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DERIVATIVES
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
DERIVATIVES
NOTE 7 - DERIVATIVES

As part of its mortgage banking activities, the Mortgage Corporation enters into interest rate lock commitments, which are commitments to originate loans where the interest rate on the loan is determined prior to funding and the customers have locked into that interest rate.  The Mortgage Corporation then locks in the loan and rate with an investor and commits to deliver the loan if settlement occurs (“best efforts”) or commits to deliver the locked loan in a binding (“mandatory”) delivery program with an investor.  Certain loans under rate lock commitments are covered under forward sales contracts of mortgage backed securities (“MBS”).  Forward sales contracts of MBS are recorded at fair value with changes in fair value recorded in noninterest income.   Interest rate lock commitments and commitments to deliver loans to investors are considered derivatives.  The market value of interest rate lock commitments and best efforts contracts are not readily ascertainable with precision because they are not actively traded in stand-alone markets.  The Mortgage Corporation determines the fair value of interest rate lock commitments and delivery contracts by measuring the fair value of the underlying asset, which is impacted by current interest rates, taking into consideration the probability that the interest rate lock commitments will close or will be funded.

Certain additional risks arise from these forward delivery contracts in that the counterparties to the contracts may not be able to meet the terms of the contracts.  The Mortgage Corporation does not expect any counterparty to fail to meet its obligation.  Additional risks inherent in mandatory delivery programs include the risk that, if the Mortgage Corporation does not close the loans subject to interest rate risk lock commitments, it will still be obligated to deliver MBS to the counterparty under the forward sales agreement.  Should this be required, the Mortgage Corporation could incur significant costs in acquiring replacement loans or MBS and such costs could have an adverse effect on mortgage banking operations.

Since the Mortgage Corporation’s derivative instruments are not designated as hedging instruments, the fair value of the
derivatives are recorded as a freestanding asset or liability with the change in value being recognized in current earnings
during the period of change. The Mortgage Corporation has not elected to apply hedge accounting to its derivative instruments as provided in FASB ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging.

At June 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, the Mortgage Corporation had derivative financial instruments with a notional value of $83.1 million and $76.8 million, respectively.  The fair value of these derivative instruments at June 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010 was $349 thousand and $281 thousand, respectively, and was included in other assets.

Included in other noninterest income for the six months ended June 30, 2011 and June 30, 2010 was a net loss of $2.0 million and a net loss of $2.2 million, respectively, relating to derivative instruments.