COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND RESTRICTIONS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND RESTRICTIONS

COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND RESTRICTIONS

NOTE I: 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 amounts of commitments and contingencies are as follows:

	March 31,		December 31,
(000’s omitted)	2023		2022
Commitments to extend credit	$	1,459,684	$	1,486,791
Standby letters of credit		56,805		57,347
Total	$	1,516,489	$	1,544,138

The Company and its subsidiaries are subject in the normal course of business to various pending and threatened legal proceedings or other matters in which claims for monetary damages are asserted. As of March 31, 2023, management, after consultation with legal counsel, does not anticipate that the aggregate ultimate liability arising out of such pending or threatened matters 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 matters. 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 such matters could result in exposure in excess of that liability, the amount of such excess is not currently estimable. The range of reasonably possible losses for matters where an exposure is not currently estimable or considered probable, beyond the existing recorded liabilities, is believed to be between $0 and $1 million in the aggregate. This estimated range is based on information currently available to the Company and involves elements of judgment and significant uncertainties. The Company does not believe that the outcome of pending or threatened litigation or other matters 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.