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COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND RESTRICTIONS
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND RESTRICTIONS [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND RESTRICTIONS
NOTE N:  COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND RESTRICTIONS

The Company is a party to financial instruments with off-balance-sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers.  These financial instruments consist primarily of commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit.  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.  These commitments consist principally of unused commercial and consumer credit lines.  Standby letters of credit generally are contingent upon the failure of the customer to perform according to the terms of an underlying contract with a third party.  The credit risks associated with commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit are essentially the same as that involved with extending loans to customers and are subject to the Company’s normal credit policies.  Collateral may be obtained based on management’s assessment of the customer’s creditworthiness.  The fair value of the standby letters of credit is immaterial for disclosure.

The contract amount of commitments and contingencies is as follows at December 31:

 (000's omitted)
 
2013
  
2012
 
Commitments to extend credit
 
$
704,904
  
$
750,178
 
Standby letters of credit
  
24,449
   
24,168
 
     Total
 
$
729,353
  
$
774,346
 

The Company has unused lines of credit of $65.0 million at December 31, 2013.  The Company has unused borrowing capacity of approximately $1.2 billion through collateralized transactions with the FHLB and $10.1 million through collateralized transactions with the Federal Reserve Bank.

The Company is required to maintain a reserve balance, as established by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  The required average total reserve for the 14-day maintenance period of December 26, 2013 through January 8, 2014 was $52.8 million, none of which was required to be on deposit with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as the entire balance was represented by cash on hand.

The Company and its subsidiaries are subject in the normal course of business to various pending and threatened legal proceedings in which claims for monetary damages are asserted. As of December 31, 2013, management, after consultation with legal counsel, does not anticipate that the aggregate ultimate liability arising out of litigation pending or threatened against the Company or its subsidiaries will be material to the Company’s consolidated financial position. On at least a quarterly basis the Company assesses its liabilities and contingencies in connection with such legal 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, is between $0 and $5million. Although the Company does not believe that the outcome of pending litigation 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.
 
The Bank was named a defendant in an action commenced October 30, 2013 which is pending in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  The plaintiff alleges that the notices provided to her in connection with the repossession of her automobile failed to comply with certain requirements of Pennsylvania’s Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).  Plaintiff seeks to pursue the action as a class action on behalf of herself and other similarly situated plaintiffs who had their automobiles repossessed and seeks to recover statutory damages under the UCC. The Bank has filed a motion to dismiss the action on the basis of mootness and contests the allegation that the repossession notices were deficient. The Bank also maintains that the case should not proceed as a class action and will oppose class certification. At this early stage in the litigation it is difficult to estimate when the action will be resolved. As set forth in the preceding paragraph, all current litigation matters, including this action, are within a range of reasonably possible losses for such matters in the aggregate, beyond the existing recorded liability, and are included in the range of reasonably possible losses set forth above.