FULTON FINANCIAL CORP
For the period ended Dec 31, 2025. Filed Feb 27, 2026.
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FY2025 · Filed Feb 27, 2026
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Item 8. Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors
Fulton Financial Corporation:
Opinions on the Consolidated Financial Statements and Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Fulton Financial Corporation and subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2025, and the related notes (collectively, the consolidated financial statements). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2025, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025 based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
Basis for Opinions
The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Critical Audit Matter
The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of a critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.
Valuation of the allowance for credit losses related to loans evaluated collectively for expected credit losses
As discussed in Notes 1 and 5 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company’s total allowance for credit losses on loans was $364.5 million as of December 31, 2025, a substantial portion of which related to the allowance for credit losses for loans evaluated on a collective basis. The collective ACL includes the measure of expected credit losses on a collective (pooled) basis for those loans and leases that share similar risk characteristics and uses an undiscounted approach. The Company estimates the collective ACL by applying a probability of default (PD) and loss given default (LGD) to the exposure at default (EAD) at the loan level. The PD models are econometric regression models that utilize the Company’s historical credit loss experience and incorporate a reasonable and supportable economic forecast through the use of externally developed macroeconomic scenarios. After a reasonable and supportable forecast period, the forecasted PD rates revert back to a historical average PD rate. The LGD model calculates an LGD estimate for each loan pool utilizing a loss rate approach that is based on the Company’s historical charge-off experience. The EAD calculation incorporates constant pre-payment rates, and inputs related to loan level cash flows, maturity dates, and interest rates. The constant pre-payment rates utilized in the EAD calculation are sourced from a prepayment calculation that utilizes the Company’s historical loan prepayment history to develop prepayment speeds. The collective ACL also includes qualitative reserve adjustments for factors that are not fully captured in the quantitative models.
We identified the assessment of the valuation of the collective ACL as a critical audit matter. Such assessment involved significant measurement uncertainty requiring especially complex auditor judgment, and specialized skills and knowledge of the industry. In addition, auditor judgment was required to evaluate the sufficiency of audit evidence obtained. The assessment of the collective ACL encompassed the evaluation of the overall ACL methodology, which includes the methods and models used to estimate the PD, LGD, and EAD and their key assumptions and inputs. Key assumptions and inputs used in the estimation of the PD rate include historical default observations, the historical observation period, loan pool segmentation including the use of credit risk ratings for commercial and industrial loans, commercial mortgages and construction loans, and a reasonable and supportable economic forecast which includes reversion to historical average default rates. Key assumptions and inputs used in the estimation of the LGD rate include the loan pool segmentation, historical loss observations, and the historical observation period. Key assumptions and inputs used in the estimation of the EAD include a constant prepayment rate (CPR) and loan level cash flow adjustments. Key assumptions and inputs used in the estimation of the CPR include historical prepayment observations, interest rates, the historical observation period, and loan pool segmentation. The assessment also included an evaluation of the qualitative adjustments, including an evaluation of the methods used by management in estimating this reserve. The collective ACL estimate is sensitive to changes in the assumptions discussed above, such that changes in these assumptions can cause significant changes to the estimate.
The following are the primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter. We evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of certain internal controls related to the Company’s measurement of the collective ACL estimate, including controls over the:
development of the collective ACL methodology
development of the PD and LGD models and of the methods used to calculate the CPR and EAD
identification and determination of the key inputs and assumptions used in the PD and LGD models, and EAD calculation which included key inputs and assumptions within the pre-payment model
performance monitoring of the PD and LGD models
development of the qualitative adjustments
measurement and on-going monitoring of the overall ACL estimate.
We evaluated the Company’s process to develop the collective ACL estimate by testing certain sources of data, factors, and assumptions that the Company used, and considered the relevance and reliability of such data, factors, assumptions, and related methodologies. In addition, we involved credit risk professionals with specialized skills and knowledge who assisted in:
evaluating the Company's collective ACL methodology for compliance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles
evaluating the assumptions and methodologies used in developing the PD rates, LGD rates, and EAD estimate and judgments made by the Company relative to performance monitoring by inspecting management's model and methodology documentation and through comparisons against Company specific metrics, the Company's business environment, and applicable industry and regulatory practices
determining whether loans are pooled by similar risk characteristics by comparing to the Company's business environment and relevant industry practices
testing individual credit ratings for a selection of borrowers by evaluating the financial performance of the borrower, sources of repayment, and any relevant guarantees and underlying collateral
evaluating the methodology used to develop the qualitative adjustments by inspecting management's methodology and development documentation and assessing the effects of these factors on the collective ACL estimate compared with relevant industry practices and Company specific metrics.
We also assessed the sufficiency of the audit evidence obtained related to the collective ACL estimate by evaluating the cumulative results of the audit procedures, qualitative aspects of the Company’s accounting practices, and potential bias in the accounting estimate.
/s/KPMG LLP
We have served as the Company's auditor since 2002.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 27, 2026
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