Commitments and Contingencies and Derivatives

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies and Derivatives

Commitments and Contingencies and Derivatives

9.  Commitments and Contingencies and Derivatives

Legal Matters

The Company is involved in various legal proceedings which have arisen in the normal course of business. Management believes that resolution of these matters will not have a material effect on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

Employment Agreements

The Company has entered into employment agreements with certain officers. The agreements provide for base salaries and incentive compensation based on performance criteria outlined in the agreements. The agreements also provide for insurance and various other benefits.

Financial Instruments with Off-Balance-Sheet Risk

In the normal course of business, the Company is a party to financial instruments with off-balance-sheet risk to meet the financing needs of its customers. These financial instruments include standby letters of credit and commitments to extend credit, which include new loan commitments, undisbursed portions of construction loans and other lines of credit and loans sold with recourse. We are obligated under a recourse provision associated with certain first mortgage renovation loans sold in the secondary market to bear all costs when a default, including a foreclosure, occurs. These financial instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of interest rate risk in excess of the amounts recognized in the statements of financial condition. The contractual amounts of those instruments reflect the extent of involvement the Company has in particular classes of financial instruments.

On January 1, 2023, the Company adopted ASU 2016-13 and implemented the CECL methodology for allowance for credit losses which requires the measurement of expected lifetime credit losses for unfunded commitments that are considered off-balance sheet credit exposures.

The ACL on unfunded commitments is management’s estimate of expected credit losses over the expected contractual term (or life) in which the Company is exposed to credit risk via a contractual obligation to extend credit unless that obligation is unconditionally cancellable by the Company. For each portfolio, estimated loss rates and funding factors are applied to the corresponding balance of unfunded commitments. For each portfolio, the estimated loss rates applied to unfunded commitments are the same quantitative and qualitative loss rates applied to the corresponding on-balance sheet amounts in determining the ACL on loans. The estimated funding factor applied to unfunded commitments represents the likelihood that the funding will occur and is based upon the Company’s average historical utilization rate for each portfolio. As a result of adopting the CECL standard, the Company recognized an increase in the ACL on unfunded commitments of $221 on January 1, 2023.

Financial instruments whose contract amounts represent off-balance sheet credit risk are as follows:

	September 30,		December 31,
	2023		2022
Commitments to extend credit summarized as follows:
Future loan commitments	$	7,544	$	3,815
Undisbursed construction loans		40,487		30,274
Undisbursed home equity lines of credit		10,674		9,561
Undisbursed commercial and other line of credit		63,782		77,719
Standby letters of credit		5,350		4,571
Loans sold with recourse		1,075		276
Total	$	128,912	$	126,216

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. Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Since these commitments could 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 an extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the counterparty. Collateral held varies but may include residential and commercial property, deposits and securities.

Activity in the Company’s ACL for unfunded commitments for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 is summarized in the tables below and included in accrued expenses and other liabilities. The Adoption of the CECL Standard row presents adjustments recorded on January 1, 2023 through retained earnings.

	Commercial				Commercial
	Real Estate		Residential		and Industrial		Indirect		Consumer		Totals
	Three months ended September 30, 2023
Allowance for credit losses:
Beginning balance	$	200	$	—	$	61	$	—	$	7	$	268
Provision for credit losses		26		—		4		—		1		31
Ending balance	$	226	$	—	$	65	$	—	$	8	$	299

	Commercial				Commercial
	Real Estate		Residential		and Industrial		Indirect		Consumer		Totals
	Nine months ended September 30, 2023
Allowance for credit losses:
Beginning balance	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—
Adoption of CECL standard		149		—		65		—		7		221
Provision for credit losses		77		—		—		—		1		78
Ending balance	$	226	$	—	$	65	$	—	$	8	$	299

Interest Rate Swaps

The Company enters into interest rate swaps that allow commercial loan customers to effectively convert a variable-rate loan agreement to a fixed-rate loan agreement. Under these agreements, the Company simultaneously enters into a variable-rate loan and an interest rate swap agreement with a customer. The Company then enters into a corresponding and offsetting swap agreement with a third party to hedge its exposure created by the customer agreements. The interest rate swaps with both the customers and third parties are not designated as hedges under FASB ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and are marked to market through earnings. The fair values of the swaps are recorded as both an asset and a liability, in other assets and other liabilities, respectively, in equal amounts for these transactions.  The accrued interest receivable and payable of $122 and $56 related to our swaps is recorded in other assets and other liabilities as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively.

Summary information regarding these derivatives is presented below:

	September 30,			December 31,
	2023			2022
Notational amount	$	60,948		$	26,541
Fair value	$	5,080		$	3,578
Weighted average pay rates		5.03	%		3.69	%
Weighted average receive rates		7.37	%		6.30	%
Weighted average maturity (in years)		8.93			8.79
Number of Contracts		14			7

Not included in the table above are five contracted forward rate swaps with a notional value of $35,326 and a fair value of $2,598 with effective dates at various points in 2023 and 2024. These forward swaps have a fixed weighted average pay rate of 4.97% and the related weighted average adjustable receive rates will be determined at the time the forward swaps become effective.