Derivative Financial Instruments

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

The notional amount and fair value of the Company’s derivative financial instruments as of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018 were as follows:



	June 30, 2019						December 31, 2018
(dollars in thousands)	Notional Amount			Fair Value			Notional Amount			Fair Value
Interest Rate Lock Commitments		$	84,652	$	2,143			$	33,133	$	871
Forward Commitments		89,635		(800		)		34,102		(352		)
Interest Rate Swap Agreements
Receive Fixed/Pay Variable Swaps		686,865		23,015				505,034		(2,537		)
Pay Fixed/Receive Variable Swaps		686,865		(5,202		)		505,034		6,082
Foreign Exchange Contracts		55,317		421				55,663		793
Conversion Rate Swap Agreement		106,211		—				80,746		—

The following table presents the Company’s derivative financial instruments, their fair values, and their location in the consolidated statements of condition as of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018:



Derivative Financial Instruments	June 30, 2019				December 31, 2018
Not Designated as Hedging Instruments ¹	Asset		Liability		Asset		Liability
(dollars in thousands)	Derivatives		Derivatives		Derivatives		Derivatives
Interest Rate Lock Commitments	$	2,143	$	—	$	877	$	6
Forward Commitments	—		800		4		356
Interest Rate Swap Agreements	25,228		7,415		12,915		9,370
Foreign Exchange Contracts	498		77		808		15
Total	$	27,869	$	8,292	$	14,604	$	9,747


¹	Asset derivatives are included in other assets and liability derivatives are included in other liabilities in the consolidated statements of condition.

The following table presents the Company’s derivative financial instruments and the amount and location of the net gains or losses recognized in the consolidated statements of income for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018:



	Location of
Derivative Financial Instruments	Net Gains (Losses)	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
Not Designated as Hedging Instruments	Recognized in the	June 30,						June 30,
(dollars in thousands)	Statements of Income	2019			2018			2019			2018
Interest Rate Lock Commitments	Mortgage Banking	$	3,561		$	968		$	5,286		$	1,498
Forward Commitments	Mortgage Banking	(1,382		)	240			(1,974		)	925
Interest Rate Swap Agreements	Other Noninterest Income	1,760			632			2,896			750
Foreign Exchange Contracts	Other Noninterest Income	1,152			995			2,066			1,959
Conversion Rate Swap Agreement	Investment Securities Gains (Losses), Net	—			(1,000		)	—			(1,000		)
Total		$	5,091		$	1,835		$	8,274		$	4,132

Management has received authorization from the Bank’s Board of Directors to use derivative financial instruments as an end-user in connection with the Bank’s risk management activities and to accommodate the needs of the Bank’s customers. As with any financial instrument, derivative financial instruments have inherent risks. Market risk is defined as the risk of adverse financial impact due to fluctuations in interest rates, foreign exchange rates, and equity prices. Market risks associated with derivative financial instruments are balanced with the expected returns to enhance earnings performance and shareholder value, while limiting the volatility of each. The Company uses various processes to monitor its overall market risk exposure, including sensitivity analysis, value-at-risk calculations, and other methodologies.

Derivative financial instruments are also subject to credit and counterparty risk, which is defined as the risk of financial loss if a borrower or counterparty is either unable or unwilling to repay borrowings or settle transactions in accordance with the underlying contractual terms. Credit and counterparty risks associated with derivative financial instruments are similar to those relating to traditional financial instruments. The Company manages derivative credit and counterparty risk by evaluating the creditworthiness of each borrower or counterparty, adhering to the same credit approval process used for commercial lending activities.

As of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, the Company did not designate any derivative financial instruments as formal hedging relationships. The Company’s free-standing derivative financial instruments are required to be carried at their fair value on the Company’s consolidated statements of condition. These financial instruments have been limited to interest rate lock commitments (“IRLCs”), forward commitments, Swap Agreements, foreign exchange contracts, and conversion rate swap agreements.

