Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (the “Company” or “NWBI”), a Maryland corporation headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, 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 150 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., Great Northwest Corporation, and MutualFirst Interest 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, 20212022 updated, as required, for any new pronouncements or changes.

Certain items previously reported have been reclassified to conform to the current year’s reporting format. These reclassifications had no effect on the reported results of operations. An adjustment has been made to the Consolidated Statements of Income and Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, to reclassify the provision for credit losses - unfunded commitments, previously presented in other expense, to provide additional transparency to financial statement users.

The results of operations for the quarter ended September 30, 2022 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2022,2023, or any other period.

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. We had a $241,000$473,000 of liability for unrecognized tax benefits as of both September 30, 2022March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2021.
2022.

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, 2022, 2021, 2020 2019 and 2018.2019.