Commitments and contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Commitments and contingencies

Commitments and contingencies

Note 12. Commitments and Contingencies

Off-balance-sheet risk – The Company is a party to financial instruments with off-balance-sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financial needs of its customers. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit. These instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest-rate risk in excess of the amounts recognized in the financial statements. The contract amounts of these instruments reflect the extent of involvement that the Company has in particular classes of instruments.

The Company’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit, and to potential credit loss associated with letters of credit issued, is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The Company uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for loans and other such on-balance sheet instruments.

At December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company had outstanding the following approximate off-balance-sheet financial instruments whose contract amounts represent credit risk (in thousands):

	December 31,		December 31,
	2021		2020
Undisbursed credit lines	$	103,125	$	107,130
Commitments to extend or originate credit		18,551		38,910
Standby letters of credit		4,680		4,934
Total commitments to extend credit	$	126,356	$	150,974

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a customer as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require the payment of a fee. Historically, any commitments expire without being drawn upon; therefore, the total commitment amounts shown in the above table are not necessarily indicative of future cash requirements. The Company evaluates each customer’s creditworthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, as deemed necessary by the Company upon extension of credit is based on management’s credit evaluation of the customer. Collateral held varies but may include personal or income-producing commercial real estate, accounts receivable, inventory and equipment.

Standby letters of credit are written conditional commitments issued by the Bank to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to customers.

Concentrations of credit risk – Generally, the Company’s loans, commitments to extend credit, and standby letters of credit have been granted to customers in the Company’s market area. Although the Company is building a diversified loan portfolio, a substantial portion of its clients’ ability to honor contracts is reliant upon the economic stability of the Richmond, Virginia area, including the real estate markets in the area. The concentrations of credit by type of loan are set forth in Note 3. The distribution of commitments to extend credit approximates the distribution of loans outstanding.