XML 32 R21.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.0.6
Financial Guarantees
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2012
Financial Guarantees [Abstract]  
Financial Guarantees

Note 12: Financial Guarantees

In the normal course of business, the Corporation is a party to financial instruments containing credit risk that are not required to be reflected in the consolidated statements of financial position. For the Corporation, these financial instruments are financial and performance standby letters of credit. The Corporation has risk management policies to identify, monitor and limit exposure to credit risk. To mitigate credit risk for these financial guarantees, the Corporation generally determines the need for specific covenant, guarantee and collateral requirements on a case-by-case basis, depending on the nature of the financial instrument and the customer’s creditworthiness. At March 31, 2012, December 31, 2011 and March 31, 2011, the Corporation had $46 million, $46 million and $48 million, respectively, of outstanding financial and performance standby letters of credit which expire in five years or less. The majority of these standby letters of credit are collateralized. At December 31, 2011 and March 31, 2011, the Corporation had a reserve of $0.3 million related to potential losses from standby letters of credit. At March 31, 2012, the Corporation determined that there were no potential losses from standby letters of credit, and therefore, no reserve was needed at that date.