NOTE 17 – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Financial Instruments

The Banks are party to credit-related financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit. Such instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amount recognized in the consolidated balance sheets.

The Banks’ exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The Banks use the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as they do for on-balance sheet instruments.

Such commitments and conditional obligations were as follows:


	Contractual Amount
	June 30,		December 31,
	2020		2019
		(dollars in thousands)
Commitments to extend credit	$	536,489	$	542,705
Standby letters of credit		9,649		8,991

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a customer as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. The Banks evaluate each customer’s credit worthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary, by the Banks upon extension of credit is based on management’s credit evaluation of the customer. Collateral held varies, but may include real estate, accounts receivable, inventory, property, plant, and equipment, and income-producing properties.

Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Banks to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Those standby letters of credit are primarily issued to support extensions of credit. The credit risk involved in issuing standby letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to customers. The Banks secure the standby letters of credit with the same collateral used to secure the related loan.

Legal Contingencies

Various legal claims arise from time to time in the normal course of business which, in the opinion of management, will have no material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.