Commitments, Contingencies and Related Party Transactions

Commitments to Extent Credit — In the normal course of business, the Company provides customers loan commitments on predetermined terms. These outstanding commitments to extend credit are not reflected in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements. While the Company does not anticipate losses as a result of these transactions, commitments to extend credit are included in determining the appropriate level of the allowance for unfunded commitments, and outstanding commercial and SBLCs.

The following table presents the Company’s credit-related commitments as of December 31, 2018 and 2017:




($ in thousands)	December 31,
($ in thousands)	2018		2017
Loan commitments	$	5,147,821	$	5,075,480
Commercial letters of credit and SBLCs	$	1,796,647	$	1,655,897

Loan commitments are agreements to lend to customers provided that there are no violations of any conditions established in the agreement. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require maintenance of compensatory balances. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future funding requirements.

Commercial letters of credit are issued to facilitate domestic and foreign trade transactions, while SBLCs are generally contingent upon the failure of the customers to perform according to the terms of the underlying contract with the third party. As a result, the total contractual amounts do not necessarily represent future funding requirements. The Company’s historical experience is that SBLCs typically expire without being funded. Additionally, in many cases, the Company holds collateral in various forms against these SBLCs. As part of its risk management activities, the Company monitors the creditworthiness of customers in conjunction with its SBLC exposure. Customers are obligated to reimburse the Company for any payment made on the customers’ behalf. If the customers fail to pay, the Company would, as applicable, liquidate the collateral and/or offset accounts. As of December 31, 2018, total letters of credit of $1.80 billion were comprised of SBLCs of $1.71 billion and commercial letters of credit of $81.9 million.

The Company applies the same credit underwriting criteria in extending loans, commitments and conditional obligations to customers. Each customer’s creditworthiness is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Collateral and financial guarantees may be obtained based on management’s assessment of the customer’s credit. Collateral may include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, property, plant and equipment, and income-producing commercial property.

Estimated exposure to loss from these commitments is included in the allowance for unfunded credit reserves, and amounted to $12.4 million as of December 31, 2018 and $12.7 million as of December 31, 2017. These amounts are included in Accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

Guarantees — The Company sells or securitizes loans with recourse in the ordinary course of business. The recourse component in the loans sold or securitized with recourse is considered a guarantee. As the guarantor, the Company is obligated to repurchase up to the recourse component of the loans if the loans default. The following table presents the types of guarantees the Company had outstanding as of December 31, 2018 and 2017:




($ in thousands)	Maximum Potential Future Payments				Carrying Value
	December 31,				December 31,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Single-family residential loans sold or securitized with recourse	$	16,700	$	20,240	$	16,700	$	20,240
Multifamily residential loans sold or securitized with recourse	17,058		18,482		69,974		93,477
Total	$	33,758	$	38,722	$	86,674	$	113,717

The Company’s recourse reserve related to these guarantees is included in the allowance for unfunded credit reserves and totaled $123 thousand and $214 thousand as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The allowance for unfunded credit reserves is included in Accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The Company continues to experience minimal losses from the single-family and multifamily residential loan portfolios sold or securitized with recourse.

Lease Commitments — The Company has commitments for leasing premises under the terms of non-cancellable operating leases. Rental expense amounted to $31.9 million, $29.7 million and $24.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Future minimum rental payments under non-cancellable operating leases are estimated as follows:




Years Ending December 31,	Amount ($ in thousands)
2019	$	42,008
2020	36,169
2021	30,735
2022	21,395
2023	14,986
Thereafter	40,357
Total	$	185,650

Litigation — The Company is a party to various legal actions arising in the course of its business. In accordance with ASC 450, Contingencies, the Company accrues reserves for outstanding lawsuits, claims and proceedings when a loss contingency is probable and can be reasonably estimated. The Company estimates the amount of loss contingencies using current available information from legal proceedings, advice from legal counsel, and available insurance coverage. Due to the inherent subjectivity of the assessments and unpredictability of the outcomes of the legal proceedings, any amounts accrued or included in this aggregate amount may not represent the ultimate loss to the Company from the legal proceedings in question. Thus, the Company’s exposure and ultimate losses may be higher, and possibly significantly more than the amounts accrued.

Other Commitments — The Company has commitments to invest in qualified affordable housing partnerships, tax credit and other investments as discussed in Note 8 — Investments in Qualified Affordable Housing Partnerships, Tax Credit and Other Investments, Net and Variable Interest Entities to the Consolidated Financial Statements. As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, these commitments were $161.0 million and $169.2 million, respectively. These commitments are included in Accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Refer to Note 8 — Investments in Qualified Affordable Housing Partnerships, Tax Credit and Other Investments, Net and Variable Interest Entities to the Consolidated Financial Statements for the years these commitments are expected to be funded.

Related Party Transactions — In the ordinary course of business, the Company may extend credit to related parties, including executive officers, directors and principal shareholders. These related party loans were not material for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.