposures, and resulting in higher risk weights for a variety of asset categories. Specific changes to current rules impacting our determination of risk-weighted assets include, among other things:


•	Applying a 150% risk weight instead of a 100% risk weight for certain high volatility commercial real estate acquisition, development and construction loans.


•	Assigning a 150% risk weight to exposures that are 90 days past due (other than residential mortgage exposures, which remain at an assigned risk weighting of 100%).


•	Providing for a 20% credit conversion factor for the unused portion of a commitment with an original maturity of one year or less that is not unconditionally cancellable (currently set at 0%).


•	Providing for a risk weight, generally not less than 20% with certain exceptions, for securities lending transactions based on the risk weight category of the underlying collateral securing the transaction.


•	Providing for a 100% risk weight for claims on securities firms.


•	Eliminating the current 50% cap on the risk weight for OTC derivatives.

In addition, the Basel III Capital Rules also provide more advantageous risk weights for derivatives and repurchase-style transactions cleared through a qualifying central counterparty and increase the scope of eligible guarantors and eligible collateral for purposes of credit risk mitigation.

Management believes, at December 31, 2015, that we and EverBank meet all capital adequacy requirements under the Basel III Capital Rules on a fully phased-in basis if such requirements were currently effective.

Liquidity Requirements. Liquidity risk management and supervision have increasingly become an area of focus since the financial crisis. During 2014, the U.S. banking agencies adopted final rules to implement the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR), one of the two new liquidity standards introduced in the Basel III liquidity framework. At present, the LCR does not apply to either the Company or EverBank. The other liquidity standard in the Basel III framework is the net stable funding ratio (NSFR). The NSFR is designed to promote more medium- and long-term funding of the assets and activities of bank over a one-year time horizon. The Basel Committee issued the final NSFR document in 2014, but the U.S. banking agencies have not yet proposed an NSFR for U.S. banking organizations or indicated to which banking organizations the NSFR will apply. The Basel Committee’s final NSFR document applies the NSFR to internationally active banks, as it did with the LCR.

Volcker Rule. The Dodd-Frank Act amended the BHC Act to require the federal financial regulatory agencies to adopt rules that prohibit insured depository institutions (such as EverBank) and their affiliates from engaging in proprietary trading and investing in and sponsoring certain unregistered investment companies (defined as hedge funds and private equity funds, together "covered funds"). The statutory provision is commonly called the “Volcker Rule”. The FRB adopted final rules implementing the Volcker Rule in December 2013. The regulations provided for a Volcker Rule conformance date of July 21, 2015. Conformance with the provisions prohibiting certain “covered funds” activities has since been extended by a FRB order that provided for an extension of the Volcker Rule conformance period for legacy ownership interests and sponsorship of covered funds until July 21, 2016. The FRB expressed its intention to grant the last available statutory extension for such covered funds activities until July 21, 2017. As of December 31, 2015, the fair value and book value of investments that are deemed "covered funds" was $7.4 million and $7.6 million, respectively. For further review of these holdings see the disclosure in the "Asset and Liability Management and Market Risk" section included in Item 7. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in this Annual Report.

The Company

We are a unitary savings and loan holding company within the meaning of the Home Owners’ Loan Act (HOLA). As such, we are registered as a savings and loan holding company and are subject to those regulations applicable to a savings and loan holding company. As such, we are subject to FRB examinations, supervision and reporting requirements, and to the FRB’s enforcement authority. Among other things, this authority permits the FRB to restrict or prohibit activities that are determined to be a serious risk to the financial safety, soundness or stability of a subsidiary savings association, such as EverBank. The Company is also subject to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the federal securities laws.

Currently, without the prior approval of the FRB under the HOLA, HOLA prohibits a savings and loan holding company, directly or indirectly, or through one or more subsidiaries, from, for example:


•	acquiring another savings institution or its holding company without prior written approval of the FRB;


•	acquiring or retaining, with certain exceptions, more than 5% of a non-subsidiary savings institution, a non-subsidiary holding company, or a non-subsidiary company engaged in activities other than those permitted by HOLA; or


•	acquiring or retaining control of a depository institution that is not insured by the FDIC.

In evaluating an application by a holding company to acquire a savings institution, the FRB must consider, among other factors, the financial and managerial resources and future prospects of the company and savings institution involved, the effect of the acquisition on the acquiror, the risk to the DIF, the convenience and needs of the community and competitive factors.

A savings and loan holding company is required to serve as a source of financial and managerial strength to its subsidiary savings associations. This requires the Company to commit to provide necessary capital, liquidity, and other support to EverBank during times of financial distress.

As a unitary savings and loan holding company, we generally are not restricted under existing laws as to the types of business activities in which we may engage, provided that EverBank continues to satisfy the Qualified Thrift Lender (QTL) test. See “-Regulation of Savings Associations-QTL Test” below for a discussion of the QTL requirements. If we were to acquire a savings institution that will be held as a separate subsidiary, then we may become a multiple savings and loan holding company within the meaning of HOLA and would be subject to limitations on the types of business activities in which we can engage. HOLA limits the activities of a multiple savings institution holding company and its non-insured institution subsidiaries primarily to activities permissible for bank holding companies under Section 4(c) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (BHC Act), subject to the prior approval of the FRB, and to other activities authorized by regulation. A multiple savings and loan holding company that meets applicable capital, supervisory and other standards under applicable FRB regulations may elect to be treated as a financial holding company and engage in the broader range of financial activities permissible for a financial holding company under the BHC Act. We do not currently rely on our unitary savings and loan holding company status to engage in business activities that would not be permissible for a multiple savings and loan holding company.

Transactions between EverBank, including any of EverBank’s subsidiaries, and us or any of EverBank’s affiliates, are subject to various conditions and limitations. See “Regulation of Savings Associations-Transactions with Related Parties” below. EverBank must seek approval from the FRB prior to any declaration of the payment of any dividends or other capital distributions to us. See “Regulation of Savings Associations-Limitation on Capital Distributions” below.

EverBank

EverBank is a federal savings association and, as such, is subject to extensive regulation, examination and supervision by the OCC. EverBank also is subject to backup examination and supervision authority by the FDIC, as its deposit insurer. In addition, EverBank is subject to regulation and supervision by the CFPB with regard to federal consumer financial laws.

EverBank’s deposit accounts are insured up to applicable limits by the DIF, which is administered by the FDIC. EverBank must file reports with its federal regulators concerning its activities and financial condition. Additionally, EverBank must obtain regulatory approvals prior to entering into certain transactions, such as mergers with, or acquisitions of, other depository institutions, and must submit applications or notices prior to forming certain types of subsidiaries or engaging in certain activities through its subsidiaries. The OCC and the FDIC are responsible for conducting periodic examinations to assess EverBank’s safety and soundness and compliance with various regulatory requirements. This regulation and supervision establishes a comprehensive framework of activities in which a federal savings association can engage and is intended primarily for the protection of the DIF and depositors. The OCC and the FDIC have significant discretion in connection with their supervisory and enforcement activities and examination policies. Any change in such applicable activities or policies, whether by the federal banking regulators or U.S. Congress, could have a material adverse impact on us, EverBank and our operations.

Regulation of Savings Associations

Business Activities. EverBank derives its lending and investment powers from HOLA and the regulations thereunder, which are enforced by the OCC. Under these laws and regulations, EverBank currently may invest in:


•	mortgage loans secured by residential and commercial real estate;


•	commercial and consumer loans;


•	certain types of debt securities; and


•	certain other assets.

EverBank may also establish service corporations to engage in activities not otherwise permissible for EverBank, including certain real estate equity investments and securities and insurance brokerage. These investment powers are subject to limitations, including, among others, limitations that require debt securities acquired by EverBank to meet certain marketability and credit quality criteria and that limit EverBank’s aggregate investment in various types of loans to certain percentages of capital and/or assets.

Volcker Rule. During our evaluation of the impact of the Volcker Rule as described above, investments with a carrying value of $257.2 million, at December 31, 2013, were identified that may be required to be sold. As a result, during the year ended December 31, 2013 we were required to record an other than temporary impairment (OTTI) of $3.3 million as we were no longer able to assert that we will hold such investments until recovery. During the year ended December 31, 2014, we recognized an additional $0.7 million in OTTI which represented additional declines in fair value on the securities identified that may be required to be sold. Although we are continuing to evaluate further impacts of the Volcker Rule and the final rules adopted thereunder, we do not currently anticipate that the Volcker Rule will have a material effect on the operations of the Company and EverBank.

Loans to One Borrower. Under HOLA, federal savings associations are generally subject to the same limits on loans to one borrower as are imposed on national banks. Generally, under these limits, the total amount of loans and extensions of credit made by a federal savings association to one borrower or related group of borrowers (which also includes credit exposure arising from derivative transactions, repurchase agreements, and securities lending and borrowing transactions) outstanding at one time and not fully secured by collateral may not exceed 15% of the savings association’s unimpaired capital and unimpaired surplus. In addition to, and separate from, the 15% limitation, the total amount of loans and extensions of credit made by a federal savings association to one borrower or related group of borrowers outstanding at one time and fully secured by readily-marketable collateral may not exceed 10% of the savings association’s unimpaired capital and unimpaired surplus. Readily-marketable collateral includes certain debt and equity securities and bullion, but generally does not include real estate. At December 31, 2015, EverBank’s limit on loans and extensions of credit to one borrower was approximately $319.1 million and $212.7 million, for the 15% limitation and 10% limitation, respectively. At December 31, 2015, EverBank’s largest aggregate amount of loans and extensions of credit to a

single borrower was $150.0 million, with seven separate borrowers each having total loans in this amount. At December 31, 2015, each of these seven lending relationships were with clients in our mortgage warehouse finance area. All seven of these loan relationships were performing in accordance with the terms of their loan agreements as of December 31, 2015.

QTL Test. HOLA requires a federal savings association to meet the QTL test by maintaining at least 65% of its “portfolio assets” in certain “qualified thrift investments” on a monthly average basis in at least nine months out of every 12 months. A federal savings association that fails the QTL test must either operate under certain restrictions on its activities or convert to a bank charter. A thrift that fails the QTL test is subject to the general dividend restrictions that would apply to a national bank and is prohibited from paying dividends at all (regardless of its financial condition) unless required to meet the obligations of a company that controls the thrift and specifically approved by the OCC and the FRB. In addition, violations of the QTL test are treated as violations of HOLA subject to remedial enforcement action. At December 31, 2015, EverBank maintained 83.6% of its portfolio assets in qualified thrift investments. EverBank had also satisfied the QTL test in each of the twelve months prior to December 31, 2015 and, therefore, was a QTL.

Limitation on Capital Distributions. Federal banking regulations currently impose limitations upon certain capital distributions by savings associations, such as certain cash dividends, payments to repurchase or otherwise acquire its shares, payments to stockholders of another institution in a cash-out merger and other distributions charged against capital.

We are a legal entity separate and distinct from EverBank, and the OCC and FRB regulate all capital distributions by EverBank directly or indirectly to us, including dividend payments. For example, EverBank must obtain the approval of the OCC for a proposed capital distribution if the total amount of all of EverBank’s capital distributions (including any proposed capital distribution) for the applicable calendar year exceeds EverBank’s net income for that year-to-date period plus EverBank’s retained net income for the preceding two years. EverBank also must give prior notice of any dividend to the FRB, with a copy to the OCC, because EverBank is a subsidiary of a savings and loan holding company.

EverBank may not pay us dividends if, after paying those dividends, it would fail to meet the required minimum levels under risk-based capital guidelines and the minimum leverage and tangible capital ratio requirements, or in the event the OCC notifies EverBank that it is in need of more than normal supervision. Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA), an insured depository institution such as EverBank is prohibited from making capital distributions, including the payment of dividends, if, after making such distribution, the institution would become “undercapitalized.” Payment of dividends by EverBank also may be restricted at any time at the discretion of the appropriate regulator if it deems the payment to constitute an unsafe and unsound banking practice.

Additionally, as noted above, the Dodd-Frank Act imposes additional restrictions on the ability of any thrift that fails to become or remain a qualified thrift lender to pay dividends.

Liquidity. EverBank is required to maintain sufficient liquidity to ensure its safe and sound operation, in accordance with federal banking regulations.

Assessments. The OCC charges assessments to recover the costs of examining savings associations and their affiliates, processing applications and other filings, and covering direct and indirect expenses in regulating savings associations and their affiliates.

In establishing the amount of an assessment, the OCC may consider the nature and scope of the activities of the entity, the amount and type of assets it holds, the financial and managerial condition of the entity, and any other factor that is appropriate. Under current OCC regulations, the assessments charged to savings associations by the OCC are based on the same assessment schedule as is used for national banks. Assessments are due on March 31 and September 30 of each year. The semiannual assessment is based on an institution’s asset size and is calculated using a table and formula set forth in the OCC’s regulations. The OCC sets the specific rates each year. The OCC applies a condition-based surcharge to the semiannual assessment for institutions with a composite rating of 3, 4 or 5. The condition surcharge is determined by multiplying the general semiannual assessment by 1.5, in the case of any institution that receives a composite rating of 3, and 2.0 in the case of any institution that receives a composite rating of 4 or 5. The condition surcharge is assessed against, and limited to, the first $20 billion of the institution’s book assets.

Various agencies have the authority to assess additional supervision fees.

Branching. Subject to certain limitations, HOLA and regulations thereunder permit federally chartered savings associations to establish branches in any state or territory of the United States.

Transactions with Related Parties. EverBank’s authority to engage in transactions with its “affiliates” is limited by Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act, (FRA). The applicable regulations for savings associations regarding transactions with affiliates generally conform to the requirements of the FRB's Regulation W. In general, an affiliate of a federal savings association is any company that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, the savings association, other than the savings association’s subsidiaries. For instance, we are deemed an affiliate of EverBank under these regulations.

Generally, Section 23A limits the extent to which a federal savings association may engage in “covered transactions” with any one affiliate to an amount equal to 10% of the federal savings association’s capital stock and surplus, and contains an aggregate limit on all such transactions with all affiliates to an amount equal to 20% of the federal savings association’s capital stock and surplus. Covered transactions are defined to include, among other things, a loan or extension of credit, as well as a purchase of securities issued by an affiliate, a purchase of assets (unless otherwise exempted by the FRB) from the affiliate, the acceptance of securities issued by the affiliate as collateral for a loan, derivatives transactions and securities lending transactions where the bank has credit exposure to an affiliate, and the issuance of a guarantee, acceptance or letter of credit on behalf of an affiliate.

Section 23A also establishes specific collateral requirements for loans or extensions of credit to, or guarantees, or acceptances of letters of credit issued on behalf of, an affiliate. Section 23B requires covered transactions and certain other transactions to be on terms and under circumstances, including credit standards, that are substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the federal savings association, as those prevailing at the time for transactions with or involving non-affiliates. Additionally, under the applicable regulations, a federal savings association is prohibited from:


•	making a loan or other extension of credit to an affiliate that is engaged in any non-bank holding company activity; and


•	purchasing, or investing in, securities issued by an affiliate that is not a subsidiary.

Restrictions also apply to extensions of credit to insiders, and such extensions of credit include, for example, credit exposure arising from derivatives transactions, and to the purchase of assets from insiders.

Tying Arrangements. EverBank is prohibited, subject to certain exceptions, from making loans or offering any other services, or fixing or varying the payment for making loans or providing services, on the condition that a client obtains some additional service from an affiliate or not obtain services from one of our competitors.

Enforcement. Under the FDIA, the OCC has primary enforcement responsibility over federal savings associations and has the authority to bring enforcement action against all “institution-affiliated parties,” including any controlling stockholder or any stockholder, attorney, appraiser and accountant who knowingly or recklessly participates in any violation of applicable law or regulation, breach of fiduciary duty, or certain other wrongful actions that have, or are likely to have, a significant adverse effect on an insured depository institution or cause it more than minimal loss. In addition, the FDIC has back-up authority to take enforcement action for unsafe and unsound practices. Formal enforcement action can include the issuance of a capital directive, cease and desist order, civil money penalty, removal of officers and/or directors, institution of proceedings for receivership or conservatorship and termination of deposit insurance. Additionally, the FRB has similar enforcement authority with regard to savings and loan holding companies and their institution-affiliated parties. The bank regulatory agencies are pursuing aggressive enforcement actions with respect to compliance and other legal matters involving financial activities, including criminal prosecutions, as well as law enforcement actions, which heightens the risks associated with actual and perceived compliance failures.

