Financial Instruments with Off-Balance-Sheet Risk

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Financial Instruments with Off-Balance-Sheet Risk [Abstract]

Financial Instruments with Off-Balance-Sheet Risk

18.    Financial Instruments with Off-Balance-Sheet Risk

The Company is 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 primarily include commitments to originate and sell loans, standby letters of credit, unused lines of credit and unadvanced portions of construction loans. The instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amount recognized in the consolidated balance sheet. The contract or notional amounts of those instruments reflect the extent of involvement the Company has in these particular classes of financial instruments.

The Company’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for loan commitments, standby letters of credit and unadvanced portions of construction loans is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The Company uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for on-balance-sheet instruments. Financial instruments with off-balance-sheet risk at December 31 are as follows:

Contract or Notional Amount

	2012		2011
	(dollars in thousands)
Financial instruments whose contract amount represents credit risk:
Commitments to originate 1–4 family mortgages	$	13,580	$	12,638
Standby and commercial letters of credit		8,411		4,645
Unused lines of credit		217,246		195,181
Unadvanced portions of construction loans		17,609		16,819
Unadvanced portions of other loans		4,872		4,605

Commitments to originate loans, unadvanced portions of construction loans, unused lines of credit and unused letters of credit are generally agreements to lend to a customer, provided there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. The Company evaluates each customer’s creditworthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary by the Company upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the borrower.

Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance by a customer to a third party. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loan facilities to customers.