Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

The Corporation 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. Those financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and letters of credit, which involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amounts recognized on the Corporation’s consolidated balance sheets. Exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit and letters of credit is represented by the outstanding amount of those instruments.

The outstanding amounts of commitments to extend credit and letters of credit were as follows:

	September 30, 2011		December 31, 2010
	(in thousands)
Commitments to extend credit	$	3,856,706	$	3,780,824
Standby letters of credit	443,144		489,097
Commercial letters of credit	25,256		31,388

The Corporation records a reserve for unfunded lending commitments, which represents management’s estimate of losses associated with unused commitments to extend credit. See Note D, “Loans and Allowance for Credit Losses” for additional details.

Residential Lending

Residential mortgages are originated and sold by the Corporation through Fulton Mortgage Company, which operates as a division of each of the Corporation’s subsidiary banks. The loans originated and sold are predominantly “prime” loans that conform to published standards of government sponsored agencies. Prior to 2008, the Corporation’s former Resource Bank subsidiary operated a national wholesale mortgage lending operation which originated and sold non-prime loans from the time the Corporation acquired Resource Bank in 2004 through 2007.

Beginning in 2007, Resource Bank experienced an increase in requests from secondary market purchasers to repurchase non-prime loans sold to those investors. These repurchase requests resulted in the Corporation recording charges representing the write-downs that were necessary to reduce the loan balances to their estimated net realizable values, based on valuations of the underlying properties, as adjusted for market factors and other considerations. Many of the loans the Corporation repurchased were delinquent and were settled through foreclosure and sale of the underlying collateral.

As of September 30, 2011, the reserve for losses on the potential repurchase of loans was $1.5 million. As of December 31, 2010, the reserve for losses on the potential repurchase of loans was $3.3 million.

Management believes that the reserves recorded as of September 30, 2011 are adequate for the known potential repurchases. However, continued declines in collateral values or the identification of additional loans to be repurchased could necessitate additional reserves in the future.

Other Contingencies

The Corporation and its subsidiaries are involved in various legal proceedings in the ordinary course of the business of the Corporation. The Corporation periodically evaluates the possible impact of pending litigation matters based on, among other factors, the advice of counsel, available insurance coverage and recorded liabilities and reserves for probable legal liabilities and costs. As of the date of this report, the Corporation believes that any liabilities, individually or in the aggregate, which may result from the final outcomes of pending proceedings are not expected to have a material adverse effect on the financial position, the operating results and/or the liquidity of the Corporation. However, litigation is often unpredictable and the actual results of litigation cannot be determined with certainty and, therefore, the ultimate resolution of any matter and the possible range of liabilities associated with potential outcomes may need to be reevaluated in the future.