Regions is involved in various entities that are considered to be VIEs, as defined by authoritative accounting literature. Generally, a VIE is a corporation, partnership, trust or other legal structure that either does not have equity investors with substantive voting rights or has equity investors that do not provide sufficient financial resources for the entity to support its activities. The following discusses the VIEs in which Regions has a significant interest.

Regions periodically invests in various limited partnerships that sponsor affordable housing projects, which are funded through a combination of debt and equity. These partnerships meet the definition of a VIE. Regions uses the proportional amortization method to account for these investments. Due to the nature of the management activities of the general partner, Regions is not the primary beneficiary of these partnerships. See Note 1 for additional details. Additionally, Regions has loans or letters of credit commitments with certain limited partnerships. The funded portion of the loans and letters of credit are classified as commercial and industrial loans or investor real estate loans as applicable in Note 5.

A summary of Regions’ affordable housing tax credit investments and related loans and letters of credit, representing Regions’ maximum exposure to loss as of December 31 is as follows:



	2019		2018
	(In millions)
Affordable housing tax credit investments included in other assets	$	932	$	1,021
Unfunded affordable housing tax credit commitments included in other liabilities	213		289
Loans and letters of credit commitments	265		329
Funded portion of loans and letters of credit commitments	157		166



	2019		2018		2017
	(In millions)
Tax credits and other tax benefits recognized	$	165	$	174	$	189
Tax credit amortization expense included in provision for income taxes	131		137		160

In addition to the investments discussed above, Regions also syndicates affordable housing investments. In these syndication transactions, Regions creates affordable housing funds in which a subsidiary is the general partner or managing member and sells limited partnership interests to third parties. Regions' general partner or managing member interest represents an insignificant interest in the affordable housing fund. The affordable housing funds meet the definition of a VIE. As Regions is not the primary beneficiary and does not have a significant interest, these investments are not consolidated. At December 31, 2019 and 2018, the value of Regions’ general partnership interest in affordable housing investments was immaterial.

Other investments determined to be VIEs include investments in CRA projects, SBICs, and other miscellaneous investments. A summary of Regions' equity method investments representing Regions' maximum exposure to loss as of December 31 is as follows:



	2019		2018
	(In millions)
Gross equity method investments	$	176	$	122
Unfunded equity method commitments	72		49
Net funded equity method investments included in other assets	$	104	$	73