Note 9 - Fair Value Measurements

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

Fair Value Disclosures [Text Block]

Fair Value Disclosures [Text Block]

Note 9:  Fair Value Measurements

The Company uses fair value measurements to record fair value adjustments to certain assets and liabilities and to determine fair value disclosures.  Available for sale investment securities are recorded at fair value on a recurring basis.  Additionally, from time to time, the Company may be required to record at fair value other assets on a nonrecurring basis, such as certain loans held for investment, investment securities held to maturity, and other assets.  These nonrecurring fair value adjustments typically involve the lower-of-cost-or-fair value accounting of individual assets.

In accordance with the Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure topic of the Codification, the Company bases its fair values on the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in the principal market or most advantageous market for an asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date under current market conditions.  A fair value measurement reflects all of the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability, including assumptions about the risk inherent in a particular valuation technique, the effect of a restriction on the sale or use of an asset, and the risk of nonperformance.

The Company groups its assets and liabilities measured at fair value into a three-level hierarchy, based on the markets in which the assets and liabilities are traded and the reliability of the assumptions used to determine fair value. When the valuation assumptions used to measure the fair value of the asset or liability are categorized within different levels of the fair value hierarchy, the asset or liability is categorized in its entirety within the lowest level of the hierarchy. These levels are:

Level 1 – Valuation is based upon quoted prices for identical instruments traded in active exchange markets, such as the New York Stock Exchange.  Level 1 includes U.S. Treasury, equity securities and federal agency securities, which are traded by dealers or brokers in active markets.  Valuations are obtained from readily available pricing sources for market transactions involving identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 – Valuation is based upon quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active, and model-based valuation techniques for which all significant assumptions are observable in the market. Level 2 includes mortgage-backed securities, corporate securities, asset-backed securities, municipal bonds and residential collateralized mortgage obligations.

Level 3 – Valuation is generated from model-based techniques that use significant assumptions not observable in the market. These unobservable assumptions reflect the Company’s estimates of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. Valuation techniques include use of option pricing models, discounted cash flow models and similar techniques.

The Company relies on independent vendor pricing services to measure fair value for investment securities available for sale and investment securities held to maturity. The Company employs three pricing services. To validate the pricing of these vendors, the Company routinely randomly selects securities for pricing by two or more of the vendors; significant pricing differences, if any, are evaluated using all available independent quotes with the lowest quote generally used as the fair value estimate. In addition, the Company conducts “other than temporary impairment (OTTI)” analysis on a quarterly basis; securities selected for OTTI analysis include all securities with fair value pricing of less than 95 percent of amortized cost. As with any valuation technique used to estimate fair value, changes in underlying assumptions used could significantly affect the results of current and future values. Accordingly, these fair values estimates may not be realized in an actual sale of the securities.

When the Company changes its valuation assumptions for measuring financial assets and financial liabilities at fair value, either due to changes in current market conditions or other factors, it may need to transfer those assets or liabilities to another level in the hierarchy based on the new assumptions used. The Company recognizes these transfers at the end of the reporting period that the transfers occur. For the six months ended June 30, 2013 and 2012, there were no transfers in or out of levels 1, 2 or 3.

Assets Recorded at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis

The table below presents assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis.

	Fair Value		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2 )		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3 )
	(In thousands)
Investment securities available for sale:
At June 30, 2013	$	1,004,888	$	50,880	$	954,008	$	-
At December 31, 2012	$	825,636	$	57,424	$	768,212	$	-

Assets Recorded at Fair Value on a Nonrecurring Basis

The Company may be required, from time to time, to measure certain assets at fair value on a nonrecurring basis in accordance with GAAP. These adjustments to fair value usually result from application of lower-of-cost-or-market accounting of individual assets. For assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis that were recorded in the balance sheet at June 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, the following table provides the level of valuation assumptions used to determine each adjustment and the carrying value of the related assets at period end.

	At June 30, 2013
	Fair Value		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total Losses
	(In thousands)
Non-covered other real estate owned	$	4,909	$	-	$	4,909	$	-	$	(822	)
Covered other real estate owned		6,035		-		6,035		-		(133	)
Originated impaired loans		4,278		-		2,537		1,741		(2,093	)
Purchased covered impaired loans		8,911		-		3,421		5,490		(517	)
Total assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis	$	24,133	$	-	$	16,902	$	7,231	$	(3,565	)

	At December 31, 2012
	Fair Value		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total Losses
	(In thousands)
Non-covered other real estate owned	$	6,618	$	-	$	6,618	$	-	$	(1,360	)
Covered other real estate owned		7,929		-		7,929		-		(371	)
Originated impaired loans		5,197		-		3,097		2,100		(3,158	)
Purchased covered impaired loans		6,684		-		2,224		4,460		(83	)
Total assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis	$	26,428	$	-	$	19,868	$	6,560	$	(4,972	)

Level 2 – Valuation is based upon independent market prices or appraised value of the collateral, less 10% for selling costs, generally.  Level 2 includes other real estate owned that has been measured at fair value subsequent to its initial classification as foreclosed assets and impaired loans collateralized by real property where a specific reserve has been established or a charge-off has been recorded.

Level 3 – Valuation is based upon estimated liquidation values of loan collateral.  The value of level 3 assets can also include a component of real estate, which is valued as described for level 2 inputs, when collateral for the impaired loan includes both business assets and real estate.  Level 3 includes impaired loans where a specific reserve has been established or a charge-off has been recorded.