Examination. The Company and EverBank are subject to periodic examinations covering many areas by the FRB and the OCC, respectively, and EverBank is subject to periodic examination by the CFPB for purposes of compliance with federal consumer financial laws. A savings institution must demonstrate its ability to manage its compliance responsibilities by establishing an effective and comprehensive oversight and monitoring program. The degree of compliance oversight and monitoring by the institution’s management may be considered in the scope and intensity of examinations of the institution.

Standards for Safety and Soundness. Pursuant to the requirements of the FDIA, the federal bank regulatory agencies have adopted the Interagency Guidelines Establishing Standards for Safety and Soundness (the "Guidelines"). The Guidelines establish general safety and soundness standards relating to internal controls, information and internal audit systems, loan documentation, credit underwriting, interest rate exposure, asset growth, asset quality, earnings and compensation, fees and benefits. In general, the Guidelines require, among other things, appropriate systems and practices to identify and manage the risks and exposures specified in the Guidelines. Currently, if the OCC determines that a federal savings association fails to meet any standard established by the Guidelines, then the OCC may require the federal savings association to submit to the OCC an acceptable plan to achieve compliance. If the federal savings association fails to comply, the OCC may seek an enforcement order in judicial proceedings and impose civil monetary penalties.

In January 2014, the OCC proposed guidelines to establish minimum standards for risk governance that would apply to national banks and federal savings associations with $50 billion or more of average consolidated assets, as well as to smaller institutions that the OCC determines are highly complex or present a heightened risk. While EverBank currently has less than $50 billion in assets, it is not yet known how frequently, or in what instances, the OCC would apply the guidelines to smaller institutions or whether the OCC will develop separate guidelines for smaller institutions in the future.

Prompt Corrective Regulatory Action. Under the Prompt Corrective Action regulations applicable to federal savings associations, the OCC is required to take certain, and is authorized to take other, supervisory actions against undercapitalized savings associations, such as requiring compliance with a capital restoration plan, restricting dividends, asset growth, acquisitions, branching and new lines of business and, in extreme cases, appointment of a receiver or conservator. The severity of the action required or authorized to be taken increases as a federal savings association’s capital deteriorates. Savings associations are classified into five categories of capitalization as “well capitalized,” “adequately capitalized,” “undercapitalized,” “significantly undercapitalized” and “critically undercapitalized.” A savings association’s capital category is determined solely for the purpose of applying prompt corrective action regulations, and the capital category may not constitute an accurate representation of the savings association’s overall financial condition or prospects for other purposes.

With respect to EverBank, effective January 1, 2015, the Basel III Capital Rules revise the “prompt corrective action” regulations pursuant to Section 38 of the FDIA, by (i) introducing a CET1 ratio requirement at each level (other than critically undercapitalized), with the required CET1 ratio being 6.5% for well-capitalized status; (ii) increasing the minimum Tier 1 capital ratio requirement for each category, with the minimum Tier 1 capital ratio for well-capitalized status being 8% (as compared to the current 6%); and (iii) eliminating the current provision that provides that a bank with a composite supervisory rating of 1 may have a 3% leverage ratio and still be adequately capitalized. The total risk-based capital ratio and Tier I leverage ratio requirements remain at 10% and 5%, respectively. Finally, to be considered well capitalized a bank may not be subject to any written agreement, order, capital directive or prompt corrective action directive issued by the OCC, or certain regulations, to meet or maintain a specific capital level for any capital measure.

The OCC categorized EverBank as “well capitalized” following its last examination. At December 31, 2015, EverBank exceeded all regulatory capital requirements and was considered to be “well capitalized” with a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 8.1%, a total risk-based capital ratio of 12.4%, and a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 12.0%. However, there is no assurance that it will continue to be deemed “well capitalized” even if current capital ratios are maintained in the event that asset quality deteriorates.

Insurance Activities. EverBank is generally permitted to engage in certain insurance activities through its subsidiaries. Federal banking regulations implemented pursuant to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLB Act), prohibit, among other things, depository institutions from conditioning the extension of credit to individuals upon either the purchase of an insurance product or annuity or an agreement by the consumer not to purchase an insurance product or annuity from an entity that is not affiliated with the depository institution. The regulations also require prior disclosure of this prohibition to potential insurance product or annuity clients.

Incentive Compensation Arrangements. The Dodd-Frank Act requires the banking agencies and the SEC to establish joint rules or guidelines for financial institutions with more than $1 billion in assets, such as the Company and EverBank, that prohibit incentive compensation arrangements that the agencies determine encourage inappropriate risks by the institution. The banking agencies issued proposed rules in 2011 and previously issued guidance on sound incentive compensation policies, but have not yet finalized any rules. We and EverBank have undertaken efforts to ensure that our incentive compensation plans do not encourage inappropriate risks, consistent with three key principles—that incentive compensation arrangements should appropriately balance risk and financial rewards, be compatible with effective controls and risk management, and be supported by strong corporate governance.

Federal Home Loan Bank System. EverBank is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLB), which is one of the regional banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, which raises funds in the global financial markets and distributes the proceeds to members and local communities. Chartered by Congress in 1932 to support mortgage lending, the Federal Home Loan Bank System provides a stable source of funding to its members. Their products, services and programs help financial institutions manage daily liquidity, fund mortgages originated for sale in the secondary market, fund loans and investments held in portfolio, improve asset/liability management, meet community credit needs, cover temporary deposit outflows, and reduce the funding cost of asset growth.

As a member of the FHLB, EverBank is required to acquire and hold shares of capital stock in the FHLB. EverBank was in compliance with this requirement with an investment in FHLB stock of $264.8 million and $195.2 million as of December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively. EverBank’s capital stock in FHLB includes $545.7 million purchased during 2015 and $494.8 million purchased during 2014. The FHLB repurchased $476.1 million in 2015 and $425.5 million in 2014.

For the year ended December 31, 2015, the FHLB paid dividends of $9.4 million on the capital stock held by EverBank. During the year ended December 31, 2014, the FHLB paid dividends of $5.5 million on the capital stock held by EverBank.

Federal Reserve System. EverBank is subject to provisions of the FRA and the FRB’s regulations pursuant to which depository institutions may be required to maintain reserves against their deposit accounts and certain other liabilities. Currently, savings associations must maintain reserves against transaction accounts (primarily negotiable order of withdrawal and regular interest and noninterest-bearing checking accounts). The FRB regulations establish the specific rates of reserves that must be maintained, which are subject to adjustment by the FRB. EverBank is currently in compliance with those reserve requirements. The required reserves must be maintained in the form of vault cash, a noninterest-bearing account at a Federal Reserve Bank, or a pass-through account as defined by the FRB.

Deposit Insurance

EverBank is a member of the FDIC, and its deposits are insured through the DIF up to the amount permitted by law. EverBank is thus subject to FDIC deposit insurance premium assessments. The assessment base upon which insurance assessments are based is average consolidated total assets less the average tangible equity of the insured depository institution. Assessment rates for large depository institutions, such as EverBank, are calculated using a “scorecard” that combines the supervisory risk ratings of the institution with certain forward-looking financial measures. The assessment rates are subject to adjustments based upon the insured depository institution’s ratio of: (1) long-term unsecured debt to the assessment base, (2) long-term unsecured debt issued by other insured depository institutions to the assessment base, and (3) brokered deposits to the assessment base. However, the adjustments based on brokered deposits to the assessment base will not apply so long as the institution is well capitalized and has a composite CAMELS rating of 1 or 2. The FDIC may make additional discretionary assessment rate adjustments.

The Dodd-Frank Act increased the minimum designated reserve ratio of the DIF from 1.15% to 1.35% of the estimated amount of total insured deposits, and eliminated the requirement that the FDIC pay dividends to depository institutions when the reserve ratio exceeds certain thresholds. Under proposed rules set forth by the FDIC in October 2015, banks such as EverBank with at least $10 billion in assets would pay a surcharge of 4.5 cents per $100 of their assessment base, after making certain adjustments to enable the reserve ratio to reach 1.35 percent after approximately two years of payments of the proposed surcharges.

The FDIC also collects a deposit-based assessment from insured depository institutions on behalf of The Financing Corporation. The funds from these assessments are used to service debt issued by The Financing Corporation in its capacity as a financial vehicle for the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation. The Financing Corporation annualized assessment rate is set quarterly and in the fourth quarter of 2015 was $0.0058 per $100 of assessable deposits. These assessments will continue until the debt matures in 2017 through 2019.

Other Statutes and Regulations

The Company and EverBank are subject to a myriad of other statutes and regulations affecting their activities. Some of the more important include:

Bank Secrecy Act of 1970-Anti-Money Laundering. Financial institutions must maintain anti-money laundering programs that include established internal policies, procedures and controls, a designated compliance officer, an ongoing employee training program; and testing of the program by an independent audit function. The Company and EverBank are also prohibited from entering into specified financial transactions and account relationships and must meet enhanced standards for due diligence and client identification in their dealings with foreign financial institutions and foreign clients. Financial institutions must take reasonable steps to conduct enhanced scrutiny of account relationships to guard against money laundering and to report any suspicious transactions, and law enforcement authorities have been granted increased access to financial information maintained by banks. Anti-money laundering obligations have been substantially strengthened as a result of the USA PATRIOT Act, enacted in 2001 and renewed in 2006. Bank regulators routinely examine institutions for compliance with these obligations and they must consider an institution’s compliance in connection with the regulatory review of applications. Failure of a financial institution to comply with anti-money laundering obligations could have serious legal, reputational and financial consequences for the institution, including causing applicable bank regulatory authorities not to approve merger or acquisition transactions when regulatory approval is required or to prohibit such transactions even if approval is not required. The regulatory authorities have imposed “cease and desist” orders and civil monetary penalties against institutions found to be violating these obligations.

Office of Foreign Assets Control Regulation. The United States has imposed economic sanctions that affect transactions with designated foreign countries, nationals and others which are administered by the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control. Failure to comply with these sanctions could have serious legal and reputational consequences.

Community Reinvestment Act. EverBank is subject to the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, as amended (CRA), and related regulations. The CRA states that all banks have a continuing and affirmative obligation, consistent with safe and sound operation, to help meet the credit needs for their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. The CRA also charges the federal banking regulators, in connection with the examination of the institution or the evaluation of certain regulatory applications filed by the institution, with the responsibility to assess the institution’s record of fulfilling its obligations under the CRA. The federal banking regulators assign an institution a rating of “outstanding,” “satisfactory,” “needs to improve,” or “substantial non-compliance.” The regulatory agency’s assessment of the institution’s record is made available to the public. EverBank received a “satisfactory” rating following its most recent CRA examination.

Privacy and Data Security. Federal banking laws generally prohibit disclosure of consumer information to non-affiliated third parties unless the consumer has been given the opportunity to object and has not objected to such disclosure. Financial institutions are further required to disclose their privacy policies to consumers annually. Financial institutions, however, will be required to comply with state law if it is more protective of consumer privacy than federal law. Under federal law, federal regulators, including the OCC, must prescribe standards for the security of consumer information. EverBank is subject to such standards, as well as standards for notifying clients in the event of a security breach. Under federal law, EverBank must disclose its privacy policy to consumers, permit clients to opt out of having nonpublic client information disclosed to third parties in certain circumstances, and allow clients to opt out of receiving marketing solicitations based on information about the client received from another subsidiary. States may adopt more extensive privacy protections. EverBank is similarly required to have an information security program to safeguard the confidentiality and security of client information and to ensure proper disposal. Clients must be notified when unauthorized disclosure involves sensitive client information that may be misused.

Consumer Regulation. Activities of EverBank are subject to a variety of statutes and regulations designed to protect consumers. These laws and regulations include, among numerous other things, provisions that:


•	limit the interest and other charges collected or contracted for by EverBank, including rules respecting the terms of credit cards and of debit card overdrafts;


•	govern EverBank’s disclosures of credit terms to consumer borrowers;


•	require EverBank to provide information to enable the public and public officials to determine whether it is fulfilling its obligation to help meet the housing needs of the community it serves;


•	prohibit EverBank from discriminating on the basis of race, creed or other prohibited factors when it makes decisions to extend credit;


•	govern the manner in which EverBank may collect consumer debts; and


•	prohibit unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices in the provision of consumer financial products and services.

The CFPB adopted a rule that implements the ability-to-repay and qualified mortgage provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act (the “ATR/QM rule”), which took effect on January 10, 2014, and has impacted our residential mortgage lending practices, and the residential mortgage market generally. The ATR/QM rule requires lenders to consider, among other things, income, employment status, assets, payment amounts, and credit history before approving a mortgage, and provides a compliance “safe harbor” for lenders that issue certain “qualified mortgages.” The ATR/QM rule defines a “qualified mortgage” to have certain specified characteristics, and generally prohibit loans with negative amortization, interest-only payments, balloon payments, or terms exceeding 30 years from being qualified mortgages. The rule also establishes general underwriting criteria for qualified mortgages, including that monthly payments be calculated based on the highest payment that will apply in the first five years of the loan and that the borrower have a total debt-to-income ratio that is less than or equal to 43 percent. While “qualified mortgages” will generally be afforded safe harbor status, a rebuttable presumption of compliance with the ability-to-repay requirements will attach to “qualified mortgages” that are “higher priced mortgages” (which are generally subprime loans). In addition, the banking regulators have issued final rules that require the securitizer of asset-backed securities to retain not less than 5 percent of the credit risk of the assets collateralizing the asset-backed securities, unless subject to an exemption for asset-backed securities that are collateralized exclusively by residential mortgages that qualify as “qualified residential mortgages.” These definitions are expected to significantly shape the parameters for the majority of consumer mortgage lending in the U.S.

Reflecting the CFPB's focus on the residential mortgage lending market, the CFPB has also issued rules to implement requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act pertaining to mortgage loan origination (including with respect to loan originator compensation and loan originator qualifications) and has finalized integrated mortgage disclosure rules that replace and combine certain requirements under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. In addition, the CFPB has issued rules that require servicers to comply with new standards and practices with regard to: error correction; information disclosure; force-placement of insurance; information management policies and procedures; requiring information about mortgage loss mitigation options be provided to delinquent borrowers; providing delinquent borrowers access to servicer personnel with continuity of contact about the borrower’s mortgage loan account; and evaluating borrowers’ applications for available loss mitigation options. These rules also address initial rate adjustment notices for ARMs, periodic statements for residential mortgage loans, and prompt crediting of mortgage payments and response to requests for payoff amounts. The CFPB has indicated that it expects to issue additional mortgage-related rules in the future.

It is anticipated that the CFPB will engage in numerous other rulemakings in the near term that may impact our business, as the CFPB has indicated that, in addition to specific statutory mandates, it is working on a wide range of initiatives to address issues in markets for consumer financial products and services, such as revisions to privacy notice requirements, new rules for deposit advance products, new rules regarding prepaid cards, new rules regarding debt collection practices, and amendments to the funds availability requirements of Regulation CC. The CFPB has also undertaken an effort to “streamline” consumer regulations and has established a database to collect, track and make public consumer complaints, including complaints against individual financial institutions.

The CFPB also has broad authority to prohibit unfair, deceptive and abusive acts and practices (UDAAP) and to investigate and penalize financial institutions that violate this prohibition. While the statutory language of the Dodd-Frank Act sets forth the standards for acts and practices that violate this prohibition, certain aspects of these standards are untested, which has created some uncertainty regarding how the CFPB will exercise this authority. The CFPB has, however, begun to bring enforcement actions against certain financial institutions for UDAAP violations and issued some guidance on the topic, which provides insight into the agency’s expectations regarding these standards. Among other things, CFPB guidance and its UDAAP-related enforcement actions have emphasized that management of third-party service providers is essential to effective UDAAP compliance and that the CFPB is particularly focused on marketing and sales practices.

We cannot fully predict the effect that being regulated by a new, additional regulatory authority focused on consumer financial protection, or any new implementing regulations or revisions to existing regulations that may result from the establishment of this new authority, will have on our businesses.

