Company: NWBI
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001471265-25-000016
Chunk: 42

Company: Northwest Bancshares, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 42
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 in evaluating the allowance for credit losses. As we continue to increase the amount of such loans, increased provisions for credit losses may be necessary, which would decrease our earnings. In addition, any future credit deterioration could require us to increase our allowance for credit losses in the future.

Bank regulators periodically review our allowance for credit losses and may require an increase to the provision for credit losses or further loan charge-offs. Any increase in our allowance for credit losses or loan charge-offs resulting from these reviews may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

The foreclosure process may adversely impact our recoveries on non-performing loans.

The judicial foreclosure process is protracted, which delays our ability to resolve non-performing loans through the sale of the underlying collateral. The longer timelines have been the result of the economic crisis, additional consumer protection initiatives related to the foreclosure process, increased documentary requirements and judicial scrutiny, and, both voluntary and mandatory programs under which lenders may consider loan modifications or other alternatives to foreclosure. These reasons and the legal and regulatory responses have impacted the foreclosure process and completion time of foreclosures for residential mortgage lenders. This may result in a material adverse effect on collateral values and our ability to minimize its losses.

Risks Related to Laws and Regulations

Changes in laws and regulations and the cost of compliance with new laws and regulations may adversely affect our operations and our income.

The Company and Northwest Bank operate in a highly regulated industry and are subject to extensive laws, regulation, supervision and examination by the Federal Reserve Board, the Department of Banking, the FDIC and the CFPB. These laws and regulations are imposed primarily for the protection and benefit of depositors and other customers, the DIF the U.S. banking and financial system, and the broader economy, not for the protection or benefit of the Company’s investors or non-deposit creditors. These regulatory authorities have extensive discretion in connection with their supervisory and enforcement activities, including the ability to impose restrictions on Northwest Bank’s operations, reclassify assets, determine the adequacy of Northwest Bank’s allowance for credit losses and determine the level of deposit insurance premiums assessed. The laws and regulations applicable to us are subject to frequent 

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change and interpretations and the supervisory environment may be heightened at the regulators’ discretion. For example, the Company is unable to predict what, if any, changes to the regulatory environment may be enacted by Congress, both chambers of which became under Republican control beginning in 2025, or the new presidential administration and what the impact of