Disclosures about Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The following section describes the valuation methodologies used by the Company for estimating fair value of financial instruments not recorded at fair value in the balance sheet.

Cash and Due from Banks  Cash and due from banks represent U.S. dollar denominated coin and currency, deposits at the Federal Reserve Bank and correspondent banks, and amounts being settled with other banks to complete the processing of  customers’ daily transactions. Collectively, the Federal Reserve Bank and financial institutions operate a market in which cash and due from banks transactions are processed continuously in significant daily volumes honoring the face value of the U.S. dollar.

Investment Securities Held to Maturity  The fair values of investment securities were estimated using quoted prices as described above for Level 1 and Level 2 valuation.

Loans  Loans were separated into two groups for valuation. Variable rate loans, except for those described below, which reprice frequently with changes in market rates were valued using historical cost. Fixed rate loans and variable rate loans that have reached their minimum contractual interest rates were valued by discounting the future cash flows expected to be received from the loans using current interest rates charged on loans with similar characteristics. Additionally, the allowance for loan losses of $30,926 thousand at June 30, 2013 and $30,234 thousand at December 31, 2012 and the fair value discount due to credit default risk associated with purchased covered and purchased non-covered loans of $18,514 thousand and $3,609 thousand, respectively at June 30, 2013 and purchased covered and purchased non-covered loans of $26,128 thousand and $5,226 thousand, respectively at December 31, 2012 were applied against the estimated fair values to recognize estimated future defaults of contractual cash flows. The Company does not consider these values to be a liquidation price for the loans.

FDIC Indemnification Receivable  The fair value of the FDIC indemnification receivable recorded in Other Assets was estimated by discounting estimated future cash flows using current market rates for financial instruments with similar characteristics.

Deposit Liabilities  Deposits with no stated maturity such as checking accounts, savings accounts and money market accounts can be readily converted to cash or used to settle transactions at face value through the broad financial system operated by the Federal Reserve Bank and financial institutions. The fair value of deposits with no stated maturity is equal to the amount payable on demand. The fair values of time deposits were estimated by discounting estimated future contractual cash flows using current market rates for financial instruments with similar characteristics.

Short-Term Borrowed Funds  The carrying amount of securities sold under agreement to repurchase and other short-term borrowed funds approximate fair value due to the relatively short period of time between their origination and their expected realization.

Federal Home Loan Bank Advances  The fair values of FHLB advances were estimated by using redemption amounts quoted by the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.

Term Repurchase Agreement  The fair value of the term repurchase agreement was estimated by using interpolated yields for financial instruments with similar characteristics.

Debt Financing  The fair value of debt financing was estimated by using interpolated yields for financial instruments with similar characteristics.

The table below is a summary of fair value estimates for financial instruments and the level of the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value measurements are categorized, excluding financial instruments recorded at fair value on a recurring basis. The values assigned do not necessarily represent amounts which ultimately may be realized. In addition, these values do not give effect to discounts to fair value which may occur when financial instruments are sold in larger quantities.  The carrying amounts in the following table are recorded in the balance sheet under the indicated captions.

The Company has not included assets and liabilities that are not financial instruments, such as goodwill, long-term relationships with deposit, merchant processing and trust customers, other purchased intangibles, premises and equipment, deferred taxes and other assets and liabilities. The total estimated fair values do not represent, and should not be construed to represent, the underlying value of the Company.

	At June 30, 2013
	Carrying Amount		Estimated Fair Value		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2 )		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3 )
Financial Assets:	(In thousands)
Cash and due from banks	$	384,276	$	384,276	$	384,276	$	-	$	-
Investment securities held to maturity		1,134,615		1,124,946		2,266		1,122,680		-
Loans		1,908,415		1,922,777		-		-		1,922,777
Other assets - FDIC indemnification receivable		8,758		8,756		-		-		8,756
Financial Liabilities:
Deposits	$	4,101,394	$	4,100,948	$	-	$	3,509,113	$	591,835
Short-term borrowed funds		66,640		66,640		-		66,640		-
Federal Home Loan Bank advances		25,687		25,834		25,834		-		-
Term repurchase agreement		10,000		10,096		-		10,096		-
Debt financing		15,000		15,201		-		15,201		-

	At December 31, 2012
	Carrying Amount		Estimated Fair Value		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2 )		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3 )
Financial Assets:	(In thousands)
Cash and due from banks	$	491,382	$	491,382	$	491,382	$	-	$	-
Investment securities held to maturity		1,156,041		1,184,557		3,275		1,181,282		-
Loans		2,081,123		2,090,712		-		-		2,090,712
Other assets - FDIC indemnification receivable		13,847		13,834		-		-		13,834
Financial Liabilities:
Deposits	$	4,232,492	$	4,232,239	$	-	$	3,589,921	$	642,318
Short-term borrowed funds		53,687		53,687		-		53,687		-
Federal Home Loan Bank advances		25,799		26,150		26,150		-		-
Term repurchase agreement		10,000		10,135		-		10,135		-
Debt financing		15,000		15,645		-		15,645		-

The majority of the Company’s standby letters of credit and other commitments to extend credit carry current market interest rates if converted to loans. No premium or discount was ascribed to these commitments because virtually all funding would be at current market rates.