4. AVAILABLE-FOR-SALE AND OTHER Securities

Contractual maturities of available-for-sale and other securities as of December 31, 2014 and 2013 were:

Other securities at December 31, 2014 and 2013 include nonmarketable equity securities of $157.0 million and $165.6 million of stock issued by the FHLB of Cincinnati, and $174.5 million and $155.4 million of Federal Reserve Bank stock, respectively. Nonmarketable equity securities are recorded at amortized cost. Other securities also include marketable equity securities.

The following tables provide amortized cost, fair value, and gross unrealized gains and losses recognized in OCI by investment category at December 31, 2014 and 2013

The following tables provide detail on investment securities with unrealized losses aggregated by investment category and the length of time the individual securities have been in a continuous loss position at December 31, 2014 and 2013:

At December 31, 2014, the carrying value of investment securities pledged to secure public and trust deposits, trading account liabilities, U.S. Treasury demand notes, and security repurchase agreements totaled $3.6 billion. There were no securities of a single issuer, which are not governmental or government-sponsored, that exceeded 10% of shareholders’ equity at December 31, 2014.

The following table is a summary of realized securities gains and losses for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012:

Collateralized Debt Obligations and Private-Label CMO Securities

Our highest risk segments of our investment portfolio are the CDO and 2003-2006 vintage private-label CMO portfolios. Of the $41.9 million private-label CMO securities reported at fair value at December 31, 2014, approximately $20.3 million are rated below investment grade. The CDOs are in the asset-backed securities portfolio. These segments are in run-off, and we have not purchased these types of securities since 2008. The performance of the underlying securities in each of these segments reflects the deterioration of CDO issuers and 2003 to 2006 non-agency mortgages. Each of these securities in these two segments is subjected to a rigorous review of its projected cash flows. These reviews are supported with analysis from independent third parties.

The following table presents the credit ratings for our CDO and private label CMO securities as of December 31, 2014 and 2013:

Beginning January 1, 2015, the credit ratings of our private label CMO and CDO securities will no longer be used to determine risk weighting for regulatory capital purposes. Private label CMO and CDO securities will be subject to the Simplified Supervisory Formula Approach (SSFA) for risk weighting under BASEL III.

The fair values of the private label CMO and CDO assets have been impacted by various market conditions. The unrealized losses were primarily the result of wider liquidity spreads on asset-backed securities and increased market volatility on non-agency mortgage and asset-backed securities that are collateralized by certain mortgage loans. In addition, the expected average lives of the asset-backed securities backed by trust-preferred securities have been extended, due to changes in the expectations of when the underlying securities would be repaid. The contractual terms and / or cash flows of the investments do not permit the issuer to settle the securities at a price less than the amortized cost. Huntington does not intend to sell, nor does it believe it will be required to sell these securities until the fair value is recovered, which may be maturity, and therefore, does not consider them to be other-than-temporarily impaired at December 31, 2014.

The following table summarizes the relevant characteristics of our CDO securities portfolio, which are included in asset-backed securities, at December 31, 2014 and 2013. Each security is part of a pool of issuers and supports a more senior tranche of securities except for the MM Comm III securities which are the most senior class.

Security Impairment

Huntington evaluated OTTI on the debt security types listed below.

Alt-A mortgage-backed and private-label CMO securities are collateralized by first-lien residential mortgage loans. The securities valuation methodology incorporates values obtained from a third party pricing specialist using a discounted cash flow approach and a proprietary pricing model and includes assumptions management believes market participants would use to value the securities under current market conditions. The model uses inputs such as estimated prepayment speeds, losses, recoveries, default rates that are implied by the underlying performance of collateral in the structure or similar structures, house price depreciation / appreciation rates that are based upon macroeconomic forecasts and discount rates that are implied by market prices for similar securities with similar collateral structures. The remaining Alt-A mortgage backed securities were sold during the third quarter 2014.

Collateralized Debt Obligations are CDOs backed by a pool of debt securities issued by financial institutions. The collateral generally consists of trust-preferred securities and subordinated debt securities issued by banks, bank holding companies, and insurance companies. A full cash flow analysis is used to estimate fair values and assess impairment for each security within this portfolio. A third-party pricing specialist with direct industry experience in pooled-trust-preferred security evaluations is engaged to provide assistance estimating the fair value and expected cash flows on this portfolio. The full cash flow analysis is completed by evaluating the relevant credit and structural aspects of each pooled-trust-preferred security in the portfolio, including collateral performance projections for each piece of collateral in the security and terms of the security’s structure. The credit review includes an analysis of profitability, credit quality, operating efficiency, leverage, and liquidity using available financial and regulatory information for each underlying collateral issuer. The analysis also includes a review of historical industry default data, current/near term operating conditions, and the impact of macroeconomic and regulatory changes.  Using the results of our analysis, we estimate appropriate default and recovery probabilities for each piece of collateral then estimate the expected cash flows for each security. The cumulative probability of default ranges from a low of 2% to 100%. 

Many collateral issuers have the option of deferring interest payments on their debt for up to five years.  For issuers who are deferring interest, assumptions are made regarding the issuers ability to resume interest payments and make the required principal payment at maturity; the cumulative probability of default for these issuers currently ranges from 30% to 100%, and a 10% recovery assumption.  The fair value of each security is obtained by discounting the expected cash flows at a market discount rate, ranging from LIBOR plus 4.3% to LIBOR plus 13.3% as of December 31, 2014.  The market discount rate is determined by reference to yields observed in the market for similarly rated collateralized debt obligations, specifically high-yield collateralized loan obligations.  The relatively high market discount rate is reflective of the uncertainty of the cash flows and illiquid nature of these securities.  The large differential between the fair value and amortized cost of some of the securities reflects the high market discount rate and the expectation that the majority of the cash flows will not be received until near the final maturity of the security (the final maturities range from 2032 to 2035).

On December 10, 2013, the Federal Reserve, the OCC, the FDIC, the CFTC and the SEC issued final rules to implement the Volcker Rule contained in section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act, generally to become effective on July 21, 2015. The Volcker Rule prohibits an insured depository institution and its affiliates (referred to as “banking entities”) from: (i) engaging in “proprietary trading” and (ii) investing in or sponsoring certain types of funds (“covered funds”) subject to certain limited exceptions. These prohibitions impact the ability of U.S. banking entities to provide investment management products and services that are competitive with nonbanking firms generally and with non-U.S. banking organizations in overseas markets. The rule also effectively prohibits short-term trading strategies by any U.S. banking entity if those strategies involve instruments other than those specifically permitted for trading.

On January 14, 2014, the five federal agencies approved an interim final rule to permit banking entities to retain interests in certain collateralized debt obligations backed primarily by trust preferred securities from the investment prohibitions of section 619 of the Volcker Rule.  Under the interim final rule, the agencies permit the retention of an interest in or sponsorship of covered funds by banking entities if certain qualifications are met.  In addition, the agencies released a non-exclusive list of issuers that meet the requirements of the interim final rule.  At December 31, 2014, we had investments in nine different pools of trust preferred securities.  Eight of our pools are included in the list of non-exclusive issuers.  We have analyzed the ICONS pool that was not included on the list and believe that it is more likely than not that we will be able to hold the ICONS security to recovery under the final Volcker Rule regulations.

For the periods ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, the following table summarizes by security type, the total OTTI losses recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Income for securities evaluated for impairment as described above:

The following table rolls forward the OTTI recognized in earnings on debt securities held by Huntington for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 as follows:

As of December 31, 2014, Management has evaluated other available-for-sale and other securities, including those with unrealized losses and all nonmarketable equity securities for impairment and concluded no OTTI is required.