The deposit operations of EverBank are also subject to laws and regulations that:


•	require EverBank to adequately disclose the interest rates and other terms of consumer deposit accounts;


•	impose a duty on EverBank to maintain the confidentiality of consumer financial records and prescribe procedures for complying with administrative subpoenas of financial records;


•	require escheatment of unclaimed funds to the appropriate state agencies after the passage of certain statutory time frames; and


•	govern automatic deposits to and withdrawals from deposit accounts with EverBank and the rights and liabilities of clients who use ATMs, and other electronic banking services.

EverBank will likely face a significant increase in its consumer compliance regulatory burden as a result of the heightened oversight by the CFPB and the significant rollback of federal preemption of state laws in the area.

Commercial Real Estate Lending. Lending operations that involve concentrations of commercial real estate loans are subject to enhanced scrutiny by federal banking regulators. Regulators have issued guidance with respect to the risks posed by commercial real estate lending concentrations. Commercial real estate loans generally include land development, construction loans and loans secured by multifamily property and non-farm, non-residential real property where the primary source of repayment is derived from rental income associated with the property. The guidance prescribes the following guidelines for examiners to help identify institutions that are potentially exposed to concentration risk and may warrant greater supervisory scrutiny:


•	total reported loans for construction, land development and other land represent 100% or more of the institution’s total capital; or


•	total commercial real estate loans represent 300% or more of the institution’s total capital, and the outstanding balance of the institution’s commercial real estate loan portfolio has increased by 50% or more during the prior 36 months.

Employees

As of December 31, 2015, we had approximately 3,000 employees. None of our employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements. We consider our relationships with our employees to be good.

Website Access

Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports can be found free of charge on our website at https://about.everbank/investors as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The SEC maintains a website, www.sec.gov, which contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is available on our website at https://about.everbank/investors. Printed copies of this information may be obtained, without charge, by written request to our Investor Relations department at 501 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32202.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business

General business and economic conditions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our businesses and operations are sensitive to general business and economic conditions in the United States. If the growth of the United States economy slows, or if the economy worsens or enters into a recession, our growth and profitability could be constrained. In addition, economic conditions in foreign countries can affect the stability of global financial markets, which could impact the U.S. economy and financial markets. Weak economic conditions are characterized by deflation, fluctuations in debt and equity capital markets, including a lack of liquidity and/or depressed prices in the secondary market for mortgage loans, increased delinquencies on mortgage, consumer and commercial loans, residential and commercial real estate price declines and lower home sales and commercial activity. All of these factors are detrimental to our business. Our business is significantly affected by monetary and related policies of the U.S. federal government, its agencies and government-sponsored entities, or GSEs. Changes in any of these policies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Liquidity risk could impair our ability to fund operations and jeopardize our financial condition.

Liquidity is essential to our business. Actions by the FHLB, or the FRB, may reduce our borrowing capacity. Additionally, we may not be able to attract deposits at competitive rates. An inability to raise funds through traditional deposits, brokered deposits, borrowings, the sale of securities or loans and other sources could have a substantial negative effect on our liquidity or result in increased funding costs. Furthermore, we invest in several asset classes, including significant investments in mortgage servicing rights (MSR), which may be less liquid in certain markets. Liquidity may also be adversely impacted by bank supervisory and regulatory authorities mandating changes in the composition of our balance sheet to asset classes that are less liquid.

Our access to funding sources in amounts adequate to finance our activities or on terms that are acceptable to us could be impaired by factors that affect us specifically or the financial services industry or economy in general. Factors that could detrimentally impact our access to liquidity sources include a downturn in the markets in which our loans are concentrated or adverse regulatory action against us. In addition, our access to deposits may be affected by the liquidity and/or cash flow needs of depositors. Although we have historically been able to replace maturing deposits and FHLB advances as necessary, we might not be able to replace such funds in the future and can lose a relatively inexpensive source of funds and increase our funding costs if, among other things, clients move funds out of bank deposits and into alternative investments, such as the stock market, that are perceived as providing superior expected returns. Furthermore, an inability to increase our deposit base at all or at attractive rates would impede our ability to fund our continued growth, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our ability to raise funds through deposits or borrowings could also be impaired by factors that are not specific to us, such as a disruption in the financial markets or negative views and expectations about the prospects for the financial services industry.

Although we consider our sources of funds adequate for our liquidity needs, we may be compelled to seek additional sources of financing in the future. We may be required to seek additional regulatory capital through capital raising at terms that may be very dilutive to existing common stockholders. Likewise, we may need to incur additional debt in the future to achieve our business objectives or for other reasons. Any borrowings, if sought, may not be available to us or, if available, may not be on favorable terms.

Our financial results are significantly affected in a number of ways by changes in interest rates, which may make our results volatile from quarter to quarter.

Most of our assets and liabilities are monetary in nature, which subjects us to significant risks from changes in interest rates and can impact our net income and the valuation of our assets and liabilities. Our operating results depend to a great extent on our net interest margin, which is the difference between the amount of interest income we earn and the amount of interest expense we incur. If the rate of interest we pay on our interest-bearing deposits, borrowings and other liabilities increases more than the rate of interest we receive on loans, securities and other interest-earning assets, our net interest income, and therefore our earnings, would be adversely affected. Our earnings also could be adversely affected if the rates on our loans and other investments fall more quickly than those on our deposits, borrowings and other liabilities. Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors beyond our control, including competition, general economic conditions and monetary and fiscal policies of various governmental and regulatory authorities, including the FRB. The FRB recently raised short-term interest rates, which will increase our short term borrowing costs and may reduce our profit margins in the near term. A sustained low interest rate environment could decrease our loan yields and reduce our profit margins. Alternatively, mortgage origination volume and revenues usually decline during periods of rising or high interest rates and increase during periods of declining or low interest rates.

Changes in interest rates also have a significant impact on the fair value of a significant percentage of the assets on our balance sheet. Our MSR are valued based on a number of factors, including assumptions about borrower repayment rates, which are heavily influenced by prevailing interest rates. When interest rates fall, borrowers are usually more likely to prepay their mortgage loans by refinancing them at a lower rate. As the likelihood of prepayment increases, the fair value of our MSR can decrease, which, in turn, may reduce earnings in the period in which the decrease occurs.

In addition, mortgage loans held for sale for which an active secondary market and readily available market prices exist and other interests we hold related to residential loan sales and securitizations are carried at fair value. The value of these assets may be negatively affected by changes in interest rates. We may not correctly or adequately hedge this risk, and even if we do hedge the risk with derivatives and other instruments, we may still incur significant losses from changes in the value of these assets or from changes in the value of the hedging instruments.

Even though originating mortgage loans, which benefit from declining rates, and servicing mortgage loans, which benefit from rising rates, can act as a “natural hedge” to soften the overall impact of changes in rates on our consolidated financial results, the hedge is not perfect, either in amount or timing. For example, the negative effect on revenue from a decrease in the fair value of residential MSR is generally immediate, but any offsetting revenue benefit from more originations and the MSR relating to the new loans would generally accrue over time.

We enter into forward starting swaps as a hedging strategy related to our expected future issuances of debt. This hedging strategy allows us to fix the interest rate margin between our interest earning assets and our interest bearing liabilities. A continued prolonged period of lower interest rates could affect the duration of our interest earning assets and adversely impact our operations in future periods.

As of December 31, 2015, the fair value of our securities portfolio was approximately $0.7 billion, of which approximately 84% was comprised of residential nonagency investment securities. Factors beyond our control can significantly influence the fair value of securities in our portfolio and can cause potential adverse changes to the fair value of these securities including changes in market interest rates and continued instability in the credit markets. Because of changing economic and market conditions affecting issuers and the performance of the underlying collateral, we may recognize realized and/or unrealized losses in future periods, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Additionally in a rising rate environment, there may not be a market for loans which were originated at a lower interest rate than currently available. We expect to redeliver into the secondary markets certain loans, such as Ginnie Mae (GNMA) pool buyouts, therby thereby, decreasing their duration. In the event that interest rates rise, and there is no market for such loans in the secondary market, we may be required to hold these loans for a significantly longer period of time than anticipated, which could negatively impact our net interest margin.

Rising interest rates may also increase the cost of our deposits, which are a primary source of funding. Deposits are a low cost and stable source of funding. We compete with banks and other financial institutions for deposits. In a rising rate environment, our funding costs may increase if we lose deposits and replace them with more expensive sources of funding, clients may shift their deposits into higher cost products or we may need to raise our interest rates to avoid losing deposits. Higher funding costs reduce net interest margin, net interest income and net income.

Our commercial real estate loan portfolio and mortgage warehouse portfolio exposes us to risks that may be greater than the risks related to our other mortgage loans.

At December 31, 2015, our commercial real estate loans, net of discounts, were $3.7 billion, or approximately 17% of our total loan and lease portfolio, net of allowances. Commercial real estate loans generally carry larger loan balances and involve a greater degree of financial and credit risk than residential mortgage loans or home equity loans. The repayment of these loans is typically dependent upon the successful operation of the related real estate or commercial projects. If the cash flow from the project is reduced, a borrower’s ability to repay the loan may be impaired. Furthermore, the repayment of commercial mortgage loans is generally less predictable and more difficult to evaluate and monitor and collateral may be more difficult to dispose of in a market decline. In such cases, we may be compelled to modify the terms of the loan or engage in other potentially expensive work-out techniques. Any significant failure by our borrowers to timely repay their loans would adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows.

Our mortgage warehouse finance portfolio totaled $2.4 billion, or 11% of our total loan portfolio, net of allowances, at December 31, 2015. These lines of credit represent large, short-term, revolving facilities provided to financial services companies, typically mortgage banking companies, with a total commitment amount of $3.5 billion extended to 38 borrowers at December 31, 2015. These financial services companies utilize their lines of credit to fund transactions, which are primarily collateralized by agency and government residential loans they originated. The repayment of outstanding borrowings on these lines is typically dependent upon the borrowers ability to sell the loans they originated into the secondary market. In the event loans originated by these borrowers cannot be sold on the secondary market, their ability to repay us may be

negatively affected. Due to this risk and the size of the exposure to any one borrower, the failure of one borrower to repay us could adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows.

Additionally in the event that a mortgage warehouse finance customer defaults, we would be required to take control of their collateral including the loans associated with the repurchase agreements and the related MSR that we are financing onto our balance sheet. The Basel III Capital Rules, among other things, limit our ability to include certain assets, including MSR, in our calculation of our regulatory capital ratios over a certain threshold. If we are required to add a significant amount of MSR above this threshold, we may be unable to effectively manage our regulatory capital ratios and may fall below well capitalized and/or required levels.

We may become subject to additional risks as a result of the growth of our commercial lending business.

Our expansion into commercial lending could expose us to new markets where we have little commercial experience, which could result in losses that would affect our financial results. Historically we have primarily originated commercial loans in Florida, however over the past several years, we have developed a platform to generate commercial loans nationally. If we do not maintain strong underwriting standards we may suffer losses if these loans fail to perform.

We may be required to make further increases in our provisions for loan and lease losses and to charge-off additional loans and leases in the future, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Despite low interest rates and a recovering real estate market, other weak economic data and global concerns remain. We maintain an allowance for loan and lease losses (ALLL), which is a reserve established through a provision for loan and lease loss expense that represents management’s best estimate of probable losses inherent in our loan portfolio. The level of the allowance reflects management’s judgment with respect to:


•	continuing evaluation of specific credit risks;


•	loan loss experience;


•	current loan and lease portfolio quality;


•	present economic, political and regulatory conditions;


•	industry concentrations; and


•	other unidentified losses inherent in the current loan portfolio.

The determination of the appropriate level of the allowance for loan and lease losses involves a high degree of subjectivity and judgment and requires us to make significant estimates of current credit risks and future trends, all of which may undergo material changes. Changes in economic conditions affecting borrowers, new information regarding existing loans, identification of additional problem loans and other factors both within and outside of our control, may require an increase in the allowance for loan and lease losses.

In addition, bank regulatory agencies periodically review our allowance for loan and lease losses and may require an increase in the provision for loan losses or the recognition of further loan charge-offs, based on judgments different than those of management. Any adjustments made to the ALLL resulting from regulatory review must be an adjustment to the ALLL in accordance with GAAP. If charge-offs in future periods exceed the allowance for loan and lease losses, we may need additional provisions to increase the allowance for loan and lease losses, which would result in a decrease in net income and capital, and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The returns on our government insured mortgage pool buyouts could decrease as a result of changes in foreclosure timelines and costs.

We have a history of servicing Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. As a servicer, the buyout opportunity is the right to purchase above market rate, government insured loans at par (i.e., the amount that has to be passed through to the GNMA security holder when repurchased). Each loan in a GNMA pool is insured or guaranteed by one of several federal government agencies, including the Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans’ Affairs or the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service. The loans must at all times comply with the requirements for maintaining such insurance or guarantee.

We expect loans that go through the foreclosure process will be settled generally within one to two years depending on the state’s foreclosure timelines. Changes to foreclosure regulations, bankruptcy proceedings, loss mitigation requirements and our inability to timely process foreclosures could extend the duration that these loans are held on our balance sheet. To the extent these risks extend the duration, our foreclosure costs and net interest margin could be negatively impacted. Operational capacity poses a risk to the claim through missed servicing milestones. Servicing operations must comply with the government agencies' servicing requirements in order to avoid interest curtailments (principal is not at risk).

Our business and financial performance could be adversely affected, directly or indirectly, by disasters, by terrorist activities or by international hostilities.

Neither the occurrence nor the potential impact of disasters, terrorist activities and international hostilities can be predicted. However, these occurrences could impact us directly as a result of damage to our facilities or by preventing us from conducting our business in the ordinary course, or indirectly as a result of their impact on our borrowers, the value of collateral, depositors, other clients, suppliers or other counterparties. We could also suffer adverse consequences to the extent that disasters, terrorist activities or international hostilities affect the financial markets or the economy in general or in any particular region.

Our ability to mitigate the adverse consequences of such occurrences is in part dependent on the quality of our resiliency planning, and our ability, if any, to anticipate the nature of any such event that occurs. The adverse impact of disasters or terrorist activities or international hostilities also could be increased to the extent that there is a lack of preparedness on the part of national or regional emergency responders or on the part of other organizations and businesses that we deal with, particularly those that we depend upon but have no control over.

A significant portion of our loan portfolio is concentrated in California and Florida and events or circumstances which adversely affect the economies or real estate values in those states could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

For the year ended December 31, 2015, approximately 29% and 8% of our residential loan portfolio was secured by real estate located in California and Florida, respectively, and 12% and 9% of our commercial and commercial real estate portfolios were secured by businesses

and real estate located in California and Florida, respectively. Our loan concentration in these states subjects us to risk that a downturn in the local economy in either California or Florida could result in increases in delinquencies and foreclosures or losses on these loans. In addition, the occurrence of natural disasters in California or Florida, such as earthquakes or hurricanes, or man-made disasters, could result in a decline in the value or destruction of our mortgaged properties and an increase in the risk of delinquencies or foreclosures. The occurrence of any one of these factors could result in a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Conditions in the residential real estate market and higher than normal delinquency and default rates could adversely affect our business.

The origination and servicing of residential mortgages is a significant component of our business and our earnings may be adversely affected if real estate markets weaken and delinquency and default rates increase. If the frequency and severity of our loan delinquencies and default rates increase, we could experience losses on loans held for investment and on newly originated or purchased loans that we hold for sale. We may need to further increase our reserves for foreclosures if foreclosure rates increase.

A deteriorating real estate market and higher than normal delinquency and default rates on loans have other adverse consequences for our mortgage banking business, including:


•	cash flows and capital resources are reduced, as we are required to make cash advances to meet contractual obligations to investors, process foreclosures, maintain, repair and market foreclosed properties;


•	mortgage service fee revenues decline because we recognize these revenues only upon collection;


•	net interest income may decline and interest expense may increase due to lower average cash and capital balances and higher capital funding requirements;


•	mortgage and loan servicing costs rise;


•	an inability to sell our MSR in the capital markets due to reduced liquidity;


•	amortization and impairment charges on our MSR increase; and


•	realized and unrealized losses on and declines in the liquidity of securities held in our investment portfolio that are collateralized by mortgage obligations.

We may be required to repurchase mortgage loans with identified defects, indemnify the investor or guarantor, or reimburse the investor for credit loss incurred on the loan in the event of a material breach of representations or warranties.

