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, 2023 the Bank has entered into 114 interest-rate swap agreements with customers with a notional amount totaling $394.4 million. The Bank then entered into identical offsetting swaps with counterparties. 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 an interest rate swap with its customers in which the Bank pays the customer a variable rate and the customer pays the Bank a fixed rate, therefore allowing customers to convert variable rate loans to fixed rate loans. At the same time, the Bank enters into a swap with a counterparty bank in which the Bank pays the counterparty a fixed rate and the counterparty in return pays the Bank a variable rate. The net effect of the transaction allows the Bank to receive interest on the loan from the customer at a variable rate based on SOFR 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. These instruments contain language outlining collateral pledging requirements for each counterparty, in which collateral must be posted if market value exceeds certain agreed upon threshold limits. Cash or securities are pledged as collateral. Our interest rate swap derivatives are subject to a master netting arrangement with our counterparties. None of our derivative assets and liabilities are offset in the Company’s condensed consolidated 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.

To manage interest rate risk on our AFS securities portfolio, we have entered into pay-fixed, receive-floating interest rate swap contracts to hedge against exposure to changes in the fair value of such securities resulting from changes in interest rates. We designate these interest rate swap contracts as fair value hedges that qualify for hedge accounting under ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging. We elected to account for the fair value hedges using the portfolio layer method in accordance with ASU 2022-01. We record the interest rate swaps in the line items "accrued interest receivable and other assets" and "other liabilities" on our consolidated balance sheet. For qualifying fair value hedges, both the changes in the fair value of the derivative and the portion of the fair value adjustments associated with the portfolio layer attributable to the hedged risk are recognized into earnings as they occur. Derivative amounts impacting earnings are recognized consistent with the classification of the hedged item in the line item "investment securities available for sale" as part of interest income, a component of consolidated net income.

In June 2023, fair value hedging transactions were executed in which $1 billion notional pay-fixed interest rate swaps were consummated with maturities ranging from four to five years, wherein the Company pays a weighted average fixed rate of approximately 3.8% and receives daily SOFR. The fair value of these instruments totaled $6.9 million and were reflected as a liability at December 31, 2023.

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the total notional amount of the Company’s swaps was $394.4 million and $425.6 million, respectively. The location of the asset and liability, and their respective fair values are summarized in the tables below.


	December 31, 2023
	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	$	112	Other liabilities	$	112
Total		$	112		$	112

Derivatives designated as hedging instruments:
Interest rate swaps	Other assets	$	—	Other liabilities	$	6,938
Total		$	—		$	6,938

         
        December 31, 2022

         
        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

82

Other liabilities

82

Total

82

82

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.


	Location of Gain Recognized in Income on Derivative Instruments	Amount of Gain Recognized in Income on Derivative Instruments
		Year Ended December 31,
		2023		2022		2021
Derivatives Not Designated as Hedging Instruments:		(Dollars in thousands)
Interest rate swaps	Other income	$	12	$	—	$	382
Total		$	12	$	—	$	382


	Location of Gain Recognized in Income on Derivative Instruments	Amount of Gains (Losses) Recognized in Interest Income on Derivative Instruments						OCI Impact on Derivatives-Gains (Losses) recorded in OCI
		Year Ended December 31,						Year Ended December 31, 2023
			2023		2022		2021	2023			2022		2021
		(Dollars in thousands)						(Dollars in thousands)
Derivatives Designated as Hedging Instruments:
Interest rate swaps	Interest income	$	8,210	$	—	$	—	$	(4,868	)	$	—	$	—
Total		$	8,210	$	—	$	—	$	(4,868	)	$	—	$	—