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. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit. Those instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate 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 unfunded lines of credit, commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit is represented by the contractual notional amount of these instruments. The Company generally uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for on-balance sheet instruments.

The following financial instruments were outstanding whose contract amounts represent credit risk:


(Dollars in thousands)	June 30, 2024		December 31, 2023
Commitments to extend credit	$	1,562,122	$	1,352,147
Standby letters of credit		24,909		26,850
Total	$	1,587,031	$	1,378,997

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 may expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. Management evaluates each customer’s credit-worthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the borrower.

Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Bank to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. Standby letters of credit generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loan facilities to customers. The Bank's policy for obtaining collateral and the nature of such collateral is essentially the same as that involved in making commitments to extend credit.

The allowance for credit losses on off-balance-sheet credit exposures is a liability account, calculated in accordance with ASC 326, representing expected credit losses over the contractual period for which we are exposed to credit risk resulting from a contractual obligation to extend credit. Off-balance sheet credit exposures primarily consist of amounts available under outstanding lines of credit and letters of credit detailed in the table above, less those obligations which the Company has the unconditional right to cancel. No allowance is recognized if the issuer has an unconditional right to cancel the obligation. The amount of the allowance represents management's best estimate of expected credit losses on commitments expected to be funded over the contractual life of the commitment. At June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the allowance for credit losses related to off-balance sheet exposures was $2.1 million and $2.4 million, respectively, and is recorded in other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. For the six months ended June 30, 2024, $300,000 of the allowance for credit losses related to off-balance sheet exposures was reversed. For the three months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 and the six months ended June 30, 2023, there was no provision expense for credit losses related to off-balance sheet exposure.