(19) COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

The Company is a party to financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers. These financial instruments include loan commitments and standby letters of credit, which involve elements of credit and interest rate risk to varying degrees. The Company’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the instrument is represented by the instrument’s contractual amount. To control this credit risk, the Company uses the same underwriting standards as it uses for loans recorded on the consolidated balance sheet. The amounts of financial instruments with off-balance-sheet risk are as follows:

 

 

December 31,

 

 

 

2025

 

 

2024

 

 

 

(Dollars in thousands)

 

Loan commitments

 

$

2,393,252

 

 

$

2,464,394

 

Stand-by letters of credit

 

 

87,817

 

 

 

102,565

 

 

Loan commitments are agreements to lend to a customer, as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Stand-by letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. These instruments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. Since many of the instruments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total amounts do not necessarily represent commitments that will be funded in the future.

 

The Company is a defendant in legal actions arising from normal business activities. Management believes that all legal actions against the Company are without merit or that the ultimate liability, if any, resulting from them will not materially affect the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Historical Timeline

Fiscal YearFiled
2025Feb 26, 2026Showing above
2024Feb 28, 2025
2023Feb 27, 2024
2022Feb 24, 2023
2021Feb 25, 2022
2020Feb 26, 2021
2019Feb 28, 2020
2017Mar 1, 2018
2016Mar 7, 2017
2015Mar 11, 2016

About Commitments Disclosures

Commitments and contingencies disclosures catalog a company's off-balance-sheet obligations and legal exposures — purchase commitments, guarantee arrangements, pending litigation, and regulatory proceedings. These items represent potential future cash outflows that may not appear as liabilities on the balance sheet until they become probable and estimable.

Key signals: litigation reserves and disclosed loss ranges quantify management's estimate of legal exposure, but unquantified "reasonably possible" losses often represent the larger risk. Watch for changes in language around pending cases — shifts from "remote" to "reasonably possible" or increases in estimated loss ranges signal deteriorating outcomes. Unconditional purchase obligations and take-or-pay contracts create fixed cost structures that reduce operational flexibility. Guarantee arrangements for subsidiaries or joint ventures can create cascading obligations. Compare the total commitment schedule against projected free cash flow to assess whether the company can meet its obligations without additional financing.