13. Commitments and contingencies

In the normal course of business, various commitments and contingent liabilities are outstanding. The following table presents the Company’s significant commitments. Certain of these commitments are not included in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet.


	September 30,		December 31,
	2015		2014
	(in thousands)
Commitments to extend credit
Home equity lines of credit	$	5,535,704		6,194,516
Commercial real estate loans to be sold		89,374		212,257
Other commercial real estate and construction		5,356,256		4,834,699
Residential real estate loans to be sold		587,206		432,352
Other residential real estate		674,338		524,399
Commercial and other		12,144,962		11,080,856
Standby letters of credit		3,441,337		3,706,888
Commercial letters of credit		44,082		46,965
Financial guarantees and indemnification contracts		2,922,743		2,490,050
Commitments to sell real estate loans		977,822		1,237,294

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to customers, generally having fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses that may require payment of a fee. Standby and commercial letters of credit are conditional commitments issued to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Standby letters of credit generally are contingent upon the failure of the customer to perform according to the terms of the underlying contract with the third party, whereas commercial letters of credit are issued to facilitate commerce and typically result in the commitment being funded when the underlying transaction is consummated between the customer and a third party. The credit risk associated with commitments to extend credit and standby and commercial letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved with extending loans to customers and is subject to normal credit policies. Collateral may be obtained based on management’s assessment of the customer’s creditworthiness.

Financial guarantees and indemnification contracts are oftentimes similar to standby letters of credit and include mandatory purchase agreements issued to ensure that customer obligations are fulfilled, recourse obligations associated with sold loans, and other guarantees of customer performance or compliance with designated rules and regulations. Included in financial guarantees and indemnification contracts are loan principal amounts sold with recourse in conjunction with the Company’s involvement in the Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing program. The Company’s maximum credit risk for recourse associated with loans sold under this program totaled approximately $2.5 billion and $2.4 billion at September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively.

Since many loan commitments, standby letters of credit, and guarantees and indemnification contracts expire without being funded in whole or in part, the contract amounts are not necessarily indicative of future cash flows.

The Company utilizes commitments to sell real estate loans to hedge exposure to changes in the fair value of real estate loans held for sale. Such commitments are considered derivatives and along with commitments to originate real estate loans to be held for sale are generally recorded in the consolidated balance sheet at estimated fair market value.

The Company also has commitments under long-term operating leases.

The Company is contractually obligated to repurchase previously sold residential real estate loans that do not ultimately meet investor sale criteria related to underwriting procedures or loan documentation. When required to do so, the Company may reimburse loan purchasers for losses incurred or may repurchase certain loans. The Company reduces residential mortgage banking revenues by an estimate for losses related to its obligations to loan purchasers. The amount of those charges is based on the volume of loans sold, the level of reimbursement requests received from loan purchasers and estimates of losses that may be associated with previously sold loans. Subject to the outcome of the matter discussed in the following paragraph, at September 30, 2015, management believes that any further liability arising out of the Company’s obligation to loan purchasers is not material to the Company’s consolidated financial position.

The Company is the subject of an investigation by government agencies relating to the origination of Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) insured residential home loans and residential home loans sold to The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) and The Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”). A number of other U.S. financial institutions have announced similar investigations. Regarding FHA loans, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Department of Justice (collectively, the “Government”) are investigating whether the Company complied with underwriting guidelines concerning certain loans where HUD paid FHA insurance claims. The Company is fully cooperating with the investigation. The Government has advised the Company that based upon its review of a sample of loans for which an FHA insurance claim was paid by HUD, some of the loans do not meet underwriting guidelines. The Company, based on its own review of the sample, does not agree with the sampling methodology and loan analysis employed by the Government. Regarding loans originated by the Company and sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the investigation concerns whether the mortgages sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae comply with applicable underwriting guidelines. The Company is also cooperating with that portion of the investigation. The investigation could lead to claims by the Government under the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, which allow treble and other special damages substantially in excess of actual losses. Remedies in these proceedings or settlements may include restitution, fines, penalties, or alterations in the Company’s business practices. The Company and the Government continue settlement discussions regarding the investigation.

M&T and its subsidiaries are subject in the normal course of business to various pending and threatened legal proceedings and other matters in which claims for monetary damages are asserted. On an on-going basis management, after consultation with legal counsel, assesses the Company’s liabilities and contingencies in connection with such proceedings. For those matters where it is probable that the Company will incur losses and the amounts of the losses can be reasonably estimated, the Company records an expense and corresponding liability in its consolidated financial statements. To the extent the pending or threatened litigation could result in exposure in excess of that liability, the amount of such excess is not currently estimable. Although not considered probable, the range of reasonably possible losses for such matters in the aggregate, beyond the existing recorded liability, was between $0 and $40 million. Although the Company does not believe that the outcome of pending litigations will be material to the Company’s consolidated financial position, it cannot rule out the possibility that such outcomes will be material to the consolidated results of operations for a particular reporting period in the future.