See also Management’s discussion and analysis “Interest Rate Sensitivity.” Market risk refers to potential losses arising from changes in interest rates, and other relevant market rates or prices. Interest rate risk, defined as the exposure of net interest income and EVE to adverse movements in interest rates, is the Company’s primary market risk, and mainly arises from the structure of the balance sheet (non-trading activities). The Company is also exposed to market risk in its investing activities. The ALCO meets regularly and is responsible for reviewing the interest rate sensitivity position of the Company and establishing policies to monitor and limit exposure to interest rate risk. The policies established by the ALCO are reviewed and approved by the Company’s board of directors. The primary goal of interest rate risk management is to control exposure to interest rate risk, within policy limits approved by the board of directors. These limits reflect the Company’s tolerance for interest rate risk over short-term and long-term horizons. The Company also performs valuation analyses, which are used for evaluating levels of risk present in the balance sheet that might not be taken into account in the net interest income simulation analyses. Whereas net interest income simulation highlights exposures over a relatively short time horizon, valuation analysis incorporates all cash flows over the estimated remaining life of all balance sheet positions. The valuation of the balance sheet, at a point in time, is defined as the discounted present value of asset cash flows minus the discounted value of liability cash flows, the net result of which is the EVE. The sensitivity of EVE to changes in the level of interest rates is a measure of the longer-term re-pricing risks and options risks embedded in the balance sheet. Similar to net interest income simulation, EVE uses instantaneous changes in rates. Results of both net interest income simulation and EVE analyses are sensitive to changes in key modeling assumptions. 58 Table of Contents EVE values only the current balance sheet and does not incorporate the reinvestment assumptions that are used in the net interest income simulation model. As with the net interest income simulation model, assumptions about the timing and variability of balance sheet cash flows are critical in the EVE analysis. Particularly important are the assumptions driving prepayments and the expected changes in balances and pricing of the indeterminate maturity deposit portfolios. Stable deposits are a more significant funding source for the Company, making the estimated lives attached to stable deposits more important to the accuracy of our EVE modeling. The Company periodically reassesses its assumptions regarding the indeterminate lives of core deposits utilizing an independent third-party resource to assist. The following table presents the projected impact of a change in interest rates on the balance sheet. This change in interest rates assumes parallel shifts in the yield curve and does not take into account changes in the slope of the yield curve. Change in Interest Rates % Change in Economic Value of Equity +3.00% (16.3)% +2.00% (9.9)% +1.00% (4.3)% Current —% -1.00% 3.9% -2.00% 6.6% -3.00% 7.2% While an instantaneous and severe shift in interest rates is used in this analysis, a gradual shift in interest rates would have a much more modest impact. Since EVE measures the discounted present value of cash flows over the estimated lives of instruments, the change in EVE does not directly correlate to the degree that earnings would be impacted over a shorter time horizon, i.e., the next fiscal year. Further, EVE does not consider factors such as future balance sheet growth, changes in product mix, change in yield curve relationships, and changing product spreads that could mitigate the adverse impact of changes in interest rates.