Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (the “Company” or “NWBI”), a Maryland corporation headquartered in Warren, Pennsylvania, is a bank holding company regulated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB"). The primary activity of the Company is the ownership of all of the issued and outstanding common stock of Northwest Bank, a Pennsylvania-chartered savings bank (“Northwest”).  Northwest is regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") and the Pennsylvania Department of Banking. Northwest operates 170 community-banking offices throughout Pennsylvania, Western New York, Eastern Ohio, and Indiana.

The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiary, Northwest, and Northwest’s subsidiaries Northwest Capital Group, Inc., Allegheny Services, Inc., Great Northwest Corporation, The Bert Company (doing business as Northwest Insurance Services)Services, which was sold April 30, 2021) and MutualFirst Investment Company, Inc. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions for Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X.  Accordingly, they do not include all of the information or footnotes required for complete annual financial statements.  In the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary for the fair presentation of the Company’s financial position and results of operations have been included.  The Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared using the accounting policies described in the financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 updated, as required, for any new pronouncements or changes.

On May 25, 2021, the Company awarded employees 621,972 stock options and directors 72,000 stock options with an exercise price of $13.68 and grant date fair value of $0.64 per stock option, and the Company awarded employees 293,755 restricted common shares and directors 27,000 restricted common shares with a grant date fair value of $13.68. Awarded stock options and common shares vest over a five-year period with the first vesting occurring on the grant date. Stock-based compensation expense of $961,000$1.0 million and $1.5 million$743,000 for the quarters ended March 31,September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, was recognized in compensation expense relating to our stock benefit plans. At March 31,September 30, 2021, there was compensation expense of $1.8$1.9 million to be recognized for awarded but unvested stock options and $8.6$10.7 million for unvested restricted common shares.

Accounting standards prescribe a comprehensive model for how a company should recognize, measure, present and disclose in its financial statements uncertain tax positions that the company has taken or expects to take on a tax return.  A tax benefit from an uncertain position may be recognized only if it is “more likely than not” that the position is sustainable, based on its technical merits.  The tax benefit of a qualifying position is the largest amount of tax benefit that is greater than 50% likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement with a taxing authority having full knowledge of all relevant information. At March 31,September 30, 2021, we had $336,000 of liability for unrecognized tax benefits.

We recognize interest accrued related to: (1) unrecognized tax benefits in other expenses and (2) refund claims in other operating income.  We recognize penalties (if any) in other expenses. We are subject to audit by the Internal Revenue Service and any state in which we conduct business for the tax periods ended December 31, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.

The following table shows the portfolio of marketable securities available-for-sale at March 31,September 30, 2021 (in thousands):