NOTE 5 – SECURITIES

A comparison of amortized cost and estimated fair values of available-for-sale securities as of March 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and December 31, 2014 follows:



		March 31, 2015
			Gross	Gross	Estimated
		Amortized	Unrealized	Unrealized	Fair
		Cost	Gains	Losses	Value

	(In thousands)
U.S. Government agencies		$ 1,280,055	$ 6,947	$ 21	$ 1,286,981
Government agency issued residential
mortgage-backed securities		196,712	3,897	228	200,381
Government agency issued commercial
mortgage-backed securities		225,378	2,887	856	227,409
Obligations of states and political subdivisions		444,059	27,547	67	471,539
Other		6,790	1,273	-	8,063
Total		$ 2,152,994	$ 42,551	$ 1,172	$ 2,194,373



		December 31, 2014
			Gross	Gross	Estimated
		Amortized	Unrealized	Unrealized	Fair
		Cost	Gains	Losses	Value

	(In thousands)
U.S. Government agencies		$ 1,213,310	$ 4,093	$ 2,349	$ 1,215,054
Government agency issued residential
mortgage-backed securities		204,918	4,751	439	209,230
Government agency issued commercial
mortgage-backed securities		241,449	2,319	3,200	240,568
Obligations of states and political subdivisions		458,026	25,986	148	483,864
Other		6,864	1,347	-	8,211
Total		$ 2,124,567	$ 38,496	$ 6,136	$ 2,156,927


	March 31, 2014
		Gross	Gross	Estimated
	Amortized	Unrealized	Unrealized	Fair
	Cost	Gains	Losses	Value
	(In thousands)
U.S. Government agencies	$ 1,416,273	$ 7,899	$ 4,903	$ 1,419,269
Government agency issued residential
mortgage-backed securities	238,887	3,898	1,189	241,596
Government agency issued commercial
mortgage-backed securities	240,619	1,866	8,426	234,059
Obligations of states and political subdivisions	505,586	19,051	826	523,811
Other	6,947	1,076	-	8,023
Total	$ 2,408,312	$ 33,790	$ 15,344	$ 2,426,758

Gross gains of approximately $14,000 and no gross losses were recognized on available-for-sale securities during the first three months of 2015, while gross gains of approximately $4,000 and gross losses of approximately $8,000 were recognized during the first three months of 2014.

The amortized cost and estimated fair value of available-for-sale securities at March 31, 2015 by contractual maturity are shown below. Actual maturities may differ from contractual maturities because borrowers may have the right to call or prepay obligations with or without call or prepayment penalties. Equity securities are considered as maturing after ten years.



	March 31, 2015
		Estimated	Weighted
	Amortized	Fair	Average
	Cost	Value	Yield

	(Dollars in thousands)
Maturing in one year or less	$ 358,231	$ 360,900	1.67	%
Maturing after one year through five years	1,042,374	1,048,727	1.22
Maturing after five years through ten years	50,915	52,965	4.90
Maturing after ten years	279,384	303,991	6.00
Mortgage-backed securities	422,090	427,790	2.08
Total	$ 2,152,994	$ 2,194,373

The following tables summarize information pertaining to temporarily impaired available-for-sale securities with continuous unrealized loss positions at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014:



	March 31, 2015
	Continuous Unrealized Loss Position
	Less Than 12 Months		12 Months or Longer		Total
	Fair	Unrealized	Fair	Unrealized	Fair	Unrealized
	Value	Losses	Value	Losses	Value	Losses

	(In thousands)
U.S. Government agencies	$ 40,130	$ 13	$ 9,961	$ 8	$ 50,091	$ 21
Government agency issued residential
mortgage-backed securities	5,402	30	23,555	198	28,957	228
Government agency issued commercial
mortgage-backed securities	93,708	252	80,341	604	174,049	856
Obligations of states and
political subdivisions	11,502	37	4,118	30	15,620	67
Total	$ 150,742	$ 332	$ 117,975	$ 840	$ 268,717	$ 1,172



	December 31, 2014
	Continuous Unrealized Loss Position
	Less Than 12 Months		12 Months or Longer		Total
	Fair	Unrealized	Fair	Unrealized	Fair	Unrealized
	Value	Losses	Value	Losses	Value	Losses

	(In thousands)
U.S. Government agencies	$ 237,891	$ 471	$ 283,643	$ 1,878	$ 521,534	$ 2,349
Government agency issued residential
mortgage-backed securities	-	-	24,565	439	24,565	439
Government agency issued commercial
mortgage-backed securities	3,822	24	203,520	3,176	207,342	3,200
Obligations of states and
political subdivisions	17,317	62	10,616	86	27,933	148
Total	$ 259,030	$ 557	$ 522,344	$ 5,579	$ 781,374	$ 6,136

Based upon a review of the credit quality of these securities, and considering that the issuers were in compliance with the terms of the securities, management had no intent to sell these securities, and it was more likely than not that the Company would not be required to sell the securities prior to recovery of costs. Therefore, the impairments related to these securities were determined to be temporary. No other-than-temporary impairment was recorded during the first three months of 2015.