Zions Bancorporation (“the Parent”) is a financial holding company organized under the laws of the State of Utah in 1955, and registered under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “BHC Act”). The Parent and its subsidiaries (collectively “the Company”) own and operate eight commercial banks with a total of 470 offices at year-end 2006. The Company provides a full range of banking and related services through its banking and other subsidiaries, primarily in Utah, California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Full-time equivalent employees totaled 10,618 at year-end 2006. For further information about the Company’s industry segments, see “Business Segment Results” in Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) and Note 22 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. For information about the Company’s foreign operations, see “Foreign Operations” in MD&A. The “Executive Summary” in MD&A provides further information about the Company.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The Company focuses on maintaining community-minded banking services by continuously strengthening its core business lines of 1) small, medium-sized business and corporate banking; 2) commercial and residential development, construction and term lending; 3) retail banking; 4) treasury cash management and related products and services; 5) residential mortgage; and 6) investment activities. It operates eight different banks in ten Western and Southwestern states with each bank operating under a different name and each having its own board of directors, chief executive officer, and management team. The banks provide a wide variety of commercial and retail banking and mortgage lending products and services. They also provide a wide range of personal banking services to individuals, including home mortgages, bankcard, student and other installment loans, home equity lines of credit, checking accounts, savings accounts, time certificates of various types and maturities, trust services, safe deposit facilities, direct deposit, and 24-hour ATM access. In addition, certain banking subsidiaries provide services to key market segments through their Women’s Financial, Private Client Services, and Executive Banking Groups. We also offer wealth management services through a subsidiary, Contango Capital Advisors, Inc., (“Contango”) that was launched in 2004.

In addition to these core businesses, the Company has built specialized lines of business in capital markets, public finance, and certain financial technologies, and is also a leader in U.S. S Administration (“SBA”) lending. Through its eight banking subsidiaries, the Company provides SBA 7(a) loans to ses throughout the United States and is also one of the largest providers of SBA 504 financing in the nation. The Company owns an equity interest in the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (“Farmer Mac”) and is the nation’s top originator of secondary market agricultural real estate mortgage loans through Farmer Mac. The Company is a leader in municipal finance advisory and underwriting services. The Company also controls four venture capital funds that provide early-stage capital primarily for start-up companies located in the Western United States. Finally, the Company’s NetDeposit, Inc. (“NetDeposit”) and P5, Inc. (“P5”) subsidiaries are national leaders in the provision of check imaging and clearing software and of web-based medical claims tracking and cash management services, respectively.

COMPETITION

The Company operates in a highly competitive environment. The Company’s most direct competition for loans and deposits comes from other commercial banks, thrifts, and credit unions, including institutions that do not have a physical presence in our market footprint but solicit via the Internet and other means. In addition, the Company competes with finance companies, mutual funds, brokerage firms, securities dealers, investment banking companies, financial technology firms, and a variety of other types of companies. Many of these companies have fewer regulatory constraints and some have lower cost structures.

The primary factors in competing for business include pricing, convenience of office locations and other delivery methods, range of products offered, and the level of service delivered. The Company must compete effectively along all of these parameters to remain successful.

SUPERVISION AND REGULATION

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (“the GLB Act”) provides a regulatory framework for financial holding companies, which have as their umbrella regulator the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”). The functional regulation of the separately regulated subsidiaries of a holding company is conducted by each subsidiary’s primary functional regulator. To qualify for and maintain status as a financial holding company, a company must satisfy certain ongoing criteria.

The GLB Act also provides federal regulations dealing with privacy for nonpublic personal information of individual customers, with which the Company must comply. In addition, the Company is subject to various other federal and state laws that deal with the use and disclosure of nonpublic personal information.

The Parent is a financial holding company and, as such, is subject to the BHC Act. The BHC Act requires the prior approval of the FRB for a financial holding company to acquire or hold more than 5% voting interest in any bank. The BHC Act allows, subject to certain limitations, interstate bank acquisitions and interstate branching by acquisition anywhere in the country.

The BHC Act restricts the Company’s nonbanking activities to those that are permitted for financial holding companies or that have been determined by the FRB to be financial in nature, incidental to financial activities, or complementary to a financial activity. The BHC Act does not place territorial restrictions on the activities of nonbank subsidiaries of financial holding companies.

The Company’s banking subsidiaries are also subject to various requirements and restrictions contained in both the laws of the United States and the states in which the banks operate. These include restrictions on:

 
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transactions with affiliates;

 
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the amount of loans to a borrower and its affiliates;

 
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the nature and amount of any investments;

 
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their ability to act as an underwriter of securities;

 
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the opening of branches; and

 
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the acquisition of other financial entities.

In addition, the Company’s subsidiary banks are subject to the provisions of the National Bank Act or the banking laws of their respective states, as well as the rules and regulations of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), the FRB, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”). They are also under the supervision of, and are subject to periodic examination by, the OCC or their respective state banking departments, the FRB, and the FDIC.

