12. 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.

	March 31,		December 31,
	2018		2017
	(In thousands)
Commitments to extend credit
Home equity lines of credit	$	5,518,820		5,482,622
Commercial real estate loans to be sold		288,883		194,763
Other commercial real estate		5,788,080		6,050,569
Residential real estate loans to be sold		343,400		347,113
Other residential real estate		223,589		201,426
Commercial and other		12,951,589		12,733,815
Standby letters of credit		2,477,474		2,497,844
Commercial letters of credit		56,245		46,739
Financial guarantees and indemnification contracts		3,449,447		3,434,381
Commitments to sell real estate loans		977,257		812,217

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 $3.3 billion at each of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017.

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.

12. Commitments and contingencies, continued

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. At March 31, 2018 the Company believes that its obligation to loan purchasers was not material to the Company’s consolidated financial position.

As previously disclosed, Wilmington Trust Corporation (“WTC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of M&T, is the subject of a class action lawsuit alleging that WTC’s financial reporting and securities filings prior to its acquisition by M&T in 2011 were in violation of securities laws. In April 2018, the parties reached an agreement in principle. The agreement in principle is subject to certain required party approvals, the negotiation and execution of a formal settlement agreement and court approval. The Company currently anticipates that necessary party approvals will be completed and a formal settlement agreement will be executed and filed with the court for approval during the second quarter of 2018. A motion for preliminary approval of a proposed settlement will be decided by the court at its discretion. As of March 31, 2018, the Company increased its reserve for litigation matters by $135 million.

M&T and its subsidiaries are subject in the normal course of business to various other pending and threatened legal proceedings and 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 $50 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.