Note 17 - Commitments and Credit Risk

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

Commitments Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE

17:

          COMMITMENTS AND CREDIT RISK

The Company grants agri-business, commercial and residential loans to customers throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee, as well as credit card loans to customers throughout the United States.  Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a customer as long as 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 a portion of the commitments

may

expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements.  Each customer's creditworthiness is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.  The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary, is based on management's credit evaluation of the counterparty.  Collateral held varies but

may

include accounts receivable, inventory, property, plant and equipment, commercial real estate and residential real estate.

At

December

31,

2016,

the Company had outstanding commitments to extend credit aggregating approximately

$562,527,000

and

$1,220,137,000

for credit card commitments and other loan commitments, respectively. At

December

 

31,

2015,

the Company had outstanding commitments to extend credit aggregating approximately

$497,961,000

and

$805,673,000

for credit card commitments and other loan commitments, respectively.

Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a

third

party. Those guarantees are primarily issued to support public and private borrowing arrangements, including commercial paper, bond financing and similar transactions. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to customers. The Company had total outstanding letters of credit amounting to

$29,362,000

and

$23,515,000

at

December

31,

2016

and

2015,

respectively, with terms ranging from

9

 months to

15

years. At

December

31,

2016

and

2015,

the Company had

no

deferred revenue under standby letter of credit agreements.

At

December

31,

2016,

the Company did not have concentrations of

5%

or more of the investment portfolio in bonds issued by a single municipality.