The FRB has established capital guidelines for financial holding companies. The OCC, the FDIC, and the FRB have also issued regulations establishing capital requirements for banks. Failure to meet capital requirements could subject the Company and its subsidiary banks to a variety of restrictions and enforcement remedies. See Note 19 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for information regarding capital requirements.

The U.S. federal bank regulatory agencies’ risk-based capital guidelines are based upon the 1988 capital accord (“Basel I”) of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (the “BCBS”). The BCBS is a committee of central banks and bank supervisors/regulators from the major industrialized countries that develops broad policy guidelines that each country’s supervisors can use to determine the supervisory policies they apply. The BCBS has been working for a number of years on revisions to Basel I and in June 2004 released the final version of its proposed new capital framework with an update in November 2005 (“Basel II”). Basel II provides two approaches for setting capital standards for credit risk – an internal ratings-based approach tailored to individual institutions’ circumstances (which for many asset classes is itself broken into a “foundation” approach and an “advanced” or “A-IRB” approach, the availability of which is subject to additional restrictions) and a standardized approach that bases risk weightings on external credit assessments to a much greater extent than permitted in existing risk-based capital guidelines. Basel II also would set capital requirements for operational risk and refine the existing capital requirements for market risk exposures. However, U.S. regulatory authorities consistently have taken the position that U.S. banks would not be permitted to utilize the “foundation” approach. Operational risk is defined by the proposal to mean the risk of direct or indirect loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems, or from external events. Basel I does not include separate capital requirements for operational risk.

In September 2006, the U.S. banking and thrift agencies issued an interagency Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPR”) setting forth a definitive proposal for implementing Basel II in the United States that would apply only to internationally active banking organizations – defined as those with consolidated total assets of $250 billion or more or consolidated on-balance sheet

foreign exposures of $10 billion or more – but that other U.S. banking organizations could elect, but would not be required to apply. We do not currently expect to be an early “opt in” bank holding company, as the Company does not have in place the data collection and analytical capabilities necessary to adopt Basel II. However, we believe that the competitive advantages afforded to companies that do adopt the framework will make it necessary for the Company to elect to “opt in” at some point, and we have begun investing in the required capabilities.

Also, in December 2006, the agencies issued another NPR for modifications to the Basel I framework for those banks not adopting Basel II, called Basel IA. The Basel IA NPR will allow non-Basel II banking organizations the choice of adopting all of the revisions suggested in the proposed NPR or continuing the use of existing risk-based capital rules. The agencies have indicated their intent to have the A-IRB provisions for internationally active U.S. banking organizations first become effective in March 2009 and that those provisions and the Basel IA provisions for others will be implemented on similar time frames.

Dividends payable by the subsidiary banks to the Parent are subject to various legal and regulatory restrictions. These restrictions and the amount available for the payment of dividends at year-end are summarized in Note 19 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 provides that the Company’s bank subsidiaries are liable for any loss incurred by the FDIC in connection with the failure of an affiliated insured bank.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 prescribes standards for the safety and soundness of insured banks. These standards relate to internal controls, information systems, internal audit systems, loan documentation, credit underwriting, interest rate exposure, asset growth, and compensation, as well as other operational and management standards deemed appropriate by the federal banking regulatory agencies.

The Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) requires banks to help serve the credit needs in their communities, including credit to low and moderate income individuals. Should the Company or its subsidiaries fail to adequately serve their communities, penalties may be imposed including denials of applications to add branches, relocate, add subsidiaries and affiliates, and merge with or purchase other financial institutions. The GLB Act requires “satisfactory” or higher CRA compliance for insured depository institutions and their financial holding companies for them to engage in new financial activities. If one of the Company’s banks should receive a CRA rating of less than satisfactory, the Company could lose its status as a financial holding company.

On October 26, 2001, the President signed into law comprehensive anti-terrorism legislation known as the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (the “USA Patriot Act”). Title III of the USA Patriot Act substantially broadens the scope of U.S. anti-money laundering laws and regulations by imposing significant new compliance and due diligence obligations, defining new crimes and related penalties, and expanding the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the United States. The U.S. Treasury Department has issued a number of implementing regulations, which apply various requirements of the USA Patriot Act to financial institutions. The Company’s bank and broker-dealer subsidiaries and mutual funds and private investment companies advised or sponsored by the Company’s subsidiaries must comply with these regulations. These regulations also impose new obligations on financial institutions to maintain appropriate policies, procedures and controls to detect, prevent and report money laundering and terrorist financing.

The Company has adopted appropriate policies, procedures and controls to address compliance with the requirements of these acts and will continue to make appropriate revisions to reflect any changes required.

Regulators, Congress, and state legislatures continue to enact rules, laws, and policies to regulate the financial services industry and to protect consumers. The nature of these laws and regulations and the effect of such policies on future business and earnings of the Company cannot be predicted.

On July 30, 2002, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States (Congress) enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a law that addresses, among other issues, corporate governance, auditing and accounting, executive compensation, and enhanced and timely disclosure of corporate information. The Nasdaq has also adopted corporate governance rules, which are intended to allow shareholders and investors to more easily and efficiently monitor the performance of companies and their directors.

