22.

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 December 31, 2017, the Bank has entered into 77 interest-rate swap agreements with customers. The Bank then entered into identical offsetting swaps with 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 to 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 December 31, 2017 and 2016, the total notional amount of the Company’s swaps was $198.5 million and $202.7 million, respectively. The location of the asset and liability, and their respective fair values are summarized in the tables below.

December 31, 2017

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

3,211

Other liabilities

3,211

Total derivatives

3,211

December 31, 2016

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

5,783

Other liabilities

5,783

Total derivatives

5,783

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

The following table summarizes the effect of derivative financial instruments on the consolidated statements of earnings for the periods presented.


Derivatives Not Designated as Hedging Instruments	Location of Gain Recognized in Income on Derivative Instruments	Amount of Gain Recognized in Income on Derivative Instruments
		For the Year Ended December 31,
		2017		2016		2015
		(Dollars in thousands)
Interest rate swaps	Other income	$	615	$	691	$	333

Total		$	615	$	691	$	333