XML 54 R17.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.1.9
Derivative Financial Instruments
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]  
Derivative Financial Instruments

10. DERIVATIVE FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

The Bank is exposed to certain risks relating to its ongoing business operations and utilizes interest rate swap agreements (“swaps”) as part of its asset/liability management strategy to help manage its interest rate risk position. As of March 31, 2015, the Bank has entered into 75 interest-rate swap agreements with customers, all of which also involve a counterparty bank. The swap agreements are not designated as hedging instruments. The purpose of entering into offsetting derivatives not designated as a hedging instrument is to provide the Bank a variable-rate loan receivable and provide the customer the financial effects of a fixed-rate loan without creating significant volatility in the Bank’s earnings.

The structure of the swaps is as follows. The Bank enters into a swap with its customers to allow them to convert variable rate loans to fixed rate loans, and at the same time, the Bank enters into a swap with the counterparty bank to allow the Bank to pass on the interest-rate risk associated with fixed rate loans. The net effect of the transaction allows the Bank to receive interest on the loan from the customer at a variable rate based on LIBOR plus a spread. The changes in the fair value of the swaps primarily offset each other and therefore should not have a significant impact on the Company’s results of operations, although the Company does incur credit and counterparty risk with respect to performance on the swap agreements by the Bank’s customer and counterparty, respectively. Our interest rate swap derivatives are subject to a master netting arrangement with one counterparty bank. None of our derivative assets and liabilities are offset in the balance sheet.

We believe our risk of loss associated with our counterparty borrowers related to interest rate swaps is mitigated as the loans with swaps are underwritten to take into account potential additional exposure, although there can be no assurances in this regard since the performance of our swaps is subject to market and counterparty risk.

 

Balance Sheet Classification of Derivative Financial Instruments

As of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the total notional amount of the Company’s swaps was $193.8 million, and $197.4 million, respectively. The location of the asset and liability, and their respective fair values are summarized in the table below.

 

     March 31, 2015  
     Asset Derivatives      Liability Derivatives  
     Balance Sheet
Location		    Fair
Value		      Balance Sheet
Location		    Fair
Value		  
     (Dollars in thousands)  

Derivatives not designated as hedging instruments:

            

Interest rate swaps

    Other assets    $ 11,624       Other liabilities    $ 11,624   
     

 

 

        

 

 

  

Total derivatives

 $ 11,624    $ 11,624   
     

 

 

        

 

 

  
     December 31, 2014  
     Asset Derivatives      Liability Derivatives  
     Balance Sheet
Location		    Fair
Value		      Balance Sheet
Location		    Fair
Value		  
     (Dollars in thousands)  

Derivatives not designated as hedging instruments:

            

Interest rate swaps

    Other assets    $ 10,080       Other liabilities    $ 10,080   
     

 

 

        

 

 

  

Total derivatives

 $ 10,080    $ 10,080   
     

 

 

        

 

 

  

The Effect of Derivative Financial Instruments on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings

There was no gain recognized in the condensed consolidated statements of earnings for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014.