The Board of Directors of the Parent has implemented a system of strong corporate governance practices. This system includes Corporate Governance Guidelines, a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for Employees, a Directors Code of Conduct, and charters for the Audit, Credit Review, Executive Compensation, and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees. More information on the Company’s corporate governance practices is available on the Company’s website at www.zionsbancorporation.com . (The Company’s website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.)

GOVERNMENT MONETARY POLICIES

The earnings and business of the Company are affected not only by general economic conditions, but also by fiscal and other policies adopted by various governmental authorities. The Company is particularly affected by the monetary policies of the FRB, which affect short-term interest rates and the national supply of bank credit. The methods of monetary policy available to the FRB include:

 
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open-market operations in U.S. government securities;

 
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adjustment of the discount rates or cost of bank borrowings from the FRB; and

 
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imposing or changing reserve requirements against bank deposits.

These methods are used in varying combinations to influence the overall growth or contraction of bank loans, investments and deposits, and the interest rates charged on loans or paid for deposits.

In view of the changing conditions in the economy and the effect of the FRB’s monetary policies, it is difficult to predict future changes in loan demand, deposit levels and interest rates, or their effect on the business and earnings of the Company. FRB monetary policies have had a significant effect on the operating results of commercial banks in the past and are expected to continue to do so in the future.

ITEM 1A.   RISK FACTORS

The following list describes several risk factors which are significant to the Company:

 
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Credit risk is one of our most significant risks. Over the last three years we have experienced historically high levels of credit quality. We do not see any indications that credit quality will deteriorate significantly, but it is unlikely that we will be able to maintain credit quality at these levels indefinitely. Economic conditions in the high growth geographical areas in which our banks operate have been strong, but events could result in weaker economic conditions including deterioration of property values that could significantly increase the Company’s credit risk.

 
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Net interest income is the largest component of the Company’s revenue. The management of interest rate risk for the Company and all bank subsidiaries is centralized and overseen by an Asset Liability Management Committee appointed by the Company’s Board of Directors. The Company has been successful in its interest rate risk management as evidenced by its achieving a relatively stable interest rate margin over the last several years when interest rates have been volatile and the rate environment challenging. Factors beyond the Company’s control can significantly influence the interest rate environment and increase the Company’s risk. These factors include competitive pricing pressures for our loans and deposits and volatile market interest rates subject to general economic conditions and the polices of governmental and regulatory agencies, in particular the FRB.

 
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The Company is exposed to accounting, financial reporting, and regulatory/compliance risk. The Company provides to its customers a number of complex financial products and services. Estimates, judgments and interpretations of complex and changing accounting and regulatory policies are required in order to provide and account for these products and services. Identification, interpretation and implementation of complex and changing accounting standards as well as compliance with regulatory requirements therefore pose an ongoing risk.

 
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A failure in our internal controls could have a significant negative impact not only on our earnings, but also on the perception that customers, regulators and investors may have of the Company. We continue to devote a significant amount of effort, time and resources to improving our controls and ensuring compliance with complex accounting standards and regulations.

 
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We have a number of business initiatives that, while we believe they will ultimately produce profits for our shareholders, currently generate expenses in excess of revenues. Two significant initiatives are Contango, a wealth management business started in 2004, and NetDeposit, a subsidiary that provides electronic check processing systems. Our management of these businesses takes into account the development of revenues and control of expenses so that results of operations are not adverse to an extent that is not warranted by the expected opportunities these businesses provide.

 
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As noted previously, U.S. and international regulators have proposed new capital standards commonly known as Basel II. These standards would apply to a number of our largest competitors and potentially give them a significant competitive advantage over

 

banks that do not adopt these standards. Sophisticated systems and data are required to adopt Basel II standards; the Company does not yet have these systems and data. While the Company is developing some of the systems, data, and analytical capabilities required to adopt Basel II, adoption is difficult and the Company has not yet decided that it will or can adopt Basel II. More recently, U.S. banking regulators issued another NPR which might reduce competitive inequities for modifications to the Basel I framework for those banks not adopting Basel II, called Basel IA. The Basel IA NPR will allow non-Basel II banking organizations the choice of adopting all of the revisions suggested in the proposed NPR or continuing the use of existing risk-based capital rules. However, our initial analysis indicates that a significant risk of competitive inequity would persist between banks operating under Basel IA and those using Basel II by potentially allowing Basel II banks to operate with lower levels of capital for certain lines of business.

 
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From time to time the Company makes acquisitions. The success of any acquisition depends, in part, on our ability to realize the projected cost savings from the merger and on the continued growth and profitability of the acquisition target. We have been successful with most prior mergers, but it is possible that the merger and integration process with an acquisition target could result in the loss of key employees, disruptions in controls, procedures and policies, or other factors that could affect our ability to realize the projected savings and successfully retain and grow the target’s customer base.

The Company’s Board of Directors has established an Enterprise-Wide Risk Management policy and appointed an Enterprise Risk Management Committee to oversee and implement the policy. In addition to credit and interest rate risk, the Committee also oversees and monitors the following risk areas: market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, information technology risk, strategic risk, and reputation risk.

 
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.