RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

20.         RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Sonabank has entered into loan transactions with STM. The following table summarizes the changes in the loan amount outstanding with STM during the periods indicated (in thousands):

	2019		2018
Balance at January 1,	$	24,168	$	25,767
Principal advances		298,639		296,627
Principal paid		(296,047)		(298,226)
Balance at December 31,	$	26,760	$	24,168

Sonabank has established with STM underwriting guidelines under which it will purchase residential construction only, construction loans that convert to permanent, and permanent loans primarily in its Virginia and Maryland footprint from

STM. These will be largely loans that do not conform to FNMA or FHLMC standards because of size or acreage. We purchased loans in an aggregate amount of $152.2 million during 2019 and $125.1 million during 2018 from STM.

During the year, officers, directors, principal shareholders, and their affiliates (related parties) were customers of and had transactions with the Company. Loan activity to related parties is as follows (in thousands):

	2019
Balance at January 1,	$	22,869
Principal advances		1,702
Principal paid		(3,165)
Balance at December 31,	$	21,406

Sonabank has also entered into deposit transactions with its related parties including STM. The aggregate amount of these deposit accounts were $20.1 million and $12.8 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.