We may be required to repurchase mortgage loans or reimburse investors as a result of breaches in contractual representations and warranties from our sales of loans we originate and servicing of loans originated by other parties. We conduct these activities under contractual provisions that include various representations and warranties, which typically cover ownership of the loan, compliance with loan criteria set forth in the applicable agreement, validity of the lien securing the loan and similar matters. We may be required to repurchase mortgage loans with identified defects, indemnify the investor or guarantor, or reimburse the investor for credit loss incurred on the loan in the event of a material breach of such contractual representations or warranties.

We experienced increased levels of repurchase demands beginning in 2010, which has led to material increases in our loan repurchase reserves relative to historical levels. We may need to increase such reserves in the future, which would adversely affect net income. As of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, our loan repurchase reserve for loans that we sold or securitized was $4.3 million, $25.9 million and $20.2 million, respectively, representing a 83% decrease during 2015 and a 28% increase during 2014.

In addition, we also service residential mortgage loans where a GSE is the owner of the underlying mortgage loan asset. Prior to late 2009, we had not historically experienced a significant amount of repurchases related to the servicing of mortgage loans as we were indemnified by the seller of the servicing rights, but due to the failures of several of our counterparties, we have since experienced losses related to the repurchase of loans from GSEs and subsequent disposal or payment demands from the GSEs. As of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, our reserve for servicing repurchase losses was $1.8 million, $2.9 million and $23.7 million, respectively, representing a 39% decrease during 2015 and an 88% decrease during 2014.

Moreover, increased enforcement activity related to FHA-insured loans may present risk to us under the federal False Claims Act and other similar federal laws. While the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) may use its authority to seek civil money penalties, request indemnification of FHA insurance claims, and impose other penalties related to origination and servicing deficiencies in FHA loans, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently entered into several major agreements with FHA lenders to settle allegations of false claims in connection with the underwriting of FHA-insured loans and compliance with other FHA program requirements. These settlement agreements have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement payments to the United States and HUD, as well as dedicated funds to be used for borrower assistance. As the False Claims Act permits the federal government to recover treble damages for claims based on false certifications, the potential liability for an FHA lender submitting insurance claims on the loans it originates could be significant.

If future repurchase demands remain at heightened levels or further increase, the severity of the repurchase requests increase, our success at appealing repurchase or other requests differs from past experience, or we are faced with increased FHA enforcement, we may need to increase our loan repurchase reserves, and increased repurchase obligations could adversely affect our financial position and results of operations. For additional information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Loans Subject to Representations and Warranties.”

We own government insured loans which are serviced by third parties, and in the event those third parties fail to service the loans in accordance with applicable servicing guidelines, we may not be able to recover the full value of the interest payments and fees on the loans which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Certain loans we own are serviced by third parties. Generally when a loan is in default the servicer continues to make advances, and once the loan is foreclosed upon, the government entities insuring the loan will remit the principal, the guaranteed interest and the advanced fees to the loan owner. However, if the loan is in default and the servicer has not been abiding by the servicing guidelines, the government entities will remit to the loan owner the principal for the loan, but may not pay to the loan owner the full guaranteed interest or advanced fees during the time from when the servicer failed on its obligations up to and through the date of foreclosure on the loan. As the loan owner, we would not suffer any loss of principal, but we could be required to advance fees on the loans, without receiving payment from the government entities for those fees, and not receive a portion or all of the guaranteed interest. While we would have a cause of action against the third party servicer, in the event

that such third party was insolvent or unable to pay, then we would suffer these losses without recourse. As a result our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our concentration of mass-affluent clients and “jumbo” mortgages in our residential mortgage portfolio makes us particularly vulnerable to a downturn in high-end real estate values and economic factors disproportionately affecting affluent consumers of financial services.

The FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will only purchase or guarantee so-called “conforming” loans, which may not exceed certain principal amount thresholds. As of December 31, 2015, a majority of our residential mortgage loans held for investment that are not government insured was comprised of “jumbo” loans based on the current threshold of $417,000 in most states, and 84% of the carrying value of our securities portfolio was comprised of residential nonagency investment securities, substantially all of which are backed by jumbo loans. Jumbo loans have principal balances exceeding the agency thresholds, and tend to be less liquid than conforming loans, which may make it more difficult for us to rapidly rebalance our portfolio and risk profile than is the case for financial institutions with higher concentrations of conforming loan assets. In addition, real estate securing jumbo loans tends to be concentrated in certain limited markets and real estate prices in those markets have historically been more volatile than in the median price range markets, which affects the default rates and the marketability of these jumbo mortgages. As a result, liquidity in the capital markets for such assets could be diminished and we could be faced with an inability to dispose of such assets or fully recover our losses in the event of a default.

Hedging strategies that we use to manage our mortgage pipeline may be ineffective to mitigate the risk of changes in interest rates.

We typically use derivatives and other instruments to hedge a portion of our mortgage banking interest rate risk. Hedging is a complex process, requiring sophisticated models and constant monitoring, and is subject to error. We may use hedging instruments tied to U.S. Treasury rates, London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), or Eurodollars that may not perfectly correlate with the value or income being hedged. Our mortgage pipeline consists of our commitments to purchase mortgage loans, or interest rate locks, and funded mortgage loans that will be sold in the secondary market. The risk associated with the mortgage pipeline is that interest rates will fluctuate between the time we commit to purchase a loan at a pre-determined price, or the client locks in the interest rate on a loan, and the time we sell or commit to sell the mortgage loan. Generally if interest rates increase, the value of an unhedged mortgage pipeline decreases, and gain on sale margins are adversely impacted. Typically, we economically hedge the risk of overall changes in fair value of loans held for sale by either entering into forward loan sale agreements, selling forward Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage backed securities (MBS) or using other derivative instruments to economically hedge loan commitments and to create fair value hedges against the funded loan portfolios. We generally do not hedge all of the interest rate risk on our mortgage portfolio and have not historically hedged the risk of changes in the fair value of our MSR resulting from changes in interest rates. To the extent we fail to appropriately reduce our exposure to interest rate changes, our financial results may be adversely affected.

We may experience higher delinquencies on our equipment leases and reductions in the resale value of leased equipment.

The realization of equipment values (i.e., residual values) during the life and at the end of the term of a lease is an important element of our commercial finance 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 expected disposition date. A decrease in the market value of leased equipment at a rate greater than the rate we projected, whether due to rapid technological or economic obsolescence, unusual or excessive wear-and-tear on the equipment, recession or other adverse economic conditions, or other factors, would adversely affect the current or the residual values of such equipment. Further, certain equipment residual values are dependent on the manufacturer’s or vendor’s warranties, reputation and other factors, including market liquidity. In addition, we may not realize the full market value of equipment if we are required to sell it to meet liquidity needs or for other reasons outside of the ordinary course of business. Consequently, we may not realize our estimated residual values for equipment. If we are unable to realize the expected value of a substantial portion of the equipment under lease, our business could be adversely affected.

Fluctuations in national, regional and local economic conditions may increase the level of charge-offs that we make to our lease portfolio, and, consequently, reduce our net income. We are not protected for all losses and any charge-off or related losses that we experience will negatively impact our results of operations.

We may become subject to a number of risks if we elect to pursue acquisitions and may not be able to acquire and integrate acquisition targets successfully if we choose to do so.

As we have done in the past, we may pursue acquisitions as part of our growth strategy. We may consider acquisitions of loans or securities portfolios, lending or leasing firms, commercial and small business lenders, residential lenders, direct banks, banks or bank branches, wealth and investment management firms, securities brokerage firms, specialty finance or other financial services-related companies. We expect that competition for suitable acquisition targets may be significant. Additionally, we must generally receive federal regulatory approval before we can acquire an institution or business. Such regulatory approval may be denied or, if granted, could be subject to conditions that materially affect the terms of the acquisition or our ability to capture some of the opportunities presented by the acquisition. We may not be able to successfully identify and acquire suitable acquisition targets on terms and conditions we consider to be acceptable.

Even if suitable candidates are identified and we succeed in consummating these transactions, acquisitions involve risks that may adversely affect our market value and profitability. These risks include, among other things: credit risk associated with acquired loans and investments; retaining, attracting and integrating personnel; loss of clients; reputational risks; difficulties in integrating or operating acquired businesses or assets; and potential disruption of our ongoing business operations and diversion of management’s attention. Through our acquisitions we may also assume unknown or undisclosed liabilities, fail to properly assess known contingent liabilities or assume businesses with internal control deficiencies. While in most of our transactions we seek to mitigate these risks through, among other things, adequate due diligence and indemnification provisions, we cannot be certain that the due diligence we have conducted is adequate or that the indemnification provisions and other risk mitigants we put in place will be sufficient.

Our stock price will fluctuate.

The market price and volume of our common stock is subject to fluctuations due not only to general stock market conditions but also to a change in sentiment in the market regarding our industry generally, as well as investor concern about our operations, financial results, liquidity and capital positions. In addition to the risk factors discussed above, the price and volume volatility of our common stock may be affected by, among other issues:


•	our financial performance;


•	operating results that vary from the expectations of securities analysts and investors;


•	the operating results of companies in our industry;


•	announcements of strategic acquisitions, developments and other material events by us or our competitors;


•	changes in global financial markets and global economies and general market conditions;


•	changes in laws and regulations affecting our business; and


•	market prices for our securities.

Stock price volatility and a decrease in our stock price could make it difficult for us to raise equity capital or, if we are able to raise equity capital, could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders.

Certain of our stockholders have director nomination rights through which they may influence the actions taken by us, and their interests may not align with our interests or the interests of our other stockholders.

Pursuant to an agreement between us and Sageview Partners L.P., (Sageview), Sageview has the right to designate a representative to be included in management’s slate of nominees recommended to stockholders of the Company for election as a member of our Board of Directors and has the right to appoint an observer who is permitted to attend meetings of our Board of Directors. In addition pursuant to an agreement between us and Lovett Miller Venture Fund II, Limited Partnership and Lovett Miller Venture Fund III, Limited Partnership, or together, Lovett Miller, Lovett Miller has the right to appoint an observer who is permitted to attend meetings of our Board of Directors.

These director nomination rights and observer rights will generally survive for each of Sageview and Lovett Miller, respectively, so long as such stockholder continues to own a specified percentage of the Company’s common stock. As of December 31, 2015, Lovett Miller owns 851,975 shares of our common stock, or 0.68%, and Sageview owns 10,312,230 shares of our common stock, or 8.2%. As a result of their significant holdings of our common stock, and, in the case of Sageview, its right to designate a member of our Board of Directors, these stockholders are expected to be able to exert significant influence over our policies and management, potentially in a manner which may not be in our other stockholders’ best interests.

We may issue a new series of preferred stock or debt securities, which would be senior to our common stock and may cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

We have issued one series of preferred stock, the Series A Preferred Stock and $175.0 million aggregate principal amount of 5.75% subordinated notes due 2025. In the future, we may increase our capital resources by making additional offerings of debt or equity securities, which may include senior or additional subordinated notes, classes of preferred shares and/or common shares. Holders of our common stock are not entitled to preemptive rights or other protections against dilution. Preferred shares and debt, if issued, have a preference on liquidating distributions or a preference on dividend or interest payments that could limit our ability to make a distribution to the holders of our common stock. Future issuances and sales of parity preferred stock, or the perception that such issuances and sales could occur, may also cause prevailing market prices for the Series A Preferred Stock and our common stock to decline and may adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital in the financial markets at times and prices favorable to us. Further issuances of our common stock could be dilutive to holders of our common stock.

We are exposed to risks associated with our computer systems, third party provider systems and online commerce, including “hacking” and “identity theft.”

We operate primarily as an online bank with a small number of financial center locations and, as such, we conduct a substantial portion of our business over the Internet. We rely heavily upon data processing, including loan servicing and deposit processing, software, communications and information systems from a number of third parties to conduct our business.

Third party or internal systems and networks may fail to operate properly or become disabled due to deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Our operations can be vulnerable to disruptions from human error, natural disasters, power outages and other unforeseen events. More specifically our internal systems and networks can be subject to computer viruses and cyber-attacks, such as denial of service attacks, spam attacks, hacking or identity theft. In addition, hardware, software, or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise our information security. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to gain access to our systems or facilities, or those of third parties with whom we do business, through fraud, trickery, or other forms of deceiving our team members, contractors, and temporary staff. Financial institutions have reported breaches in the security of their websites or other systems, some of which have involved sophisticated and targeted attacks intended to obtain unauthorized access to confidential information, destroy data, disable or degrade services, or sabotage systems, often through the introduction of computer viruses or malware, cyber-attacks and other means.

We and our third party vendors have been subject to cyber attacks, and although we have not experienced a cyber incident which has been successful in compromising our data to date, we can never be certain that all of our systems are entirely free from vulnerability to breaches of security or other technological difficulties or failures. These events may obstruct our ability to provide services and process transactions for our clients. While we believe that we are in compliance with all applicable privacy and data security laws, an incident could put our client confidential information at risk. We monitor and modify, as necessary, our protective measures in response to the perpetual evolution of cyber threats. As threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate information security vulnerabilities. Furthermore, due to the nature of cyber attacks, we may fail to discover a cyber attack on our systems, which could continue over several months before it is identified and curtailed.

A breach in the security of any of our information systems, or other cyber incidents, could have an adverse impact on, among other things, our revenue, ability to attract and maintain clients and business reputation. In addition, as a result of any breach, we could incur higher costs to conduct our business, to increase protection, or to remediate any breach. Furthermore, as we are ultimately accountable for the actions of the third parties that support us, our clients could hold us accountable and terminate their accounts due to a cyber incident that occurs on their own system or one of our third party partners. If we or our vendors experience a significant data security breach or fail to detect and appropriately respond to significant data security breaches, we would be exposed to government enforcement actions, civil litigation and possible financial liability.

Our business may be impaired if a third party infringes on our intellectual property rights.

Our business depends heavily upon intellectual property that we have developed and will develop in the future. Monitoring infringement of intellectual property rights is difficult, and the steps we have taken may not prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property. In the past, we have had to engage in enforcement actions to protect our trademarks and copyrights from infringement and our domain names

from theft, including administrative proceedings. We may in the future be unable to prevent third parties from acquiring trademark registrations or domain names that infringe or otherwise decrease the value of our trademarks and other intellectual property rights. Intellectual property theft on the Internet is relatively widespread, and individuals anywhere in the world can “scrape” our content or purchase infringing domains or use our service marks on their pay-per-click sites to draw clients for competitors while exploiting our service marks, or worse, engage in “phishing” to lure our clients into providing personal information. To the extent that we are unable to rapidly locate and stop an infringement, our intellectual property assets may become devalued and our brand may be tarnished. Third parties may also challenge, invalidate or circumvent our intellectual property rights and protections, registrations and licenses. Intellectual property litigation is expensive, and the outcome of an action could negatively impact our business, brand and profitability.

We may become involved in intellectual property or other disputes that could harm our business.

Third parties may assert claims against us, asserting that our marks, services, content in any medium, website processes, or software applications infringe their intellectual property rights. The laws and regulations governing intellectual property rights are continually evolving and subject to differing interpretations. Trademark owners often engage in litigation in state or federal courts or oppositions in the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a strategy to broaden the scope of their trademark rights. Patent owners, particularly non-practicing entities, often pursue enforcement of broad patents that can be construed to embrace aspects of EverBank services or operations. If any infringement claim is successful against us, we may be required to pay substantial damages or we may need to seek to obtain a license of the other party’s intellectual property rights. We also could lose the expected future benefit of our marketing and advertising spending or software development costs. Moreover, we may be prohibited from providing our services or using content that incorporates the challenged intellectual property.

The soundness of other financial institutions could adversely affect us.

Financial services institutions are interrelated as a result of trading, clearing, custody, counterparty or other relationships. At various times, we may have significant exposure to a relatively small group of counterparties, and we routinely execute transactions with counterparties in the financial services industry, including brokers and dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, mutual and hedge funds and other institutional clients. Many of these transactions expose us to credit risk in the event of default of a counterparty or client. In addition, our credit risk may be exacerbated when the collateral held by us cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices insufficient to recover the full amount of the loan or derivative exposure due to us. Losses suffered through such increased credit risk exposure could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We face increased risks with respect to our WorldCurrency® and other market-based deposit products.

