Derivatives and Hedging Activities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

The Company is exposed to certain risks arising from both its business operations and economic conditions. The Company principally manages its exposures to a wide variety of business and operational risks through the management of its core business activities. The Company manages economic risks, including interest rate, liquidity, and credit risk, primarily by managing the amount, sources, and duration of its assets and liabilities.

Non-designated Hedges. Derivatives not designated in qualifying hedging relationships are not speculative and result from a service the Company provides to certain qualified commercial borrowers in loan related transactions which, therefore, are not used to manage interest rate risk in the Company’s assets or liabilities. The Company may execute interest rate swaps with qualified commercial banking customers to facilitate their respective risk management strategies. Those interest rate swaps are simultaneously hedged by offsetting interest rate swaps that the Company executes with a third party, such that the Company minimizes its net risk exposure resulting from such transactions. The interest rate swap agreement which the Company executes with the commercial borrower is collateralized by the borrower's commercial real estate financed by the Company. As the Company has not elected to apply hedge accounting and these interest rate swaps do not meet the hedge accounting requirements, changes in the fair value of both the customer swaps and the offsetting swaps are recognized directly in earnings. At March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company had 166 loan related interest rate swaps, with an aggregate notional amount of $2.43 billion and $2.42 billion, respectively.

The Company periodically enters into risk participation agreements ("RPAs"), with the Company functioning as either the lead institution, or as a participant when another company is the lead institution on a commercial loan. These RPAs are entered into to manage the credit exposure on interest rate contracts associated with these loan participation agreements. Under the RPAs, the Company will either receive or make a payment in the event the borrower defaults on the related interest rate contract. The Company has minimum collateral posting thresholds with certain of its risk participation counterparties, and has posted collateral of $70,000 against the potential risk of default by the borrower under these agreements. At March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company had 13 credit derivatives, with aggregate notional amounts of $147.2 million and $144.8 million, respectively, from participations in interest rate swaps as part of these loan participation arrangements. At March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the fair value of these credit derivatives were $77,700 and $108,800, respectively.

Cash Flow Hedges of Interest Rate Risk. The Company’s objective in using interest rate derivatives is to add stability to interest expense and to manage its exposure to interest rate movements. To accomplish this objective, the Company primarily uses interest rate swaps as part of its interest rate risk management strategy. Interest rate swaps designated as cash flow hedges involve the receipt of variable payment amounts from a counterparty in exchange for the Company making fixed-rate payments over the life of the agreements without exchange of the underlying notional amount.

Changes in the fair value of derivatives designated and that qualify as cash flow hedges of interest rate risk are recorded in accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income and are subsequently reclassified into earnings in the period that the hedged forecasted transaction affects earnings. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, such derivatives were used to hedge the variable cash outflows associated with FHLBNY borrowings and brokered demand deposits.

Amounts reported in accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income related to derivatives will be reclassified to interest expense as interest payments are made on the Company’s borrowings or demand deposits. During the next twelve months, the Company estimates that $4.9 million will be reclassified as a reduction to interest expense. As of March 31, 2022, the Company had 13 outstanding interest rate derivatives with an aggregate notional amount of $500.0 million that were each designated as a cash flow hedge of interest rate risk.

Assets and liabilities relating to certain financial instruments, including derivatives, may be eligible for offset in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition and/or subject to enforceable master netting arrangements or similar agreements. The Company does not offset asset and liabilities under such arrangements in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

The tables below present a gross presentation, the effects of offsetting, and a net presentation of the Company’s financial instruments that are eligible for offset in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition at March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 (in thousands).


	Fair Values of Derivative Instruments as of March 31, 2022
	Asset Derivatives					Liability Derivatives
	Notional Amount		Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition	Fair value (2)		Notional Amount		Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition	Fair value (2)
Derivatives not designated as a hedging instrument:
Interest rate products	$	1,200,002	Other assets	$	59,907	$	1,200,002	Other liabilities	$	60,594
Credit contracts	33,621		Other assets	56		99,741		Other liabilities	32
Total derivatives not designated as a hedging instrument				59,963					60,626

Derivatives designated as a hedging instrument:
Interest rate products	460,000		Other assets	19,207		20,000		Other liabilities	60

Total gross derivative amounts recognized on the balance sheet				79,170					60,686

Gross amounts offset on the balance sheet				—					—
Net derivative amounts presented on the balance sheet				$	79,170				$	60,686

Gross amounts not offset on the balance sheet:
Financial instruments - institutional counterparties				$	5,558				$	5,558
Cash collateral - institutional counterparties (1)				62,840					4,630
Net derivatives not offset				$	10,772				$	50,498


	Fair Values of Derivative Instruments as of December 31, 2021
	Asset Derivatives					Liability Derivatives
	Notional Amount		Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition	Fair value (2)		Notional Amount		Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition	Fair value (2)
Derivatives not designated as a hedging instrument:
Interest rate products	$	1,188,703	Other assets	$	59,110	$	1,188,703	Other liabilities	$	60,163
Credit contracts	33,683		Other assets	76		97,213		Other liabilities	46
Total derivatives not designated as a hedging instrument				59,186					60,209

Derivatives designated as a hedging instrument:
Interest rate products	250,000		Other assets	7,278		350,000		Other liabilities	2,263

Total gross derivative amounts recognized on the balance sheet				66,464					62,472

Gross amounts offset on the balance sheet				—					—
Net derivative amounts presented on the balance sheet				$	66,464				$	62,472

Gross amounts not offset on the balance sheet:
Financial instruments - institutional counterparties				$	18,618				$	18,618
Cash collateral - institutional counterparties (1)				—					26,566
Net derivatives not offset				$	47,846				$	17,288

(1) Cash collateral represents the amount that cannot be used to offset our derivative assets and liabilities from a gross basis to a net basis in accordance with the applicable accounting guidance. The application of the cash collateral cannot reduce the net derivative position below zero. Therefore, excess cash collateral, if any, is not reflected above.

(2) The fair values related to interest rate products in the above net derivative tables show the total value of assets and liabilities, which include accrued interest receivable and accrued interest payable for the periods ended March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021.

The tables below present the effect of the Company’s derivative financial instruments on the Consolidated Statements of Income during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands).


		Gain recognized in income on derivatives for the three months ended
	Consolidated Statements of Income	March 31, 2022		March 31, 2021
Derivatives not designated as a hedging instrument:
Interest rate products	Other income	$	366	400
Credit contracts	Other income	(17)		23
Total		$	349	423

	Consolidated Statements of Income	Loss recognized in expense on derivatives for the three months ended
		March 31, 2022		March 31, 2021
Derivatives designated as a hedging instrument:
Interest rate products	Interest expense	$	666	879
Total		$	666	879

The Company has agreements with certain of its dealer counterparties which contain a provision that if the Company defaults on any of its indebtedness, including a default where repayment of the indebtedness has not been accelerated by the lender, then the Company could also be deemed in default on its derivative obligations. In addition, the Company has agreements with certain of its dealer counterparties which contain a provision that if the Company fails to maintain its status as a well or adequately capitalized institution, then the counterparty could terminate the derivative positions and the Company would be required to settle its obligations under the agreements.

At March 31, 2022, the Company had four dealer counterparties. The Company had a net liability position with respect to one of the counterparties. The termination value for this net liability position, which includes accrued interest, was $5.6 million at March 31, 2022. The Company has minimum collateral posting thresholds with certain of its derivative counterparties, and has posted collateral of $4.8 million against its obligations under these agreements. If the Company had breached any of these provisions at March 31, 2022, it could have been required to settle its obligations under the agreements at the termination value.