The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and do not include all information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (US GAAP) for complete financial statements. The consolidated unaudited financial statements of Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (“Bancorp”) and its subsidiary reflect all adjustments (consisting only of adjustments of a normal recurring nature) which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of financial condition and results of operations for the interim periods.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company (“Bank”). Significant inter-company transactions and accounts have been eliminated in consolidation. In preparing the unaudited consolidated financial statements, management is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of certain assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of related revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change relate to the determination of the allowance for loan losses, valuation of available-for sale securities, other real estate owned and income tax assets, and estimated liabilities and expense.

A description of other significant accounting policies is presented in the notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2017 included in Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain reclassifications have been made in the prior year financial statements to conform to current year classifications.

Interim results for the three month period ended March 31, 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results for the entire year.

Critical Accounting Policies

The allowance for loan losses is management’s estimate of probable losses inherent in the loan portfolio as of the balance sheet date. Loan losses are charged against the allowance when management believes the uncollectability of a loan balance is confirmed. Subsequent recoveries, if any, are credited to the allowance.

Management has identified the accounting policy related to the allowance and provision for loan losses as critical to the understanding of Bancorp’s results of operations and discussed this conclusion with the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. Since the application of this policy requires significant management assumptions and estimates, it could result in materially different amounts to be reported if conditions or underlying circumstances were to change. The provision for loan losses reflects an allowance methodology driven by risk ratings, historical losses, specific loan loss allocations, and qualitative factors. Assumptions include many factors such as changes in borrowers’ financial condition which can change quickly or historical loss ratios related to certain loan portfolios which may or may not be indicative of future losses. Consistent with Bancorp’s methodology, in the first quarter of 2018, Bancorp extended the historical period used to capture Bancorp’s historical loss ratios from 28 quarters to 32 quarters in order to capture the effects of a full economic cycle. This extension of the historical period was applied to all classes and segments of our portfolio. The expansion of the look-back period for the quantitative historical loss rate caused us to review the overall methodology for the qualitative factors to ensure we were appropriately capturing the risk not addressed in the quantitative historical loss rate. Management reviews the appropriateness of the look-back period annually, and believes the extension of the look-back period is appropriate to capture the impact of a full economic cycle and more accurately represents the current level of risk inherent in the loan portfolio.

Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary

As a result of extending the look-back period and making normal updates to other assumptions in the allowance model in the first quarter of 2018, the allowance decreased $682,000.  The change in look-back period was consistent with management’s judgment regarding the risk in the loan portfolio and consistent with internal analysis showing continued strong asset quality related not only in the Company’s loan portfolio, but the Bank’s peer group as well, validating the continuation of the current economic cycle and thus the reasoning to extend the look-back period.  Management will continue to evaluate the appropriateness of the look-back period based on the status of the economic cycle.  To the extent that management’s assumptions prove incorrect, results from operations could be materially affected by a higher or lower provision for loan losses.  The accounting policy related to the allowance for loan losses is applicable to the commercial banking segment of Bancorp.  The impact and any associated risks related to this policy on Bancorp’s business operations are discussed in the “Allowance for Loan Losses” section below.

Bancorp’s allowance calculation includes allocations to loan portfolio segments at March 31, 2018 for qualitative factors including, among other factors, local economic and business conditions in each of our primary markets, quality and experience of lending staff and management, exceptions to lending policies, levels of and trends in past due loans and loan classifications, concentrations of credit such as collateral type, trends in portfolio growth, trends in value of underlying collateral for collateral-dependent loans, effect of other external factors such as the national economic and business trends, quality and depth of the loan review function, and management’s judgement of current trends and potential risks. Bancorp utilizes the sum of all allowance amounts derived as described above as the appropriate level of allowance for loan and lease losses. Changes in criteria used in this evaluation or availability of new information could cause the allowance to be increased or decreased in future periods. In addition, bank regulatory agencies, as part of their examination process, may require adjustments to the allowance for loan and lease losses based on their judgments and estimates.

The amortized cost, unrealized gains and losses, and fair value of securities available-for-sale follows:

There were no securities classified as held to maturity as of March 31, 2018 or December 31, 2017.

Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary

Bancorp sold no securities during the three-month periods ending March 31, 2018 or 2017.

A summary of the available-for-sale investment securities by contractual maturity groupings as of March 31, 2018 is shown below.

Actual maturities may differ from contractual maturities because some issuers have the right to call or prepay obligations. The investment portfolio includes agency mortgage-backed securities, which are guaranteed by agencies such as the FHLMC, FNMA, and GNMA. These securities differ from traditional debt securities primarily in that they may have uncertain principal payment dates and are priced based on estimated prepayment rates on the underlying collateral.

Bancorp pledges portions of its investment securities portfolio to secure public fund deposits, cash balances of uninsured wealth management and trust accounts, and securities sold under agreements to repurchase. The carrying value of these pledged securities was approximately $340.5 million at March 31, 2018 and $384.7 million at December 31, 2017.

Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary

Securities with unrealized losses at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, not recognized in the statements of income are as follows:

Applicable dates for determining when securities are in an unrealized loss position are March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017. As such, it is possible that a security had a market value lower than its amortized cost on other days during the past twelve months, but is not in the “Investments with an Unrealized Loss of less than 12 months” category above.

Unrealized losses on Bancorp’s investment securities portfolio have not been recognized as an expense because the securities are of high credit quality, and the decline in fair values is due to changes in the prevailing interest rate environment since the purchase date. Fair value is expected to recover as securities reach their maturity date and/or the interest rate environment returns to conditions similar to when these securities were purchased. These investments consist of 132 and 117 separate investment positions as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. Because management does not intend to sell the investments, and it is not likely that Bancorp will be required to sell the investments before recovery of their amortized cost bases, which may be maturity, Bancorp does not consider these securities to be other-than-temporarily impaired at March 31, 2018.

FHLB stock is an investment held by Bancorp which is not readily marketable and is carried at cost adjusted for identified impairment. No impairment was indicated as of March 31, 2018. Holdings of Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati (FHLB) stock are required for access to FHLB borrowing, and are classified as restricted securities.

 Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary

Composition of loans, net of deferred fees and costs, by primary loan portfolio class follows:

Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary

The following table presents the balance in the recorded investment in loans and allowance for loan losses by portfolio segment and based on impairment evaluation method as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017.

Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary

The considerations by Bancorp in computing its allowance for loan losses are determined based on the various risk characteristics of each loan segment. Relevant risk characteristics are as follows:

Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary

Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary

The following tables present loans individually evaluated for impairment as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017.

Stock Yards Bancorp, inc. and subsidiary