As of December 31, 2015, we had outstanding market-based deposits of $0.7 billion, representing approximately 4% of our total deposits, the significant majority of which are WorldCurrency® deposits. Many of our WorldCurrency® depositors have chosen such products in order to diversify their portfolios with respect to foreign currencies. Appreciation of the U.S. dollar relative to foreign currencies, political and economic disruptions in foreign markets or significant changes in commodity prices or securities indices could significantly reduce the demand for our WorldCurrency® and other market-based products as well as a devaluation of these deposit balances, which could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and results of operations. In addition, although we routinely use derivatives to offset changes to our deposit obligations due to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, commodity prices or securities indices to which these products are linked, these derivatives may not be effective. To the extent that these derivatives do not offset changes to our deposit obligations, our financial results may be adversely affected.

We operate in a highly competitive industry and market area.

We face substantial competition in all areas of our operations from a variety of different competitors, many of which are larger and may have more financial resources. Such competitors primarily include Internet banks and national, regional and community banks within the various markets we serve. We also face competition from many other types of financial institutions, including, without limitation, savings and loan institutions, credit unions, mortgage companies, other finance companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies, factoring companies and other financial intermediaries. The financial services industry could become even more competitive as a result of legislative, regulatory and technological changes and continued consolidation. Banks, securities firms and insurance companies can (unless laws are changed) merge under the umbrella of a financial holding company, which can offer virtually any type of financial service, including banking, securities underwriting, insurance (both agency and underwriting) and merchant banking. Many of our competitors have fewer regulatory constraints and may have lower cost structures.

In addition, many of our competitors have significantly more physical branch locations than we do, which may be an important factor to potential clients. Because we offer our services over the Internet, we compete nationally for clients against financial institutions ranging from small community banks to the largest international financial institutions. Many of our competitors continue to have access to greater financial resources than we have, which allows them to invest in technological improvements. Failure to successfully keep pace with technological change affecting the financial services industry could place us at a competitive disadvantage.

Our internal control systems could fail to detect certain events.

We are subject to certain operational risks, including, but not limited to, data processing system failures and errors and client or employee fraud. We maintain a system of internal controls designed to mitigate against such occurrences and maintain insurance coverage for such risks. However, should such an event occur that is not prevented or detected by our internal controls, is uninsured or in excess of applicable insurance limits, it could have a significant adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our historical growth rate and performance may not be indicative of our future growth or financial results.

Our historical growth rate must be viewed in the context of the opportunities available to us as a result of the confluence of our access to capital at a time when market dislocations of historical proportions resulted in asset acquisition opportunities. When comparing our historical growth and prospects for future growth, it is also important to consider that while our business philosophy has remained relatively constant over time, our mix of business, distribution channels and areas of focus have changed over the last several years. Historically, we have entered and exited lines of business to adapt to changing market conditions and perceived opportunities, and may continue to do so in future periods.

We may not be able to sustain our historical rate of growth or grow our business at all. Because of prolonged economic uncertainty and governmental intervention in the credit markets and mortgage lending industry, it may be difficult for us to replicate our historical earnings growth. We have historically benefited from the ongoing low interest rate environment, which has provided us with high net interest margins

which we used to grow our business. Higher rates may compress our margins and may impact our ability to grow. Consequently, our historical results of operations will not necessarily be indicative of our future operations.

We are dependent on key personnel and the loss of one or more of those key personnel could harm our business.

Our future success significantly depends on the continued services and performance of our key management personnel. We believe our management team’s depth and breadth of experience in the banking industry is integral to executing our business plan. We also will need to continue to attract, motivate and retain other key personnel. The loss of the services of members of our senior management team or other key employees or the inability to attract additional qualified personnel as needed could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to losses due to fraudulent and negligent acts on the part of loan applicants, correspondent lenders, mortgage warehouse finance customers, other vendors and our employees.

When we originate mortgage loans, we rely heavily upon information supplied by loan applicants and third parties, including the information contained in the loan application, property appraisal, title information and employment and income documentation provided by third parties. If any of this information is misrepresented and such misrepresentation is not detected prior to loan funding, we generally bear the risk of loss associated with the misrepresentation.

The reduction or elimination of the home mortgage interest income tax deduction could reduce demand for our residential mortgage loans.

Under current federal income tax law, homeowners may deduct from their taxable income interest on mortgage loans with a principal amount of up to $1 million secured by first or second homes. Congress may consider reducing the benefit of this deduction, by limiting total itemized deductions, allowing deductible expenses to be deducted only at rates less than the highest marginal tax rate, phasing out deductions over specified income thresholds, or eliminating the deduction entirely. Any of these tax law changes would increase the after-tax cost of mortgage loans to home buyers and owners, particularly those with higher incomes, and could therefore reduce demand for residential mortgage loans and depress housing prices. Single family mortgage lending constitutes a majority of our lending business. Our mortgage loan customers, on average, have higher incomes than the customers of many of our competitors. Our most popular mortgage loan product has an initial interest-only period. Any reduction in the benefit of the home mortgage interest deduction could therefore have a disproportionately adverse effect on us compared to other banking institutions and could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Regulatory and Legal Risks

We operate in a highly regulated environment and the laws and regulations that govern our operations, corporate governance, executive compensation and accounting principles, or changes in them, or our failure to comply with them, may adversely affect us.

We are subject to extensive regulation, supervision and legislation that govern almost all aspects of our operations. Intended to protect clients, depositors, the DIF and the overall financial system, these laws and regulations, among other matters, prescribe minimum capital requirements, impose limitations on the business activities in which we can engage, limit the dividend or distributions that EverBank can pay to us, restrict the ability of institutions to guarantee our debt, impose certain specific accounting requirements on us that may be more restrictive and may result in greater or earlier charges to earnings or reductions in our capital than generally accepted accounting principles, among other things. Compliance with laws and regulations can be difficult and costly, and changes to laws and regulations often impose additional compliance costs. We are currently facing increased regulation and supervision of our industry as a result of the financial crisis in the banking and financial markets, and, to the extent that we participate in any programs established or to be established by the U.S. Treasury or by the federal banking regulatory agencies, there will be additional and changing requirements and conditions imposed on us. Such additional regulation and supervision may increase our costs and limit our ability to pursue business opportunities. Further, our failure to comply with these laws and regulations, even if the failure is inadvertent or reflects a difference in interpretation, could subject us to restrictions on our business activities, fines and other penalties, including criminal sanctions, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations, capital base and the price of our securities.

We and EverBank have entered into consent orders with our regulators, and failure to comply with the requirements of the consent order could have a negative impact on us and/or EverBank.

A “horizontal review” of the residential mortgage foreclosure operations of fourteen mortgage servicers, including EverBank, by the federal banking agencies resulted in formal enforcement actions against all of the banks subject to the horizontal review. On April 13, 2011, each of the Company and EverBank entered into a consent order with the OTS with respect to EverBank's mortgage foreclosure practices and the Company's oversight of those practices. The OCC succeeded the OTS with respect to EverBank's consent order, and the FRB succeeded the OTS with respect to the Company's consent order. The consent orders required, among other things, that the Company establish a new compliance program for mortgage servicing and foreclosure operations and that the Company ensure that it has dedicated resources for communicating with borrowers, policies and procedures for outsourcing foreclosure or related functions and management information systems that ensure timely delivery of complete and accurate information. In August 2013, EverBank reached an agreement with the OCC that ended its participation in the Independent Foreclosure Review program mandated by the April 2011 consent order and replaced it with an accelerated remediation process. The agreement included a cash payment of approximately $39.9 million which was made by EverBank to a settlement fund to provide relief to qualified borrowers. In addition, EverBank contributed approximately $6.3 million to organizations certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or other tax-exempt organizations that have as a principal mission providing affordable housing, foreclosure prevention and/or educational assistance to low and moderate income individuals and families.

money penalties pertaining to certain improper fees charged to borrowers between January 2011 and March 2015. The Company’s consent order with the FRB relating to its oversight of mortgage foreclosure practices currently remains in place.

Any further remedies or penalties that may be imposed on us as a result or arising out of the FRB consent order or any other investigation or action related to mortgage origination or servicing may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, capital base and the price of our securities.

We are subject to extensive regulation and supervision and possible enforcement actions.

We and EverBank are subject to comprehensive supervision and regulation that affect virtually all aspects of our operations, and a significant amount of discretion is vested in the various regulatory authorities. This supervision and regulation is designed primarily to protect depositors and other customers and the DIF administered by the FDIC, and the banking system as a whole, and generally is not intended for the protection of stockholders. This regulation and supervision affects most aspects of our business, including lending practices, capital structure, dividend policy, and growth. The Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in July 2010, instituted major regulatory, supervisory, and compliance changes. The key effects of the Dodd-Frank Act on our business are:


•	changes in the thrift supervisory structure;


•	changes to regulatory capital requirements;


•	creation of new governmental agencies with authority over our operations including the CFPB;


•	limitation on federal preemption; and


•	changes to mortgage loan origination and risk retention practices.

For a more detailed description of the Dodd-Frank Act, see “Supervision and Regulation.”

Other changes to statutes, regulations, or regulatory policies or supervisory guidance, including changes in their interpretation or implementation, may affect us in substantial ways that we cannot predict. Such changes could subject us to additional costs, limit the types of financial services and products we may offer and/or increase the ability of non-banks to offer competing financial services and products, among other things. Failure to comply with laws, regulations, policies, or guidance could result in sanctions by regulatory agencies and other law enforcement authorities, including civil money penalties or fines or reputational damage, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operation.

The CFPB has broad rule-making, supervisory, and examination authority of consumer products, as well as expanded data collecting and enforcement powers, over depository institutions with more than $10.0 billion in assets. As a result of these new regulations and the CFPB’s supervision and enforcement activity, we will likely continue to see increased regulatory and compliance costs, which we may not be able to pass on to consumers.

Mortgage servicing practices have also been the subject of a settlement agreement among the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the attorneys general from all 50 states, and certain major mortgage servicers.

The OTS, the OCC and other government agencies, including state attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice, investigated various mortgage related practices of certain servicers, some of which practices were also the subject of the horizontal review. In March 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and all state attorneys general entered into separate consent judgments with five major mortgage servicers with respect to these matters. In total, the five mortgage servicers agreed to $25 billion in borrower restitution assistance and refinancing. Monetary sanctions imposed by the federal banking agencies as a consequence of the horizontal review are being held in abeyance, subject to provision of borrower assistance and remediation under the consent judgments. Certain other institutions subject to the consent decrees with the banking regulators announced in April 2011 have been contacted by the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general regarding a settlement. If an investigation of EverBank were to occur, it could result in material fines, penalties, equitable remedies (including requiring default servicing or other process changes), other enforcement actions or additional litigation, and could result in significant legal costs in responding to governmental investigations and additional litigation. Any other requirements or remedies or penalties that may be imposed on us as a result of the horizontal review or any other investigation or action related to mortgage origination or servicing may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, capital base and the price of our securities.

We anticipate that costs associated with foreclosures will remain high and may adversely affect us.

We expect that mortgage-related assessments and waivers, costs, including compensatory fees assessed by the GSEs, and other costs associated with foreclosures will remain elevated as additional loans are delayed in the foreclosure process. This will likely continue to increase noninterest expenses, including increasing default servicing costs and legal expenses. In addition, changes to our processes and policies, including those required under the consent orders with federal banking regulators, are likely to result in further increases in our default servicing costs over the longer term. Delays in foreclosure sales may result in additional costs associated with the maintenance of properties or possible home price declines, result in a greater number of nonperforming loans and increased servicing advances and may adversely affect the collectability of such advances and the value of our MSR asset and other real estate owned properties. In addition, the valuation of certain of our agency residential MBS could be negatively affected under certain scenarios due to changes in the timing of cash flows.

The ability-to-repay requirement for residential mortgage loans may limit our ability to sell or securitize certain of our mortgage loans and may give borrowers potential claims against us.

The Dodd-Frank Act amended the Truth-in-Lending Act to require that mortgage lenders show that they have verified the borrower’s ability to repay a residential mortgage loan. Lenders of mortgages that meet a “qualified mortgage” standard have a safe harbor or a presumption of compliance with the requirement. Under final rules issued by the CFPB, qualified mortgages cannot have negative amortization, interest-only payments, balloon payments, terms over 30 years, or points and fees over certain thresholds. From time to time, we may originate mortgages that do not meet the “qualified mortgage” definition. In the event that we do originate such mortgages, however, we could be subject to statutory claims for violations of this requirement. In addition, if institutional mortgage investors limit their mortgage purchases, demand for our non-qualifying mortgages in the secondary market may be significantly limited in the future. If demand for our non-qualifying mortgages in the

secondary market declines, we would be limited in our ability to resell such mortgages which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We are subject to more stringent capital standards.

We are subject to regulatory requirements specifying minimum amounts and types of capital that we must maintain. From time to time, the regulators change these capital adequacy guidelines. If we fail to meet these minimum capital guidelines and other regulatory requirements, we or our subsidiaries may be restricted in the types of activities we may conduct and may be prohibited from taking certain capital actions, such as paying dividends and repurchasing or redeeming capital securities.

In particular, the capital requirements applicable to us and EverBank under the Basel III Capital Rules began to be phased-in starting in 2015. EverBank is required to satisfy additional, more stringent, capital adequacy standards than it has in the past, and we, as a savings and loan holding company, are subject to consolidated risk-based capital requirements for the first time. The Basel III Capital Rules, among other things, limit our ability to include certain assets, including MSR, in our calculation of our regulatory capital ratios. MSR currently comprise a significant portion of our regulatory capital. At December 31, 2015, our net MSR totaled $335.3 million. For a more detailed description of the Basel III Capital Rules, see “Regulation and Supervision.” Additionally, stress testing requirements may have the effect of requiring us or EverBank to comply with the requirements of the Basel III Capital Rules, or potentially even greater capital requirements, sooner than expected. While we and EverBank expect to meet the requirements of the Basel III Capital Rules, inclusive of the capital conservation buffer, as phased in by the FRB, we or EverBank may fail to do so. In that case, we may be required to raise additional capital at less attractive terms. In addition, these requirements could have a negative impact on our ability to lend, grow deposit balances, make acquisitions and make capital distributions in the form of increased dividends or share repurchases. Higher capital levels could also lower our earnings and return on equity.

In addition we manage our capital requirements through balance sheet management, including the sale of loans held on our balance sheet. In a rising rate environment, there may not be a market for loans which were originated at a lower interest rate than currently available. If we are not able to sell these loans, our ability to manage our regulatory and statutory capital requirements could be adversely affected.

Unfavorable results from ongoing stress tests conducted by us may adversely affect our ability to retain clients or compete for new business opportunities.

We and EverBank are required to publish a summary of the results of annual company-run stress tests. Published summary results are required to include certain measures that evaluate our and EverBank’s ability to absorb losses in severely adverse economic and financial conditions. We cannot predict how our clients will interpret and react to the published summary of these stress tests. Any potential misinterpretations and adverse reactions could limit our ability to attract and retain clients or to effectively compete for new business opportunities. The inability to attract and retain clients or effectively compete for new business may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Additionally, our regulators may require us or EverBank to raise additional capital or take other actions, or may impose restrictions on our business, based on the results of the stress tests. We may not be able to raise additional capital if required to do so, or may not be able to do so on terms which are advantageous to us or our current stockholders. Any such capital raises, if required, may also be dilutive to our existing stockholders.

We are highly dependent upon programs administered by government agencies or government-sponsored enterprises, such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and GNMA, to generate liquidity in connection with our conforming mortgage loans. Any changes in existing U.S. government or government-sponsored mortgage programs could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our ability to generate revenues through securities issuances guaranteed by GNMA, and through mortgage loan sales to GSEs such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, depends to a significant degree on programs administered by those entities. The GSEs play a powerful role in the residential mortgage industry, and we have significant business relationships with them. Many of the loans that we originate are conforming loans that qualify under existing standards for sale to the GSEs or for guarantee by GNMA. We also derive other material financial benefits from these relationships, including the assumption of credit risk by these GSEs on all loans sold to them that are pooled into securities, in exchange for our payment of guaranty fees, and the ability to avoid certain loan inventory finance costs through streamlined loan funding and sale procedures. Any discontinuation of, or significant reduction in, the operation of these GSEs, their programs for pooling mortgage loans and creating securities or any significant adverse change in the level of activity in the secondary mortgage market or the underwriting criteria of these GSEs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

The GSEs have been a significant purchaser of residential mortgage loans. As described above, GSEs (which are in conservatorship, with heavy capital support from the U.S. government, and subject to serious speculation about their future structure, if any) may not be able to provide the substantial liquidity upon which our residential mortgage loan business relies.

