18. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES AND OTHER MATTERS

In the normal course of business, there are various outstanding commitments and contingent liabilities, such as claims and legal actions, guarantees and commitments to extend credit, which are not reflected in the accompanying consolidated financial statements. No material losses are anticipated as a result of these commitments and contingencies.

Loan commitments

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 of 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, often including obtaining collateral at exercise of the commitment.

The following represents commitments outstanding:


	December 31,
(In thousands)	2019		2018
Standby letters of credit	$	23,670	$	26,047
Loan commitments outstanding (1)		117,044		65,796
Unused lines of credit		674,194		636,772
Total commitments outstanding	$	814,908	$	728,615

(1)

Of the $117.0 million of loan commitments outstanding at December 31, 2019, $5.9 million are fixed rate commitments and $111.1 million are variable rate commitments. Of the $65.8 million of loan commitments outstanding at December 31, 2018, $20.5 million are fixed rate commitments and $45.3 million are variable rate commitments.

Litigation

The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to certain pending and threatened legal actions that arise out of the normal course of business. In the opinion of management, the resolution of any such pending or threatened litigation is not expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Other

During 2019, the Bank was required to maintain certain cash balances with the FRB for reserve and clearing requirements. The required cash balance at December 31, 2019 was $20.6 million. During 2019, the Bank invested overnight with the FRB and the average balance maintained during 2019 was $63.3 million.

During 2019, the Bank maintained an overnight line of credit with the FHLB. The Bank has the ability to borrow against its unencumbered residential and commercial mortgages and investment securities owned by the Bank. At December 31, 2019, the Bank had aggregate lines of credit of $373.0 million with unaffiliated correspondent banks to provide short-term credit for liquidity requirements. Of these aggregate lines of credit, $353.0 million is available on an unsecured basis. As of December 31, 2019, the Bank had no such borrowings outstanding.

In March 2001, the Bank entered into a Master Repurchase Agreement with the FHLB whereby the FHLB agrees to purchase securities from the Bank, upon the Bank’s request, with the simultaneous agreement to sell the same or similar securities back to the Bank at a future date. Securities are limited, under the agreement, to government securities, securities issued, guaranteed or collateralized by any agency or instrumentality of the U.S. Government or any government sponsored enterprise, and non-agency AA and AAA rated mortgage-backed securities. At December 31, 2019, there was up to $1.5 billion available for transactions under this agreement, assuming availability of required collateral.