Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

Note 7— Commitments and Contingencies

The Company is party to 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, standby letters of credit and financial guarantees. Those instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amount recognized in the balance sheet. The contract or notional amounts of those instruments reflect the extent of involvement the Company has in particular classes of financial instruments. The Company’s 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 and financial guarantees written is represented by the contractual notional amount of those instruments.

The Company uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for on balance sheet instruments. Refer to Note 4 – Allowance for Loan Credit Losses for further discussion regarding the Company’s estimate of lifetime credit losses for off-balance sheet exposure.

The following table summarizes the contract or notional amount of the Company’s exposure to off-balance sheet risk as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.

(Dollars in thousands)	March 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Commitments to extend credit	$	254,562	$	240,084
Standby letters of credit	$	17,523	$	14,677

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 Company evaluates each customer’s credit worthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the counterparty. Collateral held varies but may include accounts receivable, inventory, property and equipment, income-producing commercial properties, and other real estate properties.

Unfunded commitments under lines of credit are commitments for possible future extensions of credit to existing customers. Those lines of credit may not be drawn upon to the total extent to which the Company is committed.

Standby letters of credit written are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Those guarantees are primarily issued to support public and private borrowing arrangements, including commercial paper, bond financing, and similar transactions. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loan facilities to customers.