We also make sales of mortgage loans to institutional investors of mortgage loans which are ineligible for purchase by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or for guarantee by GNMA. After sale to institutional investors, these mortgage loans are sometimes securitized in private transactions or further sold to third-parties. The secondary market for these mortgage loans is limited, and the discontinuation of, or significant reduction in, the secondary mortgage market for non-GSE eligible mortgage loans or changes in the eligibility criteria used by institutional investors in this market or their ability to securitize or further sell these mortgage loans could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Federal, state and local consumer lending laws may restrict our ability to originate or increase our risk of liability with respect to certain mortgage loans and could increase our cost of doing business.

Federal, state and local laws have been adopted that are intended to eliminate certain lending practices considered “predatory.” These laws prohibit practices such as steering borrowers away from more affordable products, selling unnecessary insurance to borrowers, repeatedly refinancing loans, and making loans without a reasonable expectation that the borrowers will be able to repay the loans irrespective of the value of the underlying property. It is our policy not to make predatory loans, but these laws create the potential for liability with respect to our lending, servicing and loan investment activities. They increase our cost of doing business, and ultimately may prevent us from making certain loans and cause us to reduce the average percentage rate or the points and fees on loans that we do make.

Legislative action regarding foreclosures or bankruptcy laws may negatively impact our business.

Certain laws adopted following the financial crisis delayed the initiation or completion of foreclosure proceedings on specified types of residential mortgage loans (some for a limited period of time), or otherwise limit the ability of residential loan servicers to take actions that may be essential to preserve the value of the mortgage loans underlying the MSR. Any such limitations are likely to cause delayed or reduced collections from mortgagors and generally increased servicing costs. Any restriction on our ability to foreclose on a loan, any requirement that we forego a portion of the amount otherwise due on a loan or any requirement that we modify any original loan terms will in some instances require us to advance principal, interest, tax and insurance payments, which is likely to negatively impact our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.

We are exposed to environmental liabilities with respect to properties that we take title to upon foreclosure that could increase our costs of doing business and harm our results of operations.

In the course of our activities, we may foreclose and take title to residential and commercial properties and become subject to environmental liabilities with respect to those properties. The laws and regulations related to environmental contamination often impose liability without regard to responsibility for the contamination. 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, 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. Moreover, as the owner or former owner of a contaminated site, we may be subject to common law claims by third parties based upon damages and costs resulting from environmental contamination emanating from the property. If we ever become subject to significant environmental liabilities, our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations would be significantly harmed.

Anti-takeover provisions could adversely affect our stockholders.

We are a Delaware corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change in control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. In addition, our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws may discourage, delay or prevent a change in our management or control over us that stockholders may consider favorable. Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws:


•	authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that could be issued by our Board of Directors to thwart a takeover attempt;


•	limit the ability of a person to own, control or have the power to vote more than 9.9% of our voting securities;


•	provide that vacancies on our Board of Directors, including newly created directorships, may be filled only by a majority vote of directors then in office;


•	limit who may call special meetings of stockholders;


•	prohibit stockholder action by written consent, requiring all actions to be taken at a meeting of the stockholders; and


•	require supermajority stockholder voting to effect certain amendments to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws.

In addition, there are substantial regulatory limitations on changes of control of savings and loan holding companies and federal savings associations. Any company that acquires control of a savings association becomes a “savings and loan holding company” subject to registration, examination and regulation by the FRB. “Control,” as defined under federal banking regulations, includes ownership or control of shares, or holding irrevocable proxies (or a combination thereof), representing 25% or more of any class of voting stock, control in any manner of the election of a majority of the institution’s directors, or a determination by the FRB that the acquirer has the power to direct, or directly or indirectly to exercise a controlling influence over, the management or policies of the institution. Further, an acquisition of 10% or more of our common stock creates a rebuttable presumption of “control” under federal banking regulations. Additionally, there may be enhanced scrutiny of investments of less than 5% or more of any class of our common stock if certain control factors are present, including the amount of the investor’s proposed total capital investment. These provisions could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire EverBank or us even if such an acquisition might be in the best interest of our stockholders.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 2. Properties

We lease or sublease over 847,000 square feet of office, operations and retail space in 106 locations in 24 states. We also sublease to third parties approximately 34,000 square feet of our leased space.

Our principal executive offices are located at 501 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, Florida 32202. We lease approximately 47,500 square feet at this location under a lease that expires on June 30, 2017. We operate one of our four Jacksonville financial centers at this location, occupying approximately 3,300 square feet under a separate lease that expires on June 30, 2017. We also occupy approximately 5,700 square feet of space at this location, which is under a lease that expires on May 31, 2016.

In addition to our headquarters, we conduct a majority of our mortgage operations and all of our mortgage servicing activities in Jacksonville, Florida.

We conduct the banking functions associated with our consumer direct channel in St. Louis, Missouri, our deposit operations are in Islandia, New York, our commercial finance activities are in Parsippany, New Jersey, our warehouse finance activities are in Boston, Massachusetts and Jacksonville, Florida and our commercial lending activities are conducted in Redmond, Washington and St. Louis, Missouri.

We evaluate our facilities to identify possible under-utilization and to determine the need for functional improvement and relocations. We believe that the facilities we lease are in good condition and are adequate to meet our current operational needs.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

We are subject to various claims and legal actions in the ordinary course of our business. Some of these matters include employee-related matters and inquiries and investigations by governmental agencies regarding our employment practices. We are not presently party to any legal proceedings the resolution of which we believe would have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition or cash flows.

EverBank is currently subject to the following legal proceedings:

Vathana Class Action

In April 2009, a putative class action entitled Vathana v. EverBank was filed in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California, against EverBank on behalf of all persons who invested in certain EverBank foreign currency certificates of deposit between April 24, 2005 and April 24, 2009, whose certificates of deposit were closed by EverBank and who were allegedly improperly paid the value of the account. In May 2009, EverBank removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges, among other things, that EverBank breached its contract with its customers by invoking the force majeure provision when closing certain foreign currency certificates of deposit, and that at the time of account closing, utilizing an improper conversion rate. On March 15, 2010, a class was certified for purchasers of a WorldCurrency^® Certificate of Deposit denominated in Icelandic Krona which matured between October 8 and December 31, 2008. On October 14, 2010, the plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether EverBank breached its contract with the plaintiff by (1) failing to deliver Icelandic Krona when EverBank closed the plaintiff's Icelandic Krona certificates of deposit and (2) using commercially unreasonable conversion rates when converting from Icelandic Krona to U.S. Dollars. EverBank filed its reply and cross-motion for summary judgment on November 22, 2010. On March 9, 2012, the Court entered an Order Granting EverBank's Motion for Summary Judgment, finding that EverBank was permitted to close the clients Icelandic Krona CDs without notice to avoid losses to the clients or the bank. On September 7, 2012, plaintiff filed a brief appealing the lower court's granting of summary judgment in favor of EverBank. On October 9, 2012, EverBank filed its responsive brief. On October 31, 2014, the Ninth Circuit affirmed that EverBank did not breach the Terms and Conditions by closing the CDs without consent, but reversed and remanded the lower courts decision that EverBank did not breach the customer deposit agreement as to the conversion rate paid to customers. On October 9, 2015, the parties agreed to a settlement in principle and are in the process of finalizing settlement documents. All pending court dates have been stayed in the interim.

Mortgage Electronic Registration Services Related Litigation

Mortgage Electronic Registration Services (MERS), EverHome Mortgage Company, EverBank and other lenders and servicers that have held mortgages through MERS are parties to the following material and class action lawsuits where the plaintiffs allege improper mortgage assignment and, in some instances, the failure to pay recording fees in violation of state recording statutes: (1) State of Ohio, ex. rel. David P. Joyce, Prosecuting Attorney General of Geauga County, Ohio v. MERSCORP, Inc., et al., filed in October 2011 in the Court of Common Pleas for Geauga County, Ohio; and (2) Delaware County, PA, Recorder of Deeds v. MERSCORP, Inc., et al., filed in November 2013 in the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. In these material and class action lawsuits, the plaintiffs in each case generally seek judgment from the courts compelling the defendants to record all assignments, restitution, compensatory and punitive damages, and appropriate attorneys' fees and costs. We believe that the plaintiffs' claims are without merit and contest all such claims vigorously.

Wilson Class Action

On June 18, 2014, a punitive class action entitled Dwight Wilson, Jesus A. Avelar-Lemus, Jessie Cross, and Mattie Cross on behalf of themselves and all other similarly situated v. EverBank, N.A., Everhome Mortgage, Assurant, Inc., Standard Guaranty Insurance Company, and American Security Insurance Company was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In this class action case, the plaintiffs seek damages for overpayment of lender placed insurance premiums, injunctive relief, declaratory relief and attorneys’ fees and costs. On July 17, 2015, the parties entered into a settlement agreement that was approved by the court on January 20, 2016. On February 8, 2016, the Court entered final judgment in the matter. On February 12, 2016, a notice of appeal was filed by an objector of the approved settlement. The claims administration process remains ongoing.

Bland Collective Action

We are party to a collective action arbitration demand under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) entitled Edward Moise, James Tyrrell, John Jahangani, Louis Andrew Doherty III, Calvin Cooper, Lemuel Bland and all others similarly situated v. EverBank and EverBank Financial Corp filed with the American Arbitration Association on September 3, 2015. The plaintiffs in this collective action arbitration allege that plaintiffs and the class were (1) improperly classified as exempt under the FLSA (2) entitled to and not paid overtime and (3) not paid federally mandated minimum wage. The demand seeks (1) unpaid back wages, (2) liquidated damages equal to the back pay and (3) costs of the suit incurred by plaintiff. On February 5, 2016, plaintiffs filed an amended demand for arbitration naming nine (9) individual plaintiffs and dropping the demand for collection action treatment. We believe that the plaintiffs' claims are without merit and intend to contest all such claims vigorously.

West Collective Action

The Company is a party to a collective action under the FLSA entitled Anthony West and all others similarly situated under 29 USC 216(B) v. EverBank Financial Corp filed on May 19, 2015 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. The plaintiff in this collective action suit alleges that plaintiff and the class were (1) improperly classified as exempt under the FLSA (2) entitled to and not paid overtime and (3) not paid federally mandated minimum wage. The suit seeks (1) unpaid back wages, (2) liquidated damages equal to the back pay and (3) costs of the suit incurred by plaintiff. EverBank filed an answer to the complaint denying the claims. Plaintiff filed a motion for conditional certification on August 6, 2015, and EverBank filed its opposition on September 14, 2015. The case has been administratively closed pending a ruling on the motion for conditional certification.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

Part II

Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information and Price Range of Common Stock

Our common stock, par value $0.01 per share, is listed and traded on the NYSE, under the ticker symbol “EVER.” Our common stock has been listed since May 3, 2012. The high and low sales prices of our common stock and the dividends paid on our common stock are reported below for each quarterly period indicated:



	Market Price Range				Cash Dividends per Share
	High		Low		Cash Dividends per Share
Year Ended December 31, 2015
First Quarter	$	19.16	$	17.24	$	0.04
Second Quarter	20.21		17.82		0.04
Third Quarter	20.69		19.06		0.06
Fourth Quarter	21.18		15.87		0.06
Year Ended December 31, 2014
First Quarter	$	20.00	$	16.40	$	0.03
Second Quarter	20.61		18.08		0.03
Third Quarter	20.50		17.66		0.04
Fourth Quarter	19.56		17.33		0.04

According to the records of our transfer agent, as of February 16, 2016, there were approximately 143 holders of record of our common stock.

Our Board of Directors considers the feasibility of paying a cash dividend to its stockholders on a quarterly basis. Based on general practice, dividends are declared upon completion of a quarter and, if declared, are paid prior to the end of the subsequent quarter. EverBank is subject to certain regulatory restrictions that may limit its ability to pay dividends to us and, therefore, our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders. EverBank must seek approval from the FRB prior to any declaration of the payment of any dividends or other capital distributions to us. EverBank may not pay dividends to us if, after paying those dividends, it would fail to meet the required minimum levels under risk-based capital guidelines and the minimum leverage and tangible capital ratio requirements, or in the event the OCC notified EverBank that it is in need of more than normal supervision. Further, under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, or FDIA, an insured depository institution such as EverBank is prohibited from making capital distributions, including the payment of dividends, if, after making such distribution, the institution would become “undercapitalized.” Payment of dividends by EverBank also may be restricted at any time at the discretion of the appropriate regulator if it deems the payment to constitute an “unsafe and unsound” banking practice. In addition, we must make dividend payments on our preferred shares and any class or series of capital stock ranking senior to the common stock, as well as make interest payments or other payments due on indebtedness and debt securities, if any, before any dividends can be paid on the common stock.

See "Limitation on Capital Distributions" under "Supervision and Regulation" in Item 1 of this report and Note 14, Note 15 and Note 26 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report for more information.

EverBank Financial Corp Stock Performance Graph

The following performance graph and table do not constitute soliciting material and the performance graph and table should not be deemed filed or incorporated by reference into any other previous or future filings by us under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate the performance graph and table by reference therein.

The following graph shows the cumulative total return for our common stock compared to the cumulative total returns for the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index and the S&P Banks Index from May 3, 2012 (the date our common stock commenced trading on the NYSE) through December 31, 2015. The graph assumes that $100 was invested on May 3, 2012 in our common stock, the S&P 500 Index, and the S&P Banks Index. The cumulative total return on each investment assumes reinvestment of dividends.



Index	5/3/2012	12/31/2012	12/31/2013	12/31/2014	12/31/2015
EverBank Financial Corp	100.0	149.5	185.2	193.9	164.3
S&P 500 Index	100.0	103.3	136.8	155.6	157.7
S&P Banks Index	100.0	101.9	138.2	159.7	161.0

Issuer Purchases of Securities

The Company did not repurchase any outstanding common shares during the year ended December 31, 2015.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

The following selected financial information should be read in conjunction with "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes included in this report to fully understand factors that may affect the comparability of the information presented below.

The consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015 and 2014 are derived from our audited Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report. The consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011 are derived from audited consolidated financial statements not included in this report.

Historical results are not necessarily indicative of future results.

We consummated several significant transactions in prior fiscal periods, accordingly, our operating results for the historical periods presented below are not comparable and may not be predictive of future results.



