In the normal course of business, the Company is involved in various legal proceedings. Management believes that the outcome of such proceedings will not materially affect the financial position, results of operations or cash flows of the Company.

On March 12, 2021, a purported class action was filed against the Company in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Joseph McAlear, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. et al. The complaint alleges the existence of an agreement between the Company, nCino, Inc. and Apiture, LLC in which those companies purportedly sought to restrain the mobility of employees in violation of antitrust laws by agreeing not to solicit or hire each other’s employees. The complaint alleges violations of Section 1 of the federal Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1) and violations of Sections 75-1 and 75-2 of the North Carolina General Statutes. The plaintiff seeks monetary damages, including treble damages, entitlement to restitution, disgorgement, attorneys’ fees, and pre- and post-judgment interest. On October 12, 2021, the Company reached an agreement to settle the case with a proposed class of all persons (with certain exclusions) employed by the Company or its wholly-owned subsidiary, Live Oak Banking Company, Apiture, Inc. or nCino, Inc. in North Carolina at any time from January 27, 2017, through March 31, 2021. In the agreement, the Company agreed to pay $3.9 million. On October 13, 2021, the plaintiff filed a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement, which the court granted by order entered on November 23, 2021. After class-wide noticing, the plaintiff filed a motion for final approval on March 28, 2022, which the court granted by order entered on April 28, 2022. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement, the Company expects the settlement to become finally effective no later than June 30, 2022.

The Company is party to financial instruments with off-balance-sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit. These instruments involve, to varying degrees, credit risk in excess of the amount recognized in the balance sheet.

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 standby letters of credit is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The Company uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as for on-balance-sheet instruments. A summary of the Company’s commitments is as follows:

	March 31, 2022		December 31, 2021
Commitments to extend credit	$	2,980,984	$	2,634,387
Standby letters of credit		24,087		10,753
Total unfunded off-balance-sheet credit risk	$	3,005,071	$	2,645,140

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 payment of a fee. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. The Company evaluates each customer’s creditworthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary by the Company upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the party. Collateral held varies, but may include accounts receivable, inventory, property and equipment, residential real estate and income-producing commercial properties. Commitment letters are issued after approval of the loan by the Credit Department and generally expire ninety days after issuance.

Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Those guarantees are primarily issued to support public and private borrowing arrangements. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loan facilities to customers. Collateral held varies as specified above and is required in instances which the Company deems necessary.

In December 2021, the Company entered into a lease agreement to rent real property for a term of 91 months with $1.1 million of future expected lease payments. There is an option to renew the lease for an additional 5 year period. As of March 31, 2022, the lease had not commenced.

The balance of the allowance for off-balance sheet credit exposures was $884 thousand and $739 thousand at March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.

As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company recorded unfunded commitments to provide capital contributions for on-balance-sheet investments in the amount of $20.4 million and $10.4 million, respectively.

The distribution of commitments to extend credit approximates the distribution of loans outstanding. The Company does not have a significant number of credits to any single borrower or group of related borrowers whereby their retained unguaranteed exposure exceeds $15.0 million, except for thirty-five relationships that have a retained unguaranteed exposure of $850.8 million of which $480.9 million of the unguaranteed exposure has been disbursed.

Additionally, the Company has future minimum lease payments receivable under non-cancelable operating leases totaling $65.1 million, of which $20.0 million is due from one relationship.

The Company from time-to-time may have cash and cash equivalents on deposit with financial institutions that exceed federally-insured limits.