The Company enters into IRLCs for residential mortgage loans which commit us to lend funds to a potential borrower at a specific interest rate and within a specified period of time. IRLCs that relate to the origination of mortgage loans that will be held for sale are considered derivative financial instruments under applicable accounting guidance. Outstanding IRLCs expose the Company to the risk that the price of the mortgage loans underlying the commitments may decline due to increases in mortgage interest rates from inception of the rate lock to the funding of the loan. To mitigate this risk, the Company utilizes forward commitments as economic hedges against the potential decreases in the values of the loans held for sale. IRLCs and forward commitments are free-standing derivatives which are carried at fair value with changes recorded in the mortgage banking component of noninterest income in the Company’s consolidated statements of income.

The Company enters into Swap Agreements to facilitate the risk management strategies of a small number of commercial banking customers. The Company mitigates the interest rate risk of entering into these agreements by entering into equal and offsetting interest rate swap agreements with highly rated third party financial institutions. The interest rate swap agreements are free-standing derivatives and are recorded at fair value in the Company’s consolidated statements of condition. Fair value changes are recorded in other noninterest income in the Company’s consolidated statements of income. The Company is party to master netting arrangements with its financial institution counterparties; however, the Company does not offset assets and liabilities under these arrangements for financial statement presentation purposes. Collateral, usually in the form of cash or marketable securities, is posted by the counterparty with net liability positions in accordance with contract thresholds. See Note 7 Balance Sheet Offsetting for more information.

The Company’s interest rate swap agreements with financial institution counterparties may contain credit-risk-related contingent features tied to a specified credit rating of the Company. Under these provisions, should the Company’s specified rating fall below a particular level (e.g., investment grade), or if the Company no longer obtains the specified rating, the counterparty may require the Company to pledge collateral on an immediate and ongoing basis (subject to the requirement that such swaps are in a net liability position beyond the level specified in the contract), or require immediate settlement of the swap agreement. Other credit-risk-related contingent features may also allow the counterparty to require immediate settlement of the swap agreement if the Company fails to maintain a specified minimum level of capitalization.

With regard to derivative contracts not centrally cleared through a clearinghouse, regulations require collateral to be posted by the party with a net liability position (i.e., the threshold for posting collateral was reduced to zero, subject to certain minimum transfer amounts). The requirements generally applied to new derivative contracts entered into by the Company after March 1, 2017, although certain counterparties may elect to apply lower thresholds to existing contracts.

Parties to a centrally cleared over-the-counter derivative exchange daily payments that reflect the daily change in value of the derivative. These payments are commonly referred to as variation margin. Historically, variation margin payments have typically been treated as collateral against the derivative position. Effective 2017, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and LCH.Clearnet Limited (collectively, the “clearinghouses”) amended their rulebooks to legally characterize variation margin payments for over-the-counter derivatives they clear as settlements of the derivatives’ mark-to-market exposure rather than collateral against the exposures. This rule change effectively causes any derivative cleared through one of the clearinghouses to have a fair value that approximates zero on a daily basis. The majority of the Company’s swap agreements executed with third party financial institutions are now required to be cleared through one of the clearinghouses. The uncleared swap agreements executed with third party financial institutions will remain subject to the collateral requirements and credit-risk-related contingent features described in the previous paragraphs, and therefore, are not subject to the variation margin rule change. Likewise, the swap agreements executed with the Company’s commercial banking customers will remain uncleared and will also not be subject to the variation margin rule change.

The Company utilizes foreign exchange contracts to offset risks related to transactions executed on behalf of customers. The foreign exchange contracts are free-standing derivatives which are carried at fair value with changes included in other noninterest income in the Company’s consolidated statements of income.

As each sale of Visa Class B restricted shares was completed, the Company entered into a conversion rate swap agreement with the buyer that requires payment to the buyer in the event Visa further reduces the conversion ratio of Class B into Class A unrestricted common shares. In the event of Visa increasing the conversion ratio, the buyer would be required to make payment to the Company. As of June 30, 2019, the conversion rate swap agreement was valued at zero (i.e., no contingent liability recorded) as further reductions to the conversion ratio were deemed neither probable nor reasonably estimable by management. However, in June 2018, Visa announced a reduction of the conversion ratio from 1.6483 to 1.6298 effective June 28, 2018. As a result, the Company recorded a $1.0 million liability in June 2018 which represents the amount due to the buyers of the Visa Class B shares in July 2018. See Note 3 Investment Securities for more information.