Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Commitments and Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies

Off-balance sheet commitments

The Company is a party to financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers and to reduce its own exposure to fluctuations in interest rates. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and standby and commercial letters of credit. Those instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amount recognized in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The contract or notional amounts of those instruments reflect the extent of the involvement in particular classes of financial instruments.

The exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit and standby and commercial letters of credit is represented by the contractual notional amount of those instruments. The same credit policies are used in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for on-balance sheet instruments. Unless otherwise noted, collateral or other security is not required to support financial instruments with credit risk.

Set forth below is a summary of the notional amounts of the financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk at March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011:

Contract Amount
(in thousands)	March 31, 2012		December 31, 2011
Commitments to Extend Credit	$	12,530	$	13,264
Unfunded Commitments under lines of credit	$	58,738	$	69,522
Commercial and Standby letters of credit	$	6,503	$	6,745

Litigation

The nature of the Company's business ordinarily results in a certain amount of claims, litigation and legal and administrative cases, all of which are considered incidental to the normal conduct of business. When the Company's management and counsel determine it has defenses to the claims asserted, it defends itself. The Company will consider settlement of cases when, in Management's and counsel's judgment, it is in the best interests of both the Company and its shareholders.

While the final outcome of legal proceedings is inherently uncertain, based on information currently available, advice of counsel, and available insurance coverage, Management believes that the amount it has already accrued is adequate and any incremental liability arising from the Company's legal proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial position.