Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees

7. Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees

In the normal course of business, the Company is party to financial instruments with off-balance-sheet risk in order to meet the financing needs of its customers and to reduce its own exposure to fluctuations in interest rates. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit, commercial letters of credit, standby letters of credit, futures contracts, forward foreign exchange contracts and spot foreign exchange contracts. These instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheet. The contract or notional amount of those instruments reflects the extent of involvement the Company has in particular classes of financial instruments. Many of the commitments expire without being drawn upon, therefore, the total amount of these commitments does not necessarily represent the future cash requirements of the Company.

The Company’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the counterparty to the financial instruments for commitments to extend credit, commercial letters of credit, and standby letters of credit is represented by the contract or notional 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 Company’s off-balance sheet financial instruments.

Contract or Notional Amount (in thousands):

	March 31, 2013		December 31, 2012
Commitments to extend credit for loans (excluding credit card loans)	$	2,522,612	$	2,458,444
Commitments to extend credit under credit card loans		2,218,196		2,184,415
Commercial letters of credit		1,423		1,041
Standby letters of credit		340,400		343,503
Futures contracts		19,000		7,500
Forward foreign exchange contracts		2,567		2,005
Spot foreign exchange contracts		5,397		2,910