Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees

Commitments

In the normal course of business, the Corporation offers a variety of financial instruments containing credit risk that are not required to be reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position. These financial instruments include outstanding commitments to extend credit, approved but undisbursed loans (undisbursed loan commitments), credit lines, commercial letters of credit and standby letters of credit. The Corporation has risk management policies to identify, monitor and limit exposure to credit risk. To mitigate credit risk for these financial guarantees, the Corporation generally determines the need for specific covenant, guarantee and collateral requirements on a case-by-case basis, depending on the nature of the financial instrument and the customer's creditworthiness.

At December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Corporation had $187.6 million and $118.9 million, respectively, of outstanding financial and performance standby letters of credit. The majority of these standby letters of credit are collateralized. The Corporation determined that there were no potential losses from standby letters of credit at December 31, 2017 and 2016.

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a customer provided there is no violation of any condition established in the commitment. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may not require payment of a fee. Since many commitments expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. The Corporation evaluates each customer's creditworthiness on an individual basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary by the Corporation upon extension of credit, is based on management's credit evaluation of the counterparty. The collateral held varies, but may include securities, real estate, accounts receivable, inventory, plant or equipment. Unfunded commitments under commercial lines of credit, revolving credit lines and overdraft protection agreements are included in commitments to extend credit. These lines of credit are generally not collateralized, usually do not contain a specified maturity date and may be drawn upon only to the total extent to which the Corporation is committed. At December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Corporation had $3.03 billion and $2.70 billion, respectively, of commitments to extend credit. The Corporation had undisbursed loan commitments of $571.0 million and $578.2 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Undisbursed loan commitments are not included in loans on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position. The majority of undisbursed loan commitments will be funded and convert to a portfolio loan within a one year period.

The allowance for credit losses on lending-related commitments included $1.2 million and $1.3 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, for probable credit losses inherent in the Corporation's unused commitments and was recorded in "Interest payable and other liabilities" in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position.

Contingencies and Guarantees

The Corporation has originated and sold certain loans, and additionally acquired the potential liability for those historical originated and sold loans by Talmer, for which the buyer has limited recourse to us in the event the loans do not perform as specified in the agreements. These loans had an outstanding balance of $13.3 million and $16.9 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The maximum potential amount of undiscounted future payments that the Corporation could be required to make in the event of nonperformance by the borrower totaled $12.8 million and $16.1 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. In the event of nonperformance, the Corporation has rights to the underlying collateral securing the loans. At both December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Corporation had recorded a liability of $0.2 million, in connection with the recourse agreements, recorded in "Interest payable and other liabilities" in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position.

Representations and Warranties

In connection with the Corporation's mortgage banking loan sales, and the historical sales of merged or acquired entities, the Corporation makes certain representations and warranties that the loans meet certain criteria, such as collateral type and underwriting standards. The Corporation may be required to repurchase individual loans and/or indemnify the purchaser against losses if the loan fails to meet established criteria. At December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, the liability recorded in connection with these representations and warranties totaled $5.3 million and $6.5 million, respectively.

A summary of the reserve for representations and warranties of the Corporation is as follows:



	For the years ended December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)	2017			2016			2015
Reserve balance at beginning of period	$	6,459		$	4,048		$	3,000
Addition of fair value of representations and warranties due to mergers and acquisitions	—			3,100			1,712
Reserve reduction	(1,095		)	(580		)	—
Charge-offs	(15		)	(109		)	(664		)
Ending reserve balance	$	5,349		$	6,459		$	4,048
Reserve balance:
Liability for specific claims	531			730			—
General allowance	4,818			5,729			4,048
Total reserve balance	$	5,349		$	6,459		$	4,048

Operating Leases and Other Noncancelable Contractual Obligations

The Corporation has operating leases and other noncancelable contractual obligations on buildings, equipment, computer software and other expenses that will require annual payments through 2034, including renewal option periods for those building leases that the Corporation expects to renew.

Future minimum lease payments for operating leases and other noncancelable contractual obligations are as follows:



(Dollars in thousands)	Future Minimum Lease Payments⁽¹⁾
Years ending December 31,
2018	$	22,973
2019	21,487
2020	18,808
2021	16,794
2022	20,112
Thereafter	33,775
Total	$	133,949


⁽¹⁾	Future minimum lease payments are reduced by $0.9 million related to sublease income to be received within the next five years.

Minimum payments include estimates, where applicable, of estimated usage and annual Consumer Price Index increases of approximately 2.1%. Total expense recorded under operating leases and other noncancelable contractual obligations was $30.8 million in 2017, compared to $20.4 million in 2016 and $15.6 million in 2015.

Legal Proceedings

The Corporation and Chemical Bank are subject to various pending or threatened legal proceedings arising out of the normal course of business and related to our merger and acquisition history.

The Corporation assesses its liabilities and contingencies in connection with outstanding legal proceedings utilizing the latest information available. Where it is probable that the Corporation will incur a loss and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated, the Corporation records a liability in the Consolidated Financial Statements. While the ultimate liability with respect to these litigation matters and claims cannot be determined at this time, in the opinion of management, the ultimate disposition of these matters is not expected to have a material adverse effect on the financial position or results of operations of the Corporation.