WESBANCO INC
For the period ended Dec 31, 2025. Filed Mar 2, 2026.
View on SEC.govAbout this filing
A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.
FY2025 · Filed Mar 2, 2026
Extracted filing text, with the paragraph anchors used by the comparison.
See the whole filing, with its images and exhibitsContents
Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The management of Wesbanco is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Wesbanco’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed under the supervision of Wesbanco’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of Wesbanco’s financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. 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 the controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with policies and procedures may deteriorate.
Wesbanco’s management assessed the effectiveness of Wesbanco’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025 based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). Based on the assessment, management determined that, as of December 31, 2025, Wesbanco’s internal control over financial reporting was not effective at a reasonable assurance level, based on the COSO criteria.
Management identified a material weakness in the design and operating effectiveness of controls related to the fair value of assets acquired as part of the Premier Financial Corp. business combination, including a lack of precision and evidence of reviews of the assumptions supporting the fair value of acquired assets. A material weakness (as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act) is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of Wesbanco's annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. To remediate the material weakness, Wesbanco's management is in the process of implementing certain changes to Wesbanco’s internal controls and will implement additional internal controls during 2026 to remediate the control deficiencies that led to the material weakness. Specifically, Wesbanco’s management plans to engage independent third-party advisors to assess the reasonableness of the control design to ensure inspectable evidence of review is robust. Wesbanco’s management believes these remediation measures will strengthen Wesbanco’s internal control over financial reporting and remediate the material weakness (and related control deficiencies) identified.
The effectiveness of Wesbanco’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025 has been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, Wesbanco’s independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their accompanying report appearing below.
| /s/ Jeffrey H. Jackson | /s/ Daniel K. Weiss, Jr. |
|---|---|
| Jeffrey H. Jackson | Daniel K. Weiss, Jr. |
| President and Chief Executive Officer | Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer |
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of Wesbanco, Inc.
Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We have audited Wesbanco, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, because of the effect of the material weakness described below on the achievement of the objectives of the control criteria, Wesbanco, Inc. (the Company) has not maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on the COSO criteria.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The following material weakness has been identified and included in management’s assessment. Management identified a material weakness in the design and operating effectiveness of controls related to the fair value of assets acquired as part of the Premier Financial Corp. business combination, including a lack of precision and evidence of reviews of the assumptions supporting the fair value of acquired assets.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income (loss), changes in shareholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2025, and the related notes. This material weakness was considered in determining the nature, timing and extent of audit tests applied in our audit of the 2025 consolidated financial statements, and this report does not affect our report dated March 2, 2026, which expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Basis for Opinion
The Company’s management is responsible 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’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the 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 audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
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.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
March 2, 2026
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of Wesbanco, Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Wesbanco, Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income (loss), changes in shareholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2025, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2025 and 2024, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2025, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), and our report dated March 2, 2026 expressed an adverse opinion thereon.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the 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 audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the 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 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 financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matters 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 matters below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matters or on the account or disclosure to which they relate.
| Allowance for credit losses - loans | |
| Description of the Matter | The Company’s loan portfolio totaled $19.2 billion as of December 31, 2025, and the associated allowance for credit losses - loans (ACL) was $218.7 million. As discussed in Note 1 and 5 to the consolidated financial statements, the ACL reflects the lifetime expected credit losses on the Company’s loan portfolio. The ACL is calculated utilizing the probability of default / loss given default approach to calculate the expected loss for each segment, which is then discounted to net present value. The primary macroeconomic drivers of the quantitative model includes the forecast of national unemployment and interest rate spreads. The evaluation also considers qualitative factor adjustments such as economic trends and conditions.Auditing management’s ACL estimate was complex due to the subjectivity in evaluating the national unemployment (macroeconomic forecast) used by the Company in their quantitative ACL model. Management utilizes information obtained from various third parties to inform their view of the macroeconomic forecast. Other internal and external indicators of economic forecasts are also considered by management when establishing the forecast for the ACL. We identified auditing the reasonableness of management’s macroeconomic forecast in the ACL for loans as a critical audit matter as it involves especially subjective auditor judgment. |
|---|---|
| How We Addressed the Matter in Our Audit | We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design, and tested the operating effectiveness of the Company’s controls over the ACL process, including controls over the appropriateness of the ACL methodology, the expected loss model, the reliability and accuracy of data used in developing the ACL estimate, and management’s review and approval process over their determination of the macroeconomic forecast. |
| We tested management’s expected loss model including evaluating the conceptual soundness of model methodology, assessing model performance and governance, testing key model assumptions, including the reasonable and supportable forecast, and independently recalculating model output with the assistance of EY specialists. To test management’s determination of the macroeconomic forecast, we evaluated the reasonableness of the Company’s macroeconomic assumptions and judgments in estimating future credit losses, including the selection of the forecasted macroeconomic assumptions and considerations of alternative forecasted macroeconomic scenarios. This included obtaining corroborative information, including employment statistics, economic reports and alternative economic forecasts, as well as performing an independent search for the existence of new or contrary information relating to independent macroeconomic forecast to validate that management’s considerations are appropriate. We also verified the underlying economic forecast data used to estimate the quantitative reserve was complete and accurate. Additionally, we evaluated whether the overall ACL appropriately reflects losses expected in the loan portfolio by comparing it to the Company’s historical loss data and to peer bank data. We also performed analytical procedures on the ACL, including coverage ratios and comparison to prior periods as well as prior economic cycles. | |
| Business Combination - Fair Value of Acquired Loans and Core Deposit Intangibles | |
| Description of the Matter | As described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company acquired Premier Financial Corp. (PFC) on February 28, 2025, and recognized $5.9 billion in fair value of loans acquired and $136 million in core deposit intangibles (CDI). The fair value of acquired loans is based on a discounted cash flow methodology that considers credit loss and prepayment expectations, market interest rates and other market factors, such as liquidity. The fair value of CDI is also based on a discounted cash flow methodology that considers estimates of customer attrition rates, net maintenance costs of the deposit base, interest costs associated with customer deposits, alternative cost of funds, and a market discount rate.Auditing the Company’s estimate of the fair value of acquired loans was complex due to the significant judgment required by management in developing the credit loss and prepayment expectations, along with the discount rates used in the discounted cash flow methodology. Auditing the Company’s estimate of the CDI fair value was complex due to the significant judgment required by management in developing the estimates of customer attrition rates used in the discounted cash flow model. These required a high degree of auditor judgment and effort in performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence obtained related to the significant judgments made by management and required the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge. |
|---|---|
| How We Addressed the Matter in Our Audit | To test the estimated fair value of acquired loans and CDI, our audit procedures included, among others, involving valuation specialists to assist us in testing management’s discounted cash flow methodology and significant assumptions.To test the estimated fair value of acquired loans, we involved our specialists to develop, on a sample basis, independent expectations for credit losses, prepayments and discount rates and compared management’s assumptions to the independently developed ranges based on third party market data. Additionally, we tested, on a sample basis, completeness and accuracy of the underlying loan data provided by management that was used in the discounted cash flow model. Lastly, on a sample basis, we performed independent comparative calculations of the fair value adjustment to the acquired loans. To test the estimated fair value of the CDI, we involved our specialists to assess customer attrition rates and to develop an independent fair value range which we compared to management’s fair value. Additionally, we tested the completeness and accuracy of the deposit data used in the discounted cash flow model. |
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1996.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
March 2, 2026
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.