	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions, except share and per share data)	2015		2014		2013		2012		2011
Income Statement Data:
Interest income	$	879.2	$	733.8	$	735.7	$	655.6	$	588.2
Interest expense	210.9		169.0		176.8		141.8		135.9
Net interest income	668.3		564.8		558.9		513.8		452.3
Provision for loan and lease losses⁽¹⁾	38.2		24.5		12.0		32.0		49.7
Net interest income after provision for loan and lease losses	630.2		540.3		546.9		481.8		402.6
Noninterest income⁽²⁾	215.4		337.2		519.4		369.8		233.1
Noninterest expense⁽³⁾	638.4		638.9		848.2		735.6		554.2
Income before income taxes	207.2		238.6		218.0		116.0		81.5
Provision for income taxes	76.6		90.5		81.3		42.0		28.8
Net income	$	130.5	$	148.1	$	136.7	$	74.0	$	52.7
Per Share Data:
Weighted-average common shares outstanding:
(units in thousands)
Basic	124,527		122,940		122,245		104,014		74,892
Diluted	126,670		125,358		123,949		105,951		77,506
Earnings from continuing operations per common share:
Basic	$	0.97	$	1.12	$	1.04	$	0.61	$	0.55
Diluted	0.95		1.10		1.02		0.60		0.54
Dividends declared per common share	0.20		0.14		0.10		0.04		—
Tangible common equity per common share⁽⁴⁾	13.36		12.51		11.57		10.30		10.12



	As of December 31,
(in millions)	2015		2014		2013		2012		2011
Balance Sheet Data:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	582.5	$	366.7	$	847.8	$	443.9	$	295.0
Investment securities	924.2		1,088.0		1,351.0		1,921.3		2,191.8
Loans held for sale	1,509.3		973.5		791.4		2,088.0		2,725.3
Loans and leases held for investment, net	22,149.4		17,699.4		13,189.0		12,423.0		6,441.5
Total assets	26,601.0		21,617.8		17,641.0		18,242.9		13,041.7
Deposits	18,242.0		15,508.7		13,261.3		13,142.4		10,265.8
Total liabilities	24,732.7		19,870.2		16,020.0		16,791.7		12,074.0
Total stockholders’ equity	1,868.3		1,747.6		1,621.0		1,451.2		967.7

_______

(1)

For the year ended December 31, 2015, provision for loan and lease losses includes a $1.4 million decrease in non-accretable discount related to Bank of Florida acquired credit-impaired loans (ACI). For the year ended December 31, 2014, provision for loan and lease losses includes a $1.2 million increase in non-accretable discount related to Bank of Florida ACI. For the year ended December 31, 2013, provision for loan and lease losses includes a $3.2 million increase related to restructuring cost and a $0.2 million decrease in non-accretable discount related to Bank of Florida ACI. For the year ended December 31, 2012, provision for loan and lease losses includes a $5.2 million increase in non-accretable discount related to Bank of Florida ACI and a $6.0 million impact of adoption of troubled debt restructuring (TDR) guidance and policy change. For the year ended December 31, 2011, provision for loan and lease losses includes a $4.9 million increase in non-accretable discount related to Bank of Florida ACI, a $1.9 million impact of change in ALLL methodology and a $10.0 million impact of adoption of TDR guidance and policy change.

(2)

For the year ended December 31, 2015, noninterest income includes $32.0 million in impairment charge related to MSR and a $0.3 million decrease related to restructuring cost. For the year ended December 31, 2014, noninterest income includes $8.0 million in recovery on MSR valuation allowance, a $2.6 million increase related to an adjustment to restructuring cost recorded in 2013 and a $0.7 million decrease related to OTTI losses on investment securities. For the year ended December 31, 2013, noninterest income includes $95.0 million in recovery on MSR valuation allowance, $15.4 million in gain on early extinguishment of FHLB advances, a $5.9 million decrease related to restructuring cost and a $3.3 million decrease related to OTTI losses on investment securities. For the year ended December 31, 2012, noninterest income includes a $63.5 million impairment charge related to MSR. For the year ended December 31, 2011, noninterest income includes a $4.7 million gain on repurchase of trust preferred securities including $0.3 million resulting from the unwind of the associated cash flow hedge and a $39.5 million impairment charge related to MSR.

(3)

For the year ended December 31, 2015, noninterest expense includes $4.2 million in transaction expense and non-recurring regulatory related expense and $20.2 million in restructuring cost. For the year ended December 31, 2014, noninterest expense includes $10.4 million in transaction expense and non-recurring regulatory related expense and $3.4 million in restructuring cost. For the year ended December 31, 2013, noninterest expense includes $78.2 million in non-recurring regulatory related expense and $22.1 million in restructuring cost. For the year ended December 31, 2012, noninterest expense includes $37.2 million in transaction expense and non-recurring regulatory related expense. For the year ended December 31, 2011, noninterest expense includes $27.1 million in transaction expense and non-recurring regulatory related expense and an $8.7 million decrease in fair value of the Tygris indemnification asset.

(4)

Calculated as tangible common shareholders’ equity divided by shares of common stock. Tangible common shareholders’ equity equals shareholders’ equity less goodwill, other intangible assets and perpetual preferred stock. Tangible common equity per common share is calculated using a denominator that includes actual period end common shares outstanding and for years prior to 2012, additional common shares assuming conversion of all outstanding convertible preferred stock to common stock. Tangible common equity per common share is a non-GAAP financial measure, and its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure is book value per common share. For more information on tangible equity and tangible common shareholders' equity and a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP measure, see Table 4 under "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Key Metrics".

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis is intended to assist readers in understanding the consolidated financial condition and results of operations of the Company and should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in this report.

In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs, but that also involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Please see “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Item 1A. Risk Factors” for discussions of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these statements.

Reclassifications

Certain prior period information in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) has been reclassified to conform to current period classifications.

Introduction and Overview

We are a savings and loan holding company which operates primarily through our direct subsidiary, EverBank (EB or EverBank). EB is a federally chartered thrift institution with its home office located in Jacksonville, Florida. References to “we,” “our,” “us,” or the “Company” refer to the holding company and its subsidiaries that are consolidated for financial reporting purposes. We are a diversified financial services company that provides innovative banking, lending and investment products and services to clients nationwide through scalable, low-cost distribution channels. Our business model attracts financially sophisticated, self-directed, mass-affluent clients and a diverse base of small and medium-sized business clients. We market and distribute our banking products and services primarily through our integrated online and mobile financial portal, high-volume financial centers in targeted Florida markets and other national business relationships. These channels are connected by technology-driven centralized platforms, which provide operating leverage throughout our business.

We have a suite of asset origination and fee income businesses that individually generate attractive financial returns and collectively leverage our core deposit franchise and client base. We originate, invest in, sell and service residential mortgage loans, equipment loans and leases, and various other consumer and commercial loans, as market conditions warrant. Our organic origination activities are scalable, significant relative to our balance sheet size and provide us with substantial growth potential. Our origination, lending and servicing expertise positions us to acquire assets in the capital markets when risk-adjusted returns available through acquisition exceed those available through origination. Our rigorous analytical approach provides capital markets discipline to calibrate our levels of asset origination, retention and acquisition. These activities diversify our earnings, strengthen our balance sheet and provide us with flexibility to capitalize on market opportunities.

Our deposit franchise fosters strong relationships with a large number of financially sophisticated clients and provides us with a stable and flexible source of low all-in cost funding. We have a demonstrated ability to grow our client deposit base with short lead time by adapting our product offerings and marketing activities rather than incurring the higher fixed operating costs inherent in more branch-intensive banking models. Our extensive offering of deposit products and services includes proprietary features that distinguish us from our competitors and enhance our value proposition to clients. Our products, distribution and marketing strategies allow us to generate substantial deposit growth while maintaining an attractive mix of high value transaction and savings accounts.

Key Factors Affecting Our Business and Financial Statements

Economic and Interest Rate Environment

The results of our operations are highly dependent on economic conditions and market interest rates. To stimulate economic activity and stabilize the financial markets, the FRB has maintained historically low market interest rates since 2009. Market conditions have improved during this period as the unemployment rate declined to 5.0% at December 2015, and consumer confidence, GDP and average home prices have all risen. While economic conditions have improved domestically, under-employment and labor force participation remain a worry amidst the backdrop of low inflation in the United States and abroad. Moreover, growth in the global markets remains sluggish, inflation in most of the Euro-Zone is at or below zero and central banks around the world have maintained an accommodative stance. Such factors, combined with geopolitical turmoil have continued to keep interest rates at near historical low levels. The Fed announced a quarter point increase to short term rates in December 2015. The resulting strength of the dollar coupled with falling oil prices has led to growing speculation as to how likely and quickly that the Fed may further raise short term interest rates. This has caused market disruption in the bond markets as the spread between the 10 year and 2 year swap rates at December 31, 2015 narrowed to just 1.01%.

Net interest income is our largest source of income and is driven primarily as a function of the average balance of interest-earning assets, the average balance of interest-bearing liabilities and the spread between the contractual yield on such assets and the contractual cost of such liabilities. These factors are influenced by both the pricing and mix of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities which, in turn, are impacted by external factors such as the local economy, competition for loans and deposits, the monetary policy of the FRB and market interest rates. The cost of our deposits is largely based on short-term interest rates which are driven primarily by the FRB’s actions. However, the yields generated by our loans and securities are typically driven by longer-term interest rates which are set by the market, or, at times by the FRB’s actions. Our net interest income is therefore influenced by movements in interest rates and the pace at which these movements occur. See “Risk Factors—We are subject to interest rate risk” and “Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.”

Balance Sheet Growth and Composition

Our balance sheet has increased significantly since December 31, 2012 which has impacted our business and our economic performance. We have increased total assets from $18.2 billion to $26.6 billion from December 31, 2012 to December 31, 2015. This overall increase includes an increase in our loans held for investment from $12.5 billion at December 31, 2012 to $22.2 billion at December 31, 2015. While the overall balance sheet has grown 46% in the last 3 years, the composition of our balance sheet has evolved in this challenging interest rate and regulatory environment. We have adjusted to this environment through the purchase of government insured pool buyouts which we believe currently offer us a shorter duration and more attractive risk adjusted return compared to other loans and leases that we originate both for our balance sheet and that we sell into the secondary market.

Government Insured Pool Buyout Opportunities

Prior to our acquisitions of government insured pool buyout loans from third party servicers starting in 2014, we serviced a majority of the government insured pool buyout loans we owned. With the successful sale and transfer of our default servicing platform to Ditech in 2014 and subsequent sale of our FHA servicing in May 2015, a majority of our government insured pool buyout loans are now serviced by third party servicers. The two structures have different economics and has impacted the presentation of these activities on our balance sheets and income statements.

For the loans that were serviced by us, we carried the assets at our cost which generally included the UPB as well as the servicing asset or liability at time of acquisition. We recognized revenue on these assets when interest income was earned and amortized the premium or discount using the effective interest method. If and when a loan re-performed and was eligible for re-delivery into a GNMA II securitization, we recognized a gain for the proceeds received above our cost basis. This structure impacted interest income for the interest earned, noninterest income (gain on sale revenue) received on sale, and noninterest expense associated with high costs of servicing these defaulted loan assets. The noninterest expense recorded also included servicing advances made that were not eligible for reimbursement by the FHA.

For the loans that are serviced by third parties, we initially record the assets at the acquisition price which includes attribution of the purchase price to accrued interest, UPB and discount or premium. Given that these assets have experienced credit deterioration since origination and we don't expect to receive all contractual principal and interest payments, we have determined that they are acquired credit impaired (ACI) loans and account for these as a pool. As a result of this distinction, interest income is recorded based on the accretion rate which is the implied effective interest rate based on the expected cash flows of the pool and the net recorded investment in the pool. Included in the estimated cash flows are the timing of foreclosures and the timing and proceeds from sales of these loans. Any increase in expected and/or excess of cash flows received is taken as an adjustment to the prospective yield assuming there has not been a previous impairment of the pool. This type of structure impacts net interest income while having an immaterial impact to gain on sale revenue. Noninterest expense does not include the fixed and variable costs of the day to day servicing of these defaulted assets. A minority of our servicing contracts include language which requires us to bear the risk of loss associated with advances that are not eligible for reimbursement by the FHA.

Home Lending and Servicing Transformation

In the third quarter of 2013, we announced our exit from the wholesale broker lending channel in order to continue our focus on growth in retail and correspondent lending channels and add high quality residential loans to our balance sheet and position ourselves for a purchase market. In addition, between 2013 and 2015, we have seen a reduction in refinances and, more significantly, a reduction in HARP eligible refinances. There were a significant number of borrowers that were eligible and refinanced in 2013. We began seeing the amount of HARP refinance activity trail off in 2014 and have seen a further reduction in 2015. In 2013, over 25% of our residential loan fundings were HARP while less than 5% were HARP in 2015. Purchase business grew to be 59% of loan fundings in fourth quarter of 2015 compared to 49% in fourth quarter of 2014. As we have grown our retail lending channel, we have continued to evaluate the number of our retail lending offices and the profitability and potential growth in these offices. As these factors have changed, we have adapted our retail and overall residential lending strategy to try to balance the growth of the channel with profitability. As a result, we have taken several restructuring charges in our lending business over the past couple years.

Our servicing business has undergone a significant transformation since the end of 2013. During the fourth quarter of 2013, we entered into agreements to sell a majority of our default servicing operations and the rights to service and subservice UPB of $20.3 billion to Ditech. The sale and subservicing agreement was effective in May of 2014. This sale and subservicing arrangement helped us realign the profile of our servicing business and allowed us to focus more on the needs of our core clients through the transfer of higher delinquency, higher touch servicing rights. On April 27, 2015, we entered into an agreement to sell the rights to service the remaining Ginnie Mae and early buyout UPB associated with the subservicing arrangement to Ditech effective May 1, 2015. Concurrently, we entered into an additional sale of MSR to Nationstar Mortgage LLC (NSM) of a majority of our remaining non-core portfolios. As of December 31, 2015, a majority of the MSR sales were completed and transferred. A small portfolio is expected to be sold and transferred during first quarter of 2016. As a result of all these transactions, the amounts of our noninterest income and expense may differ significantly year to year.

Capital Raising Initiatives

Since December 31, 2012, we have used both the growth in retained earnings as well as the public equity and debt markets to maximize the return to our shareholders while also ensuring proper capital adequacy, including capital conservation buffers.

On May 8, 2012, we raised net proceeds of $198.5 million in our initial public offering. In addition, we converted $48.7 million of cash held in escrow in August of 2012 in a private placement. In the fourth quarter of 2012, we issued $150 million of Series A 6.75% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock. For regulatory purposes, the preferred stock qualifies as Tier 1 capital both at the Company and at the Bank as we contributed a majority of the proceeds from the sale to the Bank. On June 30, 2015, we completed the public offering and sale of $175.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 5.75% subordinated notes due in 2025. For regulatory capital adequacy purposes, the subordinated notes qualify as Tier 2 capital for the Company. We contributed a majority of the proceeds from the sale of the subordinated notes to the Bank which qualifies as Tier 1 capital for the Bank.

The capital raising initiatives, balance sheet growth, and repositioning activities all impact the comparability of our financial statements and are discussed throughout management's discussion and analysis.

Regulatory Changes

Our financial condition and the results of our operations are dependent upon the composition of our balance sheet and the assets which we originate, sell, and/or retain for investment. Proposed changes to the regulatory capital treatment of certain securities and asset classes could cause our management to reevaluate components of our capital structure as well as our exposure to certain assets. See “Item 1. Business-Supervision and Regulation-Recent Regulatory Developments-Dodd-Frank Act” under the headings “Annual Company-Run Stress Tests” and “Basel III and Basel III Capital Rules" for more information.

Performance Highlights

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2015 Key Highlights


•	GAAP net income available to common shareholders was $42.6 million for the fourth quarter 2015, compared to $27.1 million for the third quarter 2015 and $35.5 million for the fourth quarter 2014. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.34 for the fourth quarter 2015, compared to $0.21 in the third quarter 2015 and $0.28 in the fourth quarter 2014.


•	For full year 2015, GAAP net income available to common shareholders was $120.4 million, compared to $138.0 million for 2014. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.95 for full year 2015, compared to $1.10 for 2014.


•	Adjusted net income available to common shareholders¹ was $42.9 million for the fourth quarter 2015, compared to $28.8 million for the third quarter 2015 and $37.6 million for the fourth quarter 2014. Adjusted diluted earnings per common share¹ in the fourth quarter 2015 were $0.34 compared to $0.23 in the third quarter 2015 and $0.30 in the fourth quarter 2014.


•	Adjusted net income available to common shareholders¹ was $154.6 million for full year 2015, compared to $141.1 million for 2014. Adjusted diluted earnings per common share¹ were $1.22 for full year 2015, compared to $1.13 for 2014.


•	Total assets of $26.6 billion at December 31, 2015, an increase of 5% compared to the prior quarter and 23% year over year.


•	Loans and leases held for investment of $22.2 billion at December 31, 2015, an increase of 6% compared to the prior quarter and 25% year over year.


•	Total originations of $3.3 billion in the quarter, flat compared to the prior quarter and up 8% year over year. Full year 2015 total originations of $13.1 billion, an increase of 19% year over year.


•	Total deposits of $18.2 billion at December 31, 2015, an increase of 4% compared to the prior quarter and 18% year over year.


•	Net interest margin of 2.90% for the quarter, flat compared to the prior quarter.


•	Adjusted return on average equity (ROE)¹ was 10.1% for the quarter and 9.3% for the full year. GAAP ROE was 10.0% for the quarter and 7.3% for the full year.


