14. 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, minimum annual rental payments under non-cancelable operating leases, 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.

a) Leases

At December 31, 2015, the Company was obligated to make minimum annual rental payments under non-cancelable operating leases for its premises. Projected minimum rentals under existing leases are as follows:

Year
(In thousands)
2016	$	6,710
2017		6,621
2018		5,787
2019		5,287
2020		4,638
Thereafter		21,854
Total	$	50,897

Certain leases contain rent escalation clauses which are reflected in the amounts listed above. In addition, certain leases provide for additional payments based upon real estate taxes, interest and other charges. Certain leases contain renewal options which are not reflected. Rental expenses under leases for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 approximated $5.3 million, $3.4 million, and $2.3 million, respectively, net of subleases in place.

b) 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,	2015		2014
(In thousands)
Standby letters of credit	$	14,930	$	1,903
Loan commitments outstanding ⁽¹⁾		46,034		58,930
Unused lines of credit		418,596		248,328
Total commitments outstanding	$	479,560	$	309,161

(1)

Of the $46.0 million of loan commitments outstanding at December 31, 2014, $13.1 million are fixed rate commitments and $32.9 million are variable rate commitments.

c) Other

During 2015, the Bank was required to maintain certain cash balances with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for reserve and clearing requirements. The required cash balance at December 31, 2015 was $2.7 million. During 2015, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York offered higher interest rates on overnight deposits compared to our correspondent banks. Therefore the Bank invested overnight with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the average balance maintained during 2015 was $14.3 million.

During 2015, 2014 and 2013, the Bank maintained an overnight line of credit with the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (“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, 2015, the Bank had aggregate lines of credit of $295.0 million with unaffiliated correspondent banks to provide short-term credit for liquidity requirements. Of these aggregate lines of credit, $275.0 million is available on an unsecured basis. As of December 31, 2015, the Bank had $120.0 million of 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, 2015, there was $1.1 billion available for transactions under this agreement.

The Bank had $50.9 million of securities sold under agreements to repurchase outstanding as of December 31, 2015 (See Note 7).