COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

To meet the financing needs of its customers, BancShares and its subsidiaries have financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit, standby letters of credit and recourse obligations on mortgage loans sold. These instruments involve elements of credit, interest rate or liquidity risk.

Commitments to extend credit are legally binding agreements to lend to customers. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of fees. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future liquidity requirements. Established credit standards control the credit risk exposure associated with these commitments. In some cases, BancShares requires that collateral be pledged to secure the commitment, including cash deposits, securities and other assets.

Standby letters of credit are commitments guaranteeing performance of a customer to a third party. Those commitments are primarily issued to support public and private borrowing arrangements, and the fair value of those commitments is not material. To mitigate its risk, BancShares’ credit policies govern the issuance of standby letters of credit. The credit risk related to the issuance of these letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to clients and, therefore, these letters of credit are collateralized when necessary.

The following table presents the commitments to extend credit and unfunded commitments as of December 31, 2017 and 2016:



(Dollars in thousands)	2017	2016
Unused commitments to extend credit	9,629,365	8,808,218
Standby letters of credit	81,530	83,750
Unfunded commitments for investments in affordable housing projects	61,819	57,079

Pursuant to standard representations and warranties relating to residential mortgage loan sales sold on a non-recourse basis, contingent obligations exist for various events that may occur following the loan sale. If underwriting or documentation deficiencies are discovered at any point in the life of the loan or if the loan fails to perform per the terms of the loan purchase agreement, typically within 180 days from the date of sale, the investor may require BancShares to repurchase the loan or to repay a portion of the sale proceeds. Other liabilities included reserves of $882 thousand and $3.0 million as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, for estimated losses arising from these standard representation and warranty provisions. The methodology used to estimate the loan repurchase obligation was enhanced during 2017. The enhancements resulted in lower required reserves as of December 31, 2017.

BancShares has a receivable from the FDIC totaling $2.2 million and $4.2 million as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, for the expected reimbursement of losses on assets covered under the various shared-loss agreements. The shared-loss agreements are subject to interpretation by both the FDIC and BancShares, and disagreements may arise regarding coverage of losses, expenses and contingencies and requests for reimbursement may be delayed or disallowed for noncompliance. See Note H for additional information on the receivable from the FDIC regarding the early termination of a shared-loss agreement during 2017.

The shared-loss agreements for two FDIC-assisted transactions, FRB and UWB, include provisions related to payments that may be owed to the FDIC at the termination of the agreements (clawback liability).The clawback liability represents a payment by BancShares to the FDIC if actual cumulative losses on acquired covered assets are lower than the cumulative losses originally estimated by the FDIC at the time of acquisition. The clawback liability is estimated by discounting estimated future payments and is recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets as a payable to the FDIC under the relevant shared-loss agreements. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the clawback liability was $101.3 million and $97.0 million, respectively. The clawback liability payment dates for FRB and UWB are March 2020 and March 2021, respectively.

BancShares entered into forward-starting advances with the FHLB of Atlanta in June 2016 to receive $200.0 million of fixed rate long-term funding. There were two advances of $100.0 million each scheduled to fund in June 2018 but both advances were terminated in December 2017. BancShares received cash of $12.5 million associated with the early termination and recorded this as a gain in other noninterest income in the Consolidated Statements of Income.

BancShares and various subsidiaries have been named as defendants in legal actions arising from their normal business activities in which damages in various amounts are claimed. BancShares is also exposed to litigation risk relating to the prior business activities of banks from which assets were acquired and liabilities assumed in the various merger transactions. Although the amount of any ultimate liability with respect to such matters cannot be determined, in the opinion of management, any such liability will not have a material effect on BancShares’ consolidated financial statements.