•	Tangible common equity per common share¹ of $13.36 at December 31, 2015, an increase of 7% year over year.


•	Adjusted non-performing assets to total assets¹ were 0.53% at December 31, 2015. Annualized net charge-offs to average total loans and leases held for investment were 0.07% for the quarter.


•	Consolidated common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 9.9% and bank Tier 1 leverage ratio of 8.1% as of December 31, 2015.


•	Subsequent to quarter end, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that it had terminated EverBank’s 2011 consent order, as amended in 2013 and 2015, having determined that EverBank now complies with such order.

¹ Reconciliations of Non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the "Key Metrics" section below and "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Quarterly Financial Data".

Key Metrics

The primary metrics we use to evaluate and manage our financial results are described below. Although we believe these metrics are meaningful in evaluating our results and financial condition, they may not be directly comparable to similar metrics used by other financial services companies and may not provide an appropriate basis to compare our results or financial condition to the results or financial condition of our competitors. The following table sets forth the metrics we use to evaluate the success of our business and our resulting financial position and operating performance.

The table below includes certain financial information that is calculated and presented on the basis of methodologies other than in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. We believe these measures provide useful information to investors in evaluating our financial performance. In addition, our management uses these measures to gauge the performance of our operations and for business planning purposes. These non-GAAP financial measures, however, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies because other companies may not calculate these non-GAAP measures in the same manner. As a result, the usefulness of these measures to investors may be limited, and they should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. In the notes following the table we provide a reconciliation of these measures, or, in the case of ratios, the measures used in the calculation of such ratios, to the closest measures calculated directly from our GAAP financial statements.



Key Metrics							Table 1
	As of and for the Year Ended December 31,
(dollars in millions, except per share amounts)	2015			2014			2013
Performance Metrics:
Total revenue⁽¹⁾	$	883.7		$	902.0		$	1,078.3
Adjusted net earnings per common share, diluted⁽²⁾	$	1.22		$	1.13		$	1.11
Yield on interest-earning assets	3.94		%	4.08		%	4.39		%
Cost of interest-bearing liabilities	1.04		%	1.04		%	1.19		%
Net interest margin	2.99		%	3.14		%	3.34		%
Return on average assets	0.55		%	0.77		%	0.75		%
Return on average risk-weighted assets^{(3) (11)}	0.84		%	1.19		%	1.20		%
Return on average equity⁽⁴⁾	7.3		%	9.0		%	9.1		%
Adjusted return on average equity⁽⁵⁾	9.3		%	9.2		%	9.9		%
Efficiency ratio⁽⁶⁾	72		%	71		%	79		%
Adjusted efficiency ratio⁽⁷⁾	67		%	70		%	75		%
Loans and leases held for investment as a percentage of deposits	122		%	115		%	100		%
Loans and leases held for investment excluding government insured pool buyouts as a percentage of deposits	99		%	91		%	86		%
Credit Quality Ratios:
Adjusted non-performing assets as a percentage of total assets⁽⁸⁾	0.53		%	0.46		%	0.65		%
Net charge-offs to average loans and leases held for investment	0.11		%	0.13		%	0.21		%
Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL) as a percentage of loans and leases held for investment	0.35		%	0.34		%	0.48		%
Government insured pool buyouts as a percentage of loans and leases held for investment	19		%	20		%	14		%
Capital:
Common equity Tier 1 ratio (EverBank Financial Corp consolidated; see Table 50)⁽¹¹⁾	9.9		%	11.6		%	12.1		%
Tier 1 leverage ratio (bank level; see Table 48)⁽¹¹⁾	8.1		%	8.2		%	9.0		%
Total risk-based capital ratio (bank level; see Table 48)⁽¹¹⁾	12.4		%	13.4		%	14.3		%
Average equity to average assets	7.6		%	8.7		%	8.5		%
Tangible common equity per common share⁽⁹⁾	$	13.36		$	12.51		$	11.57
Dividend payout ratio ⁽¹⁰⁾	20.62		%	12.50		%	9.62		%
Consumer Banking Metrics:
Unpaid principal balance of loans originated	$	9,456.6		$	8,413.1		$	10,849.9
Jumbo residential mortgage loans originated	5,052.3			4,287.2			3,391.0
Unpaid principal balance of loans serviced for the Company and others	41,104.7			50,746.5			61,035.3
Consumer Banking loans as a percentage of loans and leases held for investment	55		%	57		%	54		%
Consumer deposits	$	14,054.4		$	12,554.7		$	11,434.7
Commercial Banking Metrics:
Loan and lease originations:
Commercial and commercial real estate	$	2,364.4		$	1,288.8		$	1,199.6
Equipment financing receivables	1,282.5			1,316.7			774.7
Commercial Banking loan and lease sales	320.9			109.3			80.4
Commercial Banking loans as a percentage of loans and leases held for investment	45		%	43		%	46		%
Commercial deposits	$	4,187.6		$	2,954.0		$	1,826.7


(1)	Total revenue is defined as net interest income before provision for loan and lease losses and total noninterest income.

(2)

Adjusted net earnings per common share, diluted is calculated using a numerator based on adjusted net income. Adjusted net earnings per common share, diluted is a non-GAAP financial measure and its most directly comparable GAAP measure is net earnings per common share, diluted. Adjusted net income includes adjustments to our net income for certain significant items that we believe are not reflective of our ongoing business or operating performance. For a reconciliation of adjusted net income to net income, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure, see Table 2.

(3)

Return on average risk-weighted assets equals net income divided by average risk-weighted assets. Under the regulatory guidelines for risk-based capital, on-balance sheet assets and credit equivalent amounts of derivatives and off-balance sheet items are assigned to one of several broad risk categories according to the obligor or, if relevant, the guarantor or the nature of any collateral. The aggregate dollar amount in each risk category is then multiplied by the risk weight associated with that category. The resulting weighted values from each of the risk categories are aggregated for determining total risk-weighted assets. For detailed information regarding regulatory capital (EverBank Financial Corp consolidated), see Table 46.


(4)	Return on average equity is calculated as net income less dividends declared on the Series A 6.75% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock divided by average common shareholders' equity (average shareholders' equity less average Series A 6.75% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock).

(5)

Adjusted return on average equity is calculated as adjusted net income less dividends declared on the Series A 6.75% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock divided by average common shareholders' equity. Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP measure of our financial performance and its most directly comparable GAAP measure is net income. For a reconciliation of adjusted net income to net income, see Table 2.


(6)	The efficiency ratio represents noninterest expense as a percentage of total revenue. Total revenue is defined as net interest income before provision for loan and lease losses and total noninterest income. We use the efficiency ratio to measure noninterest costs expended to generate a dollar of revenue.

(7)

The adjusted efficiency ratio represents adjusted noninterest expense as a percentage of adjusted total revenue based on adjusted net income. The adjusted efficiency ratio is a non-GAAP measure of our financial performance and its most directly comparable GAAP measure is the efficiency ratio. For a reconciliation of adjusted net income to net income, see Table 2. For detailed information regarding the adjusted efficiency ratio, see Table 3. We use the adjusted efficiency ratio to measure adjusted noninterest costs expended to generate a dollar of adjusted revenue.

(8)

We define non-performing assets (NPA), as non-accrual loans, accruing loans past due 90 days or more and foreclosed property. Our NPA calculation excludes government-insured pool buyout loans for which payment is insured by the government. We also exclude loans, leases and foreclosed property accounted for under Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 310-30 because we expect to fully collect the carrying value of such loans, leases and foreclosed property. For further discussion of NPA, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Loan and Lease Quality”.

(9)


(10)	Dividend payout ratio is calculated as dividends declared per common share divided by basic earnings per common share.


(11)	Risk-weighted assets and regulatory capital ratios calculated under Basel III beginning in 2015. Risk-weighted assets and regulatory capital ratios calculated under Basel I through December 31, 2014.

A reconciliation of adjusted net income to net income, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure, is as follows:



Adjusted Net Income							Table 2
	Year Ended December 31,
(dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)	2015			2014			2013
Net income	$	130,526		$	148,082		$	136,740
Transaction expense and non-recurring regulatory related expense, net of tax	2,610			6,462			48,477
Increase (decrease) in Bank of Florida non-accretable discount, net of tax	(859		)	727			(95		)
Mortgage Servicing Right (MSR) impairment (recovery), net of tax	19,831			(4,967		)	(58,870		)
Restructuring cost, net of tax	12,664			466			19,332
OTTI losses on investment securities (Volcker Rule), net of tax	—			425			2,045
Adjusted net income	$	164,772		$	151,195		$	147,629
Adjusted net income allocated to preferred stock	10,125			10,125			10,125
Adjusted net income allocated to common shareholders	$	154,647		$	141,070		$	137,504
Adjusted net earnings per common share, basic	$	1.24		$	1.15		$	1.12
Adjusted net earnings per common share, diluted	$	1.22		$	1.13		$	1.11
Weighted average common shares outstanding:
(units in thousands)
Basic	124,527			122,940			122,245
Diluted	126,670			125,358			123,949

A reconciliation of the adjusted efficiency ratio to the efficiency ratio, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure, is as follows:



Adjusted Efficiency Ratio							Table 3
	Year Ended December 31,
(dollars in thousands)	2015			2014			2013
Net interest income	$	668,343		$	564,807		$	558,925
Noninterest income	215,380			337,239			519,391
Total revenue	883,723			902,046			1,078,316
Adjustment items (pre-tax):
MSR impairment (recovery)	31,986			(8,012		)	(94,951		)
Restructuring cost	256			(2,429		)	5,872
OTTI losses on securities (Volcker Rule)	—			685			3,298
Adjusted total revenue	$	915,965		$	892,290		$	992,535

Noninterest expense	$	638,377		$	638,942		$	848,238
Adjustment items (pre-tax):
Transaction expense and non-recurring regulatory related expense	(4,213		)	(10,423		)	(78,189		)
Restructuring cost	(20,167		)	(3,181		)	(22,129		)
Adjusted noninterest expense	$	613,997		$	625,338		$	747,920

GAAP efficiency ratio	72		%	71		%	79		%
Adjusted efficiency ratio	67		%	70		%	75		%

A reconciliation of (1) tangible equity to shareholders’ equity, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure, (2) tangible common equity to shareholders’ equity, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure, and (3) tangible assets to total assets, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure, is as follows:



Tangible Equity, Tangible Common Equity, Tangible Common Equity Per Common Share, and Tangible Assets					Table 4
	December 31,
(dollars in thousands except share and per share amounts)	2015		2014		2013
Shareholders’ equity	$	1,868,321	$	1,747,594	$	1,621,013
Less:
Goodwill	46,859		46,859		46,859
Intangible assets	1,772		3,705		5,813
Tangible equity	1,819,690		1,697,030		1,568,341
Less:
Perpetual preferred stock	150,000		150,000		150,000
Tangible common equity	$	1,669,690	$	1,547,030	$	1,418,341

Common shares outstanding at period end	125,020,843		123,679,049		122,626,315
Book value per common share	$	13.74	$	12.92	$	12.00
Tangible common equity per common share	13.36		12.51		11.57

Total assets	$	26,601,026	$	21,617,788	$	17,640,984
Less:
Goodwill	46,859		46,859		46,859
Intangible assets	1,772		3,705		5,813
Tangible assets	$	26,552,395	$	21,567,224	$	17,588,312

Analysis of Statements of Income

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, information regarding (i) the total dollar amount of interest income of the Company from interest-earning assets and the resultant average yields; (ii) the total dollar amount of interest expense on interest-bearing liabilities and the resultant average rate; (iii) net interest income; (iv) net interest spread; and (v) net interest margin.



Average Balance Sheet, Interest and Yield/Rate Analysis^{(1) (2) (3)}																	Table 5
	Year Ended December 31,
	2015						2014						2013
(dollars in thousands)	Average Balance		Interest		Yield/ Rate		Average Balance		Interest		Yield/ Rate		Average Balance		Interest			Yield/ Rate
Assets:
Interest-earning assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	303,267	$	803	0.26	%	$	223,707	$	567	0.25	%	$	681,672	$	1,663		0.24	%
Investments	1,003,365		30,796		3.07	%	1,322,523		38,612		2.92	%	1,638,135		55,072			3.36	%
Loans held for sale	1,790,472		59,670		3.33	%	1,292,692		46,460		3.59	%	1,999,837		71,387			3.57	%
Loans and leases held for investment:
Consumer Banking:
Residential mortgages:
Residential	6,610,526		218,043		3.30	%	5,521,700		190,573		3.45	%	4,112,552		144,339			3.51	%
Government insured pool buyouts	3,887,078		178,110		4.58	%	2,983,943		130,435		4.37	%	2,377,007		128,631			5.41	%
Residential mortgages	10,497,604		396,153		3.77	%	8,505,643		321,008		3.77	%	6,489,559		272,970			4.21	%
Home equity lines	236,762		9,978		4.21	%	142,688		6,060		4.25	%	165,580		7,989			4.82	%
Other consumer and credit card	4,735		565		11.93	%	5,219		686		13.13	%	6,639		686			10.33	%
Commercial Banking:
Commercial and commercial real estate:
Commercial real estate and other commercial	3,701,660		199,401		5.39	%	3,287,423		185,488		5.64	%	3,351,596		205,137			6.12	%
Mortgage warehouse finance	1,690,629		46,037		2.72	%	1,012,933		29,582		2.92	%	960,573		30,709			3.20	%
Lender finance	964,089		34,222		3.55	%	644,812		23,717		3.68	%	444,612		17,106			3.85	%
Commercial and commercial real estate	6,356,378		279,660		4.40	%	4,945,168		238,787		4.83	%	4,756,781		252,952			5.32	%
Equipment financing receivables	2,149,718		101,618		4.73	%	1,530,242		81,587		5.33	%	997,032		72,978			7.32	%
Total loans and leases held for investment	19,245,197		787,974		4.09	%	15,128,960		648,128		4.28	%	12,415,591		607,575			4.89	%
Total interest-earning assets	22,342,301		$	879,243	3.94	%	17,967,882		$	733,767	4.08	%	16,735,235		$	735,697		4.39	%
Noninterest-earning assets	1,306,284						1,324,122						1,395,821
Total assets	$	23,648,585					$	19,292,004					$	18,131,056
Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity:
Interest-bearing liabilities:
Deposits:
Interest-bearing demand	$	3,644,538	$	24,692	0.68	%	$	3,007,036	$	18,737	0.62	%	$	2,970,596	$	20,906		0.70	%
Market-based money market accounts	361,494		2,205		0.61	%	405,627		2,474		0.61	%	420,919		2,906			0.69	%
Savings and money market accounts, excluding market-based	5,428,790		36,566		0.67	%	5,068,096		31,667		0.62	%	5,019,352		35,058			0.70	%
Market-based time	409,066		2,880		0.70	%	554,151		4,280		0.77	%	661,640		5,243			0.79	%
Time, excluding market-based	5,392,919		61,056		1.14	%	3,820,902		44,754		1.17	%	3,298,679		37,639			1.14	%
Total deposits	15,236,807		127,399		0.84	%	12,855,812		101,912		0.79	%	12,371,186		101,752			0.82	%
Borrowings:
Trust preferred securities and subordinated notes payable	191,147		11,605		6.07	%	103,750		6,598		6.36	%	103,750		6,584			6.35	%
Long-term Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) advances	2,788,466		67,389		2.42	%	1,814,919		57,546		3.17	%	2,300,299		68,056			2.96	%
Short-term FHLB advances	2,126,405		4,507		0.21	%	1,444,682		2,904		0.20	%	45,808		158			0.34	%
Repurchase agreements	—		—		0.00	%	—		—		0.00	%	13,957		222			1.59	%
Other	—		—		0.00	%	23,935		—		0.00	%	1,516		—			0.00	%
Total borrowings	5,106,018		83,501		1.64	%	3,387,286		67,048		1.98	%	2,465,330		75,020			3.04	%
Total interest-bearing liabilities	20,342,825		$	210,900	1.04	%	16,243,098		$	168,960	1.04	%	14,836,516		$	176,772		1.19	%
Noninterest-bearing demand deposits	1,283,657						1,139,766						1,413,108
Other noninterest-bearing liabilities	217,671						230,313						341,232
Total liabilities	21,844,153						17,613,177						16,590,856