16. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Data Processing Operations

We have entered into contracts to manage our network operations, data processing and other related services. The projected amounts of future minimum payments contractually due are as follows:


(Dollars in thousands)
Year	Amount
2017	$	4,687
2018		3,670
2019		3,553
2020		1,239
2021		—

The expenses for data processing and operations for the year ending December 31, 2016 were $6.3 million, compared to $5.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 and $6.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2014.

Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary course of business, we are subject to legal actions that involve claims for monetary relief. See Note 23, for additional information.

Financial Instruments With Off-Balance Sheet Risk

In the ordinary course of business, we are a party to financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk, in the normal course of business primarily to meet the financing needs of our customers. To varying degrees, these financial instruments involve elements of credit risk that are not recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Condition.

Exposure to loss for commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit written is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. We generally require collateral to support such financial instruments in excess of the contractual amount of those instruments and use the same credit policies in making commitments as we do for on-balance sheet instruments.

The following represents a summary of off-balance sheet financial instruments at year-end:


	December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)	2016		2015
Financial instruments with contract amounts which represent potential credit risk:
Construction loan commitments	$	189,940	$	149,119
Commercial mortgage loan commitments		25,821		22,393
Commercial loan commitments		610,838		506,615
Commercial owner-occupied commitments		55,205		40,052
Commercial standby letters of credit		71,612		49,832
Residential mortgage loan commitments		1,636		2,218
Consumer loan commitments		259,501		189,392

Total	$	1,214,553	$	959,621

At December 31, 2016, we had total commitments to extend credit of $1.21 billion. Commitments for consumer lines of credit were $259.5 million of which, $246.1 million were secured by real estate. Residential mortgage loan commitments generally have closing dates within a one-month period but can be extended to six months. Not reflected in the table above are commitments to sell residential mortgages of $67.8 million and $90.3 million at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Commitments provide for financing on predetermined terms as long as the customer continues to meet specific criteria. 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 completely drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. We evaluate each customer’s creditworthiness and obtain collateral based on our credit evaluation of the counterparty.

Indemnifications

Secondary Market Loan Sales. Given the current interest rate environment, coupled with our desire not to hold these assets in our portfolio, we generally sell newly originated residential mortgage loans in the secondary market to mortgage loan aggregators and on a more limited basis to GSEs such as FHLMC, FNMA, and the FHLB. Loans held for sale are reflected on our Consolidated Statements of Condition at their fair value with changes in the value reflected in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. Gains and losses are recognized at the time of sale. We periodically retain the servicing rights on residential mortgage loans sold which results in monthly service fee income. Otherwise, we sell loans with servicing released on a nonrecourse basis. Rate-locked loan commitments that we intend to sell in the secondary market are accounted for as derivatives under ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging (ASC:815).

We generally do not sell loans with recourse, except for standard loan sale contract provisions covering violations of representations and warranties and, under certain circumstances, early payment default by the borrower. These are customary repurchase provisions in the secondary market for residential mortgage loan sales. These provisions may include either an indemnification from loss or an agreement to repurchase the loans. Repurchases and losses have been rare and no provision is made for losses at the time of sale. There were no repurchases for the year ended December 31, 2016 and one repurchase totaling $0.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Swap Guarantees. We entered into agreements with three unrelated financial institutions whereby those financial institutions entered into interest rate derivative contracts (interest rate swap transactions) with customers referred to them by us. Under the terms of the agreements, those financial institutions have recourse to us for any exposure created under each swap transaction in the event the customer defaults on the swap agreement and the agreement is in a paying position to the third-party financial institution. This is a customary arrangement that allows us to provide access to interest rate swap transactions for our customers without creating the swap ourselves. These swap guarantees are accounted for as credit derivatives.

At December 31, 2016, there were 134 variable-rate to fixed-rate swap transactions between the third-party financial institutions and our customers. The initial notional aggregated amount was approximately $518.8 million, with maturities ranging from under one year to twenty years. The aggregate fair value of these swaps to the customers was a liability of $10.9 million as of December 31, 2016, of which 109 swaps, with a liability of $11.7 million, were in paying positions to a third party. We had no reserves for the swap guarantees as of December 31, 2016.

At December 31, 2015, there were 119 variable-rate to fixed-rate swap transactions between the third-party financial institutions and our customers. The initial notional aggregated amount was approximately $481.6 million, with maturities ranging from under one year to ten years. The aggregate fair value of these swaps to the customers was a liability of $18.1 million as of December 31, 2015, with all 119 swaps, in paying positions to a third party. We had no reserves for the swap guarantees as of December 31, 2015