Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale

Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale. The amortized costs and fair values follow:

	March 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
	Amortized costs	Fair values	Amortized costs	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	69,999	72,397	70,300	72,008
Corporate	334,781	346,654	303,870	309,461
Foreign	156,875	161,484	149,914	153,221
U.S. Treasury Bonds	13,801	13,894	13,803	13,906
Equity securities	27,634	31,934	27,497	31,253
	603,090	626,363	565,384	579,849

Foreign debt securities consist primarily of Canadian government and corporate bonds, United Kingdom treasury bonds, and Mexican government bonds. Equity securities consist of common stocks and master limited partnerships.

Gross unrealized gains and losses were:

	March 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
	Gains	Losses	Gains	Losses
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	2,399	1	1,720	12
Corporate	12,128	255	7,700	2,109
Foreign	4,780	171	3,789	482
U.S. Treasury Bonds	95	2	128	25
Equity securities	5,660	1,360	4,842	1,086
	25,062	1,789	18,179	3,714

Debt securities as of March 31, 2016 mature, according to their contractual terms, as follows (actual maturities may differ due to call or prepayment rights):

	Amortized costs	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
In one year or less	46,184	46,308
After one year through five years	248,586	256,004
After five years through ten years	217,047	224,775
After ten years	63,639	67,342
	575,456	594,429

Gross unrealized losses on investments and the fair values of the related securities, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at March 31, 2016, were:

	Less than 12 months		More than 12 months		Total
	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	1	1,256	—	—	1	1,256
Corporate	225	30,154	30	5,020	255	35,174
Foreign	65	34,396	106	3,976	171	38,372
U.S. Treasury Bonds	2	3,601	—	—	2	3,601
Equity securities	1,120	7,819	240	1,021	1,360	8,840
	1,413	77,226	376	10,017	1,789	87,243

The number of investment securities in an unrealized loss position as of March 31, 2016 was 96, 5 securities of which were in unrealized loss positions for more than 12 months. Since the Company does not intend to sell and will more-likely-than-not maintain each investment security until its maturity or anticipated recovery, and no significant credit risk is deemed to exist, these investments are not considered other-than-temporarily impaired.

Gross unrealized losses on investments and the fair values of the related securities, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at December 31, 2015, were:

	Less than 12 months		More than 12 months		Total
	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	9	2,230	3	1,615	12	3,845
Corporate	1,461	83,565	648	32,871	2,109	116,436
Foreign	322	35,008	160	3,155	482	38,163
U.S. Treasury Bonds	6	1,195	19	3,583	25	4,778
Equity securities	720	4,440	366	3,224	1,086	7,664
	2,518	126,438	1,196	44,448	3,714	170,886

The Company believes its investment portfolio is diversified and expects no material loss to result from the failure to perform by issuers of the debt securities it holds. Investments made by the Company are not collateralized.