Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

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, 2015		December 31, 2014
	Amortized costs	Fair values	Amortized costs	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	61,538	62,807	60,656	61,689
Corporate	294,666	309,556	296,578	308,691
Foreign	153,097	158,769	163,099	166,685
U.S. Treasury Bonds	13,816	14,228	14,337	14,802
Equity securities	23,493	27,216	22,710	28,236
	546,610	572,576	557,380	580,103

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

Gross unrealized gains and losses were:

	March 31, 2015		December 31, 2014
	Gains	Losses	Gains	Losses
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	1,318	49	1,125	92
Corporate	15,042	152	12,559	446
Foreign	5,798	126	3,690	104
U.S. Treasury Bonds	414	2	492	27
Equity securities	4,570	847	5,982	456
	27,142	1,176	23,848	1,125

Debt securities as of March 31, 2015 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	41,517	41,649
After one year through five years	231,495	238,946
After five years through ten years	218,310	229,754
After ten years	31,795	35,011
	523,117	545,360

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, 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	42	5,317	7	3,394	49	8,711
Corporate	36	6,356	116	7,893	152	14,249
Foreign	6	1,487	120	4,581	126	6,068
U.S. Treasury Bonds	—	—	2	3,596	2	3,596
Equity securities	847	9,065	—	—	847	9,065
	931	22,225	245	19,464	1,176	41,689

The number of investments in an unrealized loss position as of March 31, 2015 was 37. 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, 2014, 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	2,673	91	12,076	92	14,749
Corporate	107	7,167	339	26,545	446	33,712
Foreign	11	34,236	93	6,446	104	40,682
U.S. Treasury Bonds	—	—	27	3,694	27	3,694
Equity securities	456	6,540	—	—	456	6,540
	575	50,616	550	48,761	1,125	99,377

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. Equity securities consist of common stocks.