Financial Instruments with Off-Balance-Sheet Risk

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Financial Instruments with Off-Balance-Sheet Risk

11. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS WITH OFF-BALANCE-SHEET RISK:

The Company is a 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 unfunded lines of credit, commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit. Those instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amount recognized in the consolidated balance sheets.

The Company’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for unfunded lines of credit, commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit is represented by the contractual notional amount of these instruments. The Company generally uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for on-balance-sheet instruments.

	Contract or Notional Amount at December 31, 2012 (in thousands)
Financial instruments whose contract amounts represent credit risk:
Unfunded lines of credit	$	335,654
Unfunded commitments to extend credit		75,604
Standby letters of credit		19,985
	$	431,243

Unfunded lines of credit and 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. These 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 creditworthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary by the Company upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the counterparty. Collateral held varies but may include accounts receivable, inventory, property, plant, and equipment, livestock, and income-producing commercial properties.

Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loan facilities to customers. The average collateral value held on letters of credit usually exceeds the contract amount.

The Company has no other significant off-balance sheet arrangements or transactions that would expose the Company to liability that is not reflected in the consolidated financial statements.