COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

(14)           COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Some financial instruments, such as loan commitments, credit lines, letters of credit, and overdraft protection, are issued to meet customer financing needs.  These are agreements to provide credit or to support the credit of others, as long as conditions established in the contract are met, and usually have expiration dates.  Commitments may expire without being used.  Off-balance sheet risk to credit loss exists up to the face amount of these instruments, although material losses are not anticipated.  The same credit policies are used to make such commitments as are used for loans, including obtaining collateral at exercise of the commitment.

The contractual amounts of financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk at year-end were as follows:

	2013				2012
	Fixed Rate		Variable Rate		Fixed Rate		Variable Rate
Commitments to make loans	$	21,049,240	$	7,893,481	$	28,707,673	$	11,588,081
Unused lines of credit	$	2,190,224	$	187,061,408	$	1,802,538	$	183,750,514
Standby letters of credit	$	-	$	17,290,453	$	-	$	15,016,673

Commitments to make Real Estate and Home Equity loans are generally made for periods of sixty days or less.  As of December 31, 2013, the fixed rate commitments to make loans have interest rates ranging from 3.625% to 5.375% and maturities ranging from five years to thirty years.  Commitments to fund commercial draw notes are generally made for periods of three months to eighteen months.  As of December 31, 2013, the fixed rate commitments have interest rates ranging from 3.35% to 5.25%.

Because many commitments and almost all standby letters of credit expire without being funded in whole or in part, the contract amounts are not estimates of future cash flows.  Loan commitments and unused lines of credit have off-balance sheet credit risk because only origination fees are recognized on the consolidated balance sheet until commitments are fulfilled or expire.  The credit risk amounts are equal to the contractual amounts, assuming the amounts are fully advanced and collateral or other security is of no value.  The Corporation does not anticipate losses as a result of these transactions.  These commitments also have off-balance sheet interest rate risk in that the interest rate at which these commitments were made may not be at market rates on the date the commitments are fulfilled.

The Corporation has issued conditional commitments in the form of standby letters of credit to guarantee payment on behalf of a customer and guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party.  Standby letters of credit generally arise in connection with lending relationships.  The credit risk involved in issuing these instruments is essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to customers.  Contingent obligations under standby letters of credit totaled $17,290,453 at December 31, 2013 and represent the maximum potential future payments the Corporation could be required to make.  Typically, these instruments have terms of twelve months or less and expire unused; therefore, the total amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements.  Each customer is evaluated individually for creditworthiness under the same underwriting standards used for commitments to extend credit and on-balance sheet instruments.  Corporation policies governing loan collateral apply to standby letters of credit at the time of credit extension.  The carrying amount and fair value of the Corporation's standby letters of credit at December 31, 2013 was not significant.

The Corporation has an executive severance agreement with its President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Bank is a party in two legal proceedings involving its Wealth Management Group. In both proceedings, the Bank, as trustee pursuant to written trust instruments, has sought judicial settlement of trust accounts in the New York Surrogate’s Court for Chemung County. Individuals who are beneficiaries under the trusts have filed formal objections and/or demand letters with the Court in both of these accounting proceedings, objecting to the final settlement of the trust accounts. The objectants primarily assert that the Bank acted imprudently by failing to diversify the trusts’ investments and they claim $9.6 million and $24.1 million, consisting of damages and disallowed trustee’s commissions, plus unspecified legal fees in the respective proceedings. These proceedings are pending in the Surrogate’s Court. While the outcome of litigation is not predictable the Bank believes that the claims are without merit and is vigorously defending them.  As of December 31, 2013, no amount has been accrued for potential losses related to these proceedings as a potential loss is not considered probable or reasonably estimable in the opinion of management.

In the normal course of business, there are various outstanding claims and legal proceedings involving the Corporation or its subsidiaries.  Except for the above matter, we believe that we are not a party to any pending legal, arbitration, or regulatory proceedings that could have a material adverse impact on our financial results or liquidity.