COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIESThe Corporation is a party to certain financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk such as commitments under standby letters of credit, unused portions of lines of credit, overdraft protection and commitments to fund new loans. In accordance with GAAP, these financial instruments are not recorded in the financial statements. The Corporation's policy is to record such instruments when funded. These transactions involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit, interest rate, and liquidity risk. Such transactions are generally used by the Corporation to manage clients' requests for funding and other client needs.

In conjunction with the Corporation's adoption of ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326), an allowance for credit losses on unfunded commitments was established as of January 1, 2023, to comply with the accounting standard requirements. As of September 30, 2023, the allowance for credit losses on unfunded commitments was $1.1 million.

The following table lists the contractual amounts of financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk at September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022 (in thousands):


	September 30, 2023				December 31, 2022
	Fixed Rate		Variable Rate		Fixed Rate		Variable Rate
Commitments to make loans	$	32,776	$	84,198	$	44,481	$	75,028
Unused lines of credit	3,475		338,636		2,887		326,188
Standby letters of credit	—		17,987		—		17,211

On February 4, 2020, the Corporation filed a lawsuit against Pioneer Bank, Albany, New York, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in the County of Albany. As disclosed in the Corporation’s September 12, 2019 Current Report on Form 8-K, the Bank owns a participating interest totaling $4.2 million in an approximately $36.0 million commercial credit facility on which the borrower defaulted due to fraudulent activity. The Bank’s complaint alleges that Pioneer Bank, as lead bank, breached the participation agreement and engaged in fraud and negligent misrepresentation. The Corporation received a recovery of $0.5 million in April, 2020, and continues to pursue recovery of the remaining $3.7 million and accumulated expenses as a result of purchasing the participation interest.

In the normal course of business, there are various outstanding claims and legal proceedings involving the Corporation or its subsidiaries. As of September 30, 2023, we believe that we are not a party to any additional pending legal, arbitration, or regulatory proceedings that could have a material adverse impact on our financial results or liquidity.