Commitments And Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

Commitments And Contingencies

Commitments And Contingencies

9. Commitments and Contingencies

In the normal course of business, the Company becomes a party to financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk to meet the financing needs of its customers. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit in the form of loans, or through commercial or standby letters of credit, and financial guarantees. These instruments represent varying degrees of exposure to risk in excess of the amounts included in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. The contractual or notional amount of these instruments indicates a level of activity associated with a particular class of financial instrument and is not a reflection of the level of expected losses, if any.

The Company's exposure to credit loss in the event of non-performance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit 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. The following table summarizes the outstanding commitments as of the dates indicated:

(In thousands)	At June 30, 2011		At December 31, 2010
Commitments to extend credit	$	1,473,961	$	1,360,266
Standby letters of credit		53,894		59,876
Other letters of credit		79,531		62,722
Bill of lading guarantees		—		245
Total	$	1,607,386	$	1,483,109

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a customer provided there is no violation of any condition established in the commitment agreement. These commitments generally have fixed expiration dates and 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. Letters of credit, including standby letters of credit and bill of lading guarantees, are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. The credit risk involved in issuing these types of instruments is essentially the same as that involved in making loans to customers.