COMMITMENTS, GUARANTEES, AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

Credit Commitments and Guarantees

In the normal course of business, the Company enters into a variety of financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk to meet the financing needs of its customers and to conduct lending activities, including commitments to extend credit and standby and commercial letters of credit. These instruments involve elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amount recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

Contractual or Notional Amounts of Financial Instruments

(Dollar amounts in thousands)



	September 30, 2014		December 31, 2013
Commitments to extend credit:
Commercial, industrial, and agricultural	$	1,202,700	$	1,077,201
Commercial real estate	172,012		133,867
Home equity	293,122		268,311
Other commitments ⁽¹⁾	187,385		181,702
Total commitments to extend credit	$	1,855,219	$	1,661,081

Standby letters of credit	$	125,569	$	110,453
Recourse on assets sold:
Unpaid principal balance of loans sold	$	182,834	$	170,330
Carrying value of recourse obligation ⁽²⁾	158		162


⁽¹⁾	Other commitments includes installment and overdraft protection program commitments.


⁽²⁾	Included in other liabilities in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend funds to a customer, subject to contractual terms and covenants. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses, variable interest rates, and fee requirements, when applicable. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash flow requirements.

In the event of a customer's non-performance, the Company's credit loss exposure is equal to the contractual amount of the commitments. The credit risk is essentially the same as extending loans to customers. The Company uses the same credit policies for credit commitments as its loans and minimizes exposure to credit loss through various collateral requirements.

Letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Standby letters of credit generally are contingent on the failure of the customer to perform according to the terms of the contract with the third party and are often issued in favor of a municipality where construction is taking place to ensure the borrower adequately completes the construction.

The maximum potential future payments guaranteed by the Company under standby letters of credit arrangements are equal to the contractual amount of the commitment. If a commitment is funded, the Company may seek recourse through the liquidation of the underlying collateral, including real estate, production plants and property, marketable securities, or receipt of cash.

As a result of the sale of certain 1-4 family mortgage loans, the Company is contractually obligated to repurchase any non-performing loans or loans that do not meet underwriting requirements at recorded value. In accordance with the sales agreements, there is no limitation to the maximum potential future payments or expiration of the Company's recourse obligation. There were no material loan repurchases during the quarters ended September 30, 2014 and 2013.

Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary course of business, there were certain legal proceedings pending against the Company and its subsidiaries at September 30, 2014. While the outcome of any legal proceeding is inherently uncertain, based on information currently available, the Company's management does not expect that any liabilities arising from pending legal matters will have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.